Hello Cogs,

I just came back in from shoveling my driveway, so I know we're well and truly in December up here. I've got a super quick preview of tomorrow's manuscript chapter for Backers, but before I get to that I just want to show WAHOO because we've locked in our two milestone markers.

[ACHIEVED] At $123,000 in Funding - ALCHEMICALS Digital Wallpaper - Awesome Alchemical Exalted artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.

[ACHIEVED] At $126,000 in Funding – ALCHEMICALS VTT Token Pack – Digital assets will be created to support online play for Alchemcials, including key character and creature tokens from the book. This online asset pack will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

These were Stretch Goal targets set up to help us keep pace over these slower days in the mid-campaign and we totally smashed them as we finish up the third week and get ready for our sprint to the finish. Our next Stretch Goal takes us back to adding sections to the Companion.

At $130,000 in Funding - ALCHEMICALS COMPANION: Servants of the Machine God - Quick Character traits for a variety of machine spirits found in the Realm of Brass and Shadow.

When we get closer to unlocking that, I'll likely sneak one more milestone marker in to set us up for a final Companion addition before the end! Keep up the great work!

These three-dimensional compasses are key to navigating Autochthonia. An autolabe is a crystalline sphere, illuminated from within by soft amber light, containing intricate moonsilver gears that maneuver a jade needle. Each autolabe is linked either to a metropolis or an industrial organ. When attuned for one mote, its needle pointing the way toward it. Its inerrant needle adds two automatic successes on rolls to navigate toward the autolabe’s linked location, and one success on navigation rolls that use the linked location as a landmark or point of reference. 

Unlike other artifacts, autolabes are designed so that its user can go up to (Essence) months without having contact with the artifact before her attunement lapses. Expeditions, diplomatic assemblies, and raiding parties are typically outfitted with an autolabe attuned in advance by an Alchemical — often a  metropolis.

A variant design can be used to record a path, rather than linking to a location. Doing so requires only the push of a button at the start and end of her path. While traveling along this path, the autolabe’s needle will point toward wherever its carrier needs to go to continue moving along it. It adds a non-Charm success on rolls to navigate toward a location along the path or while using such a location as a point of reference. Only one path can be recorded at a time.

A topographical octant replicates in miniature all the mechanisms of a room-sized topograph (p. XX), a delicate handheld mechanism of filigreed starmetal clockwork and colored jade tiles whose patterns display information. Other than their portability, they function as a standard topograph, except that they’re not limited to a single region, encompassing the entirety of the Expanse of Metal to the extent the Octet has explored it. When attuned for two motes, it adds an additional two non-Charm dice on rolls that benefit from it and ensures its user can’t botch.

The most sophisticated Autochthonian prosthetics are artifacts, incorporating magical materials and Essence-powered mechanical systems. They can be used to replace organs, including eyes and hearts, though they can’t replace damaged brain tissue. When attuned for three motes, they fully replicate the functionality of the replaced body part, including sensation, and provide their own unique Evocations, often representing advanced technological design features.

 
Back tomorrow with Chapter 7!