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The events of Time of Tumult flowed very well and ultimately led to an interesting and vibrant creation that has been shifted irrevocably by the actions of the characters and their colleagues. However, there has not been a particularly consistent understanding of "what the characters actually know about the secrets of the setting." I'm setting about to fix that by actually writing out these secrets in plain speak.
In general, this page overrules any specific log from the old game is can be considered retroactive continuity. I've tried to make it fit the overall facts of Time of Tumult, while still allowing me to tell an interesting story in Return.
This information is not widely known at all, but it is information that is known to most of the characters in the game. Specific exceptions will be listed.
The Usurpation
Everyone knows the basic details of the Usurpation. In the First Age, all of Creation was ruled over by the Solar Deliberative, which ultimately created a wonderous and golden age of which even the Realm is only a pale shadow. Yet rot lurked at the heart of the Old Realm, as the Solar Exalted grew heady with power, vain, and corrupt -- prone to paranoia, atrocity, and worse horrors.
The Circle knows that the Dragon-Blooded grew angry and bitter at their leaders, and ultimately decided to usurp their leaders and take over rule of creation itself. So the Usurpation occured, and the rule of the Celestial Exalted was ended. The Solar Exalted were killed, the Lunar Exalted were driven to the edge of Creation, and the Sidereal Exalted simply vanished.
Student knows that the Sidereals were not entirely innocent of participation in the Usurpation. Dreams and visions have suggested to her that they assisted the Dragon-Blooded in their uprising. Balthasar might have suspicions of the same, but does not know for sure...
The Sidereal Exalted
However, all members of the Circle know of the two main factions of the Sidereals and the roles they currently play in Creation. Some of the Sidereals did not simply "vanish", but instead hid deep within the Realm that the Dragon-Blooded created and guided it as they could from the shadows. These Sidereals are known as the Bronze, and they have largely come to accept the rule of Creation by the Dragon-Blooded. They seem to fear the return of the Solar Exalted, due in part to the corruption of the First Age Solars and in part due to the power they currently wield. The opposite to the Bronze are the Gold, Sidereals that hid as they could in Creation and forsook the Realm entirely out of loyalty to their once-leaders. The Gold Faction have come out of their self-imposed exile since the return of the Solars, and move to assist and protect them.
None of the characters know that the Sidereals instigated the Usurpation.
The Great Curse
The characters know that the Solar Exalted of the First Age were corrupt, paranoid and responcible for truly horrible atrocity annd horrors against mankind. More information will be forthcoming, as I provide more information about the first age memories of the various characters. The players do not know about the Great Curse, however. They assume that their past incarnations were corrupted by their great power, had personal flaws to begin with, or simply lost themselves.
Schuyler is perhaps the most knowledgable about the Great Curse. Aeas had always been an emotional person, but she began to suspect that there was something seriously wrong toward the end of her existance. Schuyler doesn't yet understand any of the details, and likely thinks that Aeas was either being paranoid or was affected by some curse directed expressly at her. However, she has more to work with than the others.
The Deathlords
The characters know that the Deathlords are extremely powerful Ghosts, who rule in the Underworld and have numerous ambitions and goals in Creation itself. They are not aware of their full numbers but do understand that there are at least 4. The Mask of Winters, the Eye and Seven Despairs, and the Princess Clothed in Charred Flesh. They believe that the Father of Darkness was killed and will not return.
Balthasar and Student know more about the Deathlords, obviously, but have not widely shared this knowledge with the rest of this circle to date. Even so, the Abyssals are not limitless in their knowledge of the secrets of their masters. Both understand that there are a number of Deathlords, and that some are more interested in Creation than others. Both understand that the Deathlords ultimately serve the Dead Gods, "Those Below", or the Malfaens -- and that their ultimate goal is the final destruction of all life. They also know that at least some of the Deathlords are not totally commited to this goal. The Mask of Winters and the Princess Clothed in Charred Flesh, in particular, are more than a little prone to personal scheming and "distractions". The Abyssals also understand that the Deathlords are very prone to infighting.
The characters, including the Abyssals, do not know the ultimate nature or goals of the Deathlords. They do not know that the Deathlords are the souls of the Solars of the First Age. They do not know that the Malfaens dream of extinguishing all of existance.
the Abyssal Exalted
The characters all understand that the Abyssal Exalted are Solars whose essences have been "corrupted" and made to serve the Deathlords. Balthasar and Student understand that the Abyssals were ultimately claimed not by the Deathlords but by the Malfaens. Both have memories of their existances in the First Age that are essentially correct -- however, their memories were trimmed and composed not by Lytek, but by the Deathlords, and thus are designed according to a different aesthetic.
Balthasar was told "We created you," by the Ebon Dragon, but has no other information on the ultimate origins of the Black Exaltation.
The Corruption of a Solar Shard
Balthasar, Schuyler, and Illhousen know that it is possible for a Solar Exalted to be twisted into an Abyssal through the machinations and dark necromancy of the Deathlords. Balthasar is intimately aware of this, having gone through just such a situation himself. Schuyler and Illhousen figured it out amongst themselves. Kalushtar is as yet unaware of this, and Student is only familiar with it to the extent that her Occult 5 and Mastery of the Onyx Circle provides her -- the Mask has not to her knowledge performed such a ceremony. Merkan is also aware of this fact.
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