Christine Beard, Luka Carroll, Meghan Fitzgerald, Liz Grushcow, Susann Hessen,

Alyssa Hillen, James Huggins, Eric Minton, Robyn Ostrokol, Neall Raemonn Price,
Charlie Raspin, Lauren Roy, Allen Turner, Robert Vance, Vera Vartanian
Credits
Authors: Christine Beard, Luka Carroll, Meghan
Fitzgerald, Liz Grushcow, Susann Hessen, Alyssa Hillen,
James Huggins, Eric Minton, Robyn Ostrokol, Neall
Raemonn Price, Charlie Raspin, Lauren Roy, Allen Turner,
Robert Vance, Vera Vartanian

Developers: Eric Minton, Robert Vance

Consulting Developer: James Taylor

Additional Development: John Mørke, Holden Lee Shearer

Editor: Dixie Cochran

Artists: Yihyoung Li, Gong Studios, Gunship Revolution

Studios, Priscilla Kim, Ed Bourelle, Melissa Uran

Art Director: Mike Chaney

Creative Director: Richard Thomas

Special Thanks
Dixie Cochran, for her calm and good-natured guidance
and support.

Stephen Lea Sheppard, for thinking through the mecha-

nisms of empire.

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Introduction 6 House V’neef 41
House Iselsi 41
This Book at a Glance 6
Chapter Two:
Lexicon 6 The Machinery of Empire 44
Suggested Resources 7
The Magistracy 44
Chapter One: The Way Things Were 44
History and Life in the Realm 10 The Way Things Are 46
Magistrates of Note 47
Birth of an Empire 10
The End of Days 10 The Ministries 48
Destiny Calls 11 Structure and Organization 48
The Imperial City 12 Entering the Thousand Scales 49
In Her Majesty’s Service 13 Advancement 49
Discontented Masses 14 The Ministries of the Thousand Scales 50
The Threshold 15 The All-Seeing Eye 56
The Dynasty 18 Organization 56
An Empty Throne 18 The Eye in Tumult 58
Life on the Blessed Isle 19 The Deliberative 58
Class & Caste 20 The Greater Chamber 60
Marriage and Family 23 The Lesser Chamber 61
Clothing 24 Passage into Law 61
Art & Architecture 24
Money and the Realm 62
Cuisine 25
The Salt Rate 64
Temples & Shrines 26
Imperial Finance in the Time of Tumult 64
Folklore & Superstition 26
Law & Order 27 Chapter Three:
Crime on the Isle 28 The Might of the Realm 68
Entertainment 29
The Imperial Legions 68
Travel 30
History of the Legions 68
Communication 32
House Militaries and Paramilitaries 69
Quality of Life & Health Care 32
Legion Structure 70
Dominions and Prefectures 33 The Rank and File 71
Prefects 33 The Officer Corps 73
Governors 34 Support Staff 75
Taxes 34 Auxiliaries 76
Prefects and Politics 34 Martial Orders 77
The Great Houses 36 Mercenaries 77
House Cathak 36 Strategies and Tactics 77
House Cynis 37 The Vermilion Legion 78
House Ledaal 37 The Legion of Silence 79
House Mnemon 38 The Imperial Navy 79
House Nellens 38 The Merchant Fleet 80
House Peleps 39 House Fleets 82
House Ragara 39
Against the Anathema 82
House Sesus 40
Empty Garrisons 82
House Tepet 40
Chapter Four: The Imperial Palace 118
The Immaculate Order 86 Sdoia Prefecture 120
Sdoia 120
The Immaculate Philosophy 86
The Perfected Hierarchy 86 Incas Prefecture 121
The Prayer Calendar 87 Sion 121
Heresy 87 Noble 122
The Immaculate Texts 89 Corin Prefecture 123
History and the Order 90 Riven Quay 123
Organization 90 Juche Prefecture 123
Temples, Monasteries, and Open Roads 91 Juche 125
The Breaths of the Immaculate Dragons 92
Arjuf Dominion 126
The Bronze Faction 93
Arjuf 126
The Order and Society 93 Tuchara 128
Politics 93
Tarpan Wastes 128
Social Control 94
Unrest, Protest, and Uprisings 95 Justiciar Prefecture 129
Dragon-Blooded Society 96 Justiciar 130
Life in the Order 96 Paeon Prefecture 131
Entering the Monkhood 97 The Wandering River 131
Monastic Names 98 Falling Rain Prefecture 132
Lifestyle 98
Work Ethic 99 Wading Crane Rookery Prefecture 133
Outside Connections 99 Myion Prefecture 133
Leaving the Order 100 Myion 133
Other Exalted 100 Fifteen-League Redoubt 134
The Sidereal Exalted 100 Voice-of-the-Tides Prefecture 134
The Exigents 100 The Isle of Wrack 135
The Liminal Exalted 101 Bittern 135
The Getimian Exalted 101
Ayreon Prefecture 136
The Abyssal Exalted 101
Eye of Creation 136
The Infernal Exalted 101
Werck 136
Chapter Five:The Blessed Isle 106 Feverfew Valley 137

Endless Prefecture 106 Eagle Prefecture 137

Pasiap’s Shadow 107 Eagle’s Launch 138

Dejis Prefecture 107 Ventus Prefecture 139

Mnemon-Darjilis 108 Ice-Above-the-Water 139
Bright Obelisk 140
Chanos Prefecture 109
Chanos 110 Lord’s Crossing Dominion 140
The Isle of Voices 111 Lord’s Crossing 140
Eseon Forest 141
Pangu Prefecture 112
Pangu 112 Chapter Six: The World We Rule 144
Numinous Rolling Wave Dominion 113 The Satrapy System 144
The Valley of the Ancients 114 The Benefits of Empire 145
Scarlet Prefecture 116 On Clientage 145
Tumult in the Provinces 146
The Imperial City 117
The Capital’s Underbelly 118 The Guiding Hand: Governance of the Satrapies 147
Forging a Satrapy 147
 Oversight of the Overseers 148 The Lap 166
House Control 148 Anatomy of the Lap 166
The Outstretched Fingers: Taxation and Tribute 149 Economy 167
The Upturned Palm: Missionaries and Religion 150 Government 168
The Closed Fist: Military and the Satrapies 151 Neighbors 168
The Receding Tide 152 Zhaojün 169
Fajad 152 Goldenseal 169
A Faltering Economy 153 Beyond Goldenseal 169
The Abhari Creed 154 Government 170
Fajadi Politics 155 Society and Culture 171
Neighbors 155 Neighbors 171
Pneuma 156 Wu-Jian 172
A City Inspired 156 Strength is Law 172
Esprit de Corps 156 Places to Go 172
Winds of Change 156 Utahi 175
Life in Pneuma 157 Bloodlines of the Great Heroes 176
Neighbors 157 Life in Utahi 177
Cherak 157 Neighbors 177
Life in Cherak 158
Chapter Seven:
Rival Houses 158
The War for the Caul 180
Northern Ambitions 159
Faxai-on-the-Caul 182
Greyfalls 159 Garianghis, The Garden of Dreams 183
A Distant Outpost 159 Houshou, The Pyre That Consumes Itself 184
The Golden Road 160 Sekima, The Whisper of Memory 184
The Empire of Prasad 161 Melilune, the Reflection of the Self 186
The Dreaming Frontier 161 Feng-Yi, the Last City 187
Empire of a Thousand Names 161 Enemies Ancient and Powerful 187
A Vision of Purity 163 Withdrawal and Reorganization 189
Twin Dragons Circling 164
The Shining Coast 165
Jewels on the Diadem 166
 Introduction
“Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circum-
stances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that
it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to
say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn’t trust the evidence of one’s
eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilizatrice.”
— Edward Said, Orientalism

From Creation’s center, the Scarlet Empress ruled the Realm, Chapter Four: The Immaculate Order covers the
the world’s greatest empire. On the Blessed Isle, Dynasts Realm’s state religion.
lead lives of unimaginable privilege, while the lowliest peas-
ant lives better than her fellow woman in any other part of Chapter Five: The Blessed Isle details prefectures, cit-
the world. In the Threshold, kingdoms conquered by the ies, and other locales across the Realm’s heartland.
Imperial legions join the Realm as satrapies, client-states
sworn to the Empress. Through them, Creation’s wealth Chapter Six: The World We Rule describes the satrapy
flows into her coffers. system and a selection of satrapies.

Now, the Empress is gone. The Great Houses of the Scarlet Chapter Seven: The War for the Caul unveils the
Dynasty feud and scheme against each other. Legions once weird, distant Caul, battleground between the Realm
loyal to the Empress alone are divided among the houses. and the Lunar Anathema.
The Realm’s labyrinthine bureaucracy festers with cor-
ruption. Satrapies grow bolder in defiance and rebellion.
The Empress built the Realm’s machinery around herself;
Lexicon
in her absence, it cannot hold. All-Seeing Eye, the: The Imperial Service’s espionage
arm, originally reporting directly to the Scarlet Empress.
If the Realm falls, it will not go quietly. The Great Houses
prepare for a seemingly inevitable civil war, each with barbarian: A foreigner whose culture doesn’t derive
its own visions of the Realm’s future. The Lunars seek from the Realm.
the culmination of their centuries-long vendetta against
the Dragon-Blooded. And the Solars’ return shakes cadet house: A Dragon-Blooded family in the Threshold,
Creation to its pillars. As the world groans through this tied by marriage to the Scarlet Dynasty.
turning point, these heroes will forge legends that will
be recounted for millennia, or be wiped away by war citizen: A peasant, patrician, outcaste, or Dynast of the
and apocalypse. Realm. Slaves and the dispossessed aren’t citizens.

dispossessed: Ex-citizens who’ve been stripped of all

This Book at a Glance rights.
Chapter One: History and Life in the Realm details dominion: One of three especially large prefectures,
the Realm’s history and the Blessed Isle’s society and carved out of the former Shoguns’ personal estates.
culture.
Dragon-Blooded: Exalted of the Elemental Dragons.
Chapter Two: The Machinery of Empire portrays
the magistrates, the ministries, the All-Seeing Eye, the Dynast: A member of the Scarlet Dynasty, the Realm’s
Deliberative, and the Realm’s economy. ruling class.

Chapter Three: The Might of the Realm discusses Great House: An aristocratic family of the Scarlet
Realm’s military, including the legions and Imperial Dynasty.
Navy.

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 introduction

Immaculate Order, the: The religious institution that Scarlet Empress, the: The most powerful Dragon-
enforces and spreads the Immaculate Philosophy. Blood in Creation, who ruled the Realm from its birth
until her disappearance five years ago.
Immaculate Philosophy, the: The Realm’s state re-
ligion, which teaches that the Dragon-Blooded are the secondary school: One of the Realm’s rigorous acade-
rightful rulers of Creation and its mortal peoples. mies of higher learning, attended from ages 15 to 21.

Imperial legions, the: Realm armies once loyal to the Thousand Scales, the: A colloquial term for the minis-
Empress alone, acclaimed as Creation’s greatest fight- tries of the Imperial Service.
ing force. Now divided up among the Great Houses.

Imperial Navy, the: Five great armadas, forming the Suggested Resources
world’s largest fleet.
Classics
Imperial Service, the: Collectively, the Imperial legions, Dream of the Red Chamber, by Cao Xueqin: Depicts
the Imperial Navy, the Merchant Fleet, the magistrates, the goings-on between the two branches of the sprawl-
the Thousand Scales, and the All-Seeing Eye. ing, aristocratic Jia clan, tracing a complex web of rela-
tionships among family and servants against a backdrop
magistrate: One of the Scarlet Empress’ investigators of the Jias’ decline and fall.
plenipotentiary, empowered to battle corruption in the
Realm on her behalf. Fiction
Dread Empire, by Glen Cook: The Dread Empire of
martial order: A force of militant oblates serving the Shinsan, with its sorcerer-generals, invincibly trained
Immaculate Order. legions, and war for the throne between puissant su-
pernatural princes, offers excellent inspiration for the
Merchant Fleet, the: Ships assigned to escort the Realm.
Realm’s tribute to the Blessed Isle.
Nonfiction
oblate: A layperson sworn to the Immaculate Order’s King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and
service. Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild: An
examination of one of history’s most brutal colonial
outcaste: Any Dragon-Blood not belonging to the Scarlet
regimes, offering insight into the purposes and conse-
Dynasty.
quences of Realm imperialism.
patrician: A member of the Realm’s gentry.
Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman
Tourists, by Tony Perrottet: Interleaving the author’s
peasant: A commoner on the Blessed Isle.
travels around the Mediterranean with Roman travel-
prefecture: An administrative division of the Blessed ers’ experiences in the same scenic locales two millen-
Isle. Overseen by a prefect. nia earlier, this book provides a valuable illustration of
the Dynasty’s relationship with the satrapies.
Realm Before, the: Another term for the First Age.
Movies
satrapy: A Threshold province that acknowledges the Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou: Pure propaganda for
Scarlet Empress’ suzerainty and pays tribute to the one of history’s worst tyrants, Hero glorifies Qin Shi
Realm. Overseen by a satrap who ensures that the local Huang’s brutal reign in much the same way that the
government pays tribute. Realm lionizes the Scarlet Empress.

Scarlet Dynasty, the: The Scarlet Empress’ vast extend-

ed family, comprising the Great Houses and the cadet
houses of the Threshold.

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The Imperial Mountain was visible from the top of the hill on the road to Juche, but then, it was visible
from the bottom as well. This close to the city, the mountain filled much of the horizon, stretching well
above the clouds that hung heavy and dark and high in the sky. Sadaal couldn’t see it, however. Her
face was pointed down, and she prayed to the Dragons for strength. With Mela’s grace, she craned
her neck upwards.
The last of the traveling guards who didn’t surrender was in fine form, slashing sword flashing as he
swept it at his attackers. His name was Berat, and she’d known him all her life. One of the bandits
who attacked them lay dead on the ground, and Berat fought the others like a man who gave and
expected no quarter. The most grievous harm he’d done to the bandits was only to take their mirth.
Their leader, a tall woman built of sinew and sadism, stepped in as Berat swept his sword to the side.
Her heavy knife whistled in the air, Berat’s blood erupted all around her, and Sadaal let out a low
moan.
“Hush, child,” said some pilgrim in the dirt next to her, whose name she didn’t recall. She hadn’t
learned any of their names, the group that accompanied her — merchants dragging salt from the
shores and galangal and lemongrass from An-Teng, hoping to trade for some of the sweet wines of
Juche; a few students, scarcely older than she, on their way to the various Thousand Scales schools in
the region; and a group of pilgrims and monks escorting an ancient copper statue of the Fire Dragon.
It started to rain. The drops pattered on the statue, making the most patient of the Dragons seem
unnaturally hasty. Sadaal prayed, eyes fixed on the statue. She kept praying when a hand, reeking of
sour sweat, thrust under her armpit and wrenched her to her feet. A squeak of fear erupted from her
when she faced the bandit’s leader.
Berat’s blood was beading in the leader’s hair, Sadaal saw, as the woman leaned down to her height.
The raindrops mixed with the blood, breaking and running in tiny red rivers down the woman’s
forehead and across her leather eyepatch.
“I know that mon,” she said, fingernails brushing against Sadaal’s robe. “The Rein family. Don’t worry,
you’ve nothing to fear from us. Your unspilled blood is worth a talent of jade, love.” The leader stood
straighter, turned, and walked towards the statue.
“We should have waited,” sobbed some minister, her long robes hiked up slightly, hat of office laying
muddy and rumpled a few feet from her prostrate form. Her staff was all second and third daughters
and sons, scions of lesser import aiding a minister of little import. They looked terrified as the bandits
stalked to the noise’s source. “I told you, I told you, the Arbiters to the Obsidian Mirror would’ve taken
us, they would have protected us, they…”
“Enough,” said the leader, and another bandit took the minister’s breath with a swift and brutal kick.
Her soundless gasps quelled any loyalty or defensive urges within her staff.
That heavy knife flashed again, and the monks flinched, but no blood hit the ground. The clang of steel
on copper filled the air, and the silver fangs of Hesiesh’s statue made a slight crunching noise as they
were torn free. The second fang came more easily than the first, leaving a copper scale in the mud.
The leader grinned as she slipped her plunder into a bag at her side.
“Go on, get angry,” she said, watching the monks’ reddened faces. “It’s symbolic, yeah? Dragons don’t
have teeth. If they did,” she grinned wider, “I wouldn’t be here.”
Sadaal watched the clouds, lightning flashing and racing from one end of the sky to the other, circling
the mountain. To her, they looked like dragons.

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 Chapter One

History and Life

in the Realm
As long as mortal memory can recall, the Scarlet Empire a woman in robes of blood. She is destruction. She is
has sat at Creation’s heart, sprawling outward from the salvation.
Blessed Isle like the coiled dragons from which it claims
descent. A world without the Realm is for most an idle She is, now and forever, your Empress.
(and pleasant) fantasy, but the tale of its birth is well
known. The End of Days
It’s the story of Creation’s savior and tyrant, the immor- In the dying gasp of the Shogunate, the Terrestrial Host
tal ruler who directs her Empire like a mason wielding sallied forth to defend Creation itself. The creatures
a chisel against history. It’s the story of the Scarlet that live outside the world had watched with hungry
Empress. eyes for millennia, and as the Great Contagion ravaged
humanity they licked their exquisite lips. Weakened by
Birth of an Empire neglect and war, the powers and efforts that had kept
the Wyld at bay finally failed, and the princes of chaos
Imagine the world’s end. fell upon the world.

A horde of monsters and devils advances on civilization. The Fair Folk advanced in a mad tide, herding night-
Everyone you know is dead by plague. Your village is mares before them and feasting on countless souls.
an echoing shell of empty homes, some still warm with Refugees were driven inexorably toward Creation’s
rot. Whole cities are abandoned, familiar trade routes heart, homelands unraveled behind them by the gen-
drying up like the rivers blocked by disease-ridden try of imaginary worlds. The ragged and disunited
dead. The sky itself seems infected, bruised by falling Shogunate legions knew that Creation’s survival rested
stars. The few who pass through litter bad news in their on their response. Determined not to let the Fair Folk
wake. set foot on the Blessed Isle’s shores, they drew their
line beyond the Inland Sea. They would stop the raksha
On the day you finish digging your husband’s grave, the there, or spill every drop of Dragon’s blood in the effort.
sky erupts. The horizon dances with lurid signal fires,
and for one long moment your ears are battered by the The Woman Who Would Be Empress
war-trumpet of the gods. Silence follows, and as days The Dragon-Blooded were driven back mile by mile.
become weeks, life releases a long-held breath. Some fled across the sea, to make their last stand at home.
Others dug in, determined to win an ending worthy of
The first wanderers bear news of ogre brigades whipped their bloodline. As the thin jade line strained and frayed,
from the world by a divine scourge. The plague loosens one young and charismatic officer made her move. In the
its strangling grip, and hollow houses are cleared of old stories, it was ancient weapons and incredible spells
the dead. A legion musters on a nearby hill, clamoring that vanquished the Wyld, not mere numbers. Her study
around campfires. Priests speak of a new bodhisattva, of First Age lore convinced her that such power was real,
one who cleansed Creation of fiend and flux. The sky awaiting someone with the wit to claim it.
burns once more, fires thundering out, and you cheer
with a voice you’d forgotten you possessed. The young captain used the chaos to abandon her
command and return to the Blessed Isle. She guided
And then Her image stands in your village, voice ringing her Sworn Kinship with antiquated texts to the Palace
like a gong. You sink to your knees in the dirt. She is a of the Anathema, an ominous manse sealed away at the
mighty and beautiful tower of scarlet fire, wrought as heart of an ancient, half-forgotten fortress. As the war for

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 c ha p ter o n e : history a n d l ife i n the rea l m

Creation’s last breath waged on, the deserters overcame astrology to the world’s savior. The Empress initially
demons, deciphered passwords, and evaded hideous refused entry to this stranger, opening her doors only
traps to pierce its dreadful depths. No history records the after he prostrated himself before them for a full day. In
details of their descent into the innards of a world-rend- private audience he relayed the will of Heaven: that the
ing war machine, but only one survived. With the ante- Realm of old should be reborn, with her as its Empress,
diluvian machinery of apocalypse waking beneath her to return order to Creation.
grip, the woman who would become Empress directed
her arsenal against Creation’s enemies. The Empress understood that Creation’s shattered
populace needed a firm hand. Already the Blessed Isle
Fire and iron poured from the skies, dissolving armies faced crises of hunger, disrepair, and banditry — with-
of Fair Folk like rain on chalk. The seas swelled with sil- out a ruler to command its soldiers, tax its merchants,
houettes of froth and anger, smashing fingernail boats and guide its masons, civilization’s lifeblood was stilled.
as a child breaks toys. The Sword of Creation swung but Yet she was reluctant to seize such a role if it came at
once, and as the aftershocks of Creation’s rescue died the cost of oblivion. The Seven Tigers had demonstrat-
away, the world fell quiet. ed the devastation wrought by civil war, and though her
ancient weapons would doubtlessly bring her victory,
The Seven Tigers she had no desire to rule over a desert of glass and bones.
In that silence, only a few souls had the luxury to look
ahead. Of those, even fewer were bold enough to act on The visitor assuaged her doubts by offering the
what they saw. As mighty trees of smoke and ash spread Immaculate Order’s assistance. With the sanction of
their branches on the horizon, Skri Shanash ordered an Creation’s preeminent religion, the Empress could win
immediate march centerward. Senior among the sur- popular support long before any war. The Terrestrial
viving Dragon-Blooded commanders, she saw a world Exalted stood only to benefit from the faith, whose doc-
in need of authority and ripe for conquest. By the time trine held that they were enlightened beings worthy of
word reached the soon-to-be Empress in the depths observance, while aligning the Immaculate Philosophy
of her half-tamed Palace, Skri had secured an alliance with a single secular authority could stave off the in-
with six like-minded commanders. These Seven Tigers ternecine strife that plagued the Shogunate. Of course,
carved up Creation into private provinces and set about the platform provided by a young, expansionist empire
the bloody business of conquering their new lands. would have its own benefits for the Immaculate Order.

Refugees flooded the Isle’s shores, and the Empress Rise of the Scarlet Realm
could only watch through the Imperial Manse’s far- Their discussion occupied nine days and nights, after
seeing eye as the Seven Tigers confidently rebuffed which the priest vanishes from history. Some suggest
diplomatic efforts and prepared their invasion fleet. he became one of the first magistrates, or went on to
Faced with the prospect of war on the Blessed Isle, a found the Palace Sublime, while less mainstream sourc-
conflict that would sunder the Terrestrial Host beyond es claim he was a god who returned to the Celestial
repair regardless of its victor, she conjured the wrath City when his work was done. Whatever the truth, his
of the ancients once more, bringing ruination on those assurances spurred the Empress to make her title a re-
she’d once fought alongside. The threat of invasion was ality. Harnessing a less destructive aspect of the Realm
eliminated, her most active rivals swept from the board. Defense Grid, she projected her image to population
And yet the Empress did not move to claim the empty centers across the Blessed Isle as a vast figure of light.
throne. Looming over her people, she proclaimed herself de-
fender of Creation, Empress of the Realm, and the one
Destiny Calls true authority on the Isle.

Secluded within the Palace of Anathema, the Empress The initial response was chaos. Priests calmed the terri-
brooded over the destruction she’d wrought. Having fied faithful who packed Immaculate temples in search
seized the strength she needed to save the world, she of guidance, while itinerants raised scarlet pennants in
couldn’t set it down again. Fear and greed would force every safe haven. Daimyos with more pride or ambition
others to destroy her, to usurp the manse’s unfathom- than sense took up arms, denouncing this usurper, but
able power for themselves. Yet neither could she risk a those who’d witnessed the end of the Seven Tigers knew
bid for rulership herself without a strong foundation of that her weaponry was beyond resistance, and many
supporters. Dragon-Blooded commanders swore fealty at once.
These were visited by sorcerous visions of the Empress,
The Immaculate Order’s annals tell that the stalemate who immediately set them against their fellows, subdu-
was broken by a humble priest in emerald robes, led by ing the reluctant and eliminating the defiant in a bloody

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 THE REALM

purge. Within a year, the Empress was the dominant luxuries, and countless supplies. The merchants who
power in the Isle, her crown quenched in victories. sold such things needed roads, roads required further
laborers, and as the population swelled, so did the num-
The Imperial City ber of soldiers needed to keep the peace.

Absolute power has a curious gravity. The Empress had The Imperial City today is a labyrinthine tangle of leftover
scarcely completed her announcement before petitioners vanities and modern compromises. It was never officially
began knocking on the door of the Palace of the Anathema, named, but simply grew, a pearl of unequaled value form-
now rechristened as her Imperial Manse. Occupied by ing around the grit of the Imperial Manse. The spoils of all
dismantling her rivals, the Empress was selective in those Creation are shipped daily to this capital, a vast city that
she admitted to its outer sanctums. A few old comrades exists solely to offer proximity (literal or otherwise) to the
from the legions received swift recognition, but otherwise majesty of its Empress and the machinery of her empire.
no clear pattern emerged. Those certain that their power
Opening the Doors
and wealth guaranteed them immediate audience were
frustrated by the manse’s impregnable doors, leaving The growing crowd on the Empress’ doorstep was a
would-be courtiers to speculate and fume over their rul- cauldron wherein rumor could brew into sedition. An
er’s motives for hearing one petition over another. opportunity to establish boundaries came with her first
marriage proposal, an indecipherably ornate greeting from
Left in limbo, these ambassadors settled in for the long the coastal city of Arjuf. Demonstrating a heroic lack of tact,
haul. They dared not leave — what if they were called the message assured her that Araka Jeresh stood ready, as
upon? As weeks became months, camps became settle- a devoted servant and admirer, to share the awful weight of
ments. Petitioners’ families joined them in vigil, moving the crown she now wore. It took a shower of emerald fire
into the pre-Shogunate structures that surrounded the reducing Jeresh’s manse to cinders to teach him humility,
Imperial Manse. Artisans were hired to gentrify their but his frantic backtracking so amused the Empress that he
corners of these vast structures, bringing with them was recruited as a messenger, and then a lover.
families and workers, all of whom needed food, clothes,

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 c ha p ter o n e : history a n d l ife i n the rea l m

SECRET HISTORY

In truth, the Empress’ mysterious vizier was a founding partner of the Realm. Chejop Kejak, leader of the Bronze
Faction amongst the Sidereal Exalted, judged her the best candidate for the strong leadership needed to bring Cre-
ation to order. He also expected her to be off-balance, ignorant, and malleable, so the Empress was a nasty surprise.

Nevertheless, Chejop needed a strong Terrestrial polity to implement the Bronze Faction’s blueprint for the future
and to keep the surviving Lunars and Solars from reclaiming Creation. A central authority would also offer ave-
nues for his Sidereal colleagues to pursue earthly missions disguised as monks, bureaucrats, and nobles. For her
part, the Empress couldn’t refuse the subtle assistance of Heaven’s Exalted agents, nor the spiritual backing of
Kejak’s Immaculate Philosophy. Neither trusted the other, but each was shackled to their shared cause.

So began the great game of winning the Empress’ atten- This web of secrets was eventually placed into the
tion, walking the tightrope between opulence and arro- hands of Araka Jeresh, who’d proven to be more than
gance, novelty and offense, humble loyalty and invisible a pompous fool. Over the next decade he forged it
timidity. Unique treasures competed with dazzling into a cohesive intelligence organization, keeping the
performances, while others offered practical demon- Empress abreast of threats both foreign and domes-
strations of loyalty and initiative. A simple rumor that tic. In RY 12, the All-Seeing Eye was given its official
the Empress was casting her gaze upon the dwellings Imperial charter, alongside an ever-expanding remit.
around the Imperial Manse would lead to frantic build- From satrapies to secondary schools, the All-Seeing Eye
ing and rebuilding to catch her eye. Despite Jeresh’s worked to live up to its name.
misstep, romantic overtures remained a fixture of such
strategies, ranging from formal proposals to attempts at The Ministries
seduction. The Empress accepted many of the latter. In As the Imperial City clustered with litter and traffic, the
some cases, she used these liaisons to soothe a powerful need for a functioning bureaucracy became obvious. Here
faction, suggest support for a weaker group, or whisper the Empress could act openly, giving trusted courtiers
over pillows what couldn’t be said in court. Other wom- authority to tackle problems from tax collection (barely
en and men were simply very, very attractive. distinguishable from banditry in the early days) to sew-
age removal. Others were recognized for competence
In Her Majesty’s Service and connections rather than loyalty, potential schemers
buried in paperwork as reconstruction drained their
Only the Empress’ commanders were guaranteed an treasuries. Mortal gentry leapt at the chance to prove their
audience with their aloof and mysterious ruler. Though worth, or at least to meddle in the domains of the Exalted
quick to spot talents capable of serving her more per- households under the Empress’ aegis. She intervened only
sonally, she could hardly strip the legions of their most in true emergencies, as when laborers stumbled upon one
competent officers. Nevertheless, she was in dire need of the primeval workings that littered the Blessed Isle.
of agents to work her will.
At first, these task forces acted under the mantle of martial
The All-Seeing Eye law, tied tightly to the legions, but as unrest gave way to
With limited resources to call upon directly, the peace, the Empress refined her paperwork junta. By RY
Empress played petitioners against each other. Having 38 the skeleton of the ministerial branch — which would
revealed a rival’s plot to seek out weapons compara- come to be known as the Thousand Scales — was in place, a
ble to the Realm Defense Grid, a minor house’s own creeping ivy tendril that would grow to strangle both mil-
scheme to obtain a trade monopoly might be stymied itary governance and the sweeping rights the Shogunate
by suddenly savvy merchants. Each faction was eager to afforded to landowners. Even the Isle’s map was carved
direct the Empress to the flaws of their rivals, and grate- into prefectures and dominions for easier governance — in
ful when she deigned to alert them to mutual threats. this new Realm the Empress was sole landlord, and her
Holding herself seemingly aloof from the squabbles she laws would be upheld without exception.
catalyzed, the Empress seized control of those inform-
The Magistrates
ers who’d proven their usefulness — or overextended
themselves until she owned them. As yet unable to uphold these edicts across her domain,
the Empress instead empowered magistrates from

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those she trusted. These judges put on ruthless public a harvest the peasantry refused to sow, nor supply
displays to establish that no one was above Imperial guards to suppress every discontented mob before it
judgment or below Imperial notice, and dragged out- burned a manor or lynched a tax collector. Eventually
dated precedents squirming into modernity’s light. the legions would brutally end such uprisings, but the
The Empress often clashed with antiquated Shogunate Empress considered this a poor use of their limited
tradition, and it was useful to have magistrates supply resources. The nascent patricians were more vulnera-
her with public cause for amendments. She directed ble — economically and physically — to the violence of
magistrates against the abuses of troublesome nobles, their lessers, and often provided the first line of defense,
making them heroes to the general populace, even as the preempting revolt with bribes and beatings.
Empress adorned herself with the powers she stripped
away. Gradually, with grand legal reforms and quiet The Immaculate Order filled the vacuum, using its
alterations, the Realm’s body of law became a cohesive Imperial patron to reinforce its philosophy’s hold on the
whole designed to serve the Empress’ will. Realm. Mortals owed the Dragon-Blooded fealty, but
only to reflect their spiritual refinement. A Terrestrial
In the modern era, nothing in the Realm draws its who failed to display the expected virtues was unde-
authority from any source but the Empress. There’s serving of obedience. This rhetoric allowed the Order
no higher power to appeal to, no greater principle or to chastise local nobility, and itself provided the rallying
past regime surpassing her will. The Realm’s laws and cry for countless revolts. These were never threats to the
customs find their origins in a melting pot of Shogunate Empress, for the peasantry framed their objections in
tradition, Immaculate precept, military conduct, local the language of the Immaculate Philosophy — the only
convenience, and lingering First Age lore, but they’re language they’d ever been taught — and so regarded her
put forth as nothing less than her divine word. with religious awe. Instead, they railed against the cor-
rupt bureaucracy or nobility, who were surely obstruct-
The Legions ing her divine judgment. It cost the Empress little to en-
The legions required even more care. To tinker too deep- tertain this worldview once the dust had settled, and she
ly would be seen as prelude to a purge, so the Empress often enacted punishments (token or otherwise) against
allowed war-ragged legions to prosecute her enemies Dynasts who’d allowed the situation to degenerate.
across the Blessed Isle and slowly laid the groundwork
for their revival. Carefully chosen promotions filled the Rebels who disregarded the Realm’s state religion were
upper ranks with loyalists, while rewards for recruit- less tolerable, and often investigated for Anathema. The
ment and tax remittances for the legions’ backers pro- Unbroken Rushes Movement of RY 465, which erupted
vided the numbers and funds to expand. Lavish parades across nine prefectures after years of drought, was led
and new commissions were offered to those who won by the mysterious monk Seven Rivers. In his writings,
great achievements in the field, encouraging initiative, copies of which are still smuggled by peasants today,
ambition, and the same competitive attitude that the Seven Rivers questioned the favor the Empress held
Empress found so useful in keeping her subjects at each with the Elemental Dragons, an assertion that saw
other’s throats instead of her own. him declared Anathema. His rebellion failed after the
Empress drained House Ragara’s treasury to replace
The Imperial Service the lost harvest, but Seven Rivers was never caught.
Taken together, these four organizations — along with
the Imperial Navy and, later, the Merchant Fleet — The Order was an effective tool in winning goodwill
would eventually be known as the Imperial Service. from common folk on the Isle and beyond. In turn, the
They became the canvas on which the Empress painted Empress’ patronage saw Immaculate monks tutoring no-
her image of life in the Realm, independent of any one ble children in the Diligent Practices and Noble Insights
house or local interest. Through them she imposed that would shape the Realm’s spiritual life. The Empress’
her presence on her empire’s every sphere, creating a version of history was preached to the peasantry and
culture in which her authority was as natural and un- taught in secondary schools, massaging the Realm’s tur-
questioned as the rising of the sun. bulent history into an appearance of stability.

Where she couldn’t simply erase them, the Empress

Discontented Masses preferred to rehabilitate peasant rebels, appropriating
their virtues as a reflection of her own. During the
While the Empress concerned herself with the schem-
tumultuous Bloodied Scythe Uprising of RY 707, she
ing nobility, lowborn revolts were a constant problem
offered amnesty to the rebellion’s leaders, the Seventy-
for those who managed her lands. All the Dragon-
Two Rebels of Cypress Mountain, each of whom had
Blooded’s supernatural puissance couldn’t bring in
been a beloved champion to the peasantry before they

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LAND OWNERSHIP

Peasants, patricians, Dynasts, and even the Great Houses themselves do not technically own land. The entire
Blessed Isle was the Empress’ to do with as she pleased, leasing property or allowing folk to dwell without
charge as she chose. The power to alter or terminate leases at any time was one of her greatest tools in com-
manding the houses’ fortunes. In her absence, the houses have raised rents dramatically for short-term gain.
The weight of this ultimately falls on the peasantry. The most impoverished, unable to pay, join the ranks of the
dispossessed (p. XX).

banded together. Through bribes, threats, and persua- it against grasping natives. When these measures were
sion, the Empress secured the outspoken support of insufficient, it was common for independently minded
the surviving rebel heroes, mortal and Dragon-Blooded rulers to encounter fatal accidents, or find a legion rally-
alike. With this narrative as a pretext, she issued an ing to their nation’s “defense.”
edict cutting short the lease on an impressive parcel of
rebellious territory, and reassigning it to houses in her Friends and Foes
favor. If the mortal rebels were later left vulnerable The Empress had no singular approach. She rewarded
to the very Dynasts they’d defied, at a time when the the loyal and tempted the strong, punished the defiant
Empress once more needed the latter’s support, her and extorted the weak. The feeble border nation of
histories do not record it. Venom Lake was beggared after just a year of tributes,
while Paititi’s bejeweled corps of assayer-assassins won
The Threshold its Exigent suzerain such favorable terms that she owed
only a fraction of her wealth to the Imperial Treasury.
The Empress knew that her Realm couldn’t thrive in Lines of Dragon-Blooded who’d survived the Great
isolation. Without control over its coastal neighbors, Contagion were offered a place amongst the Blessed
the Realm could be cut off from trade and travel, stran- Isle’s divine nobility, or wedded to the Dynasty as cadet
gled in its ocean crib. Yet she lacked the manpower houses. If a powerful territory refused her largesse,
to occupy and annex the Threshold, or the extensive the Empress wouldn’t bleed her legions confronting it
infrastructure the Shogunate needed to manage such directly. Instead she suborned its neighbors, leaving it
diverse territories. Instead, even before she’d fully isolated in a world still rife with monsters, famine, and
tamed the Blessed Isle, the Empress resolved to rule the disease.
Threshold indirectly.
The Anathema were the exception. The few Solars who
Some domains, scarred by the Seven Tigers, swore still roamed free found Creation’s divided kingdoms
fealty immediately. She invited loyal sovereigns to take easy prey, forcing the Empress to field her legions
audience with her, conveying special trading rights against them. The Lunar Anathema proved a more
upon their ships and encouraging goods to flow to the frequent concern. To subjugate a territory claimed by
Realm. Imperial legions and fleets were deployed to a Lunar was to walk into a hell where every beast could
defend allied territories against rebellious nations who be a spy, where enslaved raksha fought alongside mor-
still defied the Empress, crushing hostile regimes to tal warriors, where a weeping prisoner might reveal
make room for more pliable leaders. Imperial diplo- herself as a shining devil-beast. The Empress barely
mats offered terms to states that remained cautiously survived several assassination attempts from petition-
neutral, sowing coups where generosity failed to have ers who shed their mortal weakness like an ill-fitting
the desired effect. coat the moment they saw an opening.

These satrapies were kept compliant through carrot and Faced with a foe that melted away like the morning mist,
stick. The Immaculate Philosophy spread on the back the Empress turned to the Immaculate Order. Wyld
of Realm imperialism, proselytizing its view of Creation Hunts ranged far and wide with Imperial sponsorship,
(namely, that the Realm was ruled by divine beings who battling wayward demigods throughout the Threshold.
should be obeyed in all things) and subduing truculent This long war shaped the edges of the Threshold like
gods. The Realm engaged in construction throughout a game of cat and vicious, oversized mouse, where cli-
the Threshold, framing as gifts the mills and mines that mactic battles occurred only at sites too important for
reaped a nation’s wealth, the roads and harbors that bore the Realm to shun or the Lunars to abandon — most fa-
it to the Blessed Isle, and the fortifications that secured mously, the holy island of the Caul. There, the Empress

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REALM YEAR EVENT

1 The Empress seizes the Imperial Manse, destroying the Fair Folk and Seven Tigers.
The Great Contagion ends.

3 The Mountain Folk begin sending tribute to the Empress.

12 The All-Seeing Eye established.

23 Magistrates are first recruited from outside the Empress’ personal circle.

38 The first ministries receive formal offices in the Imperial City.

40 The legions and the navy fall completely under Imperial control.

44 Araka Jeresh murdered.

47-53 First invasion of the Scavenger Lands.

53 Tepet’s siege of the Imperial City fails; he’s taken as Imperial consort.

68 Cevis Ghandarva and his followers leave the Blessed Isle, establishing the Forest
Witches.

75-76 Second invasion of the Scavenger Lands.

88-89 Third and final official invasion of the Scavenger Lands.

103 Founding of the Deliberative. First Great Houses established, including Houses Iselsi,
Peleps, and Tepet.

114 The Empress marries Rawar.

127 House Jerah awakens the First Age oracle-engine Eyem.

139 Birth of Ragara.

145-148 The Burano and Ophris house legions conquer Prasad.

146 Bagrash Köl uses a primeval relic to forge a Northern dominion surpassing the young
Realm. His empire disintegrates in RY 176.

168 Ragara uncovers Eyem’s treachery against the Empress. House Jerah disbanded, its
properties awarded to the newly elevated House Ragara.

244 Manosque Viridian’s coup fails. The Empress exterminates House Manosque.

247 Legion of Silence founded to guard Imperial Palace.

266 The Empress eliminates the Shogunate gentes’ remaining privileges. She incentiviz-
es several to establish Northern colonies as cadet houses.

269 Rediscovery of the Caul.

283 Elevation of House Cathak.

365 Nellens taken as consort.

369 Birth of Mnemon.

370 Rawar assassinated.

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REALM YEAR EVENT

399 Nellens dies. Birth of Sesus.

416-418 Trade War between the Realm and the Guild. Calin uses the conflict as pretext to
break from the Realm.

422 Elevation of House Mnemon.

440 Elevation of House Sesus.

462 House Ledaal supplants the corrupt, Lunar-suborned House Jurul.

501 House Cynis is elevated, and awarded an Imperial monopoly on the slave trade.

578-585 War against the Anathema Jochim.

590 House Nellens is elevated, amidst much protest.

618 Punitive tariffs on Guild goods lifted.

637 Iselsi-sponsored invasion of the Scavenger Lands fails spectacularly.

643 House Iselsi conspires to assassinate the Empress. She spends the next century
publicly dismembering it.

690 Opening of the West to mortal trade via Wu-Jian.

707 Birth of V’neef.

740 House Iselsi stricken from the Imperial ledgers.

750-754 Thorns’ failed invasion of the River Province.

754 Elevation of House V’neef.

762 The Bull of the North’s nascent empire comes into conflict with the Realm.

763 The Empress vanishes.

764 Council of the Empty Throne. The Mask of Winters sacks Thorns.

765 The Bull of the North destroys the Tepet legions. Imperial legions partitioned among
the Great Houses.

768 The present day.

and His Divine Lunar Presence, Sha’a Oka, each had schism in the Immaculate Order before he was revealed as
reasons to refuse even an inch of ground, provoking an a Lunar Anathema. More recently, an outbreak of the One-
endless war between dragon and god-beast that stands Mind Plague infected the satrapies south of Fortitude and
unique in the Realm’s history. threatened to spread to the Blessed Isle until the Empress
obliged a cabal of Dynastic sorcerers to contain the epidemic.
Rivals to the Realm
Time and again, the Threshold spewed forth threats that The Empire’s most galling foe was the army-city of
brought the Realm to the brink. In its second century, the Lookshy. The Shogunate’s Seventh Legion refused
legions stood ready against the mad sorcerer Bagrash Köl’s to join the Tigers, instead claiming the ancient city
empire, silencing even the most ardent isolationists. The of Deheleshen in the River Province. By the time the
Midnight Tathagata’s perverse philosophies provoked a Empress was ready to demand their fealty, they were
dug in and defiant. Wary of the backlash the Blessed

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Isle suffered with each use of the Realm Defense These bitter rivalries subverted the Realm’s efficiency
Grid, and unsure what volatile relics might be buried and reach while ensuring its ruler’s authority and secu-
throughout the Scavenger Lands, she dared not simply rity. Even her family was part of this vicious game, Great
wipe Lookshy off the map. Instead, between RY 57 and Houses encouraged to fight over their Imperial Mother’s
RY 89 the Empress waged three successive wars to sub- attention and approval. As Ragara’s ruthless enterprise
due the rebellious legion, the last of which pressed both proved, the Empress’ problem children were more useful
Lookshy and the Realm hard enough to deploy some of to her divided than dead, their rivalries forming the foun-
their carefully hoarded First Age weaponry. dation of the Thousand Mazy Paths.

Eventually, the two greatest forces of Dragon-Blooded New Great Houses rose when the Empress needed to
in Creation settled into an uneasy détente. For all reset the board, sucking resources and patronage from
Lookshy’s might, it was one city before the world-span- existing houses into a fresh power bloc. House V’neef
ning empire of the Realm; yet the Realm could not move was recently founded as a check to House Peleps’
to destroy Lookshy without risking grievous injury. In maritime power, undercutting the monopoly that gave
time, the Empress found Lookshy a useful bogeyman, Peleps room to scheme freely. Nellens became a Great
while Lookshy has profited greatly from its role as the House almost two centuries ago, drawing together a
Scavenger Lands’ shield against the Realm. disparate alliance of outcastes and patrician families to
plug a gap in the Realm’s governance.
The Dynasty
Old houses fell when their missteps proved too severe. In
Despite taking an array of lovers, the Empress enter- RY 244, Manosque Viridian attempted a coup with the puis-
tained few thoughts of marriage. She warmed her bed sant Eye of Autochthon. After the Eye failed him, destroying
with strong-blooded Exalted, beautiful foreign queens, him and his army, the entirety of House Manosque was put
and exotic mortal handmaidens offered as tribute. to the sword. Other endings were quieter. Houses Burano
She bore children, raised as scions of the Realm, but and Ophris dissolved after centuries of Imperial disfavor,
the first of four Imperial weddings came in RY 114, by disgraced by their house legions going rogue in Prasad. In
which time no partner could be considered her equal. total, over a dozen Great Houses have been wiped from the
Indeed, the Imperial Husband Rawar first attracted the Imperial ledgers in the last seven centuries.
Empress’ attention by his steadfast refusal to be drawn
In RY 590, the Empress made the first and only an-
into the vicious political morass she’d created for the
nouncement regarding her successor. Come the first
Dragon-Blooded surrounding her.
millennium of her reign, she would survey her Dynasty
The two remained married until his assassination in RY and choose the worthiest heir. As the sorcerer-autarch
370, an event that provoked a season of mourning across showed few signs of aging, the deadline didn’t seem un-
the Blessed Isle. Though the Empress cared deeply for realistic, though even the youngest contenders warily
Rawar, their relationship had hardly been exclusive. noted that she made no mention of actually stepping
She drew little distinction between their children and down once her heir was announced. With the sug-
the dozen or so she’d borne from other lovers. This gestion of an ending at last in their grasp, the houses’
frustrated her son Ragara, a genius in finance and today efforts to sap each other’s strength redoubled.
her eldest surviving child. He engaged in a methodical
Then, with over two centuries still ahead of her, the
campaign of building his own wealth while quietly
Empress vanished.
killing off siblings to force the issue of succession by
eliminating any alternative. His ambitions were finally
smothered by the birth of Sesus to the Empress and An Empty Throne
Nellens, a half-brother and implicit rival whose safety
the Empress personally charged him with. Such absences weren’t unusual. Peasant legends imag-
ined the Empress walking the land in disguise to learn
The Thousand Mazy Paths is the name of the philosophy its ills, while Dynasts whispered that she indulged in
that guarded the Empress against her own success, pitting debaucheries beneath her dignity or engaged in for-
every facet of the Realm against itself. The woman who’d bidden rites within the Imperial Manse, placating its
killed tens of thousands to stave off civil war came to court god-engines with rich and bloody offerings.
it like a coy lover. Each schemer always had another rival
to defeat before they could aim for the throne. Ministries After close to two years with no sign or word, however,
informed on each other and played murderous games of it was clear that something was wrong. Toward the end
office point-scoring. Legions were kept separated and of RY 764, the Council of the Empty Throne convened
competitive, winning grand prizes at each other’s expense. in secret, a viper’s nest of mutual enemies: ministers,

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Dynasts, Immaculates. The Dynasts’ ambitions were

tempered by wary disbelief — the Empress’ likely re- LIFE IN THE SATRAPIES
sponse to a hasty claimant made the empty throne seem
more like a treacherous mineshaft. The canary they The Blessed Isle is the Realm’s beating heart, but
settled on was Tepet Fokuf, a witless regent elected by it’s not the whole. The Dynasty presides over a vast
the Deliberative to hold the reins of empire until the array of Threshold states and peoples, each with
Empress’ return. She was in meditative seclusion, they its own culture, cuisine, styles, laws, and traditions.
declared, and would return in due time. In private, the However, cultural exchange between the center
Council set a deadline of seven years before the Empress and the periphery is limited.
was judged to have truly abdicated.
In the center, Dynastic trendsetters make flamboy-
The Empress had not built the Realm to survive her. ant use of foreign styles and foodstuffs. Most such
Without her, the magistrates had no protection against discoveries are fads, for it’s difficult to get some-
the corruption they exposed, and the ministries had no thing new to take hold amid the Dynasty’s already
leash on their officious bloat. The All-Seeing Eye had no jaded tastes. Such fads trickle down among patri-
funding or central purpose, and her children were free to cians and wealthy peasants, though anything excit-
scheme and war. The machinery of empire groaned and ing enough to catch Dynastic eyes is generally too
clogged, and even as the Council dispersed, swearing to expensive for the patriciate. Meanwhile, the ways
safeguard the Realm until its ruler’s return, they were of the Blessed Isle’s peasantry remain largely stat-
ic, other than in and around the cosmopolitan hubs
already tugging loose its threads to line their own nests.
of great seaports such as Arjuf, Bittern, and the Im-
The legions were the first to be scavenged. As blunt perial City.
tools of the Empress, they had few friends at home, and In the satrapies, some princes and wealthy mer-
commanders soon found themselves facing empty purs- chants ape Dynastic clothing and customs — in-
es and sharpened knives. Those legions that returned cluding learning High Realm —in hopes of ingra-
to the Isle were absorbed into private militaries for the tiating themselves with Dragon-Blooded masters.
Great Houses, their meritocratic officer corps replaced Many, however, remain aloof from Dynastic prac-
with family favorites. The Threshold is left vulnera- tices, whether from native pride or to maintain dis-
ble, even as poor harvests force it to pay higher taxes, tance from the Realm in their people’s eyes. The
provoking unrest that threatens countless satrapies. Threshold’s common folk have neither direct con-
Sightings of Anathema surge beyond credibility, necro- tact with the Dynasty nor interest in their foreign
mancer-kings plunge cities into deathly shadow, raksha ways, but may emulate such practices when adopt-
and nightmares creep forth from the Wyld, and entropy ed by local gentry.
gnaws at the foot of an empty throne.

Blood is in the water, and as the Realm teeters on the shout, and thousands mill about, going somewhere and
brink of civil war, sharks circle the Inland Sea. doing something. Amidst this chaos stride the Dragon-
Blooded, crowds parting around them. In poorer cities,
narrow dirt paths, filthy with waste and garbage, wind
Life on the Blessed Isle among tight-packed buildings; in others, clean and or-
derly cobblestone streets neatly divide beautiful estates.
The Blessed Isle is the jewel of Creation. Queens and
Few animals move here, frowned upon in places where
kings look centerward, envious of its wealth and power.
space is already sparse — this is humanity’s domain,
Its satraps and emissaries walk among the mighty like
borrowed from the Empress.
gods among mortals, perfect and infallible. It’s the
world’s center, a land of unmatched splendor and glory. In the countryside, countless villages dwell in rustic
simplicity. Farmers sow and reap. Herders tend cows,
Millions make their homes on the continent at
sheep, goats, pigs, and fowl. Folk gather for markets
Creation’s heart. Though Imperial cartographers have
and festivals. Patrician households collect rents and see
charted almost all of its soil, it’s so vast that many re-
to administrative matters, such as organizing militias
cords have been lost — or never made their way to the
against bandits and wild animals. Itinerant monks walk
Imperial archives in the first place. Ancient ruins and
their circuits, tending to people along their routes.
hidden valleys still hide secrets undisturbed since the
Shogunate, or the First Age. And deep in the hinterlands, amid high hills and dark
forests, vagabonds, runaway slaves, and the dispossessed
Hundreds of cities and thousands of towns pepper the
make rude homes, fearing beasts and wild spirits, and the
Isle’s coasts and valleys. Crowds boom, street vendors

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Empress’ justice most of all. Their unfortunate lives have and all their property is forfeit. Some are vagabonds.
little in common with the rest of the Isle’s residents. Others perform backbreaking, poorly paid manual la-
bor in cities, become camp followers of house legions,
Class & Caste or join bands of bandits and rebels. Dispossession is
imposed in absentia on escaped rebels, or en masse on
The Common Folk peasant villages as punishment for tax nonpayment by
The lowliest of the Blessed Isle’s inhabitants are the the village or widespread lawlessness — a verdict that
dispossessed. Dispossessed have no rights and no cit- the Empress, in her infinite mercy, sometimes saw fit to
izenship — anyone may do anything they wish to them, countermand.

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Imperial judges hand down sentences of dispossession,

and Dynasts’ testimony weighs heavily against the ENSLAVING THE DISPOSSESSED
accused. Those convicted have an “X” branded on the
forehead to mark their status. The Empress could re- Imperial law forbids pressing the dispossessed
voke dispossession by decree, as can a magistrate who into slavery, whether formally or informally, on the
finds the dispossessed innocent of the crime for which grounds that this would elevate them beyond their
she was punished. Children of the dispossessed are station. Magistrates zealously pursue Dynasts who
not themselves dispossessed, but considered peasants, contrive to have peasants dispossessed and en-
though unless adopted early by peasant parents or tak- slave them for personal profit.
en in by Immaculate orphanages, their social options
Since the Empress’ disappearance, the Delibera-
tive has entertained proposals to repeal this law.
These have been fervently opposed by House Cynis
as transgressing upon their monopoly, and by oth-
er senators displeased at such a break from Realm
tradition and Immaculate morals.

are slim. Most become unskilled laborers or petty crim-

inals, or remain amid the Blessed Isle’s wild places with
their dispossessed kin.

Slaves in the Realm are usually foreigners — either

purchased from slavers overseas, or taken as prisoners
of war by the Realm’s military. Few are natives of the
Blessed Isle; citizens may only be enslaved through
the Imperial courts, and only as punishment for severe
crimes. Whatever their origins, they’re mostly ignored
and overlooked.

Slaves have no rights but what their masters grant

them; harm to them is deemed property damage by
the Imperial courts. Only the Dragon-Blooded may
own slaves — it’s said that only they possess sufficient
enlightenment to handle the spiritual difficulties that
owning humans as property entails — though they may
delegate slaves to serve their mortal kin. Most slaves are
conspicuously branded with their owner’s name or ini-
tials. The children of slaves were historically born into
slavery until the rise of House Cynis, which successfully
sponsored legislation in the Deliberative emancipating
such children and elevating them to the peasantry
in order to secure the house’s monopoly on the slave
trade. A Dragon-Blood may emancipate her slaves, but
no more than one each year, a limitation imposed by the
Deliberative to curtail abolitionist sympathies.

Slaves may own property, but can’t bear arms without

their master’s leave. Most slaves receive adequate food
and rest for pragmatic reasons. At best, they’re treated
like valued friends and confidantes. At worst, they live
torturous lives, worked past endurance, sleeping on
dirt floors in cold rooms with a bare minimum of food.
Disobedient slaves suffer beatings, torture, starvation,
or drugging meant to render them docile. But even
the best-treated slave still suffers abuse, and slavery is
 THE REALM

traumatic by itself — a happy slave is a broken slave.

ABOLITIONISM
Most Dynasts view slaves as worthless barbarians, their
lots improved in servitude — a polite self-deception,
Slavery may be the legal and social norm within
even when the slave’s material standards are better. the Realm, but abolitionist views exist nonetheless.
Rare abolition-minded Terrestrials may smuggle slaves Just as ancient Rome had abolitionists whose ef-
to safety, let their slaves live as though free, or treat forts necessitated emancipation limits and other
them as servants with wages and guarantees. laws to protect the institution, so too is the Realm
home to peasants, patricians, and even Dynasts
The peasantry constitutes the bulk of the population, who oppose slavery for reasons moral or other-
ranging from destitute laborers to wealthy merchants. wise. They’re a minority, considered naïve at best
These common folk live and toil on farms and in cities, or dangerous at worst, but abolitionists of high so-
paying taxes and homage to the Dynasty. They staff the cial standing have considerable leeway to advance
Realm’s legions and crew its mighty navy. The Imperial their agendas.
courts protect them at law, while Imperial might guards
them from bandits, outlaws, and foreign foes. The
Dragon-Blooded may execute peasants without trial
only as punishment for high crimes; doing so too fre- gifts, invitations, and promises to win its allegiance. In
quently or without adequate cause invites legal censure. exchange for loyal service, patrician families receive
perquisites such as sponsorship for petitions in the
The average peasant toils in her field, but some make Deliberative, the right to raise troops, exclusive trade
their livelihood as merchants, artisans, bankers, es- deals, slaves assigned to serve them, or marriage into
teemed servants of wealthy households, and similarly the patron house. In the Empress’ absence, the houses
respectable professions. The richest peasants are sig- push for greater control over the patriciate, enticing
nificantly wealthier than the poorest patricians, even them to swear outright fealty with lavish bribes or co-
if they aren’t the patricians’ social or legal equals, and ercing them with economic or military threats.
some leverage this to marry up into the patriciate.
Roughly half of all patrician families have sworn alle-
The Patriciate giance or fealty to a Great House, the rest being in some
Patricians form the Realm’s administrative class, state of negotiation or established independence. The
elevated above the peasantry but set below Dynasts. most longstanding independent families have power
They’re the Realm’s workhorses, the cogs that make the bases secure enough to prosper without Dynastic fa-
greater whole spin. When a Dynastic minister or senator vor — such as those established within the Thousand
makes a decision, a patrician sees that it’s done. When a Scales — or pedigrees too poor to attract the covetous
Great House sets policy for a prefecture, the patriciate attention of Dynastic matchmakers.
arranges the practicalities. When a Dragon-Blooded sea
Unlike Dynasts, patricians labor in close proximity to
captain sets a course, patrician officers direct her crew.
the peasantry. However much they try to distance them-
Wherever the Dynasty works, patricians work beneath
selves from their lessers, they’re ultimately responsible
them.
for bringing the Dynasty’s orders to the masses. The
Tracing their lineages back to Shogunate gentes, peasantry brings the patriciate wealth and influence —
Imperial officials, outcastes, Dynastic households laboring under patrician landowners, bribing patrician
stricken from the family ledgers, and entire fallen officials, and offering sizable dowries to marry up into
branches of the Dynasty, patricians enjoy extensive patrician families. Patricians’ doings are a mainstay of
legal rights and protections above those afforded to peasant gossip, while wealthier peasants enter patrici-
peasants. They’re legally permitted to serve in any ca- ate social circles and attend patrician-held functions.
pacity a mortal Dynast may, though they find it harder
Patrician families treasure few things as greatly as the
to achieve high positions. They send scions to Dynastic
Dragon’s blood. By cultivating a strong lineage, they hope
schools, the chaff among the student crop, to receive an
to beget Dragon-Blooded children of their own. In some
education that most in Creation would envy. And most
cases, a Great House adopts a Dragon-Blooded patrician,
importantly, they may offer allegiance to a Great House
providing enormous boons and familial connections in
and enjoy the benefits of political courtship.
exchange. In others, the patrician family pays dearly
While patrician families seek independence, each to see the child fostered by a Great House, keeping the
Great House wants their services. A patrician family bloodline in the family. Patricians also entreat the Blessed
without a patron house can expect to be plied with Isle’s outcastes to marry into the family.

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The Scarlet Dynasty and the Outcastes

Un-Exalted Dynasts lead lives of unimaginable luxury NAMES IN THE REALM
and privilege. Yet they’re also failures, after a fashion,
when set beside their Exalted siblings. Theirs is a bitter Family surnames always precede given names in the
coronet, when their heads were meant for crowns. All Realm. Naming conventions vary by social class.
Dynasts are born mortal, and it’s only when one nears
her 20th year without feeling the Dragons’ touch that Most peasants have no family names. The domi-
she becomes a failure — until then, her life is dedicated nant naming scheme is one-word (or occasionally
to shaping her into the best Exalted hero she can be. two-word) given names drawn from nature — Petal,
Those who fail to Exalt still serve their houses in the Light, Thistle, Stone, Dutiful Sparrow, Spring Rain,
military, ministries, or other branches of the Imperial and so on. Names whose Old Realm cadences em-
service, and enjoy the same legal privileges as their ulate the upper classes (see below) also appear. The
Dragon-Blooded kin, yet are never truly their equals in Blessed Isle’s populace is a mélange of numerous
their house’s eyes. local and immigrant cultures; peasants in many re-
gions have their own distinctive naming conventions.
Outcaste Dragon-Blooded share many legal and social
Some patrician family names, especially families
benefits with Dynasts, but don’t truly enter the Dynasty
with peasant origins, likewise evoke natural im-
unless they marry into a Great House. They enjoy
agery — Cirrus, Wave, Thunderhead, Rose, and
greater social standing than un-Exalted patricians, but so forth. Others, especially those that trace their
have limited opportunities for advancement within lineage back to Shogunate gentes, share the Old
the Realm. Each must choose between coin and razor, Realm cadences of the Dynastic ruling class — Bal,
serving in either the Immaculate Order or the Imperial Amon, Tereya, and similar. Given names generally
Legions. emulate Dynastic naming practices.
Cadet House Dynasts descend from the Empress, A Dynast’s family name is that of her house. If a Dynast
however distantly, and thus belong to the Dynasty. belongs to a major bloodline of her house, the name of
But they’re raised and dwell in foreign backwaters and the line’s founder follows her house name. Most Dy-
rarely attend the Blessed Isle’s secondary schools, so nastic names follow the phonetic forms of Old Realm,
they lack the polish, connections, and influence of Great which alternates between consonants and vowels.
House scions.
Outcastes come from any number of cultures, and
Dragon-Blooded Dynasts sit atop the Realm’s social their names are equally diverse. Outcastes of hum-
hierarchy, and all else revolves around them. About half ble origins may rename themselves, taking on im-
are gainfully employed in some fashion. The rest occu- pressive titles or adopting epithets that commem-
py their time with personal pursuits, self-improvement, orate heroic accomplishments. They’re considered
to have no family name by Imperial law, and so take
adventuring, war tourism, scheming, hobbies, and gen-
the name of the patrician family or Great House into
eral meddling.
which they marry. The exception is that if an out-
caste marries a peasant, she passes on her name
Marriage and Family to her children as a new patrician surname.

Patrician families arrange marriages for their offspring Every satrapy has its own unique culture and
much as Dynastic families do, usually including betrothal naming practices. The Realm rarely meddles with
gifts for the groom, and paying groom-price to his par- these, with some exceptions — a particular name
ents. Peasant marriages are typically much less formal, might be forbidden if it belonged to the leader of a
often occurring earlier in life and with more leeway for popular uprising against the Realm.
love matches, although wealthier peasant families seek-
ing to marry upward emulate patrician customs. As in
the Dynasty, same-sex marriages are a rare but accepted of means occasionally keep consorts, though this is a
feature among patricians and peasants, carrying no stig- drain on all but the wealthiest households.
ma, save in those patrician households with the strongest
bloodlines. Patrician families are loath to dilute their Rural peasants rear their children firsthand. A child is
pedigree by marrying peasants; it’s typically the poorest a boon, providing more labor to bring in the harvest.
patricians that marry the richest peasants. Patricians and wealthier peasants hire nannies, and
sometimes tutors, but are still more affectionate than
Promiscuity is frowned upon, yet common in practice Dynastic parents.
among both peasantry and patriciate. Married women

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DRAGON-BLOODED ARMOR HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

Armor for Dragon-Blooded frequently incorporates The Realm observes numerous state holidays
iconic designs, which Immaculate doctrine forbids created by Imperial decree, religious festivals or-
the un-Exalted from wearing. Pious Dynasts find dained by the Immaculate Order’s prayer calendar,
such designs risqué, deeming it unseemly to pa- and traditional celebrations. The Day of Her As-
rade iconic imagery before mortals. Styles current- cent celebrates the Empress’ formal coronation,
ly in vogue include White Rose style, with round- marked by lavish feasts and recitals of patriotic
ed contours and an animal-themed central boss; poetry and song. The Celebration of Seven Shat-
brash, sharp-edged Thundercloud style, adorned tered Helms honors the Imperial legions, whose
with dragons or mythical beasts; and conservative most distinguished troops once paraded before
Dragonscale style, engraved with elemental imag- the Empress on that day to receive her commen-
ery and excerpts from the Immaculate texts. dation. The five days of Calibration at year’s end are
marked with drunken revelry and alchemical fire-
works; Dynasts engage in absurd role reversals —
satraps beg on street corners for coins, household
Slaves and the dispossessed cannot enter into legal mar- heads kowtow to servants, and lucky peasants are
riages, but nonetheless celebrate informal weddings. made five-day queens.

Clothing Other holidays are local and idiosyncratic. Pangu

Prefecture commemorates the anniversary of the
Tunics with skirts or loose pantaloons are common founder Cynis’ Exaltation in a decadent festival
work clothes for the Blessed Isle’s peasantry. When funded by House Cynis. The peasants of Six Vines
not involved in manual labor, peasants wear sarongs; observe a holiday honoring the Hearth that slew a
zhiduos, loose robes with side slits; and ruquns, out- pack of hellboars threatening the town over a cen-
tury ago. The Feast of Fallen Crusaders, a Shogu-
fits consisting of a blouse, skirt, and a waist skirt. The
nate-era holiday, is still celebrated in Lord’s Cross-
zhiduo and the tunic-and-pantaloons combination are
ing Dominion.
common among wealthier peasants. Jeonboks — long,
sleeveless vests — and kimono are also popular. Those
wealthy enough to forgo manual labor and imitate patri-
cian fashions wear togas or saris. Peasant garments are Togas and saris see little use among Dynasts, who favor
usually cotton, ramie, or wool, with wealthier families various forms of robes and tunics. Long skirts, pan-
owning linen garments for festive occasions. The usual taloons, or short skirts with pantaloons are common
footwear is sandals, clogs, or foot wrappings; sashes and legwear. Every type of cut and style is seen among the
scarves are popular, especially in the winter months. Dynasty, as Dynasts prefer to stand out. Daopaos and
Common headwear includes the wide-brimmed, coni- kimono are in favor among the humble and those un-
cal farmer’s hat and the kufi cloth cap, while topi caps, concerned with fashion. Belts hold scabbards for dagger
toques, and linen headbands are rarer. Jewelry is made and sword, and sturdy boots and gloves are fashionable
of non-precious metals adorned with ceramic beads among mortals. Hats tend to be simpler than among
and polished stones. patricians, headbands elaborately embroidered with
poetry being a favored option.
The patriciate favors togas and saris of linen and silk.
Tunics, tight-fitting kimono, and shenyi are common Art & Architecture
undergarments. Skirts and pantaloons (preferably
silken) are loose and flowing for women; men’s cuts are The Immaculate Philosophy bans imagery representing
tight and slinky to draw Dynastic suitors’ eyes. Jewelry material things other than the Elemental Dragons and
is gold and silver, preferably set with diamonds, ber- the Immaculate Dragons; monks destroy such hereti-
yls such as aquamarine and morganite, or other pale cal icons and punish their creators and possessors.
gemstones. Headgear is at its most ostentatious at this However, the Dragon-Blooded aren’t subject to such
level of society with the zhuzi jin and zhangokfutou, restrictions, and exceptions exist for vocational pur-
or winged hat, being common choices. Sandals and poses such as bestiaries, herbals, and anatomical guide-
slippers are the predominant footwear. A sash or belt — books. Pictorial depictions of the Empress are heretical
often holding a weapon — around the waist is common. but common. Art tends to be stylized, if not entirely
Cloaks are wool-lined silk or delicately embroidered abstract. Calligraphy mixed with illumination, stencil
linen with fine fur on the inside. prints, and filigree makes up much of surface artwork.

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Sculptures and reliefs of dragons, mixed with abstract

patterns, ornament buildings and temples, often carved PETS & GUARD ANIMALS
from marble and sometimes painted in vivid colors.
Architecture favors columns, spires, and pagodas, with Dogs, cats, and snakes make popular pets and ver-
fluted rooftops and domes of various styles. miners in the Realm; Lord’s Crossing Dominion is
known for its colorful, silken-haired lapdogs and
Typical peasants inhabit one-room houses in the coun- oversized black guard dogs. Other pets include
tryside, or else small urban apartments. Well-to-do songbirds, monkeys, and beetles. Dogs, alongside
peasants and patricians live in wood or stone houses swans, llamas, and giant wolf spiders, often see
centering around a large open space called the atrium use as guard animals. Austrech, falcons, mospids,
— open to the sky in warmer climates, or enclosed far- and hounds are common hunting companions —
ther north — and a smaller meditative garden. Dynasts austrech handler is a profession with a high injury
prefer ornate, walled-off building complexes linked by rate. Dragon-Blooded may share their households
enclosed walkways, replete with spires, gardens, pergo- with dangerous or exotic animals — falcons, lions,
las, pagodas, and pavilions. bears, gazelles, panthers, or hippopotamuses.

