TEXT: 1
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  CHAPTER ONE
  THE NORTH
  APHELIOTROPE
  Description: When the Usurpation came, only a
  handful of Solar Exalted survived the first Dragon-
  Blooded attacks. Among those remnants was Derat
  Khan, a mighty Dawn Caste general who managed to
  escape into the wilds of the frigid North just ahead of an
  expeditionary force of Terrestrial Exalted that had served
  under his command. After many weeks of pursuit, he was
  trapped by several dozen of them. Derat slew all of his
  attackers save one, but that last Dragon-Blood’s blade
  found his heart. Derat killed his murderer and felt his life
  begin to slip quickly away.
  Facing certain death, Derat mourned his failure to
  destroy his betrayers and began to hate the Unconquered
  Sun for turning his back on the Solar Exalted. Had he not
  been a loyal servant? Had he not slain thousands in his
  god’s name?
  Derat was ancient, even by the reckoning of the
  Solar Exalted, and he was well versed in sorcery. With
  his last breaths, he uttered spells that brought a demon
  of the Second Circle to him, a fragment of a mighty
  Prince of Malfeas. Just as Derat was about to expire, the
  demon reached out and held the Solar’s soul in place.
  Haughty Derat was proud even on the knife’s edge
  of death. He offered up his soul in exchange for a few
  more years of life. The demon laughed — Derat’s soul
  was of no value to the Demon Princes. He was a Chosen
  of the Unconquered Sun, beyond their reach without
  the aid of ancient pacts found in texts yet to be written.
  Derat spat. The Unconquered Sun had turned his back
  on Derat Khan, and Derat despised him. The demon
  Apheliotrope • Ice Fisher • Shard Bat
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  2
  grinned as Derat offered to renounce the Unconquered
  Sun, to deny everything he had done for the Realm and
  to turn on that which he had fought for his entire life.
  The demon said that such a renunciation would do.
  The Yozi would appreciate a soul freely given and steeped
  in the power of a betrayal of the Unconquered Sun. And
  so, on the edge of the world, caught in the breath between
  life and death, Derat
  Khan cursed his god and
  his life’s work and swore
  by ancient and evil pow-
  ers to spend whatever
  time he purchased for
  himself working to de-
  stroy his enemies and the
  whole of Creation. And
  with a whisper, the bar-
  gain was sealed.
  Newly reborn in
  darkness, Derat was
  strategist enough to
  know that that the
  handful of years allot-
  ted to him would not be
  enough to avenge him-
  self 
  upon 
  the
  Dragon-Blooded. So, he plunged deeper into the wastes
  of the North, eventually finding a network of caves in
  a range of hills in which to hide himself. He began to
  work toward a greater plan, a legacy that would survive
  long past his own demise and one that, if ever com-
  pleted, would destroy not just the Dragon-Blooded, but
  Creation itself.
  The dark general began to summon neomah, de-
  mon-courtesans, and to breed with them, creating infernal
  offspring. By virtue of his Essence, these byblows were
  stronger than normal humans, manifesting the spiritual
  power of both parents and the physical prowess of their
  father. In addition, each of them bore the curse of Derat
  Khan — no sunlight would touch them, and they walked
  in shadow, no matter how great the light of the sun shone
  upon them. The strongest of these beings, which Derat
  named apheliotropes, were taught how to fight, while
  the rest gathered slaves in order to hollow out a city
  under the frozen mountains. Soon a small civilization
  prospered under the earth, in tunnels carved out by the
  Khan’s lesser offspring. Every cornice, tile and arch was
  covered with sigils praising the Yozi and blaspheming
  the Celestial Bureaucracy and the Unconquered Sun.
  The apheliotropes called this refuge Kerzt Derat, the
  fortress of Derat Khan, and began to refer to themselves
  as the Shrouded Ones.
  After his time was finished, Derat passed away into
  eternal torment at the hands of his new masters, perhaps
  content that his far-sighted plans had been set in mo-
  tion. Without a human agency to guide them, Derat’s
  more powerful offspring soon devoured their slaves and
  gave in to their infernal nature. There were enough of
  them — three dozen or more — to breed with one
  another and start a population beneath Kerzt Derat.
  They raided nearby human settlements, mainly those
  around the White Sea, although on a few infamous
  occasions their war-par-
  ties took captives from
  as 
  far 
  away 
  as
  Gethamane. Some of
  the more conservative
  Shrouded Ones still
  pursued Derat Khan’s
  ancient plan, but to
  most of them, it was a
  mere legend, a proph-
  ecy speaking of a day
  that would never come.
  All 
  of 
  that
  changed six centuries
  ago. After a dozen raids
  by the Shrouded Ones
  on the feathersteel
  mines of Bagrash Köl,
  the sorcerer raised a
  force to destroy the raiders. His magnificent army
  tracked a Shrouded One raiding party back to Kerzt
  Derat, deep within the bowels of the earth. Even the
  most powerful of the apheliotropes could not withstand
  his Dragon-Blooded and demon officers and the power
  of the Eye, and so, the few who survived the assault on
  Kerzt Derat fled their ancient home. To the elders of the
  apheliotropes who had pursued Derat Khan’s plans as
  some kind of holy mission, this exodus was deemed a
  punishment from their long-dead patriarch. They vowed
  to return to Kerzt Derat one day, and that day would
  only come when they finally completed the ancient
  machinations of Derat Khan.
  The faith of the apheliotropes had been tested and
  found wanting.
  Now, the Shrouded Ones have spread throughout
  the North. Scattered as they are, the wisest among them
  realize that their race is dying out and has only decades
  left, perhaps a century at most. Some of the more cun-
  ning apheliotropes have used their powers and knowledge
  of ancient lore to become advisors to local rulers, while
  the strongest have formed war bands to raid settlements
  for slaves and trade goods. Others of their kind stalk the
  unwary as fodder with which to enact dark rites in which
  the Shrouded Ones conjure up demons and elementals
  for the purpose of furthering the enigmatic final revenge
  of Derat Khan. Their recent efforts have brought the
  renewed attention of their Haslanti persecutors and
  drawn the interest of the icewalker bands led by the
  
  3
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  mysterious Bull of the North, but the apheliotropes are
  wise enough to avoid presenting as large a target as they
  did at Kerzt Derat. A few of the braver Shrouded Ones
  have even begun to attack isolated members of the
  icewalkers. No matter where the apheliotropes find
  themselves in the Age of Sorrows, they have cast them-
  selves as the adversaries of all that is bound to the light.
  The Shrouded Ones appear as normal humans
  wreathed in hazy shadow, an effect they refer to as the
  “ebon curtain.” Since this makes their true nature
  readily apparent during the daylight hours, they tend to
  limit their movements to the evening or to days when
  clouds create overcast conditions. Many of the
  apheliotropes still bear some sign of their demonic
  heritage, be it horns, strangely shaped eyes or animalis-
  tic extremities. Physically, they are stronger and more
  vital than the average man or woman and far more
  prone to emotional outbursts of savagery and vendettas.
  Perhaps due to their heritage, they are able to master
  the Terrestrial Circle of magic, and some of them are
  dedicated and potent sorcerers.
  Survival of the fittest and the most cunning forms
  the basis for apheliotropic society and personal interac-
  tion. They share an upbringing in which abuse is common
  and discipline is essential, and their personalities are
  shaped by a religion in which the sun that brings life to
  the rest of the world is viewed as a horrific evil and a
  mortal enemy. They despise the masses of humanity and
  desire nothing more than to spend the remaining years
  before their species dies out bringing down human civi-
  lization. Even those who have hidden themselves in
  mortal governments work quietly to corrupt and destroy
  the societies around them.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Cha-
  risma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3, Perception 3,
  Intelligence 3, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 2,
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Brawl 3, Dodge 4,
  Larceny 3, Linguistics (Native: Old Realm; High Realm,
  Skytongue) 2, Lore 3, Medicine 1 (Torture +2), Melee 4,
  Occult 4, Presence 2, Socialize 3, Stealth 4
  Backgrounds: Allies (Northern Personages) 2, Artifact
  1, Contacts 3, Followers 3, Resources 3
  Supernatural Powers: The Ebon Curtain
  Base Initiative: 6
  Attack:
  Punch: Speed 6 Accuracy 6 Damage 4B Defense 6
  Kick: Speed 3 Accuracy 5 Damage 6B Defense 5
  Chopping Sword: Speed 6 Accuracy 8 Damage 8L
  Defense 7
  Dodge Pool: 7
  Soak: 8L/11B (Chain hauberk,
  6L/7B)
  Willpower: 6
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/
  -4/Incap
  Essence: 1
  Essence Pool: 22
  Other Notes: Apheliotropes with sufficient training are
  capable of learning Terrestrial Circle Sorcery. Any sor-
  cerer worth his salt among them knows how to summon
  a Demon of the First Circle, and most know the art of
  creating an Impenetrable Frost Barrier. Many will have
  additional spells at their disposal, gathered from cap-
  tured lore or taught to them by others of their kind.
  Some apheliotropes may bear one or more signs of their
  demonic heritage. To simulate such Shrouded Ones,
  give them one or more Wyld mutations (see Exalted, p.
  280-281 and Exalted: The Lunars, p. 208-222).
  THE EBON CURTAIN
  Cost: 10 motes (see below)
  The true sign of the apheliotropes’ curse is
  the permanent pool of shadow that surrounds
  them during daylight hours, for sunlight will not
  touch their blighted skin. The Shrouded Ones
  can expand the curtain so that it truly envelops
  their features and actions, even during the evening
  hours when their skin will allow the touch of
  moon or torchlight. For a cost of 10 motes of
  Essence, the Shrouded Ones can gain bonus dice
  to their Stealth equal to twice their permanent
  Essence as a reflexive action. This effect lasts for
  one scene. This effect offers no protection against
  the Charms of the Solar Exalted.
