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93-817: Exalted is a high fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally published by White Wolf Publishing in July 2001. The game is currently in its third edition. It was originally created by Robert Hatch , Justin Achilli and Stephan Wieck , and was inspired by world mythologies and anime . The setting is strongly influenced by Tanith Lee 's Tales from the Flat Earth , Michael Moorcock 's Hawkmoon , Lord Dunsany 's The Gods of Pegana and Yoshiaki Kawajiri 's Ninja Scroll . Other influences include Glen Cook 's The Black Company ; Sean Stewart 's Resurrection Man , The Night Watch , and Galveston ; Homer 's Odyssey ,

186-547: A Creation that has rejected them. Their Castes are named for the positions of celestial bodies and roughly correspond to the Solar Castes, though focused on how the Exalt was put down by the world: Azimuth from vicitms of violence and war, Ascendants by those considered expendable or impure, Horizons from those denied knowledge, Nadirs from those subject to imprisonment either literally or metaphorically, and Penumbra by those subjected to

279-547: A company." Additionally, the CEO confirmed that Kickstarter stood by its decision to fire the two employees and would be pursuing legal action to fight their claims. The statement immediately resulted in criticism and calls for boycotts from creators who had previously used the platform, while writer Neil Gaiman tweeted that he would be unlikely to post support for or links to new Kickstarter campaigns "as long as they are anti-union." Kickstarter employees continued to file complaints to

372-462: A data breach of almost 5.2 million users' data, including email addresses, usernames and salted SHA-1 hashes of passwords. On March 19, 2019, Kickstarter's staff announced plans to unionize as part of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), which would make Kickstarter the only major tech company to have a union. Shortly after the announcement, three senior staffers released

465-451: A deep concern with moral issues; in other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether they are "good" or "evil". Role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons with campaign settings like Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to

558-561: A few are named after people the Empress legally adopted as her children. Loyal servants of the Deathlords , the Abyssal castes are a dark reflection of their Solar counterparts; Dusk (soldiers, generals, and martial champions), Midnight (priests and leaders), Daybreak (scholars and artisans), Day (assassins and spies), and Moonshadow (bureaucrats and diplomats). In the present of Exalted ,

651-748: A fixed number of Exaltations passing from mortal life to mortal life at any given time. Terrestrial Exalted are the Chosen of the Elemental Dragons; while less powerful, the Dragon-Blooded inherit Exaltation from their ancestors. The Abyssal, Alchemical, Getimian, and Infernal Exalted technically fall outside of the two categories, though their power level is comparable to that of Celestial Exalted. Liminal Exalted and Exigents also fall out outside of these categories and are normally on par with Terrestrial Exalted, although some Exigents can manifest power comparable to

744-730: A god, the Dragon-Blooded have the potential to share their Exaltation through their bloodline. With their comparatively massive numbers, along with the help and guidance of the Sidereal Exalted, they were able to overthrow the Solar Exalted at the height of their power and end the First Age. The most prevalent Dragon-Blooded in Creation make up the ruling class of the Realm, currently the most powerful empire in Creation. The state-sanctioned faith known as

837-689: A long war against the Dragon-Blooded. Lunars now follow at best a loose tribal hierarchy and often ritually tattoo each other to protect themselves from the warping effects of the Wyld. Second Edition materials detailed the Lunar Exalted's subversive influence on Creation's societies and revealed the Thousand Streams River Project, a complicated system of social engineering designed to create self-sufficient human societies that do not require Exalted leadership to function. Several major societies within

930-463: A memo dissenting against the decision, claiming that it is too extreme and that it would be a "misappropriation of unions for use by privileged workers." According to Kickstarter employees, they wanted to found a union both for enabling collective bargaining for wages and for "giving employees more clout," allowing them to work for goals that they saw in their interest and the public's interest. In May, Aziz Hasan, then CEO of Kickstarter, announced that

1023-403: A number of milestones. A dock made for the iPhone designed by Casey Hopkins became the first Kickstarter project to exceed one million dollars in pledges. A few hours later, a new adventure game project started by computer game developers, Double Fine Productions , reached the same figure, having been launched less than 24 hours earlier, and finished with over $ 3 million pledged. This was also