Quality and ornamentation of furnishings indicate a

family’s prosperity and status. Higher-quality furniture
involves fine hardwoods, lacquerwork, and elaborate a local brewer. Well-to-do peasants can afford tea and
carvings and fretwork. Other common adornments wine as status symbols.
include hanging scrolls, indoor plants, and arabesques.
Patricians eat heartier fare, with more meats and fruits and
Geomancy plays an important role in Realm architec- a greater variety of vegetables. Deepwater fish, beef, and
ture. While only the Dragon-Blooded and a few rare game fowl are staples. Strong spices, herbs, and seasonings
thaumaturgists have the prowess to construct manses, such as fish sauce and chili paste are easily affordable,
well-versed mortal geomancers — who often learn from along with tea and wine. Poorer patrician families reserve
assisting manse architects — earn high salaries for plan- these better meals for when they have guests, eating com-
ning Dynastic and patrician households in auspicious mon fare in private. Rice and other grains still make up
patterns that harmonize with local dragon lines, or to much of most meals, even for the wealthiest families.
arrange peasant towns and villages in such patterns.
Dynastic cuisine — deftly and artistically prepared by
Charlatans are common in the profession, though few
trained chefs — is heavily seasoned, both to satisfy jaded
would dare defraud a Dynast in such a manner.
palates and as a show of wealth. Breads and rice balls
accompany thick sauces or curries. Dynasts enjoy a
Cuisine wide range of meats, ranging from simple but expensive
lamb, veal, and horse to more exotic delicacies such as
Rice is a staple crop; most peasants owe it their lives. It bear, dormouse, dove, peacock, snail, squid, shark, or
transcends class in a way little else does — the Empress even river dragon. After a hunt, it’s traditional to serve
ate rice, as does the lowliest slave. Other grains, such the quarry at the evening meal. Tea, wine, and distilled
as wheat and millet, are grown across the northern Isle spirits are always at hand.
and in mountainous regions less suitable for growing
rice; there, noodles, dumplings, pancakes, and steamed Common utensils are chopsticks, spoons, and knives.
bread are common.
Dining
Simple peasant meals often involve potage of staple Peasants and patricians gather the whole household for
grains, supplemented with lentils, onions, greens, and meals — sociable occasions full of chatter and laughter
other vegetables. Peasants raise chicken and ducks for — and use them to raise important family business.
eggs, and occasionally enhance meals with elderly fowl
or offal. Fish is a major part of coastal peasants’ diets; Dynastic households only eat together on special occa-
inland folk maintain carp ponds. Citrons, peaches, sions, such as holidays, announcements, entertaining
berries, and apricots from orchards or wild groves are guests, or honoring exceptional servants. Otherwise,
common in some rural areas and an occasional delicacy Dynasts prefer to dine in small groups in lounges
elsewhere. Poorer peasants supplement their diet with throughout an estate, or alone in their quarters. Parents
pest animals such as frog, lizard, and rat, or occasional eat with young children and their nannies every so
poaching. Wealthier peasants can afford pork, mutton, often to inspect the child’s progress, and for the same
and fowl in stews, pies, and pastries. Rice wines and reason dine with Exalted offspring visiting from school.
beers are peasants’ drink of choice; most villages have

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In these situations, the children are expected to eat Such folklore often revolves around folk interpreta-
quietly and only speak when spoken to. tion of the Immaculate Philosophy. Peasants attribute
landscape features and improbable events to the
The Dynastic dining hall has two tables. The house- Five Elemental Dragons and their mortal avatars, the
hold’s Dragon-Blooded sit at the larger table along with Immaculate Dragons; this sometimes leads to heretical
guests, especially accomplished mortal family mem- cult worship. A mortal monk’s blessing is ascribed su-
bers, and un-Exalted spouses, and have first pick of the pernatural power. Tokens from pilgrimage sites, such
dishes. The other table seats the rest of the household. as water from the fountains of the Pagoda of Pasiap’s
Footstep in Juche, likewise serve as talismans.
Travelers dine at a common table in roadside inns. Such
places lack menus, serving whatever the host has in the Numerology is a common belief. Five is an auspicious
pot, though they’ll lay out their best for patrician and number, as the count of the Dragons, as is ten, for the
Dynastic travelers. Urban folk procure simple meals Elemental Dragons and the Immaculate Dragons to-
and snacks, ranging from buns, soups, and dumplings gether. Seven is also auspicious as the number of greater
to roasted silkworm pupae, from food carts and street celestial bodies. Four — being one short of the Dragons’
kitchens; many poorer citizens lack their own cooking perfection — is inauspicious, symbolizing incomplete-
facilities. Some teahouses also serve food, and proper ness, death, or temporal power untempered by piety.
restaurants can be found in several cities, the finest of Six, representing wealth or excess, is auspicious or
which have spread their reputations across the Blessed inauspicious depending on circumstances.
Isle.
Ghosts are rarely encountered on the Blessed Isle; few
Temples & Shrines shadowlands exist to allow such congress, and ghosts
that do appear are punished by Immaculate monks. This
Every city on the Blessed Isle has one or more temples leaves all the more room for folkloric inventions con-
dedicated to the Immaculate Dragons. The Imperial cerning mysterious hauntings, phantom lovers, and ven-
City has hundreds, encompassing every facet of each geance from beyond the grave. Shooting stars are said to
Dragon. Most cities also maintain temples to lesser dei- be spirits of Dragon-Blooded heroes battling dark forces,
ties — Flashing Peak, goddess of the Imperial Mountain; while in the Daoshin Peninsula’s marshes, peasants claim
Gri-Fel, god of the Imperial City; and various prominent that will-o’-wisps are Cathak’s ghost leading victims to
local divinities — to offer proper homage, directed by safety. Some say ghosts of dead Dynasts gather in the
monks according to the Immaculate prayer calendar. Imperial City each Calibration to attend a Deliberative of
the Dead. Perhaps, some whisper, they have judged the
Villages often house an Immaculate shrine — sometimes Empress and found her wanting.
several for larger towns — decorated with a dragon
statue. Many are roughly carved, though particularly Misfortunes are also attributed to other supernatural
devout Dragon-Blooded or patrician lieges (or other entities. Residents of Arjuf, Juche, and Lord’s Crossing
wealthy residents) sometimes fund beautifully carved believe troubled children are changelings left by the
and lacquered shrines filled with depictions of the subterranean Mountain Folk. Rural folk of the western
Immaculate Dragons. Only shrines housing Immaculate Isle attribute sickness to the familiars of witch-queens
monks hold valuable goods and adornments. Both mi- and incubus-princes living in invisible palaces in the
nor and major shrines allow common folk to offer up wilds, supping on stolen mortal blood. Epilepsy is wide-
prayers on sanctioned days. ly regarded as the curse of truculent gods by peasants
across the Isle.
Every Dynastic household has at least one shrine to the
Dragons, and in all but the smallest households, the Folk Magic
main shrine takes up a full room or pagoda. Patricians To the Immaculates, magic is both gift and curse in
often keep a house shrine to the Dragons in the atrium. un-Exalted hands. Mortal thaumaturgists or sorcerers
should, by rights, either receive proper training at
Folklore & Superstition the Heptagram — if they can afford it — or enter the
Immaculate Order to master that power and put it to
In a world where true magic is wielded by reclusive noble use. However, while Order and throne both
spirits and inaccessible god-kings, it’s unsurprising that frown upon lay use of magic by the un-Exalted, benign
superstition and folklore abound. Some tales are repeat- enchantments — divinations, blessings, curatives, talis-
ed across the Blessed Isle and the Threshold; others are mans, and the like — aren’t prohibited, and in fact are
local to a single village or clan. employed by houses and legions, though practitioners
are watched for signs of abuse.

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Peasants rightfully fear practitioners of wicked magic. Law & Order

Some witches lay soul-twisting sorcerous curses or
invoke forbidden thaumaturgies; others bargain with The Guardians of the Realm (known colloquially as
ghosts and devils to blight enemies with ill fortune, “Black-Helms” for their distinctive headgear) are an
disease, nightmares, possession, and madness. Such Imperial peacekeeping force overseen by the Honorable
execrations are forbidden, their practice a high crime and Humble Caretakers of the Common Folk (p. XX).
under Imperial law. They gather and assess rumors and reports of crimes on
the Blessed Isle, find and arrest the culprits, and some-
Charlatans abound in cities and hinterlands alike, false- times — if the detainee is of the lower classes — punish
ly claiming all manner of magical powers. Some market them. As the Dynasty rarely deigns to meddle in the
divinations or amulets for steep prices; others offer to affairs of its lessers, the Black-Helms are the Empress’
curse a hated foe, claiming to have wicked Dynastic hand in most mortals’ everyday lives, terrifying peas-
ghosts — Manosques, Jerahs, Juruls, and the like — ants and annoying patricians.
sworn to their service. Such frauds must stay well ahead
of the Black-Helms lest they lose a hand or their tongue. While the Guardians’ black, conical, open-faced helmets
are their most visible and iconic feature, their actual
Not all folk magic practices require a thaumaturgist’s or symbol of office is a distinctive scarlet belt worn around
sorcerer’s gifts, and these occult disciplines are in com- the waist, adorned with the Guardians’ insignia — a
mon use. On the Nuwa Plains, a newborn’s forehead is brass buckle engraved with a pentagram — and holding
anointed with salt to ward off devils. Peasant farmers a scabbarded short sword. Guardians in wealthy locales
believe an iron nail twisted into a helix or spiral — an are assigned uniforms and additional armaments, such
“iron dragon” — wards off bad luck and mental illness. as buff jackets and crossbows; others accouter them-
And throughout the Realm, folk call on Pasiap for pro- selves individually out of pocket.
tection against witchcraft, dark spirits, or Anathema.
The Immaculate Order doesn’t police these folk prac- In large cities and densely populated regions, Guardians
tices as they do thaumaturgy and sorcery. receive formal training; in small towns and large villages,

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SHUN THE PERFIDIOUS LAWYER EXILE

While professional legal advocates have occasion- Exile is a rare punishment, typically deployed as
ally plied their trade throughout the Realm’s his- a show of leniency for Dynasts who voluntarily
tory, they’re traditionally despised as middlemen turn themselves in for capital crimes. Exiles are
who interfere in matters of justice for personal stripped of land and Imperial heirlooms, and can
gain, and are officially prohibited from all legal never return to the Blessed Isle unless pardoned by
matters. Instead, judges directly question defen- the Empress. Otherwise, however, they retain their
dants in criminal matters, while the parties in civil wealth and Dynastic status. An exile’s children do
matters are expected to plead their cases person- not inherit her status; their house welcomes them
ally to the court. home to claim their birthright.

visiting Caretakers brevet two locals, based on reputa- committed by Dragon-Blooded, but rather observe and
tion and how muscular they look — two is considered report misdeeds to the Imperial Force or the nearest
the minimum to be effective, as one can detain prisoners magistrate. Only in exceptional circumstances will they
while another delivers a message. Rural Guardians are attempt to bring her to justice: wholesale slaughter of
scattered about in pairs so that ideally no peasant lives patricians or peasants, large-scale destruction of prop-
more than a day’s march from the nearest constabulary. erty, and the like. Even so, the Terrestrial must be treat-
Service is mandatory, but Guardians receive a modest ed with groveling respect and extravagant apologies,
salary as compensation. Many Guardians maintain and may only be detained for three days — sufficient
other work and enforce law on the side. Officers — only time for the Imperial Force to arrive.
seen in cities, drawn exclusively from patricians and the
occasional stray un-Exalted Dynast — enjoy sizeable Crime on the Isle
salaries and wear full uniforms. Their sashes have a
brass buckle inlaid with a silver pentagram. Petty thievery, such as pickpocketing and mugging, has
major outbreaks when excessive taxation brutalizes
While Guardians have wide power over peasants, only the populace, but is otherwise uncommon outside of
officers may issue punishments to patricians or mortal organized criminal activity, which includes street
Dynasts. For crimes beyond the Guardians’ authority or gangs, pickpocket rings, trained beggars, drug cartels,
desire to punish, they may bring offenders before the and the like. Despite the popularity of tales in which
Imperial courts (p. XX). Guardians are required to obey heroic magistrates uncover Realm-spanning criminal
a magistrate’s orders, and often provide muscle or local syndicates, most are small, local organizations operat-
expertise to assist their investigations. ing within a single city or town.
The Imperial Force wears polished silver buckles inlaid Smuggling is frequent, whether by conventional merchants
with a red jade pentagram. Only they have authority sneaking contraband past customs inspectors in hidden
to arrest Exalted and bring them before the Imperial compartments, or small vessels slipping into hidden coves
courts, for which they’re furtively dubbed “Dragon- by night, though the Earth Fleet usually halts such efforts.
Handlers.” Each member of this elite force — which Earth Fleet captains are much more amenable to bribery
maintains detachments in major cities across the Blessed than heretofore, due to the increased expenses suffered by
Isle — is chosen by the Deliberative’s Greater Chamber; the navy since losing the Merchant Fleet.
candidates are almost invariably skillful, honorable, and
devoted to the Dynasty. Imperial Force membership is Scavenging relics of the Realm Before is a profitable
possibly the highest honor the Realm can bestow upon a venture, but often one of dubious legality. Unlike
mortal — though some are Dragon-Blooded, as mortals Dynasts, who may freely excavate and traffic in artifacts
alone have little chance to detain an unwilling Prince and First Age antiquities, patricians must apply to the
of the Earth. The Imperial Force doesn’t answer to the Thousand Scales for a license to do so, and are subject
Honorable and Humble Caretakers of the Common to strict regulations and taxes. Peasants may not even
Folk, but to the Deliberative directly. own such relics. Scavengers who circumvent these laws
can reap vast profits, but risk commensurate punish-
While the Dragon-Blooded aren’t above the law — the ments — patricians face imprisonment, staggering fees,
Empress saw to that — it only touches them lightly. and revocation of scavenging licenses, while peasants
Ordinary Guardians don’t intervene in most crimes face execution.

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Crime has become more common since the Empress’ include wrestling, boxing, quoits, tuho, kite fighting,
disappearance, and is punished less frequently. With footraces, and boat races. Archery, fencing, and chariot
the Imperial legions withdrawn from many former racing are popular among patricians and Dynasts. A
postings and the Great Houses raising taxes to fill their number of ball games have fallen in and out of vogue
coffers, peasants find banditry a profitable recourse, over the centuries, using either fist- or head-sized balls;
preying on traveling merchants or nearby villages. these may be thrown, kicked, or knocked with sticks,
Crime syndicates within the Blessed Isle’s cities face depending on the game. Cuju is particularly popular in
less scrutiny from the magistracy, and officials grow the legions, while harpastum is common in major cities
easier to bribe by the day. Within the Scarlet Dynasty, among peasants and patricians alike.
conspiracy flourishes, and duels between hot-blooded
Dynasts erupt, heedless of the prohibition on dueling to Dice games such as cho-han, chingona, hazard, and
the death. throwing-heaven-and-nine are popular among urban
peasants and in the Imperial Navy. Dominoes, once in
Criminal Organizations of Note vogue, retain a passionate following in Arjuf Dominion
The Jade Hand is Scarlet Prefecture’s most notorious and along the Jade Coast. Legionnaires have a fondness
gang of thieves, cat burglars, and second-story women. for card games, which have recently become fashionable
When a patrician household is emptied of valuables among the Dynasty and patricians. Most citizens use
while its members are away at a Dynastic gala or a cards that display only numbers and abstract symbols,
satrapial noble is pickpocketed en route to petition the but elaborately painted cards with iconic imagery are
Deliberative, locals attribute it to the Jade Hand, who popular at Dragon-Blooded parties, with those commis-
seem suspiciously well informed. Much of the time, sioned by Cynis hosts often being especially lascivious.
their intelligence comes from Houses Cynis and Sesus,
but most Great Houses occasionally have use for their Board games are popular among the aristocracy — the
services. Dynasty loves Gateway and its variants, while games
like chaturanga and nardshir come into and out of
Originally based on the island of Shansin west of fashion — but their appeal has filtered down to the
Radimel’s Seat, the Shansin Six run an opium-smug- peasantry. Games such as dama, hunt-the-Anathema,
gling operation. Small, fast ships carry raw opium across go, and pachisi are as accessible to farmers and appren-
the Inland Sea to Arjuf’s Old Dock district, where it’s tices as to patricians and Dynasts. Students at the House
made into heroin. The Six are in House Sesus’ pocket; of Bells practice a range of complex war games, which
in exchange for a cut, Sesus agents interfere with Earth many play throughout adulthood for entertainment and
Fleet, Ledaal, and All-Seeing Eye anti-smuggling efforts, intellectual stimulation.
as well as Cynis’ attempts at maintaining their monopo-
ly on the illegal drug trade. The Six aren’t averse to side Cockfights are a peasant tradition, while beetles and
deals, and may sneak clandestine travelers onto or away other insects are pitted against each other by folk of ev-
from the Blessed Isle for the right price. ery class. For human bloodsport, dueling is a longstand-
ing tradition among Dynasts and patricians, though not
The Gallows Dogs are a rare society of professional kill- to the death. A few major cities, most notably Myion,
ers. They operate in secrecy — no Gallows Dog knows Pangu, and the Imperial City, maintain gladiatorial are-
her superior’s true identity, and hiring them requires nas, though these are licensed and subject to stringent
leaving an elaborately coded letter in a designated dead oversight.
drop, along with their fee. Prices vary with the victim’s
social class; the rate for murdering a Dynast is so high Gambling inevitably accompanies games and sporting
that only another Dynast could typically afford it. That events, whether to liven up interminable military post-
cost is tenfold for hits placed on Dragon-Blooded, ings or assuage upper-class ennui. High-stakes betting
which are carried out by the syndicate’s elite members: and professional gambling are both frowned upon by
Gnarled Oak, a renegade Immaculate; Three Dagger the Immaculate Order, as they indicate a desire to live
Prince, an Iselsi scion masquerading as outcaste; Akaya beyond one’s station, but gambling within one’s means
Moda, Exigent of a hot-springs god; and similarly puis- for entertainment is acceptable.
sant killers.
Woodblock printing has led to a flowering of reading
for pleasure. In major cities, one can purchase a tawdry
Entertainment novel, travel guide, art book, or Immaculate text for the
price of a good meal. Many in the upper classes prefer
Every social class on the Blessed Isle engages in — or handwritten works, seeing fine calligraphy as an art in
watches others engage in — sports and games. These itself.

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they used to — but distances are so great that it’s difficult

PLAYING CARDS to do more than dissuade bandits from staying in one
location. Without protection, poorer travelers travel in
Modern decks of cards have five suits: Banners, groups, while wealthier travelers hire armed guards to
Jewels, Lamps, Ewers, and Flowers. Each suit has protect caravans and other valuable cargo.
10 ordinal cards, with six through 10 being face
cards depicting a Minister, Magistrate, General, Roads leading between important locations, such as
Matriarch, and Dragon. Certain elaborate Dynastic from the Great Coast Road to Lord’s Crossing or Juche,
games and divinatory methods incorporate a sixth are finely laid with stone blocks, which ensure the foot-
suit, the Mysteries, whose 25 cards include such ing is smooth and even. Lesser roads, branching off into
subjects as the Monk, the Sea Captain, the Pris- dirt paths and perilous mountain trails, see few to no
oner, the Anathema, the Imperial Mountain, the patrols unless locals handle the job themselves. When
Wheel of Reincarnation, Exaltation, and Creation. riders or runners on the Empress’s business pass, other
travelers yield. Peasants and patricians likewise clear
the road so Dynasts may pass.
Almost every village has its storyteller, while traveling Poor travelers walk or ride wagons pulled by oxen or
players perform bawdy tales and morality plays at inns other beasts of burden. Patricians prefer sedan chairs,
and teahouses for food, lodging, and a smattering of yen. horse-drawn wagons, and chariots for personal use, and
At the other end of the scale, classically trained actors yeddim-mounted howdahs when traveling with family.
perform a variety of traditional dramatic forms — from A Dynast may travel however and wherever she sees fit,
mannered tragedies to uproarious farce — at urban the- often on horseback, in a palanquin, or in a small, lac-
aters and aristocratic galas. quered carriage. The legions march and Immaculates
walk.
Music in the Realm ranges from bawdy songs sung in
peasant taverns to lengthy compositions performed at The Great Coast Road
Dynastic galas. Common instruments include the sanx-
The Great Coast Road runs along the Blessed Isle’s
ian, erhu, guzheng, dizi, guban, and zhu; instrumental
entire coastline, turning inland only along parts of the
music is often accompanied by singing. Most pieces are
Caracal and Imperial Rivers. A First Age wonder, its
composed in pentatonic scales. Current popular styles
featureless black surface provides excellent traction.
of music include the Elegant River genre, with its slow,
Supernaturally tough, it slowly heals itself — though
soothing tempos; the operatic Jade Cockerel genre,
records from the Realm’s founding indicate repairs
known for high-pitched vocals; and the improvisational
were once far swifter than now. Most importantly, en-
Eight Winds genre.
chantments on the road contract the distance it covers,
hastening travel by as much as a fifth.
Dynasts and wealthy patricians who’ve amassed art col-
lections often display them in galleries. Similarly, some
The road runs past cities, towns, and villages, tra-
open museums to house historical relics, preserved
versing marshes as a causeway and crossing rivers on
animal specimens, and exotic mementos of the satra-
First Age suspension bridges. On rural stretches, inns
pies. Immaculate temples likewise assemble religious
and teahouses stand a day’s travel apart, with separate
artwork and relics for viewing by the devout. Galleries
lodgings for lower- and upper-class travelers. Many
and museums are typically private, although on certain
are centuries old; villages and towns have grown up
festivals their patrons may open them to the public.
around them. They often stand beside small fortalices
Others allow wealthy peasants and patricians admis-
whose watchtowers stand vigil against highwaymen,
sion for a fee. A centerpiece of many Dynastic salons is
and whose heliographs pass warnings to the legions and
the cabinet of curiosities, a room filled with collected
the throne. Some fortalices — particularly those used as
esoterica — mounted heads of exotic animals and Wyld
waypoints by the Imperial Post — remain garrisoned by
beasts, shrines and holy icons looted from satrapies,
prefectural or gubernatorial troops. Others are in the
Shogunate-era antiquities, recreational artifacts, and
hands of house garrisons, local militia, or even bandits.
the like.
Amid today’s unrest, new checkpoints appear along the
Travel Great Coast Road, while inns of formerly sterling repu-
tation have been seized by highwaymen who feign hos-
The Blessed Isle is vast, and even in the best of times, pitality, then rob guests blind by night. “Bandits” clad
remote stretches of road saw banditry. Legions, garri- as ragtag raiders, but fighting with legionary discipline,
sons, and militia patrol the roads — though less than use the road to execute lightning raids, then vanish into

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neighboring prefectures. House strategists lay plans to sizable bribe. Permits indicate issuance date, duration,
seize or blockade sections of the road, to protect vital origin and destination prefectures, and whether it’s a
holdings or redeploy house assets once the Isle breaks one-way or two-way trip. They grant the holder per-
into open war. mission to leave her prefecture (and any prefectures en
route), and carry a red ink stamp to prove authenticity.
Waterways These stamps rotate on a regular basis to impede forg-
The Blessed Isle is replete with rivers, canals, and lakes. ery; there’s a thriving black market in copied or stolen
Small boats make their way up and down, while sleek stamps.
galleys patrol major waterways. Dhows and junks carry
goods; fishing rafts bob in the current. Pleasure yachts For the common woman, such travel is rare — the fee
stand out on the rivers, especially brilliantly decorated is steep, and most peasants can expect to be permitted
and colored Dynastic craft. a single pilgrimage in their lives, unless exceptionally
devout and recommended by local monks. Wealthy
Coastal traffic is similar, though triremes of the Imperial peasants can afford occasional business or personal
Navy and Merchant Fleet occasionally move past at travel. Caravan guards and laborers pay significantly
speeds few other vessels can achieve, and rafts and discounted fees — customarily absorbed by the hiring
riverboats give way to large fishing rowboats and light merchant, who usually relies on a Dragon-Blooded pa-
coastal cogs and caravels. Other bluewater craft stay tron to keep costs down.
farther from the coast, avoiding treacherous shallows.
Black-Helms, archons, and magistrates’ servants
Travel Permits receive long-term travel papers covering the entire
To cross prefectural borders, peasants and foreigners Blessed Isle. The Dragon-Blooded can easily acquire
require travel permits issued by the Fastidious Keepers such papers for favored errand runners as well. Legion
of the Imperial Peace (p. XX). Obtaining a permit re- officers of scalelord rank and higher have ongoing travel
quires a fee and a valid cause — usually taking the form papers for themselves and their soldiers while on duty,
of a letter of endorsement from a high authority — or a and a soldier bearing a letter of endorsement from an
officer need pay no fee to receive travel papers to go on

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relay points, they brave road hazards and difficult terrain

SCHOLARSHIP IN THE REALM to bring parcels of letters from city to city. Some employ
stealth or disguise when traversing bandit territory, hop-
While the rural peasantry is expected to adhere ing to avoid notice. Even apprentice couriers are trained in
to traditional ways, the Dynasty understands the self-defense, and stories depict seasoned couriers holding
value of erudition and artisanship. Every manner off entire bandit parties to deliver a package safely.
of savant is prized. Architects, chirurgeons, sur-
veyors, metallurgists, engineers, and sorcerers In the Blessed Isle’s cities, the Imperial Post employs
all have cause to study the works of the past, from message runners to deliver important letters and parcels.
a smattering of surviving First Age texts to sev- Its postal fleet of catamarans plies the Realm’s waterways
en centuries of Imperial and foreign scholarship. carrying messages and cargo, and traverses the Inland
Then they scribe and share new treatises for their Sea to bring the post to and from Threshold satrapies.
peers’ edification.
The Imperial Post’s most sophisticated responsibilities
Cultivation and exploitation of scholarship and in- are the heliograph towers, technological marvels that
vention has placed the Realm near the forefront of transmit messages by reflecting sunlight off mirrors.
technical advancement and understanding. Cop- Heliograph stations rise from garrison posts and fortal-
ies of cheap novels and the Immaculate Texts are ices along the Great Coast Road and a handful of major
churned out via woodblock printing; glasswork inland travel routes. Only the most urgent messages
allows for spectacles, telescopes, and theodolites; merit a heliograph’s precious time, so military and major
windmills and watermills pump water and grind law enforcement concerns take precedence, with Great
grain; cities enjoy aqueducts, fountains, and run- House, ministerial, and Deliberative matters coming af-
ning water; Varangian clockworks are replicated in
ter them, and Dynasts’ personal messages a distant third.
the workshops of Juche and the Imperial City.
Unlike the easily intercepted heliographs, sorcerers are
able to send messages by spell with the utmost secrecy,
leave. Anyone traveling with a Prince of the Earth needs and charge steep prices for this service when Dynasts
no papers. Because of the vagaries of wind and current, need to relay sensitive information. The Imperial Post
coastal traffic — unlike land and brownwater travel — employs sorcerers for emergency communications.
requires no permits, a perquisite peasants in oceanside
regions enjoy over their landlocked peers. Quality of Life & Health Care
Communication The Blessed Isle’s peasants are blessed with relatively
clean, healthy lives. Urban areas maintain sewers; apart-
The Realm boasts the largest, fastest, most effective com- ment buildings contain lavatories. Public baths of vari-
munication system in Creation, overseen by the Imperial ous standards cleanse slaves and patricians alike. The
Post (p. XX). Whether a personal letter from an Imperial neighborhood midwife offers medical care regarding
City clerk to her parents in Juche or a coded plea for childbirth and various ailments for a reasonable price;
help smuggled out of Calin at great personal risk, the while her knowledge of medicine may be limited, her
Conveyors transport the post quickly and reliably. obstetric skill minimizes death in childbirth. Herbalists
offer remedies for everyday troubles, including men-
The Imperial Post delivers priority messages for who- strual problems, while dentists clean teeth, fill cavities,
ever can afford it. This generally means Dynasts, patri- and insert bridges.
cians, and wealthy peasants and foreigners, though in
practice, many couriers are perfectly willing to take on Most villages have a bathhouse. This may be small and
post for the peasantry for a few yen if the parcel is light simple, but provides the same standard of cleanliness
and the destination is on the way. While correspondents’ as their urban peers. In remote regions without lake
identities are easy to discover, few couriers peruse — or or stream access, peasants bathe in tubs filled from
worse, tamper with — the messages they carry; such wells or cisterns. Villages typically lack herbalists and
acts carry severe penalties. Nonetheless, corrupt cou- dentists, relying on the local midwife to pull teeth and
riers often do brisk business, and can become wealthy suggest herbal remedies.
with some luck. The Great Houses employ their own
couriers when confidentiality is paramount. Trained physicians treat patricians and wealthy peas-
ants personally or direct them to specialist treatment,
The Imperial Post’s most common and recognizable mes- including dream analysts, dietitians, masseurs, acu-
sengers are mounted couriers. Traversing a network of puncturists, chiropractors, fire cuppers, bonesetters,

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even for the lowliest mortal Dynast, as poor health is

DISCRIMINATION IN THE REALM thought to lower descendants’ chances of Exaltation.
While most Exalted die in battle or misadventure,
The Realm’s culture perpetuates prejudices and Dragon-Blooded in their final years suffer health
long-held stereotypes, like sexism, institutional- problems like everyone else, such as aching joints, mi-
ized slavery, and discrimination against “barbar- graines, and back pains. Almost every Dynast has ac-
ian” cultures — that is, any culture not rooted in cess to a slave-physician who advises how to alleviate
Realm traditions — and beastfolk. These issues and reverse pains, aches, and persistent annoyances.
exist in Creation to starkly and vividly illustrate life While mortals often share physicians, most Dragon-
in the Realm, and to give players injustices to fight Blooded maintain personal doctors, especially as they
against. age. Some Dragon-Blooded quietly employ gods of
medicine and healing, or pay sorcerers to summon
However, as Storyteller, be mindful that these are demon chirurgeons.
injustices, ones your players may deal with daily.
Talk to your group. Make sure everyone’s com- Barring misadventure, rural peasants can expect to
fortable with the idea that, for instance, people of live to 65 or 70, and patricians often reach 80. Mortal
every gender in the Realm face discrimination of Dynasts typically live for a century, or even longer with
one kind or another. Men are stereotyped as reck- anagathic medicines.
less and impulsive, subtly diverted from positions
of real power. In group conversations they may
find themselves interrupted or ignored more than Dominions and Prefectures
women, who’ve internalized the assumption that a
man’s ideas are colored by his hotheaded nature. The Realm is composed of hundreds of prefectures
Meanwhile, women are stereotyped as wise and that pay tribute and taxes. Prefectures range from tiny
even-keeled, imposing unreasonable behavioral backwaters to bustling centers of wealth and education
expectations that often set them up for failure; a dominated by the Great Houses. Most prefectures en-
parent punishes a daughter more severely for in- compass one or two cities, up to a dozen towns, and any
stigating fights than a son, and blames her regard- number of villages, grouped together by proximity or
less of circumstances. Showing anger publicly is geographical region.
considered uncouth for a woman, while for a man
it’s considered normal. Three especially large prefectures — Arjuf, Lord’s
Crossing, and Numinous Rolling Wave — were carved
These are just a few examples — and they’re in-
from the Shogun’s personal lands in the post-Contagion
spired by reality, which means there’s every possi-
era; they’re called dominions. They stand today as cen-
bility some or all of your players have encountered
such unfair treatment in their lives. Don’t use these ters of commerce and bureaucracy.
setting elements if players don’t want to encoun-
ter them in a game they play for fun. If you do use Prefects
them, do so respectfully; let players engage with
them as much or as little as they like. A player may Each prefecture is overseen by a prefect, an Imperial
not mind the issues’ presence, but won’t want to bureaucrat answering to the Honorable and Humble
make them a central conflict for their character — Caretakers of the Common Folk. Prefects are typically
that’s fine, you can portray them on the periphery un-Exalted Dynasts; less significant prefectures fall
for that person. And if a player does want to use to patricians and outcastes, while Dragon-Blooded
her character’s Exalted might to fight against the Dynasts hold plum postings. Prefectures’ income
system for herself or others, make an epic tale out supports the Realm; their crops feed the populace,
of it instead of saying no. metals from their mines become arms and armor for
the legions, their timber builds Imperial Navy vessels,
and much coin that enters a region goes right back into
ophthalmologists, and chirurgeons. Spas and resorts the Imperial coffers — though today, a sizable share is
offer rest cures. Access to elite midwives makes death appropriated by a Dynastic prefect’s Great House.
in childbirth very rare. For a peasant, becoming a phy-
sician is among the best ways to gain access to wealth The Deliberative appoints prefects, a duty its members
and high society. still consider a key prerogative. Now that there’s no
Empress to veto such appointments, the Deliberative’s
Health care in the Dynasty relies on the Dragon- power has increased considerably.
Blooded. Exalted physicians handle most ailments

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Governors Collecting too much tax, even if honestly calculated, can

thrust a prefecture into famine or lead to villages being
Each city and town has a governor who reports to the dispossessed. Tax collectors typically assume that some
prefect. Most governors are patricians, though some are property is being hidden, and write off the loss rather
outcastes or un-Exalted Dynasts. Prefects select gover- than face the economic consequences of collecting the
nors for open seats in their prefecture, for a term lasting full tax.
until the governor chooses to retire. These lifetime ap-
pointments mean an incoming prefect may preside over With the Empress gone, all involved parties seek to
a body of governors from houses previously in power. profit. Citizens of every class grow bolder in concealing
assets. Prefects raise taxes and cut the Home Office out
Governors enjoy limited authority to direct local entirely. The Honest and Humble Assessors give less
Guardians of the Realm, and can petition ministries on a and less to the Imperial Treasury, blaming dishonest
town’s behalf. They also collect taxes from their towns prefects for overtaxing villages.
and villages, which the prefect in turn collects from the
governors. Where villages and farms are too scattered Prefects and Politics
to feasibly appoint a governor, rural tax collectors in
the prefect’s service roam the land exacting payment A prefect’s performance is evaluated every seven
and tribute. Once, these roving tax collectors were, if years. If the prefecture doesn’t yield sufficient profit,
not respected by the townsfolk and farmers, at least or peasant revolts affect tax revenues, she may lose
obeyed; since the Empress’ disappearance many have her contract. This evaluation isn’t only based on the
gone missing entirely. prefecture’s growth or decline: A prefect whose house
had fallen from the Empress’ favor often found herself
The Honorable and Humble Caretakers are tasked with paying for a distant relative’s sins with her position. If a
official determination of when a village grows large prefect’s evaluated before her seven years are up, she’s
enough to become a town. Once this decision is made, either greatly exceeded expectations or performed
the local prefect is notified so she can appoint a gover- disastrously.
nor. A house seeking more direct control over the rural
populace might undertake efforts to encourage growth The Empress approved the Deliberative’s appointments
of villages within its prefectures with economic incen- for prefects tactically, preferring prefects from outside
tives such as farming subsidies, and once those villages whichever Great Houses held significant influence in
have grown into towns, arrange the appointment of gov- that prefecture. Ideally, a prefect’s loyalties lay with the
ernors indebted to the house. In the Empress’ absence, Empress, unswayed by house ambitions — whether de-
less savory methods have emerged — forcibly relocating signs on the territory or opportunities to interfere with
peasants to new villages, or influencing the appropriate rivals. However, the Empress unhesitatingly arranged
minister to register villages as towns on paper. appointments to reward or punish houses, or to affect a
prefecture’s political dynamics. The Empress employed
Taxes outcaste or patrician prefects to maintain the balance of
power between houses in a region.
The Realm employs a twofold taxation system, col-
lecting both prefectural and Imperial taxes. Governors Since the Empress’ disappearance, many prefects’
collect prefectural taxes from cities and towns to send contracts have turned over. The rest are up for review
to the prefect. The prefect uses the proceeds to pay for within the next two years. If a Great House controls a
infrastructure, administrative costs, militia, and other significant portion of a prefecture, chances are that its
expenses; she gives most of the remainder to her house, senators in the Deliberative have struck deals to appoint
and the rest to the Home Office (p. XX) to remit to the the next prefect from its ranks, consolidating its power.
Imperial Treasury. Imperial taxes are collected direct-
Few prefectures are dominated by a single house. The
ly from villages, towns, cities, and businesses by the
Empress looked suspiciously upon a house amassing too
Humble and Honest Assessors of the Imperial Tax (p.
much local authority, and actively moved to thwart such
XX) and deposited into the Imperial Treasury. Every
ventures. If other houses didn’t independently discover
official at every step of this process pockets as much tax
new political or commercial interests in the offending
as she dares skim.
house’s area, she’d point out opportunities through ad-
It’s vital that each tax assessor understand her jurisdic- visors, or breed competition by awarding another house
tion’s economy and populace, lest dishonest inhabitants a commercial enterprise requiring resources from that
deceive her. At the same time, discretion is required. prefecture. Typically, however, prefectures and domin-
ions are large enough that several Dynastic households

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could have stakes in them without the Empress needing stirring among the peasantry well before the prefect
to step in. does. They also bear the brunt of peasant resentment.
Depending on how the prefect has attended to the
Most of the Great Houses’ home prefectures — their patrician’s concerns — has the prefect put coin in the
ancestral seats of power, where their interests are patrician’s coffers? Did the prefect leave it to the patri-
strongest — are currently overseen by prefects from cian to clean up a wandering Hearth’s mess? — she may
those houses. Dejis Prefecture boasts a Mnemon pre- help quell potential uprisings, or scapegoat the prefect
fect; Tepet, though weakened by recent reverses, still to the peasantry.
rules Lord’s Crossing; Arjuf is dominated by Ledaal.
The Empress generously permitted such dominance, The Immaculate Order plays a large part in a prefec-
only occasionally “suggesting” a prefect from a rival ture’s day-to-day affairs. Peasants trust local monks’
house every few decades. Currently, only Cynis and guidance and wisdom. Like patricians, Immaculate
Sesus have prefects from other houses in their home monks may help to start or quash a rebellion, based
prefectures, though that’s likely to be remedied within on the prefect’s performance and what’s best for the
the next two years. people. When social unrest stirs, an Immaculate abbot
carefully observes whether the prefect is handling
Some prefectures have no strong Dynastic presence things effectively or making things worse.
whatsoever. The Realm considers them backwa-
ters. They’re usually poorer culturally, socially, and Each prefecture provides different benefits to the
economically. Realm, from agricultural to bureaucratic, commercial
to spiritual. Their geographical locations and access
The Great Houses aren’t a prefecture’s only notable po- to Imperial roads and waterways — or lack thereof —
litical powers. Patricians whose families have lived in a makes them economically and culturally diverse. Even
particular area for centuries also hold significant clout, within a region, prefectures’ characters vary widely.
serving as governors or staffing the offices of prefects,
governors, and local ministries. They have the pulse Many prefectures also provide opportunities for
of townspeople and farmers, and may see discontent wealthy Dynasts to relax and indulge in local delicacies

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a thriving economy: Not only do temples receive dona-

MONEY CRISES tions from the faithful, but teahouses open nearby to
house and feed travelers. Guides offer their services for
In this time of tumult, the Great Houses can’t have adventurers and tourists, and stables turn a tidy profit
enough money. Soldiers must be recruited, trained, caring for mounts and pack animals.
paid, equipped, housed, and fed. Raising peasant
levies strips farmers from the countryside and For more information, see Chapter Five (pp. XX-XX).
journeymen from cities. Laborers must be paid to
manufacture weapons, ships, and fortifications.
Potential allies are wooed with lavish gifts, and
The Great Houses
rivals bribed. Mercenaries demand payment; ene- The Great Houses of the Scarlet Dynasty comprise ten
mies hold officers captive for ransom. The houses thousand Dragon-Blooded champions and thousands
overreach in every respect, spending beyond their of mortal kin. The Empress inaugurated the first Great
means in preparation for civil war. Houses in RY 103, establishing a handful of her children
Few houses can operate on a war footing for long. — some biological, others adopted — as matriarchs of
Raising taxes can only extract so much before sprawling Dragon-Blooded clans drawn from outcastes
peasants revolt. This is exacerbated by price in- and Shogunate gentes. She toppled old houses when it
creases as armies soak up supplies. Worse, war suited her and elevated new ones in their place. After
on the Blessed Isle will burn fields and cities, re- centuries of intermarriage, virtually all Dynasts trace
sulting in famine. House leaders may turn their their lineage back to the Empress.
heads from the human cost, but not the economic
cost as production dwindles. They’ll have no choice Each of today’s ten Great Houses commands enormous
but to go deeper into debt to fund war efforts — wealth and power. Prefects and satraps funnel tax
and any strong-seeming house will always find revenues into their houses’ coffers. Satrapial garrisons
creditors willing to extend one more loan. are drawn from house paramilitaries, and even in the
Empress’ time, some houses were permitted to raise
Apart from Houses Ragara, Nellens, and Sesus, their own legions. Dynastic households lease vast es-
each house is over its head in debt to merchants, tates from the throne, administered by loyal patrician
bankers, House Ragara, and the throne. With cred- families. In their home prefectures, the houses have
itors breathing down their necks, and needing liq- clustered their estates, imposed their mores, and influ-
uid assets to fund war preparations, they scramble
enced culture through policy and behavior.
to squeeze as much as possible from every source.
Taxes and tariffs are raised, new ones imposed, Since the Empress’ disappearance, the Realm’s fate has
and the throne’s share shortchanged. Mercantile
fallen to the Great Houses. Once carefully manipulated
interests grow predatory, sacrificing longstand-
and counterpoised by the Empress, now they struggle
ing business relationships for short-term gain.
to balance forging useful alliances against undercutting
Legions and fleets loot foreign cities and seize
merchant vessels. New loans are taken out, com- rivals for the throne.
pounding interest owed beyond any reasonable
The Great Houses consolidate political power: raising
ability to repay. Yet the rewards trickle through
the houses’ fingers as their plunder cascades into taxes, dominating once-neutral prefectures, subverting
their creditors’ coffers. ministries. The legions that once served the Empress
have been divided among the houses, their officer corps
replaced by partisans who place house interests above
other concerns. Every day, the prospect of civil war
and delights. In the northwest, pleasure barges sail looms nearer; if it comes to pass, the Realm’s common
the waters around the Sideshores. Those who wish to people will suffer as the houses clash.
retire, or to get away from the demands of life in the
Imperial City, might travel to the Wandering River’s House Cathak
shores in southern Paeon Prefecture, or visit Halcyon
Prefecture’s seaside resort towns and baths. House Cathak approaches every situation from a strat-
egist’s perspective, whether importing food into fam-
In many prefectures, holy sites, First Age wonders, and
ine-stricken prefectures, undermining business rivals,
Immaculate temples bring in a significant portion of
or suppressing satrapial unrest. It can be subtle when
the region’s revenue. Pilgrims flock to a city to behold
necessary, but prefers the direct, aggressive approach.
religious relics or visit a house founder’s grave; savants
Shipments of grain are delivered by legion detachments,
come to study ruins of the Realm Before. This creates

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inspiring gratitude to House Cathak and awe for its le- irresistible allure almost overshadows its scandal —
gions. Mercantile rivals meet with threats and buyouts who could resist an invitation to one of their infamous
orchestrated with tactical precision. Satrapial rebels are debauches, or the tantalizing possibility of a tryst with
crucified en masse to teach their countrymen the folly of a Cynis paramour?
defiance. It tightly secures its most profitable satrapies’
loyalties and resources, while withdrawing forces from The Blessed Isle’s lower classes and the Threshold’s
less important satrapies lest it spread them too thin. populace know House Cynis as the hand that cracks the
overseer’s whip as slave work crews maintain roads,
House Cathak’s foremost strategic goal is maintaining gather crops, and raise public works. When Dragon-
the income that supports its legions. Unpaid salaries Blooded indulge themselves on sumptuous feasts
result in poor morale, desertion, and mutiny. This in and exotic narcotics at Cynis galas, the house’s slaves
turn means that prefectures and satrapies under Cathak cater to their every need. When taking their leisure in
control have historically borne some of the highest tax- Pangu’s magnificent bathhouses, slaves massage them
es within the Realm. Peasants view the house more fa- and anoint them with oils and perfumes.
vorably than might be expected from its taxation, as it’s
done much to equate its military might with the Realm’s Cynis scions crave art, leisure, and beauty, and shape
safety. It’s also gained popularity from strengthening their holdings to satisfy these desires. Breathtaking
ties with the Immaculate Order, as its leader, Cathak frescoes grace the walls of Cynis households and sa-
Cainan, grows more pious with age. It enjoys no such trapial palaces; galleries depict deeds of the house’s
admiration from satrapial subjects, but so long as they famous scions; colorful mosaics and flower gardens
obey, House Cathak doesn’t demand their love. elevate villages and public squares to aesthetic perfec-
tion. Religious dissidence and heresy take root in Cynis
The house’s passion for physical and mental challenges holdings more easily than other houses’; while House
is emulated by patricians and brought home to peasant Cynis isn’t atheistic, it offers the Order little assistance
villages by retirees from the house legions. Athletic con- in curtailing such behaviors among the peasantry.
tests, sports, and games of all sorts enjoy prominence in
its holdings. In addition to its Imperial monopoly on the slave trade
and its grain exports from fertile Pangu Prefecture,
The house legions form the predominant economic and House Cynis has a major presence in the Realm’s crim-
cultural influence on Cathak holdings. While the poor- inal underworld. This provides additional markets for
est bear the brunt of steep taxation and food shortages, the house’s drugs and poisons, and a deniable vector for
merchants and patricians negotiate lucrative contracts disseminating information harmful to the house’s rivals.
for supplies with legion provisioners, or lure soldiers The Empress turned a blind eye while such activities
into teahouses, markets, and brothels. House Cathak’s remained modest; Sesus is perhaps the second-largest
move toward Immaculate piety has spread through player in the Realm’s criminal underworld, and Cynis’
its legions as well. They lend manpower and supplies activities drove a wedge between the two houses.
to the Order, and crack down on peasant heresies in
Cathak prefectures. With tribute drying up and piracy cutting into trade,
Cynis’ ability to host its astoundingly lavish galas di-
House Cathak has always relied on Ragara loans for its minishes, as does its supply of exotic slaves and rare
legions’ upkeep, and its debts are considerable. Despite drugs. This shakes its hold on the Dynasty’s appetite for
this, its financial stability now surpasses that of many extravagance. The house raises prices on luxury goods
houses. Since Cainan offered to back a viable contender to compensate, and focuses on maintaining key drug-
for the throne, House Cathak has been showered with rich Eastern satrapies. More quietly, it offers the Guild
bribes and gifts from other houses seeking to curry greater inroads into trade with the Blessed Isle in ex-
favor. Combined with strategic retention of lucrative change for steeply discounted contracts on Threshold
satrapies and mercenary deployment of legions, this mercenaries.
covers interest payments on the house’s loans.
House Ledaal
House Cynis
House Ledaal’s Shadow Crusade against Anathema and
Dynasts know House Cynis as hedonists and sinners monsters that threaten the Realm is a two-edged sword
whose decadent salons and indulgent parties are the when it comes to its reputation with the patriciate, the
finest entertainment the Realm has to offer, and as peasantry, and its satrapial subjects. Ledaal scions are
masterful physicians capable of soothing the most respected for zealous commitment to slaying demons
dreadful hurts and ailments. To patricians, the house’s and rooting out witchcraft; romanticized retellings of

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their deeds are spread throughout the Realm by story- Philosophy leads to brutally efficient suppression of
tellers, minstrels, and playwrights. Residents of Ledaal’s local religious faiths, but House Mnemon devotes more
prefectures and satrapies enjoy unparalleled safety resources than any other house to improving its satrapi-
from infernalist cults and wicked cabals, the Fair Folk al holdings with public works. This garners local favor,
and the hungry dead, and Lunar and Solar Anathema. especially from those who profit off it, but most inhabi-
tants soon come to realize whose benefit the roads and
The price of this safety, however, is the ruthlessness walls are built for.
with which the house prosecutes the Shadow Crusade.
Even in the most gently administered Ledaal prefec- The Immaculate Order flourishes in Mnemon hold-
tures and satrapies, the first sign of devilry spurs an ings, whose populaces are thoroughly inculcated with
unrelenting search for its source. Ledaal scions will do Immaculate morality and doctrine. Peasant villages and
whatever’s necessary to protect the Realm, and if that patrician families emulate their Dynastic lords’ piety,
means torturing conspirators for information, burning shunning blasphemers. Meanwhile, the Order teaches
fields that shelter unhale spirits, or carrying out mass the common folk what’s owed by the ruler to the ruled,
executions to ensure the guilty are dealt with, they and prefects or governors who abuse their power don’t
judge it a necessary sacrifice. last long. Mnemon holdings also share the house’s
artistic predilections; aniconic artwork is prominently
While all Dynasts hold themselves above the common displayed in large cities in hopes of catching a Dynastic
folk, House Ledaal makes an especial point of it. Patricians patron’s eyes, while even the humblest peasant family’s
rarely receive invitations to Ledaal social occasions, and home holds an icon of the Dragons.
even then face constant reminders of their lesser station.
Acts of lèse-majesté are punished in strict adherence to With no Empress and a deadlocked Deliberative,
Imperial law where other houses might respond with House Mnemon has lost its primary revenue stream
mercy or nonchalance. When Ledaals do condescend to of construction projects for the Throne. Other houses
interact with social inferiors, it’s often in pursuit of knowl- have likewise cut back on construction to conserve
edge. Though they hold satrapial populaces in low regard, funds against future need, and find excuses to delay
they’re voracious students of their satrapies’ scholarship, payment. With most of the house’s military gathered in
culture, and craftsmanship. A Ledaal prefecture on the Dejis Prefecture and Jiara, it’s unable to protect other
Blessed Isle might be home to libraries of Rukasian philos- prosperous satrapies, losing which would financially
ophy, exotic musicians from far-off Breach, and mausole- cripple the house.
ums built after the Zephyrite style.
House Mnemon’s longstanding ties to the Immaculate
As House Ledaal consolidates power in this time of Order may be its salvation. While the Order won’t in-
uncertainty and looming civil war, many households tervene overtly, it commissions expensive new works
squeeze their holdings even more aggressively than from Mnemon — grand temples in Ajakai and the
the other Great Houses. Iselsi agents stir up rebellion Imperial City; monasteries at the Imperial Mountain’s
in Ledaal’s Incas holdings; incensed merchants avoid foot; hospices throughout the Isle — and pays up front,
Arjuf Dominion’s ports. Ledaal’s “Hellboar” legion effectively funding Mnemon through the crisis. In the
quashed the Tetagana uprising in northern Arjuf last meantime, the house focuses on finishing projects that
year; further revolts are expected. pay on completion, while postponing work on artifacts
and manses.
House Mnemon
House Nellens
House Mnemon enjoys a strong reputation across
the Blessed Isle, cultivated through close ties to the House Nellens may be the black sheep of the Scarlet
Immaculate Order and involvement in public works Dynasty, but its standing is much stronger among the
throughout the Realm. Patricians and Dynasts respect Realm’s lower classes than its better-pedigreed peers.
House Mnemon’s piety and rely on its architecture — It’s invested in a wide array of businesses owned by
roads, aqueducts, levees, wells — to do business. Though patricians and peasant merchants, and its prominent
Mnemon herself receives little love from the peasantry, position in the Thousand Scales affords scions opportu-
her house enjoys acclaim as architects that raise villages nities to trade political favors.
and towns out of squalor, renowned artists and poets,
and monks who teach children and subdue unruly gods. Nellens scions treat their patricians as closer to equals
than other Dynasts, allowing them social liberties un-
Among its satrapies, House Mnemon’s reputation is acceptable to other houses, who see such patricians
more complicated. Its espousal of the Immaculate as haughty and presumptuous. Peasants residing in

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Nellens holdings generally regard the house approv- patrician families’ meals, island priesthoods’ ritual
ingly, thanks to favorable tax policies and investment dances are performed for public entertainment, and
in businesses catering to wealthy peasants as well even peasants adorn themselves with colorful feathers
as patricians. Peasants in other houses’ holdings are from the Wavecrest Archipelago.
of two minds about House Nellens, welcoming their
willingness to deal with the common folk, but none- The house still reels from losing the Merchant Fleet
theless absorbing the other houses’ stigma against the to V’neef, forcing it to take out Ragara loans and issue
weak-blooded Nellens. Imperial Navy bonds to stay afloat. It’s cut back on
galas and tuition, delayed naval maintenance, scrapped
Nellens holds fewer satrapies than other houses, pre- decrepit vessels rather than investing in repairs, and
ferring to invest in businesses on the Blessed Isle and divested unprofitable assets. Captured pirate vessels
in the Threshold rather than satrapial leases and gar- are auctioned off while their contraband cargo is dis-
risons. And its overseas interests aren’t limited to its persed into black markets through covert dealings with
own satrapies. Nellens ministers in the Foreign Office Houses Cynis and Sesus.
monitor the tributes collected by other houses; when a
satrapy is asked to pay a debilitating sum, a charismatic House Peleps has begun collecting unsustainably massive
Nellens scion might appear offering financial assistance, tributes from many satrapies, stripping them bare in the
cultivating the house’s overseas influence. short term in anticipation of conquering new holdings
once civil war begins in earnest. Peleps is also blatantly
While House Nellens’ financial position is currently cheating the Imperial Treasury — a necessary move to
stable, should civil war wrack the Isle, its small busi- maintain and expand the fleet, but politically unsound.
nesses will suffer more than larger concerns. Other
houses assign sizable garrisons to individual high-profit House Ragara
operations. Nellens’ enterprises are too small and, oth-
er than in Juche, too thinly spread to guard them all. House Ragara’s moneylending ventures permeate every
However, the house’s close involvement with patrician level of the Realm. While its loans to Great Houses are
and peasant business partners means that an attack especially profitable, it also finances patrician house-
on its finances might turn the Blessed Isle’s populace holds, peasant merchants, outcastes, and foreign indus-
against the house responsible. tries. While its predatory lending practices have made
many enemies — albeit heavily indebted enemies — it
Nellens is cashing in favors for favorable loan terms maintains positive relationships with numerous peas-
from un-Exalted bankers and merchants, and divesting ant, patrician, and foreign business owners.
minor assets at a loss. These funds are reinvested in a few
profitable, better-defended ventures: garrisoned mines, Some in the Realm look down on the Ragaras as bankers
Guild caravans, independent maritime consortiums, rather than heroes. To others they’re champions, safe-
River Province enterprises. The house also contracts guarding prosperity and fending off the Guild’s nefari-
with House Mnemon to fortify its cities. But these overt ous influence. House Ragara oversees its holdings with
expenditures alert rivals to Nellens’ economic strength. a light hand — as long as taxes are paid and subjects are
loyal, it leaves well enough alone.
House Peleps
Ragara scions live lives of opulence bordering on dec-
Throughout the Realm, Peleps scions are respected adence. Chefs from far-off lands prepare 10-course
as paragons of Dynastic virtue, known for honorable meals whose cost exceeds a peasant household’s annual
dealings and romantic adventure. Patricians and peas- food budget. Musicians, hired to follow Dynasts in their
ants admire them, but also fear them, for their justice is leisure, provide constant instrumental accompaniment.
untempered by mercy. While their meritocratic gover- Gateway boards boast pieces of gold and platinum, inlaid
nance elevates them above the corruption many see as with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. Small
endemic to the Dynasty, their rejection of nepotism and armies of bodyguards march resplendent in matching
cronyism is an obstacle in the political arena. uniforms dyed in brilliant colors, their plumed helms
and bejeweled breastplates polished to a mirror sheen.
The Imperial Navy shapes the culture and economy
of House Peleps’ prefectural holdings. Many patrician Patricians and satrapial nobility in Ragara holdings
families purchase naval commissions in every genera- often emulate such lavish lifestyles, a feat most manage
tion, and coastal prefectures abound with Navy veter- by taking loans from Ragara nobles. Some peasants
ans. Ships bring back culture and commodities from emulate their masters with ostentatious affectations;
the satrapies — exotic Western spices season wealthy others embrace the virtues of austerity in protest. The

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Immaculate Order’s antagonistic relationship with are expert in finding and eliminating opposition; infil-
House Ragara gives it great prominence among Ragara trating insurrectionist movements, they quickly suborn,
prefectures’ peasantry; while the enlightened woman arrest, or assassinate rebel leaders. Sesus spies also have
pays her debts, predatory lending is an abuse of one’s their fingers in organized criminal groups. These are
place in the Perfected Hierarchy. The Order has histor- left alone — and, in some cases, protected from the All-
ically supported more peasant uprisings against Ragara Seeing Eye — so long as they don’t touch the house and
than any other house. its cronies, and assist the house upon request.

War is profitable for House Ragara. As other houses Only House Sesus’ powerful Threshold commercial in-
sell assets for emergency cash, Ragara buys them on terests sustain a military as large as House Cathak’s and
the cheap, even gaining de facto control of a few Tepet a spy network rivaling the Iselsis — and it’s expanding
satrapies in exchange for waiving debts. It also profits both as war looms. In the North, they’ve coopted satra-
from arms sales, and stockpiles foodstuffs and medi- pies formerly owned by House Tepet, claiming all but a
cines against wartime famine and pestilence. But while pittance of their tributes in payment for the protection
strife is profitable, the Ragaras wish to keep it short and they “generously” offer their fallen cousin.
at arm’s length. Businesses pay no dividends, nor debt-
ors interest, after their properties are razed and their Though Sesus-dominated businesses trade with the
people slaughtered. Guild, the house is also the Realm’s keenest weapon
against Guild expansion. It undercuts Guild activity in
The Ragaras’ greatest fear is a debt jubilee. If a new satrapies where it has a strong presence, incidentally
Empress cancels debts owed them, much of their allowing independent businesses to thrive to an extent
wealth vanishes. Anticipating this, many merchants, rare in the Threshold. But in this troubled time, Guild-
mercenaries, and senators in Ragara’s pay refuse credit, aligned businesses move aggressively against Sesus
accepting only coin or scrip. To compensate, the house mercantile interests. Aside from financially injuring
calls in its own debts in hard currency — or threatens the house and driving a wedge between it and Guild-
such as leverage for other demands. But the more the allied Cynis, a trade war will disrupt local economies
house exerts its power, the more it antagonizes the oth- throughout the Threshold.
er houses. After all, debts owed Ragara end if the house
is destroyed — and Corin Prefecture’s currency reserves House Tepet
are a juicy target.
The peasantry has long admired the Tepets’ military he-
House Sesus roics and romantic Shogunate traditions, though satrapial
subjects conquered by Tepet legions rarely share this
No Great House matches House Sesus’ reputation for admiration. While the house legions’ fall has devastated
blasphemy, cruelty, duplicity, and depravity. Yet few Tepet’s standing with the Dynasty, the patriciate and peas-
can afford to distance themselves from Sesus on princi- antry haven’t been so quick to turn on them. Evenhanded
ple, as it’s immensely wealthy, with significant military governance of Tepet holdings keeps discontent and civic
and political power, and one of the Dynasty’s strongest unrest to a minimum, though many Tepet prefects and
bloodlines. And those who benefit from association with satraps have begun implementing harsher policies and
a Sesus, or who only have social contact with charismat- steeper taxes to maintain the house’s solvency.
ic members of the family — whether as cronies, business
partners, or lovers — view the house more positively, House Tepet is unique among the surviving Great
often waving off its reputation as undeserved. Houses in its descent from a Shogunate-era gens, a dis-
tinction reflected in its holdings’ cultures. Antiquated
House Sesus invests in numerous profitable ventures customs, fashions, and philosophies remain in vogue in
in its own satrapies and those of other houses, provid- Tepet satrapies: Poets compose verses in the demanding
ing both substantial revenue and a staging ground to Autumn Willow form, patrician and Dynastic socialites
sabotage Dynastic rivals. Its scions are unethical and dress in many-layered junihitoe, and blacksmiths forge
ruthless in business and financial affairs, using spying, weapons in the Six Jewels style. House Tepet’s martial
extortion, and sabotage to gain advantage. Few dare culture also influences its holdings. Patricians, peas-
speak openly against such practices; even those who ants, and satrapial subjects alike emulate the house’s
don’t suffer similar fates may find themselves cut out of emphasis on honor, and heretical worship of Mela is far
dealings with Sesus’ extensive mercantile enterprises. more common in its holdings than any other house’s.

Sesus-dominated prefectures and satrapies offer their House Tepet’s economy fell to shambles with its le-
administrators little resistance. The house’s many spies gions’ downfall, leaving it unable to maintain even the

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semblance of Dynastic power and luxury. Remaining ships, but raises tension between V’neef and Peleps.
satrapies scarcely pay tribute, and interest payments on Wherever the Imperial Navy and the Merchant Fleet
Ragara loans bleed the Tepets white. collide, tempers run high. Expanding further west into
Peleps territory could trigger all-out war. And V’neef
They aim to rebuild by military means. Tepet forces, expansion vexes other houses, though a Peleps empire
though vastly diminished, could still plunder the opu- seems more threatening while that house commands
lent holdings of treacherous rivals. Wealthy patricians the Imperial Navy.
and merchants in Lord’s Crossing and former Tepet
territories provide “loans” that resemble gifts, prefer- V’neef’s subjects still remember what things were like
ring the risk that the house may never repay them to before the house’s advent. It’s cultivated a good repu-
their assets being seized by other houses. tation in its prefectures and satrapies, taking care not
to abuse the peasantry and patricians in its care. But
House V’neef now that House V’neef raises taxes everywhere to pre-
pare for incipient strife with rival houses, many recall
A fledgling by Dynastic standards, House V’neef was former governors and prefects from other houses with
elevated to Great House status only 14 years ago. V’neef fondness, making these provinces fertile ground for
herself, just over six decades old, has but a bare hand- demagogues, rebels, and subversives.
ful of blood descendants. The vast majority of V’neef
scions are outcaste and patrician adoptees, disdained House Iselsi
by bluebloods of the Dynasty’s ancient houses; many
are still adapting to their change in fortunes. Given the The common peasant knows little of House Iselsi.
house’s small size, it holds a disproportionate number Perhaps she’s met a monk who bears the antiquated
of prefectures and satrapies, though fewer than most name, or heard stories in her mother’s lap of the Great
other houses. House’s fall from glory. To maintain the charade that
they’ve been truly brought low, a few live openly as
As many V’neef Dragon-Blooded are outcastes, foreign patricians in the shadow of manses and estates that
to each other and to their matriarch, the house has little once were theirs, places now overseen by other houses.
cultural cohesion, except perhaps for mores inculcated Enough time has passed that inhabitants of formerly
by Pasiap’s Stair and the legions. V’neef herself tries to Iselsi-controlled prefectures and satrapies remember
remedy this by throwing endless galas and other social little of the house’s governance.
events to bring her adoptive brood together and instill
familial ties, but ultimately the house still lacks the Without holdings, House Iselsi is hard-pressed to
underlying cultural heritage found elsewhere in the maintain its spy network. Informants and other agents
Dynasty. As such, beyond policies encouraged by the require payment, affluent cover identities must dispense
matriarch — fairness, generosity, rectitude — one can- largesse, and bribery demands sizable slush funds. Of
not point to a specific V’neef way of doing things, nor of the house’s limited income, funding to maintain tem-
traditions common to the house’s holdings. ples in Incas Prefecture may be cut off at any time by
Deliberative political maneuverings, small commercial
House V’neef profits greatly from its share of Merchant ventures are imperiled by piracy and war, and scions’
Fleet tribute, and sees substantial income from trade in moneymaking activities in the Threshold are cut short
wines, thoroughbred horses, alcohol, tobacco, and qat. by recall to new duties on the Isle.
But expanding the Merchant Fleet and extending its
Western holdings strains even its impressive resources, Iselsis in positions of wealth and power borrow
while the Fleet’s income dwindles as tribute falls off money and disappear, burning lifelong cover iden-
amid chaos and secession in the Threshold. And as the tities. Others extract funds and assets through crim-
house diverts its efforts away from protecting maritime inal acts, leaving trails pointing to various houses
commerce, mortal merchants suffer — and rightly blame to further inflame their enemies — blackmailing
V’neef for their suffering. ministers for depravities performed at Cynis par-
ties, extorting money from crime bosses while in the
The house needs money to fund its Western campaign. guise of Sesus agents, or robbing Mnemon-owned
Pirate-hunting yields plundered cargoes and captured caravans in Corin Prefecture.

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Wind of Justice was a small city, and had not long ago been a successful city. It had grown through
river trade with wealthier neighbors until it dominated rugged Turu Prefecture. But in recent months,
the city’s businesses had ground to a halt. Bankers, hostelers, and traders fought for space with rustic
refugees, and food was scarce. Turu had a bandit infestation, and tonight, in a lantern-lit shack on the
Wind of Justice docks, three outsiders were trying to solve it.
Shaora was the youngest of the three archons, washed out of monkhood a year prior. He had been out
tracking witnesses all day, and stank of sweat. “The last few bandit raids were here, here, and here,”
he said, making charcoal marks on a map of the prefecture, laid out on the table. “Each sizable, all
within one week. I’m guessing at least four different gangs, now.”
Smoke Pearl had had the hardest life of the three, and she showed her teeth without smiling. “Old
thieves in Wind of Justice keep their heads down. These bandits? Different breed. I hear they’ve got a
lot of foreigners. Maybe mercenaries?”
Lusalu had been an archon for thirty years, recruited in her prime. She set her rice aside and tapped
the map, where the governor’s mansion could be found, just outside the city. “Let’s not jump to
conclusions. I finally got my hands on the governor’s ledgers — her security was terrible — and I
think this all comes down to taxes.”
“It always seems to, these days,” muttered Shaora.
Lusalu continued, “Governor Ledaal Janoka’s been providing false records to the Honest Assessors,
and we know how peasants get when taxes are high. We just need to make our report. Magistrate
Thorn will do the rest.”
Smoke Pearl grunted. “My hackles are up. There’s more to this, I’m sure of it.”
Lusalu frowned, thoughtful. “The governor did receive a strange visitor yesterday. Someone not on her
schedule —”
“Someone’s outside!” hissed Shaora, sliding out of his chair to enter a low, rolling crouch. The more
experienced archons didn’t hear anything but didn’t hesitate. Smoke Pearl drew her cutlass, Lusalu
her bow. Lusalu aimed at the shack’s locked door and waited through several long moments of
silence.
When the door burst inward, Lusalu loosed her arrow. It took the first intruder in the throat, but he
was quickly pushed aside by the force of the others behind him. Shaora grabbed one intruder by the
sword hand and pulled her into a choke hold as Smoke Pearl drove another back across the threshold
with aggressive slashes.
Lusalu took in the intruders’ appearance: boots and cloaks too nice for soldiers, bucklers and armor
too fine for bandits. These were hired bravos, and there were surely more of them. She knelt, and
found a latch in the wooden floor. She opened the trap door she’d installed, revealing the dark river
below. “Time to go!” she called, and punctuated the order by loosing an arrow into Shaora’s grappling
partner. The young archon grimaced, shoved the dying woman aside, and dove into the river.
“I paid a full season’s rent for this dump!” shouted Smoke Pearl. “I’ll catch up when —”
A longsword cut her short. As she fell, her attacker pulled his blade free, then raised his shield
against an arrow Lusalu didn’t remember loosing. Lusalu nocked another arrow, but the assassin
bowled over Smoke Pearl and slashed the back of Lusalu’s hand.
The older archon recoiled backward, and there was no floor. She reached for Smoke Pearl, hit her
head on the trap door’s edge, and tumbled, bleeding, into the river.

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 Chapter Two

The Machinery
of Empire
The Scarlet Realm’s vast governmental bureaucracy is the magistracy: a body of plenipotentiary Dragon-Blooded
engine driving its expansion and conquest. This massive problem solvers with sound judgment and singular
web of officials, functionaries, councils, and advisory com- talents, tasked with traveling the Realm to act in the
mittees is divided into four parts: the magistracy, empow- Empress’ stead in virtually any situation.
ered by the Empress to speak with her voice in dispensing
justice; the Thousand Scales, innumerable ministries of To make her magistracy as incorruptible as possible,
the Realm’s government; the All-Seeing Eye, the Empress’s the Empress decreed that magistrates cannot acquire
secret police; and the Deliberative, the Realm’s legislative wealth, making them technically poorer than most
body. Taken together, they carry out functions vital to per- peasants. However, Realm citizens are required to make
petuating the Realm’s existence while carefully concealing available anything a magistrate needs, from food and
those functions from its citizenry. lodging to artillery and courtesans, and even artifacts if
the situation is dire enough. As a result, bribes are gen-
Before the Empress vanished, she maintained a de- erally meaningless to a magistrate, who can command
liberately fragile balance between the elements of the anything she desires but take nothing with her when
Realm’s bureaucracy. Without her hand to guide it, the she leaves.
machinery of government strains under its own weight.
The Thousand Scales grow rife with indolence and The Empress appointed the magistracy primarily to
unchecked corruption while the Deliberative accrues root out corruption among the backbiting ministries.
power it was never meant to have. Magistrates scatter The magistracy held authority over the Thousand
like hares without the Empress to protect them, and the Scales, and ostensibly the ministers ultimately answer
All-Seeing Eye no longer reports to the throne. to it. Naturally, tension arose between the two bodies,
as magistrates traveled the Realm disciplining govern-
ment officials for taking bribes or plotting to gain power
The Magistracy beyond their ambit. Without the Empress, this tension
has exploded into a shadow war, and the ministries are
While famous generals and shikari are well known
winning.
throughout the Realm, magistrates are the real heroes
of the common people. They roam the land, meting out
justice in the Empress’ name and protecting citizens The Way Things Were
from predation and corruption. Peasants recount the he-
roics of magistrates current and historical, elevating their Where the All-Seeing Eye (p. XX) was the Empress’ invisi-
deeds unto legend. A magistrate’s appointment or death ble left hand, the magistrates were her highly visible right,
is gossip of the highest order, for they’re champions of answerable only to her. Even now, no law can touch them
the people and defenders of the Realm, awesome figures unless they commit outright treason. They travel inde-
that leap straight out of epic tales to slay monsters and pendently and solve problems as they find them, whether
punish wrongdoers — the Empress’ will made flesh. investigating murder among Dragon-Blooded, slaying de-
mons, or stripping corrupt satraps of worldly possessions.
The first magistrates were the Empress’ colleagues from They may pass any judgment on anyone short of Great
her days as a Shogunate officer. Before the Realm was House matriarchs, requisition any resource, and demand
stable, she needed mouthpieces to carry her decrees far cooperation from anyone. They have carte blanche to
and wide, and she chose only those few she truly trust- represent the Empress wherever they go; all citizens
ed. In time, she refined these unofficial proxies into the understand that when a magistrate opens his mouth, the
voice that emerges is hers. Or at least, it was.