  THE REVENGE OF DERAT KHAN
  What is the revenge of Derat Khan? It is
  whatever the Storyteller needs it to be to fuel his
  plot. If there is an ancient artifact that needs
  adversaries to seek it out and wield it, or if the
  Storyteller needs a group of beings that seek noth-
  ing less than the death of the Unconquered Sun’s
  servants, the apheliotropes make excellent foils.
  The origin of the apheliotropes as offspring of
  a vengeful Solar Exalted can even make them
  perfect servants for Solar adversaries in your game
  — perhaps the apheliotropes believe the Solar in
  question to be a reincarnation of Derat Khan
  himself. An interesting plot possibility is that the
  apheliotropes see a player’s character as the rein-
  carnation of their ancient patriarch and seek to
  enlist him to their dark purpose.
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  4
  ICE FISHER
  Description: Ice fishing is a common practice in
  the frozen North. A fisher walks out onto a lake or sea,
  cuts a hole in the ice and drops his line into the water
  below. Sometimes, these ice fishermen sit for days,
  waiting for a fish or seal to bite. Other fishermen use
  spears instead, waiting by their holes for a seal or a walrus
  to pop through for a quick gulp of air. But
  whichever way they hunt, sometimes,
  the ice fishermen find themselves
  the ones hunted and caught.
  Ice fishers look similar
  to rays, with wide flat bod-
  ies and long, barbed tails.
  Each of their “wings”
  end in a 10-yard-long
  tentacle with strong
  suckers for gripping.
  These creatures
  swim beneath
  the frozen rivers
  and lakes and
  oceans and are at-
  tracted to light
  s h i n i n g
  t h r o u g h
  the 
  ice.
  When an ice fisher lo-
  cates a likely spot, it
  attaches itself to the ice
  with its tentacles, flip-
  ping over in the process
  so that its belly, as well as
  its eyes and wide mouth,
  presses against the ice.
  Sometimes, it finds an existing
  hole, kept
  open by sea mammals or cut by a fisherman who either
  moved on to a new spot or simply has not yet arrived that
  day. The ice fisher can make its own hole, however — it
  stabs its barbed tail up through the ice, pulls it back out,
  then bites around the edges until the hole is large enough
  (usually a few feet across). Then, it waits.
  Sometimes the hole attracts a seal or walrus, and the
  ice fisher waits until the animal’s head breaks the surface
  before attacking. It releases its hold on the ice, wrapping
  its tentacles around its prey, and bites down hard with its
  mouth, while its tail stabs again and again, searching for
  a vital organ. Once the prey goes limp, the ice fisher
  drops into the depths with it and begins to feed.
  But the ice fisher’s real prey aren’t the seals and
  walruses that approach from below. It favors creatures
  who approach from above, such as polar bears and foxes
  — and men. The ice fisher waits at its hole until a
  fisherman comes along. Most men are curious about the
  ready-made hole in the ice and walk right up to the edge,
  peering in for any sign of fish or other food. That’s when
  the ice fisher strikes. It lashes up with one of its tentacles,
  wrapping around the man’s legs, and drags him down
  into the hole. Sometimes, the hole isn’t big enough, and
  the ice fisher must exert itself, but it’s well-anchored
  with the other three tentacles and its tail — it may
  splinter the ice around the hole and shatter the man’s
  bones, but it will eventually pull him through and into
  the icy waters. From there, it’s over in a matter of
  moments — the man drowns or freezes, un-
  able to break the ice fisher’s grip.
  The ice fisher’s other tactic is to
  swim along until it locates an exist-
  ing hole that’s already in use by a
  fisherman. It anchors itself in
  the same way, but if the per-
  son has dropped a fishing
  line through, the ice fisher
  waits for a moment, then
  gives the line a light tug.
  Then, it waits and tugs
  again. Each tug grows a
  little stronger. Even-
  tually, 
  the
  fisherman
  gets tired
  of 
  the
  game, and curious about what he’s caught,
  and peers into the hole. Sometimes, he stabs
  a spear through, to impale whatever’s down
  there, but the ice fisher simply grabs the
  spear with its tentacles and pulls hard,
  yanking it down and the man with it.
  Ice fishers are feared by most North-
  ern fishermen and the topic of many
  stories and tales. Few people encounter
  an ice fisher and survive because ice
  fishers can sense vibrations both in the
  water and on the ice above. (This requires an opposed
  roll, the ice fisher’s Perception + Awareness + specialty
  [12 dice] versus the fisherman’s Dexterity + Survival or
  Stealth. Note that, if more than one person is present,
  each individual player should roll, and the group uses the
  lowest roll — this is for the ice fisher to detect the entire
  group’s approach.) This method of detection only works
  on characters who touch the ice itself or enter the water
  below it. Because of this, the descriptions offered by the
  stories range widely, from angry intelligent seals with
  blood-red eyes to beings like men but blue and scaled
  who sit on the underside of the ice, upside down, in coats
  and hats and boots, exactly like the men up above.
  Others laugh and say that there’s no such thing as an ice
  fisher and that the men who died fishing got drunk and
  fell into the water or fell asleep and froze to death.
  
  5
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  Of course, some men do escape ice fisher attacks.
  Their friends and neighbors quickly learn not to peer
  into precut fishing holes or to respond to tugs on the line.
  A few fishermen have even caught ice fishers instead of
  the other way around — they wait until the ice fisher
  tugs, then plunge their spears down through the ice next
  to the hole. If they’ve picked the right side, the spear
  impales the ice fisher. It flails wildly, trying to escape, but
  after a few minutes, it goes limp. Then, the fishermen cut
  a new hole around their spear and draw up their catch.
  Ice fishers are not particularly good food — their bodies
  are too rubbery — but their flesh does provide protein,
  and a hungry fisherman cannot afford to pass up a meal.
  Recently, a rumor has begun that eating the flesh, and
  particularly the barbed tail, of an ice fisher can grant the
  ability to breathe underwater. Whether this is true or not
  remains to be seen.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Cha-
  risma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 4,
  Intelligence 1, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 2,
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 5 (Swimming +3), Awareness 4
  (Vibrations +4), Brawl 4 (Clinch +2, Stinger +3, Throw
  +2), Dodge 5, Endurance 4, Stealth 4 (Ambush +3),
  Survival 4
  Base Initiative: 6
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 3 Accuracy 9 Damage 8L Defense 3
  Stinger: Speed 6 Accuracy 6 Damage 4L + clinch*
  Defense 5
  Tentacle: Speed 7 Accuracy 8 Damage 2B + clinch**
  Defense 4
  * The ice fisher’s barbed tail grants it an automatic
  clinch every time the barb does damage. The rules for
  this are the same as those for the tentacle clinch above.
  Note, however, that if the ice fisher has its victim
  clinched with tentacles it can still attack with its barb
  each turn.
  ** If a tentacle attack does damage, the ice fisher gains
  an automatic clinch attack. This clinch does an addi-
  tional 4B damage. Every turn, the victim’s player may
  attempt a Dexterity + Brawl or Martial Arts roll for his
  character to escape, versus the ice fisher’s own Strength
  + Brawl + specialty (10 dice). Clinched victims can
  attack the ice fisher or try to escape, but they can only do
  one per turn.
  Dodge Pool: 7
  Soak: 3L/7B (Rubbery skin, 3L/3B)
  Willpower: 6
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/
  Incap
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: The ice fisher’s goal in an attack is to drag
  its prey under the water. This is a throw attack. Every
  turn the ice fisher maintains a successful clinch, it can
  attempt this throw. Roll the ice fisher’s Dexterity +
  Brawl + specialty (10 dice) and subtract one success from
  its attack roll. If the attack succeeds, the ice fisher throws
  the victim up to three yards toward the hole. If the victim
  was less than that distance from the hole, he or she is
  dragged into the hole and under the water. Players of
  characters with no armor or light armor may attempt a
  reflexive Dexterity + Athletics roll, difficulty 3, for their
  characters to grab the lip of the hole and avoid being
  dragged under completely. Characters in medium and
  heavy armor will generally not fit through the hole, at
  least not until the ice fisher bludgeons them to death,
  breaking most of their bones in the process. Once in the
  water, characters must contend with drowning as well.
  Ice fishers can regrow their tentacles but not their barb,
  so they will normally attack only with the one tentacle
  until the victim is in the water or stuck on top of the hole.
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  6
  SHARD BAT
  Description: The North does not have many aerial
  predators, perhaps because the air is fiercer and colder and
  the snow and ice don’t offer much concealment. But some
  creatures have adapted to these conditions and are all the
  more deadly because of them. Shard bats are
  such creatures. These bats are larger
  than most varieties, close to two
  feet from toe to crown and
  almost eight feet from
  wingtip to wingtip.
  Their thick, snow-
  white fur allows them
  to survive the harsh
  temperatures and to
  move almost unseen
  across the white sky
  and equally white
  plains. But the shard bats’ truly
  unique trait is the reason behind their name.
  These bats secrete a viscous liquid onto their
  wings and claws. When the shard bats take flight,
  the liquid freezes into razor-sharp edges, turning their
  wings into lethal weapons. The shard bats are enormous
  blades of glittering ice that descend from the sky at tremen-
  dous speeds and slice through prey before wheeling and
  returning for a second attack. A shard bat can take a man’s
  arm off in a single slash, so quickly and cleanly he doesn’t
  even feel the pain until after the limb hits the ground.
  Shard bats live in caves high in the mountains, hidden
  by swirls of snow and fog. The caves are warmer than the
  outside air, thanks to the protection from wind and the heat
  of the bats’ own bodies, and the bats cluster together in tight
  groups of 20 or more, hanging upside down from rocky
  protrusions. Shard bats usually leave their caves only to
  hunt, flying in a pack and descending on targets as a unit,
  moving in perfect unison. They cut back and forth until
  nothing else moves, then settle onto the victims and tear
  flesh loose with sharp teeth and sharper claws. The bats
  carry meat back to their caves for the young.
