Chapter Seven: Antagonists

While the statistics given in Exalted are just as useful for a mortal heroes game, this chapter is intended to detail some of the ways heroes might run afoul of many of these beings at some point in their careers and how to portray these beings in a mortal heroes series.

Antagonists at a Glance

The following section deals with ways to depict potential antagonists found in Exalted in a way that reflects the mortal view of these opponents.

Deathlords and the Dead

The Shadowlands are no place for the living, even if some people make these dark and dismal lands their homes. Of course, this means a group of mortal heroes is probably going to find some reason to brave the dangers of a Shadowland, at some point. The dead seldom have cause to negotiate with the living. Some particular scenerios in which mortal heroes will deal with the restless dead include:

• The Deathlord Makes Her Move: A Deathlord intends to attack and assimilate a community the heroes wish to protect. They must organize a defense against the walking and hungry dead or delay the assault until help arrives. A situation like this is a great opportunity to inspire horror and dread. What makes the dead so horrifying is that the soldier who fights at your side today might be the zombie you fight tomorrow.
• The Great Forks Legend: It is said that the three spirits that rule this city once drove away a Deathlord by making her vulnerable to destruction by any humble mortal. The heroes might be called upon to undertake the impossible quest of finding a Deathlord's weakness and using it to destroy him, or perhaps they must steal a Deathlord's greatest treasure to accomplish some important goal. Good examples of stories like this include Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the story of Beren and Luthien found in his Simarillion.
• Just Ghosts: There is no reason why ghosts must be antagonists. Sometimes, they are simply good for the atmosphere. An ancient house might be haunted by the ghost of the eccentric man who once dwelt there. He appears in a particularly dark corridor some nights, extinguishes lamps after dark, or otherwise makes his presence known to the inhabitants, but he is not dangerous or even capable of coherent thought. Other ghosts might be capable of revealing secrets to those who seek them out for the answers. Ghosts used in this capacity add mystery and wonder to the game and can serve as useful plot devices.
• Speaking with the Dead: Not all mortal heroes shrink from or fight the restless dead. Some, like the Morticians' Order in Sijan, wish to understand those dead who linger as ghosts in order to put their souls to rest. This troublesome ghost might be someone the heroes killed in a moment of passion and now wish to make peace with, or it could be a mysterious ghost haunting a part of their community. Rather than treating these uneasy shades as enemies or minions of the Deathlords, a story of this sort attempts to explore them as the people they once were. Putting a ghost to rest might mean giving its body a proper burial, delivering a message to a loved one, or completing its life's work. Of course, some ghosts seek revenge on their murderers or were so hateful in life that they continue to spread suffering even in death. It is up to the heroes to decide how to deal with ghosts who wish the impossible or ask terrible favors.
• Uneasy Alliance: Sometimes, a Deathlord will offer a community an alliance. Perhaps the heroes are allowed to sit in on negotiations with the Abyssal minion of a Deathlord. The heroes and the leaders of the community know they can't trust the Deathlord, but offending him is likely to bring undead legions down upon them. Or perhaps a Deathlord or Abyssal learns of the heroes' deeds and extends an invitation for them to join forces with the dead. Deathlords and Abyssals make great villains because, while they believe themselves justified, very few people would willingly ally themselves with one. One look at the living citizens of a Shadowland is generally sufficient to convince mortal heroes that the Deathlords are bad news. What happens when an Abyssal blackmails the heroes or takes a loved one hostage to coerce them into obedience? A story of this sort tends to emphasize fear and revulsion.

Demons

The inhabitants of Malfeas are alien beings, and the Yozis want nothing more than to avenge themselves on the gods who imprisoned them, often by destroying all of Creation. Individual demons are not necessarily so destructive in their intentions, though they can often cause a great deal of trouble when they escape to or are unleashed upon the world. Games of Divinity provides excellent, in-depth descriptions of the natures and habits of many Demons, any one of which could provide the inspiration for a story involving these strange and frightening beings. Some circumstances under which the heroes might encounter Demons include:

