您们认识我很高兴

[Rin Daemoko]

I don't really need much of an introduction since most of you already know me. For those of you who do not ...

I'm Rin. Religious, I'm a practicing Buddhist. Magically, I'm a practicing Rin. I adore Taoism, the game Exalted, various anime and manga, chai tea, sai baba nag champa incense, and the movie Spirited Away.

Oh, yes, and I'm into foreign languages. After English, I know some Japanese, less French, and even less Mandarin.

您们好。我姓林。我是加拿大的大学生。我学习汉语和日语和佛教。
こんにちは。リンです。私はカナダの大学生だ。中国語や日本語を勉強をしている。

[m1thr0s]

Oh cool...one of my favorite artists in the house! Welcome Rin... Glad you could make it...

m1thr0s

[Ðanisty]

So, um....what is this title of this thread...lol? I'm excited to see you here, Rin. I was hoping you'd join.

[Rin Daemoko]

Sorry, the title of this thread reads as "I'm very happy to meet all of you."

[Ðanisty]

That's cool. Japanese is one of the three languages I intend to learn before I die. Right now I'm working on Russian.

[Rin Daemoko]

That's cool! How long have you been studying Russian?

(The title of this thread is in Mandarin Chinese - another one of the languages that I'm learning.)

[Ðanisty]

I just started, actually. I found the alphabet to be less confusing than expected. I've been teaching myself with online tutorials and a cd program I have, but my husband just found out that one of his teacher at police academy is married to a Russian national, so hopefully, I'll have an actual tutor soon!

[Rin Daemoko]

That sounds very promising! Best of luck to you, Ðanisty!

[Kain]

Ah, wonderful...! Welcome Rin, nice to have you here!

Kain

[DocHolliday]

*covers you in chibi werewolves* Heyo!

[Paulo]

Hey Rin,

Nice to see you here :-)

[Rin Daemoko]

It is likewise nice to see you again, Paulo.

[Okazaki Castle]

Hello Rin, good to see you still around :). Could you explain the Game Exalted to me a bit please if it's not too much trouble?

many thanks and... all the best,
Oazaki.

[Rin Daemoko]

Hello Oazaki,

I'm quite surprised that you remember me. I would be happy to give you a brief description of Exalted. As you know, it's a role-playing game (with emphasis more on actual role-playing than on game mechanics) where you play an Exalted - a human being who has been given the power of the gods to shape the world. The core rule book centers around the most powerful of these beings, the Solar Exalted, so called because their Exaltation comes from the Unconquered Sun who rules in Heaven (and has given dominion over the world to his Chosen).

The Solar Exalted were created as weapons of the Gods to slay the beings who created the world and the Gods themselves. Since these Primordials created their Gods in a way that prevented them from revolting, the Gods created weapons to do it for them. But the Solars were not the only Exalted created for this purpose. Luna created his/her own Exalted, shape-shifting Lunar Exalts who were often the consorts of the Solars. The Five Sidereal Maidens who watch over Fate (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) created their Sidereal Exalted, and Gaia (one of the Primordials who sided with the Gods) created her (less powerful, but more numerous) Terrestrial Exalted (or "Dragon-Blooded").

As the Primordials died, they shouted curses at their murderers, infecting the Solars, the Lunars, the Sidereals and the Dragon-Blooded with the Great Curse. Subtle enough to be completely unknown to any of the Gods or the Exalted themselves, but powerful enough to bring all of Creation down with them.

At first, the age that followed the death of the Primordials was a (literally) Golden Age. But as the Curse took effect, the Solars became self-absorbed, arrogant and even cruel. In his disgust, the Unconquered Sun turned his back on his Chosen. The Sidereals looked into the fate of Creation and saw that if the Solars continued to rule, that they would cause the downfall of Creation so they made the decision to organize the Dragon-Blooded and slay all the Solars.

