Creation (Exalted)
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In the cosmology of the high fantasy role-playing game Exalted, Creation is a flat world, thousands of miles across, surrounded by the unformed chaos of the Wyld. According to myth, Creation was solidified out of the Wyld by the mysterious Primordials.
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[edit] Basic geography
At the center of static reality is the Blessed Isle, a 4,400-mile long continent surrounded by the Inner Sea. To the west, the sea becomes the Western Ocean. North, east and south of the Inner Sea is an encircling continent that stretches all the way to the edge of reality.
The terrain, weather and culture of the lands of Creation are determined by relative proximity to the Elemental Poles. (In the classic western model, there are four elements: fire versus water; earth versus air. Exalted, however, uses a combination of the asian interpretation, which involves five elements, and the western model.) In the center of the Blessed Isle, there is the Imperial Mountain, or Elemental Pole of Earth. In the West is the Elemental Pole of Water. The Elemental Pole of Air is in the frozen North. In the East, the lush forests grow ever more impenetrable, until the Elemental Pole of Wood is reached, while the Elemental Pole of Fire is located in the harshest deserts of the South.
Politically, the world is divided into three rough categories, like a dartboard. First, in the center of Creation, there is the Realm, the empire ruled by the Dynasty of Terrestrial Exalted from the Blessed Isle. Second, there is the Threshold, the ring of kingdoms touched by the Inner Sea; these are states that pay tribute to the Realm. Lastly, beyond that are the independent kingdoms, including the Scavenger Lands of the East. Unsurprisingly, the further one travels from the Realm, the more savage and barbaric the cultures become.
[edit] The Wyld
Surrounding Creation is a ring of Wyld-touched land called the Bordermarches; around that is another ring of stranger territory called the Middlemarches. Beyond that is the mutable nightmare landscape of the Deep Wyld.
Most mortals believe the Wyld to be home the terrifyingly beautiful and cruel beings known as the Fair Folk. This is only half-true. The fae creatures that peasants wear iron to ward away are actually raksha, Fair Folk that have been tainted by entering the edge of Creation, forced into relatively stable bodies and minds. The powerful, unshaped Fair Folk of the Deep Wyld, who are more akin to concepts than people, despise their cousins as polluted creatures. The enmity of the pure Fair Folk confines the raksha to the Bordermarches and Middlemarches, which the raksha collectively call the kingdom of Rakshastan.
[edit] Elsewhere
At least four realms exist that might or might not be called part of Creation, depending on how the term is defined. Some savants define their location by labeling them as simply being Elsewhere.
The first is the Underworld, home to the Abyssal Exalted and the ghosts of mortals. This land is a dark and shadowy duplicate of Creation itself, which it exists beneath, sometimes literally, but more often metaphorically.
The second is Yu-Shan, the Heavenly City. Here the various gods and godlings of the Celestial Bureaucracy record the minutiae of existence. The Sidereal Exalted also call this place home; this is where they weave the fate of the world.
Third is Malfeas, the Demon City, a terrifying land under a mad green sun. This is the home of the Yozi, better known to mortals simply as demons.
The last is Autochthonia (pronounced "aw-toh-THO-nee-uh.") This is actually the gigantic body of the Primordial known as Autochthon. Millions of his worshippers live inside his living, biomechanical body; his champions are the Alchemical Exalted.
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| Types of Exalts and other Magical Beings | Solar Exalted | Abyssal Exalted | Infernal Exalted | Lunar Exalted | Sidereal Exalted | Alchemical Exalted | Terrestrial Exalted (The Dragon-Blooded) | Raksha (The Fair Folk) | Dragon Kings | God-Blooded | |
| Major Magical Beings | The Primordials | The Yozis | The Neverborn | Gaia | Autochthon | The Unconquered Sun | Luna | The Five Celestial Maidens | The Five Elemental Dragons | The Deathlords | |
| Five Magical Materials | Orichalcum | Moonsilver | Jade | Starmetal | Soulsteel | |
| Signature Characters | Solar Exalted: Dace | Yurgen Kaneko, the Bull of the North | Panther | Samea | Arianna | Harmonious Jade | Swan Abyssal Exalted: Maiden of the Mirthless Smile | Lady of Darkness in Bloodstained Robes | Seven Degreed Physician of Black Maladies | Disciple of the Seven Forbidden Wisdoms | Prince of Shadows | Falling Tears Poet Lunar Exalted: Lilith, the Owl Woman | Strength of Many | Magnificent Jaguar | Anja Silverclaws Sidereal Exalted: Shepherd of the North Star | Iron Siaka | Crimson Banner Executioner | May Blossom | Chejop Kejak | Black Ice Shadow | Sad Ivory Terrestrial Exalted: Tepet Arada | Mnemon | Cynis Denovah Avaku | Sesus Rafara | Peleps Deled | Sesus Nagezzer, the Slug | Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack Alchemical Exalted: Stern Whip of Industry | Fair-Spoken Rishi | Excessively Righteous Blossom | Unhesitatingly Loyal Weapon (?) | Lissome Avid Engineer Infernal Exalted: Lintha Ng Hut Dukantha The Raksha: Lord Kazour | Neshi of the Double Whips | Subarto | Dilari of the Sea Foam | Nlassa of the Lion's Mane | Laughing Boy | Shikuzi the Weaver | Judge Nehemeth The Mountain Folk: Kravah |
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| Exalted Universe | The Scarlet Empress | The Blessed Isle | Creation | The Threshold | The Scavenger Lands | The Underworld | Yu-Shan, the Heavenly City | Malfeas, the Demon Realm | The Imperial City | Denandsor | Lookshy | Nexus | Thorns | Shadowlands | Whitewall | The Lap | The Imperial Mountain | The Skullstone Archipelago | Celestial Gateways | The Heptagram | The House of Bells | Elemental Poles | Rakshastan | Anima Banner | |
| Source Materials | Sourcebooks | Novels | Comics | |
