Not everyone remembers where they were on May 20, 2012, the day of the first eclipse of 2012. I do, and I'll never forget. That was the day I Exalted.
I was the first of us, but I wasn't the last. Within the next month there were about a dozen of us. By the end of the year there were around a hundred. We, the Solar Exalted, weren't alone. Two weeks later, during the night of the next full moon the first Lunar Exalt joined our ranks. The number of the Lunar Exalts roughly mirrored that of the Solars by the end of the year. At around the same time, children all over the world began to Exalt – all were right about 12 years old. These children are the Dragon-Blooded – a name conjured up from the ancient depths of Exalted memory. Just recently, the day before Chinese New Year on the last day of the Year of the Dragon, on Feburary 9th, the first five Sidereal Exalts joined us, all on their 24th birthday.
Some people think that the advent of our kind is in some way related to the end of the Mayan calendar. Others have more obscure theories dealing with ancient Judeo-Christian writings or mythologies from a hundred different living and dead cultures. I haven't really bothered to theorize. The fact is that we're here now, and more of us Exalt every month. We've all got memories, ancient memories. It is from these memories that we know that we are inheritors of an ancient power. It is from these memories that we derive what little knowledge we have about who and what we have become. We know, for example, that there will eventually be a maximum number of us, but our memories are hazy, and no one can put an exact number on it. The general consensus (such as it is) is that there will be a few hundred more of us.
We come from every walk of life, from far-flung corners of the globe. It seems that anyone is eligible to be Exalted, although so far we all fall somewhere between the ages of 20 and 50. More of us have appeared in heavily populated countries, which is no great surprise to anyone. The only trend anyone seems to be able to identify is that concentrations of Exalts are loosely following the general population distributions. The only real commonality seems to be the drive to rise above oneself, to push one’s limits and beyond. Most Exaltations seem to occur during a critical moment in an individual’s life, a moment when we are called to great heroism and attempt to rise to that call. The Exaltation ensures that our efforts are not in vain. Heroism is a pretty broad concept though, it seems. While many Exaltations do take place during scenes of violence – anything from actual military combat to a simple mugging – not all do.
Though most of the world governments would probably have preferred to cover up our existence, to control us and use us to further their own ends, our Exaltations were both too unpredictable and too incredibly public to be able to cover up. They came for us, of course, but the media coverage ensured that they weren't able to keep us locked away somewhere. Once they recognized what we're able to do, most of the governments that had Exalts among their population had engaged them either to recruit them or to forge a formal relationship with them. The few fights that have broken out between Exalts and others quickly indicated that our general level of personal power made it impractical to simply kill us. While not all of us are gifted with a capacity for violence, most of us are, or quickly develop some affinity for combat. The Dawn Caste, in particular, seems to have a penchant for warfare.
My name is Don Beckett, and I'm a member of the Eclipse caste. I fancy myself something of a citizen of the world, and since my Exaltation, I’ve become something of a face for Exalts. I’ve dealt pretty extensively with the US government in particular, and several others more generally, regarding the rights and status of Exalts. I’ve also attracted a fair amount of media attention, though I try not to let that go to my head.
My Exaltation came rather unexpectedly. I was in Tokyo on business, having just finished my MBA and signed on with a good company (whose name I will not divulge). My undergrad training was in International Business with an emphasis on East Asia. I spent several years studying abroad in China, and then a few more between my undergrad and MBA with the JET program in Japan. Anyway, I’m commuting from my hotel to the office building where I had an appointment when I witness a robbery in progress… in broad daylight – sort of. At just about the same time, the eclipse began.
I’m not really sure what got into me. I’m not normally one to leap into danger, particularly not when confronted with an armed criminal or three. But that’s exactly, and literally, what I did. I crossed the street in a few quick strides, barely dodging traffic as I went, reared back as I approached the nearest one, and clobbered him with my briefcase. At this point, most of the locals were pretty horrified, partially because of the crime itself, and partially because I was now apparently on fire. Or something. This was the first anima banner display anyone had ever seen, so it took everyone a little off-guard.
When the police showed up, they asked me quite kindly to let go of the one I had in a choke hold, and then took me off along with them for questioning. I went quite willingly, though they seemed pretty freaked out. I can’t really blame them, by the time they’d gotten there, the bonfire of my anima had died down, but I still glowed for about twenty more minutes and my caste mark didn’t start to fade until sunset. The whole process went a lot better than it probably would have if I weren’t an Exalt. Instead of throwing me in with them for disturbing the peace or something, they praised my actions and thanked me. I noticed, during this whole ordeal, that my Japanese got an awful lot better in fairly short order. By the end of the night, I was practically the toast of the town and was having dinner with the president of the company I’d come to deal with and the governor of Tokyo himself.
I also learned, after I awoke the next morning, that I was not alone. Three others had Exalted since I had. I quickly concluded my business and returned home. I was, as I predicted I would be, met by a pair of gentlemen from the FBI upon my return. The rest, as they say, is history.