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Appointment and receive rewards or punishment at the Empress’s

Individuals with so much independent power must discretion. A magistrate whose actions were deemed ill-
be chosen with extreme care. Only the Empress could judged could be assigned to an undesirable task or route
appoint new magistrates, and she did so personally. until her discretion improved — or even removed from
Whether the Regent or Deliberative might do so in her duty, never to be seen again. This is extraordinarily rare,
absence hasn’t been put to the test; neither shows any requiring error on the scope of conspiring against the
interest in strengthening the failing magistracy. Realm or becoming an Anathema’s catspaw.

Every magistrate is Dragon-Blooded. The Empress often Magistrates also employ skilled servants called archons.
chose influential rebels and heretics, relatively harmless Archons are to magistrates what magistrates were to
criminals, and other social or political outcasts as mag- the Empress: troubled misfits saved from lives of crime
istrates — competent but disgraced Exalted who’d fallen and punishment to serve the Realm, given authority to
victim to Dynastic machinations, or become scapegoats act on their magistrate’s behalf. Many are mortals who
for grievous failures or personal transgressions against aspired to heights the Immaculate Philosophy or their
families and rivals. Primarily, the Empress required her worldly status denied them, and suffered for their hu-
magistrates to be savvy, tenacious, talented, concerned bris. Others never achieved their considerable potential
with justice, and dependent entirely on her favor for and became mired in dishonorable pursuits or swept
redemption. She offered the choice between the fates up in Dynastic schemes full of empty promises. One fa-
their misguided lives demanded — often death or exile mous historical archon was a peasant who leapt into the
— or serving her directly in the Realm’s defense. Few path of an arrow meant for a magistrate’s back, pulled
turned her down. from the brink of death by the magistrate’s chirurgical
prowess and rewarded for her selfless bravery. A magis-
Choosing magistrates from the ranks of dishonored trate may make any consenting mortal an archon as long
heroes and troublemakers also ensured that the magis- as he doesn’t already serve another Dragon-Blood or a
tracy wasn’t pulling too many marriage prospects out of Great House.
circulation. While magistrates still marry, it’s harder for
them to sustain the high-society presence necessary to An archon performs any task his master requires, from
remain competitive candidates for advantageous mar- delivering messages and chasing leads to supporting
riages. While marrying a magistrate is a great honor for her in combat and evacuating endangered citizens.
any family, they’re not in high demand. Many magistrates choose archons to complement
their own abilities; one who excels at interrogation
Regardless of strategy, those so chosen venerated and negotiation but is only a middling combatant may
and loved the Empress more than most. The greatest seek a peerless swordsman as an archon. Most archons
Dragon-Blood alive not only noticed them, but called are proficient trackers and investigators, learn the ins
them to be her personal agents — a calculated way of and outs of ministerial law and process, and gain some
winning hearts. Their unparalleled loyalty to her even martial expertise.
now makes them seem like legends. In the eyes of com-
moners who suffer the fallout of the Dynasty’s constant Archons spend the rest of their lives in their magis-
jockeying, the magistrates are above it all, worlds closer trates’ service. When a magistrate dies, her archons die
to the Immaculate ideal of Princes of the Earth than the with her, by decree; this encourages them to protect
Dynastic prefect and her tax-collecting lackeys. their master to the death, and discourages treachery. In
practice, though, an archon who learns of his master’s
Rookie magistrates have no official training regimen, death will quietly find somewhere remote to start over;
but experienced magistrates typically take newcomers the Realm doesn’t bother hunting former archons down
under their wings to show them the ropes, warn them unless they become nuisances.
about common pitfalls, and gauge their mettle and judg-
ment. This informal master-apprentice relationship Most archons are as loyal to their magistrates as magis-
tends to make magistrates loyal not only to the Empress trates were to the Empress, for much the same reason.
but to each other, making them feel like part of some- Popular folklore on the Blessed Isle paints mortal ar-
thing larger even when alone in the field. chons as nobly reformed, turning their backs on infamy
to serve Dragon-Blooded champions. Notable archons
Companions can win almost as much repute as their masters, acces-
Each magistrate travels with a scribe who records her sible figures in tales of untouchable paragons.
judgments and exploits for later reporting. A magistrate
must return to the Imperial City every five years, to Romances between magistrates and archons aren’t un-
account for everything she’s done since her last visit common. After all, adventuring together for years is a

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potential security breaches by sea resulting from the

ARCHONS Admiralty Board’s cutthroat competition. House Peleps
resents the implication (and the surveillance), and the
While archons are notable and singular heroes, ministries now woo pliable Peleps scions in their sur-
keeping track of a magistrate’s full complement reptitious campaign to tie the magistracy’s hands.
of archons can be daunting. The following Quick
Character traits provide a template for archons, Formerly, it wasn’t uncommon for magistrates to cross
which Storytellers can customize and improve to paths, especially in major cities, and it was traditional
reflect an individual archon’s talents. to dine together and discuss recent events and the state
of the Realm. Today, they avoid gathering publicly lest
Essence: 1; Willpower: 6; Join Battle: 7 dice an enemy seek to eliminate many in one swoop. Their
archons typically meet in their stead.
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap
When two magistrates meet while investigating the
Actions: Investigate: 7 dice; Larceny: 5 dice; Legal
same crime, they may join forces, continue working
Knowledge: 5 dice; Read Intentions: 7 dice; Sens-
es: 7 dice; Social Influence: 6 dice; Stealth: 5 dice; independently, or turn the problem over to one while
Tracking: 8 dice the other moves on, at their discretion.

Appearance 3, Resolve 4, Guile 3 Most of a magistrate’s day-to-day work is less legendary

than tales suggest. Days on end go by with only the road
COMBAT to worry about, and most towns hold no dire injustices
to right. Magistrates rely heavily on the rumor mill
Attack (Straight sword): 8 dice (Damage 12L/2) and a network of contacts gained through previous
Attack (Long bow): 7 dice at short range (Damage heroism to find problems to address. Most magistrates
12L) travel from one city to another, passing through as many
towns and villages along the way as possible; something
Combat Movement: 6 dice illicit is always happening in a city.

Evasion 4, Parry 4 Whenever a magistrate does find trouble — much more

often now than before — she resolves it however she
Soak/Hardness: 6/0
deems best. Sometimes that means working with es-
tablished authorities like the Black-Helms, Immaculate
Order, or satrapial garrisons. Sometimes this means go-
recipe for emotional and physical entanglement. Some feel ing undercover and whispering a message into the right
such relationships are beneath the Exalted; others com- ear at the right time. Sometimes it means kicking down
plain this dilutes the blood of the Dragons. Tempestuous a prefect’s door and demanding answers, or facilitating
relationships and forbidden children between magistrates talks between warring parties. Often, it means combat.
and archons — real and fictional — have been a rich vein Corrupt officials and mystical menaces don’t like being
for storytellers and songwriters for centuries. revealed for what they are, and fight the fierce arm of
justice with whatever they can. Every magistrate has a
Archons don’t always accompany their magistrates. different set of talents, approaches, and archons in her
Veteran magistrates sometimes gather a dozen or more toolbox, so no two magistrates work in the same way.
trusted servants, and roaming in such numbers paints an
easy target for foes to prey upon. Instead, when a magis- The Way Things Are
trate collects more than four or five archons, she usually
sends them out in pairs or small groups on extended mis- Before the Empress vanished, the magistrates were
sions, reporting back according to prearranged schedules. indomitable forces of righteousness. In her absence, the
ministries came alive with schemes like ravenous hye-
Life and Times
nas. Formidable Dragon-Blooded champions who now
Magistrates rarely settle in one place or traverse set answer to no one scare the Thousand Scales witless.
routes, although exceptions happen, especially as they Now, every day holds the potential for a hidden knife
advance in age. The Empress dictated some hotspots on a lonely road or a law stamped with the Regent’s
where magistrates are expected to check up on things approval to strip power from the dozens of remaining
every few months or so — posts that can be filled by any- magistrates, who are only too aware that their numbers
one in the area at the time. For instance, all major Peleps can’t be replenished.
port cities are considered magistrate posts, to intercept

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Most magistrates now pull their archons close, finding safe-
ty in numbers, and call upon extensive networks of contacts
to bunk in safehouses and avoid main roads. Some take to
the satrapies for now, hoping the ministries won’t expend
resources to hunt them beyond the Isle. Others work to
unseat ministers who conspire against them before the con-
spiracy removes them first. They rarely meet, fearing that
multiple magistrates in one place make a brighter target. As
deadlines for reports to the Imperial City come due one by
one, they wrestle with the decision between returning to a
hostile city or postponing it indefinitely and risking being
charged with dereliction of duty. The ministries understand
that annihilating the magistracy would erase one of the last
checks on the Great Houses’ reach, but eliminating archons
and those magistrates closest to home, and limiting the ju-
risdiction of the rest, works to their advantage.

But the magistrates won’t go down easily. Besides their

resourcefulness, personal prowess, and entourages of skill-
ful archons, magistrates are heroes of the people. Peasants
and satrapial locals see them not as grandiose Imperial
overlords or distant symbols of Immaculate perfection, but
divine defenders that arrive to banish their worst night-
mares and improve their lives. Even patricians and Dynasts
often appreciate one of the few remaining symbols of the
Realm’s heroic ideals. Now that magistrates are underdogs,
the common people love them even more, and any minister
or Great House flunky who openly persecutes a magistrate
could have a revolt on her hands.

Magistrates of Note
A skilled and respected officer in the Cathak house legions,
the proud, flamboyant Cathak Teneri Fenar was even more
feared on the dueling ground than on the battlefield. But
when she inadvertently killed the Tepet matriarch’s son in
a duel, only the Empress’ mercy saved her life and averted
further bloodshed between the two houses. Since the Tepet
legions’ rout, Fenar has devoted herself as a form of person-
al penance to investigating rumors that they were sabotaged
or betrayed by agents within the Imperial Service and the
Great Houses.

Once a rising star in the Treasury, the patrician Dragon-

Blood Tereya Varu found that his personal blasphemies
weren’t as secret as he’d hoped. Embezzling several talents’
worth of jade to pay off a persistent blackmailer, he was
undone when his theft was uncovered by Treasury head Bal
Kesif. His experience in the Thousand Scales is invaluable in
ferreting out corrupt ministers; he’s currently investigating
a conspiracy of crooked tax collectors within the Humble
and Honest Caretakers.

Despite her best efforts, the outcaste Winglord Coalbright’s

forces were smashed by the Army of No Queen at the Battle
of Five Bridges. Her dragonlord pinned all blame for the

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wing’s failure on her, accusing her of dereliction. The The Empress built in checks and balances to limit the
Empress found it expedient to elevate her to the mag- power held by any single ministry. The Humble and
istracy. Coalbright took satisfaction in uncovering the Honest Assessors of the Imperial Tax collect huge sums
misdeeds of the houses that betrayed her, but in the of wealth, but can’t spend one obol without approval
Empress’ absence she’s fled to the Threshold to avoid from the Treasury. The Imperial Treasury is responsi-
their wrath, and has made contact with the rogue legion ble for the Realm’s vast fortune, but relies on the Honest
of Saloy Hin (Dragon-Blooded, p. 126). Assessors to fill the coffers in the first place.

Despite a century of pious service to the Immaculate These overlapping responsibilities also serve as failsafes
Order, abbot Ledaal Oraya became a figure of shame if a ministry is compromised. Should a corrupt minister
when he was caught in an affair with a married Dynast. and her staff be removed, their responsibilities will
Cast out of the Order, he accepted the second chance of- go neglected. But as other ministries perform similar
fered him by the Empress. To his mind, the impecunious functions, the bureaucracy can carry on until suitable
life of a magistrate differs little from monastic discipline. replacements are found. The Empress sometimes
merged lesser ministries or divided ministries that had
grown large and unwieldy into lesser bureaus, making
The Ministries their exact number difficult to pin down.
The ministries of the Thousand Scales provide the
Power of the Patricians
structure and guidance that keep the Realm from de-
The ministries employ vast numbers of bureaucrats.
scending into chaos. The ministers filling its ranks un-
While many belong to the Dynasty and a handful are
derstand that the most direct path to the top is a straight
gifted peasants, most are patricians. Their families’
line, and sometimes that line is through someone’s back.
names aren’t as well-known throughout the Realm as
Whether they come from the Dynasty or well-connected
the Dynasts’, but many have been involved with the
patrician families, or are even talented peasants seeking
Thousand Scales for centuries — some trace their family
better lives, successful ministers who’ve ascended to
lines back to the Realm’s birth, or earlier. All have spent
lofty heights of power and influence will do whatever
generations entrenching themselves into the Realm’s
it takes to stay there. As the Great Houses slice up the
power structure, and they scheme like Dynasts to gain
empire and squabble over the pieces, the ministers are
and maintain power.
ruthless in holding their departments together so the
Realm continues to function.
Some ministries are dominated by one patrician
family, while other ancient lines have spread their
Structure and Organization scions throughout the Thousand Scales, developing
wide networks of contacts and influence. While pa-
Hundreds of ministries govern the Realm. Each has a spe- trician ministers lack Dynasts’ social status, many are
cific, closely defined function. Some are small, consisting well-connected politically. Such patricians make it easy
of only a single minister and a handful of clerks. Others for their families to advance through the ministries, and
are vast, sprawling networks of bureaucrats spread over painfully difficult for others.
numerous offices throughout the Realm.
Far too often, an un-Exalted Dynast enters the ministries
The Thousand Scales’ primary hub is the Imperial City; expecting to use her name and influence to climb the lad-
most administration buildings stand in the Imperial der. These Dynasts learn the hard way that it’s patricians
Palace’s shadow. Large ministries claim entire buildings who hold power here. In many cases, patrician control
as their own, while other structures contain the offices of a ministry is so thorough as to make advancement
of several smaller ministries. Although still reflecting extremely onerous. Even a well-bred Ragara would find
the grandeur of the Empress’s domain, many of these it impossible to advance in the finance ministries without
edifices have a certain utilitarian sameness to them, as support from a well-placed Bal, Rein, or Tereya. To secure
though designed to be interchangeable. their own advancement, many Dynasts bow to patrician
families’ wishes or allow themselves to be co-opted by
Many major ministries maintain branch offices else- better-placed ministers. While most find this distasteful
where in the Realm, especially in prefectures populous or beneath them, they realize that it’s a necessary evil —
or remote enough that it’s impractical to funnel their and the patricians enjoy this reversal of fortunes.
administration through the Imperial City. Some branch
offices are in purpose-built urban structures; others With the Empress’ disappearance, the Dynasty seeks
occupy rural estates donated by local families or reas- a tighter hold on the ministries. While longstanding
signed by Imperial edict. wisdom has mortal ministers bow and step aside for

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the occasional Dragon-Blooded Dynast, these ministers supervisor. Promotion to the very highest ranks in the
now find themselves fighting for the survival of the ministries requires the Deliberative’s approval. Once a
powerbase they’ve spent centuries building. They won’t rubber stamp on the Empress’ choices, the matter has
let it be torn out from under them without a fight. turned intensely political, and a few high-ranking posts
have been open for years due to legislative deadlock.
Entering the Thousand Scales
There are always more ambitious ministers ready to
To ensure that all had the opportunity to seek a ca- climb the ranks than available openings. Assassination
reer in the ministries, the Empress created the Nine is a time-honored — albeit illegal — tradition among the
Rigorous Examinations. These are held twice annually: Thousand Scales. This requires careful planning and
once in the Imperial City and once in another city on execution: If someone in middle management comes
the Blessed Isle, varying from year to year. down with a case of dagger-to-the-back, their under-
lings are the first suspects. The safest method is to make
Many obstacles confront the would-be minister. A can- the death look accidental, though some will always
didate must arrange transport and, if a peasant, travel suspect foul play. Safer still to hire someone else do the
papers for the year’s location. The examinations are ex- deed while you establish a public alibi.
ceedingly difficult, and anyone hoping to do well should
hire a tutor and purchase the requisite study materials. Most assassins plot their promotions many steps in
Even if a peasant takes the test and scores well, she’ll advance. A Treasury clerk who wants to move up one
still need to find someone to recommend her for a posi- pay grade could theoretically just murder her supervi-
tion — and to provide financial support. Securing a post sor — but a better method is to murder her supervisor’s
requires a supply of inks and brushes, not to mention supervisor. If successful, her supervisor is promoted to
fine clothing befitting a minister of the Realm. These fill the vacancy, and she can take his place. Even better,
expenses prevent many peasants and poorer patricians if her supervisor is implicated, suddenly there’ll be two
from entering the Thousand Scales, despite the Nine open postings to choose from.
Rigorous Examinations’ egalitarian pretense.
Blackmail is a gentler alternative. Threats to reveal
For well-to-do patricians and Dynasts, these costs are particularly dire indiscretions can compel a minister
small inconveniences; for children of rural farmers, to resign or retire. More broadly, bribes, blackmail,
they seem insurmountable. Fortunately, there’s no extortion, and favors — often with support from a
shortage of people looking to offer a hand up. Whether high-ranking minister, powerful patrician family, or
it’s making introductions or offering loans, these indi- Great House — are invaluable tools for climbing the
viduals labor to ensure that promising candidates find ladder. It’s dreadfully embarrassing to go to the effort of
their ways into the ministries. Having a minister who murdering a superior, only for a string-pulling rival to
owes you a favor is often more valuable than whatever claim the dead woman’s seat.
you had to spend to get her there.
Since the Empress’ disappearance, this strategy has
become riskier — not in terms of getting caught, but
Advancement in terms of success. Emergency vacancies may be ad-
dressed by a motion in the Deliberative. In the past, it
Those without powerful connections enter the minis- was exceedingly rare for the Deliberative to waste its
tries in the most junior positions. Their performance is time examining such promotions, but with the minis-
closely monitored for the first year (three years in the tries ripe for subversion, things have changed.
case of the finance ministries) and they can be recom-
mended for promotion after their probationary period Even if the Great Houses don’t snap up a vacancy
ends. for one of their own, the approvals to replace a dead
minister can be stalled as paperwork grows ever more
Each ministry holds annual competency examinations. obstructed. A bureaucrat may kill her supervisor only
Anyone wishing to be considered for promotion can for his desk to sit vacant for months before those re-
sit for an exam, and all ministers must take at least sponsible approve a replacement. Meanwhile, as the
one exam every five years. When a position opens up dead supervisor’s personal assistant picks up the slack,
unexpectedly (as with the termination, resignation, his superiors might find it simpler to give him the job.
retirement, or death of a minister), normal protocol This leaves the assassin the option to try again, or wait
is set aside, and a replacement can be appointed by a and study hard for her next competency exam.

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The Ministries of the Thousand Scales The Humble and Honest Assessors of the
Imperial Tax
The following list of ministries is by no means compre- The Honest Assessors calculate and collect taxes from
hensive; think of them as a glimpse into the machinery villages, towns, cities, businesses, and estates through-
that keeps the Realm running. out the Realm. This is no easy feat. Neither peasants nor
Dynasts want to turn over their property; they frequent-
The Imperial Treasury ly conceal caches and crops, or lie about what their
All tax and tribute collected from the Realm is re- property is worth. Assessors are expected to be familiar
manded to the Imperial Treasury. Imperial Treasurers with their territories so they can root out hidden stock-
authorize spending in the Imperial Service, and since piles and calculate property values fairly. They often go
they control the purse strings of other ministries, few in disguise when performing audits. Martial prowess
openly go against them. is invaluable — the Assessors aren’t well liked, and the
roads they travel are long and lonely.
The Realm’s wealth is kept in several treasure-manses.
Mostly in and around the Imperial Palace, they’re pro- Where businesses and wealthy households pay taxes
tected by unwaveringly loyal troops, bound spirits, and individually, each rural village pays taxes as a whole,
other traps and defenses. Some manses are so secure — villagers each chipping in to a communal pool. Should a
accessible only to the Empress, or requiring passwords village fail to pay, the entire population is dispossessed.
only known to now-dead Treasury officials — that the
Treasury itself can’t access them. This doesn’t prevent The All-Seeing Eye, which once ruthlessly culled
the Realm from leveraging that wealth; Treasury minis- corruption in the Assessors, is growing blind. Now
ters move numbers around on a ledger without remov- individual Assessors keep larger shares of the take
ing jade and silver from the inaccessible vault. for themselves, or work hand in glove with the Great
Houses — often due to intimidation or blackmail — to
The Realm’s stockpiled wealth doesn’t just sit around. give tax money to the local prefect.
Under the Bank of the Scarlet Throne’s auspices,
Treasury ministers granted loans to Dynasts and pa- The Honest Assessors’ current head is Cathak Curuk,
tricians needing capital to start or expand business who works closely with Bal Keraz to keep the Realm’s
ventures. With the Empress’ disappearance, several fi- income from drying up completely. He’s proficient
nance ministers have gone into business for themselves, at his job, loyal to the Realm, and unwilling to accept
finding legal loopholes and tax shelters that keep for bribes. This has earned him many enemies amongst
themselves the interest they receive. the Dynasty, and most of the houses are conspiring to
remove him from office. He’s lasted this long due to his
The Empress’ Exchequer, Bal Keraz, exerts nigh-total working relationship with Bal Keraz and his formidable
control over the Treasury. A 180-year-old Dragon-Blood, martial training.
he inherited the office — and his subordinates’ loyalties
— from his mother Kesif. Keraz has been rooting out the The Wise and Knowledgeable Advisors of
worst of this corruption with aid from the All-Seeing Eye, Foreign Tributaries
many of whose handlers have turned to him for funding The Knowledgeable Advisors, commonly known as the
without the Empress’ financial support. Most finance Foreign Office, constitute one of the largest ministries.
ministers were brought into line; several had to lose their Every satrap and her staff belong to it — even though
heads. A few ministers sought protection from Great most never set foot in the ministry’s offices in the
Houses in exchange for ignoring longstanding loans or Imperial City.
selling them the loans of rival houses. These ministers
now provide creative bookkeeping to the Great Houses In the central offices, a small army of ministers review
and are a constant thorn in Keraz’s side. reports from each satrap and her advisors. This data is
collected and analyzed by committees that consult with
Corruption has hobbled the Treasury. It receives scarce- current and retired military advisors to determine how
ly a tenth of its former income in tax and tribute. The best to maintain the Realm’s hold without destabilizing
rest flows into the pockets of individual officials and the the region. The Knowledgeable Advisors send back
Great Houses. The Treasury’s reserves, though vast, are recommendations, or dispatch teams to advise and in-
largely committed to backing jade scrip; withdrawing vestigate onsite (see pp. XX-XX).
too much might create a currency crisis. Bal Keraz
anticipates the need for even more severe budget cuts The Foreign Office’s head, Ledaal Arnis, succeeded her
within three years unless matters improve. mother in the position. Arnis remains loyal to Realm
over house, but she’s becoming increasingly frustrated

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by the state of foreign affairs. In the past, Arnis reported ministries are settled by legal savants from among the
mismanagement to the Empress so satrapies could be Curators known as interpreters. Once an interpreter
reassigned to different houses before too much damage arrives, she hears both sides of the issue before deliber-
was done. With the Empress gone, Arnis finds satraps ating for three to 10 days, during which time she calls on
completely ignoring her department’s advice. Bringing witnesses and consults the Registry.
these complaints to a satrap’s house matriarch is point-
less; most are complicit in any wrongdoing, while the Each judgment is final and binding, and is recorded
Deliberative lacks legal power to reassign satrapial in the Registry as precedent for future judgments.
leases. With no recourse, all Arnis can do is watch her This is why interpreters take so long to deliberate: A
department wither and die. decision made in a remote town can have implications
years later for agricultural ministers in the Imperial
The Curators of the Imperial Registry City. Traditionally, the interpreter leaves the day after
The Imperial Registry is a book delineating the powers, announcing her decision, to ensure that the prevailing
responsibilities, and jurisdiction of every ministry in the party can’t reward her for ruling in their favor — and
Thousand Scales. Its Curators revise it as new edicts making it more difficult for the loser to take retaliatory
and judgments alter the boundaries of the ministries’ action. An interpreter cannot arbitrate another dis-
authority, making careful corrections to ensure the agreement involving the same city or the same minis-
document remains internally consistent. tries for one year to minimize bribery and bias.

Stored at the Imperial Palace, the original Registry has Corruption isn’t tolerated among the Curators. Any inter-
over 3,000 painstakingly calligraphed pages. Bound in preter found accepting bribes has her hands and tongue
brass plates inlaid with silver, gold, and gems, it’s se- cut off and is forced to wander the Realm with a plaque
cured with an ornate lock for which the Respected and detailing her crimes. Ministers caught bribing interpreters
Impartial Keeper of the Registry has the only key. almost always lose their office. Some lose their heads.

The Registry is the final say in responsibility and Wave Akaru, the hidebound Keeper of the Registry, has
jurisdiction within the ministries. Disputes between run the ministry for half a century, and is said to be able

51
EX3
 THE REALM

MORE OF THE THOUSAND SCALES

The EmpressÕ Private Purse: Where the Treasury deals in jade and in the Realm’s overall finances, the Em-
press’ Private Purse (or Imperial Purse) controls the manufacture and flow of cash (Exalted, pp. 77-78). While
less significant to the affairs of the mighty — one cannot forge a daiklave out of paper money! — the Purse is
undeniably important to the Realm’s economy. It’s also important to the war effort; legionnaires are paid in cash
rather than jade. Efforts by the Great Houses to subvert the Purse are underway. The Imperial Purse is headed
by Cirrus Jezan; her resentment of the Scarlet Dynasty is the ministry’s greatest defense.

The Bursars of Barbarian Tribute: Talents of silver taken in tribute from the satrapies are tallied by the Bursars
and stored in their vaults. The Treasury draws upon these funds to pay foreign merchants and governments in sil-
ver — often by means of ledger entries and financial instruments, without ever taking actual silver from the vaults.
Several factions within the Realm are working to suborn the Bursars, intending to deploy their vast silver reserves
to hire Threshold mercenaries and subvert entire satrapies. The ministry’s head, the jovial Tereya Motas, is quietly
negotiating with Guild factors to provide her family with a mercenary army in the event of civil war.

The Illustrious Compilers of the Perfected Curriculum: In addition to its namesake duty of promulgating
the Empress-sanctioned curriculum taught in the Realm’s primary schools, this ministry oversees Imperial
funding of secondary schools — the House of Bells, the Spiral Academy, Pasiap’s Stair, and countless lesser
institutions. (The Cloister of Wisdom is funded by the Immaculate Order, while the Heptagram is funded inde-
pendently.) Ravine Dal heads this ministry, a doddering, near-senile savant who lets her subordinates deal with
all the work.

The Devoted Wardens of the Empress’ Wilderness: The Empress owns all land in the Realm. While much
is leased out to the Great Houses and patrician families, this ministry oversees unleased tracts of wilderness,
stocking forests with game animals, taking preventative measures against wildfires and other natural disas-
ters, licensing hunting of certain animals, and punishing poachers. It’s overseen by the secretive Iselsi She-
nesh, Minister of the Imperial Gardens, perhaps the only Iselsi to retain significant official authority in the Realm
— and suspected by his peers of membership in the All-Seeing Eye.

to recite the entire Registry by heart. She works closely pronouncing sentence. Her authority isn’t unlimited;
with the Master of Palace Scribes to ensure that copies verdicts are circumscribed by Imperial law. Criminal
of the Registry are distributed to ministries throughout sentences range from fines and beatings to branding, en-
the Realm. This is a never-ending task because the slavement, dispossession, exile, or execution. Sedition
Registry always changes, and while every effort is made or nonpayment of taxes by peasants is punished by
to distribute updates, most copies of the Registry con- dispossessing entire communities. Magistrates are em-
tain outdated sections. powered to overturn an Imperial court’s verdict based
on their own investigations, and their decisions are not
The Righteous and Implacable Courts of subject to review by the courts. Likewise, the Empress
Imperial Justice could overturn judgments by edict.
Almost every prefecture hosts an Imperial court in its
capital that hears criminal cases, contract disputes, Dynastic, outcaste, and patrician defendants convicted
and other petitions. Charging crimes is entirely at of capital charges may appeal to the Empress’ Own
the discretion of the Guardians of the Realm (p. XX). Court in the Imperial City. There, cases are brought
Application of bribery or social pressure — whether before a triumvirate drawn from the Realm’s eldest and
a Dynast’s word in the right ear or a mob incensed by most respected judges. House Peleps traditionally plays
obvious injustice — can decide whether or not charges a prominent role in the judiciary; it’s all but unheard of
are pressed, and which ones. This is especially true in for the triumvirate to lack a Peleps scion.
rural areas, wherein the only law enforcement may be a
couple of local peasants who’ve been breveted to Black- Judges are drawn from Spiral Academy and Outer Coil
Helm status and are easily swayed. graduates — some prodigies fresh from school, others
veterans of the ministries — versed in the ever-shifting
An Imperial judge presides over the court. In criminal landscape of Imperial laws, as well as forensics, interro-
cases, she’s both judge and prosecutor, questioning gation, and the reading of body language and other cues.
witnesses, directing deputies to gather evidence, and Judges are appointed by the Deliberative, a great honor.

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 C hapte r T wo : T he M achi n e r y o f E mpi r e

The position of Just and Magnanimous Custodian was

DYNASTIC WEDDINGS held by Sesus Sereda until her assassination four years
ago, and every effort to replace her has been blocked
Dynastic weddings are legal affairs rather than reli- on the Deliberative floor. With no one to supervise
gious ones, presided over by an Imperial judge. The the overworked Caretakers, reports of decaying infra-
couple recites vows promising to support one an- structure are delayed for months before reaching the
other as well as the Realm, placing particular focus Stewards of Imperial Assets. Guardians of the Realm in
on producing Dragon-Blooded children. The bulk of crime-ridden prefectures might work on partial salaries
the ceremony is a speech made by the judge about or nothing at all, while those in the next prefecture over
the benefits and responsibilities of marriage. After have funds to spare on lavish ceremonial regalia.
this, the union is blessed by a monk and celebrat-
ed with a lavish feast and celebration that lasts for Other ministries are frustrated by how disorganized
hours to days, depending on the influence and re- the Caretakers have become, and the Stewards are con-
sources of the couple’s families. cerned that necessary repairs are being neglected that
may place the entire Realm at risk. Bal Keraz and Cathak
Judges are scheduled well in advance and paid in Kuruk have moved into the power vacuum, giving di-
jade; judges renowned for public speaking are par- rection to the ministry’s senior officials, and exerting
ticularly sought after. For judges who tire of court, their influence to oppose efforts by the Great Houses to
this can be a lucrative semi-retirement. further undermine the Home Office’s authority.

The Stewards of Imperial Assets

This has traditionally been routine and perfunctory, but This ministry, responsible for maintaining public works
since the Empress’ disappearance the Great Houses within the Realm, works closely with the Caretakers of
have begun exerting their own control on the judiciary. the Common Folk. The Stewards are responsible for ev-
erything from sanitation and highway systems to main-
The Honorable and Humble Caretakers of the tenance of public structures. This ranges from manses
Common Folk integral to the Realm Defense Grid to the Imperial
Just as the Foreign Office monitors the satrapies and ad- Post’s heliograph towers.
dresses their needs, the Caretakers — sometimes called
the Home Office — monitor the prefectures to ensure While they employ skilled builders and engineers,
the citizenry is fed and cared for. The Blessed Isle is the the Stewards usually contract out the work to private
Realm’s breadbasket, and several committees within businesses. The competition for such bids is fierce
this ministry are dedicated to monitoring crop yields — once one contract’s been successfully completed,
and ensuring that foodstuffs are distributed throughout the Stewards are more likely to offer another. In areas
the Realm. They also ensure that prefects aren’t letting needing extensive repairs, competition for contracts
their own citizens starve to make their numbers look has been known to turn violent as workers sabotage the
better. competition.

The Home Office also oversees maintenance of the The Home Office’s disarray is dragging the Stewards
Realm’s public works — especially those relating to down with it. Maintenance reports and repair requisition
the Realm Defense Grid — watching for negligence or forms that should be forwarded to the Stewards sit in
corruption, such as a corrupt prefect skimming funds dusty inboxes deep in the bowels of administration. By
for herself or one of the houses. The Caretakers also the time the Stewards are notified of necessary repairs,
oversee the operation and funding of the Guardians of they’ve become far more extensive and costly. As the
the Realm (p. XX), collecting reports of crime from the Great Houses skim more tax revenue for themselves, the
prefectures and allocating resources to those most in Stewards’ budget shrinks, forcing them to rely on cheap-
need of the Guardians. er labor. The Stewards focus on repairs necessary to the
Realm Defense Grid, often ignoring other issues entirely.
The Caretakers audit the taxes prefects collect for
these purposes, and take a share of those taxes for the The current head is Rose Adal, an elderly mortal
Treasury. This tax structure runs parallel to that over- patrician who took the job after her predecessor and
seen by the Humble Assessors, a jurisdictional conflict former superior was poisoned at a banquet. Long years
crafted and fostered by the Empress. In her absence, the of service with the Stewards have made her one of the
prefects have become hard to control, raising taxes while Realm’s most knowledgeable savants of geomancy, and
sending ever less to the Treasury. the Great Houses ply her with sizable bribes. The Realm
Defense Grid could well determine the war for the

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 THE REALM

EVEN MORE OF THE THOUSAND SCALES

The Diligent Monitors of the Diffusion of Divine Essence: This ministry tracks the ancestry of all Dynasts,
patricians, and outcastes in the Realm, including births, marriages, and deaths, and is responsible for licensing
mons for Dynastic and patrician families. It’s headquartered in the Imperial City, but offices across the Blessed
Isle maintain regional archives, complicating efforts to alter or forge records. Any Realm citizen may request
copies of their official documents or a family tree for a significant administrative fee. Monitors are sometimes
called upon to mediate with Dynasts looking to arrange marriages, or patricians seeking fosterage or adoption
of Exalted children into a Great House. While House Nellens has long sought to control the ministry, it’s still
overseen by the gossipmongering Yanaz Ujara, who’s being blackmailed by House Sesus to shut out Nellens
scions.

The Fastidious Keepers of the Imperial Peace: This ministry regulates travel throughout the Realm, issuing
travel permits (p. XX) and inspecting ships for contraband. While a career in the Fastidious Keepers offers little
political power, the nature of its duties makes it lucrative for those interested in accepting bribes. The ministry’s
head is the doleful Kunon Fen, who secretly keeps a heretical shrine to Asquin-Zal, the God of Territorial Bor-
ders, in her office.

The Infallible Conveyors of Official Messages and Heartfelt Expressions: Also called the Imperial Post,
this ministry oversees communications in the Realm (p. XX). Because this ministry is indispensable for the
Realm’s functioning, it’s suffered little from budget cuts throughout the Thousand Scales. The current Master
of the Imperial Post is Nellens Junaj, a Dragon-Blood who worked his way up through the ranks to his current
position. Unfortunately for House Nellens, Junaj is unfailingly loyal to his ministry and has thus far refused to
abuse his position.

The Ministry of Prehistoric Recollection and Antiquities: This shabby, understaffed department oversees
the collection of potentially volatile relics and caches them away in heavily secured museums open only to the
Scarlet Dynasty — though some officials profit from tipping off Ragara and Ledaal contacts about such finds. The
ministry also plays a vital role in censorship, suppressing the dissemination of information to the peasantry that
would undermine the Realm’s official history. Its obsessively studious head, Mnemon Korame, hasn’t been seen
in months; her subordinates assume she’s holed up in a ministry museum researching one of her many projects.

throne, and no one’s certain just how much Adal knows houses, and virtually guaranteeing that their services will
about its inner mysteries. be called upon. Sorcerers who wish to avoid becoming
entangled in house politics make sure to register so that
The Sagacious and Scrupulous Registrars of they can’t be used for espionage work.
Sorcerous Puissance
This ministry maintains the White Registry, a record of Each registered sorcerer owes a single formal Obligation
every sorcerer in the Realm. Imperial decree prohibits that the Empress or the Deliberative may call in at any
sorcerers from holding leadership positions within time. This requires the sorcerer to provide a required
the ministry, although it employs several as advisors service with no compensation and under strict secrecy.
regarding the capabilities of the sorcerers it tracks. The In the past, the Empress tailored Obligations to each sor-
Registrars have close ties to the Heptagram and collect cerer — to encourage some to reach heights they might
information about its current and former students. not normally attain, or to force overly arrogant or am-
bitious sorcerers to humble themselves before her. She
While the Registry isn’t public, it’s not difficult for any preferred to leave Obligations uncollected for decades,
Great House with even modest espionage resources to waiting until a sorcerer’s power matured before calling
learn its contents, so when it comes to conflict with rival upon his services. In her absence, the Deliberative has
houses, any sorcerer on the White Registry is considered begun exercising its authority to cash them in.
a known quantity. Meanwhile, unregistered sorcerers are
wild cards that rival houses can rarely prepare counter- The current Warden of the White Registry, Rein
measures for, making them extremely valuable to their Melana, is a noted socialite, granted an exotic air by her

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 C hapte r T wo : T he M achi n e r y o f E mpi r e

SORCEROUS SOCIETIES

Dragon-Blooded sorcerers, stigmatized by Dynastic society, commonly gather into small societies to network,
make friendships, and throw parties they can attend without feeling unwanted. These may be as small as one
Hearth or as large as thirty members. Some go to great lengths to conceal their membership, communicating
only through intermediaries and Infallible Messengers. Others proclaim membership by displaying intricately
inked mystic tattoos, decorative sashes, or the society’s preferred colors.

The Sorcerers of the Scarlet Throne: This society is open to any registered sorcerer residing in Scarlet
Prefecture, and thus is full of connivers with political leanings who seek to live as close to the Realm’s gover-
nance as possible. They made grand shows of serving the Empress at her request, a folly she always enjoyed.
She spoke of the importance of the tasks she entrusted to them and their vital importance to the Realm, while
assigning them unimportant duties and makework. Since her disappearance, the society has descended into
pointless squabbling, although a small group has approached the prefect of Scarlet Prefecture and the Imperial
City’s governor, quietly offering support should civil war break out.

The Cabal of Righteous Midwives: Summoning neomah to create children is a disreputable practice within
the Realm, with the exception of the Precedent of Rawar (Dragon-Blooded, p. 98). This isn’t purely irrational
prejudice — a novice summoner who ill understands the nature of the demon she summons may issue instruc-
tions it cannot properly comprehend or adequately fulfill, and even the makers of flesh can suffer the occasional
mishap. However, for sterile Dynasts or those in same-sex marriages, the demons’ service is among the only
ways to have children of their own bloodline. The Cabal of Righteous Midwives offers such Dynasts their dis-
tinctive services. Specialists in binding neomah, they study the demons’ alien psychologies to avoid common
pitfalls and consult Immaculate monks for scriptural guidance. The price for their services is steep, even for a
Dynast, yet they rarely want for paying clients.

The Watchers: The Empress commissioned the Watchers to police their brethren for reckless demon summon-
ing, infernalism, or spiritual corruption. While Imperial law and Immaculate orthodoxy permits Dragon-Blood-
ed to summon demons, the Empress had no tolerance for sorcerers whose folly led to demons wreaking
havoc, nor for traitors who’d serve the demon princes. The Watchers gathered evidence on suspect sorcerers
and turned it over to the Empress to dispense punishment. Now, no one knows who the Watchers are or what
they’re doing. They’ve become bogeymen for Dynastic sorcerers, who whisper that mysterious deaths among
their ranks are a sign that the Watchers have taken punishment into their own hands.

proximity to sorcery. Since the Empress’ disappearance, ensures that the Treasury mints coins of the proper
she spends much of her time being fêted and plied with weight, tests the purity of silver taxed from the satra-
gifts — both by senators seeking information on the pies by the Bursars of Barbarian Tribute, and verifies
capabilities of sorcerers with outstanding Obligations, the quality of the paper on which the Imperial Purse
and by those same sorcerers wishing her to downplay prints paper notes.
their capabilities.
Corruption has been a perennial problem within this
The Righteous and Accountable Ministry of ministry. Its activities are highly decentralized, and
Weights and Measures enabling fraud can be profitable for officials at every
The Ministry of Weights and Measures is responsible level. Magistrates and their archons once regularly in-
for standardized measures of weight and distance in vestigated local offices, but they currently have bigger
commerce and public works. Its local offices perform problems.
spot inspections on merchants’ scales and weights to
prevent chicanery, survey properties for purposes of The Keeper of Perfected Measures is White Sage, a pa-
taxation and land disputes, ensure that uniform mea- trician-born Exalt fostered with House Peleps. Her own
sures are used in construction, and so forth. efforts to stamp out corruption led to an assassination
attempt involving paralytic nerve toxin, which left her
The ministry oversees measurement in several other with a nervous tic and growing paranoia. In the past
ministries. Most notably, it validates territorial bound- year, she’s dismissed several experienced officials, in-
aries for purposes of taxation and legal jurisdiction, sisting that they were in league with the Great Houses.

55
EX3
 THE REALM

It’s difficult to say whether this is delusion on her part Manse, others challenged her authority. As she consoli-
or if the houses really are growing bolder in their efforts dated power, she sought eyes and ears to observe where
to defraud the Realm. she could not. It was insufficient for her enemies to fear
the possibility of her retribution; they needed to under-
The Splendid and Just Arbiters of Purpose stand that reprisal was inevitable should they challenge
The Splendid and Just Arbiters of Purpose are tasked her supremacy. The Eye and its reputation were key
with finding, gathering (or, in the case of slaves, pur- to maintaining this status quo. Over the years, the Eye
chasing), and looking after lost eggs from the moment — part intelligence network, part secret police — grew
they draw their Second Breath until they find their into an empire-spanning shadow. Today, its reach ex-
place in the Realm. The dragon’s share of their work tends not only across the Blessed Isle and its satrapies,
concerns outcastes from the Realm’s peasant, slave, but throughout the civilized world.
and dispossessed populations, who are declared wards
of the Realm and brought to study at the Arbiters’ Organization
headquarters, the Obsidian Mirror. (Exalted patricians
technically fall within the ministry’s ambit, but their Officially, the All-Seeing Eye doesn’t exist, being little
education is typically handled by agreements between more than a fantastic figment of public imagination
patrician families and Great Houses.) to keep the Empress’ enemies perpetually wondering
about their own security. In truth, its charter dates back
These outcastes receive basic education they lack due to to the Realm’s earliest years, and for seven centuries its
their upbringing, such as etiquette and customs. However, leadership reported directly to the Empress.
this education is mostly about unlearning what they were
taught about their place in the world. These are no longer The Eye’s organizational structure has always been de-
commoners, but Princes of the Earth. Arbiters meet with liberately loose and informal. No official headquarters
outcastes individually to monitor their progress and pre- building houses the Empress’ spies; no bureaucracy di-
pare them to make their choice between the coin and the rects its operations. Rarely could any given agent easily
razor (Dragon-Blooded, p. 101). identify others in the Empress’ personal employ.
The current Master of Orphans is Agama Orir, a Wood Agents of the All-Seeing Eye are responsible for “the
Aspect outcaste who took the coin and returned to the continued prosperity of the Realm and its Princes of the
Mirror after his military career. He has a mortal wife Earth,” a mission sufficiently broad that it’s interpreted
and two children, but is involved in a longstanding love in numerous ways. The Eye follows the letter of the law
affair with Tepet Kyvul, his former commanding officer, if it must, and the spirit so long as that doesn’t interfere
and has steered several outcastes toward the tattered with its greater directive. The Empress’s secret police
Tepet legions. Wary of this sentimentality, rival houses are rarely the sort of people the public would expect
want him replaced. Some seek to eliminate the Arbiters to be in her employ. An agent of the Eye could be a
completely, placing control of the lost eggs into the village elder, trusted military officer, Immaculate monk,
Great Houses’ hands. So far, such ambitions have been favored concubine, or flower girl who always has a par-
checked by House Mnemon, which has little interest in ticular patrician’s favorite perennial.
adopting thin-blooded outcastes and would rather keep
lost eggs out of rival houses’ hands.

THE EYE GUIDES THE HUNT

The All-Seeing Eye
The All-Seeing Eye’s mission includes coordinating
Everyone’s heard of the All-Seeing Eye. Dynasts watch logistics for Wyld Hunts, deploying its skills and
warily over their shoulder for its agents, while adven- connections to eradicate Anathema. It employs a
ture novels using the Eye as a colorful backdrop are small but widespread network of mortal astrolo-
popular amongst impressionable youngsters. The Eye’s gers — and other informants with more mundane
agents and handlers encourage this awareness and skills — throughout the Threshold, whose sole ob-
low-level paranoia. They’re an open secret by design, jective is to watch for signs of Anathema activity.
which gave the Empress the ability to control what Since the Empress’s disappearance, reconnais-
information about the organization entered the public sance missions and surgical strikes have become
consciousness. more common than pitched battles, as the Great
Houses withdraw support from the Hunt to prepare
The All-Seeing Eye is nearly as old as the Realm. Even for other conflicts.
after the Empress assumed control over the Imperial

56
EX3
Structure of the Eye
The All-Seeing Eye operates in small
cells, each led by a handler. Handlers
— a cross between supervisors and
middlemen — are almost invariably
mortal sorcerers or Dragon-Blooded.
It’s a handler’s responsibility to dis-
tribute tasks among her agents, make
command decisions in the field, evalu-
ate information her agents gather, and
report relevant data back to her own
supervisor, one of the Eye’s intelligenc-
ers. Due to the sensitive nature of their
work, it’s rare that a handler oversees
more than half a dozen agents.

Intelligencers once reported directly

to the Empress through ciphered
messages, trusted couriers, sorcery,
and more esoteric channels. Although
each intelligencer directs several
handlers, she works independently
of the others, so that a compromised
intelligencer only jeopardizes her own
handlers’ cells.

Most agents have regular lives com-

pletely separate from fieldwork. They
aren’t merely encouraged but expected
to live out those identities normally, as
though they’d never heard of the All-
Seeing Eye. While some agents make
a career of spycraft, many go years at
a time without ever hearing from their
handlers — but are expected to report
for duty when required.

A handful of agents are Dragon-

Blooded career field operatives tasked
with eliminating threats to the Realm
too subtle or time-sensitive for a
large-scale response, or where such
a response might cause widespread
public panic. They’re highly special-
ized in their chosen talents, martially
proficient, well-funded, and well-out-
fitted. Each agent is entirely capable of
working alone; it’s often a requirement
of their missions.

Each agent maintains a personal

network of assets. Like agents, assets
can be anyone at all, but they aren’t
officially part of the All-Seeing Eye.
They see no telltale mark left on a
table for their benefit; they’re given
 THE REALM

no secret handshake or code, and often never realize her, the intelligencers that supervise the Eye’s assets
the import of the information they pass along. A wise are uncertain to whom they should report and what
agent cultivates her web of assets; they’re her lifeblood, they should be reporting, while some handlers and field
and they sometimes have access to information she agents consider directing their skills toward other ends.
doesn’t. Household servants, for example, see a great
deal because their presence is so often invisible to their One of the Eye’s strengths is the limited independence
betters. When an agent locates a person in a position to granted by its very nature. Individual cells can recruit
discover things she might want to know, and who could new operatives when the need arises — something the
be potentially bribed, blackmailed, or appealed to in magistrates cannot do — although this wasn’t nearly as
some fashion, she regards him as a potential asset. common five years ago as it is in the present day. Due to
the cell’s self-contained structure, agents who enter the
The Empress maintained an Eye presence in the River fold in this fashion are rarely able to do significant damage
Province, conducting misinformation campaigns and to the Eye as a whole should the worst happen — usually,
acts of espionage against Lookshy. The General Staff the direst consequence possible is that the informant’s
isn’t without resources of its own; its rangers are the cell is compromised by his actions. It’s more difficult in
Eye’s foremost rivals in the Scavenger Lands. Over the the current day to thoroughly investigate a given agent’s
years, this centuries-old grudge has been fought in background, especially when they’re recruited in the
the shadows of Nexus and Great Forks, among Sijan’s field, and the risk of recruiting a double agent is real.
tombs, and throughout the petty city-states of the However, many cells take the risk, confident they can
Hundred Kingdoms. deal with traitors in due time should the need arise.

Recruitment Without the ever-present specter of the Empress and

The Empress always handpicked the All-Seeing Eye’s the funds she once supplied, the Eye lacks much of
intelligencers, who promoted handlers from the ranks the impetus to continue its duties. This has disrupted
of their cells’ agents. In her absence, some intelligencers the flow of information, as many cells have gone dark
have begun training handlers to take on the intelligencer or outright rogue. Currently, the majority of the Eye’s
role, while other handlers — most notably those whose intelligencers and handlers have turned to Bal Keraz,
intelligencers have suffered misadventure — assume the head of the Imperial Treasury and a known loyalist of
post of their own initiative. the Empress, for funding and direction. But other cells
have gone their own way.
Each cell recruits its own agents. The traditional pro-
cess is simple: Once a handler decides that someone Some handlers and agents use their accumulated secrets
is sufficiently qualified and loyal to the Realm to bring and power to set themselves up as princes of their own
into her cell, she leaves him a token in the form of the petty holdings, be it a small city-state or an underworld
agency’s symbol — a single lidless eye. The recipient is network. Others, seeing the Realm in steadily increas-
then watched carefully. If he keeps quiet about the to- ing disarray as civil war approaches, cut their losses and
ken, he’s judged sufficiently taciturn to be trusted with associate themselves with powerful, wealthy patrons.
the Eye’s secrets, and is inducted into the cell. If he fails Still other agents, discovering the identities of their
to keep his cool and informs others of his discovery, she fellows, reach out to offer collaboration — or at least a
has him killed. convenient alliance. The operation of an intelligence
service of any kind, let alone one as extensive as the
As a result, the Eye’s symbol has been misinterpreted Eye, is quite costly, but while Keraz’s support is a viable
in the public consciousness as a token of assassination. solution, that support comes with conditions that some
The Eye does nothing to discourage this, and indeed agents are unwilling to accept.
occasionally leaves the sign when eliminating a target
to ensure that everyone knows that the victim had fallen
foul of the Eye. Unaffiliated murderers and assassins The Deliberative
who misuse the sign to transfer blame for their actions
The Deliberative is the Realm’s legislative body, creat-
to the Eye suffer swift, fatal retribution.
ed by Imperial decree in RY 103. Faced with growing
criticism after the failure of her final full-scale invasion
The Eye in Tumult of the Scavenger Lands, the Empress felt the need to ap-
pease malcontents at home and abroad, if only because
Five years after the Empress’s disappearance, the All- boiling them all in hot oil would have been impractical.
Seeing Eye fares better than the severely embattled Drawing on the traditions of the First Age, she created
magistrates, though it too is now in a state of disarray. a pair of grand forums: one for the Dynasty, another for
The Empress was the Eye’s true spymaster; without

58
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 C hapte r T wo : T he M achi n e r y o f E mpi r e

it, ringed by high brick walls, unfold the famously

BEHIND THE EYE serene Gardens of Peace and Law. They’re generously
strewn with pathways, little bridges, gazebos, and other
Few are aware that several of the Eye’s handlers features offering Deliberative members a quiet, private
belong to the disgraced House Iselsi. These spies place for contemplation and plotting.
funnel information to their house elders, and with-
out the Empress to leash them, they aim to suborn The Palace’s eastern wing houses the Deliberative’s le-
the rest of the Eye to the family’s service. gions of servants and staff, the barracks of the Guardians
of the Deliberative, storehouses, kitchens, and the like.
Fewer still have any inkling of the role the Bronze The western wing holds the grand entry hall, and also
Faction of the Sidereal Exalted has played in the contains residential quarters and various parlors, li-
Eye since its inception. A few Sidereals in deep braries, galleries, shrines, and recreational areas where
cover serve as intelligencers, deploying the Eye for Deliberative members can relax or debate. The south-
their own mysterious ends. ern wing houses the Great Hall of Most Inspired and
Noble Lawmaking, where the Greater Chamber per-
forms its labors. The northern wing houses the Hall of
patricians and allied dignitaries. Together, they used Contemplative and Prudent Debate, where the Lesser
ritualized debate to discern solutions for the problems Chamber is seated.
plaguing the Realm and its Empress.
In addition to proposing laws for the Empress’ consid-
The Deliberative wasn’t intended to have any meaning- eration, the Deliberative has numerous other privileges
ful role in crafting the Realm’s policy — the Empress’ and duties — appointing prefects, satrapial garrison
word was law, and she had no intention of surrendering commanders, Imperial judges, chief ministers, members
absolute authority. Instead, she crafted the Deliberative of the Imperial Force, and other high positions; pro-
to stem unrest and dissension amid the Realm’s nobility, claiming state holidays; sponsoring graduates of Pasiap’s
permitting them to propose laws for her consideration. Stair as legionary officers; and so forth. These powers
She appointed her loudest, most venomous critics to the were contingent on the Empress’ veto. Some things are
Deliberative, letting them debate policy and spout ora- beyond the Deliberative’s power — by law, they cannot
tory to their hearts’ content, turning their vitriol against renegotiate satrapial leases, elevate new Great Houses
each other rather than toward her. A handful of her own or strike existing houses from the Imperial ledgers, or
supporters seeded amongst them spoke up to derail ef- exercise other vital powers the Empress reserved for
forts towards consensus or compromise, ensuring that herself. Even with a compliant Regent, the Deliberative
laws proposed to her would have enough detractors has no authority over such matters.
that she could safely ignore them without political con-
The Deliberative notionally sits in session year-round,
sequences. The power wielded by the Deliberative was
but few members wish to commit their entire lives to
largely an illusion, but one that the Empress handled
politicking. By gentlewoman’s agreement, the legislative
with every sign of respect. What other tool would allow
season lasts from the start of Ascending Air to the end of
her to corral renegades with their proud consent?
Descending Wood. The Empress called sessions out of
Now the Empress is gone, and Regent Fokuf entertains season to respond to crises or for political expediency,
the Deliberative’s proposals lest he make an enemy of and any Deliberative member who didn’t hasten to her
any of the Great Houses. In the chaos of the Time of call risked expensive or humiliating punishments. It’s
Tumult, the Deliberative may be the single greatest inauspicious to hold session during Calibration. The
source of political power within the Realm. Deliberative’s size has varied over its centuries-long
history; at present, there are roughly 150 senators of
The Deliberative consists of two chambers, the Greater the Greater Chamber and 450 delegates of the Lesser
and the Lesser. Senators of the Greater Chamber and Chamber.
delegates of the Lesser Chamber meet in the Palace
of the Deliberative Senate of Exceedingly Judicious During sessions, some Deliberative members reside in
Nobles, a monumental structure that once stood outside the Palace of the Deliberative itself. Others reside else-
the Imperial City, but has since been absorbed by the where in the Imperial City, either with family — every
growing metropolis. Before the palace spread streets Great House has at least one family in permanent resi-
and plazas full of businesses catering to the needs of dence — or in private apartments, to avoid being spied
Deliberative members and their numerous staff. Behind on or to conceal scandalous proclivities.

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 THE REALM

The Greater Chamber is rife with factions and cliques

THE GUARDIANS OF THE DELIBERATIVE of senators. A house’s senators often vote together, but
with no house holding more than a small fraction of the
One thousand elite guards keep the peace in the Chamber’s seats, the formation (and frequent turnover)
Palace of the Deliberative. Ostensibly on hand to de- of broader coalitions is inevitable. Currently, the most
fend against assassins and insurrectionists, their prominent factions are the staunchly conservative Old
primary function is to protect rowdy Deliberative Dragons, the zealous Yellow Banner reformists, and
members from one another and enforce decrees Ragara Julinei’s loyalists, derisively nicknamed the Jade
of the Greater Chamber’s Guardian of Enlightened Eaters.
Discourse and the Lesser Chamber’s Protector of
the Debate. Outfitted in brass-chased lamellar and As candidates for the throne have stepped forward, new
purple half-capes, they bear ceremonial naginatas factions have arisen to support them, while existing
and more practical short swords. Their insignia is ones face unprecedented shakeups in the face of divid-
a dragon with a scroll clutched in its jaws. ed loyalties. The Old Dragons are torn between main-
taining the status quo in anticipation of the Empress’s
return and throwing their support behind Mnemon;
the Yellow Banners argue incessantly over whom to
The Greater Chamber back, though V’neef seems most likely; the Jade Eaters
are more concerned with preventing Julinei’s ouster.
The beating heart of Imperial politics, the Greater Some senators have broken from factional agendas, like
Chamber of the Deliberative is where the Realm’s the coalition of Old Dragons and Jade Eaters gathering
foremost orators and dignitaries meet to pontificate support for dark horse Sesus Raenyah.
and debate, to render wise counsel unto the Scarlet
Throne, and to determine Creation’s fate — the ideal to Proposed legislation enters the Greater Chamber as a
which this august body aspires, but rarely attains. Here, Declaration of Harmonious Intent, composed by the
Creation’s greatest schemers clash with hated cousins sponsoring senator and a pair of seconds. Declarations
in bitter warfare, only somewhat tempered by feigned must be hand delivered by their sponsors to the Master
civility. of the Deliberative at the beginning of the day’s session.
Being first in line is a great honor; latecomers face jeers
The Empress handpicked senators from the Great and abuse questioning the importance of legislation
Houses; they’re almost always Dragon-Blooded. whose sponsors couldn’t bother to present it in a timely
Appointment to the senate is an honor that cannot fashion. The session cannot commence until every
be refused. Many of the Dynasty’s most troublesome Declaration is received, and may stretch on into the
members found themselves “rewarded” with senatorial night. Flooding the Master of the Deliberative with friv-
appointments, drawn into the Imperial City under the olous Declarations to stall the opening of debate while
Empress’ eye. Since her disappearance, appointments winning over supporters isn’t unusual.
to the Greater Chamber are theoretically made by the
Regent, although in practice he’s a rubber stamp on rec- The Master of the Deliberative reads each Declaration
ommendations voted on by the Greater Chamber. The to the Greater Chamber in the order in which it was
post can only be resigned upon summary dismissal by received. She cannot officially refuse to present a
the Empress, exile, or death. Declaration, but may find faults — substantive, proce-
dural, or entirely pretextual — rendering one “unsuit-
The Master of the Deliberative, chief officer of the able” for presentation, accomplishing the same end.
Greater Chamber, oversees debate and has final say in After reading a Declaration, she calls a formal vote to
procedural matters. Almost always a woman, she’s elect- determine whether the Chamber will debate it. If a
ed for a yearly term by a two-thirds vote of the Greater simple majority agrees, the Declaration is burned in a
Chamber. The senators likewise elect an Incorruptible ceremonial brazier, and the Incorruptible Secretary
Secretary to tally all votes taken, and a Guardian of the adds it to the list of motions to be debated. If not, it’s
Enlightened Discourse to command the Guardians of returned to the sponsor as a badge of shame.
the Deliberative protecting the Greater Chamber. The
holders of any of these positions may be dismissed from After this voting concludes, debate formally opens,
office by a no-confidence vote, which can be called at any with the Master of the Deliberative choosing the or-
time. The current Master of the Deliberative — Ragara der in which legislation is discussed and voted on. A
Julinei, a vastly corrupt politician — fears the prospect Declaration’s sponsor introduces it. Once she concludes
of a no-confidence vote more with each passing day. her speech, the rest of the Greater Chamber may join in,
with the speaking order chosen by the Master. No time

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 C hapte r T wo : T he M achi n e r y o f E mpi r e

limits are imposed, and filibustering sessions can last motion is defeated, it’s returned to the Greater Chamber
for days. If debate stalls, the motion can be tabled until in the form of a scroll bound with twined black and red
an agreed-upon date later in the legislative session. ribbons.
Otherwise, once debate concludes, the senators vote on
the motion. If it passes by a simple majority, it descends Given the Greater Chamber’s control of appointments
to the Lower Chamber, to dare their disapproval. and the difficulty of voting down a motion, the Lesser
Chamber might be expected to serve as a rubber stamp
A senator can freely skip a day’s session with little on the Greater Chamber. But the Lesser Chamber’s
consequence, but while month-long absences aren’t un- delegates have little love for the Greater Chamber —
heard of, the Empress frowned upon such dereliction, and though the Greater Chamber fills their ranks, it
and kept tabs on any senator who took too much leave. has no power to dismiss them. Debates over legislation
Even after her disappearance, lengthy absence from the can be lengthy and contentious even if the proposed
Greater Chamber subjects the delinquent senator to law isn’t particularly controversial, as delegates seize
steep political and social costs. the opportunity to demonstrate skill at oratory and
statesmanship. Matters of overwhelming importance
The Lesser Chamber to the Realm might pass unobstructed, and bribes from
senators or interested houses can grease the wheels, but
Delegates to the Lesser Chamber of the Deliberative are beyond that, the Lesser Chamber doesn’t shrink from
selected by the Greater Chamber from patrician fami- voting down the Greater Chamber’s proposals.
lies, wealthy peasant merchants, and satrapial nobility.
Dragon-Blooded patricians, outcastes, and cadet branch Passage into Law
members are influential but rare. The ideal delegate, in
the Greater Chamber’s eyes, is pliable, wealthy, and use- Once the Lesser Chamber approves a motion, it tradi-
ful to her betters; much horse-trading occurs between tionally requires the Empress’ approval to become law.
senators when a vacancy opens in the Lesser Chamber, She wielded her power of veto freely and fearlessly. Only
each seeking to reward favorites with positions of pow- a nigh-unanimous vote of the entire Deliberative could
er, or keep potential enemies under her watch. While overturn her veto — one dissenting vote was allowed in
the Greater Chamber elects delegates, only the Empress each Chamber.
has the power to dismiss them.
Regent Fokuf notionally holds the same power, but
Delegates elect a Master of the Lesser Chamber to while he may be a man and a fool, even he is well aware
oversee debate, a Scrupulous Monitor of the Will of the of how tenuous his position is, and how easy it would
People to tally votes, and a Protector of the Debate to be for any of the Great Houses to have him assassinated
oversee the Guardians of the Deliberative protecting were he to frustrate legislation aligned with their inter-
the Lesser Chamber. The current Master of the Lesser ests. Besides, lawmaking holds no interest for him — it’s
Chamber is Tide Lojan, daughter of a distinguished easier to let the Deliberative attend to that, and enjoy
patrician family that’s enjoyed House Peleps’ patronage his sinecure.
for decades. Her mother, the indefatigable negotiator
Tide Miren, once held the same post; Lojan trades ag-
gressively on her mother’s accumulated favors — and DELIBERATIVE ATTIRE
her knowledge of where the bodies are buried.
Senators wear extravagant white silk robes,
The Lesser Chamber can’t introduce motions, voting trimmed with scarlet signifying their devotion to
only on legislation passed down from the Greater the Empress; many also wear colored sashes to
Chamber. The Master of the Lesser Chamber solemnly indicate their factional affiliation. Delegates wear
reads each motion, then opens debate. In theory, the gray and scarlet robes. Each of the Deliberative’s
Master controls the order of speakers; in practice, officers wears a ceremonial cape, its pattern and
debate in the Lesser Chamber rapidly devolves into colors unique to her position. Failure to wear one’s
a shouting match. Any delegate may call for a vote on official garb bars Deliberative members from at-
the motion at any point, although the Master and two- tendance; wearing shabby robes is a grave insult
thirds of the delegates must approve the request. Once to both Deliberative and Empress. The expense of
a vote is called, the motion passes and is sent on to the maintaining one’s wardrobe is yet another distrac-
Empress — now the Regent — for consideration unless tion the Empress imposed on potential enemies.
two-thirds of the Lesser Chamber votes against it. If the

61
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Money and the Realm pay scales among those in her service, adjusting tax rates,
tweaking Great House stipends to induce houses to
The Empress was the wealthiest person in Creation. The raise or lower prefectural taxes, grain doles to alleviate
Imperial Treasury, which drew in half the world’s riches, famine, and positioning legions or fleets to expand local
was hers to spend as she saw fit. She fueled markets by economies. While the Realm always demanded jade, the
demanding taxes and tribute in jade and scrip, ensuring Empress sometimes stipulated a prefecture or satrapy
that selling goods and services to her soldiers and civil also provide specific other goods — silver, timber, cloth,
servants was more profitable than other ventures. Her tin, spices — to manipulate that province’s resources or
tools for manipulating those markets included altering fill a need on the Blessed Isle.

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 THE EMPRESS’ FUNERAL

One proposal that keeps coming before the Delib-

erative concerns a funeral for the Empress. This is
a complex matter. If she still lives, those who ap-
proved her funeral will surely earn her disfavor. If
she’s dead, her unpropitiated spirit might do great
harm, and failing to acknowledge her passing dis-
respects longstanding Dynastic tradition.

More practically, formal recognition of her death

further undercuts the status quo, whether to
strengthen the Deliberative’s role or to open the
way for claimants to the throne. And the Empress’
extravagant funeral, planned for centuries but
never really expected to occur, will cost enough
to bankrupt nations — enough to cripple even the
Thousand Scales’ budget.

REGENT TEPET FOKUF

The Council of the Empty Throne appointed the

mortal Tepet Fokuf as Regent of the Scarlet Throne,
a compromise choice acceptable to every Great
House except his own. While his kin pride them-
selves on honor and military acumen, Fokuf is an
embarrassment of a man, lacking ambition and
talent. He wasn’t always so, but it’s said that his
failure to Exalt broke his will and pride.

