Book of Bone and Ebony

EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY
darker and more desolate place where loss of logic and
rationality is commonplace. In one word, it’s the Labyrinth.
This chapter presents plasmics from all six of these
locations before taking on the fulfillment of the Mask of
Winter’s plans, the children of Juggernaut.
EASTERN PLASMICS
The following plasmics have the Eastern Underworld
as their natural habitat.
CHAMELEON MONKEY
Chameleon monkeys are common creatures in the
southeastern landscape. The creatures always dwell inside
or just outside village (or city) walls, for they desire to be
close to ghosts. Yet, they are extremely hard to detect
(something which is reflected by their high Stealth score)
and often pass unnoticed. This is not due to a special ability,
but rather the creatures’ inaptitude at rising with fully
formed Essence bodies. They are merely translucent and
decayed images of panic monkeys (see Creatures of the
Wyld, p. 46), moving in large packs of at least 20 creatures.
In death, they are unable to sound the well-known
chattering monkey laughter that they do in Creation.
Instead, they are silent, somber beings that rarely engage
in violent actions; preferring to cause chaos by stealing
equipment from one individual and placing it with another’s
in order to gain attention. It is not unheard of that entire
villages end up fighting due to their failure to realize that
there are chameleon monkeys present.
HURA
Each hura appears as an old woman, clothed in layers
of green veils and death trappings. Underneath the veils,
there is nothing but a pale, decayed female body. History
records them as a humanoid race in Creation during the
First Age, which was forced to flee into the Underworld
during the Dragon-Blooded uprising against the Solars.
The huras’ duty was to guard children from dematerialized
dangers, for they possessed the talent to view the spirit
world and strike back at incorporeal creatures. Driven
insane by being trapped in a pale imitation of their oncebeloved
Creation, their purpose has switched, and all that
drives them now is an intense hatred of the Dragon-
Blooded. Yet, Dynastic ghosts are rare due to the practice of
the Immaculate Philosophy on the Blessed Isle, so the Huras
spend much of their time dreaming up terrible things to do
to the rare ghosts that does fall into their hands.
Huras operate in groups of four; moving in after
nightfall to steal ghostly children, who they bring to their
abandoned ruins in the deepest East, where few are able to
tread due to the heavy vegetation. Their captives never
meet a final end and remain locked up in cages hanging
high up in the treetops. Ghosts who have been captive for
centuries eventually lose hope and fall into Oblivion or
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Lethe after enough years without anyone arriving to answer
their calls for aid.
These creatures are able to use what little winds blow
to engage in slow flight up among the trees. This ability is
never used to engage in fly-by attacks, only to lift Huras
into safety or to move the battle onto the treetops. In
combat, their veils also function as whips, and each Hura
is able to perform one attack each turn against anything
that is within the whip’s reach (three yards) without
suffering any dice pool penalties.
LETHE SERPENT
Exalted: The Abyssals (p. 47) mentions serpents
hiding in among the roots of the dead Eastern trees,
waiting for ghosts to bite and infect with a poison that
sends them into Lethe — these are the Lethe serpents. It’s
no secret to the Easterners that there are serpents with the
power to enforce Lethe upon a ghost, and every dead with
sense of self-preservation makes sure to cover their feet and
legs carefully when entering densely vegetated areas.
The serpents are especially dangerous since they’re
easily mistaken for regular roots, but once their pale eyes
and bodies shimmer in the sparse light of the forest, ghosts
know that the end might well be near.
After being bitten, roll the ghost’s Stamina + Resistance,
difficulty 3. If the roll fails, the ghost immediately
enters Lethe. A botch sends the ghost straight into the
horrifying emptiness that is Oblivion. A successful roll
makes the ghost immune to future encounters with the
poison, although additional exposure may cause great
discomfort in the form of weeping warts that cover the
body (two-die impairment for two weeks).
While it’s uncommon to spot more than a handful of
Lethe serpents working together, they actually reside in
large underground colonies that consist of hundreds of
these plasmics. Should someone disturb an entire colony,
the ghosts in the area would have a difficult time on their
hands. Lethe snakes are also seen in the hands of assassins,
who find their attacks a useful way to speed enemies to
their rebirth.
PULSE BLOSSOM
Underworld shamans and scholars interesting in the
Eastern flora are familiar with pulse blossoms. They grow
in the Northeast, close to the Empire of Aki, where ghosts
clothed in gloves and armor attempt to harvest the plasmics
in order to extract their liquid Essence and manufacture
pulse draughts.
The actual flower consists of hundreds of gray and red
colored petals attached in the form of a multilayered flower
bowl with a luminescent black Essence liquid at the center.
The pulse blossoms display a malevolent intelligence and
will do anything to discourage ghosts from continuing the
practice of harvesting them, even if it means dying. The