#exalted secret santa 2023

[paint-lady]

A very happy Calibration to @hamsandlich and their Abyssal, The Seraph of Promised Silence. Wanted to showcase how it may look as her wings sprout, still deciding if things will be solved with raw persuasion or ...persuasive violence.

Hope you have an easy 2024!!

[theuncrucified]

Merry Calibration to my Exalted Secret Santa giftee, @paint-lady! I had the honor of drawing their gorgeous Moonshadow Abyssal, The Marionette Dancing on Bloody Sinew. I wish the Marionette many more dark and mysterious misadventures this year!

Drawn in Procreate.

Watch a timelapse

[toxinfox]

THANK YOU SHIFTING PATH!

Happy Calibration/Exalted Secret Santa 2023!

I think I speak for all of us when I say I'm astonished you've been organizing this event (aka herding internet art cats) for so long. I know this nerdy little community looks forward to it every year.

This year, in honor of the milestone, I wanted to acknowledge your efforts in a bigger way, and I got almost all of this year's participants to join in. Thank you to everyone who let me put your artwork in Path's little art gallery there, and thank you extra to the folks who left messages as well!

I hope the new year is treating you all well, but no matter how it's going, at least we've got this little community here, and I think I speak for many of us when I say I value that a great deal. Here's to the next 15 years!

@shiftingpath

@butch-king-frankenstein

@caprichista

@delvesdaily

@eatenbyfaeries

@fiontan

@fourwillows

@frostmantle

@fullmoonspecial

@gforceworks

@grimmjowjaegerjaquez

@hamsandlich

@heedra

@keirangoldenwatch

@kessinder

@maribunart

@mechanicalriddle

@moonstar-mush

@paint-lady

@skarchomp

@sly-works

@sondersonne

@thedashingduke

@theuncrucified

@woolymonster

(Disclaimer: I didn't know until AFTER I drew this that someone else started this and that Path took it over after year one, but I'm still giving Path the credit for *getting* this event to the 15-year mark. That is still one hell of an accomplishment.)

(To fullmoonspecial: I couldn't reach you to get your consent before Path put up the post-event wrap-up, but if you'd like me to add your art to the gallery wall there, I still can.)

[shiftingpath]

Exalted Secret Santa 2023 Complete!

Thanks for another excellent year, friends. This year was actually tied for most participants to date, to the point of having some trouble formatting this post. (tumblr fears our power.)

Thanks are in order to many: -to @theuncrucified for her work boosting on discord. All my thanks for spreading the word! -to @delvesdaily for pinch hitting, and to everyone else so quick to volunteer. -to @mechanicalriddle, my second-in-command and second set of eyes. -to our longterm participants who return year after year, I am always happy to see you back. -to newcomers who've only just arrived, you bring so much fresh life to this event. thanks for trying something new! -to those who don't participate, but still find time and interest to comment on the pieces!

I hope we can see you all next year!

Please take the time to check out the submissions; the characters are always so cool and the art is consistently amazing. Thank you all for the hard work. Happy Calibration!

-Path

to @butch-king-frankenstein from woolymonster: Meteor King Rahu

to @caprichista from maribunart: V'neef Runai and Salu

to @delvesdaily from grimmjowjaegerjaquez: Pretty Boy

to @eatenbyfaeries from delvesdaily: Vervain

to @fiontan from frostmantle: Gale

to @fourwillows from shiftingpath: Kifimbo

to @frostmantle from hamsandlich: The Sentinel of Blasphemous Covenants Sealed in Silence

to @fullmoonspecial from fiontan: The Phoenix Knight

to @gforceworks from delvesdaily: Laughing Sister

to @grimmjowjaegerjaquez from fourwillows: Cold Fire Hunter

to @hamsandlich from paint-lady: The Seraph of Promised Silence

to @heedra from sondersonne: Daia Shan

to @keirangoldenwatch from moonstar-mush: Seren Witt

to @kessinder from sly-works: The Cultivar of Bloodied Sunsets

to @maribunart from toxinfox: Lei-xin, Ivy, and Kilani

to @mechanicalriddle from eatenbyfaeries: Pleione

to @moonstar-mush from fullmoonspecial: Spears-to-Billhooks Nazmiya

to @paint-lady from theuncrucified: The Marionette Dancing on Bloody Sinew

to @shiftingpath from caprichista: Flame-Eating Moth

to @skarchomp from keirangoldenwatch: Candor That Draws the Horseman's Blade

to @sly-works from heedra: Exquisite Toffee Spinifex

to @sondersonne from thedashingduke: The Brigand Queen of the Western Wyld

to @thedashingduke from mechanicalriddle: Komoh

to @theuncrucified from gforceworks: Kalara

to @toxinfox from kessinder: Anjali, Kaveri, and Malati

to @woolymonster from skarchomp: The Left Hand of Hell

[artbydungeon]

Happy Calibration @gforceworks! (also tagging @shiftingpath - thank you for organising this once again! <3 )

I had a lot of fun drawing Laughing Sister. I couldn't decide which version I liked the best, so here's both~

Also the WIP sketches below the cut of here! Enjoy!