  Shard bats are unusual in that they are daytime crea-
  tures, whereas most bats are nocturnal. But their coloring
  makes them less visible and more dangerous by day, when
  the sun’s glare helps to hide them from view. Their wings
  and claws also shine in the sunlight, dazzling victims as they
  descend like a shower of ice shards from the sky.
  Shard bats rely on echolocation to reveal their sur-
  roundings. They can “see” general shapes all around them,
  which allows them to navigate narrow passageways and
  maneuver between boulders and other obstacles. It also
  helps them to estimate the mass of a potential target, and
  shard bats are extremely good at this game — they rarely
  target something too large for the current pack to handle,
  such as a bull walrus. Interestingly enough, shard bats can
  somehow detect undercoats and always steer clear of the
  disguised creatures, avoiding an entire pack of prey animals
  even if only one member of the pack is infested.
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3, Charisma
  0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 3, Intelli-
  gence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction
  3, Temperance 2, Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 5 (Flying
  +3), Awareness 3 (Echolo-
  cation +3), Brawl 4,
  Dodge 5, Endurance 4,
  Stealth 2, Survival 3
  Base Initiative: 9
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 6 Accu-
  racy 9 Damage 2L
  Claw: Speed 9 Accuracy
  9 Damage 5L Defense 9
  Wing: Speed 12 Accuracy 10
  Damage 8L
  Dodge Pool: 11
  Soak: 2L/6B (Tough
  fur, 2L/3B)
  Willpower: 3
  Health Levels: -0/-
  1/-1/-2/-2/Incap
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: The shards from a shard bat’s wing can be
  crafted into arrowheads, darts and small knives. Such
  weapons gain +2 to damage, but will melt if they are exposed
  to temperatures above freezing.
  The secretions of a shard bat, rubbed on a bladed weapon,
  will grant it a sharper edge and the ability to slice through
  snow and ice without effort. That fact has led some adven-
  turous souls to seek out the bats’ caves, in hopes of capturing
  a live shard bat and somehow bottling its secretions. The
  caves are difficult to reach, however, located high above the
  ground with only steep slopes below, and even when the
  pack hunts, a handful of shard bats remain behind to protect
  their home and their young.
  The one drawback to the shard bats’ ice is that it allows
  them to move more quickly through the air (it cuts down on
  the wind resistance) but creates a faint whistling sound, the
  same as a sharp sword swung rapidly. Quick-witted travelers
  have survived a shard bat attack because they heard that
  sound and immediately threw themselves behind a rock or
  tree, narrowly ducking the attack that follows. It is a
  Difficult (difficulty 2) Perception check to catch the sound,
  and a difficulty 2 Wits check to guess what it means
  (difficulty 1 if the character has encountered shard bats
  before). Succeeding at both gives the character one minute
  to find cover, and +2 dice to the first dodge attempt.
  
  7
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  CHAPTER TWO
  THE EAST
  BEAR-KILLER
  Description: Years ago, when the Contagion swept
  the earth and the great tides of the Wyld washed over
  civilization, the very land itself was transformed. Whole
  species of animals found themselves melting like wax in
  flame as glamour twisted them into the war machines of
  the Fair Folk. In the Northeast, few stories of such
  metamorphoses are more tragic than the tale of the bear-
  killers.
  Once, the bear-killers were simple bears of the
  Northeast, massive specimens that hunted, fished and
  wandered the deep forests of that region. They were
  proud, noble creatures. If they were not wholly intelli-
  gent, there was at least a spirituality to them that made
  all those who caught a glimpse of the bears in the deep
  woods catch their breath. Beneath the heavy black and
  brown pelts of the beasts, muscles that could fell a tree
  rippled, and in their deep black eyes, the wise could see
  a mirror of the night sky.
  All of that nobility came to an end when the Wyld
  erupted from the corners of the world, and the great
  bears of the Northeast were transformed in its wake.
  The lords of the Wyld had no talent for dealing with or
  battling gods, many of whom had allied with one
  another and put aside ancient rivalries in order to halt
  Bear-Killer • Niljake • Starlight Whistler
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  8
  the advance of the fey. The marauding Fair Folk saw the
  potential of the bears as spirit warriors, so they used
  their strange sorcery to alter the beasts and bind them
  in chains of glamour.
  The Fair Folk’s magic sliced the fur from the bears’
  flesh and supernaturally toughened their naked hide. It
  transformed the claws of the bears into an arcane
  emerald metal that could slice through the veil that
  separated the immaterial from the material world. These
  potent weapons left the claws permanently sharp and
  able to cleave through steel with ease. Finally, they
  removed the eyes of the bears and replaced them with
  quicksilver devices capable of seeing into the realm
  where the little gods hid. No living thing could have
  withstood such a metamorphosis without being changed
  on a fundamental level, and the bear-killers found
  themselves cloven from their animal natures and pos-
  sessed of a new kind of sentience.
  The expense and investment in these alterations
  were great, so the Fair Folk created a mere hundred of
  these spirit warriors for use in their armies. Despite their
  small numbers, the bear-killers became a potent part of
  the Fair Folk arsenal against the spirits of the East.
  When the Fair Folk were pushed back to the new
  edges of Creation by the weapons of the First Age, the
  bear-killers were driven with them, still slaves to their
  insane masters. For centuries, the bear-killers served the
  fey as soldiers until the day that the Lunar hero Crimson
  Unity freed them. During her sojourns into the Wyld
  lands, the Lunar general had witnessed the cruel terms of
  the bear-killers’ captivity. In a game of trickery and
  chance, Crimson Unity locked herself into a battle of
  wits with the Fair Folk who had mastered the bears, until
  finally she fooled the fey into releasing them. She then
  forced the fey to vow to never truck with their spirit
  warriors again.
  Free at last, the faerie-twisted bears tried to return to
  the Northeast, but they found that their homes had been
  irrevocably altered by the invasion of the Wyld. Even
  more distressing, their mundane brethren found them
  alien and ugly aberrations. Where the spirit-warriors had
  once had fur, there was now naked hide — and while
  they had been creatures of an animal nature, they were
  now beings apart, able to see the invisible world of the
  spirits and to think and voice their thoughts in a crude
  language of their own.
  The bear-killers vowed bloody revenge at the per-
  ceived slight visited upon them by the bears. Their wrath
  at this rejection was a thing of legend, and they began
  driving the normal bears from the woods. For the next
  few years, anytime one of the spirit-warriors encountered
  a normal bear, the bear-killer cut it down on the spot
  with claws of emerald-hued metal, then devoured its
  carcass. Still, the bears of the woods were more numerous
  than the bear-killers, and after a time, the spirit-warriors
  grew weary of the slaughter and were wracked with guilt.
  
  9
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  The bears retreated from territory where a bear-killer was
  known to reside, and so, the bears’ numbers began to
  slowly return to normal. It is from this period that the
  name “bear-killers” fell into common usage among the
  people and spirits of the woods.
  Unable to look at one another with the knowledge
  of their crimes against their own kind but still too
  possessed of rage to suppress their hatred, the bear-killers
  parted ways and began to wander beneath the massive
  vaults of the great forests. The bears of the woods had
  been long-lived, and the bear-killers were nearly immor-
  tal, as long as they stayed in places rich in eldritch
  energy. When they found a Demesne or a Wyld place,
  they rested. The techniques the Fair Folk had used to
  create them had left the creatures sterile, and so, they
  eschewed even the company of the opposite sex.
  Once every generation, the bear-killers repress their
  solitary nature and come together for a great meeting of
  their kind, to spread news of the goings-on in different
  parts of the Northeast and to praise Crimson Unity, who
  saved them from eternal servitude but wasn’t merciful
  enough to slay them. Once in a great while, Crimson
  Unity will appear at these gatherings — rumor has it that
  she seeks to build an army of Wyld barbarians to subdue
  the Threshold, and if that is true, then the bear-killers
  would certainly aid her.
  The bear-killers avoid human contact for the most
  part, although an adventurous hunter or sorcerer will
  often seek out a bear-killer and try to slay the beast for his
  claws, which can be crafted into weapons that are potent
  when used against spirits. Most of the bear-killers are
  total recluses, avoiding all contact except for the odd
  encounter with a Lunar Exalted, whom they hold in high
  regard because of the actions of Crimson Unity. Only a
  handful of the bear-killers actually seek out contact with
  other beings, and these aberrations typically work as
  warriors in feuds between renegade spirits. Bear-killers
  are not welcome in the spirit courts, though, for many of
  the small gods still bear scars from wounds that these
  warriors meted out.
  EMERALD METAL CLAWS
  The mystic metal of the bear-killer’s claws,
  crafted as it was from permanent glamour, allows
  the creature to attack even unmanifested spirits so
  long as the bear-killer is aware of them. Skilled
  craftsmen can craft daggers, arrow tips and spear-
  heads from the metal of slain bear-killers, but due to
  the strength of the metal and the shape of it, it
  requires a successful Intelligence + Craft roll at
  difficulty 3.
  Arrowheads and spear tips crafted from the
  claws of a bear-killer receive +1L damage, and a
  dozen of them may be created from a bear-killer’s
  natural weapons. Daggers are Speed +3 Accuracy +
  0 Damage +3L Defense +0.
  QUICKSILVER VISION
  With a successful Perception + Awareness roll,
  the bear-killers, due to their artificial quicksilver
  eyes, may see unmanifested spirits.
