Heaven's Reach
Heaven's Reach
Heaven's Reach
HEAVEN’S REACH
In the far future of a different cosmos, the Exalted live worlds or rediscover lost treasures; mercenaries fight for
amongst the teeming masses of sentient life, sometimes whoever will pay them the most thalers. Out there in the
ruling the citizenry, sometimes hunted like animals. In the hinterland, the Solar Exalted slowly return to prominence,
Central Empire, mankind is pressed together, ruled over by working for pay and seeking their fortunes, aided by Lunar
interstellar trading clans, trans-galactic cartels, and strange warriors who eschew the soft decadence of the Central
syndicates, all of whom are overseen by the Thousandth Empire, Sidereal freebooters who reject the hierarchy of
Dynasty, the ruling bureaucracy overseen by Heaven’s Son, their own kind, and outcaste Dragon-Blooded who enjoy a
His Divine Lunar Presence, who overthrew his immortal life away from, or covet an existence amongst, the trading
spouse an aeon ago and now oversees an empire which clans of the Central Empire.
manages a thousand star systems but is a shadow of what Surrounding the Empire and the frontier, within it
it once was. and amongst it, unseen by most, is the Grand Celestial
Ten Million Dragons serve the divine Emperor, but even Mountain, a data-archive which runs the machinery that
with the armies and bureaucracy of the Dragon-Blooded exists behind the Known Worlds. The Grand Celestial
behind it, the Central Empire’s power is hardly noticed Mountain is a virtual space whose vastness exists in a
in the vast majority of systems. Out there on the frontier, subspatial otherwhere, but whose roots pierce into the real
farmers and industrialists live out their lives hearing mere world to create the Essence-fueled infosphere. The Sidereal
rumors about the wider galaxy. Adventurers discover new Exalted live within the endless corridors of Grand Celestial
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
Mountain and maintain its archives and computing power. sorely tested by the limits of pre-faster-than-light travel,
Few humans or aliens bother with the Grand Celestial and as the current ruling class the Central Empire echoes
Mountain unless they are technologically or spiritually their belief. The Solar and Sidereal Exalted, these official
adept, or wealthy enough to pay those who are to secure sources recount, were products of the Immaculate Golden
their secrets and wealth there. Engineer, who designed them to help manage Grand Ce-
But the Exalted are not alone, and the Central Empire lestial Mountain and the Stellar Intelligences. But renegade
and frontier do not go unthreatened. Mass extinction-level savants say that the precursors of the Solar Exalted may be
threats lurk in the dark outside the frontier, from the sinister found much earlier in human history, and that Immacu-
Yozis, powerful supercomputers which rose up against the late Golden Engineer himself may have been one of their
galaxy, to the Tomb-Stars and the shadow-dimension Ter- number. It is true that the legends of some Solar Exalted
minus. In the empty spaces of the galaxy, where no matter seem to predate the golden age of the Engineer—Dysseus
exists, the Shrieking Hordes travel, dark-matter intellects the Cunning, for instance, and his enemy Oliphem, are said
that exist as extrusions of another, more chaotic reality. to be contemporaneous with the First Emperor, rather than
Many of these immensely intelligent and powerful beings living in a later epoch.
have created their own Exalted to threaten and subvert the
Central Empire and the vast frontier which surrounds it.
ALIEN RACES
As long as mankind has walked the stars, it has walked
alongside thousands of alien races. From the sinuous Kittiri
A GALACTIC HISTORY to the sullen and massive Stal, from the ebon-skinned Ratch
The Central Empire and its predecessors have existed to the scintillating Uvall, mankind has discovered a nearly
for so long that mankind’s origins are forgotten. Ancient uncountable number of races on thousands of different
historical periods are classified not in years or centuries, worlds. Some of them have looked just like mankind, but
but aeons, epochs and millennia. Lost in the mists of an- with minor differences to account for evolution in different
tiquity is Creation, the mythical home of mankind, where environments—the Ratch are violet-skinned humanoids
the original architects of the current galactic order built who, apart from their color, ears, and slight changes to
massive dirt-bound empires and then expanded outward facial structure, could pass for human. Others are strange,
toward the stars. Some say that as mankind attempted to inhuman things, like the Kranix, who appear as a kind of
master the universe, Creation was lost in some terrible hard-shelled octopus.
apocalypse. Others believe that Creation was simply left Over the course of history, mankind and innumerable
behind, unnecessary and forgotten, as mankind forged new alien species have met, allied, fought, lived together in peace,
worlds out of the cosmic dust. Perhaps Creation still lies out stared sullenly at one another in prejudice, and engaged in
there, renamed and inhabited by those who do not know every other interaction one can think of. Alien dynasties have
its significance, or hidden in the spacelanes, waiting to be even ruled the empire on occasion over the last few thousand
rediscovered by the children who left its bosom ages earlier. years. Everything that can be said of mankind can be said of
Thus, the original builders of previous galactic orders their alien brethren. But history has been written by the vic-
are lost to history and largely relegated to mythology. It is tors, and His Divine Lunar Presence is human, and so aliens
storytellers and not historians who recount the tales of First have largely been relegated to a second-place position in the
Emperor, who cold-bloodedly subjugated a million systems history of mankind’s ascendance. Which is not to say that
using armies of metal and flesh until the whole of the galaxy aliens do not occupy the imagination of humanity—many
rested under his boot-heel. His might was matched only a child has delighted to the tales of Uba-Sathlo the Kittiri
by his hubris, and whole systems were razed and rebuilt to thief-general and his heist of the Emperor’s data-hoard, or
function as monuments and tombs to he and his family. the warrior-prowess of the Stal known as Ungenerous-Hand-
Just as legendary are the tales of the Immaculate Golden of-Reprisal 1-9-7-3, and how he declared war on the demon
Engineer, who designed the Grand Celestial Mountain and progeny of the Yozi called Isidoros, the Black Boar Who
brought the light of knowledge to the galaxy, then built the Blots Out the Stars.
massive canal-system which even now allows mankind to At the height of the Solar Exalted’s rule, alien worlds
travel effortlessly across the gulfs of space. Some scholars were terraformed to their inhabitant’s specifications just
argue that both First Emperor and the Golden Engineer as mankind’s were. The home-worlds and colonies of the
were actually mythical, or an amalgamation of several dozen various alien races are just as interconnected with the
early galactic leaders, but archeo-historians still seek relics Grand Celestial Mountain as the worlds of humankind,
from their reigns to sell to an eager public. and Essence-programs and spirit-agents manage the Essence
Another matter of debate is when the Exalted first ap- machineries that maintain weather, climate, and other ele-
peared. The Terrestrial and Lunar Exalted insist that their ments. FFala, homeworld of the octopi-like Kranix, may have
origins lay in ancient Creation, where they were designed an ammonia atmosphere and its undersea citadels may be
to assist in the expansion of an empire whose rule was grown from metallic coral nanotechnology, but its aquatic
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Glossary
Autochthon: One of the last surviving unaltered Known Worlds, the: The term for the known
Stellar Intelligences, Autochthon has spent the universe as it has come to be understood, remapped
last millennia absorbing worlds into his being and and redefined in the aftermath of the Malfean War.
converting them into mammoth machines. The Known Worlds consists of both the frontier and
the Central Empire.
canals: Weakened regions of subspace connecting
solar systems to one another, which allow for faster- Shrieking Hordes: Strange beings made up of
than-light travel between stars, navigable only by chaotic, half-formed matter and driven by an
starships equipped with anima-fields. alien intellect, these creatures dwell in the broken
reality of the or at the periphery of the
Central Empire, the: What remains of the galactic galaxy, where physics break down under their
empire founded by , built up by the powerful whims.
, and maintained for
millennia by the Exalted. Solar Dynasties, the: The millennia where the
Solar Exalted, aided by the Stellar Intelligences and
Death Avatars: Extrusions of a will, their fellow Exalted, ran the galaxy. Much of the
the Death Avatars are powerful beings capable of technology and accomplishment of this era is largely
interacting directly with the lifeforms and ghosts in deemed mythical except by those rare beings who
and occasionally entering into the remember it first-hand.
. They act as intermediaries between the
Abyssal Exalted and the . Son of Heaven, the: One of the oldest surviving
Exalted, the Son of Heaven slew his bride, Dema
eschatechnology: The strange dark-matter and Osirian, last of the Solar imperial rulers, and took
dark-energy devices of the , Abyssal control of the Central Empire a century after the
Exalted and . Malfean War. He still rules it today.
femtotechnology: The most advanced form of Stellar Intelligences: Stellar macro-phenomena
nanotechnology developed, where picotechnology whose mass and Essence output were altered until
and nanotechnology manipulated individuals they were sentient supercomputers run by Essence-
atoms and molecules, femtotechnology manipulates programs of immense power and unfathomable
individual nuclear particles and motes of Essence, intent. Most were destroyed or altered by the
allowing almost miraculous effects. Picotechnology Solar Dynasty.
was the stage of technology before femtotechnology,
in use by . Terminus: A pocket universe which exists on the
other side of the Tomb-Stars, it grows with each iota
First Emperor: Ancient human who conquered of matter and energy absorbed by the dead Stellar
much of the galaxy using pre-Essence technology Intelligences.
and is still renowned, millennia after his death, for
brutality and ruthlessness. thaler: The common currency used throughout the
Central Empire, made of an alloy nearly impossible
frontier, the: The region of space surrounding the to forge, and also a common unit of exchange in
made up of worlds largely outside the frontier.
of Imperial control.
Thousandth Dynasty, the: The common term for
Grand Celestial Mountain: The subspace the Central Empire under Heaven’s Son, often used
informational network that permeates the entirety on internal documents.
of the galaxy, inhabited by the Sidereal Exalted and
Essence-programs of varying power and importance. Tomb-Stars: Stellar Intelligences destroyed by
the Exalted in the Malfean War exploded and
Immaculate Golden Engineer: The imperial collapsed in on themselves, creating massive
personage who created much of the infrastructure black holes and other destructive phenomena.
which allowed for the invention of the Exalted, the Their intellects still survive in the subspatial
interstellar canal system, and the Stellar Intelligences. realm known as Terminus.
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
boulevards have manses, and programs staff those manses The names of these Stellar Intelligences are still
just as on any other world. known to historians—The Eye that Sees, who managed
the surveillance networks policed by the Lunar Exalted;
THE CREATION OF THE Adrian, the product of an experiment to awaken the
SOLAR EXALTED AND THE canals themselves, and who was bound by the Night
STELLAR INTELLIGENCES Caste known as Shinjon of the Thousand Murders; and
One of the reasons why the origins of mankind’s journey Mardukth, Who Holds in Thrall, who enslaved billions of
to the stars is lost is because of the rise of the Stellar Intel- sentients via the manse-network and sought to take over
ligences. During an age long past, technological innovation the Grand Celestial Mountain itself until a raid against
reached the point where star systems would be raided for his palace on the mountain by Sidereal commandoes and
their resources in order to build massive edifices as vast as their script-spiders led to his destruction in the real world,
planets, stars, and even whole solar systems. Invulnerable creating the second Tomb-Star.
spheres of matter were placed around suns to capture their Most historians say that it was during this period of
energy, planets were terraformed effortlessly to suit mankind limitless technological innovation that the Celestial Ex-
or its many alien allies, and the gases of nebulae were suffused alted were created, and that the development of Essence
with Essence and turned into unfathomable intelligences technology allowed the Solar Exalted and their fellows to
in order to manage an empire the size of a galaxy. be modified from advanced human stock. Just as the Stellar
The hard sciences were found to be only notional Intelligences were created as fathomless intellects to gov-
limits on mankind’s ambitions. Spiritual energy—called ern the galactic empire, the Exalted, too, were tools. The
Essence, and whose primary unit of measurement was the posthuman intellects of the Stellar Intelligences required
mote—began to see use during this period. The predecessor posthuman minds to guide and police them. And so the
of the Grand Celestial Mountain’s technological founda- Exalted were made, the greatest among mankind reforged
tion of femto- and pico-technology, supported by tachyon and transformed to oversee this period of unchecked hu-
communication arrays, was replaced with Essence-based man advancement.
power and communication, allowing nearly instantaneous The limitations of mankind—even a mankind aided
communication across a virtual subspace. by technology and modified over the years by low-impact
Perhaps the greatest aspect of this new technology was genetic engineering—could only do so much. But Solar
that sentient souls could be crafted from Essence, and so Exalted governors oversaw huge tracts of space, Lunar spies
mankind and their alien brethren soon had Artificial Intel- policed dissident groups whose movements and conspira-
lects who did everything for them. Many of these intellects cies involved dozens of worlds, and the Sidereal Exalted
were programmed with the purpose of acting as programs in monitored the spirit-programs and galactic interface that
the Grand Celestial Mountain, but others were anchored connected the Grand Celestial Mountain to the galaxy as
into weapons, starships, and even toys for the children of a whole. And always there were the Ten Million Dragons,
the age. Each spirit-program has a specific task, or oversaw warring, building, and governing in the Celestials’ names.
a multitude of lesser programs. They monitored the health Some of these Exalted survive today in official histories
of the populace and kept track of each individual’s well- as well as folktales. No realspace vault or encrypted cache in
being as well as the progress of wide-scale epidemics and the Grand Celestial Mountain was safe from the semi-divine
health risks. They oversaw the weather patterns of planets Night Caste hacker and spy known as Arialla 10Shadow,
and tracked and manipulated tectonic pressures so as to and her doomed romance with the Lunar infiltrator Pro-
make each world a paradise. They maintained the delicate teas and the Sidereal code-architect Xiaofei Shen is still a
Essence flows of the canal network and ran a command subject for modern romances. The sentient cannibal-virus
economy of immense subtlety, ensuring want and lack were known as the Chaun-strain was stopped by the Twilight
things of the past. researcher Shattered Ice, who was only slain by Cytherea,
But the task of running such a massive empire was a Stellar Intelligence crafted from sentient biomass the size
too much for simple programs, even the powerful Incarnae of a large planet, and who caused untold damage to herself
systems who built palaces near the peak of Grand Celestial in destroying her Solar opponent. And every soldier knows
Mountain. Stellar phenomena were bent to mankind’s of Contentious Sword, who survived the Malfean War only
aims in order to maintain peace and prosperity, and so to disappear into the frontier centuries later.