It's kind of amazing how I managed to fix the face when I took it into Illustrator. It was such a joy to work on a character with a different body type to what I'm used to.

[mechanicalriddle]

the moment weve all been waiting for EXALTED SECRET 2023 BIOS YAAAAAY

Heres my bios for the secret santa ! this years theme is Girls Who Rot, Have Rotted Previously, or Are Rotting Right Now

I like to provide some little details, tidbits, tone and setting ideas in my bios in case you want to draw them in like a little scene; don't feel obligated to get that fancy, though!

without further ado.

Pleione (Plin for short, she/they, roughly equivalent to early 20s) is a Marrow Aspect forged from the remnants of a young royal from a long-forgotten kingdom, resuscitated from the depths of the mausoleum in which her body was interred by (accidental) necromantic means. She's spent the past two decades quietly living on her Anchor's manse-estate, indulging in her passions for art and botany.

Plin is a big chicken who is deathly terrified of conflict and does a lot of screaming and cowering when things come to blows for someone who

Her personality is particular, peculiar, and holier-than-thou. She's got dynastic sensibilities, snobbish and disinclined to associate with 'the proles'. Get her on the subject of one of her special interests, though, and you might find each other fast friends.

Motifs- Plin has an orchid motif on account of the fact that she needs a dose of a special tea made from a (formerly) extinct orchid several times a day in order to NOT DIE. She hasn't died yet. She doesnt know she can come back give her a break. Some other motifs include glass, terrariums, spiders & fireflies; marble & porcelain, old-timey anatomical drawings, delicate floral and baroque patterns; antique-white, minty green, deep purple, and black.

Ideas- If you want to draw her doing something she is equally likely to be found reclining on a huge pile of pillows with a book or with her knees planted in the dirt rooting around in a thorny shrub. She loves to dissect and draw plants and is liable to be found at a desk or behind an easel doing one of those activities

Anima- Currently I am thinking... a grove filled with ghostly-white plants twining over enormous bones (hopefully of the animal variety, but hard to say, really) and probably features giant flowering orchids that are shaped suspiciously like skulls... Also its hard to say but the ground does look an awful lot like meat, and those stringy bits look an awful lot like connective tissue... hmm

---

Desert Fang Grim Devil Lioness (Grim for short, she/her, 36 yrs old) is a renegade Midnight caste former-warlord-turned-backwoods vampire-MILF. upgrades!

Grim was fazed a lot as a child (being pawned off by your family as a slave will do that to you) and vowed to grow up into a woman who Wouldn't Be Fazed By Anything. Having achieved this (with a few notable exceptions), she mostly gets her way by via being larger, stronger, and scarier than as many of her problems as possible. Sometimes problems don't and can't have physical largeness, though, which is annoying.

One of these problems included being counter-merc'd by one of her targets and dying of exposure under the desert sun. She didn't... quite... let this stop her, though. There are people in need of her skillsets, and dying isn't really a disqualifier for their service. She was raised as a deathknight and for several years served as one of the First and Forsaken Lion's most fearsome officers.

Another problem is... More recent. Having run off with her lunar mate and tried to start a family far, far from FAFL's stomping grounds, it turns out toughing it out in the wilds of the North can kind of suck.

Motifs- Pretty normal deathknight stuff. Black iron of the wrought variety, and soulsteel; tattered and blood-drenched fabric, rough-hewn basalt and dark masonry. Honestly got stronger canid than felid vibes, to spite the name. Black-and-red is an obvious throughline but grimy grays and natural tones complete her overall color scheme. Things that are totally inert and lifeless, and will always remain as such.

Ideas- Riding her terrifying steed (basically just a half rotting perma-permafrosted elk corpse with a broken antler), slicing something in half with her awesome reaver daiklaive, hovering over a pot of survival-stew boiling over a crude hearth, walking thru the woods in the dark covered in blood. Or maybe hanging out with her awesome baby (pictured) if youre inclined to draw something... Nicer :)

Anima- A bit stereotypical, I think like. a blasted land with bloodsoaked earth so barren and expansive that it blends with the crimson sky, as well as off in the distance banners that tower like skyscrapers which only flutter by virtue of their enormity. Not even Mela's breath will touch this forsaken place.

Grim is the current wielder of Gorgon.

---

(WHOOPS forgot the tattoos in the second thing but like hell im fixing that at this point)

Last but not least, the Gunstar Autochthonia Girl Hirudana Siithavari (Siithi for short, she/her, 32 y.o.) a No Moon ostensibly still answering to the Deliberative; at heart, a roustabout and a scallywag. She crawled deep into Authochthon's world-body on a suicide mission and then beat all odds by sheer cockroach-style stubbornness, earning her Luna's favor. Also, terrible death-sorcery (necromancy is sort of an unknown factor in our rendition of the Gunstar shard but she somehow managed to make contact with the neverborn and stumble into its practice)

she likes drinking, and gambling, and yelling, and generally being a nuisance. Sometimes a little bit of heart-of-gold shines through, and quite frankly everyone is probably better off with the secrets of necromancy in her hands rather than someone slightly less grounded in reality.

theres more pics of her in her tag if you want to poke around.