As the Solars were purged, the Lunars fled to the outer edges of Creation where they lived as barbarians, far from civilization. The Solar Essences that were set loose in the world (once a Solar dies, their exaltation separates and finds someone knew to exalt) were lured into a massive prison built of jade by Sidereal sorcery and astrology. When they were captured, the prison was shut and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

The ghosts of the Solars roamed the bottom of the ocean, confused and lost in the depths. At this point, the dead Primordials approached the ghosts (the Primordials were too vast and powerful to be recycled back into Creation, so they just rotted and began to fall away toward Oblivion), promising to give them power and knowledge in exchange for their Names and their Destinies, and the promise to capture and deliver the jailed Solar Essences, so that they could get revenge on Creation and ensure its downfall.

Thirteen of the ghosts accepted, and they became Deathlords and went away to the Underworld to study the arcane arts and to gather armies. They also unleashed upon Creation the Great Contagion, a horrible super-natural plague that killed 90% of the population. With the world weakening and rotting, the wild chaos at the edges of Creation decided to attack. These Fair Folk were offended by the hypocrisy of the fixed shapes of Creation and deeply desired its downfall since it came into being, but powerful wards and machines kept them out until the purge of the Solars and the death of 90% of the people in the world.

With the armies of the dead upon the world, and the Fairfolk tearing Creation apart at the edges, the Sidereals didn't know what to do, and the Dragon-Blooded were overwhelmed. That was when, legend says, a single Dragon-Blooded warrior braved the Imperial Manse in the capital city, getting by its defenses and guardians, and making her way to its center where she activated the Realm Defense Grid. This decimated the dead and drove the Fair Folk back into the wild chaos.

This Dragon-Blooded then, using the manse's technology, created the apparition of herself over every village, town, and city, declaring herself Empress of the Realm. Over the next few years, through careful marriages, she formed what would be known as the Scarlet Dynasty. Meanwhile, the Sidereals who master-minded the Solar Purge devised a means of restoring social order by creating a religion called the Immaculate Faith which made the Dragon-Blooded like gods to be respected and obeyed. The Sidereals, in league with the Scarlet Empress brought some semblance of peace again to the world.

After nearly 800 years, the Deathlords finished building a monstrous machine out of bone and soulsteel. They sent it marching into Creation, to the bottom of the ocean, to tear open the Jade Prison and harvest the Solar Essences. But the machine was too slow and only collected half of them (150), the other half escaped into the world where they began to exalt mortals again.

50 of the captured essences went to the dead primordials (now called the Neverborn, or sometimes the Yozi, depending), and the rest were divided up between the Deathlords. From the Neverborn, they learned how to taint Exalted Essences, and so the Deathlords created the Abyssal Exalted by corrupting the solar exaltations they had secured.

It was also around this time that, out of nowhere, the Scarlet Empress disappeared.

So the game opens with the Scarlet Empire in political uproar with the various houses fighting for control of the throne, the armies of the dead readying to bring down Creation, the Fair Folk planning their next major assault, the Lunars in self-imposed exile, the Sidereals forced to retreat to behind the scenes lest their own created religion would have them killed for being "demons", and new Solars being born in the world. Solars being the best hope for Creation to survive and heal, even with the Curse festering inside of them.

[Okazaki Castle]

Of course I remember you Rin, your material was always thoughtful and well-considered. Plus, you were respectful and nice to Kitiara at a time when most others were picking on her - despite her bravery, service and the correctness of her position. That in turn indiciated to me the degree of your transcendence over ego's demands and fear's pressures. And I always like and am loyal to those who help out my friends :)

How have you been btw and what's new? That game description is really quite detailed btw, I'll have to stduy it in further depth before getting back to you on it. Lots there I see...

all the best,
Oazaki / Sebastian.

[Rin Daemoko]

Of course I remember you Rin, your material was always thoughtful and well-considered. Plus, you were respectful and nice to Kitiara at a time when most others were picking on her - despite her bravery, service and the correctness of her position. That in turn indiciated to me the degree of your transcendence over ego's demands and fear's pressures. And I always like and am loyal to those who help out my friends.
:laugh: You almost make me sound like a better person than I really am. I just have a preference for truth, patience and kindness. Although, from what I understand, those things aren't as common in the meta-culture as the meta-culture thinks they are. Perhaps.