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1116-468: A part in this: the Dragon-Blooded and their world-spanning empire are often seen as demigods and heroes, for instance, while the Lunar Exalted are often seen as monstrous and dangerous. The default protagonists of Exalted and the champions of the chief of the gods, a being known as the Unconquered Sun . There are five castes of Solar Exalted: Dawn (warriors and generals), Zenith (priest-kings of

1209-457: A prehistory or as its own world as it may suit their individual game. The similarities between Exalted and the Chronicles of Darkness are even weaker, primarily intersecting only where the Chronicles reused material from its predecessor. Second Edition briefly implies that its story is the prehistory of our own world on its back cover, but this idea is not explored in any depth beyond this; while

1302-567: A prestige spread in Crucible of Legend . While remaining Chosen of the Yozis, they do not use Yozi Charms, instead drawing heavily on them for their themes and inspiration. They are Chosen from individuals who see themselves as wronged or oppressed in some fashion, justifiably or not. With the Yozis forever trapped in Hell, they hope that by corrupting the Chosen of the gods to their power they can inflict revenge on

1395-456: A product. To underscore the notion that Kickstarter is a place in which creators and audiences make things together, creators across all categories are asked to describe the risks and challenges a project faces in producing it. This educates the public about the project goals and encourages contributions to the community. Several creative works have gone on to receive critical acclaim and accolades after being funded on Kickstarter. Others, such as

1488-684: A project's success or failure on Kickstarter. Some key findings from the analysis were that increasing goal size is negatively associated successfully, projects that are featured on the Kickstarter homepage have an 89% chance of being successful, compared to 30% without, and that for an average $ 10,000 project, a 30-day project has a 35% chance of success, while a 60-day project has a 29% chance of success, all other things being constant. The ten largest Kickstarter projects by funds raised are listed below. Among successful projects, most raise between $ 1,000 and $ 9,999. These dollar amounts drop to less than half in

1581-449: A project. They also warn project leaders that they could be liable for legal damages from backers for failure to deliver on promises. Projects might also fail even after a successful fundraising campaign when creators underestimate the total costs required or technical difficulties to be overcome. When asked what made Kickstarter different from other crowdfunding platforms, co-founder Perry Chen said: "I wonder if people really know what

1674-583: A promotion that would allow 2,500 Dungeons & Dragons players to exchange their copy of their 3.5 Edition Player's Handbook for a copy of the Exalted Second Edition Core Rulebook . The promotion was called "Graduate your Game" and has received mixed reviews from fans of both games. The success of this promotion was not revealed. The history of the setting begins with the Primordials: vast entities akin to Greek primordial deities or

1767-705: A public company in 2019 via an initial public offering raising $ 1.1 billion. Cards Against Humanity originated with a $ 4,000 Kickstarter campaign in 2010. Both Kickstarter and project creators have cancelled projects that appeared to have been fraudulent. Questions were raised about the projects in internet communities related to the fields of the projects. The concerns raised were: apparent copying of graphics from other sources; unrealistic performance or price claims; and failure of project sponsors to deliver on prior Kickstarter projects. Some notable cancelled projects include: Many individual Kickstarter projects caused controversy: In February 2014, Kickstarter announced

1860-496: A success rate of 37.45% (success rate being how many were successfully funded by reaching their set goal). The total amount pledged was $ 4,690,286,673. The business grew quickly in its early years. In 2010 Kickstarter had 3,910 successful projects and $ 27,638,318 pledged. The corresponding figures for 2011 were 11,836 successfully funded projects and $ 99,344,381 pledged; and there were 18,109 successfully funded projects, $ 610,352 pledged in 2012. On February 9, 2012, Kickstarter hit

1953-529: A year (so that those laid off can return to job openings), and a release from noncompete agreements for those who accept severance pay. In December 2021, Kickstarter announced they would be moving their platform to blockchain , with the aim of making the tools required for creating a crowdfunding site available to anyone. The pivot came on the back of a $ 100 million investment from the crypto fund of Andreessen Horowitz . The decision backfired, alienated many users, damaging Kickstarter's reputation. Kickstarter

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2046-407: Is an orphan or unusual sibling, and frequently portrayed with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. They begin the story young, if not as an actual child, or are portrayed as being very weak and/or useless. The hero often begins as a childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a considerable gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way. The progress of the story leads to

2139-535: Is explicitly not a new full edition, and is instead aimed to be compatible with the lore of Third Edition's setting and supplements, while presenting mechanics to play all ten canonical Exalt types in a simplified manner. It launched its Kickstarter campaign in May 2021, finishing with $ 349,260 out of an initial goal of $ 35,000. The Print on Demand and PDF version went on sale in June 2023. In March 2008, White Wolf Publishing unveiled

