Compass VI is one of the best products in the Exalted line. Like the rest of the Compasses, this book introduces part of the Exalted setting; in this case, it's Autochthonia, a technological world that is also the body of a slumbering god-monster. Unlike the rest of the Compasses (except Malfeas), this one is purpose-built to make you and your players want to play a game there.

By default, Autochthonia is isolated from the rest of Creation, and its presentation in First Edition left many Storytellers puzzled--how was it relevant to characters from Creation? Were Autochthonians limited to a "Locust Crusade" for resources, or could they interact with Creation in other ways? The Compass answers both of these questions many times, and in many different ways. It would've been all too easy to write this book as a stand-alone setting, but the authors instead stuffed it full of story hooks and plot tidbits, suitably for pretty much any Exalted game. It's the perfect complement to Manual of Exalted Power: The Alchemicals, but you don't have to be running an Alchemical game to use it.

The book opens with a description of Autochthonia's society and general structure. It's very different from Creation's cultures, but the authors are careful to avoid making judgments about which is "better" or "worse". Of special note is the section on Voidbringers--a broad term encompassing anyone who threatens the stability of Autochthonia, whatever their reasons. It, too, avoids making value judgments, and it does a good job of showing the tension and conflict within Autochthonian society. Compare this with the scenarios presented in Exalted: The Autochthonians, and you will be pleasantly surprised. Autochthonia is no longer a world where hordes of worker-drones toil in endless drudgery, just waiting to swarm into Creation and strip it clean.

And if you had any doubt that this was still the case, it will be erased by the writeups of the Eight Nations. These writeups are not dry summaries of economic, political, and military capabilities--they're detailed snapshots of believable, understandable cultures. Some of them, namely Claslat and Yugash, suffered a bit thanks to the limitations of word count--but I was amazed at the amount of detail the authors managed to pack into such a tiny space. They also went to great pains to differentiate the nations from each other. Autochthonia is now home to a proto-capitalist state struggling with its first organized crime bosses, a nation based off Renaissance Italy with Mesoamerican trappings, and a heavily religious state that values love and passion above all else. And that's just three of them. The authors also included little writeups of Xexas and Loran, the two fledgling city-states mentioned in Alchemicals. Those unfortunately lack the cultural details of the larger states (again, word count), but make up for it with evocative set pieces.

The Reaches chapter has comprehensive rules for Autochthonia's unique environmental hazards, and it introduces a useful new hazard mechanic. Naturally, it also includes a great deal of description of the Reaches themselves, emphasizing that they are not just an endless series of metal tunnels. Blight zones would now look right at home in Silent Hill. On top of this, the authors included a number of special story hooks--things Autochthon took with him when he fled Creation, and unique pieces of his anatomy.

The final chapter, the one most people skim over, is pretty good as well. It features mechanics for the bizarre mutants of Autochthonia's poles, a whole list of new mutations, and easily-customized stat blocks for spirits. The NPCs section also includes two Exalts, the most badass mortal in Autochthonia, and the Viator of Nullspace--a competently-statted Deathlord-caliber opponent. The quality of the crunch in this section is excellent overall, though two of the NPCs could've been detailed better or differently. Oh, and befitting the first printed appearance of Robert "The Demented One" Vance, there's Alchemical Charms in there, too. Good ones.

All told, this book is a welcome addition to any Exalted library. The authors put a lot of work and care into this Compass, and it shows through on every page. Get it, you won't regret it.

(Based on reading parts 1 and 2, those available so far.)

This is great setting material. At least these parts are not endless flow-charts showing what powers you can get, but descriptions of dangerous places to go adventuring and what life is like for people other than the Exalted. Autocthonia is a unique, frightening setting where magitech cyborg champions of warring communist dystopias battle each other, and horrible robo-cancer monsters, inside the planet-size body of a dying machine god.

What you get in this product is detail that fleshes out the Eight Nations as interesting places facing various levels of doom. There's enough detail that even a mortal-level campaign would be interesting. The obvious thing to do with this setting is to wage a campaign that opens a gateway to Creation, the main Exalted setting, so the book gives several ways that could happen and describes who would immediately backstab who in the process. In other words there's enough information to make this setting playable in its own right, even before contact with Creation.