In any case, thank you for the kind words.
How have you been btw and what's new? That game description is really quite detailed btw, I'll have to stduy it in further depth before getting back to you on it. Lots there I see...
I apologize for that. The game is very in-depth, and there is a lot of detail, so it's difficult for me to condense it accurately. I could, perhaps, simply say at this point that it's about humans given the power of the Gods to either help the world against the forces that wish to tear it apart, or to become one of those forces and bring about the downfall of the world. Either way, there are good reasons for a character to justify why they're doing what they're doing - there are no villains who are evil for evil's sake (they may do things for evil's sake, but they are the way they are for logical reasons, if not good ones).

[Okazaki Castle]

:laugh: You almost make me sound like a better person than I really am.


Perhaps. Or perhaps you are being unduly humble Sir Rin?

I just have a preference for truth, patience and kindness. Although, from what I understand, those things aren't as common in the meta-culture as the meta-culture thinks they are.


The meta-culture thinks? I always thought they merely asserted their egoic position, without bothering to correlate that to any sort of internally consistent set of conceptual structures or principles. Can connecting one's prejudices and deducing logically from them be counted as thinking, or the results thereby arrived at be described as truths? I would with Plato argue no, saying they merely occupy the realm of opinion - which nevertheless they are unshakingly certain, within their own heads and egos and as a group, is not opinion but the grounded, truth of factual knowledge...


I apologize for that. The game is very in-depth, and there is a lot of detail, so it's difficult for me to condense it accurately.


No need to apologize, a practice in any case best avoided if at all possible imo. I actually appreciated the long and detailed description. I hold to a position often viewed as rather strange, namely that all sources of information on this planet have something to teach you, and contain truth, and that as such we can learn from them all. Putting that another way, information is brought to me from without. And in practice, I tend to find the less guarded, more unregulated sources of information to be more accurate and richer veins of power: where the scientific establishment's output will heavily regulated beyond the point where it can actually produce truth systems of value and application that don't serve the propagation of the established hegemony, more deregulated sources like fiction often serve as the access gate to this system of very profound and radically applicable aspects of knowledge which can be used to powerful effect.

The above description for example tells me a lot about the work I've engaged in over the past 4 years or so, plus some details about the various 'players' involved in that very real set of scenarios. Of course, some pieces don't fit the actually-occurring real life picture, but that is why it's slightly a puzzle and will but confuse the uninitiated, unenlightened, unaware - however you want to phrase it.

Talking in detail on such things in terms of explanation always works bets in a largeish group with plenty of bud to go round though I find. It sounds a bit ridiculous and overly detailed to regular waking consciousness...

all the best, and thx,
Oazaki.

[Rin Daemoko]

The meta-culture thinks? I always thought they merely asserted their egoic position, without bothering to correlate that to any sort of internally consistent set of conceptual structures or principles. Can connecting one's prejudices and deducing logically from them be counted as thinking, or the results thereby arrived at be described as truths? I would with Plato argue no, saying they merely occupy the realm of opinion - which nevertheless they are unshakingly certain, within their own heads and egos and as a group, is not opinion but the grounded, truth of factual knowledge...
Which, by some definitions, could possibly be considered thinking. I'm not a fan of the meta-culture, myself (if it were not obvious by now), as it is built upon and immersed in what some have begun to call truthiness. Despite how much I dislike it, however, I have to admit that I am part of it. It's difficult to avoid considering that I was born and raised in it, and spent over two decades of my life being part of it before getting a taste of what I was really doing.

So now I'm trying to work with it, in an effort to get out. Not "work with" in the sense of giving in and obeying it, but "work with" in the sense of "moving with the Tao." It's difficult, but not impossible or fruitless, to work passed or undo a lot of the social programming that we, as infants, devoured unknowingly. When I heard the statistic that the average person in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan (among other places, I'm sure) sees aver ten thousand advertisements a day, whether or not they realize it. That's incredibly disturbing to me.