2232-543: Is located in the center of Creation. The Realm rules the Blessed Isle and its proximate archipelago directly, and indirectly rules numerous tributary states known as satrapies along the threshold. Surrounding Creation is the infinite ocean of pure chaos known as the Wyld. The cosmology of Exalted also includes the Underworld, the celestial city of Yu-Shan, the demon realm of Malfeas, and the machine world of Autochthonia. At

2325-539: Is not considered to include the sword and sorcery genre. High fantasy has often been defined by its themes and messages. " Good versus evil " is a common one in high fantasy, and defining the character of evil is often an important theme in a work of high fantasy, such as The Lord of the Rings . The importance of the concept of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword and sorcery. In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks

2418-419: Is one of a number of crowdfunding platforms for gathering money from the public, which circumvents traditional avenues of investment. Project creators choose a deadline and a minimum funding goal. If the goal is not met by the deadline, no funds are collected (a kind of assurance contract ). The Kickstarter platform is open to backers from anywhere in the world and to creators from many countries, including

2511-557: The Age of Sorrows. The game has a sales record on par with the company's flagship title, Vampire: The Masquerade , the second edition core rulebook achieving a sales ranking at No. 23,558 on Amazon.com with a 4.5-star mean user review rating based on 31 user reviews as of January 2019. The initial advertisements for Exalted placed the Age of Sorrows as the pre-history of the old World of Darkness . Meanwhile, some oWoD supplements also supported this;

2604-731: The Hunter Apocrypha gave a vision of the past that said that Hunters gained their power from the broken shards of the souls of great heroes of a lost age, which seems to suggest that Hunters carry fragments of Solar Essences. Likewise, the Kindred of the East supplement gave a structure of the Wheel of Ages (mirrored in First Edition books as the Ages of Man) that seemed to accommodate the integration of Exalted and

2697-585: The Outer Gods of H. P. Lovecraft 's works, even going so far as to use similar epithets to the latter. They shaped Creation – a flat world of finite extent – from the primordial chaos , and placed the gods to watch over it. In time, the gods decided to overthrow the Primordials, but were forbidden from taking arms against their makers. Instead, the most powerful of the gods imbued exceptional humans with their power (the titular Exalted) to fight for them;

2790-698: The Ouya console, have resulted in commercial failure. The documentary short "Sun Come Up" and documentary short "Incident in New Baghdad" were each nominated for an Academy Award ; contemporary art projects "EyeWriter" and "Hip-Hop Word Count" were both chosen to exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in 2011; filmmaker Matt Porterfield was selected to screen his film Putty Hill at the Whitney Biennial In 2012; author Rob Walker's Hypothetical Futures project exhibited at

2883-400: The epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters , themes , or plot . High fantasy is usually set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world , rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth,

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2976-950: The iPhone . The app was aimed at users who create and back projects and was the first time Kickstarter had an official mobile presence. On October 31, 2012, Kickstarter opened projects based in the United Kingdom, followed by projects based in Canada on September 9, 2013, Australia and New Zealand on November 13, 2013, the Netherlands on April 28, 2014, Denmark , Ireland , Norway , and Sweden on September 15, 2014, Germany on April 28, 2015, France and Spain on May 19, 2015, Austria , Belgium , Italy , Luxembourg and Switzerland on June 16, 2015, Singapore and Hong Kong on August 30, 2016, Mexico on November 15, 2016, and Japan on September 12, 2017. In July 2017, Strickler announced his resignation. On April 20, 2020, Kickstarter announced that it

3069-600: The "Best Inventions of 2010" and "Best Websites of 2011". Kickstarter reportedly raised $ 10 million funding from backers including NYC-based venture firm Union Square Ventures and angel investors such as Jack Dorsey , Zach Klein and Caterina Fake . The company was based at 58 Kent Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn until they transitioned to a fully remote workforce after the COVID-19 pandemic . On February 14, 2013, Kickstarter released an iOS app called Kickstarter for

3162-714: The "present" setting of Exalted, such as the Great Contagion, have jarred their faith in their precognitive abilities. Meanwhile, the loss of the Scarlet Empress, their secret ally at the top of the Scarlet Dynasty, has greatly weakened their influence. In the present, a growing rift between the Bronze Faction (which supports the Dragon-Blooded hegemony) and the Gold Faction (which backs the newly returned Solars) renders