Motifs- Bronze, brass, grimy earth tones mixed with bright accent colors. Black leather, studs, needles, teeth. Tubes, pipes, gears, grates and various industrial junk. Worms, bugs, and other vermin. Dankness, darkness, the sickly shadows of Black Non. Smoke-haze and drug paraphernalia.

Ideas- Generally she spends most of her time at the bar, the gym, in her lab, or asleep. you could draw her pumping iron, or taking a toke on a decrepit sofa in her dingy weed-cave (not a literal cave though that would be kind of fun), or sitting at an industrial workbench pouring over a half-disassembled chainsaw. or corpse. or both at the same time.

Anima- Her lower-level anima is kind of gloopy like a lava lamp. Iconic is a swamp with oil for water, populated by mangroves assembled from pipes and black plastic tube-vines, with the moon reflecting brightly on its surface. Her spirit shape is a Buffalo Leech, one of the largest species of leeches (on earth at least). i'll attach a pic of her hybrid form if you wanna draw that instead!

(necessary disclaimer for these sorts of things) youre welcome to take this as an opportunity to do some experimenting but if you don't think you can passably represent a certain characters body shape i would recommend picking one of the other options. thank you!

[kessinder]

Happy Calibration, @toxinfox!

I love a good sibling rivalry, but who can really pick just one favorite sister? Hope you enjoy! Process vid where you can watch me redraw the hands an embarrassing number of times under the cut.

(Tagging @shiftingpath too, thank you for hosting!)

Process:

[keirangoldenwatch]

Exalted Secret Santa 2023

Dear sweet something-or-other it's already December

LET'S DO THIS

So my secret Santa request this year is going to be a little different from how I've done it in the past. I usually post different characters from different campaigns, or drop the whole circle from our Green Sun Rising campaign, but if I'm being honest this year has been a total bust for campaigns outside of GSR so I've only really got my main girl here to offer. So allow me to introduce Seren in all her spidery glory once again:

Seren Witt is a Scourge-caste Infernal, standing at about 6'2" and thin as a rod. Her limbs are weirdly stretchy because of the whole spider-demon thing, and she has two additional eyes on her forehead too from that. She's got sickly pale skin no matter how much sun she gets, has very light and fluffy blonde hair, and all four eyes are violet-purple. She's got two tattoos on her body; one a mundane tattoo of a frog in honor of her lunar and lover, Theron, and the other a "blessing" from Mara--yes, that Mara--as something of a...maternal gift? Their relationship is complicated.

These are her main outfits for the ongoing time-skip arc (aka: how our GM is going to get our asses to Essence 5, and solve the war between the Mask and Lookshy that's been going for almost an out-of-game decade now). Usually the one on the left is her casual/stealth and/or combat wear and the right is what she wears at her actual day job of working in the House of Lore in Great Forks.

Karrath Doublegift is trying to court her. Yes, while she's still happily in a relationship with her Theron. It's not going well for him.

As a little bonus request--only if you, my secret Santa, want to do it--I'd love to see Seren drawn in some kind of airship garb that would look like it's from Lookshy. Our party is presently on their biggest, grandest airship helping them take on the Mask's forces and I would love art that could reflect that somehow. Seren's one of the techies of the group so she is running around helping with repairs most of the time.

But again! If you don't want to do that, you don't have to! Zero pressure. ♡

Happy Calibration~

[heedra]

Exalted Secret Santa Journal, 2023

Alright, its that time of year again! Going with an abyssal, a lunar, and a sidereal...my 3 favorite kinds of guy...