Re: The Eclipse
Did you enjoy that video? Eh, guess it doesn’t matter too much, you are something of a captive audience after all… What? Wasn’t that worth at least a chuckle? No? Fine then, I’ll just tighten those straps a bit.
What was I saying? Oh, yeah, that video of oh-so-experienced Don explaining things to the novices. Yeah, he wasn’t entirely wrong, but he was overly optimistic I think. You see, there are dark things in this world that don’t want heroes. Or things that just don’t want to come out into the light. After the initial “reveal,” the powers that be, and the newly manifesting exalts that weren’t so keen on being in the media spotlight, were able to make it all seem like one big internet hoax. Now, except for a few true believers on the Exalted sub-reddit and the highest echelons of government power, no one believes in crazy super-powered neo-divinities fighting each other in the streets. And that’s just fine by me.
Hmm? Mumble mumble you say? Speak up through that gag, I can’t quite make out… Oh, yes, you probably want to know what this has to do with you. You’re one of us, of course. One of the exalted. What does that mean? What’s an exalted? Eh, how the hell should I know kid? The most any of us can piece together from the weird memories implanted in our heads is some ancient war on an alien world. Apparently we were the Exalted; weapons, or gods, or maybe both. I’ve gotten mixed reports from the others I’ve… interviewed. Apparently we come in different varieties, sun exalted, beast exalted, elemental exalted, or more esoteric things, like me.
Why am I telling you all this? It helps get the memories flowing before I rip them out of your head. But honestly, it’s mostly because I like playing with my food. What? No, of course we don’t HAVE to eat people! We aren’t vampires… We’re better in virtually every way than those disgusting creatures. No, I just LIKE to eat people. A flaw in my character I suppose. But we all have our vices… Ssh, no. No screams, only dreams…
…
Yes director, this one had very different memories than the others. I think we have a new type, some sort of... No, it wasn’t clear… No… I don’t… LISTEN YOU DECAYING FUCK! I don’t care about your petty job as corporate director, I don’t care about your multi-national conglomerate, and I don’t even particularly care about the fortune you’re paying me to work for you. What I care about is my own apotheosis. I’m a primordial GOD you piss ant, and it demeans me to tolerate your disrespect. If you want to continue getting information from these wretches, you will treat me with some GODDAMNED DEFERENCE!
That’s better. I accept your apology. No, no, I’m sorry too, it was unbecoming of me to call you names. I tell you what, let me poke around in there a little more. Then tomorrow I’ll give you a more cohesive report over drinks, and you can give me info on where our next informant is staying, yes? Perfect. Tomorrow then.
What was I saying? Oh, yeah, that video of oh-so-experienced Don explaining things to the novices. Yeah, he wasn’t entirely wrong, but he was overly optimistic I think. You see, there are dark things in this world that don’t want heroes. Or things that just don’t want to come out into the light. After the initial “reveal,” the powers that be, and the newly manifesting exalts that weren’t so keen on being in the media spotlight, were able to make it all seem like one big internet hoax. Now, except for a few true believers on the Exalted sub-reddit and the highest echelons of government power, no one believes in crazy super-powered neo-divinities fighting each other in the streets. And that’s just fine by me.
Hmm? Mumble mumble you say? Speak up through that gag, I can’t quite make out… Oh, yes, you probably want to know what this has to do with you. You’re one of us, of course. One of the exalted. What does that mean? What’s an exalted? Eh, how the hell should I know kid? The most any of us can piece together from the weird memories implanted in our heads is some ancient war on an alien world. Apparently we were the Exalted; weapons, or gods, or maybe both. I’ve gotten mixed reports from the others I’ve… interviewed. Apparently we come in different varieties, sun exalted, beast exalted, elemental exalted, or more esoteric things, like me.
Why am I telling you all this? It helps get the memories flowing before I rip them out of your head. But honestly, it’s mostly because I like playing with my food. What? No, of course we don’t HAVE to eat people! We aren’t vampires… We’re better in virtually every way than those disgusting creatures. No, I just LIKE to eat people. A flaw in my character I suppose. But we all have our vices… Ssh, no. No screams, only dreams…
…
Yes director, this one had very different memories than the others. I think we have a new type, some sort of... No, it wasn’t clear… No… I don’t… LISTEN YOU DECAYING FUCK! I don’t care about your petty job as corporate director, I don’t care about your multi-national conglomerate, and I don’t even particularly care about the fortune you’re paying me to work for you. What I care about is my own apotheosis. I’m a primordial GOD you piss ant, and it demeans me to tolerate your disrespect. If you want to continue getting information from these wretches, you will treat me with some GODDAMNED DEFERENCE!
That’s better. I accept your apology. No, no, I’m sorry too, it was unbecoming of me to call you names. I tell you what, let me poke around in there a little more. Then tomorrow I’ll give you a more cohesive report over drinks, and you can give me info on where our next informant is staying, yes? Perfect. Tomorrow then.
Threading the Gerbil since 1982