You're going to want the "Alchemicals" book as well to talk about the basics of this world and its unique Exalted type. You could adapt this material to an Exalted or other game, though, so long as you know the general concepts. (Eg. five Alchemical castes based on the magic materials; steampunk-themed Charms that can be installed and removed easily; no Great Curse but Dr. Manhattan-style "Clarity" and the chance of getting infectious evil "Dissonance"; defined role as champions of the people rather than rulers. There; you know what you need to know.)

What this product is missing is a map! Yes, the nations move, but why not attempt one anyway?

The information in the book is very thought provoking for ideas in autochthonia's setting. The writing seems reminiscent of the Glories of the Most High series of books, which is to say, really good. I would recommend this book to anyone whos even slightly interested in the inner workings and goings on of the people who live in everyone's favorite nerdy primordial.

Being a staunch hater of books that contain mostly fluff or entirely fluff that is not strictly need to know (which is a subject I'd rather not harp on; I have good things to say!), I thought it'd be a wonder for me to like this book even as I eagerly awaited its download to finish and read it in less than half of a day of goofing off and playing video games.

Why would I be so eager?

Unlike A LOT of the other Compass of (word) Direction books, Autocthonia is a very different realm than Creation and it's very much a place where you might not be able to really grasp if you don't read setting books like this. Moreover, they actually hooked me with this one. Unlike some of the Directions books where I was falling asleep, I actually felt like they made their points and explained things without going on forever and ever. Yes, most everyone loves White Wolf's writing. Some of us more than others. I, for one, like it when they explain what needs to be explained and the embellishments fall around what needs to be explained! I really felt like they were actually bothering to write well instead of drowning me in a drone of text like it wasn't a Forgotten Realms level of history and geography lessons!

I really did like the explanation of Autocthonian Society, the castes, and various other things; it really help set straight some of my confusion.

To conclude, I strongly recommend this, even as a person who thinks books that contain little fluff are just attempts to grub money out of you. This attempt to take your money is at least informative and worth the price of admission.

That and I do believe it's cheaper to buy the subscription rather than part by part.

Support White Wolf when they put good work in so that they keep putting good work in!

For the record, I've only gotten to read volume 1 right now, but, as long as the rest of the book hews to the same quality, it's easily going to be the best of the Compass Books.

More specifically, the only problem I had with the book is that the first part of chapter 1 consists of a condensed version of some 1e information, when I was hoping to get an expanded version of the same information. However, it was a very good condensation, which didn't lose any meaning and manged to clarify a few things as well. Given the wordcount issues involved I can't blame anyone for this, especially since they've added sidebars in at various points in the book to give further info about life in Autochthonia and other tidbits that add to the info from this section.

Everything else, from the rest of the first chapter about the tunnel folk and Voidbringers, to the chapter about Yugash and Claslat, is pure Orichalcum.

And I have every reason to believe that we're only getting started.

Autochthonia is an interesting place. The world-body of a god as much machine as divinity, it's easily the size of Creation or bigger. And yet, there's been so little published information on it so far. Storytellers always had to just make it up as they went, and hope they got it more-or-less right. Happily, this is finally changing with the release of this book. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the entire document is not yet available... but what's there shows an incredible amount of promise. If you take away only one thing from this review, it should be this: If the rest of the book is of a similar quality to this first section, then the Compass of Celestial Directions, Volume VI - Autochthonia is easily the best Compass book the line's seen.

The first chapter starts off a touch on the slow side, going into much-needed detail on the structure of Autochthonian society and details of the daily life of someone who lives within the Great Maker's body. I must admit, I'm struggling to find the perfect way to phrase my opinion of this. I in no way wish to claim that it's boring or bad, because neither of those is the case - it's all well-written, interesting information, and I enjoyed reading it. Still, save for the end and the wonderful section on the various sorts of Voidbringers that threaten the Eight Nations, it didn't really set my imagination ablaze. Nonetheless, it does its job, and does it very well. I came away from Chapter 1 feeling informed and enlightened (if not particularly amazed).