3255-468: The 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale; musician Amanda Palmer 's album Theatre is Evil debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200; designer Scott Wilson won a National Design Award from Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum following the success of his TikTok + LunaTik project; the Kickstarter funded GoldieBlox toy gained nationwide distribution in 2013; and approximately 10% of

3348-414: The 20% mark reach their goal. Creators categorize their projects into one of 13 categories and 36 subcategories. They are: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film and Video, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology and Theater. Of these categories, Film & Video and Music are the largest categories and have raised the most money. These categories, along with Games, account for over half

3441-643: The Abyssals and the Deathlords as having a tentative foothold in Creation, representing a grave threat. Creations made from clay and the Magical Materials , built in the world of Autochthonia . They were introduced in the supplement Time of Tumult . Alchemicals serve the Great Maker Autochthon, a Primordial who assisted the gods by sharing the secret of Exaltation with them. The Champions are infused with

3534-589: The Bible, and Wu Cheng'en 's Journey to the West . The game uses ten-sided dice and a variation of the Storyteller System to arbitrate the action, and, as with many other RPGs, requires little beyond the rulebooks themselves, dice, pencil, and paper. The Exalted version of the rules were derived from the trilogy of White Wolf Publishing games Trinity (formerly known as Aeon ), Aberrant , and Adventure! where

3627-520: The Celestial Exalted. A brief synopsis of each type is given here, organized by how these Exalts are often arranged in texts for much of the line's history, followed by Exalts who appeared in later texts in order of appearance. Most types of Exalted have certain collective predispositions toward or against other Exalt types by culture, and may be viewed differently by the various mortals of Creation. Centuries of Terrestrial hegemony and propaganda play

3720-582: The Design, Games, and Technology categories. However, the median amount raised for the latter two categories remains in the four-figure range. There is substantial variation in the success rate of projects falling under different categories. Over two thirds of completed dance projects have been successful. In contrast, fewer than 30% of completed fashion projects have reached their goal. Most failing projects fail to achieve 20% of their goals and this trend applies across all categories. Indeed, over 80% of projects that pass

3813-604: The Exalted Dream , the final Second Edition product, was published in January 2012. Development of Exalted 's Third Edition was officially announced in October 2012. The Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Exalted Third Edition ran in 2013 from May 9 to June 8, reaching its $ 60,000 funding goal within 18 minutes, raising a total of $ 684,755 and breaking Numenera 's record for the most funded tabletop RPG Kickstarter. Backers received

Exalted - Misplaced Pages Continue

3906-603: The First Age ended, the Lunars turned their attention to the Terrestrial Shogunate by fighting a long term insurgency against the Dragon-Blooded and Sidereal hegemony. Their castes were reforged by the Lunars themselves to better reflect the needs of the world they now found themselves in. The Silver Pact exists as a support network of Lunars seeking to destroy the successor-states of the Shogunate and protect Lunars from reprisal of

3999-399: The First Age. With these, she saved Creation and then asserted her rulership over much of it, dubbing herself the Scarlet Empress. Nearly eight hundred years later—in the present day of the game—there are eleven Great Houses of the Realm, nearly all of whom claim direct descent from the Empress. Five years prior to the default starting point of the game, the Empress vanished. By the present of

4092-563: The Great Curse, as they did not fight in the Primordial War. In gameplay, in place of curse-driven insanity, they have a Clarity track which measures their psychological distance from humanity. Those Alchemicals who have been infected with Autochthon's illness have a Dissonance track instead, measuring their madness, corruption, and drive to violate boundaries. The Yozis — the Primordials who were overthrown but did not die — created

4185-672: The Immaculate Order paints the Solar and Lunar Exalted as dangerous Anathema who will bring ruin to the world if allowed to exist. Because of this, the Realm organizes the Wyld Hunt, which actively seeks out dangers to the Realm (such "Anathema" include many other types of Exalted, rogue gods, and the Fair Folk) and destroys them. This practice had effectively kept the Solars from rising to power again since

4278-526: The Infernal Exalted from fifty stolen Essences of Solar Exalts. While First Edition hinted at their existence, they did not get official rules until the Second Edition's Manual of Exalted Power - The Infernals (April 2009). The Infernals also known as Green Sun Princes have the full resources of the demon realm at their disposal, along with numerous Yozi cults which already exist in creation, and learn