• Foul Tempter: The Demon has either seduced another mortal or is attempting to convince one or more of the heroes to do its bidding with promises of wealth, power, or whatever the mortal's heart desires. Perhaps a Demon has gathered a cult of loyal worshippers to itself, and their activities are what initially attracts the attention of the heroes to the problem. Perhaps someone the heroes know has been duped into a pact with a Demon and is now behaving strangely. This use of Demons makes for good mysteries and horror stories.
• Plot Device: A Demon need never actually appear in a story to be felt in one. The heroes might meet a mute woman who sold her voice to the Weaver of Voices or undertake a quest to find the ingredients needed to restore the ability to sleep to a man whose shadow was devoured by a Bisclavaret. Or maybe a Demon possesses mortal bodies, commits foul acts in the night, and leaves them with blood on their hands and no memory of what they were doing. Perhaps the heroes will eventually be forced to track down a Demon who is still at large, but maybe an Exalt is already on the case, leaving the heroes to help those who still suffer as a result of the Demon's passage. Demons, in this capacity, can be the answers to mysteries or a reason for the heroes to act.
• Rampaging Monster: Whether the Demon was sent by an evil Sorcerer or magician, escaped the control of its former master, or entered Creation on its own, it is terrorizing the area. It might demand human sacrifices, hold the citizens of a village in its power, or simply attack travelers passing through what it sees as its territory. In this situation, the Demon is a simple monster to be defeated, like the classic dragon of European myth or Grendal in the tale of Beowulf. While this might give experienced heroes a chance to show off their combat skills, even a First Circle Demon is a dangerous foe for mortal heroes.
• Scenery: A Demon doesn't need to make war to be an instrument of terror. A magician or sorcerer who has foul beasts as pets or twisted monstrosities for servants appears far more powerful and sinister than some guy with a staff and a pointy hat. Here, the Demons are just another aspect of another character's description.
• The Terrible Guardian: Whether the Demon is protecting the object of a quest, a prisoner, or a villain, the heroes must find a way to deal with it. This might mean distracting it, finding a way to banish it, or otherwise eliminating the threat it represents. A particularly tough or fortunate Circle of heroes might be able to defeat a lone First Circle Demon in an all-out fight, but this is a risky proposition.

Exalted

These powerful beings very rarely bother with mortal heroes except as a man might swat a mosquito, but some stories will involve them. Different kinds of Exalted might be given a different face by the Storyteller. There are many ways to depict them, depending on the needs of the story and the Storyteller's whim:

• Brutal Tyrants: The Exalted are the enemy. Humanity just hasn't figured out a way to rid itself of them, yet. This is ideal for a series that focuses on the heroes as rebels either against the Realm or a local Anathema who has taken control of the region.
• Incompetent Pretenders: The Exalted take themselves very seriously, but they aren't any wiser or nobler than anyone else. They constantly declaim dramatic speeches about honor and glory, but they never actually do anything useful. When they do anything at all, it usually results in some demon being unleashed on the local populace or one tyrant overthrown for the good of the people quickly being replaced by another tyrant as bad or worse than the last because the Chosen have lives measured in centuries, but the attention spans of small, short-lived rodents. This is the most farcical depiction of the Exalted. A series that takes this stance might have several Chosen roaming around causing trouble, leaving the heroes to pick up the pieces or do the real work of being heroes. They might even take advantage of the Exalted's naive sense of dramatic necessity to accomplish their own objectives.
• Indifferent Titans: The Exalted are only interested in pursuing their own agenda, whether it means acquiring personal power or overthrowing the Dragon-Blooded. They generally regard mortals as beneath their notice. Of course, they probably wouldn't notice a mortal if they flattened one, either, which makes them dangerous, too. This works well in a series in which the Anathema seldom put in an appearance and never involve themselves in the lives of mortals.
• Mysterious Manipulators: The Exalted are out there somewhere, pulling the strings and using mortals as pawns in their elaborate games. They are the secret masters behind the Guild, the Council of Entities, the Lintha Family, and countless other mysterious and powerful organizations. Heroes who attract their attention might be murdered in their beds, blackmailed, enchanted, or manipulated into carrying out the work of masters unknown to them. This works well in a series where paranoia is a survival skill. Of course, the Exalted don't control everything, do they? That would be such a cruel world to live in. This would also make for an interesting approach to a series set in the First Age. All the greatest wonders Sorcery can provide, but the mortals live in fear of a knock on their door on some summer night.
• Shining Examples: The Exalted are the very embodiment of all that is pure and good in the world. This is particularly good if the heroes are the followers of a reborn Solar or members of the Cult of the Illuminated.
• What Exalted? A mortal heroes game doesn't need to include the Exalted at all. The heroes can get in quite enough trouble in the Age of Sorrows without the help of the Chosen, after all. Perhaps the series takes place beyond the influence of any of the Exalted, or maybe the Chosen see nothing of interest in the area.