suns were turned into living, sentient supercomputers, THE MALFEAN WAR
their vast intelligence used to monitor the health of No one knows for sure how long this glorious age
thousands of systems and hundreds of thousands of worlds. lasted or why it broke down. Some archeo-historians say a
Nebula were awakened into full stars and then collapsed few centuries, while others believe it maintained itself for
to form wormholes for travel far easier than even using several thousand years. What is known is that the Stellar
the intergalactic canal system. Intelligences, led by a being named Malfeas, a mobile sphere
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covered in cityscapes wrapped around a green sun, rebelled released all of her power at once in a mighty conflagration
against the Imperial Mandate. Sentient and powerful stars which rendered uninhabitable all of the systems around her,
traveled through the cosmos destroying solar systems. As- brought down a significant fraction of the Grand Celestial
teroid fields made up of macro-scale machinery devoured Mountain, and then collapsed light-years of spacetime into
worlds and dark matter to increase their power. From their a massive black hole. The death of a rebel, it seemed, would
beings they forged demon-armies out of Essence and biomass be costly for all sides.
to harvest the lives of untold billions, wiping out entire The destruction of these first cosmic intellects spelled
prefectures, which in turn were each made up of dozens of the end of the Stellar Intelligences’ rebellion. An immortal,
systems. Only the Exalted, led by the Solars, rallied mankind near-omnipotent and omniscient being has more to fear
and their alien allies to defeat the Intelligences. from termination of its existence than even the long-lived
After years of costly conflict, the first handful of rebel Exalted. And so Malfeas and its kindred allowed themselves
suns fell. And when these gigantic cosmic beings died, in to be diminished, reprogrammed and modified so that there
their death throes they collapsed inwards on themselves, were limits on their nigh-omnipotent power, and then
creating holes in the very fabric of physical space, black holes banished to the gulf between the stars, forbidden from
that swallowed every iota of matter, energy and Essence. using the galactic canals and cast off to the hinterlands
The first such rift in space-time, which occurred when a of the ruined galaxy, to dwell in the galactic graveyard
galaxy-wide surveillance network run from a medium-sized they’d created out of thousands of ruined solar systems and
star perished, surprised all involved—after all, the Stellar decimated constellations. There, in the wine-dark void at
Intelligences were supposed to be ageless, deathless be- the edge of the frontier, they were free to populate whole
ings, and so none knew what would happen if they were regions of space with the demons they created, but they
brought down by their former Exalted masters. But once were barred forever by new behavioral limits from ever
the news reached the other rebel suns, they realized that if approaching the remains of the Empire.
they were to fall, they would take light-years of space time
with them. That first Stellar Intelligence to die wiped out a
THE DECLINE
In the wake of the destruction of much of the galaxy,
solar system in his death-throes and left a black hole in his
the Solar mandate collapsed. For centuries after the end of
wake—the second, upon realizing her end was imminent,
the Malfean War, the Solar Exalted attempted to regain
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
the previous, lofty heights of civilization which had once the vast majority had been killed or walked willingly into
existed, but each attempt only revealed how much had exile, and there, for many years, left the eye of history.
been lost. Dynasty after dynasty were either overthrown In the chaos following the removal of the Solar Ex-
or voted out of office as each caste attempted to prove it alted from power and the end of the Malfean War, the
had the answer. The Dawn caste attempted to reconquer crumbling empire was in danger of extinction. With no
lost territory only to lose whole expeditions in the danger- Solar administrators in the centers of power, governing an
ous canal network. The Twilights attempted to find some empire the size of the galaxy, especially a galaxy which lay
other avenue to galactic power, some new technology that in ruins and whose terrain was now largely unmapped, now
would equal the Stellar Intelligences without falling prey became unfeasible. The empire still claimed to rule the
to the same damned ambition. The Zenith caste sought to galaxy, but in practice, it governed only those thousands
create cults of personality, while the Night caste created of systems closest to it and which by dint of being largely
police states and draconian networks of spies, and the untouched by the war were easiest to control and monitor
Eclipse attempted to shore up the crumbling bureaucracy. through the Grand Celestial Mountain.
As each government in turn tried desperately to recreate The former capital, Aden, had suffered hugely at the
what was lost, more and more of the empire slipped from hands of Yozi-controlled demonic insurgencies and the Yozi
their grasp. had smashed themselves over and over again at neighbor-
The legislative bodies which helped the executive ing systems, only to be stopped by the sentient navy run by
branch of the Dynasty—the councils, the senates, the Unconquered Sun or by Autochthon, one of the handful
deliberatives—found the Solar Exalted too powerful to of Stellar Intelligences to stay loyal. And so the capital
control. It had taken innumerable years and rewriting the was moved from Aden to the world eventually renamed
fabric of reality to defeat the Yozi, and the deaths of the Imperial Center, which was more centrally located to the
Tomb-Stars caused untold damage and snuffed out billions heart of the surviving systems.
of lives. The Solar Exalted were close to those beings’ Mortal mankind had to govern this new, smaller empire
power, so their underlings saw them with an admixture without the help of the remaining Exalted. During this era,
of fear and jealousy. the Lunars were riven by internal schisms over whether the
Thus, the Solar Exalted’s consorts and trusted advisors Yozi still remained threats, while the Sidereals retreated to
eventually grew weary of this mismanagement, turned on Grand Celestial Mountain to oversee the reconstruction
them in the halls of power, and tried to vote them out of of the galaxy. (It is said the Sidereals were also fearful of
office. At that time, intergalactic society held fast to the mankind’s overthrow of the Solar Exalted, and so man-
rule of law. The majority of Solars at the heart of the empire aged to largely hide their existence from humanity when
allowed themselves to be voted out of office or fall from they had to travel amongst them to repair a terraforming
power via no-confidence rulings and assisted in the arrest unit or check on an errant spirit-program’s manse.) But
and imprisonment of their fellows if they refused to shuffle administrating even a diminished empire which spanned
out of the public eye or actively rebelled. thousands of systems was too difficult for normal mortals,
It was on the periphery of the empire that Solars most and mercantile interests began corrupting the democratic
often clung to power, and on them, the galaxy declared war. institutions at the heart of the empire.
The minor Solar rebellions on the fringes of the empire Into this period of decline came the nameless Lunar
hastened the shrinking of the dynasty’s hold over outer now known as His Divine Lunar Presence. His dedication
systems—many of those systems revered their golden rul- to the survival of the empire was unquestioned by his
ers. But those Solar Exalted who fought the mandate of the packmates—he had, after all, slain his own Solar bride
people were eventually overthrown by coalitions of Lunar, for the good of the galaxy. He and a cadre of his fellows
Sidereal and Dragon-Blooded Exalts, who saw in these seized power in a relatively bloodless coup. For centuries
leaders the hints of a corruption they had barely thought the Lunar, now called Heaven’s Son by his fellows, ruled
existed. The last Solar empress was slain by her young Lunar under the guise of various politicians, stealing the identi-
spouse after she fled to the periphery and sought to rebuild ties of those chosen to rule by the people, until during a
her lost empire. massive political and economic upheaval surrounding one
But while many of the Solar Exalted perished, a sizeable of the galactic syndicates, the Lunar emperor cast off his
number of them willingly walked away from their old posts disguise, seized control, and appointed himself overlord in
and left the seats of power in the galactic core for the frontier, order to oversee the crisis. He has held power ever since.
where they tried to eke out a peaceful existence and build Despite the loss of democracy, many in the nascent
something unspoiled by centuries of war and destruction. Central Empire embraced this transfer of power. Suddenly,
Within a century or two, the Solar Exalted were wholly the shrinking borders of the empire stabilized, and in fact
out of power, their Essences cast out into the frontier. Some expanded outwards. The Dragon-Blooded mercantile inter-
rotted in prison for crimes committed during their rule, but ests were brought to heel, the star-legions were rebuilt, and
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the quality of life in the empire increased immeasurably. at faster-than-light speeds takes mere days for most travel,
If this was tyranny, some in the empire said, then it is a or weeks to cross large stretches of the Known Worlds.
benevolent one. The real practical limitation on the grand ca-
nals is that within the space-time of the canal itself,
THE MODERN AGE physical reality breaks down, subjecting the ship to
cosmic energies and enormous stress, and the crew
AND THE SHAPE OF to the potential for total mental breakdown as their
senses and mind are assaulted by different physical laws.
SPACE In ancient times before Essence manipulation technology
At least a thousand years have come and gone since the became widespread, ships using the faults had to be heavily
apocalyptic war against Malfeas and its ilk, and the galaxy armored and shielded behemoths to survive within the region
is diminished. Ancient star-charts show that the position of of the canal. After Essence technology became widespread,
many stars has shifted, with hundred or thousands of alien ships were equipped with special “anima fields” based on the
suns moved, or gone entirely. Constellations have changed. principles behind the anima banners of the Exalted. The
The universe, some say, was toppled on its axis. The once anima fields shield the structural integrity of the ship as it
great Imperial Mandate that cast its will across the whole travels through the canal, allowing small and agile craft
of a galaxy is now a diminished Central Empire, whose to make the cross-system trip using a canal instead of the
authority stretches over a fraction of what it once claimed. brutish titan-ships of ages past.
The remnants of the Exalteds’ unquestioned hegemony over Even within the twisted half-reality of the grand canal,
humanity and its alien brethren rule a fractious kingdom, there are few threats to a ship within the well-traveled re-
afraid of advancement and fearful of what lay in the dark gions of space. But travelers brave enough to use a neglected
behind the stars. canal, or to travel via canals that touch on the borders of
Where the galaxy once reportedly had the shape of a known space, often report strange, chaotic intelligences
flattened disc, bulging at the center, it is now a fragmented, lurking within, capable of creating their own bubbles of
sickly mess, with shattered arms and huge gulfs within its mad reality. And given the weakened nature of reality there,
enormity. Holes exist where star systems once drifted. whole worlds may be created by these intelligences. Some
Massive regions of space burn with eldritch color—some a trading clans from the Central Empire are rumored to carry
dim red, others a sickly green, still yet others a purple that on a surreptitious trade with these alien entities, swapping
makes the eyes water and burn. Areas where Tomb-Stars slaves, strange artifacts and technology in exchange for
reign are marked by black tumorous holes into which cas- items that could only be created in a realm where a less
cades of healthy starshine are drawn fatally and inexorably stringent reality’s laws hold sway.
down into Terminus.
Some of these areas are where even now the Yozi SPACE TRAVEL
or their demonic offspring lurk—collectively called the Space travel in the Known Worlds is usually effected
Damned Reaches, these demonic zones are mentioned by the use of light freighters, if civilian, or smaller corvettes,
whenever spacefarers gossip about the Ydreni Gulf or the if military. Larger ships are prohibitively expensive to build
Shattered Sea, or whisper about what lies within Ymar’s for anyone but a planetary government, one of the trading
Chasm or the Roiling Storms of the Hellesponte Systems. clans of the Central Empire, or a multi-system financial
Sometimes, untouched paradises or treasure troves lie within concern in the frontier. For the average adventurer, human,
these terrible cosmic hinterlands, and so pirates, privateers alien or Exalt, a smaller transport allows enough room to
and explorers will often attempt to brave the dangers of the move valuable goods to take advantage of price differences
Damned Reaches in order to make their fortunes, but few of between systems while maintaining the speed and arms to
these brave or foolhardy crews return, and of the few who fight off imperial pickets or pirates. These ships tend to be
do, rarely do they come back richer. agile, relatively old and handed down from owner to owner,
and they are often surprisingly well-armed and armored. In
THE GRAND CANALS addition, each ship has its own slaved intellect, usually a
Due to the technological brilliance of the Immaculate
program-spirit of small to moderate power, to moderate use
Golden Engineer and the later tinkering of the Stellar In-
of the anima fields and access the Grand Celestial Moun-
telligences and their Solar masters, travel from one distant
tain’s lowest districts for common, unrestricted information.
star system to another was effectuated by faults in space, the
The largest modern ships are destroyers and battle-
so-called grand canals. The grand canals are “weak areas” in
cruisers the size of a city, while the smallest are single-seat
space time where the normal rules of physics do not apply,
fighters, usually too small to carry their own intellect and
and so starships travelling at incredibly high rates of speed
anima field, and thus unable to travel the canals by them-
cover distance more rapidly. Within the grand canals, a
selves. For the duration of Heaven’s Son’s reign, very few
journey that would take a starship decades or centuries even
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
specially designed, excessively scaled ships have been built, but once mankind and his alien allies learned how to tap
except for his flagship and the personal ships of the empire’s into this “Essence” and use it as a basis for their technology,
greatest citizens. Gone are the golden age of the superships, wholesale modification of the lines of power began, first to
massive, artificially intelligent hulls large enough to support generate more power for construction projects and then,
their own manses and hearthstones. later, to assist in terraforming.
The greatest of those ships was Unconquered Sun, the Eventually, the stars themselves were tapped for Es-
flagship of the Solar Exalted, run by a small Stellar Intel- sence, which was used to create the virtual space of the
ligence of their own design. But there were other ships, such Great Celestial Mountain. With energy from a thousand
as the black carriers of the Ebon Dragon’s fleet, a powerful suns being funneled into a virtual space, a new universe was
Yozi whose ships were demonic crafts carved of pure Essence, created wherein all knowledge could be stored. That energy
and which haunted shipping lanes and thwarted military could also be structured so that, when properly channeled,
operations for the duration of the Malfean War. it created virtual computers of incredible potency, artificial
But not every legendary ship is some relic of the Mal- intellects who were able to use the Essence within their
fean War and staffed by a posthuman intellect—smugglers forms and tap into the network Essence of a planet to ac-
trade stories of the Europa, a well-used freighter that has complish incredible feats. Development of these intellects
been passed down from one rogue’s hands to another’s over proceeded along with the redesign of the human psyche
the years, or the Bankrupt Lady, small corvette that was and Essence pattern itself in the creation of the Exalted,
converted over to civilian use and which—depending on and so these artificial intelligences and the Exalted grew
who has possession of her now—is either one of the great- into power simultaneously, working together to shepherd
est smuggling ships of all time, thanks to its custom stealth the galaxy into a new golden age. These Essence-based
anima, or a pirate ship of terrifying capability. beings created in the Grand Celestial Mountain are called
by many names, depending on their purpose—intellects,
MANSES & HEARTHSTONES programs, agents, and spirits.
