Hmm... Trevor? That would bring us to 7, possibly 8 because if I left Trevor play, I'd also extend an invitation to Brian/mrgah. Eight players is a bit on the crowded side, but I've seen worse. My old Exalted group hit a max of 10 for a while.
Having that many people has its pros and cons. On one hand, its harder to maintain everyone's interest, because individual characters get less screen time, as it were. This is particularly noticeable in combat, when everyone is waiting for their turn to come up. On the other hand, a large group is very versatile and can accomplish a lot more in any given session than a small group. Outside of the game, a lot of players mean that, even if one or two don't show up or drop out entirely, the group is still functional. I'm sure there are other pros and cons involved in this situation, but I'll leave it at that for now.
I'll let this be a group decision. What does the rest of the group think?
And Trevor and Brian / MrGah: what do you think? Would you be comfortable playing in a large group? What sort of characters would you be interested in? Mike and Alan haven't finalized their characters yet, and are being the Night and the Eclipse so that we could have a perfect circle. If Trevor and Brian join, either of them could be the Night or Eclipse, and free Mike and Alan up for other things. And there's no reason we can't have duplicates of the same caste, as long as the character concepts are different enough. For example, two twilights (a sorcerer and a craftsman) is often very useful.
In other news:
Hmm, the Lookshy thing has a lot of possibilities. It certainly makes explaining my backgrounds easier. I'll work on my character a bit and try to post something online later this week.
That's exactly what I was thinking. How does your character get his (orichalcum, right?) Grand Daiklave? Perhaps he belongs to one of noble bloodlines of Lookshy, with its roots going back to a mighty band of Terrestrial Exalts who slew the terrible Anathema So-and-So the Invincible during the Usurpation and claimed the Solar's sword as a token of their victory. It passed through the family line, down the generations, even as the blood-of-the-dragons became diluted with mere mortal mates. Your bloodline might have fallen from grace, now producing Terrestrial exalts only rarely. But now you've exalted as something else, and the old family heirloom has a new purpose.
This avoids the sketchy detail of your character killing someone in his sleep to get his sword. I'll have to double check the canon for the specific details, but I know Lookshyan Terrestrial Exalts aren't as rabid as the Dynasts when it comes to killing new Celestial Exalts. In Lookshy your character wouldn't be Anathema; but he would be a pariah. The variation of the Immaculate religion in Lookshy doesn't say that Celestials are inherently evil, just more trouble than they're worth. That could add a bit of color to your backstory. Plus being raised in a society of that's basically Samurai-Sparta certainly helps push your character down the path of Dawn-Caste Exaltation.
That's something for everyone to think about. What did your character do to earn his or her exaltation in a particular caste? For Solars, exaltation is based on heroics; for Lunars, its based on tenacity. In either case its a moment of stress, often life or death, that triggers the Exaltation. Consider not only the moment that caused the exaltation but the life that led up to it to earn Exaltation of a particular sort.
Some examples from my previous characters: My Zenith had been a priest in a minor cult which was attacked by the Immaculate Order for venerating Solars. While being tortured, he exalted. [During his mortal life he made use of Performance and Presence for interacting with his cult, and during his exaltation employed Integrity and Resistance surviving the torture]; another priest who ultimately abandoned his religious rites in order to pursue the wicked in a more direct fashion exalted as Night Caste while trying to break into a manor of the local drug baron who ruining the priest's community. My Eclipse had spent his life entertaining others; a starving artist, he made his way in the world by making deals with other; he exalted after singing all night for a troupe of Fair Folk to keep them from attacking. He exalted as an Eclipse, complete with diplomatic immunity with the fair folk, and negotiated a deal that let himself and his traveling companions escape.
Just some things to think about.
Clayton