Harvester of Wasteland Chaff, Daybreak Abyssal Necrosurgeon, Ex-Deathknight of the Mask of Winters Former farmboy-turned brilliant necrosurgeon-turned paranoid renegade drifter, Harvester's death wounds are still relatively fresh, and the consequences of his grim deal with the Neverborn just now fully sinking in for him; he's a man torn between horrified buyers remorse and burning personal ambition. Battling with a crisis of conscious but a deep terror of facing the consequences of such a thing, he's a secretive figure on the hunt for somewhere to put down roots and practice his rather unorthodox brand of necromantic engineering without the prying eyes of his former masters. Perhaps unsurprisingly, luck has not been with him in this regard. He's my first ever Exalted character, i made him over a decade ago at this point :) Visual Refs: [1] Very very good ref courtesy of my friend @mechanicalriddle [2] Color ref (image is old and outfit is extremely noncanon lmao) [3] Image Gallery Appearance: 6ft8 (tall as hell!), bony, gangly and long-limbed. Greyish, clammy skin marked by supernatural disease and decay. Tips of his fingers are black with necrosis. Hardly any of his hair is left, only his big eyebrows and one small, scraggly patch remaining. His eyes are tired, underscored by heavy shadows, and often seem to have a pale, unhealthy yellow cast to them. He has several scars, most of them from his ‘trials’ as a new deathknight and one from the moment of his ‘death’, a giant scar across his stomach that still looks supernaturally raw and unhealed. The scar on his nose, however, is just from a time he got attacked by a chicken as a kid, a scar which got repeatedly reopened throughout incidents in his childhood and is kind of there to stay. Clothing: Harv wears an ever-shifting litany of ragged cloaks and bandages, prefering to conceal his body as much as possible while in Creation. Beneath, he wears an unadorned soulsteel breastplate, nabbed from the armory on his way out of dodge, which fits poorly on his scrawny frame, and beneath this a sleeveless high-necked shirt, also black. His one accessory is a pair of obsidian earrings, tokens that marked the passage to adulthood in his village, which he wears at all times. Artifacts and Paraphernalia: Famine's Mouth, an immense soulsteel warscythe of unadorned, brutal simplicity. It can be shifted from combat position (where the clade is positioned like that of scythes modified for use in peasant revolts in the real world) to a traditional scythe form that aids in necromantic undertakings. Additionally, Harvester is frequently seen in the company of one or more of his necromantic creations; skeletons and zombies very creatively (and horrifically) modified in all sorts of ways. Personality Details: Defeated and glum, prone to melodrama, cowardice, passive-aggression, and extremely dry humor. Within all that, though, there's a deeply caring individual with a gentle heart. Despite his grisly trade and his general lack of restraint when it comes to using the dead as construction parts, he's a relatively reluctant person when it comes to violence against the living; he avoids combat at all, if possible, and generally prefers to let his goons do his fighting for him, or to fight from the cockpit of a bonestrider if it comes to that. Extremely passionate about his trade (building necromachines) and has big dreams about how wider applications of necromancy might one day revolutionize Creation. Prompts and Ideas: Harv can often be found holed up in a makeshift bolt-hole working on a far-fetched necrosurgery project, nervously sharing a drink with a stranger in the corner of an inn, fleeing from trouble he probably had a hand in causing, or giving in to the temptation to pet a dog. He's not the kind of guy who gets a lot of opportunities to look cool on purpose, but when backed into a corner he can be downright scary if he has to be. His motifs are bones, agriculture, famine, and desperation to survive.

I Bite the Feet of Kings, Full Moon Lunar Trickster

Bitter cynic, iconoclast, hermit-by-choice more often than not, Bite generally shuns as many trappings of human society as she can get away with, up to and including naming conventions ('I Bite the Feet of Kings' isn't really her name, because she doesn't consider herself as having one of those; it's just what she introduces herself as for lack of anything better; she'd prefer you weren't referring to her at all). Until recently, she'd have told you she had no love left in her heart for humankind at all...but, well, she's met some folks who've changed that. Additional Visual Refs:

[1] Image Gallery [2] Bite in her stray dog form w/ Tell (by @moonstar-mush) [3] Rough sketch of possible warform [4] Species of ant that she is (warning: photo of real insect) [5] Style of crutches she uses

Appearance: Shaved head of prematurely grey hair. Dusty tan skin. Eye color is grey. Wiry build, 5ft6 but slouches. Her Tell is her blind left eye, but also often bears a nubby pair of ant antennae on her forehead, even while human. She bears marks of past injury from having endured a long-term stint with Hansen’s disease; her blind eye, a collapsed nose bridge, and several missing digits (most of her index and middle finger on her left hand, her index and the tip of her thumb on the right, and a few toes). She is also missing her right leg above the knee, from a near-fatal blow sustained in-game. These things are just normal aspects of her appearance, please avoid playing them up for in a way that treats them as lurid or horror-inducing.

She generally conceals her moonsilver tattoos, but when visible they evoke the joints and carapace of an insect. I have never settled on an exact reference for them, so feel free to get creative with them if you want to.

Clothing: Has an unadorned, practical fashion style. Earth tones, baggy pants and ‘athletic’ tops, and clothes that are comfortable to travel in. Generally goes barefoot. Signature artifacts: -An enormous artifact clay gourd that she carries around, Gaara-style, which is home to her hive of leafcutter ants (And which spends plenty of time in as an ant herself) - Pair of artifact starmetal forearm crutches made for her by her dearest friend, which she relies on as mobility aids. These also serve as her weapons in combat. Their design is up to interpretation.