Neither Fokuf nor anyone else in the Realm in-

dulges the idea that he’s anything but a figurehead,
holding a post that exists solely to leverage au-
thority traditionally vested in the Empress alone.
He speaks with senators and prominent Dynasts
a few minutes each day, and issues whatever de-
crees they support. He spends most of his time
in his bedchamber in the Imperial Palace, mas-
turbating to passages of the Immaculate Texts
that concern lovemaking and eroticism. While the
Mouth of Peace has endorsed the act as a sincere,
if peculiar, show of devotion, she privately despises
the Regent — a mere mortal given authority over
the enlightened Dragon-Blooded, in violation of
the Perfected Hierarchy — and longs for the day
he dies. The peasantry express their contempt
The Empress was also the Realm’s premier creditor. more openly, muzzled only by the laws against
The Bank of the Scarlet Throne lent money to — or lèse-majesté; should widespread peasant revolts
invested in, or even outright subsidized — governments arise, deposing the Regent will doubtlessly be a
and commercial enterprises to stimulate manufacture central rallying cry.
and trade, and to bend local economies to her purposes. Only once has Fokuf dared sit on the Scarlet
With such funding, an iron foundry in chilly Astragal Throne. Whether the intertwined jade dragons that
fends off a new Guild-backed operation undercutting form the throne actually came to life and reject-
its prices. A wholesaler in the Lap markets V’neef ed him, or whether the pressures of rule simply
wines, strengthening the nascent house’s finances. A proved too much for him, none can say for sure.
pious banking family in Gentian imposes higher interest

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 THE REALM

CREDIT AND COIN

Commerce involves less hard currency than one might think. Credit — based on respectability and trust be-
tween equals — is the basis of exchange within the Dynasty’s tight-knit social networks, patrician houses,
urban mercantile classes, and peasant villages. Where trust ends, coin appears. It’s used to pay taxes and
rents, and to deal with traveling merchants, foreigners, and other persons of no account. Even when dealing
with foreigners, the wealthy prefer letters of credit, promissory notes, and other financial instruments to coffers
bulging with inconveniently heavy and conspicuous coin or scrip.

rates on adherents of the Intou heresy, encouraging demanding outrageous interest. And with Peleps and
River Province businesswomen toward Immaculate V’neef warring for dominance in the West, pirates raise
orthodoxy. a thousand sails: Northern merchants go a-reaving
along the White Sea coast to supplement their business
For centuries, Realm military policies created a fertile income, Azurite and River Province warships capture
environment for commerce. Scouring piracy from the merchant vessels, and impoverished fisherfolk and
Inland Sea to protect tribute convoys and Realm mer- indebted merchant captains alike form pirate enclaves
chants made travel safe enough for Threshold vessels amid islets off the Blessed Isle’s shores.
to travel without escort, lowering barriers to entry on
maritime trade. Extirpating banditry in prosperous, The Salt Rate
populous satrapies likewise encouraged overland trade,
as did laying roads down for the legions and tribute-lad- Salt is precious to the Realm. It’s a dietary necessity, a
en baggage trains. staple preservative, and bars passage to hungry ghosts.
But the Blessed Isle’s salt gods — hundreds of whom
Imperial fiscal policy wasn’t always gentle. Loan cove-
dwell along coasts and marshes, and in salt mines — are
nants proscribed trading with the Guild or competing
truculent, demanding sizable sacrifices from any who’d
with Realm industries, or demanded borrowers contract
gather significant quantities of salt. Centuries ago, the
with Realm merchants or purchase Imperial bonds. By
Empress compelled the salt gods to accept a single rate
raising interest rates to unsustainable levels, then of-
of sacrifice: the salt rate, then equivalent to two percent
fering to refinance, the Empress extracted political and
of the salt’s value.
economic concessions. And sometimes she deliberately
crippled satrapies with impossible debt by demanding The Empress pinned the loan rates of all banks in the
damages from conquered or rebellious tributaries to Realm to the salt rate by decree. She often changed the
pay military expenses, or compelling rulers to accept rate, either as a result of negotiations with salt gods or
loans at exorbitant rates they couldn’t repay. The results to manage the economy. It was four percent when she
— crumbling public works, unsustainable taxation, de- disappeared. Over the last five years, about half of the
basement of currency, banditry, famine, civil disorder, salt gods have diverged from the salt rate. Some have
openness to invasion — demonstrated that the Realm increased their demands, and regional banks and min-
didn’t need to dispatch legions to destroy its enemies. isterial branches have felt it best to follow suit. In other
instances where banks have raised rates, greedy salt
Eliminating debt was also useful. Canceling debts on
gods have eagerly followed. In both cases, it’s peasants
the wealthy freed them to make investments or indulge
and debtors who suffer.
in luxuries, rather than hoarding against the day their
debts were called in. Loan amnesties among peasants
and satrapial commoners ended uprisings at a stroke. Finance in the Time of Tumult
House Ragara always hated this power, and fears its use
in another’s hands. With the Empress gone, more and more satrapies stop
paying tribute. As the Realm swallows up less of the
Though the Empress’ methods could be cruel or de- Threshold’s treasure, the economies of the richest lands
structive, and impoverished the Threshold to enrich beyond the Inland Sea blossom as they haven’t in cen-
the Blessed Isle, commerce suffers throughout Creation turies. Some enrich themselves by exploiting native re-
without her hand on the tiller. With the Imperial sources; others through trade; and some by conquering
Treasury shying away from risky loans, ambitious or des- neighbors no longer under Imperial protection, batten-
perate merchants turn to Ragara or Guild moneylenders ing off others’ resources as the Realm has for centuries.

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 C hapte r T wo : T he M achi n e r y o f E mpi r e

INTEREST AND THE IMMACULATE ORDER

The Immaculate Order doesn’t object to interest-bearing loans in and of themselves, but predatory loans are
another matter. The Order opposes lending that crosses class boundaries. Poor peasants, unable to understand
the intricacies of patrician and Dynastic financial instruments, cannot help but be taken advantage of. Like the
Inconsiderate Horseman, the creditor acts without care for the harm she causes the debtor.

Immaculate disapproval goes both ways, however. A debtor knowingly accepting a loan beyond her current
means to repay indicates that, like the Ostentatious Peasant, she expects her fortunes to change for the better.
Yet all members of the Perfected Hierarchy should accept the lot offered them by the Dragons. In such circum-
stances, the victim receives as much blame as the perpetrator.

Still, none are certain the Realm’s power won’t rise exclusively in jade and silver specie. To meet the need,
again under a new Empress, or that civil war won’t cut satrapies are sucked dry of resources, while countless
a fiery swath through the Threshold. All remain wary slaves are forced into mines to die in the dark. Realm
of Dynastic military might; with no Empress in control, currency disappears from less-valuable satrapies as
who knows when that power might be turned against Imperial troops are withdrawn. The houses venture
them? farther afield for precious metals, most notably Peleps
and V’neef campaigning in the West.
Creditors are calling in debts now, before debtors die, go
bankrupt, or obtain leverage to refuse payment. While The chaos of economic unrest is a godsend for ambi-
patrician families accept quasi-feudal obligations to tious Dragon-Blooded and Anathema alike. A Dynast
protect them from their creditors, peasants find them- buys up businesses and merchandise on the cheap in
selves dispossessed, becoming laborers, bandits, pirates, an endangered city-state, then recoups their value by
or rebels. rescuing the city. Starting with a single vessel, a pi-
rate-hunter captures enough ships to form an armada.
With civility between the Great Houses breaking down, A caravan master’s sword arm, stealth, or silver tongue
faith in the stability of the Empress’ Private Purse safely brings priceless cargoes across trade routes too
dwindling, and growing fears that war will invalidate ravaged by war or banditry for lesser merchants to pass
the Realm’s credit systems, many officials, merchants, unscathed.
and crime bosses demand taxes and prices be paid

65
EX3
Clouds hung low on the mountains’ slopes, obscuring the peaks. Nellens Tregane had been watching
them since the sun rose, when they’d turned the pale pink of a lover’s fleeting blush. The sun climbed
higher, and they were nothing but gray again. At least now they matched her mood.
Tregane and her unit had been marching along this steeply winding path, following Juche
Prefecture’s border since well before dawn. They’d searched for three days to no avail, though her
peasant scouts swore the bandits who’d been troubling the area were close by. They showed her
scraps of fabric snagged on thorns, the damp remains of snuffed-out campfires, and wood shavings
that suggested her quarry were carving new spears.
To kill more of us, she thought, and glanced back at the scale of Nellens soldiers from the Juche
garrison, all following her, waiting for her next command. She managed not to grimace. People
thought of Juche as safe, but that was in the river valleys, where crops grew and cities and towns
thrived. Out here, they were nearly in the wild. She couldn’t help but wonder whether her scouts were
reliable. They were hunters and trappers with little need for her coin or her promises to inform the
prefect of their helpfulness.
If only she knew what the Ledaal troops in Arjuf and Turu had found! Rarely did she permit herself
to wish she’d Exalted like her sister, but in this moment, she would have given much to attach a
message to an arrow and shoot it over the mountains to reach the Ledaal unit. Or to whisper a word
into the wind and have it reach the Ledaal commander’s ears.
Then the trees rustled, and formerly solid-looking patches of ground shuddered and rose, revealing
nearly three dozen men and women dressed in the greens and browns of the surrounding forest. The
air whistled, and Tregane heard the awful, final, sound of a spear hitting home. Her soldier hit the
ground before Tregane could spin to see who it was.
Who they were. Because it wasn’t one spear that had hit so loudly, but three burying themselves
simultaneously in their targets. Her other soldiers stood, weapons drawn, grim-faced and
determined. They’re awaiting my orders. She should have seen this coming and, like mighty Daana’d,
switched course. But she hadn’t. They’d taken an officer of the Nellens legions by surprise, and three
of her soldiers were dead.
“Talonlord?” asked one of the survivors, softly.
She’d trained for this. A scenario just like this had been one of her drills. She groped for the
appropriate strategy, but her mind only coughed up that last thunk, and a prayer for the dead.
“We’ll take your weapons, for a start,” said one of the bandits. “And your armor. Whoever we decide
can live can march back to Juche naked to deliver our regards, so get your best bribes ready.”
“Talonlord Tregane. Your orders.” She knew that grizzled voice. One of her scalelords. A woman
who’d marched in many campaigns, and was about to die on this no-name road, killed by bandits.
Avara, that was her name. But Tregane still couldn’t answer.
“Right,” said Avara. Then, louder, “Soldiers, to me.” The unit responded immediately, obeying Avara’s
commands. Tregane followed them herself, drawing her sword at last and swinging it wherever
Avara told her to. On Avara’s word, a handful of soldiers surrounded Tregane, carving their way past
the bandits and out of their trap.
It wasn’t until they were a mile down the road that the sound of those left behind to fight faded away.
“I’m sorry,” Tregane said, “I don’t know what happened.”
“You froze,” said Avara. “It won’t happen again.”
That was an order, too. One Tregane intended to obey.

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 Chapter Three

The Might
of the Realm
Once it became clear that the Empress was truly gone
The Imperial Legions and the throne open to whomever could claim it, var-
ious factions in the Realm’s government — the Great
For centuries, the Scarlet Realm’s legions were the
Houses, ministries, and All-Seeing Eye — deemed it
Empress’ boot on the throat of the world. No other
essential to break the Imperial legions’ power before an
fighting force matches their numbers, resources, or
outcaste general seized the throne in a military coup. To
discipline. Subjugating the Threshold, they defended
decentralize military power so that no one conspirator
the satrapies from hostile neighbors, while suppressing
might wield the army against the others, not to mention
internal threats — banditry, peasant uprisings, rebel-
ridding the ministries of a long-resented expense, they
lious lords, and heretical movements. Led by thousands
divided the legions among the houses. Each argued for
of Princes of the Earth, the Imperial legions were all but
a share, backing those arguments with political leverage
invincible. But since the Empress vanished, the legions
— favors, blackmail, bribes, and extortion.
have been carved up among the Great Houses, their bat-
tle-hardened leaders replaced by political appointees. The plan went into effect in RY 763 at the Celebration
Though still deadly, the legions are now brittle blades of the Seven Shattered Helms, a traditional festival
that may be turned against one another in the Realm’s wherein the legions’ elite troops paraded before the
escalating internal strife. Empress at the Imperial Palace’s gates to receive her
approbation. This time, they were met by the chief of the
History of the Legions Imperial Treasury, who informed the assembled gener-
als that the throne could no longer afford the expense
After conquering the Blessed Isle with a patchwork of of an Imperial military — and indeed, hadn’t the legions
remnant Shogunate forces, local auxiliaries, conscripts, outlived their usefulness? Surely the Threshold’s bar-
and militias, the Empress rebuilt her military from the barians now knew better than to trouble the Realm;
ground up. Based loosely on Shogunate military hierar- surely fear of Imperial retribution had settled into
chies, units were of fixed size and structure, funded by their bones, bowing them down for millennia to come.
the Imperial Treasury, and served the throne rather than Troops loyal to the Great Houses, backed by numerous
individual generals, families, or local governments. The sorcerers, encircled the plaza lest the generals thought
new legions were staffed with the most talented officers to dispute matters.
available. Initially these were survivors of the Blessed
Isle’s ancient, reputable Shogunate gentes. Later, as the Once the houses apportioned the legions between
Realm’s political fabric changed, some came from the them, they purged their new forces of disloyal elements.
Great Houses, but most were outcastes with no place Hardline Imperial supporters, partisans of rival houses,
in Realm politics. Handpicked by the Empress and her and prominent outcastes were removed from the upper
staff, they were loyal to her alone. ranks. Some were simply dismissed, others framed for
criminal acts, and a few murdered outright. These were
The number of legions varied with the political and eco- replaced by loyal scions of the sponsoring houses. The
nomic climate. Legions were decommissioned in peace- Empress’ personal military staff suffered similarly. Of
time; new legions were raised or old ones reconstituted her nine Crown Marshals — responsible for refining the
amid expansion or rebellion. The Realm saw as many Empress’ war plans — two were executed on trumped-
as 81 legions under the Imperial banner, though that up charges, and a third imprisoned at the Imperial gaol
number fell to 40 by the time the Empress disappeared. Ice-Above-the-Water. The rest have gone into hiding.

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Roughly 10,000 more soldiers deserted the remaining

HOUSE FORCES units during the changeover. Many have been caught,
though some prefects quietly free them or offer them
Cathak: 8 legions. posts in house legions in exchange for pardon, rather
than turn them over to another house’s military justice
Cynis: 3 legions. or the Imperial courts. Thousands more remain at large.
Some turn to banditry, making travel in the Blessed Isle
Ledaal: 3 legions. more dangerous than it’s been for centuries. Others,
including numerous outcastes, remain unaccounted
Mnemon: 5 legions.
for. The Realm’s movers and shakers wonder if an
Nellens: 2 legions. Imperialist force — loyal not to any house, but to the
Empress, or simply to itself and its generals — has re-
Peleps: 4 legions, the Imperial Navy. constituted itself in secret.
Ragara: 3 legions.
House Militaries and Paramilitaries
Sesus: 7 legions.
Of the current Great Houses, only Cathak, Sesus, and
Tepet: 1 legion. Tepet held an Imperial remit to raise their own house
legions before the restructuring. These forces were
VÕneef: 2 legions, the Merchant Fleet.
trained in a manner similar to the Imperial legions,
Iselsi: No military. though never to quite the same quality — the throne
had access to the very best trainers and equipment in
Each house also has paramilitary forces. the Realm, and Imperial legions were perpetually bat-
tle-tested to a degree that house legions were not. The
latter were employed largely in safer postings and only
All this has hurt morale. The legionnaires recognize that intermittently sent into major battles against foreign
they now fight in service of one house or another’s for- militaries and Lunar hordes, minimizing risk to house
tunes, rather than for the good of the Realm. Desertion troops and scions. Cathak and Sesus merged their
rates are higher than at any point since the Unbroken old personal militaries with newly acquired Imperial
Rushes Rebellion, and insubordination a mounting legions, promoting house officers over career legion-
problem for inexperienced leaders unable to maintain naires to ensure loyal leadership.
order. The richest houses ameliorate these troubles by
In addition, each house has its own paramilitary forces
spending more on salary and supplies, but the benefits
outside of the legion structure. These forces — which
of such practices are both marginal and unsustainable.
serve primarily to garrison satrapies against rebels,
Dissolution and Desertion bandits, and Lunar hordes — are provided by the sa-
trap’s house, but the Empress traditionally assigned a
Seven full legions were disbanded after the purge.
garrison commander from a different house as a check
Soldiers from liquidated units were reassigned to other
on the satrap’s power. As the garrison leader’s authority
legions that were below full strength, while officers
is limited by lower-ranking garrison officers’ loyalty to
were either transferred or dismissed from service. A
the satrap’s house, it behooves her to recruit and train
few officers, seeing the writing on the wall, withdrew
local auxiliaries so she has troops she can rely on — but
with their most loyal soldiers to the Blessed Isle’s hin-
this risks strengthening the satrapy’s ability to revolt.
terlands or to the Scavenger Lands and other volatile
Threshold regions, there to carve out roles as brigands, Aside from garrison forces, each house maintains a
mercenaries, or princes. handful of small specialist units, ranging from Sesus
counterinsurgents specialized in espionage and coun-
One of the purportedly disbanded legions, the 17th
terespionage, to Mnemon siege engineers, to Peleps
“Sirocco” Legion led by the outcaste Saloy Hin, deserted
and V’neef marines skilled in ship-to-ship combat and
intact in its entirety, having been in the far South at the
amphibious assault. These forces vary greatly in qual-
time of the recall and refusing to heed the summons.
ity, from the deadly grace of the now-defunct Iselsi
Meanwhile, a full dragon of the 19th “Maelstrom” Legion,
ghostcutter corps to the mediocre training and morale
under the command of the outcaste Hanto Galina, reject-
of Ragara’s richly accoutered hireswords. Many such
ed the summons to return to the Blessed Isle. After over-
units were folded into the house legions; others remain
throwing the satrap of Fray deep in the Northeastern
independent of the legion structure.
forests, they installed Galina as their Empress.

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The Empress encouraged such behavior because it kept

HOUSE TEPET IN TUMULT the Great Houses aimed toward the Threshold instead
of the throne. Even so, she maintained limits on these
Three years ago, House Tepet’s military was little wars. She doled out newly captured satrapies as
crushed by the Anathema called the Bull of the she chose rather than leaving them to their captors, re-
North. What should have been a glorious victory stricted conflict between existing satrapies, and exact-
under house matriarch Tepet Usala was sabotaged ed terrible penalties when a house’s military adventures
by political machinations at home, set into motion harmed the Realm as a whole.
by the Empress before her disappearance, to un-
dercut a house at the pinnacle of its power. The Em- While the legions needed no pretext for conquest, the
press’ military staff provided false intelligence on Empress preferred a legitimate casus belli, as unprovoked
enemy numbers and disposition, while promising invasions meant stiffer resistance, stronger enemy allianc-
supplies and reinforcements that never came. es, and more rebellious subjugated populations. Offering
the throne an honorable way to bring its legions into the
Even so, the legions — first under Usala, with lead- field earned the Empress’ favor. But if a house’s military
ership passing after her death in the field to her adventurism weakened the Realm’s position, her displea-
second-in-command, the seasoned general Tepet sure was certain. Calling upon the throne for aid might
Arada — pressed deeper into the icy North than mean losing face, being stripped of the satrapy used as a
anyone expected, forcing the Bull to commit his en- staging area, or even executions of officials involved in the
tire force to the final battle. The Tepet legions came
debacle. But if she had to march the legions in without
within a hair’s breadth of victory — maiming the
being asked, the consequences were far greater.
Bull and his witch, slaying two others of his Circle,
and mauling his forces so badly that they’ve yet to
recover. But the Anathema won the so-called Battle Legion Structure
of Futile Blood in the end, butchering the legions
and slaughtering the cream of Tepet’s Exalted Infantry forms the legion’s core. Its main line of battle
champions. consists of 5,000 soldiers divided into 10 dragons, each
commanded by a dragonlord reporting to the legion’s
While no satrapial auxiliaries equaled the Tepet general. Each dragon is divided into two 250-strong
legions, many of Creation’s most skilled and ter- wings led by winglords; each wing is comprised of
rifying warriors hailed from Tepet satrapies or two talons directed by talonlords. A talon’s troops are
received training from its generals: Ithen’s ghost- subdivided into five scales, each 25 soldiers strong and
faced warriors, the ruthless battle-falconers of Ze- led by a scalelord. The scale is composed of five fangs
lion, and especially the brutal Medoan heavy caval-
commanded by noncommissioned fanglords.
ry. Medo’s janissary troops, trained from birth for
physical might, horsemanship, and skill at arms, Each senior officer — those ranked talonlord or higher
are all but fearless, knowing that bravery in battle
— has a second-in-command. These serve as deputies,
earns them an honored place among their clan’s
ready to assume the officer’s role if she dies, and to stand
ancestors. While they despise the Realm, they ad-
in for her when she’s on leave or detached duty. Senior
mire the Tepets as illustrious warriors, seeing the
house’s ideals as akin to their own. House Tepet officers are also accompanied by coteries of adjutants,
lost its legions, but may not be without allies in the including both insightful junior officers promoted to
coming civil war. serve as advisors, and fresh cadets who need seasoning.
Cadets traditionally served a stint on staff before they’re
deemed ready to accept a commission.

War Tourism Most legions employ six dragons of medium infantry

House militaries and paramilitaries are often tied up in and four of heavy infantry. Each legion is accompanied
small Threshold wars. Given the unpredictable profit by four to six dragons’ worth of skirmishers — archers,
margin of controlling a satrapy — a house might lose javelineers, slingers — to scout, harry enemy forma-
more than it gains due to famine, pestilence, rebellion, tions, and tie up opposing skirmishers and cavalry.
exhaustion of natural resources, or other troubles — al- Skirmishers receive roughly half legionnaires’ pay,
ternative income streams were invaluable. It was com- have lower status, and are largely deemed expendable.
mon for a house to compensate for shortfalls by attacking Legions fielded in the Threshold are also reinforced by
Threshold peoples outside the Realm’s sphere and gath- auxiliaries (p. XX).
ering spoils of war — captured treasuries, urban plunder,
and prisoners to sell to House Cynis and Guild slavers. Generals typically assemble the dragons under their
command into ad-hoc formations called flights. Each

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flight is commanded by its most senior dragonlord.

THE STANDARD
These numbers are largely theoretical. In peacetime,
as much as 20 percent of a legion’s strength may be
Every unit of talon size or larger carries a stan-
unavailable due to troops on leave or detached duty. dard. This unique, elaborately worked draconic
Numbers can drop even more precipitously in wartime, shape — sometimes of gilded wood or chrysele-
when there aren’t always enough competent skirmish- phantine, but usually bronze, silver, copper, or
ers or recruits available to replace casualties. brass — is mounted atop a pole and carried by a
standard-bearer. To the legionnaires, it’s a symbol
Unit Designations and Traditions of their courage, honor, luck, and pride. The stan-
Each unit has a numerical designation, such as: “12th dard serves as a rallying point in the thick of bat-
Legion, Eighth Dragon, Second Wing, First Talon, tle. Losing the standard is deeply shameful for the
Second Scale, Fourth Fang.” Full designations are entire unit, especially for the standard-bearer; her
mostly for ceremony and paperwork. “Second Scale, ignominy will pursue her for the rest of her career,
advance!” suffices on the field of battle. unless she retrieves the standard herself.

However, all but the greenest units, down to the talon,

possess nicknames bestowed for colorful achievements
in their history. For instance, the Wolf-Pelt Dragon dis- guard. Similarly, governors, prefects, and other officials
tinguished itself against the wise beasts of the Uskwood; select local peasants for recruitment, offering letters
a scrap of century-old fur still dangles from its standard. of recommendation to officers in their social circle.
Gallevo Faren led the remnants of what is now Faren’s Individuals thus recommended bypass a stint among
Wing out of a Delzahn ambush. The Bloody Crown the skirmishers and move directly into the ranks.
Talon slew the last outcaste queen of Psalter.
A patrician or mortal Dynast enrolling as a foot soldier
Nicknames are only supplanted by truly astonishing is a rare folly. The Blessed Isle’s Dragon-Blooded never
achievements, or stricken for mutiny, treachery, or enter the ranks at all. Should a Prince of the Earth enlist
other dire circumstances — such as when several units as a dramatic gesture, it’s not taken seriously; the oath
nicknamed after Manosque heroes became nameless doesn’t bind her, and she may depart as she pleases.
after that house’s fall.
On rare occasions when a Threshold outcaste seeks to
join the Realm via the legions, she must first lead auxil-
The Rank and File iary troops for a time — perhaps years — while Imperial
officers gauge her mettle. If found suitable, she enters
Not every legionnaire was born on the Blessed Isle. the legions as a foot soldier to aid in acculturation
Legions recruit locally to fill gaps in the ranks, whether and teach humility in the face of Dynastic superiors.
on the Isle, among the satrapies, or beyond the bounds However, such outcastes are quickly promoted out of
of empire. No matter who the recruit was before taking the ranks.
her oath, she’s a legionnaire now, and citizenship in
the Realm’s peasant class awaits her after her term of Training and Equipment
service. Most start as skirmishers, advancing into the Legionnaires follow a grueling training regimen
legions proper to replace retirees and the fallen. throughout the year. This includes marching for hours
in close formation, sprinting, jumping, climbing, carry-
Legions conscript unwilling soldiers only in extremis, as ing heavy loads, and swimming when a body of water is
loyalty to one’s sisters-in-arms is paramount. Enlistees available.
must meet basic standards of height, weight, strength,
and stamina. Major physical or mental disabilities dis- Each legionnaire must know the proper use of her
qualify recruits, and neither outlaws, the dispossessed, weapons — spear, sword, shield, and dagger. She must
nor slaves may take the oath. Officers are loath to waive care for arms and armor in the field — removing rust
these rules for all but the largest bribes; their lives and and notches, repairing dents, replacing broken buckles,
reputations depend on their soldiers’ skill and loyalty. etc. (This isn’t a concern in barracks and billets, where
weapons are stored in armories for safekeeping, min-
Officers are responsible for recruiting among local peas- imizing theft, deaths in off-duty brawls, and mutiny.)
ants even while off-duty, selecting noteworthy physical Other equipment, such as clothing, shovels, cooking
specimens, or individuals reputed for skill or valor. gear, and cold-weather clothing, must also be carried
These typically enter the officer’s own unit or personal and maintained.

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While weapons training is important, it takes second

A FOOTSOLDIER WAKES place to fighting in formation. Legionnaires must
move and act as one under officers’ direction, neither
Tiding Light stirs just before dawn to the sound crowding one another nor spreading themselves so
of gongs, the regimental musicians’ reveille cut- thinly that enemies can push through their ranks. On
ting right through the leather tent. His joints and parade grounds and in the field, they practice marching
scars twinge as he rolls off his cot, reminding him in orderly rows or columns, wheeling, falling back, and
of a dozen years of marching and battle in the 19th establishing or changing formations such as the wedge
“Maelstrom” Legion. The five other men in his tent or defensive circle.
rise with him, bolting down mouthfuls of hardtack
softened in vinegary wine, and fumbling for un- Life in the Ranks
dergarments and tunics ripe with days of sweat; Though terrifying and bloody, combat is the smallest
Light hopes they camp by a river tomorrow, so he part of the legionnaire’s life. Most of her days are hard
can bathe and clean his garments. He quickly dons labor. When not training, she’s making and breaking
the rest of his gear — scarlet buff coat, boots, belt, camp, cooking for her fang, scrubbing pots, washing or
helmet, and Peleps badge. Sheathing his sword
mending clothes filthy from the trail, digging latrines,
and gathering up spear and shield, he follows his
hauling stones and lumber to build roads and bridges,
fanglord out into the gray light to fall in on the pa-
and heading out to scout or forage — taking care not
rade ground for the day’s orders, to be followed by
hours of camp duties, combat drills, and surprise to forget the day’s password. Entertainment is largely
inspections. But he smiles, knowing he has a li- limited to sports, gambling, gossip, storytelling, and
aison lined up between dinner and his round on horseplay.
night watch.
The legionnaire’s diet is mostly hardtack or porridge,
supplemented by beans and lentils, hard cheeses, and
preserved meat or fruit. Livestock in the train supply

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their lives against the mutiny.

THE LEGIONNAIRE’S OATH
Advancement and Retirement
“In the name of the Immaculate Dragons, I pledge Legionnaires are respected for service to the Realm.
my body, heart, and soul to the Empress, whom I They also have more opportunity for advancement
shall hold dearer than my own flesh and blood. I than civilians. All fanglords and many scalelords rose
swear to uphold the honor of the Upright Soldier; from the ranks, earning responsibility, higher pay, and
to purge myself of the serpents of treachery, the immunity from much day-to-day drudgework.
wolves of cowardice, and the raitons of dereliction;
and to revile as Anathema any sword-sister who The legions also reward soldiers commended for
harbors such a beast in her soul. If I am faithless, gallantry. These benefits include monetary bonuses,
I submit to such sanction as my Empress com- shares of plunder, decorations such as medallions or
mands — to be beaten, to be bound, to be burned, dragon-shaped diadems, promotions, and praise to
to be slain by the sword. If I am faithless, may my the senior officers’ connections and superiors in the
kin be consumed by poverty, plague, famine, and Dynasty — often the most valuable prize of all.
fire. If I am faithless, let my soul be reborn as a
weed, as a worm, as a shadow beneath the stone.” Over half of all legionnaires see the end of their 20-year
terms. The foreign-born retire as peasant citizens of
the Realm; they’re pointed toward lands held by their
officers’ families and supplied with a letter of endorse-
fresh meat in emergencies, while foraging provides
ment to obtain travel papers for the journey, although
greens, nuts, berries, wild game, and enemy livestock.
many choose to retire in cosmopolitan cities with com-
Individual soldiers or fangs procure such condiments as
munities from their native lands. There are no further
fish sauce or chili paste in allied settlements. Pillaging,
benefits beyond one’s military skills and the respect
of course, is a feast.
of one’s peers, though the wise have sent enough pay
Life is somewhat more comfortable when barracked or to their families over the years to fund a comfortable
billeted in friendly territories, where locals or legionary retirement, while generous officers provide loyal troops
slaves handle cooking and cleaning, and the legionnaire with dismissal bonuses.
can spend her salary on fresh food, good wine, cata-
Soldiers are rarely discharged before retirement, al-
mites, and courtesans — unless she’s lost it all gambling
though injury or chronic illness can cut a military ca-
with her shield-sisters.
reer short, as can disbanding a legion during peacetime.
Fraternization in the ranks isn’t forbidden, but neither These soldiers receive no benefits, but if they success-
is it encouraged; the legion has no use for pregnant sol- fully reenlist, prior years of service count toward the
diers. Low-quality maiden tea is available to all legion- length of their new term.
naires, and both female and male soldiers who don’t
avail themselves of it before liaisons are disciplined The Officer Corps
severely.
The legion’s chain of command is sacrosanct, pass-
As few things encourage mutiny more effectively than ing the general’s instructions on down to the troops
not paying one’s troops, the Empress was always prompt through 1,000 fanglords and every officer in between.
in supplying cash to the legions. The Great Houses can’t Commands are to be obeyed instantly and without
afford to be as assiduous. Many legionnaires grumble at question, though many new political appointees lack
delays. Some take what they will from locals through proper discipline; experienced superiors must treat
threats or force, and urban military actions in the them gently, lest house leaders disapprove of a favored
Threshold devolve more easily than before into looting scion going under the lash.
and plunder. Less-affluent houses worry what their
legions will do if funds run dry. While most fanglords and scalelords rose from the
ranks, mortal senior officers are largely patricians and
Still, the legions’ strict discipline largely holds matters Dynasts who’ve purchased commissions — formerly
in check. Lesser crimes, such as insubordination and from a branch of the Imperial Treasury, or more recent-
petty theft, are punished by scutwork, reduced rations, ly from the legion’s Great House. Some start as junior
denial of leave, fines, or whipping. Deserters are beaten officers; others begin on a senior officer’s personal staff,
to death by their own fangmates. A mutineer’s entire then are promoted directly to talonlord. No mortal has
fang is executed by the rest of the talon, though this ever become a general, and only the most brilliant and
punishment is waived for fangmates witnessed risking accomplished become dragonlords.

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When not on campaign, junior officers keep their troops

LEGION ENCAMPMENTS in line, preventing or quelling brawls, drunken scenes,
and other troublesome behavior. Meanwhile, senior
The legions follow strict regulations regarding en- officers represent the throne and participate in the
campment. At the end of any march, earthworks and local social scene, mingling with aristocrats, monks,
palisades go up immediately, while tents are raised and wealthy magnates at salons, banquets, festivals, and
in neatly organized grids. Watchtowers and pickets musical or theatrical performances. All are expected to
guard against enemy troops and scouts. Riverside remain neutral in matters of local politics while pre-
and coastal camps contain docks for riverboats or senting a cultured face — and obtaining supplies, billets,
Imperial Navy vessels. or recruits for the legion.

Over time, palisades give way to stone walls capped Rising or senior officers are quite marriageable, and
with artillery and pierced by fortified gatehouses, must fend off persistent invitations from households
within whose precincts rise barracks, bathhouses, pressing suit on a favored scion’s behalf. Dragon-
storehouses, and workshops. Many a Realm town Blooded and mortal Dynasts are especially tantalizing
or city began as such an encampment. targets for marriage and assignations, and must take
care not to be drawn into inappropriate liaisons that
might dilute their bloodlines. Peasant-born officers are
Dragon-Blooded dominate the highest officer ranks much quicker to accept such offers, should they arise.
through strength, skill, and seniority. A legion typ-
ically has 40 to 60 Dragon-Blooded, including the Foot soldiers have only limited ability to go on leave:
general, most or all senior officers, and many of their
seconds-in-command. Once, most were outcastes
sponsored by the Empress, seeking to raise their social LEGIONS AS BATTLE GROUPS
standing in a milieu dominated by the Dynasty. Many
outcastes have been dismissed in recent years to accom- In theory, nothing stops the Storyteller from throwing
modate political appointees from the Great Houses, but an entire legion at the PCs using the battle group sys-
the Deliberative still sponsors a trickle of candidates tem (Exalted, p. 205) as multiple Size 5 battle groups
from Pasiap’s Stair to fill gaps in the officer corps. led by dozens of individual Dragon-Blooded. In practice,
this would be a headache for the Storyteller and drag
Promotion was traditionally based on seniority, with on forever. Instead, it’s best to handle such a large-
especial success through gallantry or brilliance enabling scale military campaign as a succession of multiple
a swifter rise. But with the legions passing into house battles. A legion can be broken down into its dragons
control, family and school connections have gained (Size 4 battle groups led by four to six Dragon-Blood-
enormous weight. Now, wet-behind-the-ears officers ed), wings (Size 3-4 battle groups led by two or three
are placed above ancient outcastes with centuries of ex- Dragon-Blooded), talons (Size 3 battle groups led by a
perience, who can do little but smolder at the indignity. Dragon-Blood or mortal), scales (Size 2 battle groups
led by a mortal), and fangs (Size 1 battle groups led by
Upon retirement, officers receive a rank-based pension. a mortal), which the Storyteller can mix and match to
Especially high rank or meritorious performance earns create interesting battles along each step of the war.
other benefits at the Empress’ (now the Deliberative’s) Legionnaire battle groups usually have traits of bat-
discretion, such as elevation to the patriciate; warden- tle-ready troops (Exalted, p. 496) with average or elite
ship over estates, manses, or Imperial heirlooms; or Drill, the best using elite troop traits (Exalted, p. 497)
ministerial office. with elite Drill. They never have Might unless enhanced
by magic.
An Officer’s Life
A legionnaire battle group may be accompanied
In the field, junior officers share most of the rank and by a battle group of skirmishers, usually one dot
file’s hardships. A fanglord sleeps in her soldiers’ tent of Size lower. Most skirmishers have militia traits
and stands at their side in battle. But while senior (Exalted, p. 496) and poor or average drill, while
officers lead from the front — with concomitant ca- the best have medium cavalry traits (Exalted,
sualties — they have higher pay, better quarters and p. 497) and average or elite Drill. Local auxilia-
billets, superior cuisine, and their own personal staff, ries might also be fielded alongside legion battle
ranging from a talonlord’s valet to a general’s gaggle of groups. Their traits and Drill vary widely based on
aides-de-camp. origin.

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AN OFFICER WAKES

Well before dawn, Dragonlord Peleps Munadi rises from the silken pillows of her pavilion’s divan. Her slave valet brings
her an ewer and washbasin, then pins the tent flaps open so the crisp Northern breeze can sweep in past the guards.
The valet trims Munadi’s hair and dresses her in an azure chemise, charcoal trousers with silver piping, black leather
boots and baldric, a silver-inlaid breastplate, and a polished silver helmet in the shape of an eagle’s head. Taking up
and sheathing her daiklave, the dragonlord moves to her desk, where her valet sets out cheese and cold beef while an
aide-de-camp enters to lay out the latest dispatches from units on detached duty and from the general’s staff. She nods
grimly; as expected, the rebels are on the move. Orders will doubtless come to break camp today. Munadi sends a run-
ner to instruct her staff to attend her; she needs the dragon’s logistical issues shaken down by daybreak.

two days per month in the satrapies, or one month per Every senior officer employs a servant or slave. The
year on the Blessed Isle. Dynastic officers take longer general has a larger entourage — including aides-de-
furloughs to fulfill family responsibilities. Their sec- camp, valets, and a personal scale of elite bodyguards —
onds-in-command are breveted to their rank in their and directs other experts such as chirurgeons, diviners,
absence — an excellent opportunity for junior officers spies, and experts in local geography and culture.
to distinguish themselves.
Talons and larger units use musicians and flagbearers to
Support Staff handle military signaling. Drums, gongs, and semaphore
convey orders to advance, retreat, change formation, or
Legionnaires handle many support duties themselves. engage in other maneuvers. Officers dispatch more com-
In the field, each fang cooks, cleans, does laundry, and plex messages to one another with swift-heeled runners;
maintains its own gear. But other responsibilities re- high-endurance couriers or portable heliographs trans-
quire specialists. mit sealed or coded orders to other legions or garrisons.

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The legion also maintains from six to 30 talons of mil-

itary engineers. Exempt from combat, engineers draft TREASURES OF THE LEGIONS
legionnaires as laborers for a range of construction jobs
— camps, roads, bridges, fortifications, siege engines, Dragon-Blooded legionnaires frequently bear arti-
etc. In peacetime, legions are assigned such duties facts loaned by their houses, and are almost always
as building town walls, digging canals, and dredging allowed to retain them indefinitely. Outcastes are
harbors. sometimes loaned artifacts by superior officers, or
— for those demonstrating exceptional prowess —
Most legions have one or more sorcerers attached, the Empress herself. Artifacts can also be looted
usually outcastes whose gifts were fostered at Pasiap’s from enemies, commissioned from Dragon-Blood-
Stair. While their repertoires include flashy, destructive ed artificers, or forged personally.
battlefield spells, they’re equally valued for logistical
and strategic capabilities, such as sending instantaneous First Age relics, such as lightning ballistas and
messages to allied forces, spying on enemy generals, or warstriders, are dramatically rarer. While some
commanding the weather. Each sorcerer is assigned a Great Houses possess siege artifacts, none claim
scale of bodyguards for protection, supplemented by possession of a warstrider (at least, not openly).
demons, elementals, or other unnatural defenders. The Realm’s scarce handful belonged to the Em-
press; they’re kept in Imperial arsenal-manses
A handful of Immaculates accompanies each legion, when not fielded. Many such manses were acces-
offering spiritual guidance and leading religious rites. sible only by the Empress; the houses devote con-
They also advise in dealings with local spirits, supervise siderable efforts to prying them open.
burial rites, and watch for heresy among the troops.
Cults of war gods, Mela, or the Empress are regrettably
common. called on to fill specific battlefield roles, such as cavalry
to counteract the legions’ own lack of mounted forces.
Every legion has a supply and baggage train to herd live-
stock and to haul rations, water, armor, weapons, am- Some satrapies’ auxiliaries are notorious through-
munition, clothing, and other gear, not to mention the out the Threshold, such as Medoan heavy cavalry,
legion’s payroll and plunder. Smiths, bowyers, fletchers, Marukani horse-archers, Delzahn lancers, and Jiaran
and other artisans accompany the train. Supply wagons sword-dancers. Others are less renowned but equally
are driven by slaves, who are treated well — better than useful, especially in the right terrain — Tu’uri desert
skirmishers — lest they steal, abscond, or turn against warriors, Linowan foresters, Varangian engineers, and
their masters. The train is guarded by a wing of soldiers Baihu marines. But satrapies such as prostrate An-Teng,
commanded by the quartermaster, who ranks second decadent Luqai, or now-fallen Thorns have a reputation
only to the general, a recognition of the crucial role for mediocre troops that no general is eager to employ.
logistics have always played in the legions’ success. The
baggage train may number as much as a quarter of the Auxiliary forces are attached to flights at the gener-
legion’s strength. Arming them is a last-ditch measure, al’s discretion, where they have the lowest seniority.
reflecting poorly on the general’s abilities. They’re typically thrust into the worst fighting, as
Realm commanders would rather lose foreigners than
Imperial doctrine discourages the camp followers their own troops. Much like mercenaries, most are of
— spouses, catamites, liquor-sellers, drug dealers, questionable morale, and more likely than legionnaires
victualers, gamblers — that flock to the Threshold’s to rout or be distracted by plunder.
less-disciplined military forces. Nonetheless, reputable
merchants visiting the train can make enormous prof- Janissaries
its, minus bribes to the quartermaster to allow such Many auxiliaries, especially irregulars, can only remain
commerce. in the field for a few months at a time, as they’re needed
at home for agricultural and pastoral duties. But units
Auxiliaries belonging to standing armies can remain attached to the
legions for years, and are often employed thousands of
In Threshold campaigns, the legions supplement their miles from their homelands so they have no loyalties to
numbers with companies of auxiliaries. These are any local faction.
“borrowed” from a local ruler or satrap, though gener-
als occasionally conscript local irregulars. While wars The Realm typically arranges such deployments by de-
with major Threshold powers and Lunar hordes pull in manding tribute from a satrapy in the form of auxiliary
every auxiliary unit available, in most situations they’re soldiers. These janissaries serve in the legions for the

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duration of their indenture, typically a 10- or 20-year power, many of its settlements founded upon land it
term, after which they’re returned to their homelands. cleared from the wilderness.
Satrapies with strong military traditions often grow
more cosmopolitan over time as returning janissaries Sword-Saints of the Divine Tempest: One of the
bring back new tastes and new ideas. Caul’s longest-standing orders, the sword-saints strive
to attain perfection in all martial endeavors, spending
Martial Orders countless hours in weapon drills and memorizing the
Thousand Correct Actions. Their leaders, all Dynasts,
When the satrapies’ common folk face imminent peril, pride themselves on noble blood, a source of contention
Immaculate monks stand ready to offer what protection with humbler Caul-based orders such as the Penitent
they can. When that’s insufficient — when disorder Raitons and the Keepers of the Amber Tabernacle.
leaves no civil government ready to muster arms — an Since a disastrous defeat against an Anathema warlord
abbot or archimandrite may take matters into her own felled their leader, the order’s officers have begun du-
hands, organizing and training militias against bandits, eling amongst each other, to injury or to death, over
armies, or even the Anathema. who’ll take up the mantle of leadership.

Faced by persistent threats, such militias may be Mercenaries

formalized as martial orders, with soldiers dedicating
themselves to the Order as militant oblates. Where the Hiring mercenaries is a last-ditch tactic for the world’s
Empress deemed them useful, she officially acknowl- dominant military power. But sometimes a Dynast has
edged them as arms of the Realm — especially in the more money than political pull, and hired spears are
Caul, where the orders have supported holy war against better than none. House Ragara in particular relies
the Lunars for centuries. Others function without offi- heavily on mercenary troops. Most are less dependable
cial sanction. than even the weakest house legions, and more prone
to looting and treachery than peasant levies. However,
Some martial orders disperse after the threat precip- the Threshold’s most skilled and reputable mercenary
itating their foundation fades. Others persist. Such bands are a cut above their peers, and are more than
orders have been known to move to more troubled re- worth their exorbitant fees.
gions; turn their efforts toward charitable or missionary
functions; or even detach themselves from the Order The Empress forbade bringing companies of hired
entirely, becoming mercenaries or despots. These last soldiers to the Blessed Isle, lest they destabilize her
may well find themselves condemned by the Mouth of control of the heart of the world. With the Empress
Peace and opposed by a new martial order. gone and the magistrates harried, the Great Houses
now find it feasible to flout that restriction — as do pa-
Colcothar Wardens: This order was founded to trician families, mercantile consortiums, and criminal
guard pilgrims traveling the Colcothar Road through syndicates. Even so, employers find ways to disguise
the Eastern Threshold to the Immaculate shrine at their mercenaries’ provenance, whether as bodyguards
Firstfall, fending off bandits and wild beasts. Though or groundskeepers, as a fig leaf against magistrates’
the Colcothar Road has since become a much safer attention.
route, the Wardens remain active. They’ve developed
from a small group of bodyguards into a well-drilled Strategies and Tactics
force, employing guerilla tactics and their familiarity
with the Eastern jungles to undermine and exhaust The Realm military tends toward traditionalism.
enemy militaries. Failure using orthodox strategies can be blamed on
external factors, while failure with a novel strategy
Dragonguard of the Sacred Waters of Sextes Jylis:
falls entirely on you. But don’t mistake conservatism for
Once a force of local soldiers and mercenaries founded
ignorance! The Realm’s most brilliant Exalted military
to protect Immaculate monks and pilgrims in the near
scholars have spent centuries codifying tactics and lo-
North, the Dragonguard of the Sacred Waters was
gistical methods for future officers’ benefit. Nor should
decimated two centuries ago in the war against the
one mistake it for passivity. The legions are renowned
Anathema Jochim. With their Immaculate masters’
for speed and maneuverability; generals rely on light-
temples destroyed at Jochim’s hands, the remnant
ning-fast assaults to blindside foes, hitting them when
Dragonguard chose service to a Sworn Kinship dedi-
they’re unready or from unexpected directions.
cated to spreading the Immaculate Philosophy across
the North at sword’s point. That Hearth has since At the heart of Imperial doctrine is The Thousand
dissolved, but the Dragonguard remains as a sovereign

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Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier. This red-bound

book compiling the Shogunate’s military genius is stud- MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
ied by every legion officer, alongside annotations and
other texts put forth by Shogunate and Realm generals Legions dispatch scouts and employ local spies to
and military historians. The Thousand Correct Actions report on enemy troop strength and disposition,
covers the full range of battlefield activities, from identify resistance leaders, and the like. Before the
protocol for disciplining subordinates to methods of Empress’ disappearance, generals and admirals
ambush in various terrains. Constant drill ensures that could also rely on information from the All-Seeing
soldiers are ready to engage in any of the book’s classic Eye. With the recent withdrawal of consistent sup-
formations and maneuvers at a moment’s notice, while port from the Eye, the Great Houses now scramble
training in the House of Bells and other military schools to place their own limited intelligence-gathering
teaches officers how to put those tools to best use. capabilities at their officers’ disposal. House Sesus’
extensive intelligence apparatus gives its legions a
Some generals risk innovative tactics. Win or lose, these significant advantage in this regard.
lead to longstanding discussions among savants and
challenging tests for cadets, and when such idiosyncrat-
ic methods yield victory, they’re added to the deutero-
based on the Vermilion’s current needs — whether jade,
canon of Realm military science. Sadly, many political
provisions, winter quarters, intelligence, or the downfall
appointees now dominating the legions’ higher ranks
of one of the legion’s foes. The Vermilion never places
haven’t trained with the Thousand Correct Actions.
untried or inept cadets in charge of anything larger than
Thrown into the chaos of battle without the Realm’s
a fang. Higher ranks are earned only through merit, not
centuries of collective experience at their beck and
wealth or prestige.
call, they’re reduced to following their own untrained
tactical instincts, and the legions suffer for it. While incompetent officers get the cold shoulder from
their peers, those with genuine experience and ability
Each house has a reputation for specific strategies and
are warmly welcomed. The Red-Piss Legion has always
tactics, as do many individuals, households, and le-
been a meat grinder for Dynasty and Realm to throw
gions. Sesus doctrine emphasizes assassinating enemy
their refuse against the Threshold’s worst dangers, and
leaders, suborning enemy espionage assets, and poi-
its soldiers treasure reliable, effective sword-sisters.
soning supplies, while Mnemon generals favor fortified
After the Imperial legions’ dispersal among the Great
defenses and strategic deployment of sorcery. Ragara
Houses, the Vermilion may be the only remaining le-
Himada, like his mother before him, prefers frontal
gion to elevate merit over politics.
assaults, relying on the direlance Sunpiercer to fill his
troops with righteous fury and unshakable morale. The Tactically, the Vermilion is the most innovative legion.
7th “Earthshaker” Legion, now led by House Cathak, Officers disgraced for failure using novel methods often
specializes in siege warfare to conquer the high, des- end up here. And given that Red-Piss officers have no fur-
ert-girdled fortresses of the smoldering South. ther to fall, they lose neither status nor face by abandon-
ing tried-and-true approaches. Likewise, the Vermilion
The Vermilion Legion has a history of underhanded, disreputable stratagems,
employing ambush, poison, treachery, and psychological
Black sheep of the Imperial military, the 40th warfare to enervate foes before open battle.
“Vermilion” Legion — or the Red-Piss Legion — is home
to the best of the worst. Its recruiters concern them- Socially, enrollment in the Red-Piss Legion is a two-
selves solely with physical and intellectual fitness, not faced coin. The leaders of such a mongrel force, un-
character, so its ranks are filled with petty criminals, able to hold a more reputable commission, are openly
gamblers, drunkards, and heretics. sneered at by fellow officers in the Realm’s salons — to
which they rarely receive invitations, lest their miasma
No reputable Dynast would dream of purchasing an of failure sully the household. But those who complete
officer’s commission among such rabble. The higher their terms of service are regarded with admiration.
ranks are filled with refugees from political infighting, After all, if an officer can endure the worst the Vermilion
disgraced officers dismissed from other postings, and throws at her, what else might she be capable of?
young troublemakers — whether lazy, disobedient, or
debauched — whose Dynastic parents have despaired When the legions were divided among the Houses, the
of putting them to better use. Vermilion was foisted upon House Tepet as an insult.
Its prodigious young general, Tepet Ejava, will see the
Commissions are cheap compared to reputable legions,

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other houses regret that indignity.

REALM MILITIAS
The Legion of Silence
Though the Blessed Isle hasn’t been invaded for
One army remains wholly independent of the Great seven centuries, its authorities still face bandit-
Houses. The Legion of Silence consists of 5,000 pre- ry, piracy, and rebellion. While legions and house
ternatural soldiers trained from birth to serve the paramilitaries are called in for major uprisings, cit-
Scarlet Empress. Purchased from parents or Cynis slave ies and prefectures maintain militias to deal with
markets as children, their tongues cut out, raised on a lesser troubles. Reporting to governors and pre-
diet of drugs and sorcery, they’re hulking warriors of fects, these consist of local peasants paid a small
superhuman strength and stamina. stipend to serve one season each year. They’re of-
ten retired legionnaires, or young women and men
In addition to guarding the Empress, detachments of considering a legionary career. Training is minimal,
the Legion of Silence protect various important struc- and equipment is stored in city armories while off
tures in the Imperial City and across the Blessed Isle. duty.
They also escort Dynastic dignitaries on important and
Militia spend much of their time guarding govern-
dangerous missions at the Empress’ instruction.
ment buildings and city gates, often collecting tolls
at the latter. Their responsibilities also encompass
The Legion’s training program, centered upon the
fighting fires, distributing famine doles, appre-
Imperial Palace, is handled by Immaculate monks and
hending criminals, escorting officials, and staffing
a handful of the Empress’ handpicked ministers and fortalices along the Great Coast Road. Off-duty mi-
sorcerers. Together they raise the children, inculcate litia are mobilized to fend off pirate landing parties
a fanatical ideology of service to the Empress, tend to and bandit gangs, increasing the active militia’s
the mysterious sorceries and artifacts that shape their numbers fivefold. Civil war, should it come, will see
growth, and train them in combat. them mobilized as well, leading masses of even
less experienced peasant conscripts to invade
At present, the Legion of Silence continues to guard the neighboring prefectures or defend their homes.
Imperial Palace and other structures and personages to
which they’ve been assigned. With no Empress to give
them orders, they remain quiescent as a body. No one is
certain how they’ll react when another Dynast attempts Admiralty Board on the Isle of Wrack, who pass direc-
to seat herself on their mistress’ throne. tives to the five elementally named directional fleets’
grand admirals. The Earth Fleet guards the Blessed
Over seven feet tall and thick with muscle, the emotion- Isle’s coasts and roots out pirates and smugglers on its
less-seeming legionnaires cannot be mistaken for lesser shores. The other four fleets convoy legions to and from
soldiers. They have their own military hierarchy akin the Threshold, cow lesser navies, and crush whatever
to other legions, and convey instructions through hand seaborne forces threaten the satrapies — pirate fleets,
signs not taught to outsiders; some find the degree to Lunar navies, rogue spirits, or monsters from the deep.
which they’re able to communicate with a few gestures
unnervingly uncanny. The Legion’s dragonlords form The Earth Fleet, the eastward Wood Fleet, and the
a council that received instructions from the Empress southward Fire Fleet comprise primarily triremes,
a few times a year and propagated them through the biremes, and smaller craft, their design ideal for riv-
chain of command. Now only they know what and ers, coastal waters, and the placid Inland Sea. Only
whose orders they pass on. the westward Water Fleet and, to a lesser extent, the
northward Air Fleet invest in larger vessels. Built to
weather stormy Western waters and the icy White Sea,
The Imperial Navy their deep bellies store cargo and contain fresh water
and rations for crossing the ocean to Fajad, Wu-Jian,
The seafaring counterpart of the legions, the Imperial the Caul, and other distant lands.
Navy is the unparalleled maritime power of the Time of
Tumult. But where the legions are divided among the Lesser admirals direct flotillas and squadrons assem-
Great Houses, the preponderance of Realm sea power bled for various purposes. Admirals are always Dragon-
remains under one banner. Blooded; most belong to House Peleps, but a few hail
from other families, promoted for undeniable compe-
House Peleps administers the Navy by Imperial re- tence or through spousal influence. Other Princes of
mit. Final authority is vested in the Rightly Guided the Earth command individual vessels, though most

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of the Navy’s thousands of ships have mortal captains.

These are all patricians and un-Exalted Dynasts, many
SILENT LEGIONNAIRES of whom purchased commissions from House Peleps.
On the rare occasions a peasant rises through the ranks
Even the Dynasty doesn’t fully understand what the to captaincy, typically because her fellow officers per-
Empress’ private guard might be capable of. The ished, she’s elevated to patrician status.
Storyteller should feel free to scale up the Legion
of Silence with secret powers granted by sorcery, Likewise, other shipboard officers, such as the first
alchemically fueled battle transformations, or oth- officer, pilot, purser, and surgeon, usually come from
er mysteries. the patriciate; aristocratic officers respect peasant-born
peers’ skill and dedication, but never recognize them as
Essence: 1; Willpower: 8; Join Battle: 11 dice social equals. Each officer has an assistant to fill her role
when off duty or incapacitated. Common sailors and
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap rowers are peasants. Marines — Peleps paramilitary
Actions: Disguise: 4 dice; Feats of Strength: 14 and auxiliaries, abetted by rowers and sailors — follow
dice (may attempt Strength 5 feats); Read Inten- similar patterns.
tions: 7 dice; Resist Disease/Poison: 10 dice; Sens-
es: 8 dice; Social Influence: 4 dice; Threaten: 8 dice; Sorcerers often find service attached to fleets and flotil-
Tracking: 5 dice las, twisting the weather to speed travel and to ward off
storms and doldrums, and deploying battle magics and
Appearance 3 (Hideous), Resolve 5, Guile 4 conjured spirits in naval engagements. Such postings
are lonely, however, as sailors view them with especial
Combat superstitious dread.
Attack (Poleaxe): 11 dice (Damage 16L)
Immaculate monks occasionally accompany fleets to
Attack (Shield): 10 dice (Damage 14B) deal with aquatic spirits. In their absence, the Navy
tends toward irreverence; the sea is wild and deadly,
Attack (Unarmed): 11 dice (Damage 11B) and sailors deem themselves wise to propitiate its na-
tive powers. Cult worship of Daana’d is common, as is
Combat Movement: 8 dice veneration of major thalassic gods and elementals.
Evasion 3, Parry 6
Legionnaires distrust the Navy. The legions are helpless
Soak/Hardness: 12/0 (Articulated plate) at sea; storms can sink their convoys without recourse.
Sailors, for their part, rarely witness land battles; they
Merits see only legionnaires’ seasickness and ignorance of sail-
ing. Furthermore, while the legions extend the Realm’s
Giant: −3 penalty to disguise rolls to pass as reach, only the Navy ensures that no enemy can touch
someone of lesser stature. the Blessed Isle’s shores. So the Navy, from the most
Imperial Devotion (Innate Merit •••; Prerequi- dandyish officer to the sweatiest, most salt-crusted
sites: Raised in the Legion of Silence): +2 Resolve rower, regards the legions with disdain, seeing them as
against fear-based influence; treat influence that mere adjuncts to the Imperial fleets.
would cause them to harm the Scarlet Empress as
unacceptable. Battle groups of Silent Legionnaires Since the Empress’ disappearance, the navy has become
double 9s on Willpower rolls against rout. a tool of House Peleps’ ambitions. Shipbuilding focuses
on deep-drafted vessels to reinforce the Water Fleet,
Powerful Grasp (Innate Merit ••; Prerequisites: which has grown significantly to support the Peleps
Giant): May wield two-handed weapons one-hand- campaign to carve out an empire in the West.
ed. Don’t receive Clash bonus unless wielding
them two-handed or paired. The Merchant Fleet
Unspeaking (Innate Merit •; Prerequisites: Mute):
Despite being mute (Exalted, p. 169), Silent Le- Formerly the Imperial Navy’s sixth fleet, the Merchant
gionnaires suffer no impediment on nonverbal Fleet now stands alone. Where the Navy is responsible
threaten rolls or rolls to communicate with each for military actions, the Merchant Fleet escorts tribute
other. ships that satrapies send to the Blessed Isle. In exchange
for guarding tribute from pirates and privateers, V’neef
receives a share for itself — an enormous financial boon.

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It also seizes contraband and claims captured pirate devoted to their erstwhile masters, and would gladly
ships as prizes, along with the contents of their holds. see the Fleet returned to Peleps control.

The Merchant Fleet was attached to House Peleps to Numbering close to a thousand ships of various sizes and
fund the Navy’s enormous maintenance costs. When designs, the Merchant Fleet is smaller than any directional
the Empress elevated House V’neef, she transferred the fleet except the Earth Fleet. Its captains are canny experts
Fleet to the nascent house to keep Peleps ambitions in in anti-piracy techniques, often disguising ships as mer-
check. The Fleet’s Peleps scions and their most vocal chant vessels so convoys appear defenseless. The Fleet’s
supporters were dismissed during the transfer. But anti-piracy campaign has grown more aggressive, hunting
many older sailors and minor officers remain quietly buccaneers independently of tribute-guarding duties.

NAVAL BATTLE GROUPS

An Imperial trireme carries a Size 2 battle group of marines, using the traits of battle-ready troops or elite
troops (Exalted, pp. 496-497) with average or elite Drill. They’re led by the ship’s arms master (use grizzled
mercenary traits — Exalted, p. 497) or, more rarely, a Dragon-Blood captain. If a trireme is boarded, its crew
and oarsmen join the fray as a Size 3 battle group with conscript traits (Exalted, p. 496) and poor Drill. They can
also crew the trireme’s siege weapons (Arms of the Chosen, p. 127) — a pair of ballistae or fire projectors.

The blue-water vessels of the Water Fleet, as well as heavier ships in the other fleets, boast larger comple-
ments of marines and crew. Most carry a Size 3 battle group of marines; the largest carry a Size 4 marine battle
group. Sailing ships have smaller crews than triremes — only a Size 2 battle group — but because they’re
composed entirely of trained sailors, rather than rowers, they have average Drill. They’re typically equipped
with a catapult or fire cannon (or two), and multiple ballistae or fire projectors.

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Anathema magic, numbers, knowledge of terrain, high

TREASURES OF THE FLEETS morale — and few Threshold peoples can contest their
advance. But the legions have honed their tactics to
Imperial Navy and Merchant Fleet officers often deal with the threat. Elaborate watchwords and webs
possess artifacts, loaned from their houses or ob- of sentinels make enemy infiltration more difficult.
tained through purchase or plunder. The Navy also Entrenchments and shield walls fend off powerful but
commands a bare handful of damaged, oft-re- less-disciplined warriors. Sorcerers and Immaculates
paired First Age warships that serve as flagships counter spirits and other strange powers allied with the
and dreadnoughts, along with several artifact siege Anathema, while Sworn Kinships engage the Anathema
weapons. Technically the Empress’ property, she’s directly. Setting fire to field or forest can both break ene-
no longer in a position to protest their repatriation my armies and leave them unable to sustain themselves.
by House Peleps.
Dragon-Blooded officers remain the Realm’s most pow-
erful weapon against Lunars and their armies. When
the Realm masses enough Exalted in the field, little can
Like House Peleps, V’neef has turned its maritime stand against them besides truly enormous hordes, the
forces toward empire building in the West. Many trib- Anathema themselves, or especially powerful monsters
ute convoys go underprotected as a result. Still, House and magics dredged up from ancient ruins, the Wyld, or
V’neef vehemently opposes allowing any other house to stranger places. Such opposition is rare, however, both
usurp its role. The Fleet will be a powerful tool if civil because the Lunars rarely gather sufficient force in one
war comes, able to leave rival houses’ tributes defense- place, and because such opposition warrants use of the
less, or even seize them in a preemptive strike. Realm’s dwindling handful of irreplaceable First Age
war magic.
House Fleets
The legions usually defeat such forces in the end, but at
Each Great House has its own ships in the hands of great cost in blood and treasure. Anathema live long and
individual households or the house as a whole. These see far, and their leaders are content to lose battle after
include pleasure ships, packet boats, merchant fleets battle to bleed the Realm of jade and Dragon-Blooded
for commercial ventures, and military vessels to protect scions. Enough such pyrrhic Realm victories will see
cargoes from piracy and convoy paramilitary forces. Lunars win the war. Before the Empress’ disappearance
Cynis, Nellens, Ragara, and Sesus maintain the most and the Solars’ return, the Silver Pact’s victory seemed
sizable fleets. Tepet sold off most of its fleet after losing inevitable to its elders. Now Creation is thrust into cha-
its legions. os, and nothing is certain.

The Imperial legions always relied on the Navy for The Bull of the North’s rout of the Tepet legions was
transport across the Inland Sea. Should civil war arise, among the first signs of this. Despite House Tepet’s dec-
this practice will end along with Peleps’ neutrality. imation, the other houses view the campaign as victory
The wealthier houses are arming merchant ships and for the Realm overall, believing the Bull’s forces defeat-
building new military vessels. Others seek alliance with ed for good. Rumors of a resurgence of Solar Anathema
houses possessing sea power, and draw up troop dispo- have spread throughout the Realm, but few Dynasts
sitions knowing that the Inland Sea may, at any time, who haven’t seen this for themselves give such rumors
become uncrossable. credence. Some dismiss the stories as travelers’ tales or
Ledaal fearmongering; others believe the coming civil
war at home takes precedence over Anathema in the
Against the Anathema hinterlands.
For centuries, the legions’ most reliably dangerous foes
were the Lunar Anathema. Tribes and states serving Empty Garrisons
the Moon’s Chosen fight with religious fervor, while
Lunars themselves engage in devastating acts of espio- Once, the Empress’ legions enforced Imperial peace
nage — poisoning supplies, sowing discord in the ranks, throughout the Threshold. Few dared war against her
spying on military councils, changing sealed orders, and satrapies, and any bandit infestation, urban revolt, peas-
assassinating leaders to take their places. ant uprising, heretical cult, or widespread lawlessness
that threatened tribute collection was swiftly crushed.
The Lunars and their servants have many advantages If a Realm garrison proved insufficient, the Imperial
— shapeshifting, unholy puissance, sorcery and other Navy deployed legions to the nearest port to destroy the

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legions faced, and she herself is a legendary sorceress,

ANATHEMA IN THE TIME OF TUMULT her legions lack the Tepets’ experience and brilliance.
Though she was victorious in the initial battles and
The Dynasty’s general apathy towards reports broke the rebels’ hold on the capital, the conflict’s ulti-
of the Anathema is important when Storytelling mate outcome remains in doubt.
games with Dragon-Blooded, Solar, and Lunar
player characters. With the Realm focused on in- Emerging from the Southern desert at the head of
ternal power struggles, Dragon-Blooded player a thousand nomadic warriors, the beguiling Lunar
characters have the opportunity to take positions priestess Ketzepah Narrow-Ways and her Dragon King
of prominence in hunting down Anathema and po- lieutenants have seized the Zephyrite city of Hyacinth.
tentially changing the status quo. Rather than be- Casting down images of the Immaculate Dragons, she’s
ing “just another shikari,” they can be key players replaced them with a Sun altar upon which she sacrific-
in the Realm’s defense against the Anathema. es the hearts of her enemies — rebels, religious martyrs,
and soldiers captured in raids on other Zephyrite cit-
For Solar and Lunar player characters, this offers ies of the Elidad River basin. The satraps of Zephyr’s
considerable breathing room. The Realm’s Wyld city-states and the wealthy Cynosure Coast hold their
Hunts are at their lowest ebb in its history; the threat garrisons close while begging their houses for legions
they pose, while real, isn’t omnipresent. However, to repel Ketzepah.
Solar or Lunar player characters might be the ones
who reveal the Anathema’s true threat to the Realm Civil war wracks the northern city-state of Mantle.
at large, unifying the Dynasty against them. While Queen Elet is her mother’s legitimate heir, she’s
a target for her people’s hatred of the Realm. Spurred
by famine and oppressive taxes, the countryside has
threat. risen against her, backing a pretender said to be her
illegitimate half-sister. Once, the Realm would have
With the Empress gone, the power vacuum has pulled backed one contender with a legion, and that would be
most of the legions and much of the garrisons back to that. Now a peasant army marches on Mantle, opposed
the Blessed Isle to protect the Great Houses’ holdings only by unreliable militia and a talon of garrison troops
there. While strategically important satrapies remain dispatched from the satrapial seat at Shale Strand.
well-defended, the Realm maintains a skeletal presence
elsewhere in the Threshold. Some satrapies are garri- Outlying Medoan tribes have begun raiding ill-de-
soned with a handful of house paramilitary soldiers. fended neighboring satrapies. Riders sweep down on
Others go completely unprotected. towns and caravans, slaughtering any who raise arms
against them, stealing foodstuffs, livestock, and trade
In mountainous Jiara, valued as a treasure trove of First goods. Medoan princes say they’re unable to identify
Age relics, an entire Circle of Solar Anathema raised the perpetrators and rein them in. In truth, not only
an insurrection against the Realm. Unwilling to coun- do they back the raiders, they’re preparing to ride
tenance this heresy, Mnemon personally led three le- against neighboring cities to carve out an empire as
gions to quash the rebellion. Though Mnemon’s troops their Touman Prince did centuries ago. They hope their
aren’t hobbled by the logistical problems the Tepet Tepet patrons will fight at their side.

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Three peasants came to Nine Herb Mountain Monastery. They had journeyed to Arjuf Dominion from hardy
Turu, lovely Aru-Thistle, and steadfast Bucolic Hymn, to speak with one voice on behalf of their people,
to one who might listen. They were bid to wait, which they accepted. They were offered work in the fields
below the monastery, which they embraced. Yet they never forgot their homes.
After a month with neither complaint nor complacency, Abbot Mnemon Amalu judged them sufficiently
dedicated. She called them to her sand garden, where they could look out upon the city of Iron Scripture
below, and drink tea, and ask their question.
The three peasant delegates knelt with the abbot, as monks raked the sands around them, forming
infinitely new patterns. They spoke in the vernacular, and Amalu condescended to speak as they did. They
were nervous, yet determined, which was appropriate.
The delegate from Turu began, gathering her courage: “Honored abbot, we come to you because our
governors no longer care for us.”
Amalu raised her eyebrows slightly. Perhaps she was surprised.
The delegate from Aru-Thistle rushed to mitigate Turu’s harsh words: “We cannot speak for what lies in
the hearts of the Exalted, of course, but our people bend — no, break under the weight of our taxes.”
Amalu lowered her eyebrows slightly. Perhaps she was concerned.
The delegate from Bucolic Hymn steeled herself, and spoke as plainly as she dared: “Honored abbot, it
doesn’t seem right for the Exalted to take all our food and our work, and leave us with nothing. Must the
Great Houses live so well that we starve? Are we not due some comfort for our obedience?”
Amalu closed her eyes. “You wish for our blessing in defying your governors.” There was an uncomfortable
silence, which she deepened by saying, “Or, perhaps, you wish for our direct intervention.”
Said Turu, “You are right, honored abbot. We beg your intervention.”
Amalu’s eyes flashed with Essence, and the peasants grew afraid. “You are bold, to ask this. The
Immaculate Order keeps society whole, and the Realm faces threats from every direction. Hard times do
not qualify as true dereliction.”
Said Aru-Thistle, “Honored abbot, perhaps you’re right, but we also face threats from above and within!
The more we starve, the more incensed we become. We three don’t want a rebellion, but if we return
home without hope, what choice will remain?”
Amalu pointed at the delegates. “Now I think we approach the truth of the matter. For word of banditry in
your prefectures has reached our humble monastery long before you. Surely you agree that such crimes
can only redouble any injustices brought about by imprudent governance?”
Feeling accused, Bucolic Hymn leaned forward. “Of course you are right, honored abbot. But we are only
peasants, not warriors. We cannot solve one of our problems, let alone two!”
“Where is your faith?” demanded Amalu, and the peasants looked down in shame. “You boast of your
obedience while undermining your rightful rulers, and you fail to ask for help with an obvious injustice.”
The abbot’s expression remained stern for a few moments more, then relaxed. “Remember always: the
Dragons provide for those who serve the Perfected Hierarchy.”
The peasants looked to each other, and to the abbot, uncertain.
Amalu continued: “Who knows more of banditry than peasants, and what injustice can survive full
understanding? Perhaps you can sift through rumors for a truth that will allow us to cure this bandit
plague. Then, perhaps, your petition will find favor with the Elemental Dragons after all.”
The three peasants heard this, and were enlightened.