4371-591: The Lunar Exalted from the civilized lands of Creation. During the intervening age, the Terrestrial Exalted became the rulers of the world, ruling in a shogunate . After the Great Contagion (a plague originating from the lands of the dead) and the Balorian Crusade (an invasion by the Fair Folk ) wrought devastation across Creation, a young captain of the Dragon-Blooded armies gained access to powerful weapons of

4464-512: The NLRB, which forced Kickstarter to allow its employees a formal vote on unionization. The vote was held on the morning of February 18, 2020, with 46 voting in favor of joining the OPEIU and 37 voting against. The CEO at the time, Aziz Hasan, said after the vote, "We support and respect this decision, and we are proud of the fair and democratic process that got us here." With this, the OPEIU will now work with

4557-510: The Neverborn sow their revenge from beyond the grave through their Deathlord servants. The source materials, primarily the second-edition sourcebook The Manual of Exalted Power: Abyssals , present the Deathlords as the vengeful ghosts of First Age Solars slaughtered in the Usurpation. They have varied goals, but most strive not to conquer or corrupt Creation, save as a path to the Neverborn's desire:

4650-600: The PDF in October 2015, POD in April 2016, and deluxe editions shipping to backers in March 2017. Since then the game has continued to be produced by Onyx Path Publishing through a license with Paradox Interactive, produced as PDFs with print-on-demand options. In addition, major supplements have received crowdfunding for special print runs of deluxe editions, which also fund additional material from stretch goals and limited rewards. As of July 2023,

4743-477: The Realm and Dragon-Blooded were critical to preserving) and whose leadership are those who supported the original Solar Purge. Meanwhile, the Gold Faction is more about reformation of the world (which Solar support is a notably powerful clique within that Faction), rather than support of Solar Exalted in themselves. There are five elemental aspects to the Dragon-Blooded: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Wood. In

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4836-662: The Sidereal Exalted uncertain of their future. Some aspects of Sidereal Exalted have been reframed in Third Edition. There is no longer a mention of a Great Prophecy, and instead the Sidereals who conspired to perform the Solar Purge did so under presumption it was the best option based on what information they had. In addition, the relationship between the Factions has been reframed, with the Bronze Faction being more about status quo (which

4929-449: The US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands , Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Mexico. Kickstarter applies a 5% fee on the total amount of the funds raised. Its payments processor applies an additional 3–5% fee. Unlike many forums for fundraising or investment , Kickstarter claims no ownership over

5022-572: The Unconquered Sun and mightiest among the Exalted—eventually grew decadent and corrupt from this influence, and were slaughtered in a massive insurrection known as the Usurpation by their servants and advisors. After the Usurpation, the majority of the Exaltations of the Solar Exalted were locked away, and an organization known as the Wyld Hunt was organized to kill all the others, and to drive

5115-429: The Unconquered Sun), Twilight (scholars and sorcerers), Night (spies and assassins) and Eclipse (ambassadors and diplomats). Solars are regarded as monstrous demons by much of the mortal world due to centuries of propaganda by the Realm. The nature of Solar Charms tends to express itself instead through human excellence taken to superhuman extremes, and as such their raw prowess in most skills easily exceeds any of

5208-414: The Wyld Hunt and other Lunar enemies. These Celestial Exalted are few, yet are described as major players in the fate of Creation. Sidereals are peerless martial artists and excel at foreseeing and manipulating fate. They are often presented as secret agents of the Bureau of Fate of the Celestial City of Yu-Shan, the home of the gods, directing events in the mortal world from behind the scenes. They were

5301-492: The Yozis, often facilitated through the acquirng of forbidden text known as the Broken-Winged Crane . These were known as Akuma. They often gained notable power for their pledges to Hell, namely in Merits, additional access to magical power, and Yozi Charms in the case of 2e. In exchange their free will was destroyed, and they became slaves to the Yozis. The presentation of Infernal Exalted has changed notably in Third Edition. They are first detailed in Exalted Essence and receive

5394-431: The blessings they bestowed (also known as Exaltations) would pass on to new champions with their death, allowing a new hero to rise when one fell. Upon victory, the gods retreated to the Heavenly city of Yu-Shan to oversee from on high, and left Creation to the Exalted and Humanity. However, the Exalted suffer from the Great Curse uttered upon the dying breaths of the slain Primordials. The Solar Exalted—those empowered by

