Minireview: Compass of Celestial Directions vol. V - Malfeas (Exalted)
As a companion book of sorts to the recent Infernals book, Malfeas details the “hell” of Exalted’s game world. It’s pretty cool. Some is updated versions of bits and pieces from 1st edition, while the majority of the book is new stuff. Like Exalted’s “heaven”, its “hell” is also very… nonstandard. While in many games hell and heaven are extremely abstract concepts, and if detailed at all are mostly populated by stereotypical and (honestly) quite boring inhabitants, Exalted is a game where the PCs can (and sometimes will) go to either and kick some ass – or at least get a chance to state their case and be heard by important entities.
Exalted’s “heaven”, Yu-Shan, is a magnificient bureaucracy gone mad, “led” by gods totally addicted to their Games of Divinity… in other words, actually run by and mostly for a vast army of celestial “civil servants”. Meanwhile, “hell” is actually the body of one of the defeated Primordials (now Yozi), Malfeas. Banished from Creation and forced to become part of the prison for himself and others, his rage is vast and endless, and sometimes he grinds parts of himself together in frustration – killing scores of inhabitants in the process. One of his souls, Ligier, lights everything with a harsh green glow. Another Yozi, Cecelyne (the Endless Desert) surrounds the Demon City of Malfeas in all directions (and dimensions). There is no way out, even for Cecelyne herself… unless someone or something summons from Creation, in which case the summoned entity must walk across the vastness of Cecelyne for 5 days, arriving just in time for the summoning. Time is not quite linear in this realm, and causality laughs at you.
The Ebon Dragon plots the doom of Creation while making plans for his upcoming wedding, while Adorjan, the Silent Wind, whispers across the city bringing silence and killing everything in her path. Hence, there is noise and music everywhere, in an effort to keep her out. Sometimes it even works. Kimbery, the Sea that Marched Against the Flame, laps her acidic waves against Malfeas and whispers to her demonblooded children in Creation, while She Who Lives In Her Name dreams of finally bringing order everywhere. Order of the static and final kind.
It’s not an evil realm as such (just like Yu-Shan is not exactly “good”). What it is is very, very alien. Sure, most of the Yozis would love nothing more than to escape their prison and to bring unending death and destruction to Creation… but they have been imprisoned for millenia. Cabin fever can be a bitch, especially for alien gods.
It’s a good book. It provides fun detail on lots of things, from the Yozi to their lesser souls and servants, to general life in the demon realm. It continues the line of keeping Exalted’s demons more alien than plain “evil”, which I personally like a lot. “Evil” is boring. “Alien” has a lot more story potential. […]
Minireview: Infernals (Exalted)
This is an interesting book. So far, most of 2nd edition Exalted has concerned itself with providing 2nd edition updates of stuff that existed in 1st edition. Sure, there has been a lot of (good) extra material thrown in and lots of nice improvements, but still…
Infernals is the first major addition to the line that has no counterpart in 1st edition (other than by brief mention and hints). As can be guessed, the book describes the “Infernal Exalted”, the Exalt shards given to the Yozis in exchange for some… favors back in the world history (I’m trying to avoid too many spoilers here). There aren’t very many of them, but they are potent and quite delicious opponent material. As with all the Exalted major hardcovers, this book makes the Infernals playable as PCs. However, it’s likely that the major use for this book will be as an antagonist NPC creation toolkit.
Contrasting this book with Abyssals is a fun exercise. While at first glance the Infernals and the Abyssals may seem similiar, they are actually worlds apart in style and motivation. Abyssals serve their masters in trying to destroy the world, to push it over the brink into Oblivion. The Infernals, on the other hand, do not want to destroy the world. They want to ruin it, to make it as much like Hell (Malfeas) as they can. Why? That would be a spoiler. Where Abyssals may relish in pain and torture “just because” and because it reminds them of the comforts of the grave, the Infernals use atrocities as a deliberate tool. Oh, and because they find it “fun”, in many cases – most Infernals aren’t exactly 100% sane, and most are just plain evil at this point. The Infernals go through a nasty process in order to be “born”, and one that is designed to strip away any vestiges of morality they might have had.. The Yozis give “their” Infernals much more leeway than the typical Deathlord gives his/her Deathknights… but the leash does exist, and getting a tug on it is not pleasant.
On the power scale, the Infernals seem more or less on the same level as Solars. In other words, damn strong. They are also not as crippled in Creation as Abyssals are, not to mention the Fair Folk. This makes them extremely dangerous. However, the fact that they typically want to operate “under the radar” (because of Heavenly retribution, among other factors) and the fact that they are simply very few in number make them quite balanced. At least in theory.
An interesting facet of the whole thing is that each “splat” of Infernals serves a specific different Yozi. This gives them a concrete reason for being very different and for having extremely varied operational modes, and it also opens up an avenue for expanding the lineup if the GM wants to. Very nice. Kudos must also be given to the mechanical side of things… since the Infernals are meant to act in typically “villanous” ways, they have been given various mechanical bonuses to encourage such. For example, an Infernal may get a bonus if he/she actually acts like a typical James Bond villian (prepares elaborate deathtraps, gives long speeches describing her Ultimate Evil Masterplan, etc). To be sure, this is not the first time Exalted does this; the idea that game mechanics should try to encourage a certain “style” is an old one and has existed from the get go in the game line (“stunts”, “limit”, etc). Still, I found the mechanics here to be especially fun and suitable for creating a certain type of Evil Bastard for your PCs to face.
I’d say this is a very good addition to the Exalted lineup, and having yet another canonical group of bad guys to throw at your players is never a bad thing. Especially since this group is wonderfully colorful and bizarrely motivated.
And then there is that certain upcoming wedding, which has everyone just shivering with anticip..p…pation… […]
