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Liminal Exalted
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?
—John Milton, Paradise Lost

Developers & Authors: John Mørke, Holden Shearer

Illustrations: Melissa Uran
Original Layout Design: Brian Glass
Layout & Formatting: Charles H. Spaulding

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LThe
iminal Exalted preview
Liminal Exalted, or Chernozem as they are more com-
monly known to those who have encountered or heard of
them, are one of the new varieties of playable characters that
will appear in Exalted Third Edition. The Chernozem pres-
ent a contrast to the more familiar Exalted, whose struggles
raise up and cast down nations. While Liminals are as mighty
as other Chosen, their stories are inward-focused, emphasizing
the world’s impact on the character rather than the other way
around. As such, they’re perfect additions to ‘mixed Circles.’
Death Begets Life
A sorcerer cries out to Heaven atop a storm-lashed manse.
His fortune is gone, expended in its construction that he might
harness and focus the power of the demesne below. His wife’s
cold body rests on an open slab atop the mystical ziggurat,
flanked by fires kindled with rare herbs from the depths of the
Wyld. A hearthstone gleams on her chest, focusing the power
of land and flame and storm and spell. This desperate ritual has
only one goal: to tear the sorcerer’s beloved back from the cold
embrace of the Underworld, to convince Heaven to reunite
soul and flesh, to mend the hole in a man’s wounded heart.
The sorcerer’s demand is beyond the power of Heaven. The
ritual is doomed to failure. But somewhere in the black and
storm-tossed reaches of the Underworld, something ancient
and attentive hears his anguished cries. She cannot—and
would not—give him what he wants, but has needs of her own.
She reaches through the window of his agony and makes the
ritual her own.
The cadaver’s eyes open and see. Fresh blood suffuses pale,
stiff limbs. A still heart lurches painfully into motion. New life
kindles in empty flesh. The body rises, drawing in a shuddering
breath. Alive.
The sorcerer cries out his beloved’s name. The figure before
him does not answer. It is not his wife.
EX3 Kickstarter • Liminals Preview
Born of Darkness
Imagine awakening in unfamiliar surroundings. There’s pain,
though that recedes quickly, and disorientation, which lingers
much longer. Your body feels strange and unfamiliar, tingling
and flushing with sensation as it also awakens, bit by bit.
You don’t know who you are. As you realize this, memories
rise up to present themselves. But they’re not your memories—
you know that immediately. There’s no sense of ownership or
identification. It’s like remembering a character you read about
in a book, or heard about in a story. Perhaps it’s only one set of
memories. Perhaps it’s several, jumbles of lives and events hap-
hazardly stitched together. Maybe these secondhand memories
are enough to tell you where you are.
Maybe they’re enough to tell you who’s standing over you,
half-mad with emotion. You know this figure isn’t really your
creator—there’s a lingering touch on your mind, receding now,
dark and immense: the receding hand of your real maker.
You’re not the sum of the memories in your head. You’re not
the sum of the parts of your body. Who are you?
No immediate answer presents itself. This is the dilemma that
greets each of the Chernozem in the first moments of their life.
Children of the Black Earth
The Chernozem are life brought forth from death. They’re
not resurrected individuals, although they’re most commonly
created when someone tries to restore the dead to life. Rather,
they’re new people, given life by a strange form of Exaltation,
made of borrowed flesh and full of someone else’s memories.
A Liminal might be made from a single corpse subjected to
some form of attempted resurrection ritual, or might be formed
of parts of disparate bodies combined for some arcane purpose.
The only unifying factors are an attempt to bring forth life from
dead flesh; intense, all-consuming fixation in the mind of the
would-be resurrectionist; and the interference of an ancient,
mighty force dwelling deep within the Underworld.
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 The Chernozem are, for the most part, rootless beings.
They’re alive, but not in the way everything else is. Life was
designed to beget life; for life to spring from death runs against
the grain of Creation, and most individuals find the Chernozem
deeply disturbing. A Liminal’s first discovery is that he is not
the sum of his memories; his second is usually that he is not like
other people, and that other people know this, and don’t like it.
As a result, most Liminals stay on the move. Some simply
roam from place to place, vagabonds without purpose. Oth-
ers become heroes for hire, performing great deeds and then
moving on before unease can overcome gratitude. Others still
attempt to make a place for themselves in the world, no matter
how difficult it may be. All come to understand that they are
in some way incomplete, and wonder if there is some way to
become more than what they are.
Hands of the Dark Mother
