Although I like the organic way of creating a character by making them immediately from the standard traits in ordinary character creation where they already have a background and are some time after being Exalted, a while ago I experimented with another method of character creation which suits Call of Exalted and develops the character in a different way.
I started off by writing the character as a heroic mortal, one with quite low trait levels- using the Attribute points for heroic mortals in the Exalted rulebook (or scroll of heroes) and only eighteen ability points attributing merits and flaws as well. Making a character in this way really brings out what the character was like before their Exaltation (and requires attention to the period of their life.) Then I bumped them up to full Exalted level with the proper number of points in Abilities, Attributes and Backgrounds. Working out the character's Charms was much easier than totally spontaneous character creation since I already had an idea of what they were doing, what Charms they would need for it and what their Ability levels were.
It's a significantly more gritty approach to character creation but it brings out aspects of a character to a degree they wouldn't be otherwise. For example this character had Legendary Intelligence which I wouldn't have given them if I created an Exalt straight away. I also came up with a new permutation of Esoteric Knowledge. This method plays out the character's Exaltation as part of the creation process and makes a character immediately after they ave been Exalted rather than some time after and have had time to have adventures and start to shape their powers more. It also makes the game more Occult, for instance with the character I was creating the Sidereals became much more unearthly and mysterious beings (fitting for a horror game.)