On most worlds that have known the rule of the Ex-
In areas where the Essence of a world pooled, or where
alted, lines of power run across the land and sea according
it was particularly potent, geomantic researchers built
to geomantic principles. This energy had always been there,
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specially designed buildings to tap into that Essence and various powers. All hearthstones function as a means of
exploit it. These buildings—referred to as manses—became verbal communication both with the governing intellect
the centers of communities and the hearts of each region’s of the manse and with other hearthstones spawned by
civilization. In cities, where dozens of manses were capable that manse.
of being created, each manse became a neighborhood center As the Exalted grew more powerful and their intellects
or the heart of a government office. went from a transhuman scale to a posthuman one, they
Each manse usually produced its own governing intel- did not stop tapping into the Great Celestial Mountain to
lect, which maintained the manse’s repairs and which served create artificial intelligences who could channel Essence on
the local community. The intellect was also in touch, via a planetary level—instead, they began to develop macro-
lower-ranked programs and messengers, with the Grand scale intellects which used the Essence storms surrounding
Celestial Mountain. Low-level manses were used for in- stars and other astronomical phenomena to accomplish
ternational and even interplanetary communication—the incredible feats beyond previous imaginings. These became
governing intellect would transmit a message through its the so-called Stellar Intellects, who eventually rose up in
servants, which disappeared into the otherworld of the the Malfean War and became the Yozis and Tomb Stars.
Mountain and exited at a connection which lay at a manse
across the galaxy nearly instantaneously.
In addition, the most powerful manses either had
WORLDS BEYOND
intellects capable of creating a stable portal to the Grand
Celestial Mountain that humans or aliens could travel
NUMBER
The innumerable worlds of the galaxy are the prod-
through, or had functional, stable artifact portals that did uct of reshaping by now unfathomable technologies over
not require an intellect to activate. Thus, the Exalted and thousands of years. If history is to be believed, then First
their most trusted mortal companions could actually enter Emperor was capable of terraforming worlds even without
the Grand Celestial Mountain itself, and one breed of Ex- Essence technology or the creation of spirit computers to
alt, the Sidereal Exalted, was created as a bridge between oversee weather patterns, animal populations, and geologi-
the impossibly powerful intellects that existed within the cal formation, but such terraforming efforts took centuries.
Celestial Mountain Network and mortal mankind. Within Using technologies first crafted by the Golden Engineer,
that network, the Exalted could converse with powerful under the power of the Stellar Intelligences and the guidance
spirits which oversaw massive public works projects or of the Solar Exalted, the whole of the galaxy was reshaped
who collected statistics concerning any number of subjects. rapidly, for better or for worse.
The governing intellect of a manse usually commands Thus impossible worlds exist, kept up by divine programs
a small handful of pattern spiders and messenger agents for roosting in the Grand Celestial Mountain. Some were re-
communicating with the Grand Celestial Mountain. This designed around themes—hellscapes to function as prisons
intellect is very basic, and is effectively a friend and ally or training grounds for Imperial special forces; edens for the
to those who have bonded with the manse. Some Exalts rich and idle; ice worlds and swamp planets for alien client
have better developed intellects attached to their manses, races or new, genetically engineered breeds of humanity to
or may have different relationships with those intellects. grow and thrive. On some of these planets, spirit programs
Finally, each manse produces at least one hearth- failed, fell to Yozi corruption, or fled to the Grand Celestial
stone, an extrusion of the manse which grants its owner Mountain, and so they have fallen into disrepair, and now
Anima Fields
The anima field used by most modern starships is powered by Essence generators, which in turn
are monitored by the ship’s intellect. Only an intelligence of pure Essence, bound to a ship’s sensors,
can tune the field to withstand the shifting rigors of a canal’s twisted space-time.
However, sabotage or damage can injure or temporarily incapacitate a ship’s intellect to the
extent that it can no longer manipulate the Essence generators around the ship. In such cases, if a
ship has a mortal crew, they are usually doomed, unless they are very close to a system in realspace.
But if a ship has a member of the Celestial Exalted amongst their crew, there are rumors that they
can use their own anima to shield the ship, either channeling it through the ship’s generators or by
the use of special Charms. Some Exalted are reported to have Charms which allow them to even
function as the ship’s intellect, linking their spirits with the ship itself, manipulating the anima
generator with the fine control needed to navigate the canal.
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
once sweet-smelling vegetation is carnivorous, and preda- of Tannin while Uridia is a verdant, untouched paradise
tory weather patterns target the populace, guided by rogue except for a handful of farms and a small spaceport. Dis is
weather programs. On other worlds, ancient intellects still an alien hellhole, tailor-made for its imprisoned inhabitants,
tend to their duties, even if a human or alien hasn’t set foot who toil in jade mines for the Orezchka Dragon-Blood trad-
there for centuries. ing clan, while two systems away ancient ruins dot Scintillim,
Trailblazers from frontier worlds or explorers from the now used as a vacation spot for wealthy syndicate members
Central Empire never know what they’ll find, because the and Imperial dignitaries.
Malfean War moved whole systems and made most pre-war The Central Empire is still ruled by Heaven’s Son, a
star maps of anything but the center of the empire useless. mighty Lunar, served by dozens of his fellows and a near
Even though centuries have passed, only a fraction of the army of Sidereal bureaucrats who spend most of their time
galaxy has been remapped, and even now, well-travelled in Grand Celestial Mountain, making sure the machinery
star-systems on the edge of civilization may disappear, their behind the worlds of the empire runs smoothly. Nomi-
canal-routes collapsing or the solar system itself disappearing nally, Heaven’s Son is advised by a variety of councils,
for unknown reasons. senates, deliberatives, and ad hoc committees, but the
The phrase “the Known Worlds” is often used to de- mechanisms of government have been wholly subverted
scribe those areas of the galaxy which have been remapped to provide an illusion of democracy to the countless
since the Malfean War and which have active, reliable worlds of the empire.
canal routes to effect travel. Thousands of systems make His Divine Lunar Presence’s rule is unquestioned by
up the Known Worlds, encompassing both the vastness most citizens. Idealistic politicians and zealous ideologues
of the frontier and the worlds of the Central Empire alike. are subverted by the power and wealth they gain when
The term “the frontier” describes all of those worlds they become a part of the system, in exchange for em-
not under the control and direct governance of the Central bracing the illusion of freedom that the Central Empire
Empire. Within that broad definition, pocket empires en- presents to its populace. After their terms are over they
compassing dozens or hundreds of systems in regular trade can expect positions, pensions or stipends from the various
with the Central Empire are covered just as are worlds which trading clans, syndicates and corporations that keep the
have not had a new visitor in centuries. Worlds right on the wheels of commerce in the empire turning. Those who
border of the Central Empire, and which its troops are free will not embrace the corrupting influence of the Central
to travel to, are part of the frontier just as much as planets Empire are either culled by Lunar intelligence operatives
on the edges space, at risk of attack by demonic hordes, and or broken under the wheels of the system. Those who
which have been long forgotten by history. cannot be battered into submission or are too cunning
The term the Central Empire is used to describe those to be removed by the Lunar bureaus end up imprisoned
worlds which are official members of the Central Empire, on various worlds set aside for this purpose, some of
whose government is either directly controlled or monitored them paradisiacal, others infernal pits. A bare handful
by the Ten Million Dragons, and where the forces of the of others manage to eke out a life in the underworld of
Central Empire travel freely and unimpeded. To the citizens the empire—individuals like Urfei Nine-Tails, Lunar
of the Empire, the term denotes civilization, rather than insurgent and head of the Unbidden, a body criminal.
barbarity and chaos, and those on the frontier are assumed Heaven Son’s, some suspect, allows some rebels to roost
to be rubes at best and near-bestial threats at worst. very close to Imperial Center, to attract opposition until,
like a ripe fruit, the organization is ready to be plucked
THE CENTRAL EMPIRE and devoured by the justice system.
Lying in the northeast corner of the galaxy, the Cen- Day to day life under the Central Empire is marked
tral Empire is a healthy cluster of thousands of star systems not by an excess of tyranny, unless one lives on a prison-
largely spared of the worst of the Malfean War. Imperial world, is an indentured servant to one of the wealthy, or
Center is the nexus of all authority in the Central Empire, is a slave to a trading clan. Instead, it is marked by a lack
and its location toward the center of the region puts it in of freedom that many amongst the citizenry barely notice.
a densely inhabited cluster of hundreds of systems. In this Travel from star to star requires identification papers and
civilized region, canal routes between important systems money, just enough so that the average citizen is deterred
are short—most requiring a scant few hours travel from from travel. And there’s always a risk that some official
world to world—and the manses connecting to the Grand will decide to peer into exactly why you’re traveling, and
Celestial Mountain are well-maintained, their spirit pro- then either demand a bribe to guarantee easy passage, or
grams mostly brought to heel by the Sidereal Exalted and bar your travel arbitrarily. If you take an interest in politics
Dragon-Blooded enforcers. or decide to protest some action by those in power, then
There are no hard and fast rules for what a world looks it’s entirely possible the secret police or the legions will
like in the Central Empire. Urban-zones run the whole length take an interest in you, and while you have a right to a
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defense, there’s no guarantee, unless you’re wealthy, that His Divine Lunar Presence’s sorcery. One of the generals
your advocate will be at all competent, or the judicial of the Long War, Erik Swear-Oath, is determined to free
official in charge is interested in your claim to “rights” her from Heaven’s Son, but every attempt he’s made has
or “freedom.” been, as yet, a failure. Swear-Oath is forever calculating
Which is not to say that life under the empire is bad, the odds of a raid into the heart of the empire and a duel
necessarily—the Central Empire provides entertain- with the greatest squadron of aces in the galaxy, but so
ment for its citizens, and in exchange for their economic far, he has not decided to test himself against Heaven’s
power and their labor, provides them with security from Son and his most devoted troops.
outside interference. The trading clans, legions and the
secret police may have all of the power, but servitude is
THE LUNAR INTELLIGENCE
hardly troubling when you’re guaranteed a basic education, NETWORK
limited health care, and you don’t have to worry about The Shining Eye is the unquestioned intelligence
raiders landing on your planet and selling your family as power in the Central Empire. Everyone in the empire and
slaves. The boot on the neck of the empire’s citizenry is much of the frontier refers to it as “the Lunar Intelligence
a soft pressure, and it only crushes those who push too Bureau” and assumes that the main operatives are Lunar
hard for liberty and freedom. Freedom is for the frontier, Exalted shapeshifters spying amongst society. Everyone
and with freedom comes danger. Those on the frontier knows the Lunars can be anyone, or anywhere, and so
view the citizens of the empire as dead inside, while the the Shining Eye creates a kind of monolithic dread in the
average imperial citizen sees someone on the frontier as populace. The Shining Eye is rightly feared by those who
an uneducated thug. would plot against the government or those whose power
allows them some control over the intelligence services,
THE LEGIONS such as the most powerful of the trading clans. Its leader’s
Guarding the Central Empire, and often the frontier, name, Nacreous Blade, is only whispered, and none can
are the countless soldiers of the legions. Billions of humans say what he looks like.
and aliens march in lockstep to the orders of the high Except, of course, that the real Shining Eye exists
command. The vast majority are nameless masses, but mainly to collate data collected by the real intelligence
the empire needs its heroes, and the legions give them networks located throughout the galaxy, run by an alliance
to it. The Vermillion Legion, led by a renegade Abyssal of Terrestrial Exalted families, Lunar Exalted spymasters,
Exalted titled the Impenetrable Heart of Obsidian, is a and Sidereal code-savants who utilize acres of the Grand
misfit band of penal “volunteers,” indentured corporate Celestial Mountain to analyze data from the actual work-
levies, and outcaste Dragon-Bloods. The Red Rabble, horses of the galactic intelligence underground. Anyone
as they’re called, are handed impossible missions on the who truly understands the the nature of the Exalted realize
edge of space, followed by crews of spirit-programs who that even if the Lunar Exalted were not riven by disagree-
document their misadventures and then repackage them ment between the Imperial and Long War factions, there
for sale by media clans back in the heart of the empire. are too few Lunar Exalted to keep track of the intelligence
Their leader is one of the first Abyssal Exalted, broken and needs of the thousands of systems inside the Central Empire,
rebuilt in the heart of Terminus, where the souls of the let alone in the rest of the Known Worlds and out on the
Tomb-Stars lie. It is said that even after death, chained fringes in demon-tainted space.
in the heart of a dead star, the fiery Solar Essence that Instead, the imperial intelligence bureau’s work is
once beat within his breast could not forget its loyalty to done by thousands of cults, assassin’s guilds, terror cells,
the empire. He escaped from his new masters and fought corporate espionage services, criminal organizations, and
his way to Imperial Center, where he swore to defend the high-end thieves, mercenaries and saboteurs, all believing
empire again if Heaven’s Son would but let him. Being they work either for their own profit or, in some case, to
in command of the Rabble puts the Impenetrable Heart the detriment of the Central Empire. At a guess, a third
of Obsidian far enough from Imperial Center where he of the shadowy underground organizations within the
won’t be a threat, but still allows him to expend his Es- Central Empire or the sections of the frontier nearest to
sence for the empire he loves so much. Heaven’s Son is the empire have been co-opted by the Shining Eye, and
nothing if not pragmatic—one does not lightly throw while the Shining Eye serves as a focus for fear and dis-
away even broken tools. content, the actual business of monitoring the populace
In counterpoint to the Vermillion Legion is the Divine of the Central Empire and the powers that are a threat to
Lunargent Sword, a crack team of Exalted warstrider aces it is done by millions of beings who think they are wholly
who personally defend the emperor when he travels from unaffiliated with the Shining Eye, and who take orders
world to world. They are led by Rakshi, a scholar-general from compromised superiors, power-brokers blackmailed
of unquestioned talent whose heart yearns for the Long by Sidereals who know where the bodies are buried,
War of the frontier but whose will has been broken by or by commanders making their fortunes from Lunar
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
paymasters while their underlings go about their business, addition, Heaven’s Son’s spies, as previously stated, are
never knowing who their true masters are. incredibly adept at targeting the ambitious before they
Even the existence of Nacreous Blade is a matter of make an attempt at increasing their status, and he knows
dispute. Few have ever claimed to have met him (or her), that in a choice between sacrificing a useful Terrestrial to
and those that have can hardly agree on what he or she looks eliminate a rival down the road, or letting the Exalt live
like. Is it a single Lunar impersonating multiple individuals, and consolidate power, it is best to eliminate the Dragon-
an identity shared across multiple powerful Exalted, or a Blood. There are, after all, millions more.