Other Forms Her signature animal shape is a soldier-caste leafcutter ant. In her Hybrid form, her physique stays much the same, but terrible mandibles sprout from her jaw, jutting out past her lips, a second, insectoid pair of arms sprout from her torso, and her skin becomes patched with sections of red-brown carapace. Her antennae grow to their full size. In her Deadly Beastman form, she bursts forth fully insectile and covered in spiky red carapace, with a huge soldier-ant head, wicked curved mandibles, and powerful but sleek jointed limbs with strange proportions. Her warform isn’t the hugest around, but it doesn’t have to be to look completely terrifying. I have never nailed down exact designs for these, but feel welcome to play around in this space if that’s something that sounds fun. Besides her core forms, her most frequently used animal shape is that of a little basenji-esque pariah dog. Other notable shapes include raiton, goose, meerkat, and river dolphin. All of her animal shapes belong to social or eusocial species. Personality Details: Bite tends to walk with a laid back, confident swagger, and rarely smiles unless it’s to piss someone else off. She’s often seen chewing on something; sunflower seeds, candied sweets, stalks of grass, or betel nut are common contenders. While she’s quick to pick fights, she rarely does so to kill; preferring to humble or humiliate foes instead. She’s a Laughing Monster Stylist, focused on dodging her opponents’ blows and frustrating them with jabs, jibes and misdirection. Ideas and Prompts:

Bite can be found lounging in the shade chewing sunflower seeds and betel nuts, laying the beatdown on people she wants to knock down a few pegs with Laughing Monster Style, and engaging in anything that might be considered Diogenes-type behavior. She also spends a whole lot of time in her gourd as an ant. Her motifs include ants, pottery, social animals in general, stray dogs, and hermits and beggars who are more than they seem.

Daia Shan, Serenity Caste Sidereal Special Ops Agent

Once just a troublesome junior bureaucrat in the halls of Yu-Shan, Daia truly gained infamy upon her selection to accompany a strike team of Exalted heroes on a mission into the depths of the worldbody of the Yozi Oramus, and her subsequent escape and return from that impossible prison, nearly a thousand years later. The experience left her profoundly changed; even now, the spite of Oramus hangs like a mantle around Daia, ensuring that the waking world she fought so hard to return to will never feel like anything more than a dream. And then, of course, there is the matter of the power she took from the Sevenfold Peacock willingly… and how that power might be changing her still.

Additional Visual Refs: [1] Image Gallery

Appearance: Daia is a somewhat petite woman (5ft4), belying an athletic build. She is ethnically from the Blessed Isle, with dark grey hair that she prefers to wear up, usually in a bun or a knot. Her face, which she tries but fails to keep free of stress and worry lines, is usually found bearing a smirk or an expression of dangerous faux-politeness. Her eyes bear the iconic starry blue of the Serenity caste, but are also shot through with bands of a strange prismatic iridescence. She bears a large pair of bull horns atop her head, a mutation received during her time inside the Worldbody. The nature of the power bequeathed to her by Oramus is such, though, that her very nature is beginning to blur around the edges, and it is not unusual for her day-to-day appearance to fluctuate strangely as mutations come and go like glitches- please feel welcome to have fun with this if you want! Clothing: She is a bit of a fashionista, favoring blues, dramatic and sharp femme looks (she avoids ruffles and prefers sleeker outfits), and jewelry of all sorts (a lot of it). She rarely wears the same exact outfit twice, so do not feel obligated to stick to the reference- you can get creative! She wears makeup, preferring cool colors and a sharp but understated application.

Artifact: The Sevenfold Peacock's Tailfeather, an (extremely) cursed longfang forged from a piece of Oramus himself. The blade of the weapon is prismatic crystal that resembles a jagged bird’s beak, the pole is jet black starmetal shot through with an orichalcum starmap of constellations, and the orichalcum pommel is fashioned to look like seven golden peacock feathers woven together into a spear. Personality Details: While her exaltation may brand Daia a chosen of the Maidens, the elder Sid is a loose cannon, an agent of Heaven in only the most general of terms. She is mercurial, theatrical, fond of causing petty chaos, and utterly disinterested in the politics of the Bureau, unless there is way for her to stir up drama. She has tendency to get ahead of herself with her schemes, and the vast majority of her ‘downfalls’ can be traced back to her own hubris. Beneath all that, she is an extremely lonely woman who feels adrift in a world that no longer feels real to her. She’s a terrible flirt, a huge showoff, and has a weak spot for dangerous women. She’s Creation’s wildest and worst gay aunt.

Side Note: Daia is partially deaf, due to an old and potent supernatural injury. She employs the use of what magic/technology she can to aid her, but relies as well on sign language and interpreters. She’s very used to it at this point. Ideas and Prompts: Daia can be found enthusiastically demonstrating her martial arts knowledge, causing trouble around the Bureau of Heaven offices, being showy and irresponsible with large amounts of money on purpose, challenging Oramus to games of Gateway in her dreams, flirting with dangerous women, and doing tons of enigmatic and probably ill advised shit. Oramus is a big motif for her (the number 7, peacocks, prisms)

[grimmjowjaegerjaquez]

well I guess i should post mine now too. I'll edit it to include a read more in a sec lol

EXALTED SECRET SANTA JOURNAL 2023

Darkness Shrouds Eternal The Sickle Moon

Lunar Deathlord (Debatable), A Constant Thorn In the Side Of The Other Deathlords

His goal is not to bring about the end of Creation. His goal isn't even to save Creation. His goal is to impede the other deathlords by any means necessary. Because fuck 'em. His main method of doing this is by using their own tools against them. And just recently, he has obtained several priceless ones to continue doing just that. All he can do is hope that these new tools of his are actually willing to help him.