5487-445: The caprice of those in power. Akuma have not come up in context of Third Edition yet, but developer statements imply it is no longer a singular mechanical implmentation and instead a descriptor for Exalted infernalists as a whole. Liminal Exalted first appeared in Masters of Jade in late Second Edition without being fully detailed. They became more defined as of the Exalted Third Edition core rules and have since appeared throughout

5580-405: The character's learning the nature of the unknown forces against them, that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence. The villains in such stories are usually completely evil and unrelatable. "High fantasy" often serves as a broad term to include a number of different flavors of the fantasy genre, including epic fantasy , mythic fantasy, dark fantasy , and wuxia . It typically

5673-472: The classic World of Darkness, the former the First and Second Age, and the latter being the Fifth Age. However, once the game was released such connections rapidly became uncertain: names and themes from the World of Darkness line run throughout the material, but rarely in a way that suggested a direct connection between one and the other. Per the commentary of multiple developers, the connections are deliberately tenuous, allowing players to be free to treat it as

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5766-451: The company says it was for "performance issues." After these allegations, some Kickstarter creators have started a campaign against Kickstarter to let its employees unionize. On September 28, Kickstarter confirmed that it would not recognise the unionisation effort. In a statement addressed to project creators, the CEO stated that unionisation would turn workplace relations "inherently adversarial" and that it "doesn't reflect who we are as

5859-419: The company would require an election for the union rather than voluntarily recognizing it, saying that "our view is that we are better set up to be successful without the framework of a union." On September 16, the employees filed a complaint against Kickstarter with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after two employees were terminated. According to the workers, they were fired for unionizing, although

5952-421: The complete destruction of existence. The greatest agents of the Deathlords in the world of the living are the Abyssal Exalted, also known as Deathknights: dark reflections of the Solar Exalted. They field vast undead armies, bolstered by ancient knowledge long since lost to the living but still readily available among the lingering dead, and a powerful form of magic known as necromancy. Several sourcebooks present

6045-435: The core of the setting, there are several different types of Exalted, any type of which could play the role of protagonist or antagonist of the game. The Exalted of Creation can be divided into two categories: Terrestrial Exalted and Celestial Exalted. Celestial Exalted, being the chosen of the Celestial Incarnae, are significantly more powerful than Terrestrial Exalted, and can live for millennia, but their numbers are limited by

6138-431: The corpse to life again. The new Liminal possesses the memories of the body that she wears, but does not possess the same soul, and thus does not have the same personality. Like the Dragon-Blooded, they are divided among five aspects—Breath, Blood, Flesh, Marrow, and Soil—depending on the motives of the person who created them. High fantasy High fantasy , or epic fantasy , is a subgenre of fantasy defined by

6231-442: The definition of crowdfunding is. Or, if there's even an agreed upon definition of what it is. We haven't actively supported the use of the term because it can provoke more confusion. In our case, we focus on a middle ground between patronage and commerce. People are offering cool stuff and experiences in exchange for the support of their ideas. People are creating these mini-economies around their project ideas. So, you aren't coming to

6324-433: The edge of her vision, or turn a single arrow into a deadly rain of ammunition. The Exalted frequently power their Charms with accumulated Essence, a universal energy that flows through and comprises Creation and other worlds. While normally their Essence recovered slowly through rest, in the first two editions they could also regain it more quickly by performing stunts , actions given special description and embellishment by

6417-465: The effects of the Great Curse laid upon them by the Neverborn, elected the path that offered a guaranteed future for Creation. As such, they orchestrated the end of the First Age, known as the Great Usurpation. Sidereals slip from the minds of those who meet them, mortal and Exalt alike, which can be beneficial to Sidereal characters or harmful, depending on their intended goals as player characters and non-player characters. Some unpredicted events prior to

6510-411: The end of the First Age, but has faltered with the recent disappearance of the Scarlet Empress and the subsequent power struggle among the Great Houses. The ruling Dragon-Blooded of the Realm are made up of the eleven Great Houses. Most houses were founded by and named after one of the Scarlet Empress's Exalted offspring, though at least two are descended from the Empress's late husbands and consorts, and