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 Chapter Four

The Immaculate
Order
As the soul sustains the body, the Immaculate Order be gone before her time, and produce no more for the
sustains the Scarlet Dynasty. The Realm’s official reli- farmer that nurtured her. The farmer will lose her
gion provides the Dragon-Blooded with a divine man- hens, or else must turn from her fields, animals, and
date to rule Creation in the Elemental Dragons’ name, family to set traps for the fox. The fox will be caught
under the Empress’ enlightened guidance. Immaculate in time, and the stolen hen will weigh down his soul as
monks work tirelessly to maintain proper social and he journeys to his next incarnation. It’s better, then, for
spiritual order, sharing their wisdom through patient the perfect farmer to gird her yard, so the fox cannot
instruction and terrifying martial arts. The Immaculate reach her hens. In this way, the farmer follows a per-
Dragons (Exalted, pp. 71-73) serve as examples of up- fected life, and guides lesser creatures toward their own
right and holy behavior to the Dragon-Blooded. enlightenment.

Now, with the Empress missing, her children turn from This parable demonstrates the Immaculate Philosophy’s
righteous rule to jockey for her throne, and Anathema central tenet. There’s a structure to the universe, a celes-
brew ever-greater heresies in the Threshold. The Order tial blueprint for all things laid down in the Immaculate
faces chaos and unrest sufficient to make the faithful Texts and disseminated by the Order’s monks. This di-
question whether the invincible Realm still holds the vine hierarchy calls upon all beings to honor, serve, and
Dragons’ favor. sacrifice for their superiors, and to provide protection,
respect, and guidance to their inferiors. In striving to
perfect the station given by the Elemental Dragons, ev-
The Immaculate Philosophy ery individual refines her own enlightenment, and will
reincarnate into a new life where her station’s fortune
Consider the humble farmer and the fertile hen.
and influence reflect the improved quality of her soul.
It’s the way of the farmer to tend to her fields, her ani- In denying or falling short of her station, she sows dis-
mals, and her family; her just reward is the fruit of her cord, tragedy, and confusion, and will reap these fruits
labor and the honor of her family. It’s the way of the in future incarnations.
hen to provide from her body, in the form of egg, flesh,
and chicks; her just reward is the shelter and feed of the The Perfected Hierarchy
farm. The farmer, secure in her place, respects and nur-
tures the lesser creatures in her care. The hen, secure In the Immaculate Philosophy, this is the way of
in her place, honors and obeys the farmer that cares Creation: The Five Elemental Dragons birthed Creation
for her. So it is from earth to Heaven: The lesser crea- from their own Essence; all Essence seeks to refine it-
ture shelters beneath the greater, and gives honor and self into the perfection of the Dragons to return to that
obedience in return. At Creation’s heights, the Princes source; all life thus seeks its own perfection and reuni-
of the Earth. In its depths, the plants and creatures of fication; souls reincarnate according to their enlight-
the soil. When all see to their duties, all prosper, and enment. Life thus consists of a cyclical struggle against
Creation prospers with them. the ego across multiple incarnations. If there’s an end to
this cycle, it’s to ascend beyond incarnation — to tran-
Consider, then, the unmindful fox. It’s the way of the substantiate and become one with the Dragons. To live
fox to hunt vermin, to keep the wilds from being over- is to struggle, even for the most enlightened.
run, and to fill his belly. Yet if the fox shuns perfection
and steals from the henhouse, then all is in disorder. In the upper echelons of this hierarchy walk the
The fox will become lazy and neglect his duties, and Dragon-Blooded. As the Immaculate Order teach-
the vermin of the wild will run rampant. The hen will es, each Prince of the Earth spent unnumbered lives

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her station. The Dragon-Blooded are exempt from such

DIVINE PROSELYTES strictures, deemed sufficiently powerful and spiritually
elevated to worship and treat with gods as they see fit.
By and large, spirits have as little to do with the Or-
der as possible, resenting both its interference in Most of the prayer calendar’s contents vary between
their dealings and the drubbings administered by regions, as Immaculates allot worship to local gods that
its monks. But a few, such as the city father Gri-Fel submit to their orthodoxy; only the most important dei-
(p. XX), actively engage with the Order, attending ties have their prayer days standardized throughout the
religious celebrations and services at Immaculate Realm. Prayer calendar revisions serve as both carrot
temples on their prayer days, or advising Dynasts and stick for spirits — a god who seeks worship beyond
in matters of theology. For some, this is a simple her allotted due will have her prayer day struck from
matter of ingratiating themselves with a conquer- the calendar as punishment, while monks might offer
ing force, and perhaps earning a better place in a deity an additional festival in exchange for her assis-
the prayer calendar. Others, cowed by the monks’ tance in an important matter.
power or enthralled by scripture, find themselves
genuinely believing in the moral benefits of the Im- Heresy
maculate way.
Immaculate monks teach that all life begins in igno-
rance of the Perfected Hierarchy. All things must grow
refining her enlightenment before ascending to the in wisdom through guidance from the wise. Where
ranks of the holy. In this the Elemental Dragons show wisdom cannot be found, heresy takes root, whether in
their wisdom, for they place upon each person a weight Creation’s furthest reaches or the Blessed Isle’s heart.
of duty proportional to her ability to bear it responsibly. Where heresy exists, monks must root it out and destroy
The Exalted carry all of Creation upon their backs, and it through education, violence, or both. Any belief that
for this burden they’re due praise, wealth, and service. contradicts the Immaculate Texts is heretical, but the
While heretics and the uninitiated view the Immaculate gravest heresies relate to worship and the Anathema.
Philosophy as a tool to prop up the Dragon-Blooded,
faithful millions view the Dragon-Blooded as sainted Heretical Worship
pillars of the Immaculate Philosophy. Mortals should The outer Threshold teems with cults that defy every
gladly surrender the weighty concerns of rulership, and Immaculate tenet of right worship, and secret cults
the Exalted should accept their responsibilities with spring up even on the Blessed Isle. Immaculates refer
gravity. to these cults collectively as the Hundred Gods Heresy,
and hold a sacred duty to anticipate, uncover, and de-
In this perfect order, the monk stands apart, yet integral stroy such heretical worship. This is difficult, particu-
to the whole. The Dragons call women and men from all larly in satrapies with rich religious histories and divine
levels of society to surrender secular pleasures in service mythologies. Many cults go underground, while others
to the Immaculate Order. In this, monks don’t forsake syncretize Immaculate concepts. The Immaculate
their station, but fully embrace the duty that all beings Order has centuries of experience stamping out illicit
carry: to act as custodians to the Perfected Hierarchy. As worship. Monks in the Realm ban and destroy iconog-
the Dragons took on flesh to overthrow the Anathema raphy that could lead mortals to false worship, use pub-
and enlighten Creation, so do Immaculate monks sac- lic duels to settle questions of doctrine, and stage raids
rifice their own prosperity to spread the Philosophy to on heretical assemblies with expert coordination and
every corner of Creation. intelligence.

The Prayer Calendar The Order must also contend with Immaculate het-
erodoxies, various sects whose beliefs undermine the
The Immaculate Order strictly regulates prayer. It Immaculate Philosophy’s orthodoxy. These include
isn’t meet for spirits to extort prayer from mortals the Pure Way of Prasad (p. XX), the ghost-veneration
with promises or threats. The lay populace may only of the Intou heretics of the northern River Province,
worship the Dragons and the gods at the direction of and the Sisterhood of Pearls’ Five Insightful Criticisms
Immaculate monks. The Immaculate Order promul- (Dragon-Blooded, p. 128), as well as heretical worship
gates prayer calendars prescribing festivals and days of of the Immaculate Dragons in the Realm.
worship throughout the Scarlet Realm. Monks direct
Mortals are forbidden to worship the Dragons directly.
mortal worshippers’ collective prayers according to cal-
While Dragon-Blooded are encouraged to revere the
endars, and every god receives worship in proportion to
Immaculate Dragons and permitted occasional prayers

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or offerings to them, the Order roots out organized cults communities as a sea goddess; she’s also occasionally
worshiping the Immaculate Dragons, imposing punish- claimed as a patron by transgender, nonbinary, and
ments appropriate to cultists’ beliefs, actions, and de- genderfluid worshippers, as she’s a transgender woman
gree of repentance. herself. Pasiap is revered as a spiritual teacher, patron
of architects, and guardian against Anathema. Mortals
The most common such cults are dedicated to Sextes rarely worship Hesiesh, other than children believing
Jylis. Peasants pray to him for children in barren mar- his mastery of Essence can grant them Exaltation, but
riages or for succor in times of famine, while tantric Dragon-Blooded may tread into heresy as they pray to
cults devoted to him come and go within the Dynasty. him for self-discipline and restraint.
Mela follows close behind, worshipped as a legend-
ary warrior and wise sage, especially in the legions. One of the smallest, yet most persistent Immaculate
Daana’d receives veneration from sailors and coastal heresies is the Heresy of the Antitheses, which crops

DRAGON-BLOODED AND CULTS

A Dragon-Blood who reaps a mortal cult’s prayers has led her inferiors into heresy, even if unintentionally. Her
worshippers will suffer for their faith if discovered, and the Exalt suffers censure from her peers unless she
punishes this heresy personally. Elder Dynasts advise cultivating obedience in the mortal masses, not love.
Love warms the heart, they say, but obedience tempers iron.

The greatest, least-recognized exception was the Scarlet Empress. Beloved as the holiest of the holy Drag-
on-Blooded, with praises and supplications to her peppered throughout the Blessed Isle’s vernaculars, the Em-
press had a vast heretical cult throughout her reign. Many believe that she was enlightened enough to achieve
transubstantiation, but remained in Creation to shepherd her children. Spiritually minded Dynasts scoff at the idea
that anyone really worships the Empress, even as peasants earnestly pray for her blessing, wherever she may be.

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up among this or that prefecture’s peasantry every

few decades. It teaches that the Immaculate Dragons OTHER WORLDS
will return to Creation, reinvested in flesh as their
Antitheses — the Unworthy Babbler, the Illiberal Churl, The Immaculate Philosophy is largely unconcerned
the Sickly Whore, the Inconsiderate Horseman, and the with otherworldly lands beyond Creation — such
Ostentatious Peasant. Whether the returned Dragons knowledge is unimportant and irrelevant to most
come to punish the wicked or to herald the world’s adherents. While Dragon-Blooded have access to
end varies between iterations of the heresy. Adherents education and texts that provide extensive knowl-
worship the Dragons’ negative aspects as holy devils, edge on these, most mortals in the Realm only
hoping their prayers will turn aside the Antitheses’ know the following.
punishments or earn a reprieve from doomsday.
Heaven: Yu-Shan is the abode of the most powerful
The Anathema spirits. It isn’t an afterlife for mortals to aspire to.
If the Hundred Gods Heresy is a pandemic, then each
Hell: Not an afterlife, but the strange land from
Anathema is a unique threat promising a monstrous which demons hail. Few know the name Malfeas.
outbreak of diseased thinking. “Anathema” is a cler-
ical term applied to threats fundamentally inimical The Underworld: The inauspicious realm of
to the Immaculate Philosophy, which can only be an- ghosts who refuse to submit to their rightful rein-
swered with a Wyld Hunt. Solars and Lunars are al- carnation, and the hungry dead. Shadowlands are
ways Anathema, but other beings — such as Exigents, perilous places to be avoided.
Liminals, or the like — earn the title only when their
power and aggression merit a decisive response. The Wyld: A dangerous, chaotic land haunted by
mutants and Anathema.
Each Wyld Hunt is a unique force — some are orga-
nized and orchestrated by the Immaculate Order, while
others are called by a few individual Dragon-Blooded. die quickly, before the corruptive taint of their unde-
Participation in a Wyld Hunt earns great honor, and served power spreads too far. Few monks see the need
every subject of the Realm bears a sacred duty to offer to explain these fine details to mortals and disinterest-
whatever assistance the Hunt may require. Dragon- ed lay Dragon-Blooded, who would only become con-
Blooded travel for hundreds or thousands of miles to fused. Only hearts of iron can provide the mercy that
answer its call, to descend upon the Anathema with Anathema need most.
overwhelming speed and ferocity, and to exult in the
Dragon-Blooded Host’s invincible might.
The Immaculate Texts
With the Empress gone and her children withdrawing
forces from the Threshold, a Wyld Hunt may be slower No written work claims more influence in the Second
to assemble, but no less deadly when it strikes. Each Age than the Immaculate Texts, from which spring all
Wyld Hunt aims to overwhelm its target, knowing it wisdom and enlightenment in the Immaculate Order’s
must cut her down while she’s still inexperienced lest eyes. These volumes — each written by an Immaculate
she become another Bull of the North or Ma-Ha-Suchi. Dragon or a witness to their endeavors — set forth the
The Hunt kills many Anathema, but captures some that order of the universe, the Immaculate Dragons’ deeds,
cannot be killed or that possess strange powers which and the perfected way of every social station. Through
promise some benefit to the Realm. The Immaculate study of the Immaculate Texts, one may learn to live
Order seals these profane marvels away in lightless cor- a prosperous lifestyle, and to champion the Perfected
ners of Creation, to be studied or exploited as the rest of Hierarchy wherever it’s fallen to chaos. The modern
the Realm forgets their existence. A few Anathema were Realm’s ascetic social policy for the peasantry and its
taken to the Imperial Manse at the Empress’ decree. aggressive expansion into the Threshold closely align
with the demands that the Immaculate Texts laid down
Immaculate monks understand the nature of the Solar centuries ago.
and Lunar Anathema. The Order knows that it hunts
and murders Exalted, but believes that the unyield- Though the Immaculate Texts aren’t subject to offi-
ing perfection of Solar Essence and mutable chaos of cial revision, they remain a complex, living creation.
Lunar Essence lead inevitably to insanity. As spiritually Compiled and altered by Dragon-Blooded scholars and
naïve mortals transformed into tragic monsters, these Sidereals — and in rare cases, fabricated outright by the
Anathema cannot help but disrupt and pervert the Bronze Faction — with the aim of designing a self-sus-
Perfected Hierarchy wherever they go. Better that they taining society, the Texts have always been a mélange

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of topics ranging from herding to hygiene to erotica.

Dragon-Blooded quest through First Age ruins for texts THE ORDER AND THE INCARNAE
worthy of inclusion in Immaculate canon, following ap-
propriate revisions. Linguistic drift and Creation-wide The Immaculate Order acknowledges the exis-
distribution have resulted in varied translations that tence of the Unconquered Sun, Luna, and the Five
further complicate the Order’s sprawling doctrine. Maidens as the highest of gods, second only to the
Elemental Dragons in import. However, the Order
Immaculate monks are authorized to define proper in- largely doesn’t worship the Incarnae, viewing them
terpretation of doctrine, and to enforce right behavior as too removed from the affairs of Creation and hu-
as they see fit. The Immaculate Texts teach that the manity to merit or desire veneration. The lay pop-
faithful can lead others to enlightenment through an ulace is almost entirely ignorant of the Incarnae. If
open scroll or closed fist, so monks spend years perfect- the Most High are displeased by this, they haven’t
ing their minds and bodies to provide either method of left their Jade Pleasure Dome to make their dis-
instruction. When monks fundamentally disagree on a content known.
point of doctrine, they may escalate their debate into a
duel to determine who better understands the Dragons’
will. Such duels can be brutal, but are rarely fatal. Even
incurious Dragon-Blooded, whose station doesn’t de-
a poor debater holds the Dragons’ favor as long as she
mand the full truth. Once a monk has received suffi-
continues to win.
cient spiritual preparation, she learns a more nuanced
When disagreements over doctrine become sufficiently history: that the Immaculate Order was founded during
widespread and entrenched, minority followers break the Dragon-Blooded Shogunate, that the Immaculate
away into an Immaculate sect. The Order historically Dragons’ great deeds are allegories condensed from
suppressed these sects whenever possible, as they re- dozens of historical Dragon-Blooded across various
jected its control, and thus Sidereal influence. In the time periods, and that the Solar and Lunar Anathema
Time of Tumult, the Order’s unity of vision trembles are Exalted themselves, though doomed to insanity.
before the upheaval of the Realm’s long-held social
Though it’s a constructed religion, the Immaculate
order. Some among the faithful argue that the Empress
Order is well-constructed and requires minimal his-
vanished because the Realm has lost the Dragons’ bless-
torical revision to function. The Sidereals planned for
ing, while others believe that she’s transubstantiated
the Immaculate Texts to face millennia of scrutiny by
to open the throne to her children, or that she’s gone
a dynasty of highly educated demigods, and risked only
to the Caul to claim that holy land with the aid of the
lies that couldn’t be directly tested. Perhaps some be-
true faithful. Still other monks, seeing the Dynasty ne-
ing in Heaven or Hell witnessed Sidereals pen certain
glecting its duties toward the Threshold, believe that
Immaculate Texts, or knows the true purpose of rein-
the Order must properly guide the Realm’s heroes. The
carnation, or saw Creation formed by a hand other than
Immaculate Order faces an unprecedented risk of sec-
the Elemental Dragons’, but if so, they’ve never proven
tarian fracture, and its grandmasters struggle to find a
their claims. Where knowledge is sparse, faith suffices.
solution that won’t betray its principles.

History and the Order Organization

The Immaculate Order functions as the largest source For many of Creation’s people, the Immaculate Order
of historical and academic inquiry in the Realm, perhaps seems ageless and omnipresent. The Immaculate
in all Creation. Monks collect, study, and transcribe Philosophy serves as the Realm’s official religion, and
the world’s history in a vast collection spanning hun- as an extension of Realm influence in lands beyond
dreds of monastic and temple libraries. Many tales of Dragon-Blooded control. Missionary monks seek out
Creation’s lost days hide in monasteries rarely seen by rumored settlements in Creation’s furthest reaches and
laity, their contents dispensed at the Order’s discretion. smuggle Immaculate teachings into hostile territories.
Some villages know the Order only by the monk who
Popular myth states that the Immaculate Order was visits every year, bearing wisdom and punishing trou-
born when the Elemental Dragons incarnated to lead blemakers, but these monks act as the eyes, ears, and
the Dragon-Blooded in glorious rebellion against the fingers of a massive enterprise, well-coordinated and
demonic Anathema, raising the Dragon-Blooded to driven by shared purpose.
their rightful place as Princes of the Earth. This view
of history suffices for most lay mortals, and even for

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Temples, Monasteries, and Open Roads

THE MOUTH OF PEACE
In populous regions, temples serve as the Immaculate
Order’s face. Each houses a staff of monks that serve She personifies the people’s faith, provides an in-
their community, shelter visiting monks, and send spirational public face, and carries the words of the
reports back to the Order through the temple’s abbot. pious into the halls of power. The Order teaches that
Peasants visit for scheduled services, which include each Mouth of Peace is a reincarnation of the last, a
monk-led worship of local spirits, but they’re usually cyclical counterpart to the ageless Empress. In the
free to visit at any hour of day or night. In temples, the years after the Mouth of Peace dies, monks scour
faithful seek wisdom from monks, contemplate their the Realm for young girls who fit certain spiritu-
lives, make donations, and approach enlightenment in al criteria and pass specially designed tests. With
accordance with the Immaculate Texts. Temples often Sidereal guidance, the Order often finds an ideal
offer basic education: Monks teach peasant children candidate, likely to Exalt, before she’s 15 years old.
reading and arithmetic from ages four to nine. Many When she Exalts, she surrenders her name. In the
children in city slums and hinterland towns learn to few cases a Mouth has failed to Exalt, she’s been
read from excerpts of the Immaculate Texts and grow deemed a mistaken selection, and the Order has
hastened to find the young Dragon-Blood who is
up with a healthy respect for the monks that taught
the former Mouth’s “true” reincarnation.
them. Children who cannot learn respect for the monk-
hood may learn fear instead; that too is educational. As a beloved representative of the Immaculate Or-
der, the Mouth of Peace is important, but she’s not
Most temples answer to a local mission: a central temple always politically powerful. The current Mouth of
with administrative authority over a geographic region, Peace once struggled to assert her vision for the
headed by an influential monk called an archimandrite. Order over Chejop Kejak’s control, but now she ap-
Missions collect intelligence and excess donations proaches the end of her natural life. Fearing that
from satellite temples, and coordinate temple staffing, her death and the subsequent ill-omened interreg-
resources, itinerant routes, and communication in their num between Mouths will signal civil war, and that
region. Missions answer to higher Directional missions, a leaderless Order may lack the mettle to inter-
which in turn answer directly to the Palace Sublime on vene, she seeks historical and canonical precedent
the Blessed Isle, home of the Mouth of Peace and center to bypass the normal selection process and choose
of the Immaculate Order. Through dutiful adherence to her own successor.
this system, the Order manages a constant flow of infor-
mation with greater efficiency than the bloated Guild,
and with more public sanction than any secret police rules, character, and reputation. A few monasteries
force. house members of only one gender or focus on one
field of study, while other monasteries dedicate them-
While the Immaculate temple forms the beating heart
selves to the study and worship of one of the Elemental
of a community, monasteries function apart from so-
Dragons. These last monasteries are particularly valu-
ciety, away from well-trod paths. In these secluded
able to Dragon-Blooded monks who feel their Essence
structures, monks learn, study, and contemplate the
straining against old limits, and who wish to retire from
Philosophy’s mysteries, housed in two-person quarters
the world to cultivate their elemental might. A monk
called cells. Monasteries are highly structured, spiritual
seeking admission to a monastery petitions the mon-
places staffed exclusively by monks and oblates (lay-
astery’s abbot, a monk of great power and experience.
persons sworn to serve the monastery). Generally only
This petition is often a formality, but most abbots ex-
influential Dragon-Blooded can secure an invitation for
pect petitioners to stay and contribute to the monastery
full access to a monastic library without entering the
for at least a full season.
monkhood. Such invitations provoke envy among aca-
demics. Many of Creation’s foremost scholars of history Beyond sight of any temple or monastery, the itinerant
and nature are monks who spend years or decades in a monk carries the Immaculate Order on her back. She
single monastery, studying, transcribing, and illuminat- may travel a specific annual circuit, tenaciously fighting
ing rare texts, or writing new treatises of their own. vagaries of weather and terrain to maintain her schedule,
ensuring that every town, village, and crossroad on her
Aside from academic study, monks seek out monastic
route receives the blessings and structure of the Dragons.
seclusion and structure for many reasons — to recover
She may travel as her spirit demands, seeking crises and
from crises of faith, evade powerful enemies, or train
heresy, bestowing order wherever she feels it’s need-
in rare martial techniques. Each monastery has its own
ed. Or she may travel according to secret instructions,

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provided for her at prearranged temples and drop points Order, and manages and budgets the Order’s wealth.
— these “celestially guided” itinerants are precision tools This Breath’s staff includes groundskeepers, architects,
for their superiors in the Immaculate Order. Skilled as- geomancers, actuaries, and various specialists provid-
sassins, spies, and investigators, they solve thorny prob- ing necessary insight into the Order’s diverse holdings
lems with ruthless efficiency, then return to the anonym- and resources. They leave public works to the Breath
ity of monk’s robe and tonsure. Regardless of personal of Sextes Jylis, but occasionally hire out their construc-
goals and styles, the Order expects all itinerant monks tion services to keep work crews productive and skilled.
to make scrupulous reports on the state of communities While manse maintenance is highly prestigious work,
they visit, including their needs, risks of heresy or social and construction is fairly public, this Breath downplays
instability, and whether a population has grown large its own importance in managing the Order’s funds. As
enough to require its own temple. an organization devoted to ideals — and one with no
desire to be seen as a rival by the Great Houses — the
Rarely, a monk switches from one role — temple, mo- Order prefers not to flaunt its prodigious wealth.
nastic, itinerant — to another, with permission from her
superiors and appropriate training. The Breath of Mela (Combat Training and Military
Planning) defends the Immaculate Order and provides
The Breaths of the Immaculate Dragons training so the Order’s monks can defend themselves.
Organization and maintenance of Wyld Hunts and
The Immaculate Order’s administrative wing organizes martial orders falls to this Breath, as does placement of
itself according to the Order’s practical needs. While military force — for the Immaculate Order, this most-
missions provide staffing based on geographic loca- ly means guarding particular locations or individuals.
tion, each of the five administrative divisions — called Though the Breath of Sextes Jylis prepares acolytes for
Breaths — addresses a specific array of problems using life as a monk, the Breath of Mela provides much of their
a floating staff, rapidly deployed throughout the Realm. actual training, for the monk’s way combines spiritual,
These monks provide logistical support and planning mental, and physical perfection. Despite their impor-
for Immaculate projects, plus additional staff when tance to the legendary martial prowess of Immaculate
necessary. Each Breath claims tens of thousands of staff monks, the Breath of Mela has the smallest staff of any
on the Blessed Isle alone, and they’re well-prepared to Breath — most monks see themselves primarily as spir-
concentrate their forces in cases of emergency. In times itual and social guides, not warriors.
of peace and prosperity they’re more scattered but still
busy, for the Order requires unceasing work. The Breath of Hesiesh (Special Projects) provides for
emergent needs that lack established procedures, re-
Each Breath is headquartered at a major temple on the inforces the other Breaths with additional manpower,
Blessed Isle. Many administrators visit their headquar- trains mortal thaumaturges and sorcerers in pious us-
ters rarely, for their work is wide-ranging and continuous. age of their gifts, and handles assets of inauspicious or-
igin such as Exigents and dangerous First Age artifacts.
The Breath of Sextes Jylis (Human Resources and Public The Breath of Hesiesh takes an unusually egalitarian
Works) focuses on development of sustainable resources, and practical approach to staffing and problem-solving,
both human and natural. This Breath’s staff handles re- resulting in a population consisting heavily of the old,
cruitment, sorting, and assignment for would-be monks, infirm, and eccentric. Monks who have trouble fitting
and in truth they maintain a constant (even intrusive) in with the order find their talents put to good use by
presence throughout the life of any monk, sometimes ar- the Breath of Hesiesh, and even those with no partic-
ranging painful lessons to provide some expected spiritual ular talents may find a place in the Breath’s ranks. As a
benefit. This Breath’s staff also orchestrates large-scale side effect of its makeup, the Breath of Hesiesh varies in
environmental planning initiatives, such as creating dams, size. When a population boom of monks grows older, or
food-bearing forests, and stable agricultural communi- when pestilence renders large swaths of the monkhood
ties. With more staff than any other Breath, the Breath infirm, the Breath of Hesiesh’s ranks can swell to ex-
of Sextes Jylis often seems omnipresent in Immaculate- ceed all but the Breath of Sextes Jylis’.
influenced areas. In the wake of a natural disaster, the
Breath provides significant support and infrastructure to The Breath of Daana’d (Human Community
restore the community’s needs, and coordinates with the Development) sees to the needs of communities that
Breath of Daana’d for optimal disaster relief. the Immaculate Order seeks to guide. Where the Breath
of Sextes Jylis focuses on environmental concerns, the
The Breath of Pasiap (Architecture and Geomancy) Breath of Daana’d provides social services such as health-
oversees and contracts out the construction and main- care, housing, and education in various contexts. Monks
tenance of structures belonging to the Immaculate provide care for their communities at every stage of life,

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While directing ten thousand Princes of the Earth is

CELESTIAL GUIDANCE difficult even at the best of times, the Empress’ dis-
appearance complicated the Bronze Faction’s work
Though it’s slowed in execution, the Wyld Hunt still immensely. They work feverishly to avert or mitigate
finds many Anathema shortly after their Exalta- civil war in the Realm, and to maintain the Wyld Hunt’s
tion. The Order credits its swiftness to a stable of effectiveness so that no Lunars or Solars grow too pow-
Immaculate thaumaturgists trained in divinatory erful while the Dynasty looks toward the center. Kejak
arts. Though these diviner-monks are skilled and and his inner circle assign younger Sidereals to gather
sometimes successful, their greater purpose is to intelligence and head off unacceptable destinies, while
provide a cover for Sidereal foresight. With Side- preparing for decisive action with the Order’s immense
real direction, the Wyld Hunt, itinerant monks, and resources.
the Breaths of the Dragons can mobilize and inves-
tigate threats that are still in infancy.
The Order and Society
Where the Immaculate Order holds influence, monks
guided by the Breath of Daana’d’s standards and priori- preside over every stage of life and every community
ties. In times of crisis, this Breath provides humanitarian milestone. In much of Creation, until an Immaculate
aid. Many monks find this Breath’s work rewarding yet monk pronounces a child’s name, that child is simply
spiritually challenging, for they’re ideally placed to no- “girl” or “boy.” Monks provide geomantic oversight for
tice early signs of heresy and social unrest. Duty dictates harmonious building projects, advise mortals on aus-
that a monk cut away such threats by any means neces- picious times for marriage and conception, and banish
sary, even from a community that she’s come to love. unwelcome spirits and hungry ghosts. They also per-
form ceremonial funerals that employ local traditions
The Bronze Faction to ensure a restful passing. This influence applies at ev-
ery level of society. Peasants rely on monks to interpret
In the Immaculate Order’s heart there’s a second, se- and intercede with gods, while Great House matriarchs
cret order. Posing as Dragon-Blooded monks of unusual honor the elemental insight and purity of the Order’s
power and wisdom, the Sidereal Exalted subtly guide grandmasters. In lands where the Order has held sway
the Order with ancient knowledge, insight into fate, for generations, most can’t imagine life without it, or
and destiny-weaving powers. Only the wisest monks why anyone would seek such a life. Under ideal condi-
and most perceptive lay Dragon-Blooded know of these tions, the Perfected Hierarchy provides stability rarely
secret allies, who can manipulate whole societies and experienced in Creation.
direct the Wyld Hunt toward threats that will soon rise.
Conditions are rarely ideal, and when they are, peo-
Once, this hidden society comprised much of the ple become complacent. Complacency leads spirits to
Sidereal Host, united under the leadership of Chejop greed, mortals to unrest, and Dragon-Blooded to hubris.
Kejak (p. XX). With his inner circle of ancient Sidereal The Immaculate Order serves society, then, by policing
peers, Kejak directed younger Sidereals in maintaining it with constant vigilance. In denying themselves life’s
the Realm, and in continued suppression of the Lunar more alluring pleasures, monks become more difficult
and Solar Exalted. He spends much of his time guiding to sway or corrupt. In applying precisely calibrated vi-
the Order while posing as an assistant to the Mouth of olence, monks serve the greater peace. They safeguard
Peace. the social order by standing apart.

Now, centuries of stability threaten to break apart. With Politics

the Solars’ return, the Gold Faction of Sidereals that
once backed the Lawgivers as Creation’s true princes The Immaculate Order is a deeply political entity,
has reemerged, defying Kejak’s plans for a world of though few of its supporters think of it that way. It
compromise, stability, and survival. Kejak retains a ma- doesn’t compete for power, prestige, or wealth as the
jority of the Sidereal Host in his own Bronze Faction, Great Houses do. Most of the Order’s resources come
but his inner circle has dwindled since the First Age, from donations and bequests, and few monks would ac-
and he will die of old age soon. He has no intention of cept a position of temporal power except as a temporary
surrendering over a millennium of hard-fought peace measure in times of crisis. Because Immaculate monks
to the mad god-kings of his memory, and his followers forswear sex, they rarely form power blocs based on
know from history that the Solars can be beaten with blood ties. In thoroughly indoctrinated regions like the
sufficient planning and manpower. Blessed Isle, the Order more closely resembles a force

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of nature than an organization. Politicians may align Where the Immaculate Philosophy is weak and heresy
themselves with the Order or move without its blessing, reigns, the Order must be proactive, even ruthless. Its
but few view it as a rival. The Mouth of Peace may speak political aims are so broad that it effectively opposes en-
for the Immaculate Order, and move millions of hearts tire power structures, from princes to priests. The Order
with a single statement, but she doesn’t claim to control undermines its rivals’ authority, reveals damaging secrets,
the Order any more than an astrologer claims to control and even assassinates particularly stubborn champions
the heavens. of heretical cultures. From the perspective of the faithful,
these efforts remain apolitical: Rather than seeking world-
Yet the Order does act politically, if unobtrusively. ly power, the Immaculate Order seeks to impose civiliza-
Where the Immaculate Philosophy holds sway, monks tion where it doesn’t exist. To the Realm, nations that ha-
advise courts and powerful individuals, publish tracts ven’t embraced the Perfected Hierarchy are barbaric and
addressing contentious topics, and hold demonstrations backward, and true government cannot proceed in those
to instruct witnesses in the Dragons’ will. Powerful fig- locales until a civilized foundation is in place.
ures who act in alignment with the Order publicly reap
blessings, while those who act against the Dragons’ will Social Control
find many doors closed to them. If a person or group
consistently flouts propriety, the Order turns its face The Immaculate Order has one goal: force Creation’s
from the offenders and remains silent in their presence. civilizations into its philosophy’s idealized order. To
This censure is immensely damaging. Few can weather accomplish this goal, the Order must shape and perfect
the public scorn, servant revolts, and blatant sabotage every level of society, using social engineering tech-
that follow the monks’ silence. Most subjects of the niques set forth in the Immaculate Texts. They trace
Order’s censure ultimately earn forgiveness through every ill and unrest to spiritual failures undermining
lavish donations and public displays of humility, or else the Perfected Hierarchy and root out the disharmony
flee society in disgrace. Even a casually blasphemous they deem responsible. To this end, the Order collects
Sesus scion thinks twice about her words while in the and controls information, as accumulation of wisdom
Order’s eye. makes the Order suitable to guide those who have none.

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The Immaculate Order doesn’t simply collect informa-

WHAT CONSTITUTES ICONOGRAPHY? tion, nor does it share everything it learns with temporal
governments. The Order uses or doles out secrets in ex-
The Immaculate Order is an aniconic religion: change for allies and influence, or acts decisively in cas-
Representative artwork tempts mortals into false es of heresy and immediate danger to the social order.
worship, and must be controlled. Artwork and dec- Often this means coordinated violence, or even a call for
orations in Immaculate-influenced lands tend to- a Wyld Hunt. Kinder monks prefer to educate mortals
ward the abstract and geometric. Rules regarding who’ve been led into heresy and show them the errors
icons evolve over time, and are situational rather in their dogma. Others execute heretics without pause,
than absolute — certain professions require ac- confident the dead will face the Dragons’ judgment and
curate representation for practical purposes, and receive a fitting reincarnation. Satrapial governors and
monks judge when illustrations encourage idola- police learn either to support the Order’s activities or to
try. The Order currently allows mortals to display stay out of the way, for the Order carries the trust and
respectful depictions of the Elemental Dragons and backing of the Dragon-Blooded.
Immaculate Dragons at shrines or in their homes,
though wearing such imagery as ornamentation Unrest, Protest, and Uprisings
crosses the line. Dragon-Blooded can own, dis-
play, and worship representative artwork as they
Sometimes order breaks down. Confusion can arise
choose, though conservative Dynasts prefer not to
at any level of the Perfected Hierarchy. Social obliga-
expose mortals to controversial art.
tions become muddled. Corruption in the Immaculate
Order’s ranks can lead to abuse, heresy, and feuds be-
tween monks. Peasants suffering droughts or disasters
The Immaculate Order is the single greatest source of may seek to take by force the prosperity the Order
basic education in Creation. Millions credit Immaculate promises its faithful. Dragon-Blooded often fail to rule
monks for their knowledge of the world and its history. with the virtue, wisdom, and skill expected of their
Monks transcribe thousands of books every year, many elevated spiritual position. Most often, each of these
of which travel to temple libraries accessible to the pub- factors influences and exacerbates the others.
lic. While the Order freely provides knowledge, it also
controls what information is publicly available. The The Immaculate relationship with civil unrest is com-
Order unhesitatingly bans heretical or controversial plex. Monks have suppressed or mitigated countless
media — books, songs, iconography — from public con- uprisings, but they’ve also allowed or led dozens of re-
sumption. Monks who uncover banned materials have volts across the Realm’s history. The Order demands that
them destroyed publicly, often by the very people who the weak obey the powerful, but also expects rulers to
made or kept them. The relative truth that banned ma- provide a basic level of care for the peasantry. When obe-
terials contain is immaterial compared to their poten- dience brings only suffering and starvation, civilization
tial for social unrest, and the Order expects its monks to cannot function, and the Order must set things right.
realize this. Monks sometimes retain copies of banned
works to better understand the threat they pose, while If governors, generals, and princes close their hearts to
Dragon-Blooded are considered spiritually elevated the Immaculate Order’s words, the Order doesn’t deny
enough to keep and use banned materials as they see fit. their authority, but rather silently censures the corrupt.
When censure brings redoubled impropriety rather
Fiction in the Realm often uses the monk as a plot de- than responsibility, the Order turns to nonviolent pro-
vice for revealing the truth. In the monk’s presence, test. Tracts, posters, and sermons remind society of the
other characters find their best-kept secrets coming to proper order of things. Monks lead strikes or march in
light by the Dragons’ will. This archetype is a benign ominous silence through the streets. Mortal monks faced
reflection of the Immaculate Order’s voracious col- with unacceptable orders from Dragon-Blooded respect-
lection of intelligence. Every monk learns to provide fully refuse. When nonviolent methods receive violent
detailed reports on her activities and interactions, and responses, Immaculate monks defend themselves, lend-
particularly vigilant or insightful monks are prized. ing their legendary martial skills to righteous causes and
Many monks excel at collecting valuable confessions; teaching the meaning of propriety by force.
others investigate criminal behavior or send the faithful
to spy on hidden cults. Rare investigators earn the title The Great Houses — like the Empress before them
of inquisitor, and wield special authority to investigate — generally allow a revolt to burn a few noble homes
apostasy, corruption, and scandal in the Order’s heart. and the occasional local ministry (and with them, tax
records) before sending troops to quell the chaos. Rebel
leaders face execution, their followers return to work,

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rulers. Every child in the Realm dreams of Exaltation,

SLAVERY AND THE ORDER great deeds, and mortals who can no longer gainsay her.
Dynastic children dream of the day when their Exalted
The Immaculate Philosophy recognizes slavery as relatives will look them in the eye.
simply another misfortune a mortal may face in an
incarnation, no different than poverty, debility, or In the Immaculate Philosophy, Dragon-Blooded aren’t
birth among barbarian peoples. Slaves who serve only superior, but holy. They’ve earned wisdom and
dutifully and docilely will fare better in their next power over countless lifetimes of virtuous obedience
life. But the Philosophy still demands that a slave’s to the Perfected Hierarchy, and have the undeniable
masters provide for her needs and refrain from right to reap the fruits of their power as they please.
needless cruelty. Monks are as quick to aid slave Their every action inspires Creation to heap rewards
rebellions as peasant revolts. upon them; their every word guides mortals to enlight-
enment. As children work in their limited way to bring
honor and greatness to their parents’ house, so should
mortals take joy in laboring for the Dragon-Blooded.
and corrupt or foolish governors receive replacements.
For instance, Trae Leng’s Revolt in RY 299 resulted This environment divides Dragon-Blooded and mortals
in the looting of Lord’s Crossing and the revelation into effectively different orders of being. Immaculate
of disgraceful behavior by prominent local ministers. society confirms an Exalt’s natural solipsism and teach-
Other notable peasant rebellions include the Vengeful es mortals that they would have Exalted if their dreams
Harvest of RY 326, the Bloodied Scythe Uprising of RY were meant to come true. Young Dragon-Blooded enjoy
707, and the Ragara’s Widows Uprising of RY 591, so praise, education, and self-expression with total free-
named because House Ragara’s tenant farmers faced dom, effortlessly outstripping childhood rivals and ob-
starvation due to the house’s brutal taxation. In each stacles, while mortals refuse to oppose or even directly
case, the Immaculate Order disciplined its rebel monks contradict them. The world seems so eager to bow
— typically a matter of show, the monks having already before the Dragon-Blooded that mortal things soon
received their abbots’ tacit approval. seem childish and unsatisfying. Wanting for nothing,
Dragon-Blooded seek challenges and glories only their
In RY 465, the Realm faced a uniquely disturbing re- peers can provide, or seek structure and simplicity in
volt. Claiming a monk named Seven Rivers as their monkhood.
leader, the Unbroken Rushes Rebellion surged into
the public eye just before harvest in nine prefectures. Perceptive outcastes understand this social engine’s
The rebellion’s adherents claimed the Empress had lost self-serving nature and find it enticing or distasteful,
the Dragons’ favor, as evidenced by three consecutive but the system is often invisible to Exalted Dynasts.
years of drought. They refused to work, no matter the They view the excess and ambition of Realm high soci-
punishment, demanding the Empress prove her divine ety as their birthright. They learn to avoid personal en-
mandate by conjuring food and drink from the air. gagement with mortals, for sympathy and attachment
She instead called on House Ragara to import massive distract from command. When they leave their gilded
amounts of foodstuffs, and paid traveling performers to homes, most Dynasts see a Creation full of uneducated
discredit Seven Rivers as an Anathema seeking to mis- barbarians and wasted resources, waiting to be tamed
lead the Realm’s subjects. for the greater glory of the Scarlet Dynasty. They seek
to dominate and direct mortals as a spiritual duty, for
Seven Rivers evaded all attempts at capture, anticipat- in practicing obedience to Exalted wisdom, mortals
ing the approach of the Empress’s agents with uncanny improve their souls. Few entertain doubts about their
accuracy that enhanced his reputation as Anathema. rightful place in the universe; doubt is a mortal thing for
Though his tracts were widely distributed during which Princes of the Earth quickly lose tolerance.
the rebellion, few ever met Seven Rivers, and his true
identity was never established. Centuries later, hinter-
landers still claim sightings of Seven Rivers and share Life in the Order
tall tales of his deeds, which always favor the poor and
humble. Monkhood is at once profession, commitment, and
lifestyle. Immaculate monks dedicate themselves to
Dragon-Blooded Society a monumental, never-ending task, and receive few
earthly pleasures in return. Those who embrace the
The Immaculate Order boldly pushes the position hardship and solitude of spiritual life find purpose and
that the Dragon-Blooded alone are Creation’s rightful efficacy they never imagined. Those who break under

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the monkhood’s pressures learn a hard lesson about consideration in the heart of all missions, the Palace
accepting their station in life, and in this they still serve Sublime (p. XX). If the postulant is accepted, regardless
the Perfected Hierarchy. of stature, she’s declared an acolyte of the first rank, and
her training begins immediately.
Entering the Monkhood
Acolytes spend a year or more at the mission in care
Spiritually minded youths come from rare Immaculate- of the Puissant and Humble Instructors, who test
run primary schools, bearing sponsorships and deep and drill acolytes in fundamentals of martial arts and
preparation for monastic life. Farmers and tradesfolk Immaculate Philosophy every day. This training is gru-
put their humble skills to work in temples and monas- eling, and at the turn of every season acolytes undergo
teries. Repentant criminals and mercenaries seek inner testing to ascend in rank. Those who pass five such ex-
peace and honest work. Exiles, orphans, and refugees aminations graduate to true monkhood. Acolytes that
find anonymity and protection, ensconced in temple the Instructors believe will never achieve the bare min-
walls. Even the mighty Dragon-Blooded may put aside imum of mental or physical fitness necessary for monk-
worldly pleasures and temptations for greater commu- hood are dismissed. Many former acolytes return home
nion with their Essence. stronger, more disciplined, and more aware of their
limitations. Others swear themselves to the service of
Mortals and outcastes generally begin their new lives the Order with whatever lay skills they possess, and are
by presenting themselves as postulants at a nearby called oblates.
mission. Each postulant dons coarse gray robes and en-
dures the monks’ commands and chastisements as they Once an acolyte ascends to monkhood, her training
await an audience with the archimandrite. Postulants intensifies. Monks known as Diligent and Skilled
may wait days or weeks for this audience, though the Teachers drill the newly ordained monk morning and
archimandrite speeds the process for postulants with night, testing her for advancement at their discretion
influential sponsors or great potential. Dynasts undergo over a period that may last years. Each monk dedicates
a similar process, though their sponsorships often merit her training to one Dragon and its associated martial art,
beginning with unarmed techniques and progressing to

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weaponry. Students with prior training or special po- Lifestyle

tential receive extra training while their peers sleep.
Immaculate monks surrender many pleasures and
A monk in training may have to stand perfectly still for comforts of secular life in pursuit of spiritual service.
hours while enduring shouted insults and pulled blows, These sacrifices set the Immaculate apart and render
or she may be challenged to rapidly change stances her recognizable throughout much of Creation. Even
while answering complex theological questions. As her enemies may respect her, for Immaculate monks’
mortal monks are capable only of learning the funda- discipline and fortitude are legendary.
mentals of Immaculate styles, they aren’t tested for the
highest ranks of martial skill. Dragon-Blooded may be Humility
asked to weather sharp darts without shedding blood, As servants of the Perfected Hierarchy, monks strive
perform katas requiring superhuman agility, or medi- to remain humble and shun trappings of vanity. Monks
tate for hours in freezing cold or driving storms. Monks may not bear makeup, piercings, decorative scars, or
who fail such tests receive no chastisement, only bruis- tattoos, and must conceal deliberate body modifications
es and continued training. that predate monkhood. The Order expects monks to
shave their heads every five days and to dress in the
When the Diligent and Skilled Teachers determine that
Order’s belted robes and sandals. These gestures of
a student has progressed as far as training can take her,
humility and conformity communicate a monk’s alle-
she’s considered a monk of the First Coil. She consults
giance to all who see her.
with administrators from the Breath of Sextes Jylis to
determine her appropriate placement, based on where Monks follow extensive rules concerning appearance.
she feels led to serve and where the Order needs her They may sport full beards or none at all — no trimming
most. Monks of particular potential, background, or or shaving to achieve a particular style. Wide-brimmed
skill receive important, challenging placements where hats are appropriate for traveling, and many monks
they can excel and, perhaps, rise through the Coils of make these from straw or grass. Monks wear belts of
the Immaculate Order quickly. Martial skill, wisdom, material appropriate to their Coil. Postulants wear
and accomplishment contribute to advancement. simple rope belts, while grandmasters wear fine silk.
Most monks possess ceremonial robes for special oc-
Monks of the First Coil serve positions of low authority.
casions. These display decorations appropriate to the
With the Second Coil comes increased responsibility in
monk’s rank and taste, such as geometric designs, vers-
a temple, monastery, or administrative branch, or train-
es from the Immaculate Texts, and stylized dragons.
ing in some specialist field. Mortals generally plateau
Immaculate superstition states that monks who give in
at the Third Coil, where they nonetheless can serve as
to vanity will suffer bad luck until they seek humbling
administrators, temple abbots, and specialists. Fourth
punishment, such as public shaving by another monk,
Coil monks assume major roles such as archimandrites,
or wearing a postulant’s robe for a month.
high-ranking administrators in the Breaths, and elite
specialists. The Order’s grandmasters occupy the Fifth Celibacy
Coil.
Monks swear to celibacy as postulants and are expected
to avoid sexual contact and remain unmarried for life.
Monastic Names Even esoteric forms of intercourse, such as employing a
neomah’s services, are proscribed. As such, they’re also
Each new acolyte surrenders her name as a token of forbidden from having children, which can be a signif-
her surrender of her old life, and receives a new name icant source of tension (or relief) for young Dynasts
from the archimandrite. Acolyte names are typically expected to carry on their family line. Conversely, some
plain and unpretentious, such as Arrow, Beetle, Grass, families push children into the monkhood to simplify
or Hawk. matters of inheritance, or remove unsuitable children
from the bloodline.
Upon attaining the First Coil, the monk may reclaim
her old name if she wishes; this is most common for According to Immaculate doctrine, sexual contact dis-
Dynasts. Alternatively, she may choose to retain her ac- tracts monks from spiritual matters. Sexual frustration
olyte name, preferring its simplicity and humility; or she does much the same, so monks are permitted to mas-
may petition the archimandrite for a new name reflect- turbate. Any monk found violating her vow of celibacy
ing her inner nature. Recipients of elaborate monastic is expelled from the monkhood. Monks found to be
names take on diminutives; for instance, Righteous pregnant are sent to monasteries to complete the preg-
River Overflows Its Banks is usually called River. nancy, then expelled once the child is born. Children

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water; and in the Fifth Coil, nothing save rice, bread,

vegetables, tea and water. Monks who fail to uphold
HERMITS
their diet may regain their purity over days of fasting,
consuming only water.
Some monks find the close quarters of monas-
teries too oppressive, yet still feel led to seek en-
lightenment in solitude. These monks escape all Work Ethic
society, often contradicting their duties. Despite
their rarity and disinterest, or because of it, these Many who dream of monastic life imagine lives spent
hermits are popular subjects of fiction and myth. contemplating the Immaculate Philosophy’s mysteries.
Hermits are often credited with secret wisdom In truth, life as an Immaculate monk leaves precious
and unknown powers, and every year hundreds little time for contemplation, for the monk is always
of pilgrims journey into the wilderness, or to the working. If she’s not actively serving the public, she’s
Imperial Mountain’s slopes, in hopes of finding one training to perfect her martial skill, or transcribing texts
famous hermit or another. The Immaculate Order in a monastery. Even itinerant monks stop to minister to
insists that hermit monks simply serve the Order’s every village, crossroad, and farmstead they run across.
plans and hold no secret techniques, which only Wise monks make time to meditate and unclutter their
makes their legends grow. mind, which little resembles the intellectual relaxation
that some layfolk imagine.

whose veins run strong with the blood of the Dragons When the stresses of monastic life demand release,
are swiftly adopted by Dynastic or patrician families monks may request time for spiritual seclusion — usu-
that have donated generously; others go to Immaculate- ally up to a few days per season for low-ranking monks.
run orphanages. Some of the most well-known monks Most take this time to read, meditate, and generally
in the Order’s history were themselves monk-orphans, spend time alone, whether in the wilderness or temple
a topic that inspires debate and contemplation among cells put aside for this purpose. Monks may also request
Immaculate philosophers. transfers to other temples or monasteries, or even sab-
baticals for extended personal business that must be
Poverty addressed.
Monks vow to forgo material wealth, as excess leads to
dissipation. They may carry and own objects for per- Outside Connections
sonal use, but the Order views unnecessary attachment
to material goods as unseemly. Most objects a monk Every monk leaves behind a life full of opportunities
carries belong to the Order, and she’s expected to do- and responsibilities when she dons the postulant’s robe,
nate any wealth she earns. She almost never needs to but the Immaculate Order doesn’t erase the person a
work to earn food; the faithful will ensure that she’s fed. monk used to be, nor stop her from building relation-
ships outside the Order. Dragon-Blooded monks, es-
The Order uses its wealth as it deems appropriate. pecially, have connections that the Order would prefer
Often, temples are well-appointed and sturdily built, to use. As such, the Order encourages monks to stay in
for an impressive temple reflects well on both the Order contact with family, provide a pious example to their
and the community’s donations. Temples serve as shel- cousins, and keep the Order informed of their families’
ters and makeshift fortresses in cases of emergency. activities. The Immaculate Philosophy encourages fam-
The Order can also afford to hire significant manpower ily loyalty as long as the monk’s greatest loyalty lies with
for various purposes, and to throw lavish dinners to the Order.
charm political figures.
Perhaps the most important relationship any Dragon-
Diet Blooded monk can build is the Sworn Kinship. The
As monks ascend the Coils of the Immaculate Order, Order supports these second families as a sacred tra-
their diet becomes more restricted. The Order teaches dition among Princes of the Earth. Fully monastic
that a pure spirit requires a pure diet, but views as ar- Kinships serve as resourceful problem-solvers for the
rogance any attempt to restrict one’s diet beyond one’s Order, but monks also form Kinships with lay Dragon-
station. Dietary restrictions are simple: for postulants, Blooded. Monks represent the Order’s interests in a
no gluttony; in the First Coil, no intoxicants, narcotics, secular Kinship, and serve as spiritual guides to their
or red meat; in the Second Coil, no fowl; in the Third sworn siblings. The Order regularly apprises the mo-
Coil, no sweets, sorbets, or coarse grains; in the Fourth nastic members of these Kinships of opportunities that
Coil, no meat or dairy at all, and no drinks save tea and may benefit Kinship and Order alike.

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Leaving the Order resurgence in support of the returned Solars, Bronze

Faction members within the Order have promulgated
Monks swear to serve the Immaculate Order for life, new interpretations of the Immaculate Texts stating
but not all succeed. Some leave the Order in disgrace that Sidereals who serve Anathema are Anathema
after grave transgressions; others depart of their own themselves.
volition. Once a monk submits her request for dismiss-
al, her superiors generally give her a month to see that The Exigents
her duties are taken care of, and to change her mind. If
she remains certain of her decision, she’s cast out from The Immaculate Order believes that only Dragon-
the Order, never to return. The Order doesn’t reveal the Blooded have earned the power and rewards that come
circumstances of her dismissal to outsiders — the honor with Exaltation. Though Exigents vary wildly, the vast
or dishonor she earned as a monk doesn’t follow her majority accepted power from a god that — according
through the temple doors. to Immaculate teachings — they had no right to interact
with. Even the most benign Exigent is therefore guilty
Returning to secular life often means returning to fami- of subverting Creation’s Perfected Hierarchy, a stain
ly, which may or may not be welcoming. A conspicuous likely to haunt them across many reincarnations. Yet
silence follows the monk who returns to her worldly Exigents often possess strange and useful powers, and
station; her friends and family rarely mention her time the regard of influential deities. Well-behaved Exigents
“away” except in whispers. The Order publicly treats may mitigate the crime of their existence by serving
her as if she’d never been a monk, while quietly watch- the Order. Not all Exigents are pressed into service, but
ing to ensure that she doesn’t turn her Immaculate those who fail to heed Dragon-Blooded supremacy and
knowledge and skills to heretical ends. Immaculate orthodoxy are named Anathema.

A monk who won’t accept her own dismissal or the Essential Silence earned the title of Anathema not
terms thereof is a heretic. She’ll face duel after bloody with doubt, but with faith. Chosen by Silken Vesper,
duel until her doctrine is disproven, or until no monk a god of mysteries unveiled, Essential Silence served
lives who’ll challenge her. Some such monks form the Order as an inquisitor, forcing the unspeaking lips
short-lived Immaculate sects, or retire into hermitage of heretics to surrender their secrets and rooting out
and obscurity. blasphemous cabals within the Order’s ranks. It’s said
his power outstripped his wisdom, though he’d say he
Other Exalted grew beyond the Immaculates’ deceptions. Seeing only
conspiracy and secrecy in the monkhood, the Exigent
Creation abounds with more strange prodigies than any became a heretical reformist. Essential Silence travels
sage could name. The Immaculate Order knows of oth- the Threshold’s coasts outfitted like an itinerant monk,
er Exalted beyond Solar and Lunar Anathema, but the seeking corruption to expose in every temple he passes.
Perfected Hierarchy serves only the Dragon-Blooded. Those who see him passing by do not — cannot — speak
All other Exalted must bow to the Princes of the Earth of him. Those who hunt him forget the nature of their
or become enemies of the Order. quarry. Those who face him in battle find he anticipates
their every move.
The Sidereal Exalted Kerlei the Chain is the Chosen of Zhieka, Who Binds
the Heart in Steel, a god of righteous imprisonment.
Most Dragon-Blooded do not know the Sidereal Exalted Her sealing arts have fettered raksha princes in chains
exist. Those that do are typically monks of high posi- of living iron and immured heretics in dungeons con-
tion within the Order entrusted with that knowledge jured from their own nightmares; her baleful mien has
by members of the Bronze Faction, although a handful driven even the hardest hearts to repent. For decades,
learn of the Maidens’ Chosen while studying under Kerlei has been warden of the prison beneath the Nail of
them at the Heptagram. A few passages in especially Truth, in holy Pneuma (p. XX). Here, Sidereals impris-
obscure Immaculate Texts, never read by any but the on Exigents of inauspicious origins, those Chosen by
most devoted, explain that the Sidereal Exalted are the forbidden or criminal gods. Here, these illicit Exigents
agents of Heaven, divinely empowered to safeguard the are forcefully purified under Kerlei’s supervision, either
Perfected Hierarchy by guiding the Princes of the Earth. reconditioned to loyally serve the Immaculate Order
This is, of course, true — the Bronze Faction was much or sent to atone for their sins in their next life. Kerlei’s
wiser than to think they could deceive the Terrestrial Exaltation has not prolonged her lifespan, and in her
Host indefinitely. However, with the Gold Faction’s old age she seeks an apprentice to take on her duties.

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many centuries, but now relies on Hekobo to navigate

conflicting demands from the Great Houses for his
GOD-BLOODED AND THE ORDER support. Several houses seek alliances with Ma’anjin
Hekobo, and she’s repelled an assassination attempt
God-Blooded are disfavored as the results of im- from Iselsi agents seeking to deprive the Dynasty of a
proper congress between mortals and spirits. divine ally.
They’re ill-regarded — especially Ghost-Blood-
ed and Demon-Blooded — but aren’t Anathema.
They’re watched for signs of blasphemous deal- The Liminal Exalted
ings with their parents, and especially powerful
God-Blooded are pressured to join the Order to The Order knows little of the Liminal Exalted. Their
channel their divine powers towards righteous graveborn nature marks them as unclean, yet they’re
ends. Spirits seeking to accrue power by amassing known to hunt the undead that boil forth from the
God-Blooded offspring face censure from Immac- shadowlands. House Ledaal has a particular interest in
ulate monks; their liberated children are often ad- them, viewing them as potential allies of the Shadow
opted by the Order. Crusade.

Tall Cypress, the Wraith-of-the-Woods serves as the

The Getimian Exalted
foremost example of proper Exigent behavior in the
The Bronze Faction has kept the renegade Sidereal
Realm. Over 400 years old, Tall Cypress is the Chosen
Rakan Thulio’s presence a secret from the Immaculate
of Yagumo, a widely revered forest god of the Blessed
Order, but since he unsealed the Getimian Exalted,
Isle. The Wraith-of-the-Woods can tap into Creation’s
they’ve had no choice but to teach trusted monks in
past through communion with trees, or shroud his
the Order’s inner circle of the appearance of these new
mortal aspect with the might of primeval forests as
Anathema, who corrupt the weave of fate with their
he takes on a plantlike form. He’s put his gifts to use
chaotic Essence and seek to sow terror in Heaven. These
defending peasants from woodland bandits and savage
monks receive training in unique meditative techniques
beasts, guiding Wyld Hunts, and aiding in negotiations
and sorcerous practices with which to sense discrepan-
with forest spirits. He’s a frequent object of veneration
cies in causality that reveal the presence of Getimians.
by heterodox fertility cults of Sextes Jylis; he subdues
such heresies with gentleness and humility, lest the
Immaculate Order be forced to do so with a closed fist. The Abyssal Exalted
Ma’anjin Hekobo is the Exigent of the central war The Order understands little about the deathknights,
god, Wanjung, Heaven’s General and Trumpeter of the though more than most of Creation. However, they
Chosen. Immaculate monks presided over Hekobo’s know enough to proclaim them Anathema — it’s hardly
Exaltation and ceremonially granted her the Dragons’ subtle, when they bear the marks of the Solar Anathema
blessings over three centuries ago — a special dispen- on their brow and shine with the bleak majesty of dead
sation for a god who’d demonstrated unusual compli- suns. Some monks speculate that, as the Solar and
ance and dedication to the Order and the Immaculate Lunar Anathema wrested away the power of the sun
Philosophy. and moon, the Abyssals usurped the power of death
itself; others believe they stole their power from devils
Though she’s retired from service in the legions, Dynasts dwelling in the darkness beyond the stars.
still share legends of Hekobo’s deeds. She fights with
the divine might expected of a war god’s champion and The Infernal Exalted
radiates martial perfection in all endeavors. Humble
farmers have left their fields to take up arms upon hear- Over the last five years, the Order’s Sidereal patrons
ing her sing; weapons smithed upon her forge cannot be have pursued rumors and reports of the appearance of
broken. She graces several well-known historical illus- these new Exalted with dread. It is said that they are
trations, her face concealed in a demon-masked kabuto, Hell’s Chosen, wreathed in the light of its mad green
her armor blazoned with stylized dragons that seem to sun. Though the Bronze Faction has yet to share its
constrain her inauspicious power. knowledge with the Order, the Infernal Exalted’s hell-
ish power and rumored resemblance to the Solars en-
Hekobo serves, protects, and speaks for Wanjung di- sures that they’ll be considered Anathema.
rectly. The central war god has enjoyed worship for

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The country villa was whipped by a chill wind, rolling in waves across the azure grass of the plains.
The villa dated back to the Shogunate, and the wooden pillars that held up a slate-stone roof bore
the scars of war, of Contagion, of generations of empire. It sat on the plains of Arjuf, overlooking an
elaborate stone bridge spanning some tributary of the Caracal. Doubtless the bridge was just as
storied as the villa, but Ledaal Marek had never bothered to learn its history. He slid off a silk glove
and placed his bare hand on a pillar, feeling the Wood Essence locked deep within. You came from
some ancient’s grove on the other side of this Isle. If only you spoke to any but myself, he thought,
such things you would say.
A heavy tread sounded behind him, shaking him out of his reverie. Ragara Kajak Dafa stomped in,
clutching his black-patterned cloak tight. “Always was drafty in here.”

“Don’t listen to him. I’m fond of it,” said Sesus Hodaal, following in behind Dafa. She walked a half inch
above the floor, Marek noted. Her hair followed the wind, even when the drafts didn’t touch her. Her
Essence had been growing.

Marek looked over at the bridge. A storm was coming, he noted, rolling off the Imperial Mountain
stretching high in the distance. “Let’s begin,” he said.

Whatever awkwardness was icing over their interactions after years apart melted in the warmth of
their reunited Hearth. Within the hour, Marek had retrieved a bottle of Juche’s sweet wine to fuel the
embers of kinship between the three.

Dafa spoke first. The mercenaries — imported from half a dozen bands up and down the Scavenger
Lands — took his jade to unify and consolidate the disparate bandits who’d sprung up between
Juche and Arjuf within the past five years. He had scouts better than the peasants Nellens used,
light infantry comfortable with the irregular garb of the Blessed Isle’s homegrown raiders, and heavy
infantry for when House Nellens decided to deploy a Prince of the Earth to the problem. Everything but
cavalry, for there was no way to disguise its provenance.

Hodaal had whispered the routes of a dozen travelers to Juche, of the best places to lie in wait and
strike the verdant green valleys where the jade rolled like water. It was her orders, written in three
tongues and a half-dozen hands, that set the Nellens scouts against one another.
But it was Marek that stopped his house from picking up the slack. It was he who paid off ministers,
governors, and numerous lesser functionaries to keep what they were doing hidden. Marek had run
the calculations before his Hearthmates had arrived. He produced the book, pointed to the elegant
calligraphy that described their profits now that Nellens’ business prospects in Juche were in chaos.
Then he cracked open the wine.

“Upstarts,” Hodaal said. “Without our pedigree.”

“Impetuous,” Dafa said. “Without respect.”

“Ambitious,” Marek said. “Without prospect. To House Nellens and their future. May they prove as
fruitful for us in the next five years.”
The glasses clinked, and they turned to the elegant tapestry of Creation that had hung in the villa since
the days of House Jurul. Marek traced a finger along to the Threshold.

“To the South, then?” he asked. The future was bright.

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 Chapter Five

The Blessed Isle

As the Scarlet Realm is civilization’s heart, so the
Blessed Isle is the heart of the world. All things come
MIRACLES OF THE BLESSED ISLE
here: Eastern mahogany, Western pearls, Northern am-
ber, Southern firedust.
The Blessed Isle is dotted with wondrous remnants
The Blessed Isle is also Creation’s spiritual heart. The of the Realm Before — artifacts, manses, and sor-
gods once lived atop the gargantuan Imperial Mountain, cerous workings that greatly improve quality of
life for peasant and Dynast alike. Such marvels
and traces of their habitation lie hidden throughout the
include the traveler-hastening Great Coast Road,
land. When the Exalted founded the Realm Before, they
water-refining sunstills, weather-manipulating
erected mighty manses, crafted marvelous artifacts, and
sky mantis towers, and manses that direct the
spun webs of sorcery to further bless the Isle’s water, flow of rivers or renew fallow fields. Most of these
soil, winds, and hearths. Nowhere else in Creation is so are singular wonders, beyond the prowess of the
broad a region so agriculturally lush and productive. Dragon-Blooded to reproduce; those prefectures
and villages that benefit from them are uniquely
Mortals have dwelt here for millennia. Since the blessed.
Contagion, the folk known as the Wàn have predomi-
nated. But they’ve long since intermarried with the But old magic has curdled and spoiled, poisoned
Isle’s many other autochthonous ethnicities — enclaves by the Solars’ betrayal at Dragon-Blooded hands
of which persist in the interior — while coastal prefec- over a thousand years ago. The Realm’s history is
tures are rife with Threshold-descended citizens whose pocked with horrors spawned from tainted manses
ancestors came to the Isle as refugees, merchants, or and crumbling sorceries. And as the Anathema re-
slaves. All are now one people, joined in superiority to turn, magics thought stable all these centuries are
the barbarians beyond the Inland Sea. likewise turning sour. In Red Sky Prefecture, Im-
maculate rites cannot lay the dead to rest. A dead-
ly dream taints the blessings on the city of Bright
Endless Prefecture Obelisk. Bizen Prefecture’s immortal orchards
darken and wither. Abominations crawl unborn
No prefecture contains the Imperial Mountain’s from the ruins crowning the Imperial Mountain.
heights, but some rise along its base. The Endless is
both the highest and least populous of these, inhabited
only by Immaculates and visited only by pilgrims and
the occasional Dynastic scholar or adventurer.
and the Mountain’s primeval powers, keeping visitors
Numerous bright-bannered Immaculate temples and from leaving the path while preventing the Mountain’s
monasteries — each set a day’s climb apart — wind their inhuman denizens from entering mortal lands.
way up the path called the Spine of the Amaranthine
Dragon, along the Imperial Mountain’s eastern face, Above and to either side of the Spine of the Amaranthine
where travelers can be warmed by the morning sun. Dragon lie countless miles of rocky wilderness, rising
Monks and oblates sweep courtyards, tend terraced from wooded slopes through thickets and meadows to
farms and gardens, and greet travelers with keen-eyed high, icy places perilous to mortals. Scattered among
hospitality. The uppermost temple, the Pagoda of these places are remnants of the Realm Before — cities
Heaven’s End — situated but a fraction of the way up the buried by avalanches, spirit-ravaged ruins, and manses
impossible mountainside — is dazzlingly bedecked with that have lain fallow since the Contagion. Several sites
centuries of offerings left by patrician and Dynastic near the pilgrim route are known to Realm savants and
visitors. Its abbot, the ever-vigilant Immaculate grand- have been investigated by Dynastic expeditions — except
master Cathak Vitara, commands a small army of the sprawling, slate-roofed House of Gray Wings, which
monks sworn to guard the threshold between humanity vanishes like fog whenever a large party approaches,

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chambers; phantasmagoric vertical shafts; and tangled

THE IMPERIAL MOUNTAIN webs of twisting, indistinguishable corridors.