He cuts quite a tall, dark and handsome figure, clad in soulsteel and moonsilver with long, flowing robes. His midnight black hair falls down to his ankles, and seems to have an almost weightless quality to it, floating about him with his every movement. His eyes are piercing and milky white, his lips are always pursed in a knowing smile. At his hip is a moonsilver khopesh that he names Cutting Silverlight.

He is often seen in the company of the ghost of his spirit shape, Bright Eyes. She has the appearance of a great spectral cat. She can't remember exactly which kind of cat she was (they've been dead for so long), so her form changes often. Sometimes she's a tiger, sometimes she's a house cat. Depends on the day.

---

Cold Fire Hunter

Dusk Caste Abyssal, Ride Apocalyptic

Before receiving her Bleak Exaltation, she was a sheriff for a small town out in the South East, just outside the scope of the Realm. It was rough and lawless territory, and she had put away her fair share of dangerous crooks and killers. One in particular, however, eventually led her to her death; her ex-husband. She'd been on his trail for months, and had finally caught up to him on a particularly stormy night - conditions that were just perfect for him, being an air aspect and all. Rather than face justice, he turned the storm against her. She and her loyal simhata were struck dead by a great bolt of lightning almost instantly.

It was her ruthless single-mindedness in pursuit of her criminal husband that drew her new master's attention, giving her a second chance at life, and now at revenge. She was now the Cold Fire Hunter, scourge of the South East and beyond, striking fear into the hearts of all petty thugs and thieves astride her undead simhata, armed with a soulsteel and blue jade devil caster, the infamous Winter's Breath.

Hunter's practically a ghost in appearance, pallid and hollow-cheeked, with cold and lifeless eyes. She keeps herself covered almost head to toe in black leathers, looking all the part a shadow; a phantom on lionhorseback.

Her trusty undead steed, simply named Ladybug, is a skull-faced simhata with a blood red pelt and a black mane. Winter's Breath, her iconic sidearm, does not have a solid design (mostly because I'm bad at drawing guns oops), but is mostly black and blue with a snowflake motif.

[moonstar-mush]

Exalted Secret Santa Journal 2023

Hyped to be doing this again! It's my second go at it.

Entry 1: Spears-to-Billhooks Nazmiya Architect Exigent of Lookshy Pronouns: She/her Age: 24 (been an exalt for three years) Ht: 9'6"

Description: When the last architect of Lookshy spoke out against the rampant corruption of the General Staff, they were assassinated for their insurrectionist behavior. The tyrants in charge hoped to get a more obedient and pliable replacement, instead they got Nazmiya. The hulking giant of a woman quickly got to work organizing an underground resistance movement and revolting at every opportunity against her would-be handlers. Lookshy is a city of soldiers, and under Nazmiya's banner they would fight for their freedom, and they would win.

Anima: In our game, the city-flag for Lookshy had a stylized white lotus silhouette. As the city's architect, Naz's anima mark depicts this logo, but with a messy purple scorpion overlaying it (Naz's moniker in the rebellion is "Queen Scorpion").

Anatomy Notes: Damn girl she huge. Take every opportunity in your composition to emphasize this fact.

Motifs: Purple & Silver; white jade; construction materials like bricks, rebar, and sandstone; scorpions, like the big kind that crush prey with their pincers; graffiti and spray-paint, the rebellion she leads is very Jet Set Radio inspired; bigness, hugeness, monolithicness, Naz is literally the pillar of the community.

Entry 2: Tendaji Greenwich Twilight Caste Solar Exalt (Bureaucracy Supernal) Pronouns: She/Her, Xe/Xyr, or They/Them Age: 23 (been an exalt for a year and a half) Ht: 5'8"

Other References: see the links in last years Journal

Description: My first ever exalted player character! Her game has just wrapped up a month ago, so I'm feeling very fond and nostalgic for her. She went from being a nervous and timid little nerd to a confident and self-actualized little nerd. I couldn't be prouder of her. The outfit and hairdo in the first two photos are her current appearance, and you can use the general color scheme in the third drawing.

Anima: Instead of appearing on xer forehead, Tendaji's castemark is actually situated on xer left eye, which turned teal upon xer exaltation. They manifest the Sun's command over the cycles of night and day, which essentially means they have time-powers. Tennie doesn't just build things, they push forward the hands of time to a project's completion. They don't just move quickly, they skip through time in a series of glitchy leaps and teal after-images. The nature of their exaltation is a bit overwhelming, and the more they use their powers, the less control they seem to have over what they're doing, slipping into a trance-like state and babbling in First Age tongues.