6603-421: The fate of Creation, for good or for ill. The flat world of Creation is the primary setting of Exalted . Creation has two continents, the Blessed Isle and an unnamed super-continent which covers the northern, eastern and southern edges of Creation, populated by many nations and tribes, with the settled regions along the inner coast of this super-continent being known collectively as the threshold. The Blessed Isle

6696-575: The films accepted into the Sundance , SXSW and Tribeca Film Festivals are projects funded on Kickstarter. The Glowing Plant project was the first and only synthetic biology campaign on Kickstarter. The Oculus Rift began as a 2012 Kickstarter project and became one of the most funded projects at the time. The company was then acquired by Facebook two years later for $ 2 billion. Peloton Interactive sold its first exercise bike on Kickstarter in 2013 with an early bird price tag of $ 1,500. It became

6789-479: The first time Kickstarter raised over a million dollars in pledges in a single day. On August 30, 2014, the "Coolest Cooler", an icebox created by Ryan Grepper, became the most funded Kickstarter project in history, with US$ 13.28 million in funding, breaking the record previously held by the Pebble smartwatch . From 2012 to 2013, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick and Jeanne Pi conducted research into what contributes to

6882-607: The game it is believed she will not return, and the Realm stands on the brink of civil war. Simultaneously, the Solar Exaltations locked away have returned. With the Great Houses ignoring the threat of the Celestial Exalted to position themselves to take control of the Realm, the number of Solar Exalted in Creation is growing. Thus, the backdrop to the setting sees the newly arisen Solars (among various other heroes and villains) struggling to survive long enough to make their mark upon

6975-537: The game were declared the results of centuries of subtle, behind-the-scenes guidance, with varying degrees of success. Third Edition again changes aspects of the Lunar Exalted. Lunars were not inherently linked to Solar Exalted and instead early in the First Age the two groups went to war to settle who would have greater hegemony in Creation. The conflict was ended with negotiated peace and mutual cooperation instead, sealed with ritualized marriages that linked most Solar and Lunar Exalted together into supernatural bonds. When

7068-581: The history of Exalted, they were the elite infantry and servants to the rest of the Exalted in the First Age. This is reframed in 3e to be more the officers and champions of the armies comprising most of humanity during the Divine Revolution, and later allies to the Celestial Exalted and local nobility throughout the First Age. They are less powerful than other types of Exalted, but most of their strength lies in their inheritance – rather than being chosen by

7161-579: The idea of a fixed target number of 7 or higher was first introduced. Characters may be frequently presented with challenges that normal human beings, even within the context of the game, would find difficult, deadly, or simply impossible. However, as the chosen champions of greater powers, each Exalt possesses Charms, which may either enhance their natural capabilities or manifest as shows of great power. An Exalt with low-level Archery Charms might find her arrows hitting with preternatural accuracy, while greater faculty might allow her to shoot without difficulty to

7254-482: The last book of Second Edition would posit a modernized world with the Exalted, it was clearly a technologically advanced version of Creation – the world of Exalted – rather than Earth. As of Third Edition, most references to the World of Darkness or Chronicles of Darkness are treated more as inspirational material rather than anything important for the history of the setting or needed to understand it. Shards of

7347-501: The line, with their own full sourcebook forthcoming. They are first presented as playable in Exalted Essence. (June 2023) The Liminals "stand at the border between life and death, humanity and monstrosity". They are created when someone attempts to bring another person back from death; resurrection is explicitly impossible in Exalted, but some will still try. On occasion, this attempt draws the attention of some other power that raises

7440-690: The money raised. Video games and tabletop games alone account for more than $ 2 out of every $ 10 spent on Kickstarter. To maintain its focus as a funding platform for creative projects, Kickstarter has outlined three guidelines for all project creators to follow: creators can fund projects only; projects must fit within one of the site's 13 creative categories; and creators must abide by the site's prohibited uses, which include charity and awareness campaigns. Kickstarter has additional requirements for hardware and product design projects. These include The guidelines are designed to reinforce Kickstarter's position that people are backing projects, not placing orders for

7533-482: The others. Presented as the most anarchistic and chaotic of the Exalted. In the sourcebooks, they are often referred to as cunning shapeshifters, skilled fighters, and capable generals. Within the game's history, they were very tightly bound to the First Age Solars. While many stood and died beside their Solar friends and spouses in the Usurpation, others fled to the edges of Creation and remade themselves to fight