rumor created to hide the true power behind the Shining Some of the most powerful trading clans, including the
Eye? Few can truly say, and those who can aren’t talking. Mnemon Syndicate and the Cathak Corporation, effectively
control multiple systems themselves under license from the
THE GREAT TRADING CLANS Thousandth Dynasty. In cases of disagreement between the
The majority of corporate interests in the Central
empire and these clans, the clans usually lose unless the
Empire are run by normal humans or aliens, but the syndi-
matter is of little importance to the Lunar hierarchy, but
cates at the top of the heap tend to be under the control of
such conflicts are rare, and the inhabitants of those worlds
Dragon-Blooded families. These families tend to intermarry,
mostly see their masters as Dragon-Blooded. Peleps & Ragara,
but their number is large enough that inbreeding is not an
a large trading syndicate, also manages hundreds of worlds
issue. Roughly 70% of the wealth of the Central Empire is
on the frontier under contract to the world’s governors.
consolidated in the hands of the great trading clans, thanks
Peleps Deled, a fleet captain of incredible skill and power,
to various monopolies granted to them by Heaven’s Son.
has come into conflict with the Lunar Long War faction
These trading clans don’t try to usurp power from the Lunar
several times, and many wonder if he is provoking a battle
Exalted because Heaven’s Son promotes a fierce rivalry
so that Heaven’s Son can come in and finally confront
between the trading clans and the dozens of families who
those who have resisted his rule. Others ponder whether or
populate the upper echelons of the imperial legions. In
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not Heaven’s Son’s loyalty to other Lunars and occasional Even amongst the non-Exalted, many who don’t
disdain for the Dragon-Blooded feeding at his trough means embrace life as a farmer, miner, or official on some remote
that if the Peleps conflict with the Long Warriors comes world become treasure-seekers, plying the dead and forgot-
to a head, Heaven’s Son will sacrifice Peleps & Ragara’s ten planets beyond the edge of the frontier looking for lost
frontier strength rather than cause a greater rift between technological treasures from the time when man’s reach
to the two Lunar factions. was so much longer than it is today. Others become tech-
nologists, attempting to forge new breakthroughs using the
IMPERIAL CENTER pitiful tools that remain available to the frontier scientist.
Imperial Center is the ostensible capital of the Cen-
If asked, the average citizen of the Central Empire would
tral Empire, having taken that honor from Aden when
brush off the frontier as a place of poverty and lawlessness,
the latter became too difficult to administer from in the
but there are as many types of world in the fringes of space as
wake of the Malfean War. For a thousand years Imperial
there are in the empire. Teeming urban hives with glittering
Center has grown until it is now a completely urbanized
towers that pierce the atmosphere exist on the borders of
world which requires imports of agricultural products in
the empire, as do remote wilderness worlds with a few dozen
order to feed its teeming populace. Heaven’s Son rules
settlers fearful of raiders and slavers. There are democratic
the Thousandth Dynasty from a gigantic citadel carved
governments ruling several systems with technologically
out of a mountain range that dominates one of world’s
advanced militaries, such as the Principality of Thorns,
southern continents, and he is surrounded at all times by
which manages to thrive despite proximity to a Tomb-Star.
Dragon-Blooded and Lunar bodyguards as well as Sidereal
There are despots wielding ancient war-machines from the
advisors, permanently linked to the Grand Celestial
Malfean War to rule over fractious clans of primitives. And
Mountain. Although the whole world is watched by the
there is anything, and everything, in-between.
Shining Eye and various spirit-programs dedicated to
The one thing the frontier has to offer is opportunity.
amassing intelligence on behalf of the Emperor and his
The worlds of the frontier are not bound by contract to
secret police, the planet is too crowded and too chaotic
any trading clan, and the aspiring warlord does not need
to wholly control. Whole cities are effectively massive,
to concern himself with Heaven’s Son’s legions unless the
sprawling slum-warrens, where illicit goods of any stripe
world lies very close to the Central Empire and has some
from across the empire may be had for the right price,
trade agreement or self-defense pact with the Thousandth
and where assassin’s guilds and sinister cults rub elbows
Dynasty. Trade is extensive, if unmonitored, and so free-
in darkened meeting halls.
booters can make their fortunes preying on shipping or
offering up their services to protect it. And a number of the
THE FRONTIER Central Empire’s greatest criminals keep their lairs in the
The first thing one notices about life on the frontier is hinterlands of space, so bounty hunters can make a fortune
a certain vitality— a desire on the part of even the poorest stalking the most dangerous prey of all. Those who seek to
scoundrel to make his fortune. Merchant-princes with let- explore illicit technologies and sorcery can delve into it
ters of marque and reprisal granted by the Central Empire in black-laboratories on forgotten worlds without fear of
trade with the outer worlds, while small alliances of civilized Lunar witch-hunters or the interference of trading clans
systems enforce their own justice using bounty-hunters, with technological monopolies.
privateers and misfit ronin. Outcaste Dragon-Blooded sell And despite what the empire would have its citizens
their services on the fringe of the Known Worlds, working believe, the technology that keeps terraformed worlds hab-
as muscle or freelance troubleshooters, while Lunar generals itable is operational on the majority of planets, and where
who may have fought against names such as Malfeas or the it’s not, it is still capable of being repaired if one could draw
Ebon Dragon work as rangers, protecting the galactic rim the attention of the various engineering programs in the
from ancient terrors for nothing more than fuel and refits Grand Celestial Mountain or a Sidereal troubleshooter.
for their ancient ships. Manses abound in the reaches of the frontier—those who
Into the massive, nigh lawless frontier, the Solar Exalted would never stand a chance of possessing status and rank
fled centuries ago, and now their descendants eke out an capable of affording themselves a sophisticated hearthstone
existence as bounty-hunters, explorers, yojimbo and pirates. in the Central Empire, or access to a powerful manse, can
Some of them foment revolution against the Central Empire find such things if they look hard enough throughout the
in the name of their ancestors, while others are content frontier. Indeed, in addition to access to such manses and
to seek action, romance and adventure under a thousand hearthstones, many worlds possess ancient artifacts, either
stars by hunting down threats to humanity for a handful seeded there by the Yozis in preparation for some later
of credits, or making a name for themselves in the galactic invasion, left there by some previous civilization, or buried
martial underworld. there with a dead Exalt who perished in the Malfean War
or the purges that followed it.
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
WORLDS OF THE
FRONTIER
ADEN
Aden III was once the capital of the Empire, but
after the attacks on the system during the Malfean War
and due to Aden’s distance from the new centers of
power, the capital was moved to Imperial Center. Now
Aden is a scintillating barbarian jewel, fought over by
the various pocket empires that riddle the frontier.
Centrally located in the heart of frontier space, with
access to dozens of choice canal-routes, anyone looking
to build a power-base in the region eventually covets
access to Aden, because of its historical cachet if noth-
ing else. After all, Nexus VI may be more important as
a center for commerce and trade, but its grimy patina
means that no one wants to run a government from it.
Just as important as Aden’s historical role and its
timeless beauty is the shipyard based on the moons
of Aden, from which the best starships in the galaxy
are made, currently administered by the Shipwright
Dynasty, led by a young mortal named Celed Wyrr.
The Empire maintains a garrison on Aden, headed by
a Fire Aspect called Hema Shian, to guarantee that
the system remains open to imperial commerce and
that the trade in ships can go on undisturbed, but the
real ruler is inevitably whatever border-lord has taken
power. Currently that is Daisham XXIII, master of the
Chiaroscuran Khanate and leader of the Zhongnnu
fleets. The three way power struggle between Daisham,
Shian and Wyrr means that yojimbo, mercenaries and
assassins have no want of work, so long as they can
be discrete.
LACROS’ FOLLY
Lacros’ Folly is a low-population world on the very
tip of the frontier, known as the “gateway to the dark.”
The world’s tiny economy subsists on trade based in
strange artifacts pulled in from the empty quarters that
Lacros’ Folly borders—gossamer artifacts bargained for
from the Shrieking Hordes, hell-technology smuggled
out of the Yozi exile, ancient weapons from the age of
Solar hegemony ransacked from deserted behemoths,
and even eschatechnology purchased from the Death
Avatars of the Tomb-Worlds. Because of this market
in black-technology, smugglers, pirates, outcastes
looking for a way to buy their way into a trading clan,
Solar mercenaries, and even Lunar generals still fight-
ing the Long War all find their way here, if just for a
little while. Currently, the world hosts a pirate fleet led
by Moray Darktide, an amoral Solar mercenary who
has no compunctions about slaving for the Shrieking
Hordes, privateering on behalf of the Tomb-Stars, or
even breaking skulls for imperial trading clans.
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NEXUS VI decadent cousins and decided to use the now fantastically
There are a dozen worlds with some claim to underworld dangerous Temujin as a training ground for newly Exalted
fame, from the pirate haven of Sargasso to the Rookery on Lunars, outcaste allies, and genetically engineered soldiers.
Imperial Center, but only Nexus VI is a whole world devoted Special Forces units belonging to various frontier powers
to black-market trade. Slave markets, pirate starship refitters, are often sent onto Temujin to train and survive for a week
black market techs, outlaw programs selling information at a time—longer than that and casualties make the les-
stolen from the Grand Celestial Mountain, exiled trading sons moot—while newly trained Lunars are often left on
clans—if it has the reek of money and desperation about it, the planet for one month. If they survive, they earn their
you can find it on Nexus VI. Nexus’ infamous red-markets nanotechnological tattoos. If they are gravely injured, then
are policed by various mob outfits, yakuza alliances, and they are cast out of the frontier, to kowtow to the Emperor
upjumped street gangs, so visitors are advised to find a guide and his dissolute allies.
to help them get in touch with reliable criminal contacts RAEL
and to help them navigate the slums and bordellos of the Rael is an example of how far technology progressed
galactic criminal hub. during the golden age of the Stellar Intellects and their
N e xu s is n o mi n al ly r ul e d by t he E mi s - Exalted masters. It is a world where ivory cities float in
sary, a masked entity to whom insiders ascribe near the sky above fields of varicolored flowers, where moun-
godlike powers. Gossips and rumormongers variously de- tain ranges have been turned into beautifully sculpted
scribe the being inside the mask as a Death Avatar to a monuments, and where the wind smells of honey and
Tomb-Star, an undiminished Solar general from the age cinnamon and the strikingly azure seas glitter in day-
before the Malfean War, an exiled program of incredible time starlight. When the Malfean War came, the Yozi
power from the Grand Celestial Mountain, or even Im- attacked Rael, but the other planets and moons in the
maculate Golden Emperor himself. He keeps a handful of system were fortified to resist even the strongest assault,
retainers on his payrolls to enforce some tiny semblance of and the mighty, sentient star-destroying ship known as
order on the chaotic world, and these retainers are inevitably Unconquered Sun patrolled its borders, run by one of the
Exalted of varying levels of power. Working for the Emis- most brilliant tactical spirit-intellects ever devised. These
sary often requires travel to the far quarters of the galaxy same defenses are what keep Rael safe today. The paradise
on missions that seem to serve no purpose until some plan is barely visited except by those Solar Exalted and their
comes to bloody fruition on Nexus VI. allies who have stumbled onto maps which point out the
Nexus is the location of the Twelve Suns Invitational, safe canal routes into the system (several are dummy routes
a sprawling tournament that the martial arts underworld leading directly into the firing alignment of moon-sized
flocks to. Over two decades, each round is fought in a weapon systems), and found secure passcodes to disarm
different system, and the Nexus round is legendary for its the world’s defensive perimeter. Even then, only the So-
betting, which in turn invites all sorts of skullduggery as lar Exalted are welcome on Rael—the custom-designed
local criminal elements try to cheat and scam. During the slave races and aesthetically perfect mechanicals there are
two-week long tournament, locals expect to see gangs of rumored to be programmed to mount an insurgency on
toughs and mob enforcers ambushing some of the greatest any other being that attempts to make the planet their
combatants in the Known Worlds, sometimes successfully, home without Solar consent.
other times wildly failing, but never without the potential Rael is home to innumerable Solar tombs from the
to entertain (and sometimes injure) bystanders. Malfean War, and it rumored that a handful of Solars
TEMUJIN retired to seclusion on the world, including the legendary
Temujin was once a paradise like Rael before the Contentious Sword, who was one of the greatest warriors
Malfean War, but She Who Lives in Her Name launched to ever walk to the stars. Some whisper that Contentious
demon-spores to terraform and populate the planet, cor- Sword seeks a worthy to inherit his wisdom, and many young
rupting the once beautifully terraformed lifeforms that Solars have sought it out…but few, if any, have returned
called it home into a single, linked, self-aware predatory to tell the tale.
ecology. The Central Empire realized that the costs involved HIDDEN FORTRESS
in taking the world back from the Yozi’s blight would be Hidden Fortress is a world only whispered of, lost
prohibitively expensive, especially for a world with little to the ages. When First Emperor laid the foundation for
to no economic value or special resources, outside of its the galactic empire that would survive him, he expended
use as a vacation spot. As the empire receded to its cur- millions of lives and the resources of whole star-systems
rent reduced size, Temujin was soon positioned on one of to build a grand planetary tomb for himself, and an army
the borders of the Known Worlds, isolated and forgotten, to guard him from grave-robbers and scavengers, as well
until the Lunar generals of the Long War split with their as an automated research facility where generations of
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
scientists would toil seeking his resurrection. The whole Amongst the teeming masses of humanity laboring on
system is a monument to First Emperor, heavily defended by Yugash there are strange half-mechanical Exalted created
ancient artifacts, and guarded by robot armies and ancient by Autochthon along no known Essence framework. These
behemoth ships. During the last days of the Malfean War, Alchemical Exalted on Yugash are led by Unquestioned
as the Yozi rebels realized that the Solar Exalted forces Strength of the Populat, a nearly city-sized being whose mas-
were capable of collapsing their stellar power-sources, the sive intellect guides Yugash throughout the Known Worlds.
nascent Tomb-Stars and Yozi reached out to the only being
they suspected was cunning and malignant enough to be THE GRAND CELESTIAL
able to win a war against the Solars: First Emperor. They MOUNTAIN
refitted the technology in the system to reflect their own The Grand Celestial Mountain is arguably one of the
advances, upgraded the computers, and set forth spirits greatest inventions of mankind, a massive virtual edifice
and demons to toil over the First Emperor’s resurrection. shaped out of pure Essence, and stored in a virtual other-
Now, the system which resisted all intrusion except for place where a million artificial intellects interface with
that of the Yozis has evolved on its own, into a dangerous manses on countless worlds, tracking weather, making sure
network of traps and incredibly powerful technology, at terraformation changes continue to hold, and monitoring
least the equal of the best technology history has to offer. populations of human and aliens beyond number.