Anatomy Notes: Tendaji lost xyr right arm in a battle against an Abyssal, and eventually got it replaced thanks to the help of a necrosurgeon and xyr Liminal boyfriend (who donated its arm for grafting). The references in the artwork above depict how it should look, however now the vitiligo patterns have now begun to spread to further parts of Tendaji's body. Another note that hasn't been included in the color refs is that a few of her locks have become stark white due to some mental trauma involving ghostly possession.

Motifs: Teal & Yellow; clocks, watches; hourglasses, sundials and other assorted time imagery; architecture and city layouts; sunflowers & honeybees; paperwork, pens, sketches, and blueprints; when they're having a bad time: glitchiness and intense shadows

(The first image here is art from my fabulously excellent and talented GM, @butch-king-frankenstein )

Entry 3: Mokshi Bodhisattva Compassion No-Moon Caste Lunar Exalt (Carpenter Bee Spirit Shape) Pronouns: She/Her Age: 23 (exalted two years or so ago) Ht: 5'2"

Other References: see the links in last years Journal

Description: An NPC from Tendaji's game, Mokshi is xyr Lunar counterpart. With the campaign she's in being over, Mokshi has now gotten to train in a lunar enclave to learn sick martial arts and begin her own journey of self-discovery. She's also scored a 9-foot-tall girlfriend (Nazmiya) so basically life is going perfect for her.

Anima: Like Tennie, Mokshi's caste mark doesn't appear on her forehead, but rather on her eye. Specifically her left eye, which turned bright yellow upon her exaltation (mirroring Tendaji's heterochromia). When using her essence in displays of lunar power, the classic silver is overpowered by ambery-gold hues of honey. At higher anima levels, an amber moon hangs behind her like a halo, and spectral yellow bees swarm like a hive.

Anatomy Notes: Mokshi has a pair of little bee wings on her back. The wings and the exoskeleton of her hybrid from are primarily glossy black like a carpenter bee. Her left arm as suffered significant burn scars after fighting a dragonblood, and the hexagon tattoos on it have been damaged slightly. Mokshi is fat and curvy, so if you're drawing her please try to depict her body type accurately (no skinny Mokshi's please!). She wears pretty pronounced eyeliner and eyeshadow, and has glossy black lipstick. Feel free to give her a lil' fang or pointy teeth or two, as a treat. She has moonsilver knuckle-tats that say "BUZZ" and "KILL".

Motifs: Yellow & Black; bees, honey, and hives; honeycomb & hexagonal grids; goth aesthetics; fashion & clothing; comics and very sketchy pencil doodles; knives; money and burglary imagery; finger guns

Anyway these are my funny guys! Excited to see which get picked!

[paint-lady]

Exalted Secret Santa 2023 Journal Entry

Hello Exalted nerds! Its that time of year again!

Normally, I like to present options and I have ample references and my own artwork to showcase for these characters. This year I have a little bit of a challenge, since I have never done art of this character (until literally just now), but nothing you magnificent creatures can't handle <3

I would love to see someone's visual interpretation of this antagonist and help bring her to life (heehee).

The Marionette Dancing on Bloody Sinew Abyssal - Moonshadow Caste

Age: appears to be mid-twenties.

Gender: Female, she/her

Hair: Shiny, bouncy waves. Hair color is a smoky brown with purplish red undertones, and it is kept very long.

Eyes: blackened corneas with light brown irises. Light reflects unnaturally over her eyes, as if they are made of glass.

Distinguishing Features: The Marionette looks less like a human and more like a very detailed puppet. Red strings weave between her fingers and wrap over her wrists, and then dangle: loose, frayed, and severed. Whenever she walks, she actually sways, as if her feet are not touching the ground. Its like there is still a string holding her upright and moving her limbs. Her features are more southern: she has darker skin with warm red undertones. Her hair has these same red tones, but it is diminished and more smoky. Her makeup accentuates her doll-like features and symmetry.

Expressions: A perfectly symmetrical smile, she is pleased. A furrowed brow and tightened lips- she disapproves.

Body Build: She is built like a doll/puppet. Her limbs are extraordinarily skinny and elongated. She is alluring, but there's something just...off.

Clothes: The Marionette always wears a dress or long skirt that covers her legs and feet. Her torso could be bare, or can be covered as she sees fit. Typically, she is wearing a strapless garment, secured with an ornate pin, and another sheer fabric over her shoulders. For colder nights, she has a heavier cloak with a hood. All of these garments are very ornate and have detailed patterns and rich colors. Aside from the garment covering her legs, a lot of the fabric is sheer and shimmery.

Weapons and Gear: The Marionette typically uses words and spells as her weapons, but also carries an ornate pair of scissors.

