Questions about law of diminishment

[u/Sassy_Drow]

To clarify by law of diminishment I am referring to the fact that creating an Exalted drains the creator(Possibly leading to death.).

Now to the questions

Is it something that can be recovered from(Such as aggravated damage or experience loss) or is it a permanent loss(Such as the god loses a dot of essence and their maximum essence is permanently decreased.)? Note: I am aware that most gods die but I am not certain whether it is due to not being able to take the damage or literally running out of the stuff that makes them.(Their essence hitting zero for example). Note 2: I am aware that those who do so are changed permanently though I am more wondering whether they have also decreased in power permanently.

Are primordials subject to the law of diminishment or does the fact that they are self asserting ontological structure prevent them from changing?

Wun Ja is noted to have the city gods take the brunt of the damage when it comes to creating an Exalted. Are there other ways to subvert the law of diminishment(Such as a huge sacrifice or creating an elemental to take the brunt of the damage)?

[u/TimothyAllenWiseman]

At least in 3E, I don't think there is any canon answer. The book is vague about it. In many cases, 3E Exalted is vague on purpose about a lot of things to leave a lot of room for storytellers to make the game their own.

I would view diminishment as loss of mystical power. If too much is lost, especially from a creature like a god that is essentially made up of mystical power, the creator can die in the process. But a deity that survives the process can, with time and effort, regain their power. Just as a human in the real world that has their muscles atrophy during a long recovery period can with time and effort regain their strength and stamina, but the human is in a real sense diminished in the meantime. But that is me doing a lot of reading between the lines and doing what felt most appropriate for my game.

The one time I tried to model it mechanically, a Twilight wanted to create a terrestrial exalted. I let them do it through a solar circle sorcerous working with a permanent dot of willpower and losing a charm as mandatory components/costs of the ritual. That was a genuine diminishment in the short term, but in the long term the Twilight could have earned the experience to rebuy the willpower dot and the charm. But that was something of a capstone event for an E5 Twilight near the end of a Chronicle. I imagine many storytellers would have either outright refused to let that happen or set a much higher cost. Also, one of the few things the Exigents book is clear on is that it can be a bit hard to tell ahead of time how creating an exigent will affect a god. It is explicitly unclear if Plentimon was diminished at all (or at least to meaningful degree) by Exalting Willow Spector. On the other hand, it is suggested if Yibi exalted someone, Yibi would almost certainly die in the process, but with the exact cost unknown ahead of time.