  Attributes: Strength 8, Dexterity 3, Stamina 6, Cha-
  risma 3, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3, Perception 3,
  Intelligence 2, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 1, Temperance 1,
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Awareness 2, Brawl 5, Dodge 2, Linguistics 1
  (Native: Bear-Killer; Forest-tongue), Presence 1 (In-
  timidation +3), Stealth 2, Survival 3
  Supernatural Powers: Emerald Metal Claws, Quicksil-
  ver Vision
  Base Initiative: 7
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 2 Accuracy 8 Damage 9L
  Emerald Metal Claws: Speed 7 Accuracy 8 Damage 12L
  Defense 10
  Dodge Pool: 5
  Soak: 5L/6B (Tough hide, 2L/0B)
  Willpower: 2
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-1/
  -2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Essence: 2
  Other Notes: None
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  10
  NILJAKE
  Description: Niljakes are large, lizard-like crea-
  tures that have been warped by the Wyld. What sets the
  niljakes apart from other such creatures is a singular
  ability to move through the forest in a way that defies
  mundane understanding.
  Some savants say that the woods themselves are
  friendly to these creatures; others say that the trees want
  to get out of the niljakes’ way and would uproot them-
  selves and walk away if they only could. In reality, the
  nature of the creatures’ Wyld mutation makes nature
  abhor niljakes, and the end result is that niljakes can
  simply run through the forest while tree trunks, bushes
  and other natural obstacles warp themselves out of their
  way without making a sound. The plants twist them-
  selves back to their original forms when the creature has
  passed. The effect doesn’t work on rocks, buildings or
  other non-plant obstacles, but it does allow a niljake to
  move extremely quickly and completely soundlessly
  through the thickest forests and ambush its prey without
  the slightest warning.
  A niljake is about the size of a large dog, with small,
  clawed forelimbs and extremely powerful and dispropor-
  tionately large back legs that propel it through the woods
  at tremendous speeds. Niljakes stay crouched ex-
  tremely low when they run, allowing them to stay
  out of sight until they attack. Their front
  limbs aren’t particularly dexterous,
  but they can be used to
  slash at an enemy or
  to hold
  s o m e -
  t h i n g
  s t i l l
  while it is
  being eaten.
  A powerful tail pro-
  vides balance and can
  be used to heavily swat
  things or people
  around if necessary. A
  single swipe from it can
  break a grown man’s limb
  — or head. The niljakes
  have strong jaws that can
  rend steel or rip off limbs.
  The creatures’ green-
  tinted, scaly hides offer
  them excellent protection
  against injury.
  Niljakes 
  move
  swiftly and are extremely
  good at hiding. Because
  of their shape, speed and
  the advantages granted by not having to worry about
  most obstacles found in forests, the niljakes can simply
  vanish into the jungle after an attack and ambush their
  opponents all over again a bit later. Putting your back
  against a tree won’t be of much use, since a niljake can
  come at you right through the tree, which will obligingly
  and completely silently bend out of the way — not a
  single leaf will rustle when this happens. Most niljakes’
  favored tactic is to use their powerful leg muscles to
  propel the reptiles at their targets at an amazing speed,
  take a bite out of them and then disappear again, hope-
  fully before the target have had a chance to counterattack
  effectively. The niljakes keep this up until their victims
  are too weak to escape and then settle down to wait for
  bleeding to finish the job. The niljakes particularly enjoy
  attacking travelers who have made camp for the night
  and, presumably, make easy prey for a creature that can
  move silently and not worry about the underbrush rus-
  tling or blocking its way.
  Niljakes usually mate for life and thus travel in pairs,
  but their amazing speed can easily make travelers believe
  that they are surrounded by a large pack of the creatures.
  Despite their efficiency as hunters, niljakes avoid large
  groups of humans, preferring to go after easier targets
  such as other animals. Lone humans are fair game for
  them, however.
  
  11
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  For all their ferocity, niljakes aren’t particularly
  clever and have no understanding of Exalted or what
  they can do, and the creatures can thus end up attacking
  what look like one or two harmless humans but are, in
  reality, something quite a bit more dangerous.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1, Perception 2,
  Intelligence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 2, Temperance 1,
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 2, Brawl 4, Dodge 1,
  Endurance 2, Resistance 1, Stealth 3, Survival 3
  Supernatural Powers: Nature Warp
  Base Initiative: 7
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 9 Accuracy 8 Damage 8L
  Claw: Speed 7 Accuracy 5 Damage 5L Defense 8
  Tail: Speed 9 Accuracy 8 Damage 10B Defense 8*
  * The tail allows an additional attack that can be
  executed without splitting the creature’s dice pool.
  Dodge Pool: 5
  Soak: 3L/6B (Thick, scaly hide,
  3L/3B)
  Willpower: 4
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/
  -2/-4/Incap
  Essence: 2
  Other Notes: Niljakes are very fast. They run at a speed
  of their Dexterity rating + 20 yards per turn and sprint at
  (Dexterity x 3) + 30 yards per turn.
  NATURE WARP
  This Wyld mutation causes plants to “bend”
  out of the Wyld creature’s way. While it looks as
  if the plants willfully get out of the way, in
  actuality, the space that contains them warps to
  avoid contact with the alien presence of the
  Wyld. This offers several advantages — a Wyld
  creature with this blight may simply run through
  a forest at full speed and never worry about
  slowing down, so long as he doesn’t come across
  a boulder or a ravine. Pursuers will find that even
  the creature’s footprints are quite difficult to
  locate, as the creature’s feet do touch the ground
  but not the grass or moss that grows on it. Even
  dead branches, leaves and other similar remains
  of plant life avoid the touch of this mutation. An
  equally useful effect is that wooden weapons will
  always miss the creature with this mutation,
  though for example a wooden spear with a steel
  tip will still do normal damage.
  However, this seemingly positive effect also
  has its downsides, the most obvious ones of which
  are the social consequences. Most societies take a
  dim view of beings twisted by the Wyld, and this
  power is often viewed as a particularly vile one —
  nature’s abhorrence of the Wyld creature is taken
  as a clear sign of its evil. Eating fruits, vegetables or
  other plant matter of any kind also becomes im-
  possible, as they cannot even be touched, much
  less swallowed. Climbing trees, crossing wooden
  bridges or trying to go upstairs in a wooden build-
  ing is also impossible. A dead Wyld creature no
  longer causes this effect, so an armor made out of
  the hide of such a creature will not enable some-
  one to run through a forest with his eyes closed.
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  12
  STARLIGHT WHISTLER
  Description: In the upper branches
  of the great Eastern forests live a race of gray-
  winged birdmen, distant descendants of a
  tribe who sought the favor of the spirits of
  the air. These birdmen hide from the light of
  the sun and the full moon, venturing
  out only in starlight or dur-
  ing eclipses, pained by light
  and yet drawn to it with a
  desperate hunger. When
  they hunt at night, they
  whistle to each other, com-
  municating without words
  and coordinating their pur-
  suit of prey in the clearings
  below. Local tribes call
  them the starlight whis-
  tlers and curse them as the
  misbegotten offspring of
  gods and the refuse of
  the heavens.
  Thousands of
  years ago, during
  the First Age, the
  tribe had wings as
  glorious 
  as
  moonsilver, as
  proud as eagles’
  and as mighty as
  the north wind.
  The starlight whistlers
  loyally served Star of
  Wormwood, a Dawn
  Caste who dwelt in the
  region, acted as their
  patron and found them
  useful as shock troops
  and spies. However, there
  came a day when he made war
  on another Exalt. His enemy
  offered the tribe gifts of dia-
  monds, silk and coral as the
  price for treachery; the bird-
  men were to flee the battle at a
  crucial moment, leaving the Dawn Exalt’s flank un-
  guarded. In a moment of folly, they took the bribe, and
  in a moment of rashness, they betrayed their master,
  flying away into the depths of the forest. As he saw them
  depart and felt his enemy’s spear in his side, the Dawn
  Caste Exalt cursed them in the name of the Uncon-
  quered Sun, that their beauty should be as fleeting as
  their loyalty and that they should crave the light but be
  unable to endure it. As his curse rang in the air, the
  wings of the tribe molted and cracked, becoming scaly
  and raiton-like, where before they had been more
  beautiful than the eagles’, and they screamed and hid
  themselves from the sunlight, feeling it burn their skin
  and eyes.
  There are barely 50 of the starlight whistlers left
  now, and while they assault women from local tribes in
  an attempt to sire more children, very few of the women
  give birth to living offspring. When this does happen,
  the women expose the accursed babies outside their
  village, leaving them to their “demonic” fathers.
  
  13
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  The whistlers have long since moved past the stage
  of deciding who to blame for their fate (it was definitely
  the Solars) and have settled into a dogged resignation
  and bitterness, pursuing a miserable life in the high
  branches of the trees. They cannot tolerate sunlight
  without pain, and even moonlight is uncomfortable (-2
  to all rolls in sunlight, and -1 in moonlight), but due to
  Star of Wormwood’s curse, they hate living in darkness,
  and they fly under the starlight in the dark of the moon.
  Their weaponry, bows and javelins, dates back to the
  First Age and is still in perfect condition, as they care for
  and tend to it meticulously; but they dress in loincloths
  and skins and wear bones braided in their hair. Their
  skins are ugly and blotched with gray markings, but their
  bone structure is still fine and graceful. They live, on
  average, for 80 years.
  The starlight whistlers fly as well as raitons (see
  Exalted, p. 317) and like to harry their prey with arrows
  until they begin to drop from exhaustion, then swoop
  down to finish them off with javelins. Men have the
  higher rank in their culture, but women are accepted as
  equal hunters alongside them. The whistlers scorn mere
  humans but are not averse to terrorizing local tribes into
  paying tribute to be left alone and have, at times, leagued
  themselves with Fair Folk as hunters. While the whis-
  tlers will pay local spirits the minimum of respect where
  necessary, the birdmen are generally not fond of the little
  gods — in the past, the whistlers have made many
  appeals to spirits to heal their condition and have been
  refused or have had the attempts fail. The starlight
  whistlers loathe and fear the Exalted: Many legends and
  tales of the First Age have been handed down through
  the tribe from generation to generation, and some of the
  information is even moderately accurate. While they
  would dearly love to take revenge on any Solars, they
  also fear possible retribution. A possible tactic might
  involve setting the Solars against any local Fair Folk and
  then trying to betray the Solars in the confusion.