These shades can rarely fulfill their passions, whether

Broader at its base than many nations, miles high
and taller than any other point in Creation, the Im- vengeance on an aristocratic rival, fulfilling an oath to
perial Mountain is a landmark visible from every a Dynastic master, or giving a descendant a better life.
point on the Blessed Isle, albeit as no more than This frustration makes them a strange lot, given to in-
a dim blue shape on the horizon to coastal folk. trospection and philosophical musing. Mortals seeking
It’s the center of Creation. Countless dragon lines communion with ancestors typically go unsatisfied, un-
flow from it, flooding the world with Earth Essence. able to find their own kin among the dead, but scholars
Some say the Earth Dragon dwells at the moun- and sorcerers occasionally visit in search of knowledge
tain’s heart, others that it’s home to weird Mountain — or to bind ghosts into their service.
Folk cities, or cradles sorcerous engines driving
the Realm Defense Grid. None know the truth. The
Empress, with the Immaculates’ approval, forbade Dejis Prefecture
her people from mining the sacred mountain — a
Dejis Prefecture comprises a swath of mountains and
stricture that jade-hungry houses may soon flout.
foothills extending northeast of the Imperial Mountain.
Legend speaks of a great city — perhaps first of Ancestral seat of House Mnemon, Dejis is best known
all cities — at the mountain’s crown. Called Meru, for magnificent architecture. Breathtaking Immaculate
it was home to gods and Exalted before the Anath- temples, monasteries, and shrines seemingly rise in
ema arose, and was a place of marvels, ringed by every valley and on every peak, drawing pilgrims from
similarly wondrous cities along the highest slopes. across the Blessed Isle. Moreover, centuries of careful
No living Dynast claims to have visited Meru. The geomantic engineering have strengthened the area’s
higher one climbs, the colder and thinner the air, formerly weak dragon lines; now powerful manses
the more chaotic the power that grounds itself in blaze with Essence along Dejis’ hills and cliffs.
demesnes and broken manses, and the more
dangerous the creatures that stalk the slopes — This is rugged country inhabited by rugged folk. Many
wrathful elementals, bound demons, mad gods, peasants labor in Dejis’ mines and quarries, unearthing
and unnatural beasts spawned by unraveling sor- marble, iron, jade, and gemstones. Others serve pilgrims
ceries of the Anathema. as guides, or eke out a living from terraced farms and
flocks of sheep or goats. Wood manses enrich several
valleys, but the region’s agricultural yield remains lower
and from which wild, chimerical beasts emerge to battle than most of the Isle; Dejis’ cities rely largely on import-
Immaculates and devour unwary travelers. ed foodstuffs. Caravans of ore and grain require more
guards than heretofore, with banditry on the rise since
House Mnemon holds the prefecture, and its scions over- the Empress’ disappearance.
see temple maintenance and determine who may visit the
mountain’s prehistoric sites. The current prefect, Mnemon While mining and pilgrimage support the prefec-
Rin, is a pensive widower more concerned with piety than ture’s economy, Dejis depends most of all upon House
politics. When bribed by savants or scavengers to allow Mnemon’s Imperial remit for construction. Every city,
access to the ruins, she donates all the money to the Order. village, and town contributes worker corvées to the
Mnemon labor force. This is dangerous work, but safer
and more pleasant than mining.
Pasiap’s Shadow
Most construction takes place in other prefectures.
The Imperial Mountain is thick with wild animals While Mnemon households recruit local labor, they
and spirits. The land here has its own gods, while el- rely on experienced Dejisian workers and overseers to
ementals of wind and stone have long dwelt in these manage such projects. As such, Dejis peasants are more
crags. Ghosts fleeing shadowlands to escape undead well-traveled and cosmopolitan than peasants in most
tyrants or prehuman spiritual terrors find shelter from of the Blessed Isle. When work is slow, House Mnemon
both Immaculate monks and scourging sunlight in the occupies its architects and construction crews with
Mountain’s darkest depths. The greatest of their dwell- projects in Dejis itself. Roads wind across the length and
ings is the labyrinth of caverns called Pasiap’s Shadow. breadth of the prefecture, while bridges and aqueducts
Here gather thousands of ghost-exiles from across the span gorges and ravines. Ornate ministerial offices, tem-
centuries, their whispers echoing in confusion through ples, and tenements dominate the cities.
dark, vertiginous spaces — sprawling, seemingly endless

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The Immaculate Order is especially influential here. Mnemon-Darjilis is a construction industry hub. Much
House Mnemon constructs and maintains temples of the populace finds employment in the city’s drafting
and monasteries for little to no recompense, and raises houses, specialist guilds, and surveying corps. Patricians
more such structures in Dejis than anywhere else. The enroll in prestigious architectural academies, receiving
Order is a constant presence, aiding and disciplining the training as contractors, architects, engineers, and masons
people, while keeping the mountains’ gods and spirits under the tutelage of experienced assistants to Mnemon
within bounds. And now these holy places overflow. scions. Graduates are preferred by wealthy patrons,
With many of her house’s legions overseas, Mnemon fetching correspondingly high fees for their services.
has invited the Order’s monks to gather in Dejis for
its ceremonies and festivals to discourage unprovoked The Immaculate Order is a major presence in Mnemon-
attack from other Great Houses, and they’ve answered Darjilis, which contains hundreds of temples and
her call. shrines. Cottage industries of professional celebrants,
mourners, and religious artisans have sprung up in
Mnemon-Darjilis surrounding neighborhoods, assisting with the city’s
nigh-constant funerals, devotions, and celebrations.
Rebuilt from a First Age city’s ruins, Darjilis is a won- The austere temple headquartering the Breath of Pasiap
der of Dragon-Blooded construction. Generations of (p. XX) is the site of frequent contract negotiations be-
city planning and painstaking efforts have restored the tween the Order and House Mnemon.
ruins to glory, full of temples, manses, and majestic
Despite its peaceful appearance, the prefecture is a
government buildings. The founder Mnemon’s house-
hotbed of internecine political maneuvering. Mnemon’s
hold enclave occupies the House of Marmoreal Glory,
many enemies covet her lands, influence, power, and
an alabaster pyramid at the city’s geomantic center.
wealth, and aren’t above attempting to undermine her
Several Mnemon sorcerers maintain occult laboratories
authority within her own lands. Since the Empress’ dis-
in the upper reaches of the Azure Morning Pinnacle,
appearance, some have begun moving against Mnemon,
collaborating on difficult projects or gossiping among
seeking to cause some disaster or embarrassment that
the manse’s courtyards.
will damage her close ties to the Immaculate Order.

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 C hapter F i v e : T he B lessed I sle

PLACES TO COME FROM

Hawk Prefecture: This small farming district, proud of its history of producing austere, serious profession-
als for the ministries, long ago won an Imperial remit to establish a primary school focused on civil service.
Kestrel Academy, its neat grid of schoolrooms reflecting its curriculum’s rigid orthodoxy, is famous for turning
out stolid, proficient functionaries. But a new teacher — a young survivor of House Tepet’s fall — proved not to
be the straitlaced soldier the academy expected. He teaches students to follow passion rather than tradition,
and live life to the fullest. Parents and faculty alike are horrified and outraged. Ignoring the headmaster’s revo-
cation of his status, he demonstrated mastery of unarmed combat by placing several staffers in the infirmary
when they tried removing him by force. The headmaster now seeks other means to expel the young Exalt before
he further corrupts the school’s youth.

Mavinyos: All cities have their share of crime, whether purse-cutting, burglaries, muggings, or street brawls.
But in the small, rough-and-tumble port Mavinyos — its wealth drawn from looting ships wrecked on the
nearby rocks, ill-gotten gains of Xianyu Coast bandits, and under-the-table bargains with the local salt god that
contravene the salt rate — governor Sesus Gilend bends those crimes to her will. Pickpockets, beggars, and
second-story women double as her spies, passing knowledge and stolen goods to the blind fence Blithe, who
gives Gilend first pick. Thieves unwilling to join the network or toe the line are purged. But a new thief outside
that structure has proven elusive. Nicknamed “the Magpie,” the thief strikes solely at the governor’s household,
making off with precious jewelry and objets d’art. Gilend has accused the city’s other Dynastic household, a
Cathak family whose affront threatens to become vendetta.

Winter Blossom Prefecture: Residents of this cool, dry upland district, with its farms, pottery work-
shops, and ancient cave shrines that have escaped Immaculate attention, inhabit river valleys between ocher
loess cliffs. Much of the prefecture was once a shadowland, sealed through centuries of labor by Immaculate
monks and a Hearth of sorcerers through prayer, sorcerous wards, salting old battlefields, and planting blessed
rock-jasmine. But ancient blood has soaked deep into earth and stone. Violent death easily opens paths to the
Underworld, and the slightest error in funerary custom rouses a hungry ghost. Such events are once-in-a-gen-
eration disasters; Winter Blossom parents discipline children harshly to instill self-control and a loathing of
risen dead, and send them to the Monastery of the Evergreen Scale to study last rites. The sorcerer Ragara
Gasu, last of her Hearth, lingers in the Broken Ivory Pagoda; she’s moved on to more esoteric researches since
the shadowland’s closure, and the old alliance between her and the Immaculates grows strained. Meanwhile,
the prefecture commands a strategic pass between Lord’s Crossing and Mnemon-Darjilis. Should war come to
Winter Blossom, battles to seize the passes will doubtless reopen paths to the land of the dead.

Chanos Prefecture lies the fearful mist-cloaked archipelago housing the

Heptagram. Peasants know well to leave anything that
Swept by chill north winds, Chanos Prefecture’s rocky washes ashore alone; who knows what dark magic it
hills and mountains are known for mild summers and bears?
for winters lasting longer than almost anywhere else on
the Blessed Isle. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that a house of Chanos Prefecture is hilly and difficult to traverse, most
Hesiesh’s scions would claim it for their own, banking of its waterways too tortuous for anything but rude
their own fires high through the winter. barges carrying ore to Chanos city for reshipment else-
where — more fragile vessels rarely survive the rocks
House Sesus’ power here is second to none. In the dark, and rapids. In winter, travel becomes more difficult still,
cloudy winter months, their riders brave wind, sleet, with highland villages sometimes snowed in for weeks
and snow to carry messages for the house’s spy service. at a time. Chanos residents enjoy indoor diversions, es-
Miners labor year-round, sheltered from the cold by pecially Miner’s Gambit — a newly popular local game
ancient stone that yields its bounty to picks and smelt- of strategy and steady hands, centered around stacking
ers. Mining is Chanos’ primary economic engine, with small cylinders on a stone plinth scored with regular
the soil too poor and rocky for intensive agriculture. furrows. Most such disks are slag, their irregularity
The coast is a broken, jagged line of boulders washed part of the game, though young Dynasts or patricians
by wild waves even in the best weather, and out to sea commission silver or ivory sets, bucking their elders’
dismissal of the game as peasant entertainment.

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Chanos Nova — one of the few men in the Realm commanding

such a lofty position. The Sesus elders see him as a
Chanos city lies in a curving bay, partially sheltered well-connected man promoted above his natural ability,
from the north wind. Tens of thousands live here full- and thus, as an opportunity to be exploited. Efforts to
time, most employed by House Sesus, openly or other- extract information from his good-natured ramblings
wise. Called the Gateway to the North, it’s home to the have spawned a cottage industry of informers in the
Air Fleet’s carracks and galleys, whose docks occupy prefect’s palace. Governor Sesus Majali plies him on
much of the shoreline. West of that is hilly Smokehearth her house’s behalf — they dine together regularly, and
district, home to refineries and smithies that refine na- discuss politics over Miner’s Gambit. Unbeknownst to
tive ore into precious metals, and generally downwind. House Sesus, Nova is more intelligent than he lets on.
Housing and trade districts spread along the cres- He plays to stereotype, feeding misinformation to House
cent-shaped coast to the east, slowly rising in affluence Sesus, while informing House Ragara of operations that
and prestige, until one arrives at Emberswathe, House House Sesus thinks secure via codes in official corre-
Sesus’ ancestral stronghold. At the district’s heart sits spondence. He plays a dangerous game — should House
the Palace of Burning Wind, an ancient fortress-manse. Sesus make the connection, his days may be numbered,
Legend says it can rain fire from the sky, but such a for Majali isn’t known for controlling her temper.
weapon hasn’t been used in living memory.
The Isle of Voices
Immaculate pilgrims visit temples — some dating to the
Shogunate — that dot the landscape. Most are well-tend- Home to the Heptagram — the Realm’s premier school
ed, with walls of polished marble. One, the Lapis Pillar for sorcery — the Isle of Voices nestles amid a foggy,
Temple, is a tall tower lined with lapis lazuli, built with storm-raked archipelago off the Blessed Isle’s northern
a Sesus endowment a century ago to showcase and cel- shores. Its exact location is secret. Any ship visiting the
ebrate Chanos’ economic might. Heptagram — bringing students to and fro, or supplying
the place with food, hard goods, scholarly and sorcer-
The Hall of Excellence Untested, among the Realm’s ous texts, and bizarre reagents its curriculum demands
best-regarded military primary schools, sits in the hills — requires a faculty member to bypass the school’s
just east of Chanos. It’s renowned for its strenuous cur- protections. Without such aid, the island can’t be found;
riculum, including mock battles, dawn-to-dusk training compasses spin wildly, navigators grow disoriented, and
regimens, wilderness survival training, and drilling maps blur and refuse to be read. The guide must also
alongside the Sesus legions — these drills held publicly calm the winds that drive ships away from the island
on the city’s parade grounds, a popular attraction for and onto the rocks, and mollify guardian demons and
the peasantry. chimerical beasts nesting on the cliffs and swimming
beneath the waters.
The city itself is often gray and rainy. Its cobbled
streets’ deep, narrow gutters prevent flooding by chan- One road winds from a cliffside jetty to the Heptagram
neling rainwater through expansive sewers into the proper, whose seven stony towers stand arrayed with
bay. This works in all but the poorest districts, such as geomantic precision among precipitous crags. Visitors
Redrock and Ashen, which occupy a depression west encounter all manner of discomfiting phenomena along
of Smokehearth. Buildings are mostly stone, thick that path. Carvings on weathered stone pylons make
walls keeping heat in and cold out. Frequent inclement one’s skin crawl; statues seem a violation of Immaculate
weather makes cloaks common, so it’s easy to venture aniconic precepts, until they start to move; an electric
out unrecognized beneath a hood. feeling crackles in the air, manifesting in blue and violet
coronas of spirit-fire; and darting shapes resemble jelly-
Visibility is often poor in the mornings, the sun taking fish made of shadows. Teachers and older students evince
until midday to burn off thick fog that swallows whis- neither wonder nor discomfort, treating such things as
pers into silence. Now, it hides something even less mundane and unworthy of note. Some manifestations are
wholesome, something that House Sesus’ elders desper- phantasms to intimidate visitors and scare off intruders.
ately try to conceal — a preternatural thief who vaults Others pose genuine dangers to body, mind, or soul.
from building to building, bypassing guards to snatch
valuables before vanishing into the fog in a heartbeat. But the Isle of Voices has few visitors in any case. The
The city’s common folk call her the Chanos Flicker, not Heptagram would have an unwholesome reputation
knowing whether she’s a rogue god or Anathema. even if it were sunny, bright, and free of mystery, for
the Realm’s folk fear sorcery and its wielders. Misusing
For all House Sesus’ power in its home prefecture, it sorcerous power unleashes horrors upon the world, and
must contend with a prefect from another house, Ragara

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some say that trucking with demons tarnishes the soul.

Dynasts value kinfolk who master such powers, but DRAGON’S BLANKET
wish little social contact with them.
Encompassing a great swath of the northeastern
The Heptagram’s enrollment is smaller than other Blessed Isle, the downlands of the Dragon’s Blan-
secondary schools, with only a few dozen students, and ket consist of grassy ridges like the sinuous bod-
one faculty member — usually a sorcerer or savant — for ies of dragons curled beneath a blanket of endless
every two students. All labor under headmaster Ragara green. Rustic herding and mining villages pepper
Bhagwei, one of the Realm’s greatest sorcerers and the landscape, their populace wary of strangers.
medical savants. Brilliant and profoundly eccentric, for
centuries he’s confined his ambitions to the transcen- The hills are riddled with mines and caves. Her-
dent sphere of erudition. Even his intimates cannot be mits, the dispossessed, and bandits make their
certain whether that will change with the Empress’ homes within. Others serve as lairs for wild beasts
disappearance. and weird spirits. Rumors tell of bandit hoards or
First Age treasures hidden deep within the caves.
Beyond the path to the Heptagram, the island is a
patchwork of perils. Older students perform occult
experiments among picturesque hills, groves, decliv- their own deaths. The ruins of the Versino, precursor
ities, and promontories; in the Caves of Qana, bound to the Heptagram, remain haunted by the demons that
elementals slay all who cannot answer their riddles; and destroyed it centuries ago.
those who sleep beneath the Black Elder Tree dream of

WHO IS THE CHANOS FLICKER?

House Sesus’ elders know something is operating within their city. They’ve kept it secret thus far to avoid losing
face among the Dynasty, but attempts to capture the Flicker have failed ignominiously, and investigations hav-
en’t produced workable theories concerning her motivations or identity. Presented below are several options,
but in truth, the Chanos Flicker could be anything.

• Pekla was born a peasant, thin and reedy, living in squalor mere blocks from a Sesus townhouse that, to
her, seemed a mystical palace. From her tenement’s roof, she could just see over the wall and in through
the window of a room filled with swords, trophies, and other baubles — and oh, how she coveted them, un-
til her desire boiled up in golden light when she finally vaulted the wall, jimmied the window, and made off
with a cloak that seemed woven of whispers. She steals to support her family and raise them from poverty
to luxury. Her mother always taught her that theft was wrong, but seems not to mind having meat on her
plate more than once a season.

• Chanos Tsunbal was once the city’s richest mortal, a cunning Dynastic merchant who dominated the
black market and brought immense wealth to his Great House. Then, he awakened to a world where House
Chanos no longer existed — struck from the Imperial ledgers centuries ago — and the city was admin-
istered by House Sesus, of which he had no memory. Not understanding what strange caprice of fate has
plucked him from his former reality — nor his own newfound puissance — he’s begun reclaiming what he
sees as his property from House Sesus. In dreams, he hears a man with a devil’s voice whispering to him,
plying him with promises of vengeance, but Tsunbal refuses to abandon his birthright in Chanos to seek out
this figure.

• Eleven Thunder GodÕs-Razor-Destroys-the-Thief is a First Age relict, a servitor-entity woven

from the Essence of forbidden gods and condemned spirits, bound with an unbreakable, eternal geas to
safeguard its creator’s treasures and reclaim them from any thief who dared plunder her vaults. Even after
her death, Eleven Thunder dutifully guarded her hidden underwater tomb, its mind unraveling as centuries
passed. It awakened when a Dynast discovered and raided the tomb beneath Chanos’ bay. Eleven Thunder
killed the grave robber, but its degraded mind can no longer distinguish its maker’s treasures from any
other. It haunts the city, stealing artifacts and interring them in the sunken tomb.

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Pangu Prefecture trafficking. Guild factors and other slave peddlers ship
human chattels from the North and East to Konjin, not
Pangu is among the Blessed Isle’s most fertile prefec- far from Scarlet Prefecture, and march them inland
tures, producing harvest after harvest of fruit, vegeta- to the forest-girt manse Dreams-in-Amber, whose
bles, and cereals year-round. Herds of cattle feed the well-guarded slave camp is the Blessed Isle’s largest.
Dynasty’s aristocratic appetite for beef, while pigs and Slaves are held there to recuperate from the sea journey.
fowl fill the peasant’s pot. Fields produce astronomical Then they’re sorted, broken, given elementary training,
quantities of wheat to fuel the legions. This provender and transported across the Isle. Attached to the manse is
was once subsidized by the Imperial Treasury. Now, the First House of Equitable Prosperity, a palace whose
Cynis — Pangu’s ruling house — charges rival houses overwhelming luxury aims to please visiting Cynises
steeper prices to feed their troops, and can cut them off and intimidate Guild envoys.
should circumstances demand.
Pangu
House Cynis has a taste for beauty and grace, and has
reshaped the landscape to sate that appetite. Villagers Foreign sailors and merchants throng the tangled
plant trees and flowers in artful configurations alongside streets and wharves of Pangu city. By the Empress’
rivers and roadways, and dig carp ponds for aesthetics decree, Pangu is the Guild’s sole gateway to the Realm,
as well as food. Wealthy households invest heavily in and Cynis senators have thus far voted down attempts
gardens and statuary, and frequent the prefecture’s to change this. This has made the city extremely rich,
countless skilled couturiers and perfumers. Especially and the port’s oldest structures have disappeared be-
lovely scenery attracts field gods and minor elementals neath waves of new construction. Pangu’s architecture
to bask therein. Pangu’s Immaculates drive such spirits is a mélange of Threshold styles erected by wealthy
away lest they fraternize with mortals. foreigners and modish natives alike. Patricians and
other houses’ Dynasts alike follow trendsetting Cynis
This beauty is created and maintained by slave labor, aesthetes in donning exotic River Province fashions,
for House Cynis’ Imperial remit includes human while peasants — many of Northern or Scavenger Lands

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ancestry — easily slip between Low Realm and various

pidgins as they wheedle with peddlers and fishmongers.
Numinous Rolling
Pangu is a city of endless sensory delights. One might
Wave Dominion
take tea beneath Serisena House’s seven ivied gables, From the Imperial Mountain’s foothills to Scarlet
in a booth lit by varicolored glass lamps and enclosed Prefecture’s borders, a great river of Essence rolls.
by drapes of sapphire velvet; stroll through the ma- Its holiness can be felt, rising in waves like heat from
ny-branched floral maze of the Spring Rain Garden, well-tended embers, rippling along the valley that
which a devotee can navigate by scent alone; or visit the stretches across the Blessed Isle. Land, water, and sky
pleasure house of Demur Celadon, an artificial grotto surge with the numinous, the sense of sacred awe and
where clients lounge with catamites and courtesans the feeling of smallness that comes with it, dwarfed by
beside miniature waterfalls on beds of mossy stone the magnificence of Creation.
more comfortable than eiderdown. Cynis estates over-
flow with parties and festivals year-round, welcoming The dominion’s villages are rife with superstition, find-
the wealthy and powerful from across the Isle. Visitors ing occult significance and spiritual inspiration in every
keep to public areas of their hosts’ manors and manses; facet of the natural world. Farmers grow crops in super-
guards show no mercy to those who’d infiltrate private naturally rich soil for export to lavish Dynastic estates
quarters and steal Cynis secrets, particularly coded dos- lining the Valley of the Ancients. Villages host itinerant
siers of blackmail information on rival Dynasts. Immaculate monks several times each year, who come
both to stamp out potential heresies and to contemplate
Houses and shops on stilts cover countless estuarial the dominion’s splendor. Outcaste households in rustic
islets, where swarms of skiffs steer madly around plea- estates oversee many such villages, encouraged by the
sure barges and oceangoing vessels like mice beneath an succession of outcaste prefects assigned here over the
elephant’s feet. The largest, Turtle Island, hosts Heaven centuries at the Empress’ behest.
Fragrance Market, among Creation’s richest and most
varied pharmacopoeial bazaars. House Cynis imports Numinous Rolling Wave follows the dragon lines flow-
medicines and recreational drugs in quantity from the ing from the Imperial Mountain to the Imperial Manse,
Guild, such as sweet cordial, seven bounties paste, to- empowering the Realm Defense Grid. Imperial decree
bacco, and marijuana. Addictive or supernatural “hard forbids the raising of new manses to ensure the flow
drugs” — including cocaine, heroin, ghost tea, and bright of Essence to the Empress’ greatest weapon. Villages,
morning — can only be purchased with jade, restricting towns, and cities are built in accordance with exacting
their use to the Dynasty. Turtle Island’s merchant fam- geomantic designs. Woe unto the farmer who so much
ilies also compound healing and anagathic medicines as raises a barn not considered in the geomancer’s blue-
from proprietary recipes. Long-standing vendettas be- prints; the punishment is dispossession for her entire
tween families stem from accusations of stealing these village.
secrets; newly discovered Shogunate medical texts spur
bidding wars of epic proportions.

Sizable bribes to Dynasts and harbor officials allow IMPERIAL RIVER BASIN
criminal syndicates to smuggle and sell hard drugs. In
addition to profiting thereby, House Cynis keeps crim- The Imperial River’s headwaters begin upon the
inals under surveillance and away from such activities eastern slopes of the Imperial Mountain, and make
as insurrectionism or smuggling Anathema. Dynasts their way east to the sea. Folk have been immigrat-
in Realm cities traditionally monitor and manipulate ing to the Imperial River basin since the Empress’
criminal organizations — controlling agents and in- accession, making this the most heavily populat-
formants with bribes, blackmail, and extortion — to ed region on the Blessed Isle. The plains here are
prevent syndicates from growing too strong. But no thickly settled, long since stripped of old-growth
other Blessed Isle city has such a numerous, powerful forest and purged of dangerous wildlife. Rice and
criminal element, fueled by the root of the Isle’s drug other crops stream from numberless villages into
towns and cities clustered along the Imperial Riv-
trade and House Cynis’ notorious venality. Especially
er’s many tributaries. Dynastic households main-
powerful criminal bosses, such as unctuous Calinese
tain the Basin’s many manses, their geomancy
restaurateur Hansei Falu or withered shipping magnate
tuned over the centuries to moderate the weather
Bezel Gold, have sufficient wealth and experience to use and enhance the growing season.
the Cynises’ own tools against them, bringing watchers
to heel and gaining free rein to act as they please.

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With the Empress gone, the Deliberative has begun to

question this proscription — but they’ve gone no fur- THE ANCIENTS
ther than questioning. Many senators still believe, deep
down, that the Empress’ five-year absence is a test, and To not mince words: The ancients were actually So-
that she watches even now from the shadows, waiting lar Exalted felled in the Usurpation, and the Valley
for the moment to destroy the disloyal. Only Houses a monument to soothe their enraged souls. Many
Mnemon, Ragara, and Sesus champion the proposal to details were lost over the centuries — folk assume
open Numinous Rolling Wave Dominion to construction, they were Dragon-Blooded heroes — but not the
allowing the Great Houses to tap its immense power. imperative to keep the Valley’s original inhabitants
silent.
The Valley of the Ancients While many of those interred here have been for-
gotten apart from their names, a few stories live
Branching from the Imperial River valley in western
on, passed from neighbor to neighbor. These sto-
Numinous Rolling Wave, the Valley of the Ancients
ries, older than the Shogunate, have grown in the
possesses a skyline torn from a bygone age. Rising from telling, but a kernel of truth remains at the heart of
the smooth, worn slopes of the hills, dozens of palatial, each, and none wish to test the tales by rousing the
sunlit tomb-manses reach for the sky. Ages ago, before ancient dead.
Realm or Shogunate, the ancients laid themselves to
rest here, god-kings raising great monuments to millen- Keening Like Unto The Stars Themselves
nia-long lives. Once, the Valley was a quiet sanctuary, once sang a song so beautiful that nations deaf-
a sacred place of pilgrimage and quiet contemplation ened themselves rather than soil their ears with
of greatness lost. Since the Empress’ decision to allow any lesser sound.
settlement within the Valley, it’s been transformed into
a city built atop the ancients’ bones, where dwell the Mayura the Quick, whose blade was so swift it
slew her enemies seven days before the blow that
greatest scions that modernity has to offer.
killed them, and who wept that she could never
Even the meanest of these tombs holds a queen’s ran- look her foes in the eye while they lived.
som, a mere fraction of the unimaginable wealth the an- Tegres, Who Warred Against Death, strangled
cients brought with them into death, including talents the dread masters of the dead until they revealed
of raw magical materials, sorcerous workings lost to their secrets, which he used to raise a thousand
time, and puissant weaponry that this fallen age’s finest mockeries of life still bound, undying, in his tomb.
wondersmiths couldn’t hope to forge. The extant tombs
are harmoniously balanced using geomantic secrets
only the ancients held. To tamper with any of them, or
to erect a new manse, might have eschatological conse- one’s home — expenditures that, with more and more
quences for surrounding prefectures, to say nothing of of Great House reserves going toward preparations for
the Valley itself. war, grow increasingly difficult to manage. New con-
struction and renovations are managed by the August
Life in the Valley Council for the Maintenance of the Valley, to which by
The Empress opened the Valley of the Ancients for law all residents belong and are beholden. The Council
settlement with a proviso — residing in this most pres- owns a small army of slaves who perform maintenance
tigious of locales, surrounded by works of art older than and construction, and charges members to pay for the
empire, required her explicit permission. Every house- slave population’s upkeep and replenishment.
hold in the Valley of the Ancients belongs to a hero of
Power blocs regularly form and disband within
the Realm, who’s earned through some service or meri-
the Council, fueled by individual grudges, house-
torious deed the right to call the Valley home. Peasants
hold-against-household scheming, and antipathies
only enter the Valley as servants and are rarely allowed
between Great Houses. Genteel conduct masks seething
to leave. For a patrician servant, joining a Dynast’s
rage just beneath. With the attention of magistrates,
Valley estate is a high honor, often awarded only after a
ministers, and matriarchs directed elsewhere since the
lifetime of service.
Empress’ disappearance, these power plays and feuds
Those who receive the right to build upon the tombs escalate. Vicious brawls and duels grow more common
lining the Valley must take care not to disrupt their — as does murder.
geomancy. Living here requires regular expenditures
Buried beneath these tombs, or arrayed upon their
as others’ construction necessitates adjustments in
pinnacles, rest the ancients themselves. Such tombs are

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the sweetest, most tempting forbidden fruit. Delving slowly, but so treasure-laden is each tomb that they
into them seeking riches is extremely illegal — and remain enormously profitable.
dangerous, for grave robbers and everyone around
them. One cautionary tale presents a Ragara household This, despite the dangers that lie within. Few of the en-
destroyed in a single night, all but one of the family and tombed ancients sleep quietly, and their hungry ghosts
servant staff dead on the mansion’s floors. The outlier are swollen with supernatural might. Even discounting
was eventually found below the house, dead as his kin, these millennia-old structures’ traps and other hazards,
having removed a wall brick by brick to access the tomb each spectacularly lethal in new and interesting ways,
beneath their wine cellar. the tomb’s resident (and the ghosts of anyone entombed
alive with her) presents a hazard like no other. More
While no Dynast would admit to violating the proscrip- than one tomb-robbing expedition met a calamitous
tion against tomb robbing, virtually the whole Valley end at the hands of a hungry ghost unlike any they’ve
has entertained thoughts of the vast riches just beneath ever seen, terrifying and awesome in its sheer power
their feet. As a result, the Valley contains more than one and enraged beyond measure at the violation of its rest-
ongoing tomb-robbing operation, quietly probing tomb ing place.
defenses for a crack they can exploit.
Because any one of these ancient hungry ghosts is a
House Ragara’s Ash Seekers, perhaps the most success- match for a veteran Hearth, the Valley of the Ancients
ful such enterprise, have burgled five tombs in the past plays host to some of the Blessed Isle’s finest priests and
two centuries, where most organizations of this type exorcists. These Guardians of Hallowed Antiquity carry
have, at most, one such victory to their name. They out respectful sacrifices to mollify the dead, hunt down
aren’t merely thieves without compare, but smugglers, any who violate the prohibition against grave robbing
fences, sorcerers, and bureaucrats — a paper trail of in the Valley, and oversee the Festival of Remembrance.
impeccable lies must be forged for every relic and obol
taken, lest the Honest and Humble Assessors of the The Festival of Remembrance
Imperial Tax discover this secret wealth pipeline flow- Each year, on the day before Calibration begins, the
ing into House Ragara’s coffers. The Ash Seekers move Valley is bedecked with banners, each bearing the name

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Dragon Nest, lightning-wreathed Summer Storm

WHITE JADE ELEPHANTS Pagoda, and time-twisting House of Not Yet Midnight.
In the Empress’ absence, houses jockey to control the
The laws restricting construction in Numinous manses via the Deliberative and through direct nego-
Rolling Wave Dominion, especially in the Valley of tiation, knowing that in a battle for the capital, these
the Ancients, serve more than the Realm Defense powerful, fortified structures may prove crucial to vic-
Grid’s integrity. Every scion the Empress invites to tory. House Mnemon retains the dragon’s share. Ragara
dwell in the Valley of the Ancients is forevermore and Sesus have gobbled up several, while rivals in weak
on the hook, pouring his time and energy into os- positions — such as Tepet and V’neef — ponder extrava-
tentatious displays of wealth to match his neigh- gant offers to sell their final Scarlet Prefecture redoubts,
bors’, his attention focused on his home and his knowing such deals may cost them too much in the end.
position in society’s most prestigious clade of Dy-
nasts, and not on advancement, self-aggrandizing Scarlet Prefecture also holds family estates for most
power grabs, or treason against the Empress. She of the influential patrician families dominating the
held a tiger by the tail, and the Valley of the An- Thousand Scales. These form a tangle of alliances,
cients strengthened her grip considerably. feuds, and polite suspicion, maneuvering for wealth,
power, and marriage alliances with the Great Houses
and one another. But even those that hate each other
recognize the threat posed them by civil war, whose
(or the nearest known approximation) of an ancient
victor might burn the Thousand Scales to the ground
buried within the Valley. Every household participates,
and massacre its mortal elites. Patrician households ex-
as is obligatory. Feasts, music, and theater celebrate
pand their house guards. Families lacking rights to raise
the long-dead ancients’ lives in joyous remembrance
troops gather soldiers in backhanded ways, passing
of their titanic and legendary deeds that have survived
off mercenaries and retired legionnaires as gardeners,
through legend to the modern day. Swordsmen in cas-
couriers, and other staff.
socks of gold or silver duel with mock-jade blades, while
sorcerers clear the skies to let the sun gaze down on the
The families have largely agreed to work together,
spectacle.
recognizing that cooperation maximizes their odds of
retaining long-term power, and that pulling away to
Only here, for this single day, are the ancients revered
back the wrong contender for the throne will doom
by all, in a display that would be deemed blasphemous
them individually. Nonetheless, many are negotiating
at any other time or place. Cost is no concern — the
private deals with individual houses, as the rewards
entire purpose of the endeavor is to do one’s utmost to
of backing the right contender are great. Families with
sate the vengeful shades of the ancient dead and guard
longtime ties to Great Houses — such as the Rose fam-
against their fury at their hallowed ground’s transfor-
ily of Chatoyant Hearth, prominent in the Stewards of
mation into a playground of the rich and ambitious.
Imperial Assets, and a client of House Mnemon — are
This Remembrance must be made every year, with each
expected to support their longtime patrons. Others
year just a little more spectacular than the last, for the
hold off on tying themselves to Dynastic coattails until a
dead sleep poorly beneath the Dynasts’ feet.
contender’s victory seems assured.

Scarlet Prefecture Numerous patrician and Dynastic estates, combined

with constant passage of merchants to and from the
Scarlet Prefecture is the Blessed Isle’s most densely Imperial City, provide a steady influx of wealth that fil-
populated prefecture. Fishing boats and brown-water ters down even to Scarlet Prefecture’s peasantry. Inns,
cargo vessels throng its waterways; farms are packed teahouses, and restaurants cluster along every road, ca-
cheek by jowl, maintained by the same families for gen- nal, and river, some celebrated far and wide, others in-
erations. Dynastic and patrician estates have sprung up famous; they often form the seeds of villages and towns.
near the Imperial City over the centuries, particularly Many a proprietor or merchant parlays a fortune into
along the coastline, lakes, and rivers, for easy access to marrying a patrician spouse. The prefecture’s wealthier
the Empress and her court. Villages, towns, and cities peasants have thus gained a reputation for ambition
have accreted around these estates. Little wilderness and undeserved hauteur, while some deem such nou-
remains except that set aside by Imperial decree. veau-riche patricians callow and unsophisticated.

Numinous Rolling Wave’s dragon lines pass through Mnemon Bata, prefect of Scarlet Prefecture, is one of
Scarlet Prefecture as well. Their Essence sustains Mnemon’s un-Exalted sons. Once entrusted merely with
many powerful manses, such as the salubrious Bamboo carrying out the prefecture’s day-to-day administration,

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he’s taken on increased responsibilities and promi- bronze flank the city gates. Boulevards wide enough for
nence since the Empress vanished. An obstinate man, legions to march along in formation spill into thronging
Bata rarely sides with his mother politically, which is plazas that could swallow small towns. Temple min-
why the Deliberative appointed him to the position. arets brush the heavens, the entirety of Immaculate
He enjoys his newfound importance, playing courtiers scripture carved across their marble facades. The outer-
against each other and extracting favors from Mnemon most boughs of centuries-old trees spread from walled
kin for performing tasks he already intended to do, but Dynastic estates to shade the surrounding streets.
he’s unprepared to contend with the risks his position
now holds. Monumental edifices, often built on the foundations of
the Empress’ first military encampments, loom on ev-
Numerous wilderness reserves — forests, wooded hill ery side — bridges, bathhouses, Cynis pleasure houses,
lands, lakes, and high meadows — are set aside solely for ministries, courthouses, embassies, schools, libraries,
the use of the Empress and her Dynasty. Wardens comb museums, armories, garrisons, and gaols. A handful
their borders for signs of poaching, a capital crime. of millennia-old buildings stand amid among them —
Some are carefully tended, parklike spaces fringed with remnants of the Seat of Splendors, the ruined First Age
topiary and stocked with beautiful and tame animals, fortress atop which the city was built. Dynasts and pa-
whose huntmasters release prey for Dynastic hunts. tricians flaunt their fortunes by erecting or renovating
Others are tangles of wilderness infested by wild beasts. mansions and palazzos, funding festivals and public art-
The Halewood — the Empress’ own reserve — is off-lim- works, or parading vast, sumptuously clad entourages
its to all, despite being stocked with such distinctive through the streets.
creatures as the Sijanese emperor rat; Rumari, the Elk
of Flowers; and the immortal Nightshade Wyrm. Every corner of the city displays architectural tro-
phies brought back from seven centuries of conquest.
Quartzite stelae sacked from summer-smoldering
The Imperial City Zephyr line the Avenue of Finches. The shattered
thrones of Psalter’s fallen queens are inlaid among the
Though the Imperial Mountain forms the Blessed Isle’s
mosaic tiles of the Plaza of Empress’ Mercy. The gold
physical center, the Realm’s economic and spiritual
and porphyry temple of Jiara’s city gods, dismantled
heart is the Imperial City. Every major road on the Isle
and rebuilt stone by stone, crouches in the shadow of
leads to its many gates, every Threshold port sends
the Five Enlightened Dragons Pagoda.
ships up the Imperial River to its docks, every patrician
family of any note maintains a household within its Trophies of the past, looted from the Realm Before,
walls, and every major god is represented in its count- signal the Empress’ ultimate authority as the Shoguns’
less Immaculate temples. Powerful dragon lines pass successor. Everburning crystal lamps illuminate court-
through the earth below, their Essence twining and tan- yards and concourses. Doorless obsidian domes by
gling about the stones of foreign manses seized by the the city walls, built by the Empress to house nameless
legions and wedded to the city’s foundations. A sense devices of the Anathema, emit an insectile hum; they
of grandeur hangs over it all — the Empress’ invisible flicker on Calibration nights with a many-colored nim-
presence, her mantle forever spread across this queen bus. Massive arsenal-manses, sealed since the Empress’
of cities. disappearance, contain all manner of First Age war
engines, untested in battle for centuries.
With over a million residents from across the Blessed Isle
and Threshold, the Imperial City is among Creation’s The enormous, varicolored glass domes of the Palace of
most populous metropoli. Its walls, wide as they are, the Deliberative, masterworks of Mnemon craftsman-
can’t contain its multitudes. Buildings climb skyward, ship, are matched by the peacock garb of the senators
forming a forest of towers that loom above the walls. themselves as they parade to and from sessions, borne
Other buildings rise athwart the streets, fragmenting by gilded palanquins and escorted by scores of aides,
major avenues and forming tortuous routes that twist servants, and slaves. Beyond the resplendent ranks of
like snakes across the city. Those who can’t find lodging the Guardians of the Deliberative rise countless busi-
within the walls build outside, forming a great sprawl of nesses geared toward Deliberative members’ needs,
habitation gathered around the city’s skirts. supplying highest-quality parchment, ink, brushes,
inkstones, scribes, couriers, refreshments, temporary
This may also be Creation’s wealthiest city. All the
lodgings, and courtesans. Across the plaza stands the
world’s treasure courses through the roots of empire
squat, weathered Strix Tower, a Shogunate-era military
to blossom here, and the Empress aimed to intimidate.
bastion whose Imperial garrison — ostensibly set to
Hundred-foot dragon statues of gold and tarnished
guard the Deliberative against rioters or invaders — was

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a tacit threat by the Empress to keep senators in line. business in this shadow city, and every night, blood
Now it stands vacant, emptied on the Deliberative’s own is shed with little attention from the Black-Helms.
authority. Meanwhile, the Realm’s grandees smell only the osman-
thus trees lining their boulevards, and the distant din
The Capital’s Underbelly of the people sounds no louder to them than buzzing
gnats.
Another, larger city throbs behind the Imperial City’s
facade of wealth and power. To support each patrician Since the Empress’ disappearance, the city’s tenor
or Dynast dwelling in splendor, a hundred artisans, has darkened for nobles and peasants alike. Citizens
laborers, and slaves drudge through their days. Just grumble about increased prices and higher taxes, then
past the grand avenues, cramped apartment blocks face whisper of bloody intrigues — legionary officers culled,
manufactories and warehouses across tangles of narrow courtiers and archons murdered in the Imperial Palace,
streets, while artfully sculpted jetties divide aristo- or conspiracies eating away at the Realm’s heart. Ever
cratic marinas from mercantile docks crawling with more house troops escort Dynasts through the streets,
stevedores. This second city is as multiethnic as Nexus, shopkeepers scrub treasonous graffiti from their walls
Chiaroscuro, Pangu, or Arjuf, its districts chockablock each morning, and foreign mercenaries and spies brawl
with unfamiliar garments and architectural styles. The in wine shops while awaiting employment. Mobilized
air resounds with foreign dialects and strains of strange to keep order, the Black-Helms offer rewards for infor-
music; each breeze is redolent with exotic spices from mation on seditious deeds — which only yields greater
barbarian cuisines. tension as neighbor falsely informs on neighbor.

Fighting the city’s organic growth, Imperial architects

struggle to conceal the lower classes from their betters,
The Imperial Palace
confining the stink of industry and clamor of crowds As the Imperial City stands at the Realm’s heart, at its
to the heart of commoners’ districts. Pimps, madams, own heart stands the Imperial Palace. Though every
drug dealers, extortionists, thugs, and thieves do brisk avenue in the capital converges on the Palace, it’s

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morning glory, or take tea in lacquered pavilions beside

GRI-FEL, GOD OF THE IMPERIAL CITY ornamental ponds. Even Imperial messengers move
with calm, stately grace.
Once a rustic deity of pastoral farmlands, Gri-Fel
may now be the most prominent city father in Cre- A luxurious suite of rooms stands ready for each of
ation. A witty, sophisticated deity with a foppish the Empress’ surviving children, husbands, consorts,
bearing, he’s a rarity among spirits in genuinely lovers, and favorites. Similar housing accomodates
believing in the Immaculate Philosophy, convinced Great House matriarchs, generals, admirals, chief
that the Dragon-Blooded are Creation’s right- ministers, magistrates, and other noteworthy figures.
ful rulers. He oversees the Imperial City dutifully Though many suites have gone unused for decades,
while piously refraining from proscribed interfer- they’re maintained as though their owners will return
ence in mortal affairs; the Immaculate Order in at any moment, their possessions and private writings
turn allots him plentiful festivals in Scarlet Prefec- preserved. Since the Empress vanished, a few family
ture’s prayer calendar. He’s greatly worried by the members and intimates — such as her astrologer-advi-
Empress’ disappearance, fearing that instability at sor Rahesh the Varangian, elderly ex-husband Ledaal
the Realm’s center may ripple outward throughout Harano, and mortal son Ivoret — have retreated to the
the entire Perfected Hierarchy. The return of the Palace and the Silent Legion’s protection. The Regent
Solar Exalted has only strengthened his fears. If inhabits a small suite far from the Empress’ own now-
anything can drive him to meddle in Creation, it’s sealed residence.
the possibility of Anathema laying siege to his be-
loved city. Other edifices range from the sprawling, vaulted
Scarlet Garda Pavilion where petitioners knelt before
the Empress enthroned, to the Hall of Ten Thousand
isolated by a many-towered wall pierced by jade-crust- Seals, whose chambers contain centuries of Imperial
ed gates, flanked by broad green swards and gardens, regalia — from signets, collars, mantles, and diadems to
and patrolled by the formidable Legion of Silence. Only scepters, parasols, breastplates, and daiklaves — many
Dynasts and their personal entourages come and go predating the Realm, having been borne by daimyos
freely; patricians, peasants, and foreign dignitaries may and shoguns, or queens and preterarchs from the Realm
only enter by Imperial imprimatur — authority vested Before. Each tier of Jinmai Tower houses a menagerie
by the Empress in Amon Mora (Dragon-Blooded, p. from a different part of the Threshold; the floor of the
340), the stubbornly traditionalist Keeper of the First Pure Wind Pagoda is a grand map of the Realm, carved
Imperial Seal. in high relief and inlaid with semiprecious stones.

The Empress’ sorcery is wound about every door and One also finds dozens of ministerial offices; kitchens
every stone, protecting the Palace from intrusion. large enough to prepare whole elephants and hybrocs;
Spirit-fires flicker on rooftops at night, while inhuman numerous dining pavilions, grand or intimate, each
shapes stand guard in every mirror’s reflection. Lines meant for different seasons and times of day; the
of block salt ward the entire compound from ghosts, Imperial Mint; the Legion of Silence barracks; count-
lest countless lives ended by the Empress’ policies seek less gardens, temples, treasuries, museums, libraries,
posthumous retribution. theaters, state rooms, parlors, chapels, cellars, work-
shops, servants’ halls, storerooms, and stables; and
The Palace grounds, a city unto themselves, encom- the fortified domes housing the Realm’s two infinitely
pass thousands of buildings occupied by innumerable rare Beasts of Resplendent Liquids, whose excretions
servants, ministers, and Dynasts. Some of its quarters yield the anagathic drugs that maintain the Dynasty’s
throng constantly with the business of empire. Others, youth. Subterranean vaults house dangerous remnants
their functions superseded by newer construction, are of the Realm Before, trophies stripped from captured
all but abandoned, leaving artfully overgrown struc- Anathema, and sorcerous wonders wrought by the
tures perfect for all manner of assignations. Empress’ own hand.

The grounds possess a solemn, timeless air transcend- Where once the Empress’ staff devoted themselves to
ing the hustle and bustle of the empire’s day-to-day. Realm and throne, today’s Palace is a hotbed of schem-
Officials perambulate across tessellated plazas at a ing ministers and courtiers swirling around the Regent,
slow, measured pace, gorgeous robes barely fluttering, visiting senators, ministerial chiefs, and other key fig-
accompanied by servants to carry their writing cases ures, deploying persuasion, rumors, skullduggery, and
and shade their heads with silken umbrellas. Courtiers paperwork to undermine political enemies and sway
and concubines stroll beneath pergolas wreathed in the undecided. Some advance their own careers in the

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the port of Sdoia is one of House Peleps’ greatest strong-

THE IMPERIAL MANSE holds, a political battlefield that may be the flashpoint of
civil war in the Realm.
Few places in Creation rival the power within the
Imperial Manse. It’s a singular marvel of the Realm Sdoia
Before’s geomantic engineering and sorcerous
prowess, anchoring a confluence of the Bless- Centuries ago, the Empress named Sdoia city the Wood
ed Isle’s most puissant dragon lines to empower Fleet’s home port. It’s had a military air ever since.
the miracle-engines of what is now known as the Almost all civilian residents are tied into the Fleet’s mu-
Realm Defense Grid. None save the Empress know nicipal support structure, whether through shoreside
what lies within, though rumors abound — mon- services, logistical support, or other tasks outside the
strous elemental prodigies arisen from the dragon purview of House Peleps’ wide-ranging naval authority.
lines, gateways into other worlds, the souls of fall-
en Shoguns, the shells from which the Elemental Sdoia’s harbor dominates the city, docks reaching into
Dragons hatched, or stranger wonders yet. The the water from every accessible inch of shoreline. The
Imperial Manse’s geomancy is unassailable by al- collection of moored ships changes with the tides as
most any natural forces or deliberate intervention; patrols depart or return. Twin fortresses flank the bay’s
a would-be saboteur seeking to tamper with the mouth, their siege engines tracking each ship that sails
Realm Defense Grid would have to block off the through. Both also serve as lighthouses, their massive
dragon lines that tie the Imperial Manse to the rest
pyres stoked high every night. Virtually every outdoor
of the grid.
surface in the city sports a flag or banner, with House
Peleps’ mon predominating.

present tumult. Others press for advantage for their Its ports occupied largely by Wood Fleet ships, Sdoia
family, ministry, or other faction, paving the ground sees far less commercial traffic than comparable ports.
for the economic and political — or, if it comes to that, This contributes to the city’s austere air; lacking reve-
military — strife they foresee overtaking the Realm and nue from merchant ships, its teahouses, restaurants, and
the Blessed Isle. bordellos are shabbier than their peers at the docks. This
mood lifts only in the city’s handful of palatial Dynastic
The soaring trees of the Hidden Raiton Garden, at the and patrician households — their scions largely naval
palace grounds’ center, cannot conceal the squat, blocky officers and shipwrights — and in barracks and dock-
shape of the Imperial Manse. The manse’s foundations side taverns, where enlisted sailors congregate when at
are sunk deep beneath the Palace, rooted in dragon lines liberty to spend a month’s wages in a night. Providing
flowing through the Isle’s bedrock. Unlike the rest of the for the latter (and occasionally the former) supports a
Palace, it has no guards. It needs none. It opened only to sizable black market despite the Wood Fleet’s presence.
the Empress; without her it remains implacably sealed,
leaving the Realm Defense Grid’s power inaccessible. If Prefect Sesus Tudara dwells full-time in the city. She
there’s any other way to rouse the Grid’s eschatological addresses her provincial duties entirely through inter-
might, no one speaks of it. mediaries, focused as she is on her ongoing operation
against House Peleps. The two houses have long been
locked in mutual antagonism — House Sesus fears the
Sdoia Prefecture Imperial Navy cutting off profitable trade and tribute
routes, while House Peleps has long been concerned
Sdoia Prefecture is characterized by two greatly dif- with Sesus’ infiltration of the Navy — and Sdoia is one
fering cultures. One, distributed along the prefecture’s more battleground in this longstanding rivalry. Tudara
roads and rivers, encompasses country homes of considers it her duty to interfere with the Wood Fleet’s
Dynasts and patricians desiring privacy without ven- operations, sabotaging its morale and readiness and do-
turing too far from the city. Many a plot was hatched in ing what she can to encourage piracy in nearby waters.
these old hunting mansions, often ending with a knife
in someone’s back after a sumptuous banquet. “Going The Admiralty Board, no fools and disinclined to tol-
to Sdoia” may therefore mean taking up with a new par- erate declining readiness for any reason, have charged
amour for a week, luring a rival in with honeyed words Captain Peleps Kishikaia with hunting down the source
and making short work of him, or perhaps both. of the sabotage. Even with covert support from governor
Fortune Jade — who’s offended by Tudara’s interference
The other culture, centered on the city of Sdoia, is no with his oversight of the city — Kishikaia has yet to tie
less blessed with intrigues. Home to the Wood Fleet, Tudara to the affair, nor has Tudara followed the chain

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PLACES TO COME FROM

RaitonÕs Perch: This ancient mountain fastness overlooks Vane Prefecture’s terraced hills and Dynastic es-
tates. The patrician Relin family dwells here in faded splendor surrounded by dust and cobwebs, amid a lab-
yrinth of vacant rooms and crumbling towers. Once Shogunate nobility, their blood has thinned, their treasury
emptied. Now they command but a handful of peasant farmers whose efforts support them and their equally
aloof, insular servants. But the Relins dream of reclaiming their ancestors’ prestige. Students of sorcery, they
command an ancient working they call the Incandescence that gathers and shapes sunlight, enriching harvests
in the mountains’ narrow, shady valleys. And now in this generation, Dragon-given fortune has Exalted seven
young Relin sorcerers, whose united powers magnify the Incandescence into all-consuming solar fire. With the
Empress gone and war looming, they look covetously on Vane Prefecture’s rich lowland cities — Divan, Irevasa,
Star-of-Prose — and dream of carving out a new kingdom.

Tears-of-the-Lotus: This lakeside market town in Incas Prefecture, with its communal tulou residences
and lotus-pool gardens, its sampans and cicadas, was once a quiet, rustic bywater where little of note trans-
pired. Now night winds carry dead voices to its shores. For centuries, a local Iselsi household cremated their
fallen at the edge of Lake Fensan and scattered the ashes upon the waters within the Black Egret Pavilion. Even
after that house’s fall, the manse remained the residence of elderly Iselsi Bura — senile, impoverished, last of
her line — until she died of old age last year. Rumors that ghosts of Iselsi dead haunted the manse were proven
when specters assaulted its Nellens purchasers. A sorcerer-exorcist in the Nellens’ employ drove the ghosts
from the manse, but their ties to the dragon lines were too strong to expel them from the living world. Now Iselsi
ghosts lurk beneath the lake, and fisherfolk shudder at the imprecations and dire prophecies that rise from the
waters at night.

RadimelÕs Seat: This island was once an idyllic vista off the Blessed Isle’s coast, its balmy climate maintained
by a First Age network of manses that diffused and ameliorated the influence of powerful fire demesnes. Sev-
eral decades ago, the manses were sabotaged by a Circle of Lunar Anathema, creating a geomantic imbalance
that scorched the island’s eastern half to desert and beckoned a migration of winged fire spirits from the South.
Manse repairs — still in progress, though largely halted since the Empress’ disappearance — stabilized the
island’s Essence, but haven’t undone the damage. Inhabitants have relocated to cities and towns on the western
shore, though many of these immigrants are ill-used. With the magistrates’ withdrawal, crime is more rampant
than ever, and smugglers find the island an ideal base of operations.

of stabbings in alleys and taverns that nibble at the edges country homes for retired legionnaires and influential
of her network to their origin. The two women dance politicians.
around each other with their knives out, ready to stab the
first thing they spy in the shadows. Sooner or later, one of Incas is also home to the Radiant Synod, a spirit court
them will act, and war will come to Sdoia. of minor gods of fire and sunlight. Local citizens avoid
beaches such spirits frequent; Immaculates watch to
ensure the Radiant Synod doesn’t form heretical cults
Incas Prefecture or hide a Solar Anathema among its ranks. Occasionally,
a sorcerer visits to petition the Synod, but the small
Located in a wide valley in the southeastern Blessed
gods are largely left in peace.
Isle, Incas Prefecture’s expansive dairy ranches, farm-
ing operations, vineyards, and orchards offer a steady
supply of foodstuffs to the region’s cities. Incas also Sion
houses the Palace Sublime and the Cloister of Wisdom.
Founded centuries ago as a weavers’ community, Sion
Once House Iselsi’s seat of power, the fallen family’s has become one of the Blessed Isle’s premier hubs for
last few households still call this prefecture home. The textile production and fashion design. The surrounding
renowned raksha-hunter Ledaal Tajit now governs countryside supports Sion’s primary industry, from vast
Incas, but Iselsi remnants retain access to several cotton fields to zealously guarded herds of exactingly
manses, and their remaining wealth is heavily invested bred, soft-wooled sheep. Dyeworks and factories dom-
in the cities of Sion and Noble. In addition, Incas holds inate the city’s trade quarters. Most of the cloth manu-
many immaculately manicured pastoral manors, choice factured within Sion is of sturdy, common quality, but

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the city also produces materials suitable for Dynastic

and patrician fashions. LUO-HAN PLAINS
Sion is home to many influential textile houses, but
This warm and pleasant province of the south-
its true draws are professional studios and exclusive eastern Isle, thick with farming villages, prospers
schools of acclaimed clothiers, many of whom are re- under the Immaculate Order’s eye. New itinerant
clusive and mysterious. Catching a glimpse of the most monks often take their first rounds here, in the
elite fashion designers means the lucky onlooker has Palace Sublime’s shadow, while personal agents
conversational centerpieces for weeks to come. The of high-ranking Immaculate elders pass through
clothiers rarely emerge from their studios, sending on their way to and from meetings with their su-
agents and apprentices on errands from purchasing periors. Prefects, governors, and ministers know
high-quality materials to ordering rice and tea from the better than to abuse the peasantry under such
food markets. close attention, nor can peasants conceal large
portions of the harvest from tax collectors.
Every year, Sion hosts the Festival of Illustrious
Innovation, a lavish celebration of textile design that Venerable mortal monks often request burial in
encompasses the entire month of Descending Wood. quiet places in the Luo-Han countryside, or in vil-
Sion’s finest clothiers unveil their latest designs, setting lages that they had pleasant memories of from
fashion trends for upcoming seasons. Clothiers from their rounds. Though not as often visited as such
across the Blessed Isle and even the satrapies come to great religious sites as Myion or Juche, these scat-
showcase their wares and compete for hefty prize purs- tered cenotaph-shrines receive a steady trickle of
es awarded for novelty, elegance, and beauty. Several pilgrims. Iselsi agents use such shrines as meet-
ing places and dead drops.
elite Sionese clothiers offer coveted apprenticeships to
the winners.

The festival brings thousands of traders, artisans, mer- Texts, commentaries thereon, other texts of scholarly
chants, patricians, and Dynasts over its duration, gener- merit, and quotidian records of temple and monastery
ating massive revenue. Unfortunately, criminal activity business, along with scriptoriums and residences of
spikes during that month. Many thefts, assaults, and Immaculate scribes. Both towers hold altars, medita-
murders go unsolved by Black-Helms and magistrates tion chambers, and rock gardens. The central fortress
alike. — given over to Dynastic postulants seeking admission
to the Order — contains dormitories, training yards, and
The Palace Sublime simple devotional shrines.
The Palace Sublime rarely meets first-time visitors’
expectations. Rather than a glorious jade-crusted mon- Stairways descending beneath the Palace open onto
astery encircled by serene, majestic gardens, the seat of well-guarded vaults containing the Order’s wealth —
the Immaculate Order is simultaneously unostentatious trunks full of jade and silver, armories of artifact weap-
and intimidating — an austere fortress of rough-hewn ons and armor, catacombs brimming with sacred relics,
stone, flanked by two of the tallest towers in the Realm. and depositories for forbidden texts. Only a few of the
It shows no sign of riches, for the Philosophy doesn’t Order’s most trusted monks ever receive access to these
prize wealth. Neither is it defensible, for none would hidden halls.
dare threaten the Order’s heart.

One tower houses the chambers and offices of the

Noble
Mouth of Peace (p. XX). Here, she transacts the Order’s
Despite Incas Prefecture’s richness, the city of Noble
day-to-day business, meeting with archimandrites of
has fallen on hard times of late. Founded as a military
Directional missions, delegations from the Breaths of
town, Noble has for generations housed Imperial le-
the Immaculate Dragons, and Great House emissaries.
gions and janissaries awaiting deployment to the South
The floors below contain the offices of the Mouth of
or East. Military housing, barracks, and commissaries
Peace’s staff; halls of records; and lodgings for visiting
comprise the bulk of its economy.
Immaculates and Dynastic envoys, as well as several
high-ranking, well-respected monks (including a num- Since the Imperial legions’ recall from the Threshold
ber of prominent Iselsi scions). to key Blessed Isle cities and ancestral seats, Noble’s
economy has dwindled. Military units — once common
The other tower encompasses libraries and archives
to see in Noble’s streets — are a rare sight, with the
containing authoritative collections of the Immaculate
barracks empty since they were briefly lent to Mnemon

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legions en route to Jiara a year ago. Businesses have investigate reopening dead mines to eke the last traces
shuttered for lack of commerce, and many families have of wealth from their bones. This stirs up residents who
abandoned the city to seek work elsewhere. Without fear losing independence, or that justice will catch up
fresh industry or returning legions to reinvigorate the with them. Some have been moved to violence; at least
economy, it’s only a matter of time before Noble is little one surveyor’s corpse lies sunk beneath a flooded quarry.
more than a ghost town.
Earthquakes recently rolled across the southern Isle’s
highlands, leveling buildings and killing many, but
Corin Prefecture Corin’s folk are already rebuilding. Unclouded Stone
Savants are especially busy in the disaster’s wake, find-
Rugged, rocky Corin Prefecture’s many roads swarm
ing routes into mines sealed by the tremors, and seeking
with guarded caravans conveying silver, tin, jade, and
new lodes — or lost treasures of the Realm Before — that
other metals and gems from Ragara mines to the pre-
the quake may have opened.
fecture’s ports and the Great Coast Road. Would-be
bandits seeking easy wealth from the “Imperial Bank”
find roads lined with their predecessors’ crucified, rai- Riven Quay
ton-mantled corpses.
Most of Corin Prefecture’s population and wealth gath-
While the Ragaras command riches beyond mortal er in riverine and coastal settlements, where streams of
dreams, most of their wealth exists on paper as loans ore descending from the highlands merge into mighty
and investments. The house and its scions leverage rivers of riches. Foremost among these is Riven Quay,
that into tangible prosperity, raising expansive manors a port founded by Ragara himself and now among the
encircled by draconic topiary and ornamental ponds, Realm’s greatest centers of industry.
tended by armies of servants. Manses, too, rise ma-
ny-towered from promontories and blossom like jade Towers of foul smoke rise from foundries where silver and
flowers alongside waterfalls and streams — so many tin are smelted, and grimy streets echo with blacksmiths’
that a sizable Mnemon household resides here to main- pounding hammers. Patrician households encircle their
tain them. Such expenditures channel money into the estates with thick hedges to create islands of peace; they
local economy, attracting skilled artisans and perform- do much of their business in marble-walled public baths,
ers from across the Realm. Patrician families thriftily while peasant laborers throng by the river to wash away
reward gifted clients not with money, but with marriage the city’s soot and stink. Launderers, clothiers, and per-
opportunities. Such patronage is beguiling in a society fumers do a brisk trade. Glittering emporia market exotic
largely devoid of upward mobility. foreign wonders and pre-Contagion relics to the Dynasty.

While a miner’s lot is miserable, peasant farmers, herd- As Riven Quay’s industries have grown in prominence,
ers, and urban laborers don’t suffer unduly under the so have its blasphemies. Blacksmiths pray to forge gods
Ragara yoke. While the house as a whole has little regard as they labor over their anvils; peasants seek healing
for the lower classes as people, seeing only their value on from the river’s spirit; visiting sailors practice nautical
a balance sheet, they recognize that rebellion is as much heresies. House Ragara makes a show of suppressing
a risk in prefectures as in satrapies, and invest in capable such practices, but it’s never quashed them entirely.
administrators. Corin’s villages are quiet places whose While most scions see this as lenience extended to a
peasants are taxed heavily but not too heavily, and itiner- profitable locale, the house’s inner circle would rather
ant Immaculates find little to criticize. But the people are Immaculate monks in Corin Prefecture contend with
well aware that their Dynastic masters don’t love them; such improprieties rather than pry into Ragara secrets.
they still recall every mass grave where Ragara put down
ancient peasant rebellions with infamous brutality. Juche Prefecture
Tapped-out mines nestle amid the mountains, at the The populace of mountainous Juche Prefecture gath-
ends of roads whose paving stones were thrust aside ers into the green folds of river valleys, away from the
by new trees. Overgrown, abandoned mining towns coast’s great, bustling cities. But theirs is a comfortable
are inhabited largely by birds and deer. Some retain a gathering, supported by House Nellens’ wealth. For
smattering of mortal residents — prospectors, hunters, centuries, the house has invested heavily in businesses
trappers, bandits, hermits, and the disposessed — dwell- throughout Juche — terraced farms, tin mines, lum-
ing beyond the Realm’s laws and strictures. Others are beryards, luthiers, water mills, and wineshops. It pays
haunts of elementals, ghosts, and stranger beings. Parties well to attract skilled artisans from across the Blessed
of Unclouded Stone Savants, Ragara’s elite surveyors, Isle. Successful businesswomen fund House Nellens

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having sprung up around them since the Contagion.

THE MOUNTAIN FOLK Every village claims some renowned monk or other as a
native daughter, or tells tales of her visiting on some holy
In the earth’s depths lie the cities of the inhuman task. Even the prefect’s palace resembles an Immaculate
Mountain Folk, also called the Jadeborn. Little is temple, pillars twined with draconic shapes, images of
known of them except that they’re superlative ar- Immaculate Dragons adorning the walls. Local merchants
tisans, and that those who dwell below the Bless- negotiate with peers not in offices or counting houses, but
ed Isle have loyally served the throne since the on temple steps after services. They also demonstrate piety
Realm’s dawn. They maintain an annual tribute via pilgrimage among the prefecture’s sacred sites, or by
of 100 jade talents, carried through Juche city and witnessing alleged miracles from such mountain-dwelling
Numinous Rolling Wave Dominion to the capital. Immaculate hermits as the irascible oracle Bramble, or the
A dragon of their soldiers once served as auxil- ever-young Agana of the Healing Hands.
iaries to the Imperial legions, but withdrew upon
the Regent’s accession. Otherwise, they’re rarely The prefecture is also home to the dark, imposing
seen. Immaculates consider mortal dealings with compound called the Obsidian Mirror. There, a day’s
Mountain Folk as inappropriate as with spirits. A travel from Juche city, the Splendid and Just Arbiters of
few Dragon-Blooded — largely Ledaal, Mnemon, Purpose train young outcastes.
Nellens, and Ragara — study with their architects
and artisans, or bargain for their wondrous wares. Nellens Dragon-Blooded roam the prefecture slaying
predators and rooting out criminals and outlaws. This
burnishes the Nellens’ image among their mortal sub-
jects — which the house values more than other Dynasts
with loan interest; unsuccessful ones can earn grace by
do — thus maintaining loyalty and morale. It also hinders
providing favors to the house.
rival houses’ spies, and ensures that Dragon-Blooded
Juche is also eminently religious. Millennium-old heroes are on hand if another house moves militarily
Immaculate shrines speckle the countryside, towns against Juche. However, the recent murder of young
Nellens Serin in the town of Spider’s Crossing has set

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DRAGONSWRATH DESERT PLACES TO COME FROM

The Dragonswrath Desert is a sun-blasted expanse Jinitama: This isolated farming village in lovely
of sandy dunes whose inhabitants, largely dispos- Aru-thistle Prefecture has unwittingly fallen to her-
sessed folk hiding from the Realm’s eye, eke out esy. When blight struck every field but those host-
a desperate existence. Myriad shattered marble- ing helpful spirits — threatening many families’
and-gold remnants lie scattered like glacial boul- livelihoods — neighbor accused neighbor of illicit
ders across the sands — according to local legend, worship, then of foul magical practices to steal the
remnants of an ancient battle between the dragons village’s luck. Matters escalated to brawling, then
Dhoresh and Mhaltin, who sleep beneath the en- arson; finally, rabble-rousers gathered to stone the
circling mountain ranges that share their names. so-called witches to death. When an itinerant monk
These irregularly shaped stones protrude here and turned up in the midst of the execution and accused
there from the sands, surrounded by sacred ropes the crowd of unrighteous action, one of the stones
festooned with Immaculate wards. flung at the victims struck the monk instead, kill-
ing him. The locals are terrified and ashamed, and
they’ve decided that the monk was an Anathema
trying to sway them from righteousness.
his kin on edge. These heroes now watch their backs as
they wander, wondering if a rival house — presumably Kizuna Prefecture: A powerful earthquake
Sesus — set an assassin in their midst. recently wracked Kizuna’s hillside villages and
densely settled valleys, shattering bridges, collaps-
ing buildings, and breaking levees. House Peleps,
Juche which never valued the inland prefecture and is in
difficult financial straits, hasn’t invested in repairs.
Juche city dates back to the First Age. Many civic buildings The peasantry grumbles, local patricians are out-
survive from that hallowed era; citizens trace their lineage raged, and Immaculate monks march past the pre-
proudly to the city’s original inhabitants. Its ruling house, fect’s mansion in protest. Rumors speak of quake-
Nellens, sinks much wealth into signaling that civic pride slain ghosts haunting the prefect’s household, or
to the world. Gilded roofs blaze in the sun, flowerbeds and a great stone face pronouncing dooms from the
fountains brighten public plazas, and paved streets are kept crumbling Cliffs of Omaru. Others claim the earth-
in good repair and cleaned nightly. Pilgrims journeying to quake mirrors the one that heralded Mnemon’s
the Imperial Mountain gape in awe, while visiting Dynasts birth, a sign that she should ascend the throne —
deem the city’s ostentatiously garbed and bejeweled mer- or that her ascent would destroy the Realm. And
chant-patricians arrogant beyond their station. refugees stream from the city of Waiting Pagoda,
at the tremor’s epicenter, where seals on a vault
During the Shogunate, Juche was central to the nascent beneath the local Immaculate temple shattered,
Immaculate Order. It remains one of the Blessed Isle’s releasing a ravenous swarm of devil-locusts.
great pilgrimage sites, brimming with holy places from
Trove: This market town stands amid the hills of
the Realm Before. Most venerated are the Pagoda of
tiny Bucolic Hymn Prefecture, storied for its citizens’
Pasiap’s Footstep, where the Mouths of Peace resided
filial loyalty, plain speech, and taste for mutton. Trove
ere the Palace Sublime was built, and the great shining
itself is best known for the looming Autumn Vine Pa-
dome of the Immaculate Temple of Perfected Fire, the goda, an Imperial gaol where criminals are tempo-
golden bones in its sepulcher said to belong to Hesiesh. rarily held after a verdict of enslavement. Small and
Fresh-faced cadets and legionnaires’ kin visit the Palace traditionally half-empty, the gaol is now full to burst-
of Sacred Strife, beside the red-granite parade ground ing. Judges in neighboring prefectures send newly
where Mela is said to have marshaled the first Dragon- enslaved citizens here under minimal guard. Every
Blooded to war against the Anathema. few weeks, a coffle sets off toward a Cynis citadel.
Recently, the Deliberative has replaced the old Tepet
Catacombs contain cenotaphs and tombs of early prefect with a Cynis. The new prefect is replacing local
Immaculate martyrs, missionaries, and proselytes. Pilgrims judges and bailiffs with officials beholden to her, ready
witness such relics as the wheel upon which blessed Selen to railroad peasants into slavery for a cut of the profits.
Tor was broken, and the statue of Heshani the Ardent,
which weeps tears of fire in times of crisis, as it has every
Calibration since the Empress disappeared. Allowing ac-
cess to holy texts and art objects for a fee enriches the city’s House Nellens prides itself on its mortal members’ so-
temples, and makes them de facto libraries and museums. cial graces. Many receive training at Arizei Academy, a

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secondary school renowned for refinement, literature, themselves as much in line as their lessers, and policing
and the arts. In addition to cultivating elegant socialites, one another for abuses of authority.
the school trains brilliant authors, composers, musi-
cians, dancers, painters, and sculptors. Its halls provide The lightly populated northern downs are a popular region
a gallery of their finest works. for Dynasts to bury prestigious kin. Ledaal’s hilltop tomb,
when not wreathed in clouds, offers a commanding view of
Nellens patronage lures skilled artisans from across the the Imperial Mountain. But older and more famous is the
Realm. Paintings, jewelry, and blades from Juche com- opulent manse-tomb of Rawar: the Vault of Ten Thousand
mand high prices, while entertainers trained there rare- Years, designed by his daughter Mnemon, funded by his
ly lack for patronage. Even Nellens genealogical records son Ragara, and visited by both — though never at the same
are said to be richly and beautifully illuminated, though time. Un-Exalted members of their houses sometimes retire
those secret documents are hidden from outsiders. to its opal-flecked porphyry halls and gold-roofed minarets,
tending their ancestor’s remains and establishing a cordial
relationship with their rivals rarely seen elsewhere. The
Arjuf Dominion Ledaals traditionally contribute to the manse-tomb’s up-
keep so as not to offend Rawar’s descendants. However,
Extending from the Porcelain Coast along the Caracal to-
recent earthquake damage demands extensive repair that
ward the Blessed Isle’s heart — encompassing rich farm-
the Ledaals can ill-afford to fund.
land, winding rivers, and low, dry hills — Arjuf is House
Ledaal’s ancestral seat. It’s a land as strictly regimented
An oracle resides in a cliffside cave deep in northern Arjuf’s
as the Ledaals themselves. House officials follow circuits
hills. It has neither body nor face, merely a childlike voice
among Arjuf’s cities and towns, inspecting for violations
rising from a smoldering fissure. Though it speaks only
of Imperial law. Village fields, roads, homes, and shrines
of what touches the Blessed Isle’s soil — when it speaks
are laid out in geomantic patterns to evoke fertility,
at all, for it falls silent for years at a time — legend claims
health, and fortune. The practice is rarely employed else-
it’s never wrong, though its cryptic verses remain open to
where; auspicious patterns become inauspicious with
interpretation. The Empress consulted it to uncover and
one ill-considered new path or rice paddy.
command relics and sorceries from the Realm Before.
Others, such as Mnemon, have offered favors to visit.
Arjuf’s farms produce many fine harvests each year,
But the Ledaals employ the oracle rarely. They know it
their surpluses feeding much of the southern Isle and
requires a powerful will to hear the oracle without being
enriching Ledaal-affiliated merchants who annually ex-
swayed by it, compelled to make its prophecies come true.
port countless shiploads of rice, cotton, and other agri-
Ledaal’s mother Jurul relied heavily on its wisdom; some
cultural cargo. Any massive disruption — storms, unruly
suspect it was complicit in her corruption. House Ragara
spirits, piracy, war — will send shockwaves throughout
hopes to claim it by offering to cancel all debts to the local
the South as wealthy speculators buy up goods, result-
Ledaal household. The Ledaal elders can only pressure
ing in sudden wealth for a few, poverty for others, and
the impoverished household to reject the offer.
widespread famine.

