Apparently there's a plot point that involves Gaia creating the Ratkin to eradicate humanity's "surplus population" through disease, which has some very uncomfortable implications, especially in the light of the gross indifference to human life that the ruling class has exhibited in the wake of Covid-19.
I realize this is hinged on a lot of assumptions (that this information is accurate in-universe and that Gaia, as the personification of the Earth, serves as a mouthpiece for the creators' environmentalist views), which is why I'm asking.
Pretty sure that's the summary of WtA.
Some titans made a bunch of gods. Said gods rebelled but had to fight the titans indirectly, making the 'Exalted' - the people empowered by the gods in some way. Titanomachia ensues and titans get defeated (with some developments that tickle my brain) and curse the Exalted.
A lot of time passes and some factions of the Exalted that are less afflicted by the curse start a war. They win, they make sure that the most powerful of the defeated ones do not get reincarnated (well, roughly speaking, 'reincarnated'), declare such the 'anathema' to be hunted down for everybody else' safety, and establish a polity that takes control over most of the world.
A lot more time passes during which there is a change of the world's hegemonic power, but then its ruler disappears and her disappearance coincides with the return of the Exalted who previously could not be reincarnated. These are first of the Exalted that got playable in every edition.
The more day-to-day premise is that you are a very powerful being, but (unless the character is Dragonblooded, or if what is happening is happening on the fringes of the world (which is flat)) you get the burden of hiding from said hegemonic power, and (unless the character is Dragonblooded, in which case you belong to the privileged group within said hegemonic power) you experience a degree of social isolation (which depends on the type of the character's Exaltation).