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 2, Appearance 1, Perception 4,
  Intelligence 3, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 4, Temperance 3,
  Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 4, Brawl 3, Dodge 3,
  Endurance 3 (Jungles +2), Lore 4, Medicine 2, Melee 3
  (Javelin +2), Presence 2, Resistance 3, Socialize 1,
  Stealth 3, Survival 2 (Jungles +1)
  Backgrounds: Allies 3 (Local Fair Folk)
  Base Initiative: 6
  Attack:
  Punch: Speed 4 Accuracy 4 Damage 3B Defense 4
  Bow: Speed 6 Accuracy 6 Damage 6L Defense 6 (Rate 2,
  Range 150)
  Javelin: Speed 6 Accuracy 7 Damage 7L Defense 7
  Dodge Pool: 5
  Soak: 3L/6B (Hardened, deformed
  skin, 2L/3B)
  Willpower: 6
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/
  -2/-2/-4/Incap
  Essence: 2
  Other Notes: None
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  14
  CHAPTER THREE
  THE SOUTH
  CACTUS SNAKE
  Description: Nature is clever, and sometimes, it
  creates beasts for a specific purpose or even to work in
  unison with other plants or animals. The cactus snake is
  one of this latter type. Small (between two and three feet
  long) and slender, the cactus snake is usually a pale gray-
  green, but its skin color alters to match its surroundings.
  The snakes like moisture and coolness, and so they
  seek out cacti, then burrow deep within the desert
  plants. Once inside, a cactus snake wriggles back around
  until its head is exposed again. Then it sleeps, cool and
  comfortable. Vibrations in the ground nearby travel up
  through the cactus and awaken the snake, which lies
  completely still. As soon as a person or animal is within
  a foot of the plant, the cactus snake strikes, launching
  itself forward so that half its length is still anchored
  within the plant and the other half is reaching for its
  victim. The cactus snake bites down on any exposed
  flesh, then coils back up, ready to attack again. A second
  Cactus Snake • Serpent of Colorless Fire
  
  15
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  attempt is rarely necessary, though. The venom of
  the cactus snake is extremely potent and
  liquefies its victim — a dog or a small child
  would be a puddle within 10 minutes.
  The liquid then seeps into the ground,
  and is absorbed by the roots of the
  cactus. The cactus snake itself doesn’t
  directly consume the
  victim — it gains
  its strength from
  the 
  cactus,
  feeding on the
  soft pulp within
  the plant. With the
  cactus fed, the snake
  is also fed, and both
  are happy.
  Cactus snakes are
  known to live in small
  groups, finding a collection of
  cacti and inhabiting them to-
  gether. Each snake claims one
  cactus, and victims are usually
  not struck until standing
  within the circle of plants, so
  that all the cacti can benefit
  from their liquescent flesh.
  There are only three ways
  to catch and kill a cactus snake.
  The first is to set its cactus on fire
  — the snake will flee as soon as the
  heat reaches it, and then, it can be
  killed before it finds another home.
  The second way is to lure the snake
  into attacking and catch it in mid-
  strike, when half of its body is taut
  and exposed. The third is to attack the snake
  right through its cactus home, slicing clean through both
  plant and creature. This last approach is difficult for two
  reasons. First, the cactus snakes are small and fast, and it’s
  difficult to tell exactly where they are in the cactus —
  even if you can see the snake’s head, it’s hard to locate its
  body (-4 dice on attack rolls against the body). Second,
  cactus snakes only choose strong, healthy cacti as homes
  and fortify the plants even more by providing them with
  rich food and nutrients. A cactus snake’s cactus has a
  natural armor rating of 4L/5B.
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2,
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance
  1, Perception 5, Intelligence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction
  3, Temperance 2, Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 3 (Burrow +1),
  Awareness 3, Brawl 2, Dodge 5,
  Stealth 4, Survival 4
  Base Initiative: 6
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 8 Accuracy 6 Damage
  2L + venom*
  * If a bite attack does dam-
  age, the cactus snake has
  broken skin and injected
  its venom. Cactus snake
  venom liquefies the body:
  Difficulty 4, Success 1L/
  minute(4L total), Failure 2L/
  minute(8L total). Duration/
  Penalty 4 hours/-3. Mortals
  poisoned in this fashion will
  surely perish in short order.
  Dodge Pool: 7 Soak: 0L/
  4B (Tough scales, 0L/
  2B) / 4L/9B (Cactus,
  4L/5B)
  Willpower: 2
  Health Levels: -0/-
  1/-2/Incap
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: Cactus snakes can burrow deep
  within a plant, but when desperate, they can also
  burrow into flesh or wood — or even soft stone.
  They use their fangs to dig, and the trace amounts of
  corrosive venom on the tips dissolves most material,
  allowing the snakes to make a temporary retreat. How-
  ever, a cactus snake cannot live away from a cactus for
  more than a week and will abandon its new refuge at the
  first opportunity.
  Cactus snake venom is in high demand among thieves
  and assassins. It doesn’t eat through glass or hard stone
  (such as granite), but can dissolve anything else, includ-
  ing soft metals. It is perfect for removing a lock or a hinge
  and excellent as a fast-acting poison. The Dune People
  have an antidote, which can save a victim’s life if
  received within 10 minutes of first being bitten, but they
  keep the knowledge of its mixture secret.
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  16
  SERPENT OF COLORLESS FIRE (FIRESNAKE)
  Description: Far to the South, the heat is
  neverending, and the winds shift the trackless desert as
  though searching for the jewels which lie beneath.
  Nomads and caravans of sand-miners from Gem, Chiar-
  oscuro, Paragon and the Varang City-States dare the
  deadly wastes in search of the same.
  The Wyld mixes with the element of fire to en-
  croach upon the Southern edge of Creation, and it
  changes the world as surely as flame chars wood or sears
  sand into glass. One breed of creature reported fre-
  quently by those who brave the desert to gather firedust
  are the sinister beasts they call the serpents of colorless
  fire, or firesnakes. Clear as the purest of glass, these
  vipers move through the sand unseen and strike like
  lightning. A victim of firesnake venom feels its fiery
  effects not merely as painful poison, but literally burns
  to death from the inside.
  As might be expected, firesnakes are immune to
  the ravages of the desert heat and that of elemental
  flame. Inexperienced gatherers are surprised to discover
  that the serpents of colorless fire follow the scent of
  firedust and that they feed upon it for sustenance.
  Caravans and military caches of the powder often
  attract the serpents, and it is not uncommon for their
  feeding to invoke fiery explosions that wreak havoc
  upon life and limb as well as destroying a king’s ransom’s
  worth of firedust. Given their form’s natural invisibil-
  ity, victims of such blasts often have only suspicions of
  what occurred as firesnakes remain near-invisible even
  should they be slain by the detonation.
  The typical firesnake is about four to five feet in
  length and appears much as a normal snake of the desert,
  except that its flesh and scales are crystal clear. This
  makes it difficult to spot the deadly serpents and lends
  credence to the legends claiming that the deepest reaches
  of the South are naught by colorless fire.
  Certain disreputable merchants in the cities of the
  South offer a bounty for living firesnakes, as they breed
  the serpents and sell these deadly creatures to assassins
  and collectors of exotic beasts. Others are more inter-
  ested in the glassy skins the creatures leave behind when
  they molt. Some of the finest, and rarest, crystal in the
  South is crafted by melting firesnake molts, and it is so
  clear that a goblet, for example, might appear as nothing
  but wine floating in air.
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 1, Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1, Perception 3,
  Intelligence 1, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 2, Temperance 1,
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Awareness 1 (Scent Firedust +3), Brawl 3
  (Bite +3), Dodge 1, Presence 1 (Intimidation +1),
  Stealth 3
  Supernatural Powers: Endurance of the South, Skin of
  Colorless Fire, Venom of Liquid Fire
  Base Initiative: 9
  
  17
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 9 Accuracy 11 Damage 1L* Defense 5
  * Plus Venom of Liquid Fire.
  Dodge Pool: 6/9
  Soak: 1L/2B (Scales, 1L/1B)
  ENDURANCE OF THE SOUTH
  Firesnakes are completely immune to any attack based upon fire or heat, even those enhanced by the
  Essence of spirits or the Exalted. Additionally, they are not harmed by the fiery blasts sometimes accompa-
  nying feeding upon their favored diet of firedust, though debris and shrapnel from the explosion may affect
  the firesnake as a normal blow.
  SKIN OF COLORLESS FIRE
  The flesh and scales of a firesnake are as clear as the finest crystal. As the serpents slither across the sand or
  leap into lightning fast strikes, this unnatural transparency translates into near-invisibility. As such, any attempt
  to sense the presence of a firesnake via the sense of sight suffers a +3 penalty to the difficulty. It should never be
  assumed that the firesnakes are automatically visible; even a snake resting in open sight requires a Perception +
  Awareness check to spot it. Worse yet, in combat, this near-invisibility renders their venomous strikes almost
  impossible to block. Anyone attempting to parry the strike of a firesnake suffers a +3 penalty to the difficulty due
  to the fact it is nearly impossible to see the rapidly moving transparent creature.
  VENOM OF LIQUID FIRE
  Requires no motes of Essence, but a typical firesnake only generates enough venom for five successful
  strikes in a day’s time. So long as even a single level of damage is caused by a firesnake’s bite, the victim suffers
  the effects of its venom.
  Venom Type
  Difficulty
  Success
  Failure
  Duration/Penalty
  Firesnake
  3
  1L
  4L
  Until 3 separate resistance checks succeed/1L
  per turn
  Firesnake venom courses through the veins, setting a victim on fire throughout her body. Initial damage
  is determined by the success or failure of a Stamina + Resistance roll to resist poison as normal, except that
  the resulting damage is fire damage. Additionally, the poison continues to burn the victim for 1L damage per
  turn (rolled) until her player succeeds at three difficulty 2 Stamina + Resistance rolls. The Resistance roll of
  exposure counts toward the total. During any turn that the poison causes damage, the victim suffers -4 to all
  actions as she suffers the terrible agony of being burned from the inside out. Luckily, firesnakes cannot spit
  their venom in the fashion of some tropical serpents.
