The Great Curse is a curse leveled by the Primordials on the Exalted as they died. The Curse was elaborate and vast, but its core was that the Exalted would forever be cursed with the hate, immoderation and treachery they'd shown in the Primordials' murder. The Great Curse has dogged all the Exalted since that day, but it settled most squarely on the shoulders of the Solar Exalted. Ever since, the Solars have been subject to terrible melancholy and violent emotional outbursts. The Curse is not common knowledge, with relatively few parties (notably Lytek, God of Exaltation and the Maiden of Secrets) aware of it.
The curse affects each type of Exalted differently. For Solars and Lunars a specific aberrant personality trait (such as deliberate cruelty) will rise to the fore after specific actions. Narratively, this becomes more extreme and violent the longer an Exalt lives. The curse is less powerful for the Dragon-Blooded who, while still subject to it, can control the effects and are only truly vulnerable to it if their willpower is drained. Sidereal Exalted deal with their curse in a largely narrative fashion: they are prone to overweening hubris, such as organizing the slaughter of the Solar Exalted and ruling Creation from the Shadows.
Exigents, due to their varied patrons, tend to suffer vastly different forms of the Great Curse. Exigents of "patchwork" origins, whose powers come from more than one patron, tend to suffer far more extreme effects than other Celestial Exalted.
The Hearteaters's curse drives them to break the wills of those around them and turn them into pawns to empower themselves further.
Abyssal Exalted are subject to an alternate curse, the Abyssal Curse of Resonance, which means that they will cause pain and misery to those around them regardless of how much they would like not to. In the highly unlikely case that the Abyssal is redeemed and his Exaltation cleansed and freed from its Monstrance, the restored Solar will be completely and permanently cured of the Great Curse, and all those who bear the purified Exaltation after his/her death will be free of it. Forever.
Due to Nebiru's loyalty to the Primordials, the Umbral Exalted do not suffer from the Great Curse. However, they instead suffer from Penumbra, the influence of Nebiru's Shadows upon their psyche. The more Penumbra they have, the stronger both the Shadow and the Umbral become, but the Shadow gains more control over its Exalted.
Alchemical Exalted are not subject to the Great Curse, as they did not participate in the Primordial War. Instead, they have to deal with Clarity, an intense urge that drives them to seek the most efficient solutions, even if it comes at the expense of others. However, Clarity isn't exclusively negative as some of their Charms require higher levels of it to function, and is easier to deal with than the Curse as all an Alchemical needs to counter it is to live closer to humanity.
- The Great Curse is intended to emulate the actions of classical heroes such as Hercules, who slew his wife and children in a fit of madness.