The mysterious dark mother of the Chernozem granted them
Exaltation for a reason. The purpose of the Liminals is to act as
wardens at the boundary of life and death, generally by hunting
the restless dead when they intrude upon the lands of the living.
Many Liminals work as warrior-exorcists, ghost-hunters, and de-
stroyers of necromantic abominations. They’re most often seen
in shadowlands, plying their trade and then moving on.
Yet the Liminals aren’t shackled to this purpose—merely
inclined to it, and sometimes goaded toward it by their an-
cient matron. Others hire themselves out as caravan guards,
or join mercenary bands, or become the fearsome champions
of mighty princes; or attempt to build low-key lives in the great
cities of Creation, where they might vanish into the crowd; or
retreat from the world of mortals entirely, becoming strange
and dreadful hermits lurking in forgotten jungle ruins, or squat-
ting in high mountaintop caves, trying to ignore the howling of
ghosts in the night.
Aspects of Life and Death
The Liminal Exalted lack the purpose-based Castes of the
Celestial Exalted. Instead they are divided into Aspects, some-
what like the Dragon-Blooded. But where Dragon-Blooded are
marked by the primacy of elemental Essence running through
their veins, Liminal Aspects emphasize elements of life and
death. A Liminal’s Aspect is defined by the drives of his cre-
ator—different brands of vibrant emotion or obsession produce
markedly different Exalts.
Aspects of Blood are born of creators driven by “possessive”
passion—lust, greed, and ambition. Blood represents the heat
of passion and the wonder of emotion. Blood is a carrier as well
as a fulcrum; it can be a river of plagues or a font of virginal
purity with which to attract and bind the foulest of horrors and
bid them whip. Blood Aspects are sanguine, passionate, outgo-
ing creatures.
Aspects of Breath are born of creators driven by despair,
or even nihilism. Breath represents the gift of life, the cycle of
lethe, the power of possession, and the flow of Essence. Breath
is an unceasing tide, drawing in from the world and flowing
out to meet it; properly harnessed, it calls the storm and sets
it free. Aspects of Breath are reflective beings, often shaping
themselves to meet the expectations of others.
Aspects of Flesh are born of creators driven by “savage” pas-
sion—vengeance, rage, madness. Flesh represents lust, hunger
and thirst, madness and rage. Flesh is the core of identity and
the vector of metamorphosis. It is the currency of those caught
between life and death. Flesh Aspects are choleric, active, and
often aggressive.
Aspects of Marrow are born of creators driven by curios-
ity, obsession, and hunger for knowledge. Marrow represents
secrets buried deep within the flesh, the power of dark and hid-
den places, the strong sheathe of bone around the innermost
workings of the heart. Marrow Aspects are reserved and ana-
lytical individuals.
Aspects of Soil are born of creators driven by sorrow, re-
gret, yearning. Soil represents the seminal urge, the lure of life
and jealousy for the living, the power of decay and the hungry
whispers that wait on the threshold between life and death. It
is the final tomb awaiting the dead, and the cradle in which
seeds sprout new life. Soil Aspects are introspective and given
to consideration of signs and omens.
The Power of the Chernozem
The Charms of the Liminals derive from the associations of
their Aspects and the might of their unnatural bodies. Blood
Aspect magic, for example, may allow a Liminal to easily track
a man for hundreds of miles with only a sample of bodily flu-
ids to work from, but it also allows confident navigation of the
dark waterways and torrential courses of the Underworld, as
well as influence over the desires and addictions of others. Soil
Charms might bind the dead back into their graves, while just
as readily helping the Chernozem bring forth new creations
into the world.
Additionally, the body of a Liminal is incredibly resilient; sev-
ered or destroyed limbs may be easily replaced with new ones,
and the Liminal’s body soon adapts the new addition so that it
looks like a natural part of her form. Moreover, the Chernozem
may draw skills and memories from stolen body parts: a Lim-
inal might gain grace from a dancer’s legs, skill from a swords-
man’s arm, or guile from a sly man’s tongue. With appropriate
Charms, even more impressive and macabre feats of body-theft
may be possible.
Finally, the Chernozem even have some capacity to return
from the grave. As a Liminal’s very life-force is different from
that of mortals (or other Exalts), she doesn’t pass into death’s
embrace in the same manner as natural things do. So long as
her brain and most of her body is left intact, a slain Liminal will
eventually re-ignite the spark of her Essence and rise again,
restored to life. This remains possible even if she is wholly dis-
membered and beheaded, so long as the brain survives and is
later reunited with the parts of her body (or at least a body
mostly consisting of parts that were formerly hers). Burning
and drowning may also interfere with a Liminal’s resurrection.
Many Chernozem remain unaware of this power until they use
it for the first time.