  Southern assassins often seek to utilize the venom for their own nefarious purposes. As it generally bursts
  into flame and burns away upon exposure to air, most contact will merely result in 3L/1L damage a single time
  at best. Industrious killers use special darts or arrows to keep the poison airtight until it is delivered to their
  victim’s bloodstream.
  Willpower: 6
  Health Levels: -1/-3/Incap
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: Unless the Storyteller is aiming for an epic
  serpent, firesnakes are almost always extras.
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  18
  CHAPTER FOUR
  THE WEST
  Boar Seal • Giant Flying Hagfish
  
  19
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  BOAR SEAL
  Description: Irritable and ravenous, boar seals
  plague the Northwest waters of Creation. They will
  stalk anything, attack anything and eat anything. They
  have an unnerving intelligence and learn from their
  encounters with men, passing the lessons they learn
  on to their young. If a pack of boar seals survives
  an encounter with a particular band of war-
  riors, its members will remember their
  mistakes and use that knowledge to their
  advantage if they encounter the same
  warriors again.
  These large aquatic mammals
  have flippers in place of all four
  legs. Unlike whales or dolphins,
  they do not have tails. Most un-
  pleasantly, they also have the
  tusks and attitude of wild
  boars. Boar seals use their
  flexible bodies and rear
  flippers to propel them
  quickly through the wa-
  ter. They roam in packs,
  eating everything and
  anything they can get
  their mouths around.
  They are typically found
  in Northern waters
  and near shipping
  lanes. Some genera-
  tions ago, boar seals
  discovered that tasty
  treats could be found in the
  wooden things that float on water. Fortunately for the
  boar seals and unfortunately for sailors, the creatures also
  discovered that their tusks are strong enough to rip holes
  in the bottoms of boats.
  Now, boar seals search for their wooden prey in
  packs. When they find a tasty looking boat, they rip
  holes in the bottom of it and stalk it while it sinks. Once
  the boat capsizes, the creatures devour whatever they
  find inside, man, beast or foodstuff. These creatures are
  motivated by their voracious hunger and their surly
  nature. Some ships, when sailing through boar seal
  waters, attempt to distract or kill the creatures by dump-
  ing poisoned foodstuffs into the ocean. However, boar
  seals can digest almost anything, and attempts to poison
  them often fail.
  Boar seals travel beneath the waves as a general rule,
  undetectable by the untrained eye. Even experienced
  seamen can be surprised by a pack of these creatures. (It
  is a difficulty 3 task to spot boar seals as they approach
  and stalk a ship. It is only a difficulty 2 task to notice
  them while they attack a large ship while under water.
  Players of characters in small ships need only succeed at
  a difficulty 2 task for their characters to spot the
  creatures’ approach, while characters in boats
  will notice the attack immediately as a result of
  the buffeting and the sound of wood tearing.)
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 3, Stamina
  7, Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance
  1, Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction
  4, Temperance 1, Valor 3
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Aware-
  ness 3, Brawl 3, Dodge 2,
  Presence 1 (Intimidation +2),
  Socialize 2
  Supernatural Powers: Re-
  sistance to Poisons
  Base Initiative: 6
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 7 Accuracy 7
  Damage 4L Defense 6
  Gore: Speed 3 Accuracy 4
  Damage 7L Defense 5
  Ram: Speed 6 Accuracy
  8 Damage 6B Defense 5
  Dodge Pool: 5/3 Soak: 4L/
  7B
  Willpower: 4
  Heath Levels: -0/-0/-1/
  -1/-2/-4/Incap
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: Swimming speed is 30 yards per turn.
  RESISTANCE TO POISONS
  Boar seals have a natural immunity to most
  poisons. They resist poison as do Exalted (see Ex-
  alted, p. 243). In addition, the difficulty of the
  Resistance + Stamina roll to any poison they are
  exposed to is reduced by 3. If the difficulty is reduced
  below 1, the boar seals automatically resist it. Regard-
  less of the success or failure of resistance, the damage
  is automatically reduced by two levels, to a minimum
  of zero damage. Finally, the duration and penalty, if
  any, associated with the poison are halved, rounded
  in the boar seal’s favor.
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  20
  GIANT FLYING HAGFISH
  Description: The rumors began circulating through-
  out the ports of the Southwest about a decade ago:
  Sailors claimed to have seen fish of all kinds flying
  through the air like birds. Tavern wags attributed the
  wild yarns to excessive grog and insufficient shore leave,
  but wiser, more experienced listeners — men and women
  who had experienced the mysteries of the great Western
  deep — paid heed to the tales and kept a sharp eye out
  on their next voyage. Fiction became fact three years
  ago when the caravel Hungry Gull staggered into Aba-
  lone port with a giant squid hopelessly entangled and
  rotting in its rigging. The crew spoke of a desperate
  battle against a flying sperm whale intent on seizing
  both ship and squid and dragging them off into the
  clouds. Massive tooth marks all over the tops lent
  credence to the sailors’ story, and several expeditions set
  off in search of this “Floating Ocean.”
  The strange phenomenon has been encoun-
  tered several times since then, often with loss of
  life and cargo, but never in the same place
  t w i c e .
  Schools
  of aerial
  b a r r a -
  c u d a
  h a v e
  s w e p t
  b l o o d y
  p a t h s
  across decks;
  flying sharks
  have carried off
  topsmen; one cap-
  tain even lost an arm
  to a transparent
  monstrosity when
  he mis-
  took its
  glowing
  feeler for
  a lantern
  late at night. Nor are car-
  nivorous fish the only
  such dangers: The far-
  trading Chiaroscuran
  merchanter Golden Profit
  went adrift when a mas-
  sive school of panicked
  tuna tore its rigging to shreds.
  Coordinating reports
  from crews and captains up and
  down the breadth of the West,
  savants have been able to paint a
  speculative picture of the Floating Ocean. It is a rupture
  in Creation, a powerful Wyld area resting atop the
  waves, following the vagaries of the wind currents. It is
  also massive in scope, covering dozens of miles: Few
  ships can detect it in time to avoid it entirely. The
  event that created the Floating Ocean is not known,
  although Fair Folk meddling is the leading suspect.
  What is known is the effect of the Wyld energies that
  power the Floating Ocean: An entire aquatic ecosys-
  tem has been transposed vertically. Bottom-dwellers
  now inhabit a zone of air just above the surface of the
  mundane ocean while dolphins and humpbacks swim
  alongside the gulls. In the topsy-turvy world of the
  Floating Ocean, air means life and water means death:
  Flying fish submerged beneath the waves will suffocate.
  These are not the only changes the Wyld has
  worked on this bizarre sky-sea. Many of the aquatic
  species it has turned into fliers have been altered in
  
  21
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  other ways. It would be impossible to catalog all of the
  mutations caused by the Wyld, nor could any logic be
  applied thereto. However, few of the Floating Ocean’s
  denizens are as disgusting and feared as the giant hag-
  fish. In its mundane version, the hagfish is one to two
  feet in length, and its body is coated with a viscous,
  disgusting slime that helps the wormlike creature to
  escape its predators. Small rasps and an ability to tie
  itself into knots allow it to feed on the carrion that falls
  to the ocean floor. It is a foul but largely benign (and
  indeed edible) beast.
  But the hagfish of the Floating Ocean is a man-
  sized giant, capable of enveloping sailors within its
  slimy, loose-skinned folds and squeezing the breath
  from their lungs. If constriction isn’t enough to kill the
  unfortunate victim, the giant hagfish’s slime will finish
  the job. No longer a defense mechanism, this snot-like
  substance is a powerful corrosive. It leaves hideous welts
  and sores on human skin; given sufficient time, it will
  also eat its way through a sailor’s leather jerkin, a ship’s
  wooden hull or low-quality metals. These hideous crea-
  tures have even been seen to “sneeze” nasal slime plugs
  at their prey, coating the hapless souls in acidic goo.
  Once an individual so afflicted collapses to the deck,
  the giant hagfish will curl about his body and put its
  tugging mouth tentacles, greedy tongue and abrasive
  rasps to work on the shrieking sailor’s flesh. This form
  of attack succeeds only infrequently; the giant hagfish
  still possesses the poor eyesight of its smaller cousin and
  must rely instead on its sense of smell. But even the
  giant hagfish of the Floating Ocean gets lucky once in
  a while and scores a bullseye.
  Giant hagfish are sluggish animals: Possessed of a
  glacial metabolism, they only need to feed every several
  months. Sailors should be forewarned, however. A giant
  hagfish doesn’t have to aggressively attack a person to
  kill him. All it takes is one wrong tack into an otherwise
  quiescent school of these noisome giants, and one’s sails
  are as tattered and rent as a beggar’s cloak. The Floating
  Ocean no doubt contains far worse horrors, but those
  crews who have encountered the giant hagfish and
  survived have no desire to study the region’s inhabitants
  any further.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 4, Cha-
  risma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 2,
  Intelligence 1, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 1, Temperance 1,
  Valor 1
  Abilities: Archery 1 (Spit +1), Athletics 3 (Swim +1),
  Awareness 1, Brawl 2 (Grab +1), Dodge 3, Endurance 1
  Base Initiative: 4
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 4 Accuracy 6 Damage 3L Defense 6
  Grab: Speed 5 Accuracy 6 Damage Clinch + acid
  Slime Plug Spit: Speed 6 Accuracy 4 Damage Acid*
  * See “Other Notes,” below.