Arjuf’s peasants are healthy, well-fed, and well-clothed Arjuf

even by Blessed Isle standards. But they’re kept firmly
in their place by Ledaal masters, who punish even the Obelisks and stelae taken in tribute from Southern city-
least slights to the fullest extent of the law. Few Ledaals states line the streets of Arjuf city. Among the Blessed
are deliberately cruel, but the house deems it essential Isle’s largest and busiest ports, it’s been tied to the South
to impress upon their lessers the honor and dignity of since the Realm’s birth, when it took in thousands of
all Dragon-Blooded — Ledaal or otherwise. shocked refugees from the Seven Tigers’ demise. Its
people are olive-skinned, their garments elaborately pat-
Ledaal honor galls patricians most of all. When Cirrus terned, and their cuisine peppered with foreign spices.
Hand recited a satirical poem about the house founder Many become mariners, crewing merchant vessels to
at one of Ledaal Cofar’s salons, Cofar had Hand’s tongue and from Jiara, Chiaroscuro, An-Teng, and Goldenseal.
cut out. The Cirrus matriarch has reached out to other
patrician families with grievances against House Ledaal, Arjuf was a free city before the Contagion, its governors
looking, perhaps, to see Arjuf Dominion in other hands. answering only to the Shogun. The city submitted to the
Empress on condition it retain its traditional autonomy,
Peasants who’ve personally suffered — or whose family which she never saw fit to withdraw. This includes free-
or friends have suffered — at Ledaal hands nurse bitter dom from prefectural taxes — a boon that House Ledaal
grudges; this has fueled past revolts. Others respect that views with a jaundiced eye — and a writ empowering the
the Ledaal are even-handed in their justice, keeping city’s Dragon-Blooded households to elect the governor.

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A series of early governors — Burano Ren, Scale Sirocco, concerns than Arjuf’s protection rackets, counterfeit-
Min Sagar — made Arjuf a haven for savants, artists, ers, blasphemers, and thieves.
philosophers, and teachers. Foreign thinkers, liberal
merchants, and dissatisfied peasants flocked to the city, The adjacent Jade Street markets are thick with
whose economy boomed. Despite later troubles, Arjuf’s Southern and Southwestern traders hawking fruit,
schools still attract scions of forward-thinking Dynastic wine, ivory, scrolls, silks, and spices. Varangian as-
and patrician families. trologers, Zebremani alchemists, Baihu sophists, and
Chiaroscuran philosophers offer tutelage to wealthy
With the Empress gone, House Ledaal has replaced the passersby while awaiting Ledaal patronage.
old governor with one of its own, who’s cracking down on
freethinkers and heretics. Meanwhile, the Palace Sublime Some Peleps and V’neef estates remain in Arjuf’s wealthi-
issues decrees removing texts and ideas from school curric- er districts, but most Dynasts here are Ledaals soaking up
ula. Rowdy students brawl in wineshops with city guards, the city’s wealth and culture, or readying expeditions to
who must hold back lest they harm some Dynast’s child. the Threshold. Other Dragon-Blooded come to hire ship
captains and foreign guides, not knowing these are well
Arjuf city was the Merchant Fleet’s headquarters until paid by the Ledaals to report back on such ventures.
the Empress turned that service over to House V’neef,
which moved most Fleet operations to Eagle’s Launch. The House of Bells, the Realm’s premier military
Having little use for the abandoned Fleet facilities, the secondary school, sprawls several miles from Arjuf.
Ledaals leased the property piecemeal to local and Though its students don’t mingle with the citizenry,
foreign merchants. Called the Old Dock District, it’s a every year hundreds of peasants are summoned to the
maze of tiny shops and nameless warehouses adjoining House’s extensive grounds for mock battles with prac-
the remaining Merchant Fleet quay, rife with low-level tice weapons. The school compensates families of those
crime that the All-Seeing Eye fostered as a source of few who perish in such exercises — typically during a
contacts and assets, and whose agents now have greater student’s Exaltation.

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Tuchara Tarpan Wastes

Once merely a pottery-making town, Tuchara now This was once among the Blessed Isle’s lushest regions.
holds a major role in shipping, providing amphorae Orchards speckled fertile farmland along the Tarpan
for the Southern trade in wine and oils. Cynis, Ledaal, River’s course and across the shores of Iris Lake. But the
Mnemon, and Sesus estates dominate the green hills land’s verdancy was the fruit of Solar magic, and early
above the city. In their shadow stands the sprawling, in the Empress’ reign that magic began to wither. Now
tumbledown manor of Ophris Selen, matriarch of the the Tarpan Wastes are largely desert. Soil blows away
patrician family that founded Tuchara and which stood to reveal plains of bare rock. Thornbushes cling to life
among the Great Houses until its long-ago fall from among stands of dead trees. The retreating lakeshore
grace. Selen nurses hope of restoring Ophris’ fortunes. has left behind acres of salt flats and bone-dry reeds,
Dinner parties at the manor’s Hall of Twelve Frescoes and what remains of the lake is too brackish to drink.
see occasional Dynastic guests, especially from House
Nellens, with whom Selen is negotiating her family’s A few cities, such as Ashara and Kissed-With-Jade, still
support. linger. Some, at Tarpan’s borders, subsist on rivers whose
waters are quickly drunk by the desert. Others cling to life
For most of the year, Tuchara is a sleepily sensual sort at dwindling oases, or around water and wood manses.
of place, its winding tree-shaded streets rich in busi- Most buildings are empty shells, housing only foxes, feral
nesses devoted to pleasure — teahouses, wineshops, cats, and the wind. Residents dwell in tight knots around
restaurants, clothiers, galleries, theaters, and brothels. water sources. There they blow glass, carve intaglios
Wealthy households’ mossy walls drip with honey- and musical instruments, and trade lakebed salt to pass-
suckle and bougainvillea, while even poorer quarters ing merchants for foodstuffs, textiles, and hard goods.
seem torpid, full of shade and ivy and fathers’ lullabies Unwomanly is their reputation: weak-willed, and prone to
to children. Some visitors, lulled by the city’s calm, are laughter and merriment. Gossip is as common as straight-
easy prey for cutpurses; others exhaust their funds in forward speech, and patricians and peasants alike indulge
the cool, fusty depths of opium cellars. in vain sartorial displays that press the limits of propriety.

The city is best known for its springtime Blue Star The Salt Road runs through Tarpan’s three prefectures
Festival praising Venus and other gods of love and — Ashara, Seven Stars, and Willow’s Edge — from Lord’s
matchmaking, which draws sybaritic Dynasts and Crossing to the southern coast. Travelers who’d avoid
peasant pilgrims alike. A week of prayer and vegetarian the high tariffs of Arjuf Dominion traverse the desert
meals is followed by two weeks of parades, weddings, along ancient highways reinforced by Mnemon labor.
wild parties, rich food, alcohol, marijuana, assignations, These pass through husks of long-deserted towns, dry
and affairs. Babies born nine months afterward, called and dead but for caravanserais watered by sorcerous
“Children of Venus” — often found on the doorstep of springs that fade far too swiftly.
the Immaculate Temple of the Sower of Grass — are
deemed lucky in love. Gods of desire walk the streets Gods of lost towns, dried-up rivers, and withered fields
to bless festivalgoers — and to receive their prayers. roam the region, their purviews gone, leaving them
Immaculate monks patrol the festival to catch love-cult- purposeless and without place in the celestial order.
ists and rogue gods in the act, though they can’t always Many sought new homes elsewhere on the Isle; while
spot chicanery amid dense festival crowds. some escaped the gauntlet into the Isle’s wilds, others
were driven back into the desert by Immaculates lest
The population swells in Festival month, providing they disrupt the proper activities of gods and mortals.
cover for trysts, crimes of passion, and conspiracies. Of those who remain, some watch over dead places
Tuchara’s underworld rakes in a year’s income in that and report to weak old gods of forest and lake, or to the
month. Muggers, pickpockets, and burglars “invest” desert’s cruel new goddess, Tharasht Tears-of-Dust.
earnings with madams, pimps, and respectable mer- Others aimlessly wander the desert, or find menial
chants such as artisans and teahouse owners, who roles in the nascent spirit court of the newly fledged fire
dole it back out over the following year, keeping a cut dragon Splendid Cinder, whose arrival has left the spirit
for themselves. Parvenus who win fortunes during hierarchy in disarray. The Immaculates quietly observe
the festival erect multistory mansions with brilliant Splendid Cinder’s activities. Wary of her power, they’re
mosaic walls and dragon-backed terracotta roofs amid unwilling to let a cocksure spirit-prince take advantage
Tuchara’s sea of low brick houses, only for their abodes of the Realm’s superstitious awe of dragons to establish
to fall into disrepair once they fritter their wealth away. a cult among the desert cities.

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withered; the guardian serpents have shed their skins. Once

TWO ODD MONKS the Empress warded it jealously as a place of sorcerous
power. Now its flame burns low and dark, and glassy inhu-
Trigram Monastery is home to monks shuffled out man footprints, melted into the salt flats, trail away into the
of the hierarchy for various reasons — poor disci- desert.
pline, undesirable politics, borderline heterodoxy,
or simple eccentricity. Among them are two of the
Order’s odder Dragon-Blooded.
Justiciar Prefecture
Apart from the capital, much of Justiciar Prefecture is
Hualli, the Feathered Monk, was born to parrotfolk
at Creation’s edge. He Exalted as Fair Folk slaugh- indistinguishable from surrounding prefectures. As in
tered his people, then spent years journeying those bucolic, seemingly timeless provinces, Justiciar’s
through Eastern forests to find kin in the Realm. countryside is thick with farms handed down from
Fragile, unwarlike, and blatantly abhuman, he and mother to daughter, recognizable in travelogues writ-
the legions wanted no part of one another. Gener- ten centuries ago. Untamed forests climb the slopes of
ous by nature, he spent years ministering across mountains none have summited in decades.
the Isle as an itinerant, but the celebrity his plum-
age brought wearied him until he retired to the Most traffic clings to major roads dotted with inns and the
cloister. towns that have grown around them, leaving the hinter-
lands isolated. Itinerant monks attend to shrines and serve
His closest companion is the towering, mute Grip. the peasantry as best they can, but the Immaculate Order
Bred for the inhuman-seeming Legion of Silence, always seems further away than it ought, and heresy grows
she Exalted while guarding Sdoia’s governor from in this region like few others — especially in these troubled
a Lunar assassin, then broke her halberd over her times when even peasants can feel the tension in the air, and
knee and walked hundreds of miles to the Pal- so in desperation turn to gods, ghosts, and demons for aid.
ace Sublime to present herself as a postulant in
the Order. Though she cannot speak, her gestures
convey volumes, and she spends her days turning
her huge, clumsy-looking hands to producing as- A MEMORY OF EMPIRE
tonishingly delicate calligraphy.
The Abashmu Hills hide a particularly ancient strain
of heresy, practiced by the Kashkassu peoples.
Ghosts linger in ruined temples of lifeless towns, Once, their oral history says, they led an empire
breathlessly venerating the Dragons in vain hope of that dominated the Blessed Isle. They ruled without
release. Others offer guidance to desert-lost treasures mercy, crushing any who rose against them. Then
the Dragon’s blood deserted them, the gods refused
in exchange for prayer. Few travelers accept, fearing
their prayers, and the armies of the Shogun in the
to be set back on the wheel of rebirth — or slain in the
East broke their fortresses, scattered their people,
desert by the restless dead. But the dead are themselves
and ruined forever the shining capital of Iqnu.
wary, fearing the attentions of the Immaculate monks
of Trigram Monastery, built here as much to restrain Kashkassu communities can be found across the
the desert’s chaotic spirits as for isolation from worldly western Blessed Isle, but many yet live in the hills
matters. Some desert ghosts have sworn themselves to of their ancient homeland, tending herds and trav-
Splendid Cinder’s service, which the Immaculates will eling as the seasons require it. The mountaintop
oppose when they learn of it. But many monks have left where Iqnu once stood, where only shattered col-
for Mnemon lands, leaving spirit-chastising tasks to a umns now stand, is sacred to them. They venture
handful of stylites dwelling atop rocky pillars to com- there only to come of age or to die.
mune with the desert’s austere Essence.
The Immaculate Order conducted mass purges of
That Essence has twisted and changed with the centuries. the Kashkassu over the centuries when they prac-
Dragon lines of wood and water have faded, supplanted ticed their blasphemies too openly. Most now pay
by fire and air. Old manses have crumbled, melted, burst public lip service to the Immaculate Philosophy
into flame. Others, reshaped and reinforced by Mnemon while observing their ancestral rituals in secret.
They practice ancient arts of swordplay and mys-
and her daughters, endure. The primeval Well of Holy Fire
ticism, living and dying for the day when the gods
once burned on an island in Iris Lake, but the lake’s evapo-
hear their prayers once more, when they’ll rise up
ration has stranded it amid salt flats. Its sacred maples have
and retake what’s rightfully theirs.

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PLACES TO COME FROM

Brilliant Autumn Shades Prefecture: Centuries ago, when retired officer Murex Blaze settled among
Brilliant Autumn Shades’ low, rolling orchards, her open-handed generosity won her many friends, and her
children married into local patrician families. But Blaze and her offspring were blood-witches whose curses
compelled rivals to kin-slaying and cannibalism. The witches’ schemes were revealed by legendary magistrate
Akiyo Reku, who slew Blaze and scattered the Murex clan. Descendants lingering among neighboring families
were rooted out decades later by Peleps Decenin. But peasants whisper that ghosts of the witch-families haunt
the prefecture, driving heads of household toward greed, cruelty, and the eventual murder and devouring of
servants and kin. According to rumor, ghosts inhabit the shadow of the Murexes’ ancestral home, the House
of the Crimson Table — long since razed, yet visible on moonless nights, they say, wraiths and demons danc-
ing around its cold violet beacon. Local monks have witnessed a few equivocal manifestations, but nothing to
warrant attention from Immaculate exorcists. The sorcerer Venom Mercy, who’s dwelt in his pale country house
since Decenin’s day, insists there’s nothing to fear. But his abode radiates its own spectral phenomena. Some
fear he isn’t merely meddling with deathly powers, but is the blood-witches’ heir.

Damson Prefecture: This small inland district’s rocky fields and scrub-covered hills are peppered with
farms and orchards. Once home to the legendary bandits of Boar-Thicket Fortress, outlawry continued to be a
problem until half a century ago, when House Tepet began settling retired legionnaires on small land grants.
The retirees and their families, whose militia pacified the prefecture, remain immensely loyal to the house. But
the Tepets recently sold their lease over Damson to House Ragara to settle some of their debts. While doing so,
they stripped the prefecture of retired legionnaires willing to rejoin service as Tepet house troops, offering the
retirees’ families travel papers to resettle in nearby Lord’s Crossing. While the Ragaras fume at the denuded
countryside, they nonetheless distrust those who remained, fearing spies and saboteurs.

Nine Envies Prefecture: This small, humid Cynis prefecture’s slave plantations harvest cash crops while
Dynastic households dwell in luxury. Due to tightened finances — caused by reduced tribute from the satrapies
and fiscal pressure from House Ragara — owners press slaves ever harder to eke out another iota of profit.
Increasing numbers of slaves rise up against their masters and escape into the countryside, turning to ban-
ditry against patricians, merchants, and occasionally the surrounding peasantry. A recent uprising rampaged
through the prefecture for weeks until violently put down by Cynis house troops; its leader, Gavenne of Grieve,
has been captured and awaits punishment. The revolt’s other leaders — Lark, a newly Exalted Fire Aspect,
cocksure and cunning, and Elam the Zephyrite, an elderly occultist who claims the gift of prophecy, both also
slaves — remain at large. Soon, simmering tensions may break into full-scale revolt.

Justiciar for the night, the city comes alive. Their reins slipped,
markets grow raucous; in teahouses and pleasure hous-
The prefectural capital and the region’s only major city, es alike, music and laughter ring out well into the night.
Justiciar is a warren of ministerial buildings, judicial
facilities, gaols, and archives, ringed by housing for the All streets lead to the city’s heart, where the Garda Feather
small army of bureaucrats that toils therein. Virtually Temple stands. Here, on every fifth day, the regional god-
the entire machinery of government here is turned to dess of lawfully ordained justice, Yuktata, is celebrated
providing legal and bureaucratic services to the sur- in grand style to appease her nigh-constant fury at the
rounding rural prefectures. ever-increasing corruption — usury, perjury, bribery, and
embezzlement — that surrounds her. Having seen the
By day, Justiciar is sedate. Markets are quiet, in defer- destruction wrought the last time she lost her temper, the
ence to the work of state transpiring around them. Many Order has no interest in a repeat performance.
shops stay closed throughout the day, except for those
few midday hours when the city’s bureaucrats desert The street surrounding the central temple is given over
their posts en masse to take tea and luncheon. Justiciar to major ministries, Imperial court offices, and the pala-
enjoys a strong, cosmopolitan dining culture, with the tial mansion of prefect Ragara Eskana, a genius math-
styles of a dozen prefectures on offer at restaurants ematician who delights in calculating yearly tax rates.
ranging from genteel to disreputable. When the sun Her mansion is guarded at all hours by Ragara soldiers,
sets, however, and bureaucratic offices shut their doors and a sharp rivalry has taken shape as arrogant troopers

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taunt the local Guardians of the Realm on the street and

brawl with them in teahouses and wineshops. Tensions
Paeon Prefecture
are rising, and any new pressure may represent a break- Sleepy and rural, blessed with comfortable climate and
ing point. generous fertility, Paeon Prefecture sits on the Blessed
Isle’s southern coast, seemingly isolated from the bustle
Though the Ragaras dominate Justiciar Prefecture, they of farming, trade, and urban life. There are no major
do so having torn it from House Iselsi’s grasp, replacing cities here, no great fortresses or monuments to ancient
Iselsi-installed governors with Eskana’s appointees, and battles; only the quiet, placid Wandering River, locally
pulling strings in the Thousand Scales and Deliberative called the Wanderer. It’s the site of fishing villages,
to install patricians indebted to the house in local min- slow barges poling along to pull up crab pots from the
isterial posts. Now, without the Empress’ hand to hold riverbed for dinner, and river dolphins playing in the
them back, the Iselsi gleefully sharpen their knives, shallows to the delight of peasant children. It’s also one
dreaming of vengeance upon their Ragara cousins and of the Dynasty’s most iconic rural retreats.
the day they’ll paint the City of Justice’s streets with
Ragara blood.
The Wandering River
Iselsi Narista, living as an Immaculate monk under the
name Three Foxes, manages the local Iselsi network, Slowly and lazily, the river twists and turns to the sea. At
crafting brilliant and beautiful sand mandalas in the its narrowest, near its source, one might jump across it.
Garda Feather Temple’s open courtyard. Hidden within At its mouth, it’s nearly a mile wide, sheltered by sand-
them are codes that her network of spies and cutthroats bars and a saltwater swamp. In exchange for privileged
can read, a secure means of passing on information. positions in the region’s Immaculate prayer calendar,
Each day, beginning at dawn, she sends her messages local weather spirits divert storms that might threaten
— at sunset, she sweeps her mandalas away, leaving no the Wanderer or Dynastic estates along its shores.
evidence.
Too shallow for serious commerce and highly pictur-
esque, the Wanderer proved ideal for leisure. According

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built and sustained by those who’ve given it up. The

PLAINS OF RUSTED IRON odd scheme or spasm of violence does find its way here
on occasion, but by and large even these are centered
In the lands west of Arjuf, the soil remains red-or- around the Wanderer’s culture. Here, one is more likely
ange with rust, centuries after the Empress invoked to be murdered in a fit of passion over a dalliance with
a storm of iron thistledown amid the Contagion to another’s husband than in a cold plot to usurp one’s
shatter a Fair Folk incursion. The area remains position in the Thousand Scales.
a backwater, its prairies and tangled scrubland
haunted by a dwindling handful of hobgoblins, gry-
phons, and other faerie servitors. Falling Rain Prefecture
Peasants in the Plains’ few towns and villages re- Inland on the Daoshin Peninsula, Falling Rain encom-
main superstitious about what might dwell in the passes a broad marshland between high, flat plateaus.
wilderness. They’re distrustful of strangers and Essence pools where dragon lines meet, forming an
loath to offer hospitality. And when a shepherd or abundance of water demesnes and drawing down more
traveler disappears, they blame Fair Folk who sur- precipitation than geography would dictate. The rainy
vived the Empress’ wrath in havens beneath the season lasts most of the year, ranging from hazy after-
earth. noon mists to ferocious, staccato lightning storms that
rage into the night.

In the wetlands between the plateaus, raised earthen

to legend, the first Dynast to retire here was Ophris causeways connect the manses of outcastes and the occa-
Kotaba. Her name is attached to various local tall tales sional reclusive Dynast — some cut into the abutting cliffs,
— the time Kotaba caught a catfish the size of a yeddim, others rising directly from the marsh’s waters. A few vil-
the time Kotaba fast-talked a crocodile spirit, and so on. lages stand on low islets, but most rise above the water on
stilts, using narrow bridges or log steps to cross from house
Dynastic estates speckle the Wanderer, each a careful to house. Folk subsist mostly on frogs, eels, rice, taro, and
distance from its neighbors and local villages to avoid lotus, with the latter’s great spreading leaves and brilliant
spoiling the river’s scenic beauty. All have docks or jetties pink flowers splashing villages with color. Rainlanders’
for private yachts, spacious enough to accommodate many reputation as impoverished bumpkins impairs their pa-
guests’ vessels. Here, an unannounced visit from neigh- tricians’ ability to make social engagements — or marriage
bors is a fact of life — easy as a quick jaunt across the river, alliances — with peers in neighboring prefectures.
either by boat or by a quick swim in the warm water — and
appreciated as a chance to show off one’s hospitality. Even Half-sunken ruins of the Realm Before lurk amid the
patrician families participate in the practice, a mixing of waters. Draped in vines, they emit dreadful moans at
social classes that’s rare in its casual nature. the height of storms, and those who enter them and
meddle with the mechanisms within find themselves
The Wanderer’s climate is temperate year-round, afflicted with weird, symbolic dreams. Savants observe
though in summer the breeze off the river can’t fight the that these are the remnants of an ancient drainage
heat. Some families decamp to cooler climates; others system, fallen into ruin over the years. Adventurous
stay and enjoy the slow pace of life that accompanies children sometimes seek them out despite their fami-
heat and humidity. Some, at great expense, ship blocks lies’ warnings, and such visits take the blame for local
of enchanted ice from the far North that can keep a disappearances or the onset of mental illness.
room cool for weeks at a time.
Deep in the marsh stands the infamous island fortress
A few, enamored of the natural beauty and ease of life on of Cypress Mountain. Razed decades ago after the
the Wanderer, live here full-time, eschewing ambition Bloodied Scythe Uprising, it’s being rebuilt by outlaws
or greatness in favor of comfort, much to the disdain of sworn to the Cloud Dragon Oath, a Kinship of Dragon-
their households and houses. More than one young sci- Blooded rebels ranging from outcastes purged from
on seeking to escape the pressures of Dynastic life has the legions to renegade Dynasts and defrocked monks.
been dragged kicking and shouting back to civilization Turning their backs on the authority of Regent and
and service to her house. Only after one’s house receives Deliberative, they dedicate themselves solely to their
its due can one shake its shackles, and that work may Hearth’s fortunes, raiding neighboring prefectures and
take decades or centuries. buying the Rainlanders’ loyalty with gifts of plunder.
Their recent capture and ransom of a Ragara tax farmer
As a result, the Wanderer is largely free from the in-
only makes them more infamous in Dynastic circles.
trigues of wider Dynastic society, with the local culture

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Wading Crane DAOSHIN PENINSULA

Rookery Prefecture
A warm, wet region beset by seemingly constant
Bucolic and wild, Wading Crane Rookery Prefecture rains, the Daoshin Peninsula is a patchwork of
consists of a wedge of coastal wetlands and scattered plains, marshlands, and wooded hills. Though
offshore islands, with fish-haunted ruins from the Realm there’s much fertile soil to be had, the marshes are
Before still visible beneath the waves. Poor fisherfolks’ mazy and treacherous, and most of the region is
coracles drift lazily through mazy channels and along but lightly inhabited. Aside from a few cities like
the coast, within sight of scattered villages whose rice Myion, the Daoshin is seen as a rustic backwater.
paddies and ribbon-decked water buffalo look bright
amid dingy marshes and swamps. Villages, towns, and
minor Dynastic estates speckle the largest, most fertile
go unreported, however, and a secretive cult has sprung
islands, but they draw little traffic from elsewhere in the
up around these hidden shrines, where peasants worship
Realm.
Hesiesh the Unconquered, He Who Burns in the Sky.
Established to lump together border territories of little
The Cult of Hesiesh Unconquered has become endemic
economic or political value, Wading Crane became
among hinterland peasants. Its cornerstone is the he-
home to hunters, trappers, demophobes, outlaws, scav-
retical belief that if the peasantry remains faithful and
engers, smugglers, and runaway slaves. Locals are taci-
generous to their syncretic god, he’ll bless their children
turn and suspicious. They avoid strangers — resentful of
and their children’s children with the Dragons’ blood.
the prefect’s agents and the Humble Assessors — but are
deeply loyal to those who earn their trust.
Myion
The sizable island of Iora, several miles offshore, serves
as the capital. Its eponymous port, the only noteworthy A conurbation of fortresses, stadiums, amphitheaters,
one in the prefecture, is known for hot spring baths, and temples, Myion stretches for miles near the Daoshin
fermented fish sauce, and lily-bulb soup. The sundered Peninsula’s tip, its southern face turned to the sea and
First Age lighthouse Zarelin’s Tower dominates the its northern face to the Gulf of Daana’d. Ancestral seat
harbor, its toppled beacon glowing dimly beneath the of House Cathak, it’s a city of great beauty, every ele-
water. Iora is built on the ruins of a city of the Realm ment designed to harmoniously complete its neighbors.
Before, whose fleets ruled Southern sea-lanes and sav- Cathak city planners adopted the design philosophy as
aged city-states now forgotten, bringing back sorcerous their own, so the city’s newer districts, while markedly
treasures still occasionally unearthed in field or quarry. different in architectural style, coexist with streets that
It’s also home to a more recent relic — the Empress’ predate the Realm without being jarring.
houseless daughter Berit (Dragon-Blooded, p. 342),
one of the Realm’s most gifted warrior-generals, who Streets flow according to the land, with two hills — Yola
has dwelt here in unofficial exile longer than any mortal and Karba, the two sisters local legend claims founded
can remember. the city ages ago — rising gently to dominate the skyline.
From Yola climbs the mammoth, twisting ash — said
to have been planted by Sextes Jylis — that lies at the
Myion Prefecture heart of the Evergreen Sanctuary, a famous Immaculate
temple and pilgrimage site; the rest of the hill is lined
Myion Prefecture lies far from the cosmopolitan heart with hostels that rarely empty. The ash has remained in
of the Realm. An alluvial plain with gentle rolling hills, bloom, day and night, summer and winter, for a thou-
it’s been known from ancient times as an agricultural sand years. Upon Karba sits the Fortress of the Greatest
giant, a blessing from Heaven for the Blessed Isle’s in- General, a Shogunate-era manse. Here Cathak herself
habitants. Its rice, vegetables, and seafood feed much of lies entombed, making the place holier in her descen-
the western Isle and nearby Cathak satrapies. dants’ eyes. Young Cathaks compete for the honor of an
assignment here prior to entering service elsewhere.
In ancient times, Myion was a center for the Unconquered
Sun’s cult. Obelisks bearing his sign may still be found Myion is an active port, with departures on every tide for
in overgrown stands of trees or half-buried beneath satrapies throughout the South and West. Docks stretch
flood-deposited silt — obelisks that are quickly and rev- all along the Inland Sea harbor; sounds of loading and
erently destroyed by the Immaculate Order whenever a unloading cargo can be heard day and night, with exotic
hapless peasant stumbles upon one and reports it. Some spices and stranger scents filling the air and lingering

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on one’s person for hours after. Docks on the Gulf of engines and soldiers. The storehouse within holds enough
Daana’d ship foodstuffs to the Silk-and-Pearl Peninsula supplies to support a legion for a year,
and up the Serpentine River.
Officially, House Cathak’s policy is that the fortress ex-
The breakwater, built of chatoyant stone, is a popular ists to protect the manse, and thereby the livelihoods of
pilgrimage site, with several Immaculate temples con- Myion’s peasantry. But the officers stationed here have
structed upon or near it. The Singing Tides Temple is par- other orders. Should an enemy house’s legions threaten
ticularly famed. Built half into the cliffside and stretching Myion city, they’re to sabotage the manse’s geomantic
below the waterline, its fluted passages give rise to ethe- alignment so it poisons the prefecture’s landscape,
real, atonal music with the changing tide. The city marks a last-ditch plan to starve out any potential siege of
the hours more often by the sound of the Singing Tides Myion.
than by the sun. Monks who follow Daana’d meditate to
the loose, unplanned melodies, never twice the same.
Voice-of-the-Tides Prefecture
Other, stranger things mark Myion, less holy and more
Ancestral home of House Peleps, Voice-of-the-Tides is the
otherworldly — sigils of ancient gods etched irrevoca-
westernmost mainland prefecture. Its people are a patch-
bly into the streets (and inexpertly covered with new
work brought together by the sea — indigenous pearl-div-
construction), a garden that quietly tends itself in the
ers, purple-haired Westerners, retired sailors. Though
dark of night, a tower whose windows show the stars
outwardly devoted to the Dragons and obedient to the
in different positions than they appear at street level,
throne, the prefecture has long been a hotbed of conspiracy
and so on. Even as religious fervor grips much of the
and heresy, much to the straitlaced Peleps’ dismay.
city, a small coterie of patrician and outcaste savants,
the Unrung Bell, keep sisterhood in Myion, sharing
Fishing and farming villages grow thickly along shore
some secrets and hoarding others as they puzzle out the
and islands. Many Tidefolk are retired sailors or their de-
ancient past. They know their work verges on heresy —
scendants. They’re largely stubborn and foul-mouthed,
many of their findings contradict Immaculate teachings
disciplined outside of a penchant for drunkenness, and
on the nature of the Anathema and the city’s official
loyal to House Peleps. Their culture is strikingly diverse,
histories — but the mystery is too tempting to ignore.
incorporating traditions and customs brought back by
sailors from exotic lands, including numerous imported
Should war come to Myion, its walls and bastions will
and syncretic heresies. Only respect for Peleps honor
make it a difficult nut to crack; Cathak martial discipline
and discipline keeps Voice-of-the-Tides from being
might make it impossible. For the last few years, the
equally fertile ground for rebellion; Dynasts who fail to
Ash and Ember Legion, a house legion renowned for
uphold their house’s traditions are in for a hard time.
discipline, piety, and fearlessness, has been stationed
in and around the city, ostensibly to hunt bandits. The
Others descend from the purple-haired Rivanoa people,
legion’s general, Cathak Alda, is a capable woman with
who sailed from the West to flee the Contagion and the
a century of legion service under her belt and who takes
Fair Folk. Renowned sailors, fishers, shipbuilders, and
very much after her grandfather, Cathak Cainan. But
traders, they erect houses resembling upturned hulls
those with designs on Myion rightly fear Cainan taking
and speak among themselves in Western-tinged dialect
command to protect his city.
largely indecipherable to their neighbors. After centu-
ries of Immaculate effort, heretical devotion to Rudhira,
Fifteen-League Redoubt a red-haired Western goddess of sailing, has largely
been sublimated into veneration of red-haired icons of
As the name suggests, Fifteen-League Redoubt sits some Daana’d. Nonetheless, some cultic worship persists, es-
45 miles from Myion city, surrounded by farmland as far pecially on outlying islands. House Peleps traditionally
as the eye can see. The fortress’ walls encircle a hillock, looks the other way, maintaining an arrangement their
upon which sits a manse controlling the surrounding founder made with the goddess to earn her favor at sea.
region’s fertility — without it, Myion’s crop yields would
diminish significantly. Myion’s production is key to the Inland, farmers and herders eke out a living from inhospita-
region’s economy and House Cathak’s war plans, mak- ble plains and hill valleys where primeval forests were long
ing the Redoubt a critical strategic point. ago logged into oblivion, while rugged highlands supply
silver, tin, and precious jade. Though invaluable to House
A moat dotted with fortalice-islands encircles the Redoubt. Peleps, these lands are woefully underprotected; all too
Its walls, raised by sorcerers and legion engineers, are of many Dynastic captains and their retinues have gone west
heavy stone, their towers and bastions packed with siege to aid their family’s chances against the V’neef upstarts.

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The rest of the island is a spread of gray-green ter-

SILK-AND-PEARL PENINSULA raced plains, flanked by dock-girt cliffs once infamous
for shipwrecks and cruel sea-spirits. The homes and
This westernmost reach of the Blessed Isle has al- gardens of Peleps servants gather beneath the Hand,
ways brought wealth to the Realm. Mulberry-grove alongside barracks housing Water Fleet sailors and
villages on the southern coast produce masses of marines. Together these form a sizable town, bustling
raw silk alongside their rice crop, while folk from with peasants and soldiers cooking, cleaning, weaving,
the north coast and adjacent Tongma Archipelago mending, and hauling supplies up and down the narrow
dive for pearls and byssus. The peninsula’s ports, ways to the Admiralty’s heights.
once comfortable from the silk and pearl trades,
now grow richer still through commerce with The town centers around sizable Imperial Navy docks
Wu-Jian and the distant West. facing the naval headquarters at Bittern, across the wa-
ter. On an adjacent esplanade, teahouses and inns serve
The Silk-and-Pearl Peninsula’s native folk de- aristocratic visitors as they await appointments atop
scend in large part from Western Contagion ref- Daana’d’s Hand, or tend to servants and sailors in their
ugees. Rural areas remain culturally distinct; the masters’ absence.
cities are more cosmopolitan.
Many of the naval depot’s buildings are freshly hewn,
and new structures keep rising. Three of the four Peleps
Banditry — persistent since the economic shock a generation legions abide here, spending days in military drills and
ago of losing the Merchant Fleet — increases in their absence. nights bivouacked in repurposed naval barracks, though
Efforts by Peleps scions to hire or buy off brigand gangs are bunking soldiers and sailors in such close proximity has
few and quiet, lest they lose face by treating with outlaws. led to ongoing strife.
Instead, most who remain seek glory by restoring order to
the countryside through force of arms, despite the odds. Bittern
The Isle of Wrack The ancient city of Bittern, with its bustling wharves
and tangled, narrow streets, bristles from the coast
At the northern end of this storied island rises the great opposite the Isle of Wrack. Day or night, thousands
jagged mass of rock called Daana’d’s Hand, resembling of shipwrights, laborers, and sailors throng the array
some grotesque tropical plant turned to stone. Its of drydocks forming the backbone of Peleps oceanic
promontories were once home to the Anathema Kirani power. Scores of new hulls are laid down annually — in-
Twice-Born until the Dragon-Blooded slew her, tum- creasing in time of trouble or war, as now — with timber
bling her manse into the sea. Later the Maren daimyos imported at significant expense after centuries of local
claimed it as their seat in defying the Empress’ rise, deforestation. Countless other ships pass through each
until their defeat at the hands of Admiral Alunat. Peleps year, including naval triremes, Water Fleet caravels,
herself took it as her personal estate. merchant vessels, courier boats, and pleasure yachts.

Now the Rightly Guided Admiralty Board dwells here Only House V’neef avoids the port. Bittern’s crotchety gov-
in luxury amid the grim fantasia of turrets, shrines, and ernor, Peleps Adira, remains aggrieved about her house’s
bastions — linked by precarious stairs and bridges — loss of the Merchant Fleet. On her instructions, the harbor-
clustered atop the Hand. Other Peleps elders inhabit master impounds V’neef vessels on any pretext, releasing
sparser suites by their own choosing, while younger sci- them with insincere apologies after their cargoes rot.
ons come and go. Foreign dignitaries and envoys from
Where Eagle’s Launch and other ports bring House
other houses are entertained with feasting and lavish
V’neef wealth from its share in the Realm’s systematic
gifts. But the desire to make an impression stands at
extortion of tributaries, Bittern fattens itself on trea-
odds with the family’s current financial straits, and the
sures torn violently from the West, from jade and silver
Board finds cause to snub more callers than is its wont.
to pearls, byssus, mahogany, teak, cinnamon, nutmeg,
Beneath the waves, in the shadow of Daana’d’s Hand, murex, cochineal, and more. The city has regained some
the house founder lies entombed in her sealed and of its old economic stature from this surfeit. The rich
scuttled flagship. Peleps scions descend to pay their demolish peasant shops and homes — many of which
respects in blue-green gloom. Many are buried in the succumbed to urban blight in recent years — to expand
seabed nearby, coral encrusting their sarcophagi until workshops and manors, or build new villas in the hills.
their effigies can no longer be distinguished. Meanwhile, many common folk earn enough to raise new
dwellings in the districts spreading outside the city walls.

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But less wealth flows to the citizenry than it should. Ayreon’s revenue has historically come from the sea, and
Much rises like mist to cloud-scraping mansions atop the almost half of its population lives in coastal fishing com-
Hill of Seventeen Spires, whose Dynastic and patrician munities. Fleets of fishing vessels sail year-round into the
households form the backbone of city government and bay and the shallow waters north and west of the Blessed
major industries, and which spent the years after losing Isle, following the traditional cycle of seasonal catches
the Merchant Fleet’s income finding new income streams. established centuries ago by their founding ancestors.
A corrupt governor in a house that prides itself on incor- Hardier, long-range trawlers leave the Eye of Creation
ruptibility, Peleps Adira takes bribes, selectively enforces harbor at autumn’s end, an annual voyage braving the
laws, and confiscates property from those convicted to open Western ocean’s dangerous weather and hostile
enrich herself and her cronies, toward whose monopo- spirits in search of valuable deep-sea catches.
listic practices and extralegal activities she turns a blind
eye. These activities pass largely unnoticed, as profits go to As a people who’ve lived and died by the sea’s moods for
investments and house coffers rather than extravagances centuries, Ayreon’s residents are largely superstitious
popular elsewhere in the Dynasty. Archons investigating and devout. No fishing season begins without a monk
these matters have died seemingly unrelated deaths. A blessing the fleets, seeking protection for the boats and
handful of magistrates working with House V’neef’s sup- the fishers aboard them. Despite this deep, ingrained
port have caught on to this pattern; their efforts to uncover adherence to the state religion, Immaculate monks keep
the city’s corruption grow ever more forceful. close watch on the residents, wary of potential heresy in
smaller coastal villages apart from the major roadways.
Other treasures drain beneath the earth. A millennium ago,
sinkholes opened beneath the city, causing entire districts Eye of Creation
to subside. Shogunate engineers erected supporting pillars
and covered the gaps. Now a second city lies buried and Ayreon’s largest city takes its name from the Shogunate-era
partially flooded in caverns beneath the streets. Runoff and lighthouse constructed on the cliffs protecting its harbor,
sewage flow through shattered city blocks from the Realm restored from ruin in the late 450s by the Domakan patrician
Before, forming torchlit stony islets inhabited by the city’s family, a client of House Peleps, and maintained by that fam-
dross. Smugglers enter via labyrinthine sea-caves, boats ily’s descendants. Originally the site of seasonal longhouses
and barges forming a floating black market accessed by for fishing-boat crews needing temporary accommodations,
hidden stairs and shafts. Half-forgotten byways conceal Eye of Creation grew over generations into a bustling com-
bloodsport, dueling grounds, conspiratorial gatherings, munity. As the hub of the region’s fishing industry, it offers
sorcerers’ experiments, and heretical worship. Corpses commercial docks, processing facilities, and warehouses
are dropped down the flooded, seemingly bottomless Blue dominating harborside real estate. Three mercantile houses
Chimney. Two whole districts — the Doorless Palace and compete fiercely in the business districts and on open water,
the White Rat Maze — are tainted by unraveling Solar each seeking a monopoly on the fishing industry.
magics, and avoided by all but the foolhardiest scavengers.
House Peleps once policed the undercity to keep criminal Last Calibration, a fishing ship caught something won-
and heretical activities under control, but with most of drous and inexplicable in its nets, a coiling pearlescent
Bittern’s Dragon-Blooded making war in the West, the serpent that spoke with a child’s voice. None dared killed
house is largely blind to the city below. so beautiful a thing, yet the more pious crew feared it might
be Anathema. The sailors resolved to place it in a vat of
saltwater and hide it in a disused warehouse, where it could
Ayreon Prefecture neither come to harm nor cause any. Distraught by isolation
A rugged coastal prefecture in the northwestern Blessed and confinement, the serpent keens mournfully each new
Isle, Ayreon is prone to shrouds of fog and cool winds that moon, catching the notice of many of the city’s children.
come in off Mistral Bay. Its arable flatlands’ farmsteads
and dairies produce enough food to feed its population. Werck
In the Blunt Axe Hills along Ayreon’s eastern edge,
quarries and mines dig common ores from the earth, Nestled in the Blunt Axe Hills, Werck is the central
largely for local use. Despite basic self-sufficiency, most hub around which several mining camps converge.
of the prefecture remains uninhabited. Lonely barrens Small and carefully regulated, the mines yield copper,
and dense stretches of forest inspire superstitions of dan- sulfur, cinnabar, and semiprecious stones. Fiera Salac,
gerous, strange beasts and easily offended wood spirits the town’s governor, strictly regulates mining permits
that steal babes from their cradles and lead travelers and to keep the mines producing. She incentivizes families
hunters astray. with tax breaks and start-up seed and animals to estab-
lish farmsteads on arable land outside town.

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PLACES TO COME FROM

Berm-and-Tiger Hollow: This broad and populous estate, overlooked by green-capped cliffs where wild
mospids nest, is the residence of Nellens Rellusa. Once a peasant outcaste inducted into the newly formed
House Nellens, Rellusa has always taken especial pride in Dynastic status. But now, in retirement, he finds
it more difficult to remain the center of attention, and has taken to inviting patricians and younger Dynasts to
sumptuous parties he can only afford by indebting himself to House Ragara. His greatest draw is his menag-
erie, extensive even by the Realm’s notorious standards. Foreign slaves dwell in chambers furnished in their
homelands’ fashion. Many are Wyld mutants, or surgically altered to appear more exotic. All know enough High
Realm to regale visitors with tales of faraway lands. Elsewhere, statuary-laden grottoes and cages contain
exotic Threshold beasts. But the animals’ handlers are untrained in their care, leaving many sickly and ailing.
And as Rellusa’s financial straits grow tighter, his household sells off various beasts, with little regard to what
purpose buyers might put a quoll-lion or ichneumon hunter. His children, infuriated as their inheritance dwin-
dles, consider ways to halt his expenditures.

The Sideshores: This cool, boreal archipelago just west of the Storm Coast consists of hundreds of tiny islets
surrounding the great wooded islands Greencoast and Thistlefall. Home at first only to isolated fisherfolk, then
to a short-lived Peleps shipbuilding effort, over the past two centuries the islets have become a popular sum-
mer resort for vacationing Dynasts from the western Isle, especially Cathaks, Ledaals, Pelepses, and V’neefs.
Traditionally, yachts and pleasure barges ply the narrow sounds between island estates each summer in one
vast floating party, while only a handful of Dynasts linger through the winter storms, tending the archipelago’s
manses and storm-breaking sky mantis towers. But today’s summer galas have a frenetic tinge, while Peleps
and V’neef maintain more and more house guards onshore each winter, preparing for the day when the beau-
tiful Sideshores turn into a bloody cauldron as a battle to wrest control of it begins.

Silent Thunder Prefecture: Situated on a scroll plain shaded with scrub and punctuated by oxbow lakes,
this was once a rich agricultural district administered by House Iselsi. Then the Empress deliberately ruined
it with unsustainable taxation policies after the Iselsi coup as a warning to all who’d betray her. After years of
grinding poverty led to an Immaculate-aided revolt, the Empress reversed her policies, but the damage was
already done. Silent Thunder’s cities are largely empty and overgrown, with only a handful of laborers and
shopkeepers still eking out a living. Though farming villages have returned to bucolic normality, the soil hasn’t
yet fully recovered, and the peasantry remains wary of the throne’s caprice. During and after the revolt, an Im-
maculate abbot quietly trained many residents in the martial arts. Local families maintain a tradition of martial
discipline, practicing katas with agricultural implements, and sparring in barns and stables well into the night.

Though Salac claims permits are issued through a blind of hunters who enter the woods only to wake just out-
selection process, rumors persist that anyone with side the valley with no memory of how they got there.
sufficient coin may purchase their “impartial selection.” Immaculate monks dispatched to investigate and purify
Frustrated mining families protesting her corruption the area haven’t found substance to these stories.
have found an unlikely ally — a small colony of unhu-
man Mountain Folk, cast out from their kind’s subter- Only the governor of Maya and his immediate family
ranean cities for some incomprehensible blasphemy. know the valley’s truth: it’s inhabited by the last sur-
They’ve offered to furnish miners with incomparable viving member of the prehuman Lloroch, dwelling in a
arms and armor in exchange for assistance in retrieving hidden network of natural caves. Once a season, Tower
fragments of relics from Werck’s mines and performing Stone and his eldest son travel secretly to a hand-hewn
certain obscure rituals aboveground. altar to bargain, offering up human sacrifices — drawn
from the ranks of criminals and indigents — and intri-
Feverfew Valley cate clockwork toys in exchange for a bountiful harvest.

Feverfew Valley is an ill-omened place, inhabited by

black-winged strix and raitons. Trees grow thick and
Eagle Prefecture
close together; mist clings low to the ground. Locals This timeworn province has always looked to the
claim to witness rogue spirits or ghosts, and legends tell sea. Fishing boats’ sails brighten the waters along the

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surrounding coast, making way for treasure ships car- blood in the streets only a decade ago, and economic
rying Western booty. Inland, a long, slow sweep of hills reverses or demagoguery could bring those days back.
offers fertile ground for terraced farms, pastureland,
and old vineyards whose wines are borne around the Importing Western spices, hardwoods, and slaves has en-
Inland Sea to wealthy tables across the Realm. riched House V’neef and the patrician families of Eagle’s
Launch. Dynastic and foreign travelers are greeted by
Dynastic estates speckle the highlands, their owners gorgeous new civic architecture, tree-lined boulevards,
wintering in Eagle’s Launch for the social season. and grids of wealthy storefronts dealing in exotic Western
Most are V’neef, but the prefecture has passed through merchandise — pineapples, cinnamon, jewelry, talismans
many houses’ hands across the centuries, each wave of — funded by V’neef’s foreign adventures. Some wealth
authority leaving households behind like sea wrack. trickles down to the peasantry, but not enough. Visitors
Likewise, prefects of other houses appointed many rarely stumble into the city’s labyrinthine slums, packed
of Eagle Prefecture’s governors, and V’neef cannot be with families of dock laborers and service workers.
assured of their loyalty. Now genteel country manors
sport new fortifications, and peasant militias find them- Due to the conflict between Houses V’neef and Peleps
selves training for battles they wish no part in. over control of the West, strife among wealthy merchants
over shares in that trade, and recent V’neef efforts to
Eagle’s Launch conceal wealth from Imperial taxation, Eagle’s Launch
crawls with adventurers, smugglers, courtiers, and spies
Long a small, sleepy port town — a stopover for ships from various houses, consortiums, and ministries.
from such Blessed Isle ports as Bittern or Eye of
Cultural strife echoes to the top of the city’s hierarchy.
Creation — Eagle’s Launch was transformed by the rise
Distant from centers of power and culture for centuries,
of the Western trade and by V’neef’s acquisition of the
the city’s patrician families grew rigidly traditionalist
Merchant Fleet. In recent years, it’s multiplied in size
and formal. But the founder V’neef has filled her court
through a massive influx of foreign and domestic immi-
with scholars, artists, and philosophers. Eagle’s Launch
grants. Old Eagle families blame economic troubles on
is awash in new ideas, foreign styles, and unfamiliar
immigrants. Ruthless policing and curfews largely con-
idioms. V’neef’s personal charm — and the wealth her
fines their enmity to snubs and insults. But there was
house spills into the city — have brought some measure

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Ice-Above-the-Water and other mountain fastnesses,

FIELDS OF RUE such as the Sesus spy-training manse Silken Diamond,
scarcely impact life elsewhere in the prefecture, other
A patchwork of plains, hills, and woodlands in the than occasional heavily armed contingents traversing
northwestern Isle, the Fields of Rue suffer from the mountains every few months, guarding condemned
erratic weather that tends toward cool, wet, and prisoners or Dynastic travelers. A lone prisoner’s recent
windy. The region encompasses many ancient bat- escape set an entire Hearth to combing the area, backed
tlefields, from First Age and Shogunate struggles by hundreds of Sesus soldiers. The effort met unexpect-
to some of the last major resistance to the Em- ed resistance from outlaws, bandits, beasts, and spirits;
press’ ascension. Many villages and towns are built the prisoner remains at large.
around Immaculate temples raised over tombs and
burial grounds. The mountains descend into rough, forested highlands
where backwoods folk procure furs and healing herbs
to sell. Shepherding villages speckle alpine valleys, res-
idents only meeting lowland neighbors when bringing
of acceptance. But many would rather return to conser- flocks and fleeces to market. Folk are raised with sling
vative values and familiar customs. in hand to fend off wolves, raptors, cougars, and snow
leopards — and more puissant beasts with which House
Several magistrates dwell here under V’neef protec-
Sesus stocks its hunting preserves, and which occa-
tion. Most notable is the indomitable Cynis Curan,
sionally wander into populated lands. Several houses
legendary for unraveling the theft of the Wolf-and-
maintain hunting lodges here.
Chrysanthemum Palace’s hearthstone from Ragara
himself. Experience with her family’s predilections Ventus folk’s skills make them desirable skirmishers,
gave her a keen understanding of human wickedness. but skirmishers’ poor pay, status, and life expectancy
When the young daughter of one of the Empress’ ser- offer no impetus to enlist. Before the Empress vanished,
vants barely survived poisoning, rumor spread that the Imperial staff officers encouraged Ventus’ courts to find
girl was actually the Empress’, begat between the two locals guilty, levy harsh sentences, then commute those
women by sorcery. The mother fled with her to Eagle’s sentences in exchange for enlistment. Now a Sesus
Launch, placing both in Curan’s care. prefect bribes judges and directs enlistees to her house’s
legions. Generations of quiet resentment toward the dis-
Ventus Prefecture tant Imperial government have shifted to House Sesus.
Suspects melt into the hills before magistrates arrive,
Ventus is among the Blessed Isle’s wildest regions out- neighbors claiming no knowledge of their whereabouts.
side the Imperial Mountain, distant from the Realm’s Sesus plans to make an example of the next village to con-
metropoli. It contains but one city worth the name ceal suspects, while forward-thinking peasants — abetted
and a few scattered towns, encircled by icy mountains, by Immaculate monks from Turning Sky Monastery —
tree-cloaked hills, jagged gorges, and white waters. prepare to rebel against the house in the Empress’ name.
This pristine land provides timber for navy vessels, ore
for legionnaires’ blades, and herbs for chirurgical and Ice-Above-the-Water
sorcerous arts. It also offers peril to those who venture
beyond civilization’s walls. Built atop and within a precipitous crag, accessible
only via a narrow, dizzying bridge, Ice-Above-the-
The Skyhewn Mountains form this landlocked prefec- Water glows like a beacon among the mountains, its
ture’s backbone, snowy peaks and ice-slicked ridges pagoda-like upper works hung with a thousand lamps
anathema to mortals and beasts alike. Slave miners pur- to illuminate intruders or escapees. Elite Sesus and
chased from House Cynis carve ice from the peaks and Silent Legion troops garrison the gaol, always includ-
copper, sulfur, and quicksilver from the earth, which ing at least one Dragon-Blood. These guard a handful
merchants convey to adjoining prefectures’ ports and of prisoners — those the Empress deemed more useful
the Great Coast Road. Other merchants follow ancient alive than dead, but too important to roam free — in-
roadways deeper inland, winding through high passes cluding insurrectionists, outlaws, and heretics best not
guarded by ill-staffed Sesus fortalices. These mountains martyred; Dynasts, patricians, and Threshold dignitar-
are an important artistic symbol in the Realm. Suffering ies whose deaths would incense their families; and the
in the mines, the mountaintop gaol Ice-Above-the- occasional spirit.
Water, and the wintry passes speaks to the cruelty that
beauty and power conceal, and of stark necessities in The most longstanding prisoner is an ageless albino
the background of contented lives. snakewoman, bound by a legendary Immaculate monk

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during the Shogunate using forgotten means, around piles of stone — ruins of thousand-year-old fortress-
whose prison the gaol was constructed. The Empress es and fortalices — lie strewn across the dominion’s
came every few decades to question her. But after a steep hills and valleys. Every village tells stories of an
Sesus interrogator’s recent attempt to do the same left ancient general or monster-slayer born on some nearby
him dangerously unhinged, the house wonders whether estate, or who won a great battle upon this ridge or that
it’s best to kill the creature instead, especially given the riverbank.
legend that one of her undying kinfolk roams the moun-
tains, awaiting the opportunity to set her free. Despite being governed by a military house, Lord’s
Crossing is a place of trade. Mines in the mountains
Bright Obelisk produce jade, precious metals, and building stone.
Caravans from every quarter of the Isle travel through
High in the mountains, the isolated city of Bright Obelisk the dominion’s mountain roads, escorting geomancers
offers a stunning vista of the Five-Color River’s tumbling, from Mnemon-Darjilis to Arjuf, or carrying clockworks
unnavigable rapids. The river wends hither and yon amid from Juche to Bright Obelisk. And the withering of
the rumpled green of forested hills brindled with ter- Tarpan funnels trade through Tepet lands from mer-
raced wheat farms, pear orchards, and open-pit mines. chants unwilling to follow the Salt Road to the sea.
Local miners and trappers mingle in the city’s bazaar
Much of the Tepets’ outlying territory is leased to
with students at the Talus Academy — a small, tight-knit
Dynasts of other houses, and the towns and villages that
secondary school focused on forestry and mountaineer-
subsequently grew around Dragon-Blooded vacation
ing — and merchants traveling between the Isle’s center
manors maintain a fanatical devotion to the quaint and
and coastline, creating a rough-hewn cosmopolitanism.
out-of-time feeling that attracts Dynastic tourists. Any
All gossip about the once-blessed city’s newfound curse.
architect worth the jade has grown adept at concealing
At Bright Obelisk’s center, amid the Plaza of Light’s vivid modern homes, facilities, and storehouses behind pic-
mosaics, stands an ancient pylon of white stone inlaid turesque facades.
with imperishable silvery metal. The plaza is ringed by
walled Dynastic manors, mostly Sesus and Mnemon, Lord’s Crossing
designed by geomancer-architects to gather the pylon’s
beneficent Essence. Its subtle blessing wards off negative In the city of Lord’s Crossing, one might think the
emotions and evil dreams, filling the town with tranquil- Shogunate had never fallen. Citizens take great pride
ity. But this isn’t wholly without disadvantage; lessened in their contentious, glorious history. Edifices of that
fear increases accidents, while Dynastic artists seeking a bygone age still stand at the city’s heart, while new con-
placid setting find their work lacks its former edge. structions emulate their antique architecture.

Unbeknownst to Bright Obelisk, its curse is born of Some of the Realm’s premier schools of theater and
Lunar sabotage. Years ago, the trickster-queen Laughs- debate nestle between ore-processing facilities and
at-Armies entered the city wearing a monk’s face, and marbleworks, and every public park of note boasts an
subtly warped the pylon’s geomantic alignment under attractive, open-air theater. Cunning feats of architec-
the pretense of blessing it. Ever since, the negative emo- ture baffle the ceaseless barking that comes from the
tions the pylon subsumes have taken on a life of their kennels of the city’s master dog breeders, who christen
own. People talk worriedly of a horrid shadow lurking each newborn pup with verses of Shogunate literature
in their peripheral vision, making hackles rise and skin commending the bond between hound and master.
crawl. Such witnesses, eventually possessed by the enti- Theater companies and respected philosophers share
ty, go mad. Some assault family or neighbors in furious time at these amphitheaters, and it’s a rare week that
rages; others withdraw into howling, suicidal terror. passes without dramatic readings of wartime poetry,
performances of comedies and tragedies inspired by
Governor Sesus Nerys sought to conceal the trouble lest heroes of the past, or fiery monologues interpreting a
Imperial investigation uncover house secrets and indiscre- renowned local general’s philosophies.
tions. After a visiting Dragon-Blood’s demise, she wonders
what to fear more — the curse, or the coming magistrate. Though Lord’s Crossing remains an industrious — even
prosperous — city, every street corner and hearth shiv-
ers with the deep, numbing chill of grief. Though the
Lord’s Crossing Dominion governor of Lord’s Crossing and the dominion’s prefect,
both Tepets, have met several times with the house’s
House Tepet makes its home in the ancient stronghold
leadership, attempting to reinvigorate the dominion
of great heroes of the Shogunate. Mossy, crumbling
with new celebrations and festivals, the downfall of its

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THE WALL OF TEN THOUSAND TEARS WILDLIFE

Lord’s Crossing once bore the name Karashelen, Thousands of years of civilization have left few
capital of an early Shogunate dynasty, home to large, powerful wild beasts on the Blessed Isle,
Dragon-Blooded heroes whose tales are remem- aside from occasional oddities in the deepest back-
bered today. After the Contagion, Karashelen country or on the Imperial Mountain. The taming of
stood against the newborn Realm. The Empress wilderness into agricultural land has eliminated
captured the city, executed its ruling family, and many habitats, while Exalted heroes cull animals
razed the old Shogun’s palace. She bestowed high that offer exciting hunts or threaten their subjects’
honors upon Akiyo Leskara, the general who won lives and livelihood. What remains are mostly live-
the siege, and granted stewardship of the city to stock, pets, and such small wild creatures as fox-
Gens Akiyo. To commemorate this, a barefoot Aki- es, birds, and snakes.
yo carried a stone pried from the city walls to the
Empress every year thereafter. A few larger indigenous animals, like cougars,
wolves, bears, and boars, stubbornly persist in the
When the Empress established the first Great wilderness. In addition, the Dynasty deliberate-
Houses, House Akiyo stood proudly among them. ly introduces Threshold beasts — whether claw
But after Lord’s Crossing was sacked in Trae striders, emperor sloths, hellboars, rhinoceros-
Leng’s Revolt, the Empress viewed House Akiyo es, or strix — to Imperial preserves. These pro-
with a jaundiced eye. The house fell into decline, vide Dynasts with interesting prey, and discourage
eventually being struck from the Imperial ledgers peasants from poaching. On rare occasions when
a century later. The Empress then granted the city such creatures wander into civilized lands, Drag-
to House Tepet. The transfer of power was called on-Blooded heroes eagerly take them down.
“The Year of One Hundred Penitents,” as Tepet sci-
ons carried stones to the Imperial City, one for ev-
ery year since the peasant revolt. recall its origin. Its towering canopy is woven with
ancient sorceries that the Dragon-Blooded have yet
Today, the Tepets carry no more stones to the Impe- to untangle. Those who enter find a realm as much
rial Palace, as there’s no Empress to receive them. imagined as real, haunted in moonlight by visions of
A new tradition has sprung up in its place: Folk
pasts that never were; twisted reflections of that which
who lost kin in the campaign against the Bull of the
is; and futures that may yet come to pass. The Blessed
North scratch their dead relatives’ names onto the
Isle’s great beasts have taken refuge here, too, as have
wall itself. Some hire sculptors to carve names, or
ask Immaculate monks to bless the writing. The dark sorcerers, forbidden gods, Fair Folk, and nameless
Tepet name appears on many of these stones. monsters.

At the forest’s edge stands a small riverine city named

Glass. Though Eseon’s reputation is fearful, Glass’ furri-
legions has left it unwilling to bear what it sees as an ers, coppicers, and herbalists dare its outermost groves.
unnecessary expense. The city’s governor, Cathak Nerin, is old and widowed,
and won’t remarry. Instead he plays host to a revolving
Eseon Forest cast of young Princes of the Earth questing for weird ad-
venture — to rescue imperiled travelers; hunt the Opal
West of the Imperial Mountain stands a woodland Stag; seek the enigmatic, phantasmal treasure called
that was ancient when sun and moon were young. the Noumenon; explore ancient ruins tangled beneath
Immaculate scriptures say Sextes Jylis was born be- a thousand years of overgrowth; or find the mythical
neath its boughs; even its eldest elementals cannot manse named Promise, hidden at Eseon’s unreachable
heart, that legend says predates Creation.

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From the roof of the potentate’s palace, one could see the whole of Eashaldha. At sunset, the city’s
windpumps stood out as spinning shadows against the multihued horizon. As these marvels drew water
from beneath the Southern desert, so did two friends draw wine from a shared skin, sitting side by side on
the rooftop. They had come here for years, and grown accustomed to speaking freely. Today they measured
their words, for rumor suggested that the wind carried careless speech.

“The world grows worse, continuously,” said the elder, Tarham, who had been a scribe for more years than
her friend had lived. “Once, I had the satrap’s ear, and the respect of her staff. Once, the Realm respected
our ways.”

“The Realm has only ever respected our silver,” said the younger, Suyul, who ran decrees from the palace
to the ends of the city. “But it was once judicious. How am I to afford a tax for each of my children? The
potentate allows the Realm to pluck food from our mouths.”

“You don’t say so elsewhere, do you?”

“No. My eyes see enough whippings when I pass the town square. My back needs no demonstration.”

The two friends were silent a moment. Tarham imagined the crack of a whip, and Suyul’s back itched. Wine
soothed both.

Tarham swept the wineskin east, toward the farmland beyond the city. “We’d have no such problems if the
peasants were obedient. The Dragons have surely abandoned us because of their unruliness.”

“What, should they lie down and die?” demanded Suyul. “Their lot’s hard enough when Dynasts leave more
than one in ten millet seeds.”

“Banditry’s no answer, Suyul.”

Suyul claimed the wineskin and asked, “Then what is?” before taking another pull.

Tarham tapped the rooftop with a manicured hand. “Someone must go to the satrap. She was always fair to
us before, and made few requests of the potentate. Now she demands more and more, and speaks to none
but her young advisor. Perhaps she doesn’t know what’s truly happening.” When Suyul scoffed, Tarham
grew insistent: “Think, boy. Didn’t all this start when Ledaal Marek came to Eashaldha?”

Suyul set down the wineskin and made an old sign for undoing rash words, as Tarham covered her mouth.
They sat in silence, listening to the wind, wondering if it might carry the name to its owner.

“That’s been my observation,” said a third voice, and Tarham nearly leapt from the roof in startlement.
Suyul caught her, and calmed her, and they held hands as they turned to see the voice’s owner. He was a
small man, unfamiliar, with little spare flesh and a waggish hooked nose. “Ah, don’t fear,” he said, hands
raised. “As you can see, I’m not Marek.”

“You were sitting right next to me,” said Suyul, accusing, “and I never saw or heard you.”

“Don’t be disrespectful,” hissed Tarham, and she knelt before the stranger, dragging Suyul to his knees as
well. “Honored Prince of the — “

“Thorn,” said the stranger. “Call me Thorn.” He drew from his sleeve a circular jade seal, and held it in
the light of the setting sun. The Imperial magistrates’ mon was known even in Eashaldha. This eased the
friends’ fears, and inspired new ones.

“What do you want?” asked Suyul, even as Tarham asked, “What can we do for you?”

“I need someone to write down a story, and someone to speak it.” He picked up the wineskin, took a pull,
and grimaced at it. He drank the rest. “It begins in a far-off land, with a cunning, hungry fox. How it ends...
well, that may be up to us.”