7626-455: The players. Stunts in Third Edition no longer regenerate Essence, but combat automatically causes Essence stores to refill quickly. However, stunts continue to exist, and their primary benefit—adding extra dice to the actions they describe, thus enhancing the possibility of success—remains. Exalted has mechanical and thematic similarities to White Wolf's previous game series, the old World of Darkness , but exists in its own product line, called

7719-439: The primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. The romances of William Morris , such as The Well at the World's End , set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien —especially The Lord of the Rings —are regarded as archetypal works of high fantasy . The term "high fantasy"

7812-513: The projects and the work they produce. The web pages of projects launched on the site are permanently archived and accessible to the public. After funding is completed, projects and uploaded media cannot be edited or removed from the site. There is no guarantee that people who post projects on Kickstarter will deliver on their projects, use the money to implement their projects, or that the completed projects will meet backers' expectations. Kickstarter advises backers to use their judgment on supporting

7905-483: The settings. Kickstarter People who back Kickstarter projects are offered tangible rewards or experiences in exchange for their pledges. This model traces its roots to subscription model of arts patronage, in which artists would go directly to their audiences to fund their work. Kickstarter launched on April 28, 2009, by Perry Chen , Yancey Strickler , and Charles Adler. The New York Times called Kickstarter "the people's NEA ". Time named it one of

7998-473: The site to get something for nothing; you are trying to create value for the people who support you. We focus on creative projects—music, film, technology, art, design, food and publishing—and within the category of crowdfunding of the arts, we are probably ten times the size of all the others combined." On June 21, 2012, Kickstarter began publishing statistics on its projects. As of December 4, 2019, there were 469,286 launched projects (3,524 in progress), with

8091-688: The souls of dead Autochthonian heroes, serving as protectors of a parallel world made up of the body of Autochthon himself, and enforce the will of its theocratic government. They divide themselves into six castes according to which material was mainly used in their construction. Instead of wielding Essence directly and using their Charms in a "magical" fashion like other Exalted do, the Alchemicals have Charms "installed" like peripheral parts. As Alchemical Exalted grow in power, they also increase in size, eventually physically joining with Autochthon and forming living, sapient cities. The Alchemicals are not subject to

8184-419: The sourcebooks for Dragon-Blooded, Lunar Exalted, Exigents, and Sidereal Exalted have been crowdfunded, with Abyssal Exalted and Alchemical Exalted currently in development. In December 2019, Onyx Path Publishing announced it would be producing and crowdfunding Exalted Essence, a streamlined version of the rules to introduce new players to Exalted 's setting and mechanics. The Exalted Essence core rulebook

8277-445: The transformative Charms of the Yozis themselves. It is implied that despite currently reveling in their power, the vast majority of Infernal Exalted will grow disillusioned with the alien Yozis and ultimately go rogue. The Infernals' Primordial power gives them the potential to grow into new Titans themselves, not bound by the same shortness of vision their current patrons possess. In First and Second Edition Exalts could make pacts with

8370-519: The union effort, Kickstarter United, to bargain with Kickstarter management for a contract. As of May 2, 2020, 60% of the workforce was part of the union. On December 8, 2021, Kickstarter announced a plan to develop a decentralized protocol on blockchain platform Celo to build an open source and blockchain-based crowdfunding infrastructure and then move its own website to that system. The announcement prompted backlash from creators and backers on Twitter , many of whom pledged to abandon Kickstarter if

8463-419: The viziers, prophets and cunning advisers of the First Age. Toward the end of the First Age, a prophecy came to them that warned that without action, Creation would fall to darkness. Seeking to save the world, the Sidereals looked into the future and saw two options: attempt to reform of their maddening kings, or destroy the Solar Exalted and raise up the Dragon-Blooded in their place. The Sidereals, possibly under

8556-465: Was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969. Many high fantasy stories are told from the viewpoint of one main hero. Often, much of the plot revolves around their heritage or mysterious nature, along with a world-threatening problem. In many novels the hero

8649-551: Was likely going to lay off workers due to the coronavirus pandemic causing the number of active projects to be "about 35% below what it was at this time last year with no clear sign of rebound." The layoff was reported by the union to affect up to 45% of the employees, although Kickstarter has yet to report the scale of the layoff as of May 2, 2020. The union negotiated a settlement for laid off employees including four months of severance pay and up to six months of continued health benefits for anyone who gets laid off, recall rights for

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