Fair Folk, Lunars, Shapeshifting, World Walking

    Lunar Exalted do not appear to exist definitively on either side fo the gate of Sundraprisha. They exist as physical beings but can change shape at will. A feat not even the Fair Folk can perform in Creation.
   In the Wyld things do not exist in physical locations but rather in existential states.

   "Reality is a dream. We are real."
Sensory cognizance in the Wyld is a mere effect of the Fair Folk's ability to manipulate it. The phantasms they create in reality and the bordermarches are mer illusions. No one can actually perceive the Wyld. Sensory cognizance is a result of the Fair Folk or the character using Charms that affect the Wyld. Thoughts can be communicated directly through the use of Charms creating mental impressions that are completely 'real.'
   It is in this arena that Lunar Charms are designed to work, giving them a way to combat the Fair Folk. In the Wyld a behemoth is just an idea in the mind of a formless entity. Lesser beings than Chaos Lords exist within the greater ones that constitute waypoints. In a sense they live within their mind. As such they are to a great degree subject to it, or if they are stronger, can subject it.
   One doesn't exist anywhere in the Wyld in the sense that one does in Creation. A Freehold is a mind of an unshaped Fair Folk that lesser components of such beings can enter and leave.
   A Fair Folk can force an idea through the Gate of Sundraprisha to make it take on a physical form. Lunars have the blasphemous ability to walk through the Wyld in their physical form, for they are a physical entity and a self-aware concept (like the Fair Folk) at the same time. Solars can 'world walk' through their overpowering connection to Creation. By using Charms they are simply too strongly tied to Creation for the Wyld to confirm or deny.

    Shaping attacks and direct feeding on Virtues represent actions taking place between Fair Folk although such interactions are impossible to perceive directly and are visible only through mindscapes.

   Rather than               with one another through the process of physical interaction they do so directly. Although what one perceives as being indirect interaction is in fact one mind communicating directly with another.

   Conflicts between Emanations and minions in a Freehold do not truly represent conflicts between entities but trains of thought through the unshaped's mind. An Exalted champion can enter an Unshaped's mind by entering a Freehold (since that's what an unshaped is) and combat with it by assaulting it's Emanations.

   The Lunars have a fundamental connection with the raksha in that they hold the possibility for infinite potential. And yet because their nature is similar to the raksha yet different, their Exaltation makes them hostile to the raksha,

   The movements, rearrangements of an unshaped raksha's waypoints are not physical movements, since physical has no meaning in the Wyld, but simply means the order in which a character has to pass through them.
   The Wyld turns normal notions of existence on their head. Physical existence is merely an illusion within the Wyld while thoughts are reality. One raksha can consume another by imagining itself doing so as often happens when two raksha meet in order for one of them to grow greater and protect itself from consumption by another. This form of interaction is characteristic of use of the Sword. However two raksha can avoid deadly conflict through interaction through the Staff. One may supplicate itself to another through the Cup or join and work together through the Ring. Telling the strength of another raksha is inherently difficult since they often attempt to disguise it in one way or another. Either boasting false strength to scare away potential predators, or hiding their strength to conceal weakness, allow them to assess a foe or lure them to a point where they can be attacked. It's into this hellish realm of predatory horror that Lunars venture.

   "We remain convinced that this is the best defensive posture to adopt in order to minimise casualties when the Great Old Ones return from beyond the stars to eat our brains."

The Wyld, Shapeshifting, Elemental Poles, Beastmen

    Any who passed from Creation through the Gate of Sundraprisha would find their Essence exposed to the raw energy of the Wyld and ravaged beyond endurance. Mortals experience a similar state to this when they venture into the Wyld and fell it's mutating influence. Exalted can throw up defences to protect themselves as they have learned to master their own Essence; only the Lunar Exalted are naturally immune to it as they were made to live in this environment. In them in an inherent understanding of Shinmaic principles that allows them to exist unchanged in the Wyld. It's through understanding of these principles they practise their powers of shapeshifting for in a sense they are always in the Wyld and can alter their forms as easily as if they were within it's formless depths.
   By changing their Essence through the warping power of Lunar Exaltation they could change their form. They discovered that by consuming the Essence of other creatures they could understand them as easily as their own and learn to assume their forms as well.