History:

The Marionette is one of five Abyssals that my co-storyteller and I crafted for our Exalted chronicle. We have two simultaneous stories, one as players and the other as storytellers. As players, we enjoy the antics of Red and Scurry, Zatara, Leo, and Eve as the first perfect circle since the First Age. As storytellers, we liked to tie in existing NPCs and some player characters from our other chronicle where we are players, but didn't want there to be too many solars running around. So we asked "what if our player circle all became Abyssals rather than Solars?" and the stories of revenge, freedom, and extreme ideals all unfurled like a foul smelling corpse flower.

The Marionette was a woman forced into prostitution in Chiaroscuro by her own father. In her solar iteration, Zatara manages to bargain the freedom of other slaves and permanently sacrifices her own. In finalizing this selfless act, she is granted the power of the Unconquered.

The Abyssal version does still finalize this deal, but the Unconquered does not bestow any power to overwhelm her captors. No gods hear her pleas and cries for peace, for freedom, for her to not awake the next day. In some rumors, she fled and was killed by her captors. Others say she took her own life. All stories share the same ending: She rose, her captors were all slain, strung up by their connective tissues and sinews, and she danced freely beneath the carnage.

In Thorns, under the Mask of Winters, she is tasked with assisting four other Abyssals: all believing the world is poisoned and the only just thing is to have Oblivion consume its hatred and putrid existence. Well, they all have their ways of saying it. There was true freedom here, and the world would be unshackled, its strings of fate cut and frayed just like hers.

Refs:

Song used for scenes in the chronicle:

[toxinfox]

HAPPY EXALTED SECRET SANTA, @maribunart !

(And Merry almost-Christmas if you're into that.)

Your characters were so goddamn adorable that I couldn't choose who to draw... so I just didn't choose. I drew them all. With a full background, because I'm extra and have no chill. And that background is *packed* with little details, so if you want the much larger version of this image, I can send it to you.

I hope you're doing well, and that the holidays/Calibration treat you well this year.

--Toxinfox

@shiftingpath Tagging you so you can count me as done!

[toxinfox]

Exalted Secret Santa 2023 Journal

Time for Sibling Rivalry! Anjali (No Moon Lunar), Kaveri (Night Caste Solar), and Malati (Chosen of Secrets Sidereal) are all sisters, with Anjali the eldest and Malati the youngest. This year, I want to see which of them gets picked for some Secret Santa art!

Included above are detailed visual references. For more biographical information about the sisters, visit their respective bios on my Irregular Circle side blog. (Links below)

Anjali's Bio

Kaveri's Bio

Malati's Bio

If my Secret Santa somehow needs more information 1) I'm impressed at your dedication, and 2) please ask and I'll be happy to provide!

@shiftingpath Here's my journal for this year's event!

[shiftingpath]

Secret Santa 2023 Updates

Hi folks, here is where we are standing currently:

these people are CONFIRMED for Secret Santa and have put their journals up. you do not need to do anything else until I send you your assignment within the next few days:

@butch-king-frankenstein, @caprichista, @delvesdaily, @fiontan, @fourwillows, @fullmoonspecial, @gforceworks, @grimmjowjaegerjaquez, @hamsandlich, @keirangoldenwatch, @kessinder, @mechanicalriddle, @moonstar-mush, @paint-lady, @sly-works, @sondersonne, @thedashingduke, @theuncrucified, @toxinfox, @woolymonster

the following have EXPRESSED INTEREST but not uploaded journals! please confirm you are still interested and try to get your journal up as quickly as possible, or let me know if you won't be participating after all:

@eatenbyfaeries, @frostmantle, @heedra, @maribunart, @zukapony

(also me)

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF JOINING but haven't rsvp'd yet: hurry! the deadline is tonight!

IF YOU ARE IN A GAME WITH ANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS LISTED and you would prefer not to draw for them (probably on account of doing so a lot already), please drop me a line and let me know. there are a lot of new people this year, which is exciting and wonderful, but also i don't know you all yet ;)

EVERYONE please take a look at your journals and make sure any links work and that you have clearly listed the exalt type (etc) of all your characters, and anything else that might seem intuitive, but might not to someone unfamiliar with them. thank you!

Messages will go out in the next few days with your assignments! I will also collect all the journals in a post so they're easy to find, once they have all been posted. thanks for your patience and your interest!

-Path.

[shiftingpath]

Exalted Secret Santa 2023 Journals

hello folks, here is the full collection of journals, for your reading pleasure and ease of finding your assignment. please let me know if any of your links are broken! assignments will be out in the next day or two. thanks for your patience!

butch-king-frankenstein caprichista delvesdaily eatenbyfaeries *cw body horror fiontan fourwillows frostmantle fullmoonspecial 1 + 2 gforceworks grimmjowjaegerjaquez hamsandlich heedra keirangoldenwatch kessinder maribunart mechanicalriddle moonstar-mush paint-lady shiftingpath skarchomp sly-works sondersonne thedashingduke theuncrucified toxinfox woolymonster