And sitting at the center of it is the First Emperor, who To walk the streets of the Grand Celestial Mountain
some say finally awakens after millennia, unfettered by is to see a shining paradise, with avenues of virtual gold
the control of the Yozi or the Tomb-Stars of Terminus. brick, shining silver spires, clean air unpolluted by factory
or farm, and waterways of glittering azure. The mountain
YUGASH, SCOUT WORLD OF GOD is not simply a metaphor—imagine a mountain a thousand
CONSTELLATION AUTOCHTHON miles high, and every foot of it is covered in the handiwork
The sentient star system and last unbowed Stellar of its spirit masters. Gardens, avenues, buildings, waterways,
Intelligence, Autochthon, remains undiminished by the all of them climb inexorably to the gigantic fortress that
eons. Autochthon sold out his fellows at the end of the lay atop the mount, where the most powerful intellects
Malfean War, in exchange for safe passage out of the galac- dwell, and where the Stellar Intellects themselves used to
tic halo, unbound by the oaths and reprogramming which interface until they were thrown from their positions and
transformed the nearly omnipotent Stellar Intellects into diminished by their former Exalted masters. The avenues
the diminished Yozi. Outside of the reach of his brethren, are teeming with intellects going about their daily business,
who seek his destruction for their betrayal, and the Exalted, or relaxing during their downtime. The edges of the road
who surely would have eventually grown suspicious of him glitter as pattern spiders and communication agents flit
and sought his destruction, Autochthon has absorbed carrying data or executable instructions from the outside
whole star systems into his Essence, converting planets universe to the proper personage to use that information
into engines for his greatness, and turning the populations to good effect. Guardian programs patrol the exits from the
of those worlds into his slaves and priests. Now no longer Known Worlds to the mountain and the entranceways to
merely Autochthon, but God Constellation Autochthon, important bureaus, such as the Incomparable Watchtower
after long millennia, he seeks to return to the Known of Indomitable Tempests and Gentle Breezes, which over-
Worlds, although for what reason, none can say. To ef- sees weather control on thousands of worlds.
fect this, one of the worlds that make up his Essence has In this age, few humans or aliens see any point in travel
been converted into a massive spacecraft and generation to the Grand Celestial Mountain, and given heightened
ship and sent into the canals of the Known Worlds. Ill security after the Malfean War—the control computers
omens follow in Yugash’s wake, and his peculiar Exalted for most of the Known Worlds is a tempting target to any
fly forth to capture prisoners, to harvest resources, and to number of beings—many of them would be turned away
collect artifacts until they are ready to summon their god anyway. In addition, the sheer number of available manses
into the frontier. means that the poor can always ask their local manse intel-
Yugash itself is a strange world, the product of centuries lect for the answer to most questions, while the wealthy
of terraforming. Its huge, fragile spires reach miles into the elites can carry around hearthstones which inform them
sky, keeping the atmosphere wrapped around the world even of whatever they need to know without the need to enter
as it moves at tremendous, unfathomable speed, while its and petition at a data-temple.
endless oily seas crash upon glittering quartz beaches, all of The only beings who see much point to entering the
which give way to the massive, fiery world-engines which sanctified otherspace of the Grand Celestial Mountain are
burn with cosmic Essence to move the world forward into the Exalted, a few augmented humans and aliens who sneak
the galaxy, and which keep it warm in the sunless, cold in so as to hack some operation on some planet or find
vastness of space. some obscure piece of data, and the wealthiest of elites,
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who petition for their own secure datavaults, where their
most private information can lay under the guard of the
most powerful security programs.
The geography of the Grand Celestial Mountain is
based on access. Public information caches and system-wide
reference libraries open to the public lie along the base of
the mountain. As one ascends, the security increases even
as the power of the governing intellects and spirit-programs
grows greater. Private information stores belonging to the
rich and powerful in the frontier and the Central Empire
rest between a third and halfway up the mountain. Above
them are the data warehouses of the Exalted, some of them
untouched since the Malfean War. And above those an-
cient storehouses are the command and control centers for
multi-system engineering services and projects, including
terraforming data, grand canal maintenance information,
and the private libraries of the most powerful of the code-
spirits, living as gods amongst the top-most levels of the
Grand Celestial Mountain.
THE EXALTED
The Exalted have existed as long as humanity has
reached toward the stars. With each incremental step along
the road to stellar empire, the Exalted have grown as well,
until during the golden age of history, the same technology
that created the great Stellar Intelligences was used to craft
Exalted Essences.
But that was millennia after the development of the
first Exalted, the Terrestrial Exalted. They were created
on humanity’s homeworld, the mythical system known as
Creation. They were the product of genetic engineering,
the best martial training the rulers of that system could pro-
vide, and their powers were rooted in psychic manipulation
of the spirit and body, first to allow the Exalt to perform
miraculous feats, and then to manipulate the world around
them. It was these first forays into psychic phenomena and
so-called “chi” that laid the groundwork for full manipulation
of Essence millennia later. Early texts orient the Terrestrial
Exalted not toward the five traditional elements, but along
the lines of psychic disciplines—pyrokinesis, cryokinesis,
geokinesis, hydrokinesis and biokinesis.
As products of genetic experimentation, the changes
wrought on these first Terrestrial Exalted was passed on from
parent to child, although thanks to the vagaries of genetics
and recessive traits, not every child born to a Dragon-Blood
was an Exalt. Extensive breeding programs were started
by the corporate and governmental creators of these first
Exalts to guarantee that the highest yield of Exalted were
born from each generation, leading to bloodlines being
created and intermarriage amongst Exalts becoming com-
mon. Given the Exalted’s superiority over even genetically
enhanced humanity, eventually those self-same corporations
and governments were run by—or at least were dependent
on—the Exalted to a large degree.
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
Designer’s Note: The “Netrunner” Problem
From a game perspective, the Grand Celestial Mountain and the function of manses and
hearthstones solves the infamous “netrunner” problem that plagues so many RPGs. Yes, the rich
keep their personal ledgers and their dirty secrets locked up in a secure computer system, but that
computer system is a real place, albeit one made of spirit energy. An entire circle of Exalted can try
to sneak into the Grand Celestial Mountain, and the normal accouterments of the genre—guessing
passwords, piercing security, fighting enemy programs, and stealing the data—is now literally giving
passwords to guardian spirits, battling enemies with daiklaives and blasters, and walking out with
the information to get to the nearest exit point to their manse.
This also means that tyrannical regimes will fortify the manses on their worlds, if they don’t
destroy them outright. Heroes and mercenaries fighting crime lords and wicked empires will have to
battle through security forces and defeat physical obstacles if they wish to gain access to the Grand
Celestial Mountain. Such tyrants tend to reserve the Hearthstones from such manses for themselves
and their trusted adjutants, so they still have easy access to information at a moment’s notice.
As mankind spread out through the Solar system, Intelligences—a human bridge to beings so powerful that
humanity made its next technological leap, from genetic they were literally stars, nebula, and planetary size masses
engineering and primitive molecular machines to true of matter and dark matter.
nanotechnology. New elements were created, liquid metals The Sidereal Exalted, on the other hand, were de-
and metallic glasses, superfuels and oil-eating bacteria. It signed to interface with the nascent Essence programs
was logical that a new kind of Exalt would be created, one that populated Grand Celestial Mountain, as well as take
which would take advantage of the ability to shift its very advantage of advances in quantum computing. Their Essence
shape thanks to chimeric nanotechnology. But learning manipulation ability was tuned toward finesse rather than
from the mistakes of the Terrestrial Exalted’s creators, the brutal power of their Solar brethren. And the Lunar
this new technology was not built into the bloodlines Exalted received an upgrade during this period as well, for
of these so-called Lunar Exalted (named after the moon after centuries of service as leaders, special forces, assassins,
they were created on) but instead the product of a pro- and the companions of the wealthy, they had the ears of
cess. The process involved implantation of a liquid-metal the very powerful.
processor, power-plant and nano-seed into the body of The Celestial Exalted all share one thing in common—
the Lunar Exalted. The seed could live for a thousand the Essence shards that make them Exalted are dependent
years, and so battle-field or mission-based implantations on spiritual and physical power and finesse. When an Exalt
were common—when an Exalt died, one of his human dies, shards may either seek out a replacement user on their
squadmates would allow himself to be implanted so the own, or by implantation by those few who still carry the
mission could continue. secret of shard-harvesting and placement. But these shards
For at least a thousand years, these Exalted and a cannot just be placed in anyone—a host needs a special
handful of others were all that existed. As technology made kind of intellectual or physical prowess, not necessarily
another leap forward, so too were these Exalted modified, pure strength or intelligence, but instead a kind of spiritual
until the technologies and psychic and physical modifica- puissance. The shards can only interface with those who
tions involved would no longer be comprehensible to the have a special potential for greatness. Implantation in an
original creators of the Exalted. But it took the develop- ill-equipped being not capable of the appropriate prana-
ment of Essence technology—true prana and musculature musculature movements to wield the shard’s power and
manipulation via Essence manipulation—to spell the next interface with its Essence, either by mortals or by the shard’s
step forward. own programming, will result in the swift and fatal deteriora-
Essence manipulation and quantum computing al- tion of the mortal in question. Sometimes shards on nearly
lowed for the creation of the Solar Exalted and Sidereal empty worlds have been known to implant themselves in
Exalted. The Essence generators built into the Solar Es- the nearest unsuitable specimen, which then will travel the
sence shards were the most powerful and compact ever world seeking a cure for the energies that are causing it to
designed, allowing for enhancement of skills and abilities die. When the shard then comes near an appropriate host,
far beyond what was available before. The Solars were de- it leaves its current owner—sometimes, on rare occasions,
signed as human monitors and companions to the Stellar this exit is not fatal.
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Exalted still exist who haven’t reformatted their Essences,
THE SOLAR EXALTED but these beings are still subject to the Yozi’s curse, the
The Solar Exalted were designed to be the upgraded
Essence virus which drives the Solars mad.
elites of a universe where the stars were mere objects to
It is this situation—the Solar Exalted driven into exile,
be manipulated, where sentience—and more importantly,
and then allowing themselves to succumb to old age or
spiritual awareness—was a function to be built into com-
death—which has cast the majority of Solar Essences into
mon tools. The first of the Solar Exalted is rumored to have
the frontier, and that is why the Solar Exalted are now
been the Immaculate Golden Engineer himself, who used a
mostly found in the vastness of the universe outside of the
prototype shard to enhance his own incredible power and
Central Empire.
ability and extend his lifespan well beyond normal limits,
Now is a time when new Solar Exalted are born and
allowing him to finish his ambitious redesign of the planets,
create new legends. Every schoolchild knows the heroic
stars, and space between.
stories of Ynos Starlaw, who helped push the limits of the
Implantation of the Solar shards were reserved not for
old Solar Dynasties to the edges of the galaxy and who dis-
the servants of the great, but for the great themselves—cor-
appeared across the dark edge of the Known Worlds to see
porate overlords, members of the royal families, scions of
what lay beyond them, but now the populace talks about the
military dynasties, and war heroes who had won every medal
gunslinger known as Dace, and the strange assassin known
and award the legions could grant. The truly great, by the
as Harmonious Jade, who claims descent from Immaculate
metric of the age, were gifted with Solar shards.
Golden Emperor himself.
And for a period, the Solar Exalted governed the
universe well. Teamed with the fathomless intellects and ORICHALCUM
ambitions of the Stellar Intelligences, the Solar Exalted Orichalcum is a rare metal forged in special furnaces
expanded the canal system until nearly every habitable which can replicate the heat of the sun. This rare, exotic
world in the galaxy was easily accessed, they interacted metal shines brightly and can survive any force in the
with the Shrieking Hordes who lurk in the space between Known Worlds. Even the weapons of the Malfean rebels,
galaxies and tamed them, shaping them somewhat in their capable of destroying worlds, could not harm orichalcum.
own image, so the Hordes could send ambassadors into the
Known Worlds. The Solar Exalted’s charms and sorcer- THE LUNAR EXALTED
ies allowed them to deal with a hundred crises across a The Lunar Exalted’s origins lie back on Creation. Over
thousand worlds, it allowed them to remake whole worlds the years, the basis for their charms and shapeshifting ability
if they needed, and play with the fundamental building has changed from chimeric nanotechnology to Essence-
blocks of reality. And when the Stellar Intelligences rose based manipulation of their own matter, but their overall
up in the Malfean War, the power of the Solar Exalted role has never wandered—the Lunar Exalted are warriors,
allowed them put their former companions down. assassins, companions, and spies. They can infiltrate any
But at heart, the Essences which gifted the Solar criminal enterprise, fight in any environment, and they
Exalted with such power were, conceptually, computers, can live as long as even the most powerful Solar Exalted.
and computers are prone to viruses. The Yozi infected the It is no surprise that the Solar Exalted relied on their Lunar
nigh-immortal and omnipotent Solar overlords with a viral “uncles and aunts” a great deal during their reign.