Fair Folk

The chaotic beings of the Wyld are as alien as Spirits and Demons, but unlike those beings, most fey in Creation are utterly dependant on living mortals for sustenance. Scavenger Sons explores these strange beings in greater detail, but suffice it to say that the Fair Folk have the potential to wear many hats in a mortal heroes game. These include:

• Good Citizens: Some Fair Folk actually learn how to live in mortal society. While they might have some quirks like not knowing the value of money or absent-mindedly selling goods that turn to dust after a few days, fey can become valued citizens by crafting high-quality goods, harvesting entire orchards in a day, and other amazing feats. Fair Folk in these roles tend to be eccentric outsiders - like having Mork as one of your neighbors or the title character from I Dream of Jeanie living down the block. They can add comedy and mystery to a story or quietly remind the players that the world of Exalted is not our world.
• Mysterious Allies: Sometimes, one of the Fair Folk will aid mortal heroes for reasons known only to itself. This assistance can range from intelligence on the movements of enemies to the sudden accidental deaths of the heroes' enemies to more direct offers of help. Perhaps the fey expects the heroes to return the favor, or is it benefiting from the heroes' activities in some other way? Or are the mortals just pawns or favorite playthings or the future prey of the fey? Fair Folk in a role of this kind can be a helper while producing an air of mystery tinged with paranoia.
• Playful Tricksters: Not all Fair Folk feed by transforming mortals into will-less husks. Some derive Essence by mere proximity to acts of compassion and love. Of course, Fair Folk have only a limited understanding of human emotion, and sometimes their attempts to encourage romances to bloom are more than a little misguided. Fair Folk seen in this light are mostly harmless and are ideal for light-hearted or comical stories.
• Roving Ravagers: Some Fair Folk make use of bands of mortal servants called ravagers who seduce or kidnap people, especially children, to feed the sinister hungers of their masters. The heroes might be called upon to investigate a mystery cult only to learn that it is run by ravagers. Or perhaps they must rescue captives from fleeing ravagers before they deliver the victims to their Fair Folk masters. Perhaps a Fair Folk warrior intends to lead an army against the town in order to capture it, thus assuring herself an unlimited supply of Essence, courtesy of the community's inhabitants, whom she intends to keep like a herd of cattle. This portrays the Fair Folk as inhuman monsters who treat mortals as either hunting dogs or herd animals, depending on their usefulness to the fae.
• Sinister Criminals: Some Fair Folk can weave the dreams of mortals into long-lasting items and so keep a harem of prisoners to provide them with raw materials. Others delight in shattering the hope of the strong-willed or reducing the innocent to a pitiful state and derive pleasure from torturing, raping, beating, or blackmailing people. Fair Folk in these roles are good for mysteries and elaborate tales of horror.

Mortal Groups

Heroes will encounter more mortals than they will any other kind of enemy. Like heroes themselves, mortals are a versatile lot. Some will aid the heroes. Others will oppose or even attack them. Some might even be given the unfortunate task of capturing the heroes and bringing them to justice. Many uses for mortals are given in the descriptions of other antagonists or detailed at length in other books, but some additional mortal groups that the heroes might oppose include:

• The Cult of the Dance of the Dead: Sometimes death cults spring up around Abyssals and their masters. Most who embrace the world of the dead are either citizens of a Shadowland. The Cult teaches that the living are merely the dancing puppets of young ghosts who have not yet outgrown their fleshy toys. While they are willing to force maturity upon these infant ghosts, most Cultists prefer to encourage them to leave the mortal trappings of childhood behind of their own accord. In short, they generally work to convince victims to commit suicide, whether by counselling men and women in that direction, stealing away everything and everyone of value to them, or placing them in a position with no good choices. Few Cultists of the Dance live long in the service of death before leaving their own flesh puppets behind, but a handful serve their masters for a decade or more and can grow quite skilled both in mundane forms of manipulation and black magic.
• The Guild: This network of merchants and merchant princes is extremely powerful. While not all its members are mortal, most of them are, including the majority of its leadership. This organization makes a wonderful excuse to gather heroes with diverse backgrounds together to serve a common purpose. Just about anyone can join a Guild caravan with no questions about their history or reasons for doing so asked provided they are willing to defend it if the need arises. Even a band of impoverished heroes might become quite well-traveled by joining one caravan after another in pursuit of knowledge, adventure, or any other motivation that drives men and women to wander the wide world. The Guild can also make for a sinister and iron fist for heroes who find themselves at odds with its interests.

• The Lintha Family: While pirates and crime syndicates in general provide no shortage of fuel for stories, the Lintha Family is easily the most influential and far-reaching of these criminal organizations. At sea, the Lintha will most often have roles as ruthless pirates. On land, they are more likely to behave in the tradition of organized crime bosses. Maybe the heroes find themselves in direct opposition to members of the Lintha Family, either because they are defending their ship from a pirate attack or because they wish to break up a smuggling or slave-trading ring run by the Lintha. Perhaps the heroes will be forced to make a temporary alliance with a member of the family, or perhaps they or someone they know is a member or former member and fears an envelope containing orders slipped under the door by night. For a story involving heroes of mixed heroism and villainy, the characters might actually join this organization and work to rise to power in it.

Spirits and Elementals

While many of the little gods continue to carry out their assigned tasks in the Celestial Bureaucracy, most of the ones the heroes are likely to encounter are the ones that are either bending or breaking the laws regarding their relationships with mortals. Like the Fair Folk and Demons, spirits and elementals are intelligent beings whose views are often alien to those of humans. Spirits can play key roles in a heroes game. Some of the most common include:

• Ally: The spirit is friendly to one or more of the heroes. Perhaps they did it a great favor, or maybe one of the members of the Circle is a priest devoted to it. The aid it is willing to provide will depend on the bond it has with the mortals and its abilities - Charms, Essence (for magicians), talismans, information, protection, and so forth. Unless the hero can assure its service by means of powerful magic, no spirit should be at a mortal's beck and call. In this role, the spirit can play the role of a mentor, patron, or even a kindly ruler. A less active spirit might simply be the religious icon the heroes worship, one who can occasionally be conviced to provide them with omens and blessings.
• Petulent Tyrant: The spirit thinks it owns the place, and it isn't completely incorrect. Maybe its fief is nothing more than an important bridge, but it charges an exhorbitant toll to cross it. Perhaps it rules a nearby community - or even the heroes' own town - with an iron fist, making painful demands for worship and sacrifices. Or maybe it isn't very demanding, but it tends to whimsically kill innocent people for no reason. A spirit in this role plays up the alien minds of the little gods and produces a potent and frightening villain.
• Powerful Foe: Sometimes a spirit's goals are in direct opposition to those of the heroes, and they are forced to overcome the little god in order to proceed. Spirits need not meet heroes on a battlefield to make themselves a dangerous enemy. A Nymph who playfully attempts to drown one of the heroes is likely to be little more than an obstacle to overcome, either by means of violence or cleverness. A spirit foe might be the god worshipped by an evil cult, one who is angry at the heroes for some known or unknown offense, or who is simply defending the very place the heroes wish to enter. Violence is seldom effective against these beings, so heroes will often be forced to rely on diplomacy and cleverness to overcome these opponents - that or the element of surprise and fleet feet set to running.
• Atmospheric Lighting: Spirits and elementals are everywhere, and there is no reason why they can't simply be part of the scenery. A forest feels less mundane if the heroes see Stick People racing gliders from tree to tree, or if a dragon flies lazily in the sky above. These details serve as reminders that the world is a magical place.