Editing Terrifying Argent Witches

A homebrew version of [[Lunars]] in [[Exalted]], that casts them as crazed Dionysian Witch-Kings to the [[Solars|Solars']] perfect Apollonian God-Kings. 

So basically, instead of fucking Creation's animals, they fuck Creation's everything, including its laws of physics.

Often called TAW, the "project" attracted writers of varying quality and eventually kicked up a shitstorm on the Exalted forums before being abandoned when 3e arrived. It's still probably the most usable form of 2e Lunars you're ever going to see. You can find the latest (final?) version here: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P2AuLM6D1Et9mWQVJp-ugWujFJhTi2VwQBtOazOW1Mg]

The most obvious changes from regular Lunars are:
*an entirely new shapeshifting system (which uses a custom mutation system to represent animals)
*the removal of Knacks (regular Charms interact with and include shapeshifting) 
*Wyld Taint is gone, as are compulsory tattoos and even shifting Castes (the tattoos are now an anima effect, and there's a new kind of Limit called Lunacy)
*toned down animal themes (you can still grab them, but out of the box they're just generically "wild")
*a tighter internal balance (every Attribute has about the same number of Charms)
*shorter Charm trees (most Charms have an Excellency prereq, which isn't hard with only nine Attributes)
*weirder, less direct Attribute Charms (Wyld-shaping in Manipulation, flash-steps in Perception, ammo-creation in Strength)
*Solar Bond is gone (it's now a Charm called Lunar Bond, which you can use to bond with anyone you love)
*Lunars are individually about as powerful as Solars on a personal scale (but can't do shit with armies or countries or bureaucracies or large-scale projects)

There's also a whole bunch of new fluff, mainly focused on making Lunar NPCs look scary and cool without hacking in shit like "yeah, they were totally behind Chiaroscuro and the Balorian Crusade", and giving an all-Lunar party something to do other than yiff in the woods, chase their Solars, or play Sim City Bronze Age Edition. It's all set-up as being plug-in and play, though, so you can pretty much ignore it. In fact, most of the stuff is plug-in and play - a lot of folks grab the (decent) shapeshifting system and a couple of Charms the canon Lunars don't cover, and ignore the rest.

== How (TAW) Lunars Get Cake ==

The weirdness of TAW Charms comes from how the writers approached each of their Attributes.
*Strength has a theme of "violence solves problems", while Dexterity is "cheat to win" and Stamina is "change or die".
*Charisma is "passion rules all", Manipulation is "everything has a price", and Appearance is "appearances are everything".
*Intelligence is "change your mind", Perception is "look beyond the normal", and Wits is "small changes, big results".

'''Full Moon: Strength - Dexterity - Stamina'''

Full Moons break into the sanctum of the local god of baking, and intimidate them into making a cake for them. After the first cake does not live up to their standards, they beat up the least god of the new cake until it improves itself. Or they steal your cake, sneaking into your house in the dead of night garbed in midnight. It tastes even better than it did before, because your rage at the person who stole your cake is delightfully piquent. Or they adapt their biology to a lack of cake while using their blood to mutate the local animals, so the cows buzz and produce honey when milked, the wild grains grow to the height of trees, and milk can be tapped from trees. Their plan to have their people be able to eat cake every day from the bounty of nature is ruined by the Realm demolishing the forest to make a new jade mine. House Cynis also steals the cows. The Lunar swears his vengeance, especially when he finds out what House Cynis is doing with the honey-cows.

'''Changing Moon: Charisma - Manipulation - Appearance'''

Changing Moons open their hearts, and tell the birds of the sky and the animals of the land and the fish of the waters to bring them their heart's desire, which is cake. There then follows a Disney sequence as animals are brought together to work in harmony to make cake, birds plucking wild grass seeds before they are crushed by herbs into flour, and so on. The cake does require animal hair and feathers to be picked out of it, though. Or they find a baker, and temporarily trade their skill in the bedroom for the baker's ability to bake. While the baker heads home to his husband, the Lunar makes a cake, and mixes her own blood into the mix, which means that people who choose to eat it are ensnared in a binding contract where they are obliged to enjoy the cake no matter what it actually tastes like. Or they can pull off their own face, and steal forty cakes from the town while invisible. They then take the best bits from all the forty cakes, leaving thirty-nine terrible cakes, and one uber-cake. They then eat the uber-cake, and enjoy it so much, they give the baker good dreams.

'''New Moon: Intelligence - Perception - Wits'''

New Moons find some random edible material, and willfully hallucinate it is the best cake they have ever had. Yes, external observers may say that it's just a dead rat, but it tastes like cake, looks like cake, smells and feels and has the texture of cake, and even has all the calories and nutrients of cake. So, frankly, reality can go jog off while they enjoy their cake. Or they find a loaf of bread, and stare through it into the Beyond, finding the cake it could-have-been had the baker chosen to make cake instead. They then pull the cake into the place of the bread, and cast the bread out of reality. The cake tastes of purplish-green and smells of morning sunsets, and mortals who eat it catch sight of impossible horrors. Oramus asks for a second serving. Or they find a merchant prince who sells cake, and demand it of him. If he refuses to give it to them, they drive him to madness with a seemingly innocuous comment, and destroy half his wealth through a sequence of nonsensical minor acts which hit critical weaknesses in his business model. She repeats this until he gives her cake.

==See Also==
[[Lunars]]

[[Category:Exalted]]