program of incredible delicacy, one which threw off their THE LONG WARRIORS
control of their own natures. In the collapse of the galactic AND THE IMPERIAL LUNARS
empire, as the taint of the Stellar Intelligences led to the With the end of the Solar Exalted’s stewardship over
downfall of Solar leadership, the majority of the Solars the Known Worlds, the Lunar Exalted have split into two
sensed there was something wrong, and retreated to find main branches. The first are the “imperial” Lunars, who
a cure. Over the ensuing centuries, they came to realize have embraced Heaven’s Son’s rulership over the Central
that the Essence infections they suffered from could only Empire and his goals of rulership over all sapient life. These
be cured by “rebooting” the Essence—by stripping it out Lunars seek to build a great society, but one not based on
of its host, reformatting it back to its original state. But the dangerous stellar power sources that eventually rebelled
to do so was to diminish the shard—it would never be as against mankind. These Lunars believe it is their duty to
good as it was before it was affected by the virus. While govern and to lead. Nacreous Sword is rumored to belong
still immensely powerful, the Solar Exalted would never to this line, as is Feral Wolf, a terrible law enforcement
reach the heights of puissance they once knew—like the operative known for bringing down whole interstellar
Yozi, they would be forever diminished. Over the ensuing criminal operations one bloody mutilation at a time when
thousand years, the vast majority of Solar Exalted eventu- they step out of their prescribed roles.
ally gave in to senescence and old age or the ambition of The other major faction within Lunar society is that
other beings, and allowed themselves to die peacefully or of the Long Warriors. For these Lunar Exalted, turning
be killed in some last, great crusade. A handful of Solar
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
inward to govern a diminished empire is a foolish, possibly Grand Celestial Mountain into their charms to allow
fatal endeavor. The Yozi are not dead, just diminished. for miraculous feats of forecasting and manipulation of
The graveyards of the Tomb-Stars are unexplored and events in the galaxy at large. The Sidereal Essences are
potentially dangerous. The Shrieking Hordes lurk within effectively chaos computing terminals networked to the
the spaces beyond the Known Worlds and in the weakened Grand Celestial Mountain, allowing them to use their
reality of the canals. And there are still Solar Exalted unique forecasting gifts to guide individuals, and even
remnants of the Malfean War, strangely undiminished whole societies, in the proper direction.
compared to their newly born fellows, and prone to great It was the Sidereal Exalted who advised the Solar Ex-
madnesses. These Long Warriors work as rangers and mer- alted on the feasibility of various galaxy-wide engineering
cenary captains, fighting back threats on the frontier when projects, vetted workers and designers, and then guided the
they appear, and between missions operating as wandering projects to completion. In addition, they interfaced with
sell-swords and gunslingers. This is not to say that these the powerful Essence-programs and master control intellects
Lunars are not themselves serious threats to peace and that ran the Grand Celestial Mountain, including the Stel-
prosperity—the frontier tells tales of Leviathan, who has lar Intellects themselves. It is unknown if the Sidereals saw
somehow managed to transform himself into an enormous of the rebellion of the Yozi in advance, granting the Solar
bioship capable of ravaging in the name of strengthening Exalted an edge just before the Malfean War—but once the
the people of the frontier. But the Long Warriors generally war was underway, the Sidereals directly engaged the enemy,
have a good reputation, such as Lilith, who monitors the attacking their fortresses in Grand Celestial Mountain and
activity of the Solar Exalted for the Long War’s leaders, cutting them off from computing power and communica-
and her apprentice Strength of Many. tion while their Exalted brethren met them in realspace.
The differences between these groups is best demon- In the wake of the Yozi’s rebellion and the depar-
strated in how they choose new Lunar Exalted, since both ture of the Solar Exalted for the frontier, the Sidereals
groups have access to the technologies needed for Essence have not been idle. They have peered closely at the
implantation, and rarely resort to allowing their dead mechanisms involved in Exaltation in an attempt to
brethren’s Essences to find their own hosts. The imperial puzzle out the secrets of their own creation, poten-
Lunars implant their own descendants, their most favored tially to enhance their power to Solar levels. But the
servants, or those who epitomize the ideals of the Central mysteries of the Exalted are difficult to solve, especially
Empire and its bureaucratic and militant commercialism. in this fallen age, and so the Sidereals have had to be
The Long Warriors implant Essences in warriors from the satisfied with “hacking” their Essences in order to allow
greatest armies in the frontier, in hard-traveling trailblaz- them to use Sidereal martial arts, a specific set of combat
ers who the Lunars have chanced across, and in the most charms, as well as to hide from those who would seek
cunning and moral thieves and killers. them without permission. At this point, there are only a
Luckily, the difference in philosophies mean the two small handful of Sidereal Essences which have not been
factions rarely encounter one another as of yet. But if a true hacked. The few Sidereals who possess original Essences
threat ever approached the Known Worlds capable of harm- claim that the hacking process introduces massive errors
ing galactic civilization again, the Long Warriors may have into long-term forecasting.
no choice but to turn to their imperial brothers and sisters
for aid, and if the Central Empire ever does begin to expand
EMISSARIES AND EXILES
Since the Malfean War, there has been a rift amongst
again, it will surely cross the paths of their lost brethren.
the Sidereals just as there is among the Lunars, although
MOONSILVER the split is not because of philosophical differences. The
Although many things have changed about the Emissary faction still follows their ancient mission and
Lunars since their first, mythical appearances, they still troubleshoots the manses and Essence programs that con-
rely on liquid metal—although it is now a kind of liquid nect with the Grand Celestial Mountain. This is a sacred
femtotechnology, as much energy as matter, rather than task, they feel, and not only that, it is a task to which no
the nanotechnology the first Lunar Exalted wielded. other kind of Exalted is suited. More than that, within the
Grand Celestial Mountain, the Sidereals are as powerful
THE SIDEREAL EXALTED as the Lunar Exalted are in the Central Empire, accorded
The Sidereal Exalted Essences were first designed and respect by the spirit programs and Essence systems that run
implanted at roughly the same time as the Solar Exalted. the galaxy. This faction was until recently led by an ancient
However, where the Solar Exalted were designed for a Sidereal, but his Essence and the accumulated knowledge of
kind of ruthless generalism and overwhelming power, his grand plan was implanted into a newly Exalted woman
the Sidereal Exalted natures were oriented toward finesse named Chejop Kejak.
and a delicate interface with the universe. The Sidereals However, it is impossible to ignore that the Mountain
were meant to lever the massive processing power of the is a galactic computer network designed to manage and
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oversee an empire many times larger than the current Essence-engines, lower-powered but similar to those used
size of the Known Worlds, that much of the Mountain’s by the Solar, Sidereal and Lunar Exalted.
operations proceed largely satisfactorily with just the Obviously, some among the powers-that-be during the
oversight of the most powerful programs who dwell at golden age believed that the genetic inheritance that made
the mountain’s peak, and that many of the most powerful a Dragon-Blood what they were was too uncontrollable
functions of the mountain are largely inaccessible with- compared to the Essence-shards of the other Exalted. But
out Stellar Intelligences to guide them. The number of by that point in history, the Terrestrial bloodlines were
Sidereal Exalted is tied to the number of troubleshooters wedded to the upper echelons of society—predecessors of
the system needed at its peak—now, a faction within the the modern military families, trading clans, and syndicates.
Sidereal Exalted considers that number too high. These And those most worried about the Terrestrial inheritance
self-proclaimed “exiles” wander the galaxy, seeking adven- were normal human beings—the Solars disregarded their
ture or using their abilities to build something of import fears because of the inherent power difference between the
within realspace, attempting to create relationships under Celestial Exalted and their Terrestrial siblings.
one guise or another in order to live normal, if incredibly Obviously, the Celestial Exalted are no longer a natural
interesting lives. Some of them work as adventurous war- check on the Dragon-Bloods. The Sidereals either spend
riors, like the Crimson Banner Executioner, while others the majority of their time advising the Lunar dynasty that
will hack the Mountain itself for the right price, like the runs the Central Empire or maintaining the Grand Celestial
young and urbane Black Ice Shadow and his coterie of Mountain, barring those few who choose the life of the exile.
burglary code-spirits. The Solar Exalted have been effectively banished to the
The most powerful of the Emissaries view the exiles as frontier, and none, as yet, has attempted to seek power in
ne’er-do-wells and wastrels, but for the most part, the two the empire’s core systems. And the Lunar Exalted who fol-
factions get along well. Exiles know that when they get low Heaven’s Son are relatively few in number, concerned
tired of wandering the Known Worlds, they have a posi- primarily with maintaining the Central Empire, and utterly
tion waiting for them in Grand Celestial Mountain, albeit dependent on the massed numbers of the Dragon-Bloods
a low-level, boring occupation to start. Emissaries, in turn, to populate the bureaucracy and military’s ranks, in addi-
suspect that having eyes positioned on the fringes of the tion to the work they do maintaining the corporate trading
galaxy—and much more likely to encounter the renewed monopolies that keep the Central Empire’s commercial
numbers of the Solar Exalted—are probably a wise course power at peak performance.
of action. One of the problems these Emissaries face is that
their sensory ability is limited to worlds which are either
THE TEN MILLION DRAGONS
part of the Grand Celestial Mountain or which were at AND THE OUTCASTE
one point—the darkened areas beyond the Known Worlds, The Ten Million Dragons serve the Lunar overlords
where the Yozi and Shrieking Hordes lurk, as well as the of the Central Empire and swear fealty to Heaven’s Son.
shadow-realm of Terminus where the Tomb-Stars wait, are This is not to say that some of them do not entertain
out of the reach of Sidereal forecasting. ambitious plans to overthrow the Lunars, but Heaven’s
Son as yet has managed to keep the Terrestrial Exalted
STARMETAL under him pitted against each other in such a way as
The starmetal that the Sidereal Exalted use is not to keep the hungriest amongst them busy, even while
actually metal harvested from a star, but a rare artificial it leaves them wealthy enough to keep the greediest
metal created in femtotech furnaces and which is effectively amongst them happy. In addition, Heaven’s Son’s intel-
indestructible. ligence operatives have riddled the Dragon-Blooded’s
power-bases with informants, spies, and watchers, eager
THE DRAGON-BLOODED to report on any hint of revolution.
The original Dragon-Blooded were genetically engi- Which is not to say that all Dragon-Blooded serve
neered, psychically gifted beings oriented around a handful Heaven’s Son. The genetic inheritance that makes a Ter-
of disciplines and trained in body control and very, very restrial Exalted has been sown all over the galaxy, and
primitive Essence manipulation. (So primitive, in fact, that especially at the height of the empire, there were few worlds
it would be thousands of years and the development of Es- which did not know the tread of a Dragon-Blooded heel.
sence technology before scientists realized that’s what the Even today, generations after a family has given birth to
original Terrestrials had been doing.) Over the years, that the last Terrestrial Exalted in their line, the right conflu-
genetic engineering has been modified, hacked, enhanced, ence of genes may come together to allow the birth of some
and modified again, until the Terrestrial Exalted look as they atavism. Within the Central Empire, these outcaste Exalts
do today. Sometime in the golden age, the original psychic are recruited into the trading clans or legions, but in the
potential which allowed the Dragon-Blooded to accomplish frontier, they often either seek out lives of adventure or
incredible feats was replaced with genetically transmitted use their powers to advance their own ambitions amongst
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
the people they’ve grown up around. Many is the scion their way to Terminus, where the Tomb-Stars manipulated
of a trading clan exploring the frontier who encounters a them into the Abyssal Exalted?
city, nation-state, or world-government run by a handful What is known is that the Abyssal Exalted are inevitably
of Dragon-Blooded outcastes, utilizing blaster, charm, and chosen by the Tomb-Stars from those about to perish. The
daiklaive to eliminate those who oppose them. And many reach of the Tomb-Stars is unspeakably long, and when
still is the world grateful for the sight of some well-known a being of great power is about to perish, sometimes the
outcaste, like the Five Elite Fiends, masters of Nexus’ martial Tomb-Stars or their Death Avatars reach out and suspend
arts underworld, who arrive to match wits, daiklaives and that being in a state of half-life, sending out an Abyssal
blasters with armies of slavers. Essence shard to infect them and transform them into an
agent of the dead Stellar Intelligence that has chosen him.
JADE Once Exalted, the Abyssal is summoned through the nearest
The Dragon-Blooded build their artifacts out of jade,
Tomb-Star to the grave-world of Terminus, where he swears
but just as modern Dragon-Blooded have very little in
oaths on his old name, is granted a new title by his Tomb-
common with the original Terrestrial Exalted after years of
Star’s avatar, and is given his mission. Sometimes those
alteration, the jade used in modern technology is actually
missions are incredibly specific—the Dusky-Hued Blossom
a crystalline form of matter with similarities to both metal
Whose Scent is Despair has been sent out into the galaxy to
and stone. Most worlds have jade deposits of substantial
hunt down Contentious Sword, if he still lives, and destroy
size, seeded there during previous dynasties, and so it is the
him, while other Abyssals are given very general orders,
most common of the Exalted elements.
such as the Monk Who Speaks Unutterable Wisdom and
THE ABYSSAL EXALTED Forbidden Truth, who has been ordered to undermine the
If the return of the Solar Exalted to a shade of their Shining Eye and its cults and crime-rings, thus weakening
former numbers over the last decade has sent the popula- the Thousandth Dynasty as a whole.
tions of the frontier and Central Empire reeling, then the REAPERS AND REBELS
rumors of a new kind of Exalt are even more worrisome. A handful of movements and philosophies coalesce
These Exalted traffic in darkness, preaching the Gospel of under the nascent Abyssal Exalted, but for the most part,
the Terminus, of life everlasting in a universe with no stars, the Abyssal Exalted can be broken down into two groups—
no heat, just the oppressive gloom and cold of the great abyss, those broken and bound, body and soul, by the Tomb-Stars,
the endpoint of black holes, and the genesis of dark matter. and those who pursue their own agendas, either under the
These Abyssal Exalted are the servants of the Tomb- aegis of their master or after leaving his service, such as
Stars, answering to the Death Avatars of the collapsed the Impenetrable Heart of Obsidian, who now serves the
corpses of ancient Stellar Intelligences. They travel freely Thousandth Dynasty. These latter rogue Abyssals are often
between this universe and the Terminus, their starships’ hunted by their fellows, although given the opacity of the
anima fields able to ignore the inexorable pull of impossible Tomb-Star’s goals, it may be that even these petty rebellions
gravity of the black holes that mark the resting places of somehow serve their old master’s goals.
