Lunars

In Exalted, Lunars are characters blessed by the fickle incarna Luna, which gives them the power to shift their bodies at will and take various animal and (at higher levels) elemental forms. They are basically furry demigods. Crunch-wise, they are less powerful but more versatile than Solars, since their Charms are based on their Attributes instead of their Abilities. They can also transform into a half-man half-animal all-rape machine called warform which, with the right Charms, puts them almost on par with a Dawn Solar.

Lunar Fluff

History

When the gods wanted to rebel, the Unconquered Sun threw a hissy fit and demanded that all the other Exalts bowed to his. Luna agreed with a shit-eating grin and arranged that each Lunar exaltation was magically and deeply bound to a particular Solar exaltation. Sol was pleased, since that meant the Solars had the power to command the Lunars. Luna was pleased because if one Solar tried something stupid, the other 299 Lunars could wreck his face.

When the Usurpation happened, some Lunars were killed along with the Solars. Most, though, ditched the mad assholes their mates had become and ran far away from the Blessed Isle. But then they realized that the coup was staged by Sidereals since they came knocking on all their hiding places. So the Lunars figured that the best way to escape fate-tracking assasins was to go where there was no fate at all, and jumped into the Wyld. Since the Wyld is not kind to Creation beings, even the Lunars started suffering its corruption, shifting even their exaltations, making them lose control of their body shapeshifting powers (which, as the Intelligence excelency suggests, includes their brain) unless they get rad moonsilver tattoos.

In the time the game happens, the Lunars are mostly busy trying to create a human society that doesn't need Exalted to function, and also having sex with everything to create beastmen.

Exaltation

While Solars exalt when they try to do something awesome, Lunars exalt when they survive an extreme hardship and they choose to keep going.

Lunar Games

Full Lunar Party

Assuming your gaming group isn't a bunch of horny furries, games of this type could easily become awesome stories of society-shaping, Dynast-impersonating, espionage warfare action. Or they could just fuck everything that moves.

Lunars in mixed parties

Lunars are to Exalted as Bards are to D&D. They tend to attract a huge quantity of that guys because of their ability to shapeshift into every fetish in existance. Storyteller approval and close inspection are recommended. Never, never, never let a Solar player bring his girlfriend to play as a Lunar. Trust me.

Protips

• Lunars can work in a lot of different ways depending on individual charm/shapeshifting knack focus
• New players might find their attribute based charms confusing. THe official White Wolf Wiki have good index-pages of lunar charms, divided into groups ordered by theme and concept (Combat charms, social charms, and so on)
• Hybrid Body Rearrangement, a knack, is your friend (Allows you to shift only the parts of your body that you want)

Terrifying Argent Witches

A homebrew version of Lunars that casts them as crazed Dionysian Witch-Kings to the Solars' perfect Apollonian God-Kings, whose Charm fuck all of Creation sideways rather than just its wild-life. This is best illustrated by looking at how each Attribute is interpreted.

Dexterity, Manipulation and Wits are the three Troll stats, giving each caste a good way to play out their trickster archetype if they want. The three philosophies, in order, are "Nothing Is Cheating If You Win", "Everything And Everyone Has A Price" and "To Topple An Empire, Kill An Ant." Dexterity lets you fuck someone over by attaching your anima banner to them so the Wyld Hunt thinks they're the Lunar while you get away scot free. Manipulation lets you hear anyone make an off-handed comment about something they'd like and turn it into a binding contract to force them into being your bitch while you get whatever it is they asked for. Wits lets worms eat your enemies' brains. Apparently, besides the satisfaction of seeing your foe die a horrible death, this is supposed to cause a net profit to you.