   A mortal could not enter Pure Chaos were it even conceivable their purpose would survive that long. Pure Chaos is not a physical location, it is a metaphysical state. To enter it you must pass through the Gate of Sundraprisha and that means comprehending the meaning of Nirakara and either undoing or superceding it's relevance to the mortal in question. Lunars are capable of doing so by manifesting themselves as ideas, a feat they are capable of even in Creation. Solars can do the opposite and maintain their forms even in the depths of the Wyld.

   The Wyld is defined as a realm of pure Essence. Creation also holds such places called demesnes, but their aspect is fundamentally different and baneful to the Fair Folk. Demesnes are a product of Heaven, if they are Elementally aspected belonging to one of the quadrants, their Essence is derived from the element of Earth. In Creation raksha might tell stories as a way of luring mortals but in a realm of matter any 'reality' they may seem to possess is an illusion as the Fair Folk deal only in Essence and matter is a trivial, distasteful thing to them. In the Wyld however, everything is Essence and they are real, they can make a 'story' by manipulating the four artefacts of raksha magic and their Charms. Of course only a powerful Fair Folk noble would be able to make sweeping changes to the environment.
    The five Elemental Poles change life around them to fit their aspect. Humans who live near one of the Elemental Poles in the Threshold for too long or in a demesne thus affected are know as beastmen. The Pole of Earth is a natural environment to humans and has no such corrupting effects. Terrestrial Exalted, like the dragons they were spawned from, suffer no ill effects from being in close proximity to the Essence of which they are aspected.
    Beastmen often adapt to their adopted environment, acquiring mutations that make life easier, but living outside it difficult or impossible. A water aspected beastman might grow small gills allowing them to stay underwater longer. If they spent long enough near a source of Essence these might completely replace their lungs, allowing them unlimited ability to lve underwater but making it impossible to live above it.
    It's within the power of the Fair Folk when within the Wyld to makes experiences tangible things. Thus they could form an artefact out of 'the feeling I get when I breathe the summer air.'
    The Wyld is an environment so alien, an environment beyond the concept of shape, that how to roleplay within it is very difficult to conceptualise and even impossible. The roleplaying concept of Exalted is based on the fact that things exist, whereas in the Wyld they do not.

Those Who Wake Under the Moon

    Only in the absence of the Sun's gaze is Luna's glory evident. Under the dark sky when mortals are dreaming and Fair Folk are lured by their hunger Lunars stir.
   The Wyld doesn't endanger Lunars any more than their Essence does. The Fair Folk are things made from the Wyld that have made themselves lies to exist in Creation. Lunars are Creation-born who've become host to an Essence that contains Wyld energy and connects with their own soul. This interaction between their soul, their identity as a being and the fusion of Wyld Essence with it through the intergration of their Exaltation is what makes shapeshifting possible. Through changing their now mutable Essence they can change their physical form.