Yozi rebels slain in the Malfean War. The agendas of the
Death Avatars are not yet apparent, and may differ from SOULSTEEL
individual avatar to avatar, but the Abyssals are the agents The mysterious element known as soulsteel has yet to
of those plans, actively working for the Tomb-Stars and be successfully examined by the scientists and technologists
pursuing their strange goals. of the Known Worlds. Those few who have had cause to
But from where do the Abyssals come? Some scientists in encounter the substance know only that its properties are
the frontier believe that their Essences are actually corrupted novel, and do not match up with any material as yet found
Solar shards. It is true that many believe the disappearances within the galaxy. When asked, the Abyssal Exalted merely
of the Solar Exalted were caused by the realization that their state that it comes from Terminus, and can only be found
Essences had been corrupted by the Yozi, but there were other there—that it is the substance of the Tomb-Stars themselves.
reasons for Solars to blink out of existence. Rumors were
rife of the boldest of the Solar Exalted in the frontier being HEAVEN’S REACH
hunted—it’s possible that some of them fell to the agents
of the Death Avatars, their Essences harvested and brought VEHICLES
back to Terminus for modification. In addition, hundreds Heaven’s Reach is a universe of exoticism and variety,
of Solar Exalted died in the Malfean War, their Essences and as such no reasonable catalog of ships can encompass
unaccounted for. Some of those deaths were caused by the everything that one may encounter in all its vast reaches.
death throes of Stellar Intelligences collapsing into black Storytellers and players alike should keep in mind that what
holes or dark matter anomalies, the so-called Tomb-Stars. follows is a tiny selection of examples from which to draw
Could it be that the Essences of those dead Exalts made inspiration. More vehicles may be found in The Books of
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Sorcery, Vol. I—Wonders of the Lost Age. While those crew and passengers. Each personal room is adjoined by a
ships and other conveyances are not specifically designed bathroom, and some models reduce the size of the confer-
to fit into Heaven’s Reach, many of them can be made suit- ence room to make space for a communal bath.
able with minimal effort. For instance, the Windblade-class A very limited line of Swan yachts, specially tailored for
personal transports can provide both a tactical advantage showy Exalted diplomats, are equipped with a standard anima
to an alien potentate’s personal guard, as well as hint at the circuit (see p. 64), as well as the refraction echo circuit. This
royal aerial sport the players’ characters may need to engage latter circuit, when charged, boosts the clarity and range of
in to redress an impending diplomatic gaffe. any onboard Exalt’s voice, halving external penalties due
to overwhelming sound that apply to his social attacks or
MUNDANE STAR SHIPS Awareness rolls for others to hear him, and doubling the
-CLASS PERSONAL YACHT range of his voice.
(RESOURCES ••••) -CLASS CARGO
A mere 20 yards long, barely larger than most star HAULER (RESOURCES ••••)
fighters, the Swan-class personal yacht manages to pack One of the more expensive cargo haulers for small
a surprising amount of luxury into its tiny frame, though businesses, the Friendly Roc is relatively new, having
having three decks does help. Its tiered design, and asym- been put into production barely two centuries past. It is
metric pair of cockpit and observation room, lend it the not famous, it is not ubiquitous, but it is well-appointed,
appearance of the head of a swan. When produced, they reliable, and still within the budgets of up-and-coming
are usually custom-built, with minor modifications just for traders and tramp haulers. Only 30 yards long, its bulk
the customer. Notable amongst popular modifications are spreads outward, giving it great, broad shoulders with
murals along the hull, which make a given Swan yacht a total 80 yard span. This is not remarkable for a cargo
highly recognizable. hauler, but Friendly Rocs can still be spotted quite easily
Repair: 4 thanks to their thematically modeled central cockpit.
Speed: 45/90mph Those who think it tacky tend to spend what money they
Maneuverability: +1S (Lore 2, Sail 2) earn hauling cargo on remodeling, to make the ship less
Endurance: Swan yachts are not known for their reac- “ridiculous looking.” Others enjoy or embrace the look,
tor efficiency, and with regular use must dock at recharging and spend an equal amount of money getting laser-etched
stations monthly. They are well-known for many after- wings painted on the cargo pods.
market modifications to enhance or replace their reactors, Repair: 3
improving operational range to as many as three months of Speed: 35/70mph
constant travel. The ships still need weekly maintenance, Maneuverability:-1S (Lore 2, Sail 2)
but can be in arrears a full month before their performance Endurance: One of the traits of the Friendly Roc that
suffers. At that point, its Maneuverability falls to -1, and makes it more attractive than some competitors is its robust
every week thereafter it falls one more point. When its reactor core, which allows it to fire its engines, maintain life
Maneuverability would reach a total of -3, the ship’s engine support and all the other minimal necessities for months
is completely misaligned, and it can sustain only minimal at a time without returning to a recharging station. It still
life support until it is repaired. requires monthly maintenance, or weekly with heavy travel.
Crew: 2/1 Every week in arrears after this time imposes one of the fol-
Cargo: One ton of cargo, usually taken up by delicacies, lowing penalties: -1 Maneuverability, -5/10mph Speed, or
and vacation and observation equipment. It also has lavish random outages that render systems other than life support
suites for both crew, and for up to five more passengers. inoperable for as much as a day.
Armor: 8L/12B Crew: 2/1
Health Levels: Ux8/Mx6/Cx6/Ix4/D Cargo: Friendly Rocs do not boast the greatest cargo
Weapons: Though not manufactured with weapons capacity, but they are not specially lacking, and can haul
or mounting points, many who venture into less civilized hundreds of tons of cargo at a time (or hundreds of extra
territories and frontiers find it fairly easy to equip their yacht passengers in varying degrees of discomfort depending on
with a vehicular blaster (as blaster rifle, with Damage 9L, modifications made). The ships also come with three regular
Range 100, Ammo 150). passengers quarters, factory-furnished.
Other Notes: There are numerous gathering areas Armor: 9L/13B
throughout the ship, including two intimate dining rooms Health Levels: Ux10/Mx7/Cx7/Ix6/D
(adjoining crew and passenger quarters, respectively), a Weapons: Friendly Roc models exist for civilized areas
small banquet hall, a sizable kitchen, a conference room, of space, and for those traders who venture into more exotic
a drawing room, a den, and an observation room that can locales (sporting two vehicular blasters, see the Swan-class
accommodate a half-dozen guests in addition to regular personal yacht, above).
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
Anima Circuits
An outgrowth or predecessor of the anima field technology, the history of anima circuits is
uncertain. It remains clear that they are related innovations with wildly divergent purposes. While
the anima field projects a bulwark against the dangers of interstellar travel, anima circuits exploit
the Exalted aura of power to protect the ship from the inside, and to shunt some of that power into
other uses. The first and most common anima circuit is found in nearly all war ships, from the oldest,
frailest star fighters to the most robust capital ship-of-the-line. These oldest circuits protect the ship
from anima flux and other inherent dangers of an Exalted anima display that may harm a vessel. It is
cheap and easy to install these systems, but it is not free, so the only civilian vessels that sport anima
circuits are custom-built or built to specially cater to Exalted markets.
Other anima circuits are expensive and complex, but built on top of the common, protective
anima circuit. They channel the energy of an anima flaring to the 8m+ level into special charging
modules, drawing on the infinite heroism of Exalted pilots to empower the ship. These powers tend
to be short-lived, discharging with use or when overwhelmed, and only recharging after the pilot’s
next action tick when he spends another 8m+ in a single instant. The most common anima circuits
of this type are shield overchargers, which lend a ship 15L/15B hardness that persists until a hit actually
overcomes the hardness, at which point the field collapses and must wait to be recharged. Another
common anima circuit—the dragon’s wake—is specific to Terrestrial Exalted, extending their anima
flux up to 10 yards outside the perimeter of their ship for one action.
A ship can sustain only two or three anima circuits before the delicate circuitry and Essence
shunts become imbalanced and no longer function. This is a limitation of the technology that has
frustrated engineers for centuries.
-CLASS FIGHTER in arrears, the ship’s engines will become inoperable until
the vehicle is fully repaired.
(RESOURCES ••••) Crew: 1/1 (2/1 in bomber configuration)
One of the most common star fighters in service
Cargo: Star Asps are equipped with emergency supplies
for the past century, Star Asps made the Kireeki Design
in case of a crash, but otherwise carry no more than a dozen
Concern what it is today (and funded their creation of
pounds of extra cargo.
a limited series of Kireeki-class battlecruisers). They are
Armor: 11L/18B (13L/20B in bomber configuration)
sleek, cobalt spearheads, surmounted on the back by two
Health Levels: Ux6/Mx6/Cx5/Ix3/D
menacing claw-like wings. One of the reasons for their
Weapons: The standard Star Asp, which is usually
enduring popularity is the ease with which they are refitted
deployed as an interceptor, is equipped with a pair of heavy,
for special missions, filling the roles of space superiority
vehicular blasters (as a blaster rifle, with Damage 11L, Range
fighter, heavy weapons escort, and bomber with small
150, Ammo 300). Star Asp DD (Destroyer Deployment)
effort and much less cost than maintaining three differ-
models replace these with a heavy repeating disruptor
ent ships for each mission. Their long history and short
(Damage 9L, Range 100, Ammo 150). Star Asp B (Bomber)
production cycle see these ships filling out squadrons all
models have a single vehicular blaster, as well as a missile
across Heaven’s Reach.
rack (as a rocket launcher, with Damage 20L, Ammo 2).
Repair: 4
Other Notes: Star Asp fighters are widespread and
Speed: 65/130mph
common enough that old production models can be found
Maneuverability: +2S (Lore 2, Sail 2)
for the relatively low price of Resources •••. They are al-
Endurance: Like most star fighters, Star Asps tend to
ways treated as being in arrears for no less than three hours
expend fuel at a prodigious rate, furiously pursuing foes in
of maintenance, or four for extremely old models. Star Asp
combat. They require recharging after every combat extend-
sub-C (Chosen) are a sub-model of each version of the ship,
ing beyond ten minutes. When on patrol, they can go for
coming equipped with basic anima circuits.
several hours before needing to recharge. They require an
hour’s maintenance after every battle, or after eight hours -CLASS STAR
of patrol. If in arrears for four hours of maintenance, reduce BOMBER (RESOURCES •••••)
Maneuverability by one; if in arrears eight hours, reduce the A joint venture by many engineers within the Central
Accuracy and Damage of its weapons by one. If 25 hours Empire, the Nova Deliverance was once the pinnacle of heavy
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65
ordnance star fighters, and has since been copied and spread it manages to remain imposingly aerodynamic (not that
throughout Heaven’s Reach. The original, Imperial models it is capable of atmospheric flight). At over 100 yards in
are sleek, nearly wingless daggers, twice as long as most star length, it features few protrusions, affording little cover to
fighters. Lesser copies tend to be bulky trapezoids, and some star fighters and bombers that penetrate its point defenses
have extended wings for mounting extra weapons. Most of and escort fighters. It is highly maneuverable, and with
the space inside the ship is taken up by guidance systems its rounded design it is not difficult to train nearly half of
and ordnance storage. its weapons on any given target.
Repair: 4 Repair: 4
Speed: 40/80mph Speed: 35/70mph
Maneuverability: +0S (Lore 3, Sail 2) Maneuverability:-2S (Bureaucracy 2, Lore 3, Sail 3)
Endurance: Nova Deliverance star ships can keep fly- Endurance: Built for extended patrol and siege,
ing for a full day without needing to recharge. Where they Indomitable frigates have powerful reactors and battery
expend most of their energy is in the launching of their housings half again as large as those of similar ships.
heavier weapons, which count as three hours in flight Even with frequent and long battles, they can go for
each. They require maintenance like a Star Asp, but only years before their power systems must be refitted. They
after 25 hours of flight, regardless of the combat situation. require regular ship-wide maintenance, however, from
If in arrears eight hours, in addition to the usual penalties, dedicated engineering crews numbering in the dozens.
Nova Deliverance bombers can fire only one missile or Final Without an engineering crew, the ship will quickly fall
Pulse before their heavy ordnance targeting system becomes out of order and cease operations over the course of a
misaligned and can no longer fire at all. month, though some derelicts are rumored to house
Crew: 2/1 refugees who rely on the enduring life support system
Cargo: Though much larger than other fighter-scale and their own hydroponics.
ships, Nova Deliver bombers have room for only a few Crew: 70/15 (Unlike smaller vessels, operations on
hundred pounds of cargo beyond their emergency supplies. Indomitable frigates only suffer a -1 Maneuverability penalty
Armor: 12L/18B for every 10 crew that it lacks.)
Health Levels: Ux4/Mx8/Cx8/Ix3/D Cargo: Indomitable frigates have space for hundreds
Weapons: Traditional Nova Deliverance bombers of tons of cargo, which may be taken up by extra ground
are outfitted with a single vehicular blaster (see Star Asp troops or vehicles. They have enough space to house four
weapons, above) under their nose. They also carry two star fighters, if they carry little else. In addition to this vast
missile pods, one on either side of the fuselage (as a rocket space, they have quarters for up to 30 passengers, and a spare
launcher, with Damage 20L, Ammo 10 each). These may barracks that can house 125 soldiers.
be replaced by the Final Pulse energy weapon, which expels Armor: 14L/20B
a coruscating orb that explodes on impact, mimicking a trip Health Levels: Ux15/Mx10/Cx5/Ix10/D
to the surface of a star (Speed 7, Accuracy +0, Damage 25L, Weapons: Weapons pods mark the four corners of
Rate 1, Range 100, Ammo 2, Tags: P). the frigate, with three more along each side and the dorsal
Knock-offs with extended wings can equip two ad- and ventral hulls. Each pod is outfitted with a pair of heavy
ditional blasters, but they may mount only a single missile vehicular blasters (as blaster rifle, with Damage 12L, Range
pod under the fuselage, and cannot produce the necessary 200, Ammo unlimited). The six foremost pods are also
energy to be outfitted with a Final Pulse weapon. outfitted with mass drivers (as sniper rifle, with Damage
Other Notes: Nova Deliverance bombers are equipped 15L, Range 600, Ammo 300).
with basic anima circuits, as well as a standard shield over- Other Notes: Indomitable frigates are outfitted with
charger circuit. Most knock-offs are equipped only with a standard anima circuits throughout vital areas, though to
standard circuit. cut costs crew quarters and other non-key interiors are not
so protected. The command bridge is protected with a shield
-CLASS FRIGATE overcharger circuit tied to the commander’s anima, providing
(RESOURCES •••••) 20L/20B hardness when active.