And then I read Chapter 2, occasionally having to stop to pick up my own jaw from its new residence on the floor. It's full of some of the most amazing, evocative, and inspiring writing I've ever seen in an RPG book. From the clamor and crowds of the glot market (and the intrigue surrounding the glot bosses) to the abandoned undercity of Arat, from a downright riveting description of the horrors of the Elemental War to the coming of the prophet Sirin, the second chapter is consistently incredible. This is where my imagination finally blazed forth. Most times, I'm lucky to get one character idea when reading through a whole book, as opposed to sitting down afterward and carefully thinking a while. And yet, the second chapter alone has already given me a pair of concepts that I'm looking forward to filling out with much greater detail. Simply stunning.

All I really wish is that the whole thing were out now; this tantalizing glimpse into the Realm of Brass and Shadow has left me craving more. I eagerly count the days to the next release. If you want to run a game involving Autochthonia, or its denizens, or realms that are kind of like Autochthonia in entirely unrelated games, this should be one of the first resources you reach for. I'll finish by reiterating my earlier point:

If the rest of the book is as good as this part was, then this is easily the best Compass Exalted has ever seen.

(Why, yes, this is a copy-paste from my review on the Part 1 page. Why? Because no one will ever read that section. I'll be sure to delete this review and revise it as new parts come out, if possible.)

Until reading this, I always thought Autochthonia was kind of bland. In here, Claslat and Yugash finally get something to make them stand out from the monotonous mass of "Eight Nations who are all basically the same with a few twists," and I'm eagerly looking forward to the rest of them. The information on different types of antagonists, and the society's caste system, and how the strict regulation really is absolutely necessary for survival, just clinches it.

Top notch setting information and fluff. I'm already planning on buying a second copy as a gift for one of my players.

I've been waiting for this book roughly since I read Time of Tumult about 8 years ago. I've only read the first part since that's what's available, but so far I'm not at all disappointed. In the past the Alchemical Exalted and Autochthonia existed largely to be introduced into Creation in my mind. After reading this I can actually visualize Autochthonia well enough to feel inclined to try running a game there. More accurately I'm inspired to do so. Generally speaking if a gaming book inspires me I consider it a good book. This one is very good indeed.

If you ever plan on running games in Autochthonia, this book is a must have. Tight, informative and evocative writing greatly helps in fleshing out the Machine God as a location, and filling it with plot hooks. Every paragraph is filled to the brim with ideas and stories waiting to be told, with no wordcount wasted.

In fact, if you don't plan on running games in Autochthonia, buy it anyway - you'll change your mind double quick!

This has the makings to be the best of the Compass Books for the Exalted line. Unlike many previous Compass books which stacked new information on top of what came in the previous edition, this detailed look is completely new, and has been clearly imagined with a solid unifying vision.

Even if you don't plan on running a game in Autochthonia, the focus on the heroic and tragic nature of the human element creates a feel for the game that should be of massive inspiration for games outside of its immediate purview.

A captivating and imaginative rendition of the Realm of Brass and Shadow. The writing is masterful, the editing is tight, and the artwork is beautiful and original. A must-have for any Exalted fan.

This book really is invaluable for storytelling in Autochthonia. It takes pains to show complexity in the Realm of Brass and Shadows offering well written story hooks and a detailed treatment of the Voidbringers as antagonists of every stripe. Great effort has gone into making the nations unique and building cities that in someway break the mold of their society while leaving plenty of white space for the Storyteller to fill in.

The only downside is the staggered release which comes off as White Wolf attempting to sabotage their own product by needlessly withholding a finished product. The actual content so far greatly outweighs this frustration.

Thematic, moody and informative. Also, gorgeous and engaging. A must purchase for all Exalted fans.

Excellent start to the subscription, a great demonstration of how this will help open up Autochthonia as a setting and of all the wonderful plot ideas that come with doing so. Useful for a straight Alchemicals game, or for a game incorporating Autochthonia into Creation itself, both as destination and cultural reference for the Autochthonians and their Exalted. The material is nicely written, with a good thematic coordination and clever, interesting use of the quirks and tropes of the game-world.

Given the low, low price this is a no-brainer purchase for any Exalted fan. Even used standalone for Alchemicals this opens up effectively a whole new game world to play in.

Can't wait for the rest of the subscription and whatever WW and CCP have coming next for the line!