Created by
White Wolf Game Studio's, Lunar is a supplemental guide aimed towards allowing players to play the barbarian shifters who live on the fringes of the
Pangea-like world of Exalted. The game was developed by
Geoffrey C. Grabowski.
The Lunar Exalted were pushed into the wyld, a realm of continual flux, by the scarlet empress and the armies of the Realm. To adapt to this area of constant mutation, the Lunar Exalted covered themselves with ritual tattoos in order to maintain their shape. In order to become a Lunar Exalted, the character must be personally blessed by Luna. For this reason, no one is born into their exaltation but rather is chosen for their merits. As such, all Lunar Exalted characters are extraordinary in some way before they are chosen. Obviously, upon exaltation and receiving the ability to shapeshift, they acquire other aspects that are extraordinary. But it is important that they were amazing, even when they were simply human.
The Lunar Exalted's power comes in the form of shapeshifting. Their bodies can manifest into the form of anything that they drink the Heart's Blood of. The Heart's Blood is characterized as the dying blood of something that the Lunar has killed. As you can imagine, these barbarian characters often live bloody lives. Lives that stretch into centuries.
The Lunar Exalted still are bitter over being pushed into the Wyld and seek to regain their status in the Realm. They're also looking for a chance to exact their revenge on the Dragon Blooded, the army of the Scarlet Empress who pushed them into the Wyld. In addition, they are Barbarians for most of their lives and as such they believe that the citizens of the Realm live shallow lives without honor or purpose. In this way, both the Realm and the Barbarians feel they are vastly superior to each other, creating an interesting dichotomy. The Lunar Exalted foster this belief amongst the Barbarians, by appearing as gods to them and guiding their societies against the Realm.
The Exalted game system is very similar to The World of Darkness game play and players of games such as Vampire: The Masquerade should quickly adapt to the dice system.
The book itself is 254 pages, well illustrated, and filled with plenty of source material. It focuses heavily on the barbarian lifestyle, almost more than it does on what it means to be a Lunar Exalted. The Exalted book, a book focusing on the Solar Exalted, is required to play as this is merely a supplemental rule book.