Strength is "Violence Solves Problems." You punch someone so hard their heads explodes and everyone who sees it worships you as horrifying god of blood and skulls. You can also bear hug someone until they mutate. Charisma is "Creation Longs To Be Commanded By One Who Feels". While this seems, and does, set-up great opportunities for "My love, my anger and all of my sorrow!" moments but also apparently translates to Disney-esque song and dance as you make the animals of the forest do your choreographed bidding. Intelligence is "To Change The World, Change Your Mind" and that means becoming the best Necromancer since before the Abyssals, screwing the difference between Sorcery and Necromancy and becoming a straight mad scientist.

Stamina is "Stasis Is Death". On one hand, it involve rapid evolution to respond to threats and on the other is takes in 'Stasis' to become a Creature Of Death. Appearance is "Seem To Be Anything, Be Nothing", where you become so pretty you actually disappear. Perception is "To Look Beyond The Normal Open Your Eyes Forever". For this, what has been seen cannot be unseen. Oh, and growing like extra eyeballs and ears that walk on their own, that's cool.

The most important particular detail is how the Witch-Kings can actually rival individually the God-Kings for personal power, but sorely lack charms that support a wide spread infrastructure. They could not uphold a Deliberative that ruled all of Creation but they could maybe manipulate the Solars that did.

How (TAW) Lunars Get Cake

Strength

Full Moons break into the sanctum of the local god of baking, and intimidate them into making a cake for them. After the first cake does not live up to their standards, they beat up the least god of the new cake until it improves itself.

Dexterity

Full Moons steal your cake, sneaking into your house in the dead of night garbed in midnight. It tastes even better than it did before, because your rage at the person who stole your cake is delightfully piquent.

Stamina

Full Moons engage in a long term plan to mutate the local animals so the cows (now with bee-like traits) produce honey, the wild grains grow to the height of trees, and milk can be tapped from trees. Their plan to have their people be able to eat cake every day from the bounty of nature is ruined by the Realm demolishing the forest to make a new jade mine. House Cynis also steals the cows. The Lunar swears his vengeance, especially when he finds out what House Cynis is doing with the honey-cows.

Charisma

Changing Moons open their hearts, and tell the birds of the sky and the animals of the land and the fish of the waters to bring them their heart's desire, which is cake. There then follows a Disney sequence as animals are brought together to work in harmony to make cake, birds plucking wild grass seeds before they are crushed by herbs into flour, and so on. The cake does require animal hair to be picked out of it.

Manipulation

Changing Moons find a baker, and temporarily trade their skill in the bedroom for the baker's ability to bake. While the baker heads home to his husband, the Lunar makes a cake, and mixes her own blood into the mix, which means that people who choose to eat it are ensnared in a binding contract where they are obliged to enjoy the cake no matter what it actually tastes like.

Appearance

Changing Moons cut off their own face, and steal forty cakes from the town while invisible. They then take the best bits from all the forty cakes, leaving thirty-nine terrible cakes, and one uber-cake. They then eat the uber-cake, and enjoy it so much, they give the baker good dreams.

Intelligence

New Moons find some random edible material, and willfully hallucinate it is the best cake they have ever had. Yes, external observers may say that it's just a dead rat, but it tastes like cake, looks like cake, smells and feels and has the texture of cake, and even has all the calories and nutrients of cake. So, frankly, reality can go jog off while they enjoy their cake.

Perception

New Moons find a loaf of bread, and stare through it into the Beyond, finding the cake it could-have-been had the baker chosen to make cake instead. They then pull the cake into the place of the bread, and cast the bread out of reality. The cake tastes of purplish-green and smells of morning sunsets, and mortals who eat it catch sight of impossible horrors. Oramus asks for a second serving.

Wits

New Moons find a merchant prince who sells cake, and demand it of him. If he refuses to give it to them, they infect him with madness-causing parasites and destroy half his wealth via a sequence of nonsensical minor acts which hit critical weaknesses in his business model. She repeats this until he gives her cake.

Exalted Classes
Solars - Lunars - Sidereals - Dragon-Blooded - Infernals - Abyssals Alchemicals - Liminal - Getimian - Exigents - Fair Folk Jadeborn - God-Blooded - Mortals