  Dodge Pool: 5
  Soak: 2L/4B
  Willpower: 4
  Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/Incap
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: Giant hagfish can spit their nostril slime
  plugs up to twice their body length in distance (four yards
  on average). However, they can only do this once per
  scene — it takes them a while to clog their nasal passages
  with mucus again. The slime itself functions as an envi-
  ronmental hazard (see p. 244 of Exalted): Diff. 3, Resisted
  Effect 2L, Failed Effect 8L, Interval 1 turn.
  Once a giant hagfish’s slime has struck its target, it’s in
  his best interest to wash the slime off as quickly as
  possible. Wine or vinegar will do, but turpentine is the
  only sure remedy (difficulty 3 Wits + Medicine roll with
  wine or vinegar, difficulty 1 with turpentine).
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  22
  CHAPTER FIVE
  THE SCAVENGER
  LANDS
  CLAY MAN
  Description: Usually seen only from a distance, this
  behemoth stands over 15 feet tall and is apparently
  constructed from rough brown clay, hence its name. Its
  shape is manlike, though its features are crude and ill-
  defined — the few who have been closer claim that its
  face shifts slightly, as if reforming itself from moment to
  moment, and say that its “skin” glistens as if it were still
  wet. The Clay Man has no finger- or toenails, no belly
  button, none of the small details that mark a true man or
  even a well-made statue. The only elements that are not
  apparently clay are its eyes, which are wholly human and
  glitter blue, like sapphires.
  In fact, the Clay Man is not a rough copy of man, but
  the original from which man was patterned — the
  Primordials created him as a template. His features still
  shift from being altered too many times during the
  process. Sadly, the Primordials never finalized his ap-
  Clay Man • The Lookshy Rebel • Tomb Beast
  
  23
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  pearance, even after moving on to the creation of man-
  kind itself. The Clay Man was forgotten, left behind but
  not returned to his original state, and so, he continues to
  this day. The Clay Man lacks many of the things that
  men consider a part of life. He does not eat or drink or
  breath, does not sleep, does not wear clothes and cannot
  procreate. He can think and speak, but he rarely talks to
  strangers, and after eons alone, he has said everything to
  himself that he cares to say. Generally, the Clay Man just
  wanders Creation, moving from place to place,
  because he enjoys traveling and delights in the
  freedom to go anywhere without restriction. He is
  also the self-appointed custodian of earth and stone
  and monitors the world to ensure that no perma-
  nent damage is done by foolish and
  short-sighted mortals.
  The Clay Man’s bond with
  the earth remains strong, even
  after so many eons, and anyone
  watching him will discover that
  he does not so much walk as
  flow 
  across 
  and
  through the ground
  as a ships glides
  through water.
  The Clay Man
  can 
  sink
  down into the earth as well and instantly reemerge as
  much as a mile from the initial spot, or he may reach his
  hand into the ground and have it appear up to half a mile
  from the rest of his body — he can still control his hand
  at such a distance, though it takes some effort.
  As the original creature grown from clay and earth,
  the Clay Man possesses an intimate knowledge of those
  substances. He knows the location of everything within
  the ground, anywhere within Creation. This includes
  many lost treasures of the First Age and quite a few
  powerful weapons. Many Exalted have
  approached the Clay Man, seeking his
  aid in locating and recovering these
  items. He has refused every request. Ap-
  parently, the Clay Man is a possessive
  owner and considers everything beneath
  the ground as his domain. He disap-
  proves of the Exalted, for their
  violence and greed, and has chosen
  to safeguard all buried items until
  he deems human-
  ity fit to receive them.
  Some Exalted have
  tired of petitioning and tried
  taking from the Clay Man
  by force. That has proven
  a mistake. Though not
  aggressive himself, the
  behemoth is capable of
  responding in kind and
  will not only defend
  himself, but launch an
  immediate counterat-
  tack. His preferred
  technique involves
  reaching through
  the ground and
  yanking the at-
  tacker down into
  the earth, then
  leaving the person to suf-
  focate. Barring that, he tears
  chunks of earth and stone
  from the ground and hurls
  them at foes. The Clay Man
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  24
  will only fight personally if both of these methods fail,
  but he is far from helpless. In addition to his immense size
  and strength, the creature’s ability to sink into the earth
  at will makes him extremely difficult to hit or to block.
  Weapons made from the bounty of the earth cannot
  harm him, and any such weapons that hit the Clay Man
  become lodged in his body and can only be retrieved
  through an opposed Strength roll, which he may reflex-
  ively resist. This includes weapons made of terrestrial
  stone or metal — only starmetal is exempt, as it did not
  come from this world.
  If his opponents gain the upper hand, the Clay Man
  will reach into the earth and retrieve one of the very
  weapons the Exalts seek — and will then use that against
  them. His generic nature and Primordial power is such
  that he is always attuned with full material bonuses to
  any non-starmetal item that he touches. If even this fails,
  the Clay Man will eventually retreat, melting into the
  earth. Since he does not need to breathe, he will stay
  below ground for several days, walking in a random
  direction until safely away from his pursuers. Locating
  the Clay Man within the earth requires an opposed roll,
  the searcher’s Perception + Awareness versus the Clay
  Man’s Dexterity + Stealth + specialty (18).
  The Clay Man rarely speaks, but he does know all
  human and Exalted tongues. He only speaks to those he
  considers worthy, and most of these “recreations and
  copies” do not impress him. He views men with amuse-
  ment and a little condescension, mixed with just a touch
  of jealousy. He finds it sad that these creatures should
  live such short lives and fight over such foolish things,
  but at the same time, he envies them their passion and
  their ability to be together. Exalted anger him, however
  — these were the creatures based upon his own self, and
  they have twisted every aspect of his nature, turning his
  bond with the earth into a delight in power and his calm
  nature into an arrogant demeanor. They were given
  everything he never had and threw it all away over greed
  and hatred. He despises the Solar Exalted in particular,
  as the greatest offenders.
  Attributes: Strength 10, Dexterity 8, Stamina 18, Cha-
  risma 6, Manipulation 1, Appearance 6, Perception 8,
  Intelligence 4, Wits 5
  Abilities: Awareness 4, Brawl 6 (Grab +5), Craft (Sculp-
  ture) 4 (Earthy Trinkets +3), Dodge 12, Endurance 10,
  Lore 14, Melee 10 (All Weapons of the Earth +3),
  Presence 8, Resistance 3, Stealth 5 (Underground +5),
  Survival 6
  Elemental Powers: Coarse Skin, Element’s Domain,
  Mobility, Rejuvenation
  Base Initiative: 10
  Attack:
  Grab: Speed 10 Accuracy 8 Damage 5B +hold*
  Punch: Speed 10 Accuracy 8 Damage 12B
  Kick: Speed 6 Accuracy 5 Damage 14B
  Boulder: Speed 8 Accuracy 6 Damage 10B
  * If the Clay Man grabs a person and does damage, his
  hand clenches around the individual and drags her down
  into the earth. This is an opposed roll, the Clay Man’s
  Strength + Brawl + specialty (21) versus the victim’s
  Strength + Brawl or Martial Arts. If the Clay Man wins,
  the victim is yanked below ground and takes one auto-
  matic unsoakable level of bashing damage every turn
  from suffocation. Breaking free once underground re-
  quires the victim to win the opposed roll twice in a row.
  Dodge Pool: 20
  Soak: 20L/30B (Made of clay, 16L/
  24B)
  Willpower: 10
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-0/-0/-1/-1/
  -1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/-4/Incap
  Essence: 8
  Essence Pool: 120
  Other Notes: For those he does consider worthy, the
  Clay Man is a literal treasure trove of both artifacts and
  knowledge. Aware and alert since the First Age, the Clay
  Man watched the creation of the world and its people
  and knows many valuable secrets, not the least of which
  are the locations of many hidden treasures. He can even
  teach Exalted better awareness of their bodies and how
  to reawaken the bond between flesh and earth, so that
  they can mimic his earth-melding to a lesser degree. This
  requires intense training, however, and is not something
  the Clay Man reveals often.
  
  25
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  THE LOOKSHY REBEL
  Description: The Lookshy Rebel is named after a
  group of former Lookshy citizens who didn’t appreciate
  the well-ordered way of life Lookshy is famed for.
  Deciding a few years ago to form an under-
  ground organization to oppose the
  military regime they felt was too
  oppressive and restricting,
  these rebels found them-
  selves a suitably remote cellar
  as a clandestine meeting place
  for their planning sessions.
  When a few more people
  joined, the cellar became too
  small for their dozen members,
  and so, the plotters decided to
  expand their lair. Much to
  their surprise, they found that
  there was something hidden
  inside the earthen wall —
  something that had been there
  for quite a while, by the looks
  of it. It was a sphere about
  the size of a man’s head,
  made of what appeared to
  be slightly rusted iron, yet
  strangely light, as if it
  were hollow.
  There was an
  argument about
  who it belonged
  to — one of the
  conspirators said
  that it was in his
  cellar, so it was his,
  while another one said
  that it was his since he
  was the one who
  found it. The rest of
  those present divided
  more or less evenly,
  except for two of
  them who insisted
  that they were all
  brothers and it should
  belong to all of
  them. One of
  these dissent-
  ers left the
  cellar at that
  point, certain that yet another fight
  among equals was sure to follow.
  Behind him, he could hear one of
  them announcing that he was tired of
  the
  argument and would split it open with a shovel to see
  what was inside.
  It is not known how someone could capture Wyld
  energies inside an iron sphere. Those savants well-
  versed in the ways of Fair Folk have hazarded a shaky
  guess that perhaps their vulnerability to unalloyed
  iron might have had something to do with it.
  Whatever the cause, the rebels emerged from
  the cellar quite different than
  they had been when they
  went in. Fused into a single,
  massive creature, the former
  freedom fighters staggered
  and stumbled their way into
  the city square, shouting out
  seditious political slogans and
  treasonous remarks about the
  General Staff.
