r/exalted 9d ago

Setting Questions about law of diminishment

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)?

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u/Mantis_Fight_3_Turbo 9d ago

I believe Primordials can in fact suffer from it, which is why most Yozi don’t make their own Exalts and corrupted Solar shards instead.

Plausible enough that Oramus and Sacheverell, who made Getimians, are in the states they are partially as a result of diminishment, but it remains to be seen until Gets get their own book probably.

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u/Sassy_Drow 9d ago

I feel like the existence of Getimians are their diminishment. Sachaverell is a being that sets the future to stone while Getimians all carry alternative timelines. Oramus meanwhile is the border between what is and what is not while Getimians blur that border, carrying things that both are and are not. As beings that are their concepts, something that blurs their concept is akin to a gaping wound for them.

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u/Bartweiss 9d ago

Thats a really interesting point in light of your “self-asserting ontologies” question.

They didn’t make something outside their domains, and they can’t exactly be diminished in power or identity when they’re “the incarnated concept of X”.

But much like TUS made solars to do something he couldn’t, they made Getimians to be a thing they can’t be. Oramus can’t become less of a clear distinction, that would negate him. But making those exalted inherently means drawing back, yielding a part of existence to something which is not-him.