No need to apologize, a practice in any case best avoided if at all possible imo. I actually appreciated the long and detailed description. I hold to a position often viewed as rather strange, namely that all sources of information on this planet have something to teach you, and contain truth, and that as such we can learn from them all. Putting that another way, information is brought to me from without. And in practice, I tend to find the less guarded, more unregulated sources of information to be more accurate and richer veins of power: where the scientific establishment's output will heavily regulated beyond the point where it can actually produce truth systems of value and application that don't serve the propagation of the established hegemony, more deregulated sources like fiction often serve as the access gate to this system of very profound and radically applicable aspects of knowledge which can be used to powerful effect.
I agree with you that we can potentially learn from any source. If not in a direct, assimilative way, then in an indirect implicit way. By viewing or understanding a tacit thing we can begin to understand what it would contrast, or complement. I suppose that's understanding by deduction, or induction, I can't remember which.

Science absolutely is founded upon assumptions about ourselves and our world, but despite that those assumptions may or may not be correct, science has made some interesting progresses and discoveries. It's given humanity a not-always-destructive place to focus our minds. I just sometimes wish that the compassionate, altruistic parts of those minds were not shunted into "ethics", and then separated from everything else. But, whatever, it's not my place to care about what they do, at least not overtly.
The above description for example tells me a lot about the work I've engaged in over the past 4 years or so, plus some details about the various 'players' involved in that very real set of scenarios. Of course, some pieces don't fit the actually-occurring real life picture, but that is why it's slightly a puzzle and will but confuse the uninitiated, unenlightened, unaware - however you want to phrase it.

Talking in detail on such things in terms of explanation always works bets in a largeish group with plenty of bud to go round though I find. It sounds a bit ridiculous and overly detailed to regular waking consciousness...
That's fantastic that you've been able to derive something of benefit from that description! I'm sure others who have taken it to be something with a little more potential than merely a game have gained something from it, too. Indeed this game has influenced the way I view "spirits", "gods" and other such beings. (Whether or not they are aspects of my projective mind, or beings on their own.)

There is benefit in things that are overly complicated or detailed: At some point they exhaust the thinking mind, the grasping mind, leaving only one thing to be experienced. And that something cannot be explained.

[Ðanisty]

My husband and I just started playing Exalted, actually. So far, so good. I'm a big fan of White Wolf's old games and it's been fun trying something different.

[Forest Breath]

RIN! *hugs*

It is always so very nice to run into you. Just wanted to say hello and that any time I see you anywhere is a blessing for you are truly one of the most beautiful people I have known.

[Rin Daemoko]

My husband and I just started playing Exalted, actually. So far, so good. I'm a big fan of White Wolf's old games and it's been fun trying something different.
There are so many directions you could take Exalted in, and that's partially why I really enjoy it. There's some way in Exalted to justify almost anything.

RIN! *hugs*

It is always so very nice to run into you. Just wanted to say hello and that any time I see you anywhere is a blessing for you are truly one of the most beautiful people I have known.
Hello! It's nice to see that you are also here as well. A forum, for me, doesn't feel like a real forum unless you (or a few other people) are there as well. You bring a quality of familiarity and comfort, so thank you muchly.

[Ðanisty]

There are so many directions you could take Exalted in, and that's partially why I really enjoy it. There's some way in Exalted to justify almost anything.That's what I enjoyed about Mage as well. You're really only limited by your imagination and for me, that's pretty much no limits at all...lol.

[Rin Daemoko]

That's what I enjoyed about Mage as well. You're really only limited by your imagination and for me, that's pretty much no limits at all...lol.
I hope to one day to get a chance to play Mage. It always intrigued me, especially with how you could link Exalted to the World of Darkness.

[Forest Breath]

Hello! It's nice to see that you are also here as well. A forum, for me, doesn't feel like a real forum unless you (or a few other people) are there as well. You bring a quality of familiarity and comfort, so thank you muchly.

I agree Rin. It is funny how we get use to certain friends, even on the internet and some places just do not feel right unless you see those friendly names you have come to love.

But again....any time I run into you I am thrilled. I have learned so much from you.

[Naomi]

I hope to one day to get a chance to play Mage. It always intrigued me, especially with how you could link Exalted to the World of Darkness.

You're a bit more like an oracle, oh son of Anubis.