Though recent, and not as widespread or cheap as older
models, the Indomitable-class frigate has seen an explosion -
in popularity. While it is not entirely dissimilar to other CLASS BATTLECRUISER
popular frigates, and it bears little resemblance to the (RESOURCES N/A)
imposing angular juggernauts of the Central Empires core Kireeki Design Concern has made its name and for-
navy, the trademark golden swash along its prow marks tune with innovative marketing and engineering, but it
the Indomitable frigate as the largest, most successful ship got its start providing reasonably priced, good products
produced by Denandsor Industries. It is relatively cheap, to people who need them. That is why so many local
as capital war ships go, despite its size and armament, and
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
planetary navies are led by Mostath Space Fortress-class structure is a missile launch tube (as rocket launcher, with
battlecruisers. Moderate for battlecruisers, these vessels Damage 20L, Ammo 30).
are still over 300 yards long and wide, small floating cities Some governments and villains with devastation on
with many adjoining modules that lean inwards, forming their minds have equipped their Mostath Space Fortresses
a pyramidal frame which protects and oversees operations with superweapons, usually on the lower superstructure. One
in an expansive hangar at the heart of the beast. This odd example is the Multi-focus Disruptor Array, which sits in the
design also makes the Mostath Space Fortress incredibly center of the bottom of the ship, its component housing
durable, as its vital systems are diffused and spread far taking up the room of a whole squadron in the hangar above.
apart, though bringing them all together properly raises This terrifying weapon has the following traits: Speed 7,
the cost of each ship. Their reputation has suffered lately, Accuracy -1, Damage 14L, Rate 1, Range 100, Ammo 10
as some conquest-minded villains and madmen have (takes a full day to recharge from the reactor, or an hour
demonstrated that the ventral hull at the bottom of the when docked at a charging station), Tags: P. Attacks with
superstructure is easily adaptable into a planet-busting this weapon are flashing waves of green and white that
weapons platform. shimmer through space like an aurora, applied against all
Repair: 4 valid targets within 100 yards of the intended target. The
Speed: 28/55mph effective range of the multi-focus disruptor array is actu-
Maneuverability:-3S (Bureaucracy 3, Lore 3, Sail 2) ally extended when fired into a planetary atmosphere, as
Endurance: As a cost-saving measure, these battlec- it causes the air to superheat and applies the attack to all
ruisers are designed to enter low-power states during times valid targets from space to ground and out to a mile from
of extended peace, allowing their already efficient reactors the intended target.
to last years without recharging. Unfortunately, if left on Other Notes: Mostath Space Fortresses are not just
standby for a full mont, it can take hours to return the ship staging platforms, they are hardened military targets, and
to battle readiness, leaving its guns with sporadic access to are equipped with anima circuits to protect key interior
power. Mostath Space Fortress require regular maintenance chambers, including engineering, command, munitions,
like an Indomitable frigate. The operational range of these and the hangar. Kireeki Design Concern could not manu-
gargantuan ships is most limited by its small cargo holds, facture these battlecruisers with additional circuits due to
tying them closely to supply lines. the exorbitant cost.
Crew: 200/20 (Unlike smaller vessels, operations on
Mostath Space Fortress battlecruisers only suffer a -1 Maneu- ARTIFACT STAR SHIPS
verability penalty for every 60 crew that it lacks.)
Cargo: While large by any means, servicing a ship (ARTIFACT ••••)
and crew of its size means that the thousands of tons that Ill-regarded are the name and story of The Lost Corona,
can be transported by these battlecruisers is often filled and the name and story of Sahan Brel, the scientist who long
mostly with necessary supplies when on extended mis- ago built her and led his crew to their doom in the Tomb-
sions, usually no more than a month’s worth. It also has Star known as the Scar Nebula. Despite he and his Exalted
three barracks that can house a total of 750 ground troops, compatriot’s skill and knowledge, they were never seen or
space for a dozen support craft, and a dedicated fighter bay heard from again. The same cannot be said of their ship.
and launch area that accommodates two full squadrons. The Lost Corona has reappeared frequently throughout
There are also escort quarters for up to 50 diplomats and the centuries, but many still dismiss it as legend, or hoax,
important prisoners. or the conflation of many tragedies. Those that have en-
Armor: 18L/25B countered the haunted star ship know better. What horrors
Health Levels: Ux20/Mx15/Cx5/Ix15/D (Storytellers lay in the domain of the Scar Nebula seared the shades of
are advised to keep in mind the threat levels outlined in her crew into its bulkheads, and granted the computers
Scroll of Kings, pp. 40-42, as even volleys from a frigate and engines of the ship a malevolent drive of their own. It
broadside attack simply cannot encompass more than a has been corrupted, and though metal still, it is hungry; it
fraction of the ship.) hungers for crewmen, whom it cannot care for in any but
Weapons: All along the struts that support its various the most twisted ways, and other ships, whose components
modules, there are dozens of heavy blaster gunnery stations nourish it better than any common reactor could.
(as a blaster rifle, with Damage 11L, Range 150, Ammo Repair: 3
unlimited). The lower, ventral superstructure is dotted Speed: 40/80mph, 50/100mph or 80/160mph
with these same weapons pods, and is meant to act as a Maneuverability: +0S, +1S or +3S
shield for the rest of the ship as it plows into enemy terri- Endurance: The Lost Corona fuels itself with the screams
tory, squadrons of fighters snaking up from behind its safety of the damned and the hulls of their ships. Drawing energy
when they reach key targets. At each point of the pyramidal in the prescribed ways affords it another month’s worth of
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67
driving force. One option is to successfully build an Intimacy It was once equipped with a trio of innovative anima
of fear or terror regarding the ship or its crew in a living circuits, all of which have fused into some new abomination.
character that is on board or in another ship that is docked Unlike normal anima circuits, those of The Lost Corona feed
with it. Another is to use its gimbals to grapple with and on the meeting of two opposing animas, treating each action
tear apart another star ship, which is considered successful of combat in which Exalted fight each other with mutual
for every five health levels removed in this way. 8m+ anima flare as an hour of driving force.
Unfortunately, to gain fuel it must expend it, as each The Lost Corona is inhabited by a number of ghosts,
scene of effort to do so consumes at least a day’s worth of most of them ancient and powerful. They are beholden to
its continued unlife, and up to a week for intense scenes its will and cannot leave it without being destroyed. Most
in which it ends up thwarted. Firing its disruptor weapon ghosts new and old quickly learn the tricks of nemissaries
consumes one month of its unlife per action. and other inhabiting Arcanoi, so that they can better ma-
Crew: 3/0 (Even in absence of wakeful shades or foolish nipulate their home. Those who die on the ship will not
treasure hunters, The Lost Corona can pilot itself.) necessarily become ghosts, and it is unknown if those who
Cargo: The Lost Corona has quarters for five passengers do are always bound to it.
in addition to its crew quarters. It has a large cargo hold that
can accommodate a few tons of solid recovered material,
and supplies for long voyages. It is also burdened with the (ARTIFACT •••••)
calcified remains of a number of specialized research sta- It is a sad fact that the greatest war ships, when
tions. Most toxins and dangerous implements in them have released to do what they are built for, often become tan-
since become inert or rusted away into pitiful fragments. talizing targets and, eventually, are destroyed. Happily,
Armor: 15L/20B their great legacy can be carried on and even improved
Health Levels: Ux10/Mx6/Cx5/Ix10/D (The Lost with new, better ships in the line, taking up the fallen
Corona, if it is not completely destroyed, will consume its banner and raising it to new heights. The first Son of
fuel at a rate of one month’s worth per day to restore one Heaven was commissioned nearly ten centuries past, and
health level, until it becomes only Critically damaged. If it it served gloriously in battle after battle, subduing rebels
has too little fuel to expend this way, it will still regenerate and more exotic foes, expanding the Central Empire in
at a rate of one level per year.) each of its campaigns. Son of Heaven II was completed
Weapons: Though a science vessel primarily, The during a time of peace, and served a ceremonial role for
Lost Corona’s mission was to infiltrate a Tomb-Star. Only most of its existence. However, both were destroyed in
the most foolish engineer would leave it with little or no narrow and glorious victories against incursions by Stellar
armament. The ghost-ship is equipped with a vehicular Intelligences. Son of Heaven III was already being built
starcaster (Accuracy +0, +1, +2; Damage 12L; Range 150), when its predecessor was destroyed. It would have been
and with an outsized surgical laser with traits similar to a a companion battlecruiser, to project both prestige and
nova lens disruptor (Accuracy +1, +2, +3; Damage 13L, force beyond all previous eras. Sadly, this was not to be,
15L, 17L; Range 300). and what would have been Titan’s Fist was on completion
The Lost Corona also sports gimbals with very articulate commissioned as the new Son of Heaven.
grasping attachments, though still too large to substitute This ship-of-the-line battlecruiser of the Imperial Fleet
for human hands entirely. They are delicate enough to is one of the largest war ships ever built, a fortress-city that
open a door, but not to pick a lock. The ship is treated as flies through space. Its astronomical cost in comparison to
having Strength 10 and Dexterity (3, 4, 5), and Martial other battlecruisers lies in both its improved armament and
Arts 3 (clinching star ships +2, crushing humans +1), and its beauty. There are no crude sensor towers, no weapons
its size and reach allow it to grapple and crush other star blisters bristling with unlovely guns. There are few sharp
ships similar to its scale. angles to the hull of the ship, each city block of it boast-
Other Notes: The Lost Corona hungers painfully, and ing frescoes of the victories of past Son of Heaven flagships
tires like a man starving when it has not frightened and and other, lesser known, cruisers. Busts of the Emperor cap
stranded enough living beings. If it has only a week’s left crenels that surround the top of each skyscraper-module, a
worth of its “fuel”, its performance is reduced, reflected in symbol of defiance that protects the lovingly craft temples
the first given values for its Speed, Maneuverability, and that house weapon platforms all around the ship. Thick steel
weapon Accuracies. If it has at least a month left, it remains plates slide through vast streets of sturdy armor, shielding
strong but still painfully aware of its coming dormancy, observation decks and quiescent hangars in battle. Despite
reflected in the second set of values given for those traits. its size and variety, the immense star ship boasts a unifying
So long as it has gorged itself and has more than a year’s aesthetic, a warrior prayer to Heaven’s Son and itself, a
worth of fuel available, it is invigorated and uses the third promise of devastating victory for the Empire.
set of values. But it is more than a tool for battle. It is a staging
platform for dozens of squadrons of smaller star ships, even
H E AV E N ’ S R E A C H
acting as a field repair station for other capital ships. Its missile tubes for taking out hardened or capital opponents,
senior officers’ quarters rival the mansions of planetary equivalent to a capital-scale dragon’s roar cannon (Dam-
governors, and it has finely appointed conference halls for age 17L/4, Rate 2, Range 500). All these weapons, and
negotiating and accepting the surrender of those cowed by the many more it may be equipped with, have effectively
the ship’s presence and armament, or for extraplanetary unlimited ammunition for any given battle.
meetings of the most prestigious and sensitive diplomats Other Notes: Son of Heaven III is rarely seen without
from across the Empire. Son of Heaven III has been sent an escort of up to a dozen other capital ships, from sup-
into active battle conservatively over the decades of its port frigates to one or two other, smaller battlecruisers.
service. The recent loss of Son of Heaven II was a sore It is the flagship of the Central Empire, and its pres-
blow. However, it is no less a juggernaut than its fellow ence should be enough to deter most foes who still have
battlecruisers, and laden with some of the best soldiers something to lose.
and tacticians of the Empire. The entire ship is equipped with standard anima cir-
Repair: 5 cuits throughout. Each gunnery station is outfitted with
Speed: 40/80mph an horizon-piercing anima circuit, increasing the Range of
Maneuverability:-4S (Bureaucracy 3, Lore 3) the weapon by +50 yards for each bonus die applied from
Endurance: Son of Heaven III is typically deployed as Aiming on the first following attack, to a maximum of
a support platform for other ships, which requires less fuel +150 yards.
on its own part. It can last for months in this configuration.
Even when sent into an extended battle, its supplies and fuel
will outlast a hundred of the most vicious skirmishes. It can
CHARACTER
be outfitted as a siege platform as well, to beat a wayward CREATION IN
planet into submission, laying in wait a full year without
resupply if necessary. HEAVEN’S REACH
Crew: 50/10 (Unlike smaller vessels, operations on In general, characters created for play in Heaven’s Reach
Son of Heaven III only suffer a -1 Maneuverability penalty are made according to the rules found in the Exalted core
for every 10 crew that it lacks.) book or in their respective Manuals of Exalted Power. A
Cargo: The giant battlecruiser carries thousands of few particular concerns apply:
tons of supplies, and houses dozens of its own support craft. • Heaven’s Reach uses both the Drive and Fire-
Depending on its mission, it may be accompanied by up to arms Abilities, rules for which can be found in this
five full squadrons of fighters, and may transport in comfort book’s Appendix.
two full legions of ground troops. • Lunars do not suffer from Wyld Taint. It is up to
Armor: 40L/50B Storytellers whether or not Casteless Lunars exist in the
Health Levels: Ux150/Mx100/Cx50/Ix30/D (Storytell- setting, but as a general assumption, no special process is
ers are advised to keep in mind the threat levels outlined needed to protect Lunars from their own shapeshifting power.
in Scroll of Kings, pp. 40-42, as even volleys from a frigate • Dragon-Blooded raised within the trading clans of
broadside attack simply cannot encompass more than a the Central Empire use the same character-creation rules as
fraction of the ship.) Dynasts, while those growing up on the fringes use outcaste
Weapons: Dozens of weapons platforms dot the surface creation rules.
of the star ship, most equipped with three pairs of capital- • Sidereals, benefitting from their connection to the
scale blaster rifles (Damage 10L, Range 100) and a heavy Grand Celestial Mountain, use their standard character
repeating disruptor (Damage 9L, Range 75). At key points creation rules.
near the perimeter of the vessel and in a cluster around • Abyssals in service to the Tomb Stars and their
central command are a score of artifact-equipped weap- Death Avatars may use such patronage to obtain the Liege
ons platforms with pairs of vehicular starcasters (Damage background.
13L/2, Range 150), and a quasar warsear disruptor (Damage • Exalts in Heaven’s Reach may not advance their
12L/3, Range 100). Son of Heaven III also has a number of Essence rating above 5.
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