   With the exception of Social Attributes Lunars can learn attributes and their Charms on their own. They don't need outsiders to teach them. Even with Social Attributes, because they are so innate the Lunar improves them by interacting with others, not being trained. One cannot change what someone is, the level Lunar Charms work on, with outside training. Learning Charms and Knacks is a development of the Lunar's self.
   "the raksha takes hold of the malleable reality around him and shapes it to fit the story of his existence."
   Maybe what all Lunars desire is freedom. This is what gives the Wyld Lunar Essence the ability to bond with them and what gives them the desire to use it.
   "most are inconsistent even in defining their own inherent qualities." It is this reliance on their inherent qualities that allows Lunars to survive in the Wyld since they live by what they are not what they are defined as within Creation. It' also what attracts a Lunar Exaltation to a host. In fact they need their Attributes to be able to understand and act in the Wyld. To say Lunars are less powerful than Solars is to misunderstand their purpose. They are less powerful than Solars in Creation, which is not the realm  for which they were made. Just as the raksha are able to pass through the Gate of Sundraprisha and take on a physical form that lets them exist within Creation, so the Lunars' Essence is made from the stuff of the Wyld, extending it's power through their body and allowing the Lunar to shape it for their own purpose. They fact that they can change shape in Creation is just a side effect. Because of it they can enter the Wyld and become part of it like the Unshaped Fair Folk.
    The basic Charms of a Celestial Hero martial art are just a way of attaining an understanding of the style's true precepts that allows them to learn the later (Exalted type) Charms.
   The Wyld is a realm so inchoate and ephemeral that notions can become 'real.' As the Fair Folk can make such abstract things real, so the Lunars can turn real things including themselves into abstractions that can live within the Wyld. Or rather they can turn physical things into expressions. The most important is their beastman or Spirit Shape- nothing more than what they are as an idea- that can enter the Wyld freely. Many Lunars prefer to wear it in Creation than their human shape. Through the Sacred Hunt and the use of Knacks they learn to express themselves in different ways. A Lunar can do this at any time due to the Wyld Essence in their Exaltation that makes their body a small Wyld zone, but their true potential is only revealed once they enter the Wyld, or use their powers against those within it. For instance in  normal circumstances the Lunars' Excellencies are far weaker than the Solars', more akin to the Dragon-blooded except more flexible. Since many Fair Folk powers work in conflict with a being's Attribute + Essence however Lunar Excellencies are ideal.
   "The first thing to understant when creating a raksha character is to understand that everything about the character is a deception engineered wo facilitate an interaction between and shaped being of Creation and and an entity so far removed from Creation as to be utterly beyond mortal comprehension." In the first part Lunars must be the opposite. They must open themselves up and be so honest that their intentions can exist in and of themselves. In the second they have to so the same. Although Lunars cannot become the same unformed masses that dwell within the Wyld they are able enough to attune with this realm that they are able to become like a part of one. Although the Fair Folk would be able to tell the difference a Lunar can exist within the Wyld (with enough practise) as easily as an Unshaped Fair Folk' Emanation. The most powerful and skilled Lunars are able of venturing into Pure Chaos.
   Magical materials make for more potent stuff for creating in the Wyld. By far the best for this purpose is moonsilver.

Masters of Unreality

    Just as the Wyld is made of possibilities, it is a place where possibilities are very real, Lunars learn to extrapolate those possibilities in their own heads into the Wyld to change it. It is this characteristic that allows them to change their own form through their Lunar Essence, which is like a part of the Wyld within them. They have the same effect over moonsilver as well. They can make it into anything they want. For all their association with the Wyld the Lunars are the opposite of the Fair Folk. They are not an existential antithesis like iron is to them, but are fundamentally opposed to them.
   Solar Exalted- Lords of Creation
   Many Lunars prefer the Wyld to Creation as it is a place they can change to their own whim. However this can make them go insane and and become addicted to living in this ever changing Nether World or become dangerously isolated and unused to reality. Just as some Fair Folk become 'sane.' It's this ability to turn 'things' into abstractions that is the basis of their ability to combat the Fair Folk. They can reverse their physical forms and turn them back into the emotions and ideas they were in the Wyld. They can also learn to do the same to other things. As emotional intensity went into creating an object like a statue they can turn that object back into the emotions that created it and either hold those emotions inside them or release them in a psychic shockwave that floods the minds of everyone nearby. It's this ability to manipulate possibility although in the opposite way to the Fair Folk that lies at the root of all their Charms and gives them the ability to fight the Fair Folk in the way they do and is the reason they spend so much time in the Wyld where their powers are strongest. Just as the Fae can turn themselves as an intention into a physical form the Lunars can turn themselves as a physical form into an intention and so exist in the Wyld.
   Accomplished Lunars see the Wyld as a playground where they can make any dream come true.
   Some Lunars become experienced enough to extend their transformative powers into things they touch. Some can enlarge this effect into the surrounding area. Can moonsilver capture these intentions and turn them into powers for the Lunar to wield?