  It took the Dragon-
  Blooded a little over three
  minutes to slice the
  creature to pieces. It
  would have hap-
  pened faster, but
  they were too be-
  mused to swing straight
  and true. Even as they
  slew it, the
  huge creature
  continued to
  babble on, dis-
  p l a y i n g
  incredible clumsi-
  ness, disregarding the
  terrible wounds it suffered
  and flailing ineffectually
  at its foes. Some of the
  warriors actually laughed
  at the monster rather than
  fight it.
  That should have been
  the end of it. But for whatever rea-
  son, the Lookshy Rebel refused to stay dead. To
  date, it has appeared 15 times, in each instance
  making its clumsy way toward the citadel and
  shouting how the oppression should stop, and
  each time, it has been cut to pieces and the
  pieces burned. At this point, the
  Dragon-Blooded are no longer
  amused. In the course of its vari-
  ous appearances, the Lookshy Rebel has
  killed at least 30 people, all of them
  helots and citizens who have gone that extra mile to
  support the Terrestrials. Killing it is not really a prob-
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  26
  lem, but one can never know where it will turn up next
  and how much damage it will cause before the field
  force on garrison duty can deal with it.
  When it appears, the Lookshy Rebel looks at first
  glance like an impossibly huge, terribly malformed man.
  Closer inspection reveals that while it has the right
  number of limbs and heads, the texture of its skin clearly
  shows the features of other men’s bodies. There are
  patches of hair and beard in unlikely spots on its body. It
  only has a single mouth, but the political agenda the
  creature utters is spoken in a number of different voices
  and, more often than not, contradicts itself.
  Despite its seemingly limitless clumsiness, the
  Lookshy Rebel is not an amusing sight. The Terrestrial
  Exalted might have been strong enough to laugh in its
  face when they first encountered it, but for the ordinary
  citizens of Lookshy, it is a terrible danger indeed, and it
  has no care for those who are caught its path. For his part,
  the surviving member of the original group has decided
  to leave politics and fervently hopes that no one ever
  finds out about his involvement.
  Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 1, Stamina 5, Cha-
  risma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1, Perception 2,
  Intelligence 3, Wits 2
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 1,
  Valor 2
  Abilities: Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Brawl 3, Dodge 1,
  Stealth 2, Survival 2
  Base Initiative: 5
  Attack:
  Fist: Speed 5 Accuracy 4 Damage 5B Defense 6
  Kick: Speed 2 Accuracy 3 Damage 7B Defense 5
  Dodge Pool: 2
  Soak: 5L/10B (Thick, leathery hide,
  5L/5B)
  Willpower: 2
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-0/-0/-0/-0/
  -0/-0/-0/-0/-1/-2/-4/Incap
  Essence: 3
  Other Notes: To truly destroy the Lookshy Rebel, the
  iron ball must be found and the crack on it welded
  together. The ball’s current location is left up to the
  Storyteller — it could be in the basement still, it could
  be kept as a memento by the only surviving member of
  the original Lookshy rebels, or perhaps a Scavenger Lord
  has found it and sold it. Once the crack has been
  resealed, the Lookshy Rebel will never rise again.
  
  27
  THE REST OF THE CREATURES
  TOMB BEAST
  Description: Since ancient times, commoner and
  Exalt alike have endeavored to protect their final rest-
  ing places from being despoiled by their fellow man.
  One of the greatest obstacles to this desire is the very
  vanity that causes them to want to be remembered, as
  the most difficult grave to plunder would be the one that
  lies forgotten. Given that many of the Exalted knew
  they would be reborn and even the commoner wished to
  keep her corpse inviolate, strong traditions of the sanc-
  tity of the dead arose, enforced by societal law and the
  best protections that tomb builders could devise. During
  the First Age, such defenses included powerful wards,
  intricate mechanisms, deadly spirit guardians and even
  bound demons. Later generations and those who were
  less fortunate than the dead of the First Age sought any
  method they could find.
  One solution contrived by naturalists of the
  Shogunate was to adapt a certain species of reptile found
  upon the Southwestern island of Jade. Old writings refer
  to the white shades, but most modern savants call the
  creatures tomb beasts in reference to their current use.
  The tomb beast in the wild is a long-lived cave-dwelling
  reptile whose aggressively territorial females spend their
  entire lives within the same underground chamber where
  their egg hatched. Crafty planners realized that, com-
  bined with an unwillingness to eat anything other than
  fresh meat, this extreme attachment to a single den
  made the white-scaled females perfect for defending
  crypts from intruders. Though the black-
  scaled shade male is very quick, he
  is small, and therefore, it was
  not terribly difficult for a specially trained hunter to
  capture unhatched eggs as males moved them from a
  female’s lair to a new home. Nevertheless, such a spe-
  cialized and expensive market was soon dominated by a
  single group of experts with the skills and connections
  necessary to harvest and sell the creatures. Nowadays,
  the patrician family Tasis controls virtually all of the
  trade in tomb-beast eggs, from the jungle caves of Jade
  to dreary Sijan to their home marketplaces in the
  Imperial City and Nexus.
  Typically, a patron pays the Tasis family to place a
  tomb-beast egg that is ready to hatch within the burial
  chamber of the recently deceased. The voracious female
  instinctively bonds with her home upon birth and,
  within a year, has grown to about 50 pounds and, within
  a few more years, is easily 200 pounds or more. The
  guardian feeds predominantly upon the bounty of rats,
  worms and insects seeking to infest her lair, which of
  course further protects the dead body from harm.
  In the wild, the male rarely exceeds 50 pounds but
  may range a territory up to 100 miles across, mating
  with numerous females, caring for their eggs and, ulti-
  mately, finding eggs a new lair in which to hatch. Males
  can smell unhatched male eggs and naturally deposit
  them in lairs on the edge of their territory and discour-
  age trespass once the egg hatches. In practice, the Tasis
  keep a number of male and female tomb beasts in
  captivity for breeding purposes, though they renew the
  stock with newly captured wild specimens when pos-
  sible. Typically, a tomb beast lives about 250 years
  unless slain by violence, and if a male is present he is
  likely to fill the open lair with a new egg. Of
  course, the Tasis family keeps the males
  for themselves when possible, so that
  it can sell new guardians.
  The tomb beasts are quad-
  ruped reptiles with powerful
  hind legs allowing them to
  run mostly erect for short
  distances and strong fore-
  legs capable of burrowing
  through earth — or flesh.
  Most of the time, fe-
  males 
  rest 
  in
  
  EXALTED • CREATURES OF THE WYLD
  28
  near-hibernation, suddenly springing into lightning-
  quick movements to capture and devour insects, rats or
  other intruders into their lairs. Males are equally quick
  but roam large territories, squeezing in and out of the
  various cavernous lairs of their mates. Either sex can
  readily snatch flies from the air with their deadly talons,
  and slower victims such as tomb robbers are usually slain
  and consumed with ease. Determined despoilers of graves
  learn that even terribly wounded tomb beasts will not
  leave their lairs and fight to the death with a dangerous
  desperation and abandon. Both sexes exude strong para-
  lytic venom on their claws and fangs, allowing them to
  feast upon incapacitated prey at will. Females’ jaws are so
  strong they crush bones, ultimately leaving nothing of
  an enemy except well-bleached spoor.
  Attributes: Strength 5/1, Dexterity 6, Stamina 5/2,
  Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1, Perception
  4, Intelligence 1/2, Wits 4
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 3, Temperance 1,
  Valor 5/3
  Abilities: Athletics 3/4, Awareness 5, Brawl 4/2, Dodge
  2/4, Endurance 3/1, Presence 1 (Intimidation +2)/0,
  Resistance 3/1, Stealth 1/3, Survival 0/2
  Supernatural Powers: Vigilance of the Ravenous
  Guardian
  Base Initiative: 10
  Attack:
  Bite: Speed 9 Accuracy 10/8 Damage 6L*/2L* Defense
  10/8
  Claw: Speed 10 Accuracy 10/8 Damage 5L*/1L* De-
  fense 10/8
  * Venom Diff. 2 Success 1L Failure 3L Duration/Penalty
  8 hours/-6
  Dodge Pool: 8/10
  Soak: 2L/5B//1L/2B (None)
  Willpower: 6
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/
  -2/-4/-4/Incap /-0/-1/-2/Incap
  Essence: 2
  Other Notes: When two Traits are presented, the first
  represents that of a female tomb beast, while the second
  rating represents that of a male.
  VIGILANCE OF THE RAVENOUS GUARDIAN
  Female tomb beasts live their entire lives in a
  single cavern or small cluster of chambers, and
  their ability to gather food depends upon detecting
  every potential creature of prey and being able to
  seize and devour it even in the dark. Upon first
  hatching from the egg, a female tomb beast be-
  comes attached to her subterraneous environment,
  its signature in Creation imprinting upon her senses
  down to the magnetic fields and natural energy
  flow of the area. Darkness, odd smells, echoing
  noises and stealthy enemies alike fail to confound
  the guardians as they spring into action with light-
  ning speed. As such, nothing short of Charms,
  sorcery or other magic can cause a female tomb
  beast to be surprised by an ambush, and even
  potent Charms must contest against the super-
  natural senses of a guardian.
  Roll the tomb beast’s Perception + Awareness
  against the Charm in question, and reduce its
  successes accordingly (do not reduce them at all in
  the face of mundane stealth). If any successes
  remain for the tomb beast, they are added directly
  to the base initiative of the tomb beast for the
  duration of the scene. Charms that make a charac-
  ter impossible to detect are difficulty 5 for the tomb
  lizard to penetrate. The tomb beast should always
  be considered “alert” or “alerted to the character’s
  presence.” A female tomb beast may also add her
  Perception + Awareness die pool directly to her
  own attempts at stealth (for a total of 16 dice) to
  represent her supernatural awareness of her own
  movements and their telltale signs.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Storyteller [multi]/Exalted/Exalted Creatures of the Wyld Bonus Material.pdf