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 Chapter Six

The World
We Rule
Hundreds of nations across the Threshold bend the knee multiple satrapies. In others, the Realm merges mul-
to the ferocious dragon at Creation’s center. These client tiple city-states into a single satrapy. And sometimes
states are satrapies: components of the Scarlet Empress’s the Realm establishes a colony, or impresses nomadic
world-spanning war-machine, driven by Dragon- peoples into permanent settlements. However it came
Blooded ambition and greased by offerings of wealth, to kneel, a satrapy agrees to abide by Imperial law, and
sweat, and blood. Satrapies carry the Realm’s influence receives the protections granted thereby.
and protection, and labor under the weight of the em-
pire’s immense appetites. As the Dynasty moves toward Satrapies have several broad responsibilities as Realm
civil war, Great House patrons neglect their satrapies’ de- tributaries. They may retain any governmental sys-
fenses while demanding ever more tribute. Few satrapies tem capable of maintaining order, but must accept a
can weather these conditions for long, but none wish to Dragon-Blooded overseer — called a satrap — and a
stir the legendary wrath of the Princes of the Earth. military garrison. Satrapies embrace the Immaculate
Philosophy as their state religion, and are expected
to surrender their former modes of worship and offer
The Satrapy System full support to Immaculate Order activities. Provinces
must support Wyld Hunts in particular, and report any
Young Dynasts joke that the best way to tell a mortal
Anathema presence to their satraps. Finally, satrapies
noble from a laborer is by how quickly they bow in a
provide their Dragon-Blooded overlords with regular
Dragon-Blood’s presence — with the educated and
tribute — massive quantities of valuables, materials,
perceptive noble by far the quicker. The novelty of
and hard currency. The Empress often demanded spe-
their divine authority fades in time, replaced by ab-
cific tributes to satisfy the Realm’s needs, manipulate
solute assurance in their mandate to rule Creation’s
satrapial economies, or encourage aggression against
lesser nations. This is the world that the Empress and
neighbors with desirable goods. The Dragon-Blooded
her children built: a vast hunting ground dominated
hunger for jade above all else, but other currencies like
by a jealous, hungry nest of dragons. The encircling
silver and cash help Dynasts and legionnaires operate in
satrapies are servant-states and staging grounds for the
the Threshold.
Realm, which has built a centuries-long reputation of
brutally punishing any threat to its interests. More often Though the satrapies owe fealty to the Empress, their
than not, those threats are broken and yoked, and the maintenance falls to the Great Houses, which purchase
empire’s shadow grows larger. satrapial leases from the throne. A satrapy’s Great
House patron appoints a satrap, extracts tribute, and
Satrapies are states that have sworn fealty to the
provides house troops to maintain order and defense.
Empress, and through her, to the Scarlet Realm. Some
The Empress expected houses to manage satrapies un-
few states — particularly those with powerful enemies
aided. If a house couldn’t put down rebellions and minor
such as Lunars — enter this arrangement eager to
threats without the Imperial legions, that house would
shelter beneath the empire’s wing. Others succumb
likely lose its lease. Centuries of selective pressure have
to overwhelming financial pressure, or to military
made the houses ruthlessly efficient at preventing and
invasion. When a state’s leadership is too stubbornly
suppressing satrapial unrest.
independent, assassins and Great House–funded revo-
lutionaries can make room for more pliable leadership. Greater threats, such as Anathema, provide an exception
to house autonomy in the provinces. Lunar invaders,
Not every satrapy was a state before its subjugation.
Fair Folk raiders, and Solar revolutionaries threaten the
In some cases, the Realm carves an extant nation into

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empire’s foundations. These true enemies of the Realm reward for the Princes of the Earth, who safeguard the
demand immediate and overwhelming force: the Wyld mortal masses’ physical and spiritual well-being. As
Hunt, backed as needed by Imperial legions and local such, not providing appropriate tribute is a spiritual
auxiliaries. Hunting Anathema is a sacred duty and a failing that the satrapy’s patron house must correct.
first priority, superseding house rivalries and financial
interests. On Clientage
The Benefits of Empire Few rulers enjoy exploiting their people and resources
for a foreign power’s benefit, so why do so many states
The Empress built her new world order in the ashes become Realm tributaries? Most have no choice. The
of the Creation-spanning Shogunate. Unlike Lookshy’s Realm is a voracious, expansionist government bol-
Seventh Legion, the young Empress rejected the idea of stered by the personal might and savvy of the Princes of
resurrecting the broken Shogunate. She knew that the the Earth. Imperial envoys demand fealty under threat
Dragon-Blooded host lacked the numbers, infrastruc- of invasion by the legions, a military force unmatched
ture, and lingering First Age magic to recreate anything in Creation. Some nations attempt to resist Realm
more than a shadow of the Shogunate. In addition, the domination with their own resources and allies, but
Shogunate had been prone to constant, bloody wars of few succeed, especially over the long haul. Resources
ambition, which the Empress had no desire to repeat. dwindle and fail against the empire’s might, allies are
Such wars would have threatened the Empress as they intimidated or suborned, and holdout states pay for
had the shoguns, and weakened Creation’s defenses their obstinacy in blood.
against further invasion.
Once a state surrenders, its newly acquired Great House
Thus she made herself a strong central power, and patron dissuades unrest by publicly executing trouble-
aimed the Princes of the Earth out at the Threshold. makers and taking hostages from high-risk populations.
Once brought to heel, lesser states would serve the If the population is too depleted to provide sufficient
Realm as mortals serve a Dragon-Blood, and all would tribute, the house may import slaves and serfs, or offer
answer to the Empress. incentives for immigration. Favored methods for instill-
ing obedience vary from house to house: House Tepet
The Realm is first and foremost an engine of war. drafts janissaries as hostages to keep their families
Satrapies serve as large-scale defensive measures well-behaved, while House Cynis floods troublesome
against invasion on any scale, and impose order across regions with opium to render the masses sedate and
much of the Threshold. They act as staging grounds for addicted.
the legions and allow the empire to conquer new na-
tions and expand. Perhaps most importantly, satrapies Some satrapies join the empire with minimal violence.
provide intelligence and support for the Wyld Hunt, These client states may have been founded with Realm
so that it can quickly descend on threats to the Realm funding, or turned to the empire to shield them from in-
before those threats grow too powerful. In particular, vaders and Anathema. Weak rulers and pretenders can
Lunar Anathema habitually build armies capable of be suborned, willingly trading their people’s indepen-
threatening Imperial security, or infiltrate provincial dence to secure their own grip on the throne. Distant,
governments. They further threaten the Realm with well-defended states whose rulers see satrapy status
their blasphemous existence, which defies the natural as profitable or simply inevitable may seek favorable
order. Fair Folk, Exigents, and the newly discovered terms in exchange for submission — the Empress was
deathknights offer different threats, but they’re all generous to such satrapies, knowing they’d eventually
vulnerable to intelligent application of sudden, over- give her cause to renegotiate.
whelming force.
Other satrapies view the Realm’s oppressive presence
As the Realm girds itself with the satrapies, so too does as a necessary evil. Many depend on house garrisons for
it feed upon them. The Great Houses funnel immense defense, allowing their own armies to wither in the bar-
wealth into the Imperial Treasury through payments on gain. Satrapies receive favored trade status with other
their satrapial leases, wealth that keeps the massive em- satrapies and with the Realm, Creation’s breadbasket.
pire functioning. In turn, the houses extract tribute from The Immaculate Order supports and enforces the class
the satrapies to recoup their investments, and more. order, and keeps spirits from exploiting mortals. As long
Satrapial wealth keeps the houses competitive, and rare as a satrapy can maintain order and appease its patron
satrapial commodities allow Dynasts to live in splendor house with tribute, the Realm’s patronage provides sta-
and opulence. By the Immaculate Philosophy’s tenets, bility nigh-unparalleled in the Second Age.
these lives of extravagance are the just and proper

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Attitudes toward the Realm vary by culture, history, to raid each other as long as the violence didn’t threaten
location, and patron house. A bloody transition from in- tribute flow. In cases of outright war between satrapies,
dependent state to satrapy can breed generations-long the Empress ruled in favor of one satrapy and sent legions
cycles of seething resentment and uprisings. A province to break the other. The houses spent centuries learning
near a Lunar dominion may view the legions as stoic to precisely measure violence against rival satrapies, to
defenders against rapacious beast-headed invaders. avoid the Empress’ intervention.
Populations that cannot abide the Immaculate Order’s
limitations on spiritual congress undergo repeated Tumult in the Provinces
purges by battle-hardened monks.
The Empress imposed few laws on her satrapies, largely
One of the few points of consensus is that Dragon-Blooded regulating finances and responsibilities to the Realm.
should be treated with all possible respect, for they’re She was more concerned with amassing and maintain-
proud and quick to punish any slight. Common wisdom ing power than with dictating how the satrapies would
among Dynasts states that this impression needs to be be run. The Great Houses were left to maintain the
reinforced early and often; softer Dragon-Blooded may be satrapies however they saw fit. The Empress reinforced
accused of writing their commands “in ink.” Punishments, effective satrapial management through her authority
examples, and cleansings are far more lasting ways to im- over prices of satrapial leases. More than one house
press the proper way of things upon mortals. fell from power at the Empress’ whim. Others learned
to measure extraction of tribute and to maintain order
The most successful provinces aren’t merely obedient, but
through methods appropriate to the province, balanc-
also reliably wealthy enough to provide expected tribute.
ing short-term gain against long-term sustainability.
The Great Houses pressure satrapies to amass jade, sil-
Shortsighted houses lost satrapies to rivals, negating the
ver, natural resources, and exotic goods such as firedust
spoils of over-exploitation.
and ironwood. Many satrapies raid their neighbors and
rely on Realm garrisons to avoid military repercussions. When the Empress disappeared, she took with her the
When this practice brings more tribute than trouble, the authority to renegotiate satrapial leases. As a result, the
houses encourage it. The Empress even allowed satrapies

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houses have evaded the greatest check on their power

in the provinces. Now, more than ever before, the satra- BEWARE THE REALM AGRONOMIST
pies groan under the weight of the houses’ ambitions.
Satraps demand more and more tribute, and Dragon- While it’s up to a satrap to appoint most of her ad-
Blooded overseers make up for reduced support with ministration, each satrapy retains permanent in-
increased brutality. Centuries of oppression have taught frastructure made up of ministerial officials who
the provinces that resistance only brings bloodshed, but remain in place to ensure a smooth transition from
the houses’ redoubled cruelties in some satrapies build one house to another. These administrators are in-
levels of resentment unseen in generations. In other timately familiar with the region, and they can pro-
satrapies, the people are too broken to even consider vide invaluable advice and guidance to an incom-
rebellion, and thousands starve as the food they grew ing satrap. This permanent ministerial installation
travels to the Blessed Isle. Bandit gangs swell and multi- is also a perfect hiding place for the All-Seeing
ply, driven by hunger and resentment. Eye. The Empress wanted to be informed of any
situations that might arise in the far-flung reaches
Even as they wring the satrapies dry, the houses largely of her empire. Some satraps are more aware of
prepare to abandon the Threshold, undercutting the this fact than others, and with the Empress’ dis-
longstanding Imperial myth that the Realm never yields appearance, they seek to remove these potential
an inch of ground. The first sign of this shift was the spies from their midst.
recall of the legions to the Blessed Isle, where they were
cannibalized to swell the houses’ might. Soon after,
many house paramilitary forces were recalled from The land will continue to be ruled by whatever author-
their satrapies, leaving garrisons empty but for token ity was in place before the Scarlet Empire arrived. The
forces, local auxiliaries, or cheap mercenary companies. Realm doesn’t want to break a region, but simply take it
Satrapies that once relied on Realm defenders now under the wing of the greatest, most enlightened civiliza-
hemorrhage resources on hiring or training soldiers, tion of the Second Age. The only political change is the
or attempt to hide their weakness from enemies. Other installation of a satrap, who ensures the satrapy pays trib-
satrapies consider outside alliances, but fear angering ute to the Realm and follows the Immaculate Philosophy.
their patron houses. Territories once contested by In exchange, satrapies benefit from the protection of the
the Imperial legions now lie open for conquest by the greatest military force in Creation.
Realm’s enemies. Only a handful of rich or strategically
important satrapies remain well-protected, not for their The ruled, alas, must frequently be persuaded to accept
own sake but for their ruling houses’ interests. the wisdom of this arrangement.
As the Great Houses drive the provinces toward rebel-
lion or collapse, the Threshold’s heroes find horrors
Forging a Satrapy
and opportunities. Lunars see a chance to inflict greater
When a satrapy is officially formed, the region falls im-
wounds on the Realm than ever before. The Mask of
mediately under the Realm’s protection and control. As
Winters’ conquest of Thorns may be but the prelude to
the Empress couldn’t be expected to directly command
a greater campaign. Sidereal Exalted engage in secret
all of Creation alone, she gave the Great Houses the op-
battles for the Realm’s future, wielding cults as cats-
portunity to bid for jurisdiction over her satrapies. The
paws. The Solar Exalted have roused from their age-
Empress’ decision regarding who controls a satrapy was
long slumber to find nations desperate for just rulers.
final, and whichever house was chosen was awarded
The Dragon-Blooded, Dynast and outcaste alike, must
a lease to oversee the satrapy in question. There’s no
decide whether to fight to preserve the empire, or to
official length for these leases, although they could be
claim a piece of it for themselves.
reassessed or revoked at any time at the Empress’ sole
discretion.
The Guiding Hand:
Once a house has been awarded a satrapy, house lead-
Governance of the Satrapies ership chooses a satrap from among its ranks. Those
chosen as satraps are often Spiral Academy graduates,
This is the Realm’s theory of rule: preferably with past experience on another satrap’s
staff. The house must choose a satrap capable enough
Enforcing the Empress’ will throughout the satrapies is to maintain control in her territory and bring in tribute
no mean feat, and only with her guiding hand can so many on time, but must avoid appointing an overly ambitious
disparate places be brought to order as subordinates of or greedy satrap. Overseeing a satrapy is one thing, but
the Realm. Existing government isn’t actually supplanted:

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a satrap establishing a wider power base or placing her of allowing unrest to grow. Spot inspections can also be
own interests above the Realm’s is another matter. prompted by unusual success, such as a sudden upswing
in trade or an excess of tribute being delivered — osten-
A satrap is expected to be aware of everything trans- sibly for the committee to learn from a satrapy’s success,
piring in her domain. For that, she’ll need advisors to but more practically to ensure that it’s genuine and not
update her on everything from military movements and the result of falsified records. Typically, if a satrap re-
reports of Anathema to the state of public welfare and ceives more than one visit every five years, she’s doing
trade. Traditionally, she’d have four chief assistants, something incredibly right or disastrously wrong.
three appointed by the Empress from outside the
satrap’s house. Each of the five would send their own While Itinerant Advisory Committees are authorized
report back to the Foreign Office and the Empress, their to travel and observe the administration in any given
critiques serving to keep one another honest. region, they’re just advisory committees. They can’t
change things they deem problematic or even danger-
Today, satraps typically choose their staff of advisors ous. Any misconduct they uncover is reported to the
entirely from their own house and its patrician clients. Foreign Office, who brought serious concerns to the
The highest ranks and cushiest postings tend to be filled Empress’ attention so that she could react accordingly.
with personal friends and those with close family ties.
Together they send five identical reports to the Home Now that the Empress is gone, Foreign Office chief
Office, leaving the Thousand Scales in the dark. minister Ledaal Arnis finds herself with no one to re-
port to. She can appeal to a satrapy’s controlling house
Oversight of the Overseers for change, but if the house is already complicit in the
satrap’s activities, this accomplishes nothing. As houses
Satraps fall under the administration of the Wise and begin squeezing more and more from satrapies and ig-
Knowledgeable Advisors of Foreign Tributaries — more noring reports of external threats, Arnis can only watch
commonly called the Foreign Office. Satraps are expect- as the Realm’s grip grows weaker.
ed to submit regular reports covering military postings,
census data, tribute levels, trade disruptions, crime sta- House Control
tistics, and other information about their satrapies that
the Foreign Office deems relevant. The Knowledgeable Often, the Great House that initially conquers a state
Advisors dispatch regular reports notifying satraps of and claims it for the Realm isn’t the house that will
information that may affect them — rumors of bandit oversee it. Since a house can’t count on being granted
activity in a neighboring region that might spill over into satrapial leases of the lands it conquers, it benefits from
their territory, for example — plus recommendations on scouting the region for the best holdings and aiming to
everything from troop movement to tribute levels. secure them for itself. The Empress did nothing to dis-
courage this behavior, and it’s understood that a certain
In addition to scribes and clerks who collect, compile, amount of “spoils” will be claimed before a satrap sets
and distribute a staggering amount of reports, the foot on her new holdings.
Foreign Office contains numerous advisors whose
recommendations shape Realm foreign policy. Most of By the time a satrapy has been officially granted to a
these advisors serve on Itinerant Advisory Committees house, rival houses likely already have several business
that regularly travel to satrapies to meet satraps face to and trade arrangements in place. Depending on how
face, offer advice, and address any concerns they might valuable a satrapy is, even houses without business ties
have. These visits, occurring roughly every five years, to the region may have interest in setting up there. It’s
help ensure that all satraps know they have the Realm’s common for scions of one house to go adventuring or to
support and can call upon the Knowledgeable Advisors’ take extended vacations in satrapies controlled by other
guidance and counsel at any time. houses. This provides an easy way to funnel information
back to the Blessed Isle, where the Great Houses can
These visits also serve as inspections by the Foreign assess the strengths and weaknesses of their siblings.
Office to ensure that satraps are (relatively) honest in
their reports. Itinerant Advisory Committee travel plans Some houses have attempted to sabotage rivals’ control in
are typically announced in advance, but most committees volatile regions. A century ago, an uprising against House
arrive quietly several days ahead of schedule to examine Ledaal in the Northern satrapy of Threepeaks was made
the satrapy independently before the official tour with possible by weapons and mercenaries supplied by House
the satrap and her people. Committees occasionally ar- Sesus. The Empress was forced to send a legion to put
rive unannounced, generally in response to reports of es- down the unrest, and when the dust settled, she stripped
pecially cruel or demanding satraps, or those suspected Ledaal of its contract. Instead of passing to House Sesus,

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however, the lease went to House Mnemon — along with musicians, painters, dancers, or concubines. Still others
the lease for another Sesus satrapy. are indentured janissary troops. As the houses consolidate
their forces, more and more accept tribute in the form of
Open sabotage was once rare, as no one wished to able-bodied soldiers. Many satraps currying favor with
gamble on losing a satrapy. With the Empress’ disap- their houses make this a requirement and use conscription
pearance, the houses grow bolder. Ambitious satraps to keep the flow of soldiers coming. This is universally
look for exploitable weaknesses in their neighbors, unpopular, and several satrapies have had riots in protest
and without the threat of the Empress to check their — reports of which have been quickly hushed up.
actions, any move against a vulnerable satrapy could be
the spark that ignites open warfare between the houses. Filling the Coffers
Once tribute has been assessed, the satrap instructs the
The Outstretched Fingers: current ruler to see that it’s collected promptly. The
actual amount of tribute the satrap ultimately demands
Taxation and Tribute significantly exceeds the assessment. While the dragon’s
share of tribute is transported to the Imperial Treasury
When a satrapy is first established, the satrap’s financial
(with silver going to the Bursars of Barbarian Tribute
advisors work with the conquered nation’s treasurer and
and cash to the Empress’ Private Purse), a portion is set
the Foreign Office. Together, they review the conquered
aside for the Merchant Fleet to offset escort fees. The sa-
state’s economic history and suggest a tribute level re-
trap’s Great House claims another portion to recoup the
flecting what the new satrapy has to offer the Realm.
satrapial lease’s cost and investments in satrapial defense
Assessing the Tribute and maintenance. Add in satraps and bureaucrats looking
Currency ( jade, sometimes silver, and occasionally to line their own pockets, and taxes need to be very high
cash) comprises the bulk of a satrapy’s annual tribute. indeed to ensure everyone sees a profit.
This is the easiest tribute to quantify, and the first things
Most satraps try to squeeze as much as possible out of the
agreed upon are how much currency the Realm will see
tributary. This has increased since the Empress’ disap-
and how often it will arrive. Typically, tribute is sent
pearance, and satrapies struggle under these demands. In
once or twice a year, depending on how often houses
more affluent trade districts, this could mean merchants
want to see satrapial revenue and how difficult and
unhappy with the sales tax they have to charge. In rural
expensive it is to secure transport.
outskirts, this could mean farmers watching their chil-
While tribute is generally currency, a satrapy’s controlling dren starve because of increased tributes.
house and the Empress herself might stipulate payment
This drives rural farmers to get creative. Where taxes
of tribute in specific goods. Many satrapies beyond the
are based on a percentage of harvested crops, farmers
Inland Sea were annexed because they could contribute
habitually lie about their harvests, sometimes claiming
something to the Realm not easily obtained elsewhere.
to have brought in less than they did, sometimes claim-
Raw materials like crops, timber, dyes, spices, and ore
ing that the entire crop was lost to disease or fire. Some
are common, while some satrapies produce textiles,
have hidden fields or rice paddies, cut off from the rest
ceramics, metalwork, or other finished goods. A Cynis-
of their property. A farmer caught evading taxes faces
controlled satrapy might be asked to contribute fine silks
punishments including enslavement, the forced con-
or rare drugs, while House Mnemon might require a par-
scription of her children, or death.
ticular wood or stone as building material. The Empress
sometimes requested that a satrapy provide her with Securing Passage
something it lacked, but a neighbor had in abundance —
Bringing Creation’s wealth home to the Blessed Isle is no
whether to encourage commerce or raiding.
simple feat. With more and more troops being recalled
to the Blessed Isle from the Threshold, there are fewer
First Age relics are highly prized tribute — it’s expected
soldiers to guard tribute caravans — and much greater
that any such artifacts a satrap finds will be turned over
temptation for them to defect and run off with more
immediately to the Empress. Because of their scarcity,
wealth than they’d otherwise see in their lifetimes. A
these relics are more valuable than virtually any other
caravan loaded with silver and jade is a prime target for
tribute satrapies can produce. Locals are quick to inves-
bandits, and securing safe passage isn’t cheap.
tigate and exploit First Age ruins for this purpose.
To carry tribute across the Inland Sea, satraps rely on
Some tribute takes the form of slaves, whether menial
the Merchant Fleet for protection. In exchange for
laborers or skilled artisans and artists. These range
escorting a satrapy’s tribute and keeping it safe from
from masons, potters, jewelers, and weaponsmiths to
pirates, V’neef captains collect a portion for themselves.

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Fees depend on the tribute’s size. No satrap wants to

detail exactly how much tribute she’s transporting — THE EXCEPTIONS
particularly when it’s much less than the previous year.
Nonetheless, satraps and their houses prefer to quietly A rare few satrapies, such as Fajad, have been
lose a portion of their tribute to House V’neef than to permitted to continue their former religious prac-
lose all of their tribute to pirates. tices without the imposition of the Immaculate Phi-
losophy. Some satrapies volunteer for vassalage
The Upturned Palm: despite possessing sufficient military strength for
a protracted fight, enabling them to negotiate more
Missionaries and Religion favorable terms. Other satrapies are so far beyond
the Realm’s usual sphere of influence that it would
While a satrap rarely meddles overmuch with local
be inconvenient to maintain control without more
government, she does require that the conquered na- support from the populace.
tion embrace the Immaculate Philosophy. In this way,
even the most far-flung provinces learn their place in No matter the reason, the Empress and the Order
the Perfected Hierarchy. The transition from one belief see this sort of arrangement as temporary; even-
system to another isn’t instantaneous — but it is expect- tually the locals will provide an opportunity for re-
ed to be complete. Immaculate monks won’t tolerate negotiation. Until then, the Order begins laying the
heresy, and if a population doesn’t willingly accept the foundation through missionary work.
faith, they’ll be made to obey.

Accepting the Order

undermine or retaliate against the Order require harsher
Once a satrapy is established, the Immaculate Order be-
treatment at the hands of Immaculate martial artists.
gins converting its populace. This is typically achieved
Those who relent in defeat are given another chance to
not through wholesale eradication of indigenous
obey the Order’s strictures. A stubborn spirit finds itself
faiths, but by assimilating them into the Immaculate
hunted by Dragon-Blooded capable of driving it from
way of worship. Local gods are offered a place in the
the region, or seasoned elders that can seal it away for
Immaculate prayer calendar; shrines and temples are
centuries to contemplate its mistakes. A small handful
stripped of their iconography and adorned with dragon
of Kinships of these elite Immaculate “god breakers”
altars. If the satrapy’s mortal and spirit populaces accept
can be requisitioned throughout the Blessed Isle and the
this transfer peacefully, they need not come to harm.
Threshold to deal with stubborn spirits.
More often, though, dissidence will arise from some
quarter, necessitating a swift and forceful response. For every nine citizens who see reason and submit to the
Immaculates’ will, one clings even more fiercely to the old
In some cases, the Order petitions the satrap to have the
ways. In even the best-controlled satrapies, one can find
local ruler issue a proclamation and implement it with
outlawed worship to old gods in hidden basement temples,
local law enforcement. In others, Immaculate monks
mobile shipboard shrines, and secret wilderness taberna-
circulate door to door, confiscating blasphemous texts
cles. Such worship is conducted in secret at great personal
and false idols to be burned. Unruly mortals are cowed
risk. If Immaculate monks learn of pockets of heresy, they
into submission with displays of Immaculate martial
descend swiftly and deal with them without hesitation.
arts and Exalted power. Local clergy who preach
against the Immaculates or against Realm control meet Still, not every subjugated land responds well to brute
with “unfortunate accidents” on the road, or public force. The monks know that an outstretched hand can
execution as an example of what happens when people be as effective as a closed fist.
go against the divine right of the Realm. In the end,
every citizen of the satrapy must embrace the fact that Immaculate Missionaries
the Dragon-Blooded are a step closer to enlightenment Out beyond the Realm’s borders, or in isolated satrapial
than they, and should therefore be admired, feared, and backwaters such as mountainous regions or scattered
— most importantly — obeyed. skerries, Immaculate missionaries spread the word and
offer an outstretched hand, to lead the uninitiated into
Gods accustomed to receiving worship are more difficult
civilization rather than drag them by force. In addition
to persuade, but the Order has much experience in deal-
to guiding inhabitants toward enlightenment, local con-
ing with unruly spirits. A god who’s initially unwilling to
verts can ease the path toward future Realm conquest.
comply with the Order’s demands in exchange for a place
in the local prayer calendar may change her mind after Missionary monks establish temples for public welfare, per-
being starved of prayers for months. Spirits who publicly haps offering to feed the homeless if they stay for a sermon

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or two. They create or fund schools for children in areas In the event of unrest or uprising, a satrap usually seeks
where few have the opportunity to learn to read. By edu- aid from her house to keep things contained and quiet.
cating children (and sometimes adults) in the Immaculate Once, the houses could call on the Imperial legions for
Texts, monks teach the Immaculate Philosophy in a more aid, though this risked making them appear weak in
welcome manner than burning local holy books. rivals’ eyes, and the Empress levied harsh punishments
for frivolous appeals. Houses Cathak, Sesus, and Tepet
In addition to sermons, monks reinterpret Immaculate sometimes loaned out house legions in exchange for
texts as songs and plays. Some missionaries serve as trav- political favors, while mercenaries could be hired for
eling musicians, singing tales of the Dragon-Blooded at exorbitant fees. Mass conscription both damages the
inns and teahouses until these stories are swept up into economy and makes a generation of peasants more
local legend. Dramatizations of the Empress’s military capable of armed insurgency against the local ruler and
feats and how they were made possible through the the Realm. With the Empress and the Imperial legions
Dragons’ will have been staged everywhere from grand gone, options are fewer.
palaces to remote fishing villages.
Satrapial Garrisons
Stubborn Gods Just as a satrap leaves her satrapy’s government structure
The ultimate goal is for the Philosophy to supplant pre- intact, she builds on the existing army structure as well.
existing religion throughout the satrapies, thus urging
the Realm’s conquests to acknowledge Dragon-Blooded Troops controlled by the satrap’s house are brought
superiority. But while people pay lip service to the in to maintain order. The Deliberative names garrison
Philosophy when faced with a monk, some communities commanders, though the Empress habitually vetoed
still worship their gods in secret. If other communities any garrison leader from the satrapy’s ruling house.
are powerful enough and their worship and traditions This was meant to ensure that the garrison’s actions
aren’t disruptive to the local authorities and the flow of were in the best interests of the satrapy and the Realm,
tribute, some celebrations may be permitted by authori- rather than the controlling house’s. This occasionally
ties in the interest of peace. causes friction in garrisons, as officers from the satrap’s
house chafe under such leadership. In the Empress’
In some areas where the Philosophy has a longstand- absence, some houses have ousted these commanders
ing presence, syncretic traditions emerge. As peasants and replaced them with their own appointees. This
struggle to reconcile different religions, they seek usually involves maneuvering and bribery within the
compromise, forging nonexistent associations between Deliberative. In recent months, several garrison com-
their old gods and the Dragons. More often than not, manders have met with sudden deaths both on and off
these old gods go along with the ruse — or even encour- the battlefield, though others have successfully over-
age it — so that the locals continue to honor them. For come all would-be assassins’ efforts.
example, the rural farming community of Dereda has
moved its traditional harvest celebration to a day sacred More peaceful areas that submitted to the Realm will-
to Sextes Jylis, during which they quietly pray and make ingly and have little to no standing military usually
small sacrifices to their own harvest god. require garrison forces for protection. Realm soldiers
represent safety and protection against bandits, revolu-
The Closed Fist: tionaries, hostile neighbors, and dangerous Anathema,
and are welcomed gratefully by these weaker nations. A
Military and the Satrapies relatively peaceful principality with no standing army is
less likely to rebel against the Realm, and requires fewer
The Great Houses are responsible for their satrapies’
soldiers to maintain order.
military might, and are expected to provide adequate
troops to protect their interests. More warlike conquered principalities also require gar-
rison troops — in this case, to keep the natives in line. A
Imperial Involvement
conquered nation will have suffered a crushing military
Conquest of a principality usually involves the legions defeat at the Realm’s hands; a satrap must bring in
breaking a land’s defenses and bringing it to heel. Once troops to fill the depleted ranks. Often, satraps use this
it’s pacified, the Empress expects the houses to manage opportunity to weave their own people into positions
their own interests. After the legions withdraw, a satrap of power while moving promising local forces into the
must maintain control over the satrapy with a garrison garrison as auxiliaries or abroad as janissaries.
of non-legionary troops supplied by her house, supple-
mented by local auxiliaries as needed. Managing a satrapy’s military is a delicate process re-
quiring constant attention by a satrap and her advisors.

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or even quietly abandoned under some face-saving

HOSTAGE ARMIES pretext.

Now, the Realm faces even greater obstacles in holding

A garrison typically supplements its forces with
auxiliaries drawn from the satrapy’s existing mil- the satrapies. With the Empress’ disappearance and the
itary or from its able-bodied citizens. Sometimes, legions’ distribution among the Great Houses, satrapies
these local troops remain in their homeland as a hoped to see even more troops arriving to protect their
sign of the mutually beneficial relationship be- lands and subjects. If anything, military support is
tween a satrapy and the Realm, but more often than dwindling in many, if not most, satrapies. Areas provid-
not, they’re deployed to other satrapies entirely. In ing crucial resources to the Realm retain a significant
this instance, a satrap’s control is doubly ensured. troop presence, but well-trained, well-equipped troops
Peasants don’t dare attempt an uprising when so withdraw from less profitable or strategically unim-
many of their family members are stationed half a portant satrapies, leaving defense in the hands of less
world away, and soldiers on dangerous postings in experienced soldiers struggling under the weight of
the most war-torn parts of Creation won’t attempt their new responsibility. A few marginal satrapies even
to desert if they know that their families back home find themselves completely stripped of garrison troops,
would face reprisal for their insubordination. with chaotic results.

The houses demand more and more tribute from their

satrapies as they struggle to gain the upper hand over their
Its forces must be strong enough to defend the satrapy,
rivals. This effect is more pronounced in lands held by
but not strong enough to shrug off the Realm yoke.
stricter houses like Cathak, Ledaal, and Peleps, but almost
Compliance every tributary nation feels this strain. Pressure from the
houses forces satraps to demand higher tribute, causing
Most satrapies are kept in line by the Realm’s martial
local rulers to raise taxes and lose public favor. Some
superiority. Local militaries are co-opted as auxiliaries
houses demand not only tribute in jade but also janissary
or janissaries, leaving few trained fighters within the
soldiers; such conscription causes significant unrest.
population who might attempt to rebel. Signs of dissent
are dealt with quickly and efficiently. If a tax assessor is The recall also leaves the satrapies vulnerable to exter-
returned to the satrap in pieces, the satrap may march nal threats. While bandits or neighboring Lunars might
a wing of garrison troops into the area to take every- have thought twice before attacking a nation protected
thing that isn’t nailed down and put anyone who tries by a sizable garrison, they grow bolder as they see
to interfere to the sword. Such a brutal display of force troops withdraw. To protect their borders, satraps rely
is made even more effective when the squad contains more heavily on local auxiliaries and conscripts. This
local soldiers forced to break their countrymen’s will. is dangerous: Arming locals and training them to fight
is always risky, but doing so while increasing taxes and
When more drastic measures are called for, the Realm
demanding more conscription and janissary service is
pulls no punches. In areas with an unusual amount of
downright reckless.
resistance and unrest, the legions are called in to ensure
that a region is thoroughly “pacified.” Public beatings, In the last few years, tribute collected has noticeably de-
lashings, decimations, executions, and enslavement are creased as satraps demand more and more of client states.
just some of the weapons in a satrap’s arsenal to ensure Merchants go bankrupt, farmers starve, unpaid soldiers
control. How long it takes to break a region and what turn to banditry, trade is driven away, and soon the satra-
methods are needed varies depending on the locals’ py’s house is left trying to wring blood from a stone. Many
stubbornness, but bringing a satrapy to heel — at least house matriarchs have been so focused on rival houses’
for the short term — is a matter of when, not if. schemes and machinations that they’ve become blind
to the fact that they’re losing control of the Threshold,
The Receding Tide while those positioned to see the problems rarely have the
power to effect change. It’s only a matter of time before the
Even before the last five years’ events, the Realm faced volatile situation in the Threshold ignites.
diminishing returns on its growth over the past few cen-
turies. Between increased administrative overhead and
a broader front against Lunar incursions, the Empress Fajad
became more selective about new targets for expansion.
Like a hidden treasure, jewel-bright Fajad nestles amid
Meanwhile, a handful of satrapies too ravaged by war
the far Northwestern coast’s cold whiteness. The city
or other disasters to be profitable were folded together

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is strangely temperate, its harbor free of pack ice, the adventurers from the Coral Archipelago and the White
snow melting as it touches the particolored domes of Sea have raided and even conquered Fajad, but it al-
the prince’s palace and the Grand Mosque’s airy min- ways shook off the foreign yoke until the Realm came
arets. This alien warmth grows strongest at the city’s a century ago. The city was wealthy enough to weather
heart, where steaming hot springs gather at the base of even the Empress’ tribute, but when the Wu-Jian route
the thousand-foot stony spire called the Needle. Drawn opened shortly thereafter, Fajad’s economy began to
down from the heavens by its master, the sorcerer founder.
Aqadar, it yet pins the behemoth Pyrevein’s smoldering,
still-living body beneath the earth. With the Empress’ disappearance, House Cathak’s
tribute demands have further increased. Sea captains
But the jewel of Fajad has lost its luster. Trade that once withdraw from the city, fall into bankruptcy, or take up
enriched the city now flows along different routes — or piracy. Dockworkers and other city folk go hungry, as
into pirates’ holds — while its satrap squeezes more do their kin; many of those unwilling or unable to find
from its coffers than it has to give. And while there are passage elsewhere turn to petty crime. Even the manors
those who’d pry it free of the Realm’s grip, others would of the rich grow dark, dingy, and hollow, lost behind
see it crushed. overgrown gardens and unkempt hedges.

A Faltering Economy Wealth now flows primarily from below. The Taraq
consortium, in service to Aqadar, has long held a royal
Key for centuries to the treasures of the West, Fajad monopoly to mine the vast, entombed body of Pyrevein.
is the last port of call for deep-bellied Northern ships Tanks of boiling, syrupy behemoth blood; smoldering
traveling to the Coral Archipelago. The wealth of brazen hairs as thick as a man’s thigh; steaming sheets
half a Direction once passed through its wharves and of many-colored membrane — these things find their
warehouses, making its merchants — and its prince — way into the sorcerer’s workings, or are purchased by
fabulously rich. Queens, pretenders, crusaders, and traders from distant climes for obscure purposes.

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Fishing, whaling, and sealing remain gainful, if not lucra-

tive, and merchants labor to market preserved seafood in QUESTIONS OF FAITH
distant ports. Farms nearest the city fare well, their soil
warmed by Pyrevein. Farther out, farmsteading grows Immaculate monks argue that the Abhari creed,
difficult, with arable land scarce and dangers numerous; like every form of direct spirit worship, exploits
hillfolk have no qualms about raiding lowland neighbors, mortals and upsets the Perfected Hierarchy. Abhari
while wild beasts and stranger things haunt the boreal adherents disagree, finding meaningful moral
forest. Fortified tower houses spring up in the country- guidance and inspiring wisdom in its tenets. It may
side as locals take defense into their own hands. be that some prophets take advantage of their dev-
otees, but others genuinely seem to believe in the
The Abhari Creed faith and their duty to care for their flock.

For centuries, Fajad’s citizens have followed the Abhari

creed. They believe in a transcendent God, beyond name escorted by birds that guide the soul in dreams. An
and gender, who welcomes the souls of the righteous to inveterate meddler; irredeemably cryptic. Patron of
Paradise, and whose truths are revealed to the Fajadi avengers, lovers, lunatics, musicians, and mystics.
people by its prophets. The long-dead mystic Hari of
Fai-Yasar, first of the prophets, wrote the Atzal Shekinta, Cherast-Arat, the Prince of Harrows: A gaunt figure
foremost of the Abhari scriptures and key to the faith. whose head is a ram’s skull, clad in a straw coat, bear-
Other prophets have emerged since, each providing ing a grimscythe dripping with sea buckthorn. Kindly
new insight into divine truth. to those in need, but proud, prickly, and quick to take
offense. Patron of cooks, farmers, midwives, philanthro-
Today, all living prophets are spirits, served by lesser pists, and soldiers.
spirits as messengers. Marabouts lead the Abhari in
prayer to God and its prophets in Fajad’s sprawling Ennu Resplendent-in-Silver: A salmon-headed man
Grand Mosque and several lesser places of worship. dressed as a sea captain, adorned with jewelry of silver
Each prophet also commands a mystery cult. Spirits that and gemstones, commanding a ship with nets for sails.
reject the faith — or who delve into apostasy, becoming Cordial but lugubrious, he tests the faithful with bar-
fallen prophets — are left to the Immaculates’ mercies. gains they should know better than to accept. Patron of
The Abhari acknowledge the Immaculate Dragons as explorers, fisherfolk, merchants, scholars, and sailors.
ancient prophets whose time has passed, their message
superseded by the Atzal Shekinta, their souls passed on Metsa’an the Edgewalker: A tiger-sized black hound
to Paradise.

So zealous are the Abhari that the Empress, recogniz-

ing the difficulty of holding such a distant city against
religious rebellion, kept the Immaculate Order leashed. APHORISMS FROM THE ATZAL SHEKINTA
Immaculate monks can only proselytize; they’ve made
little headway, though Fajad’s growing economic “Pray to the prophets for the concerns of this world;
troubles have brought a handful of new adherents. An pray to God for those of the next.”
Immaculate temple, the Pagoda of Mela’s Righteous “It is nobler to warm your enemy by your hearthfire
Blade, stands near the prince’s palace, and nearer still to than to cast them into the snow.”
the satrap’s townhouse. Its Exalted abbot spends much
time visiting each. “The false gods of this world are wayward and self-
ish, serving themselves rather than God. If they
The age of grand heterodoxies is seemingly past, but the grant your prayers, it is only so that they can further
proscribed un’Atzali heresy — rejecting the prophets to exploit you, not out of any interest for your soul.”
worship God alone — still lingers underground, break-
ing out in times of trouble like this one. Meanwhile, “Wealth is no virtue, but it paves virtue’s road. With-
heterodox Fajadi colonies acknowledge local spirits as out it, there is neither charity nor sacrifice.”
prophets without confirmation from the Grand Mosque; “On their own, mortals cannot escape the labyrinth
such heresies lead to war. of reincarnation. Only the prophets can lead them
into the light of Paradise.”
The Prophets
Amku of the Lunar Egg: A pale woman with nacre-
ous hair and robe, her face always hidden in shadow,

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wearing a mask of mossy stone, wild greenery springing Satrap Cathak Mei, a former dragonlord, finds the
up in her wake. Concerned with society rather than Fajadi religious obsession troubling. Though her house’s
individuals, and notoriously unforgiving. Patron of bu- focus is on extracting every last obol from the prince’s
reaucrats, guardians, hunters, jurists, and landowners. treasury, the otherwise scrupulous Mei has consid-
ered — with gentle nudges from the abbot, Breath of
Nir-Netari the Underworld Sun: A black-skinned Spring — relaxing tribute demands in exchange for
woman, unarmed, armored in white and gold, dwelling giving the Immaculates free rein to suppress the Abhari
in the House of a Thousand Lamps in the Underworld. creed. This puts her at odds with charismatic garrison
Compassionate, yet melancholy; the most human of commander Mnemon Senesh, whose fascination with
the prophets. Patron of diplomats, funerists, mourners, Abhari philosophy leads her to spend her off-hours
orphans, and students. at the Grand Mosque in dialogue with marabouts and
qadis, rather than with a garrison whose numbers have
Uqbal Storm-Chisel: A white-bearded, many-handed diminished sharply, the majority having been recalled
man in a tattered gray robe and mantle, his mattock a to Myion.
stormcloud, his chisel a thunderbolt. Weather shifts to
match his moods, expressing his passions in grandiose Aqadar, the Sorcerer
cloud formations. Fussy and meticulous; obsessed with From time immemorial, the sorcerer Aqadar has prac-
the artistic process. Patron of architects, artisans, the ticed his art atop the Needle, a thousand-foot basaltic
elderly, manual laborers, and sculptors. spire whose unhewn exterior sprouts clusters of turrets
like toadstools, and from atop which he showers curses
Fajadi Politics and invective upon the Realm and its representatives.
Strange spirits and flying beasts visit the Needle. These
Prince Aalani, a pious and scholarly young man, finds include known Lunar Anathema, and it’s rumored that
his authority constrained. The palace guard is loyal to he counts among their number.
his family and the treasury, and the people respect his
office. But each prince is elected by a religious council Aqadar doesn’t meddle in war or politics. He won’t
comprising the Abhari Grand Marabout, the prophets’ stir to protect one of his own guests beset by foes on
own high priests, and — since the Realm conquest — the the streets below, but he’s deadly when roused to his
Immaculate abbot. Aalani is in their debt; and should he own defense, destroying Wyld Hunts against him with
offend their sensibilities too deeply, any assassin would demonic servants and sorcery. Doubtless a greater force
be solemnly absolved of his murder. could slay him, but the Empress didn’t wish the city
destroyed in the conflict.
While the prince holds authority in matters of state, ju-
ridical authority, vested in religious officials called qadis, Fajad disquiets visiting thaumaturgists and others with
derives from Abhari scripture — albeit subject to interpreta- mystic gifts. Most associate this influence with Aqadar’s
tion. Qadis assess the legitimacy of princely edicts, arbitrate sorcery, or the behemoth pinned beneath the Needle.
financial and personal disputes, and determine defendants’ They are mistaken. The far Northwest beyond Fajad’s
guilt and sentencing. The Grand Marabout can call a coun- borders is a seething cauldron of weird forces, and
cil of nine qadis to determine whether a spirit is a prophet Aqadar may be the satrapy’s only bulwark against them.
— or whether a prophet has fallen. A would-be qadi must be
Abhari, pass a test of law and theology by a council of mar- Neighbors
abouts, and have 100 fellow Abhari attest to her character.
Taiga, marsh, and rocky hills cover much of the great
Still, many seek the prince’s ear. Merchants and land- island Jazrafel that holds Fajad, and the long island
owners press for suppression of pirates and brigands Jazmir to the west. Fajadi civilization is receding from
— matters wherein the state has grown dependent on its high-water mark. Homesteads and villages huddle in
the Realm — along with a bewildering array of desired the ruins of towns destroyed in war or by wild things.
changes in fiscal policies. They’re alternately led by The Realm garrison and Fajadi soldiers patrol against
or at odds with Yasimin Taraq, first among the city’s beasts, bandits, and hill-folk raiders. Farmer-militias
optimates; where their accounts dwindle, she’s rich posted at the edge of settled territory to gather intel-
beyond avarice and intends to remain so. Court officers ligence and stop raids are now inadequately supplied
seek increased funding or authority, or support for pol- and insufficiently paid, and extort or steal from Fajadi
icies ranging from expulsion of non-Fajadi families to settlements to make up the gap.
conquest of heterodox Abhari settlements. And Grand
Marabout Kevurah converses regularly with the Prince On the peninsula to the north, there’s more taiga for
to remain assured of his continued piety. hundreds of miles, rising into alpine tundra — home

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needs in high-walled monastic gardens. Order-run or-

FAJADI LANGUAGES phanages, almshouses, and workhouses accommodate
thousands of the impoverished and the invalid, while
Fajad’s upper classes speak an obscure Sky- shikari train for the Wyld Hunt in the Nail of Truth’s
tongue dialect, as do much of the lower classes. heights.
Most fisherfolk and dockworker families speak a
Fajadi creole derived primarily from the Coral dia- When the Realm besieged the city, Immaculate monks
lect of Seatongue. opened the gates to her legions. House Madun, a cadet
branch that immigrated to the newly conquered terri-
tory, soon found itself bent to the Order’s will. Today,
Pneuma’s archimandrite controls the succession, nam-
to the caribou-herding Pyanda nomads — and barren ing each new prince when the old one abdicates or dies.
snowy peaks. Still farther north, legend says a dark Her mission exacts a share of local taxes, supporting
queen with many lovely sons and daughters holds the Order’s public works and social welfare efforts. The
court beneath the Tree of Moonless Night. She holds current prince, Madun Jakath, was selected for both
the mythical treasure Oumrala’s Cornucopia; once the piety and lack of ambition, and though she’s not quite
source of all health and good fortune, in her hands it a figurehead for the Order, she poses them no obstacle.
now disgorges plague and ill luck into the world.

Many of the region’s other cities and peoples have with-

Esprit de Corps
ered or been destroyed over the centuries. The satrapy
Pneuma esteems the Realm’s legions almost as highly
Crocus, at the southeast tip of Jazrafel, is still recover-
as the Order. When the Anathema Jochim rampaged
ing from bitter war with Fajad over its former devotion
across the North two centuries ago, Pneuma was spared
to the false prophet Za-Ishat, the Burning Blade, and
his wrath only through the legions’ courage and tenaci-
the V’neef satrap is throwing money at expanding its
ty. House Tepet, which held the satrapy, built upon this
docks to compete with Fajad. The Rodla-clan towns
goodwill, making Pneuma the staging ground for house
of Jazmir are quietly rejecting Fajadi rule, refusing
legions en route to military campaigns throughout the
to pay tribute. And the shadowland of Fai-Yasar, the
North.
mother-city that once ruled Fajad until its destruction,
remains populated by angry and jealous shades, who
The legions’ presence has always been a source of
restock their numbers with the ghosts of those who die
tension between local Tepet leadership and the Order.
in shipwreck or war.
Legionnaires are predisposed to heretical worship of
the warrior-avatar Mela, and House Tepet’s Melaism
Pneuma and Shogunate-era spiritual traditions only exacerbate
this tendency. Monks’ challenges to heresy often es-
Few cities in all the Realm are as thick with Immaculate calated to teahouse brawls and street duels, each side
temples and religious devotion as sacred Pneuma. The seeking to prove their faith through victory.
Nail of Truth at its heart — that marmoreal monolith
said to have been cast from the sky by Mela to crush Winds of Change
an Anathema beneath its weight — has been a site of
veneration and pilgrimage for Dragon-Blooded since After the Tepet legions’ downfall, House Ragara claimed
the days of the Shogunate. Today, it’s the beating heart Pneuma — in part because the house founder, Ragara,
of the Immaculate Order’s presence in the northern had retired there — striking a deal to unofficially ac-
Threshold. But not all is serene in blessed Pneuma. The quire administrative and tribute rights to the satrapy
city is also key to the Realm’s military presence in the in exchange for writing off debts House Tepet could no
North. Now, legions and Order are at war for the city’s longer repay. Centuries of housing and accommodat-
soul. ing legions make it an ideal staging ground for Ragara
Banoba’s plan to season his new house legions by de-
A City Inspired ploying them to the Threshold, but local Immaculates
draw little distinction between them and the old legions
The Immaculate Order permeates the city. Postulants — the tendency towards Melaist heresy may be lesser,
of the Order — from sons of peasants to daughters of but it’s still there.
queens — enter Pneuma’s gates to begin their novitiate,
passing itinerant monks departing for distant lands. The avaricious new satrap, Ragara Kiris, has little un-
Abbots and temple matriarchs contemplate the Order’s derstanding of, or concern for, the long history between

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Pneuma’s satraps and archimandrites. This has led her

into conflict with arrogant archimandrite Mnemon THE NORTHERN COLONIES
Selima, who expects to retain all the political power she
held under House Tepet’s reign. When House Ragara When the Empress eliminated the old Shogunate
negotiated the transfer of Pneuma, it also ousted its gentes’ remaining privileges in RY 266, she offered
V’neef garrison commander through well-placed bribes land grants in the northern Threshold to several of
in the Deliberative, replacing her with the foppish the most fractious and ambitious families. Many of
Ragara Misati. Chosen more for loyalty than skill, his these colonies remain today, ruled by cadet houses
attempts at maintaining peaceful relations between the descended from those original gentes. Culturally,
Order and the Ragara legions have proven unsucessful. many resemble the Realm, with peasants and pa-
Legionnaires and monks have clashed in the streets tricians, and often tie their own laws to the Realm’s
more in the last year than in the last decade, and more as though they were prefectures rather than satra-
radical members of the Order urge Selima to overthrow pies. But their customs have had half a millennium
the Ragara satrap in a theocratic coup. to diverge from the Blessed Isle’s, giving them an
uncanny half-familiar strangeness to visiting Dy-
House Ragara, however, has interests other than gov- nasts.
ernance. The dungeons beneath the Nail of Truth hold
Anathema imprisoned by Wyld Hunts, Exigents under-
going reconditioning at the hands of Kerlei the Chain
The Dragonguard of the Sacred Waters (p. XX) rules
(p. XX), and perhaps even darker secrets. The house’s
the Monastic States of Berzen and Jagelloc. In the
inner circle seeks to claim whatever forbidden powers
aftermath of devastation wrought by the Anathema
lie buried beneath the Nail, and would gladly sacrifice
Jochim, the Dragonguard unified villages and towns
Kiris to the Order’s censure if it let them seize control
he’d decimated, installing themselves as temporal rul-
of that unholy power.
ers. Their theocratic governance makes them natural
allies of Pneuma’s Immaculate Order. Like her recent
Life in Pneuma predecessors, the Dragonguard’s Blue Lotus General
rules with a firm hand. City streets here follow a military
When House Madun and its mortal entourage took com- encampment’s grid; fortalices dot rural roads, taxing
mand of old Pneuma half a millennium ago, they brought merchants and dissuading bandits; the Berzen docks
a slew of cultural and social elements from the Blessed host Dragonguard naval vessels and customs offices. But
Isle of their day, and these still influence the city’s mor- the General grows old, and feuding over the succession
tal elites. Pneuman patricians speak an archaic dialect has already begun.
of High Realm, wear styles passé for centuries in the
Imperial City — most notably their comically tall hats — Though nominally under Pneuman authority, the tiny,
and serve in ministries modeled on the Thousand Scales. fragmented Vichas Principalities retain effective inde-
pendence of their highland domains, maintaining an-
Although farms do produce oats and barley, the rural cestral charters tracing back centuries to long-defunct
peasantry’s agricultural output is geared heavily toward Shogunate successor states. Their feuds support a war-
sheep farming. Well suited to Pneuma’s hilly environs, rior caste given to mercenary work and to sheep-raids
sheep provide milk, mutton, wool, sheepskin, parch- into Pneuman pastureland. The Tepets once used these
ment, and vellum. The city’s workshops turn out woolen raids to practice rapid deployment, drawing out raiders
and leather garments for the legions’ winter gear, and to fight in the open rather than in mountainous terrain.
writing material for the city’s ministries and the Order’s With the Ragara garrison proving unfit to contest these
libraries. Hunters and trappers range afield for pelts to raids, the Vichas warriors grow more aggressive.
fill the aristocracy’s craving for fur garments.

Neighbors Cherak
Had the tides of history flowed differently, Cherak —
The port of Gildei has been dead for two centuries,
located on the peninsula between Pneuma and Medo
murdered by the Anathema Jochim as a warning to
— might rival Lookshy or even the Realm.
others who’d oppose his dominion. It remains a blight
on the landscape, its ruins haunted by thousands of The Second Age saw Grand Cherak with a Shogunate
hungry ghosts. None but the most reckless scavengers force under Dragon-Blooded officers, a great and
and outlaws dare travel within a day’s ride, and passing well-defended capital, and a surviving First Age weap-
ships keep well clear of shore. ons cache. But the sorcerer Bagrash Köl’s northern

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empire subjugated Grand Cherak, cutting its promise Rival Houses

short. After Köl’s demise, the victorious Empress
divided the nation into smaller satrapies lest it rise to Two houses battle for supremacy in Cherak. House
challenge her too, with only the former capital keep- Ferem is a cadet house of noble families with marriage
ing the name Cherak. What little remained of Grand ties to various Great Houses of the Realm, whose
Cherak’s arsenal was seized by the Realm as tribute. Dragon-Blooded trace their lineages back to the
(Armaments too ruined to interest the Empress were Shogunate officers ruling Grand Cherak. Ferem’s lead-
repurposed, such as constructing agricultural machines ers realized early they’d need more than northern crops
from destroyed warstriders’ motive components to till and dwindling weaponry to secure their position in the
the ravaged countryside.) Realm, and cultivated a naval military.
Cherak today, with its picturesque white houses and House Margard lacks the Dragon’s blood or Dynastic
meandering streets, shows little of that history outward- marriage ties, but these kulak merchants almost make
ly. But houses are stone with thick shutters concealing up for it in ruthlessness and ingenuity. While they fre-
windows like arrow slits, and the cobbled streets are quently have to explain they’re not pirates, they do have
made of ancient carved rubble. Cheraki citizens are a lot of criminal contacts. Margard has grown rich off
merchants capitalizing on trade routes leading further privateering, selling back items pirated from other trad-
north, and pleasant — if a little distant — to outsiders. ers, and fencing foreign treasures. Despite Margard’s
They’re also quietly but fiercely proud of their heritage poor reputation with both the Realm and the Guild,
— Cherak survived against all odds, and it will survive each deems it a useful tool for opposing the other’s
the Empress’ disappearance too. schemes — and for occasionally undermining Ferem
mercantile efforts — thus forestalling overt aggression
Life in Cherak against it.

Cherak has a class system not unlike the Realm’s. At the Local Powers
bottom are slaves, typically war captives and criminals, Satrap Ragara Razha is devout student of the
along with their descendants. Slaves labor in fields, Immaculate Philosophy, striving for humility and
row ships, and raise Cheraki nobles’ children. Above service in all things. She quietly maintains the hereti-
them, serfs participate in fishing, sailing, commerce, cal belief that her great-great-grandfather, Ragara, is
and menial professions. Kulaks are a step above — ar- Pasiap’s closest representative in Creation, and turns all
tisans, bankers, savants, and the like. At the apex stands her religious fervor to serving her house.
Cherak’s hereditary aristocracy, the families comprising
House Ferem. Commander Nellens Ulfer oversees the Ragara garri-
son. Commanding a skeleton force, nearing retirement,
Cherak’s fishing industry supplies much of its citizens’ and largely uninterested in his job, he spends most of
sustenance. Halibut and cod are staples; smoked her- his time antagonizing Razha. Ulfer’s greatest fear is
ring and eel are delicacies. Despite its poor soil and cool being called to war before he can gracefully retire.
climate, Cherak’s fields produce rye, wheat, potatoes,
turnips, and cauliflower, thanks to its slave workforce Ferem Remini is House Ferem’s matriarch, a master
and use of repurposed First Age mechanisms. Cattle, shipwright and canny socialite who thinks ten steps
pigs, and poultry supplement the Cheraki diet. ahead. She focuses on maintaining Cherak’s securi-
ty from all sides, prioritizing domestic affairs over
The satrapy’s armed services mainly ward off pirates Dynastic politics.
and bandits, along with some privateering, minor border
skirmishes, and mercenary work. Ultimately, however, Admiral Ferem Helkar is the living embodiment of a
Cherak’s military tradition is an end in itself. Every level well-liked but dim-witted child of Hesiesh, a notorious
of society treasures Grand Cherak’s martial heritage as carouser and womanizer. This oafish persona is a façade
a birthright. Ferem scions claim commissions in the for his intrigues against Ragara Razha — his spies in the
Cheraki navy or join the Imperial legions. Kulaks serve satrap’s palace feed him information as he seeks to de-
as officers in the satrapy’s tiny professional army. Even stroy her pious reputation for all Cherak to see.
serfs serve as footsoldiers or train in local militias. Only
slaves lack a role. Margard Merta is a shrewd businesswoman and dip-
lomat, whose abilities belie her merely mortal status.
She rules her house absolutely, walking the tight line
between expanding its operations and drawing too
much ire from the Guild or Realm.

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the dark, though; she’d eagerly snitch to Ragara Razha,

THE PINNACLE OF and her spies are everywhere.
THE EYE OF THE HUNT
Greyfalls
Among the mountains between Cherak and North-
ern Ivory stands the Pinnacle of the Eye of the Hunt. Where the Redstag Highlands flow into the No-Sky
An ancient manse atop a winding stair of ten thou- Forest stands one of Creation’s natural wonders. Here,
sand steps, it’s a nerve center for Wyld Hunts in the Hawk’s Run and Southern Deljie rivers join the
the North, explicitly independent of the powerful Giant’s Maw River to pass through its namesake, an an-
Pneuman archimandrite. The manse’s Immacu- cient carved stone head called the Giant. Together they
lates and soldiers serve under the direction of the cascade over the Grey Falls, a five-hundred-foot sheer
Pinnacle’s master, the brutally overzealous monk drop down the cliffside, to become the Lesser Rock
Peleps Deled. River. Crowning the Giant’s head sits the war manse
called the Four Winds Throne. The valley beneath, just
downriver from the waterfall, glitters with spires and
cupolas rising among the broad, tree-shaded boulevards
Northern Ambitions of the far-flung satrapy of Greyfalls.
House Ferem has long kept its head down and its nose
out of anyone’s business. It focused on whaling and A Distant Outpost
planting crops suited to the cold land. Its comprehen-
sive charts of the Northern seas, masterful shipbuilding Desiring control over the Four Winds Throne — one of the
techniques, and control of Cherak’s docks have proven war manses empowering the Realm Defense Grid — the
lucrative sources of income, as traders from across the Empress sent her legions to seize it in RY 89. Since then, a
North seek Ferem captains to ply the icy waters. Even standing military force and the satrap’s access to the war
after tithes to the Empress, the house has money to manse’s destructive power has deterred most serious mil-
spend — and now it does, on more military might. itary attempts against the Realm’s only Scavenger Lands
bastion. The military camp around the manse grew over
Ferem patrols the Inland Sea’s northern coast while the the centuries into a respectable city, and became a secure
Great Houses recall their legions to prepare for civil war. The focal point for trade with the farthest East.
house sees this as its duty to the Realm, and also as an excel-
lent opportunity to reunite Grand Cherak. It’s reached out to The satrapy is officially titled the Eastern Threshold
other cadet houses hailing from the same Shogunate officers Administrative District, encompassing the entirety of
within Grand Cherak’s sphere, to discuss joining forces. the Scavenger Lands. In reality, it covers Greyfalls and
a handful of adjacent principalities and townships that
House Japor, the cadet house of Northern Ivory, eager- owe it fealty. As the Empress considered the enclave a
ly jumped on the plan, officially calling on their Ferem potential power base for rebellious Dynasts, she made
cousins to protect Northern Ivory after the satrapy’s sure no one house held it for too long at a time. In
Tepet garrison withdrew from the Threshold. Satrap addition, the garrison has always remained under the
Tepet Lissen is ill-pleased with the Ferem garrison command of a Pasiap’s Stair graduate personally loyal to
holding her city, but can do little about it as the govern- the Empress. Imperial legion forces were traditionally
ing house requested their presence. rotated in as a show of force; the reigning house, Cynis,
currently maintains a dragon of legionary troops on site.
House Nandorun of the distant fortress-city Tallow,
however, is dragging its feet. Nandorun welcomes reuni- For Lookshy, Greyfalls is a convenient scapegoat. While
fication, but believes its heritage nobler than Ferem’s. the Realm’s military presence and the war manse’s puis-
The house demands a higher position in New Grand sance have rebuked all of the Confederation of Rivers’
Cherak before committing, and Tallow’s position on the military attempts at recapturing Greyfalls, it’s become a
mountain pass to Medo — a crucial defensive position useful symbol of the danger the Realm poses, a political
should the two powers clash — provides leverage. tool to undermine discontent among Confederation
members. For centuries, Lookshy has maintained a
House Ferem desires the reunification of Grand Cherak, covert détente with the satrapy, giving aid in extremis
believing that the combined domain and power would — particularly against assaults from nearby Lunar do-
surely elevate it to Great House status. Ferem’s leaders minions — in exchange for occasional saber rattling.
know their efforts hinge on keeping Margard Merta in

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The Golden Road Princes Far from Home

Satrap Cynis Verheen’s soirées are as infamous as her own
As one of the easternmost river ports reachable from lack of participation therein. Instead, she sits on the sidelines
the Inland Sea, Greyfalls is a natural trade hub for goods and sips her drink, watching the debauchery with amused
flowing in and out of Ixcoatli, and the legendary Golden contempt, secure in her superiority to the revelers. A satrap
Road trade route begins at the city’s gates. Steel, silk, for much of her long life, she’s overseen Greyfalls for five
and gold flow east, while silver, valuable herbs, spices, years. She’s intensely, passionately loyal to her house, while
and exotic animals flow west, along with all sorts of her loyalty to the Realm is lukewarm at best.
curios and rarities, like spider-quartz knife blades and
the purple-tinted blue jade mined near the Suspended Her husband is Cynis Knife Dancer, an outcaste and
Lake of Balatl. graduate of Pasiap’s Stair. Clear-headed and coldly hon-
orable, loyal to the Empress, Knife Dancer was a natural
House Cynis spent significant political capital regaining choice to command the Greyfalls garrison, whose num-
control of Greyfalls specifically for control of the Golden bers House Cynis has kept at full strength to secure the
Road. It monopolizes the exotic drugs, slaves, and other Golden Road. But no one expected him to fall in love
foreign wonders the route provides. with Verheen. The two were married this year in a clan-
destine ceremony overseen by a visiting Cynis judge.
Realm merchants cluster here to take advantage of
Golden Road trade. A treaty with the Confederation The Empress maintained a ceremonial residence in
of Rivers allows Realm ships unfettered river access to Greyfalls, the Imperial Residence for Greeting the
the Lesser Rock, Rock, and Yellow Rivers without local Dawn, that she never used, and only occasionally made
customs inspections and tariffs, in exchange for annual available to visiting magistrates or Dynastic grandees. Its
fees paid to river states’ treasuries. Since the Empress’ majordomos have traditionally leveraged the Empress’
disappearance, river states have begun to stop Realm authority to accumulate power and wealth. The current
merchants, in violation of the treaty. majordomo, Dragon-Blooded patrician Pazal Jat, keeps
a sizable personal guard, and is influential among local

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THE NURI PRASADI LANGUAGES

The green-haired Nuri people, refugees from con- The Dragon Caste primarily speaks an archaic,
flicts in the far East, were oppressed by Greyfalls’ idiosyncratic version of High Realm that borrows
natives until the Realm freed them and elevated heavily from Flametongue. The other Castes speak
them to a highborn caste of soldiers, officers, and various Flametongue dialects, though a few jatis
ministers. Today the Nuri fight fiercely and loyally use Forest-tongue dialects or local tongues.
on the Realm’s behalf. They recognize that they’re
outnumbered by Greyfalls folk who hate them for
their ascendancy, and they fear the Realm’s depar-
ture. The Nuri hope either to become so indispens- a land route to the northwest that circumvents the
able to their patrons that they’ll be brought back Hundred Kingdoms.
to the Blessed Isle, or to gain sufficient power to
defend themselves without the Realm’s aid.
The Empire of Prasad
The Jade Road across the Summer Mountains carries
nobles and important merchants. Calculating and sly countless jade talents north toward the Blessed Isle, and
despite his bluff manner, he acknowledges Cynis’ total just as many adventurers, opportunists, and vacationing
dominance over the satrapy, but his ambitions remain Dynasts to the south. Those who complete the journey
his own. On multiple occasions since the Empress’ find a nation at the height of ambition and opulence.
disappearance, Jat has quietly or imperiously denied, The Empire of Prasad crusades across the Dreaming
unprompted or in response to planted rumors, that Sea, a conquering heir to the Scarlet Dynasty.
the Residence hosted unnamed Imperial guests. As in-
tended, the resulting gossip has increased his standing, The Dreaming Frontier
otherwise precarious now that there’s no Empress for
him to serve. The Dreaming Sea’s coast teems with kingdoms and
empires, each fighting to hold their homes against
Greyfalls’ prince, Thay Small-Shadow, is a figurehead. strange and aggressive fauna, Fair Folk raiders, and each
Understanding that her clan, the Nuri, depends utterly other. Gods and elementals claim earthly territory with
on the Realm, she bends to the will of the satrap, garrison impunity. The region varies from one journey to the
commander, and other Realm grandees and magnates. next; even when national borders aren’t shifting, Wyld
storms occasionally roll off the sea and alter the coastal
Neighbors terrain. Scavengers find sites not seen since the First
Sindeq is the next major trade city along the Golden Age, if ever, and lose those sites just as suddenly.
Road, its buildings interwoven with the overgrowth of
giant vines that rise from the ruins of an ancient manse Several grand empires rise above the mayfly kingdoms
in the city’s center. Its natives export all manner of ex- of the Dreaming Sea. In three hundred years, Prasad has
otic venoms and medicinal compounds harvested from expanded from the city-state of Kamthahar to a great
the unnatural vines, as well as weaponry fashioned from empire, competing for territory with strange and deca-
their huge thorns. dent neighbors. Dragon Caste charioteers and elephant
riders lead mortal armies across the flatlands; fire-can-
Robe, one of the so-called Hundred Kingdoms, is pre- nons gird holdings against invaders. Where the Dragon
sided over by a duumvirate. While one throne is held Caste goes, they bring order. Like the Realm, Prasad
by the reigning prince of the kingdom’s royal line, the allows its subjects to retain their national identities; un-
other has been held for centuries by the rat-god Echo like the Realm, it scatters them to minimize organized
Drinker. Greyfalls’ Immaculate monks have long ex- resistance.
pressed outrage over this, but their isolation from the
Blessed Isle and lack of support from House Cynis has Empire of a Thousand Names
left them unable to take action.
The Prasadi people are many and varied, and each of
The flying mountain Mount Metagalapa is too distant them has a place. Prasadi society is regimented, yet flu-
for its hawkriders to raid Greyfalls. However, the air- id, and it demands the best of each culture it consumes.
borne Metagalapan raiders have frustrated local and Overlapping systems of social stratification have creat-
Realm merchants alike, stymieing efforts at charting ed hundreds of subcultures. For each such subculture,

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Prasadi cities assign enclaves and duties. Enclaves elect Kamthahar’s familial clans persisted with little change
their own ruling councils, which in turn answer to the as the empire expanded, for they came naturally to
Dragon Caste. the formerly Dynastic Dragon Caste. Prasadi clans
compete ruthlessly for prestige and advantageous
When Kamthahar stood alone, four castes broadly marriages, and rigorously track their bloodlines.
defined its social hierarchy: the God-Blooded Exemplar The Dragon Caste consists of two sprawling clans,
Caste, rulers and shepherds of souls; the Sage Caste, Burano and Ophris. Mortal members of Clans Burano
advisors and designers of society’s greater order; the and Ophris serve as members of the Sage Caste, and
Caravaner Caste, masters of battle, travel, and trade; receive constant courtship from mortal clans seeking
and the Corporal Caste, entrusted with unclean tasks advantageous marriage.
such as tanning leather, hauling garbage, or assassina-
tion. When the Dragon-Blooded conquered Kamthahar, The Empire of Prasad claims a hundred cultures, each
they claimed and renamed the Exemplar Caste, and with its own jati. A jati is a tribe of people, either sub-
cemented their spiritual authority through marriage to sumed by the empire or broken off from another jati over
the God-Blooded. time. Jatis build reputations for particular skills and
virtues, reputations that affect their social standing and
The four castes often work in concert, delegating du- even their caste. Some jatis straddle castes, while others
ties according to their role. Caravaner farmers direct may change from one caste to another if their contri-
Corporal field hands to grow valuable trade crops, while butions to the empire demand it. When a jati’s place is
Sages oversee plantations and vineyards requiring improved (or worsened), each member is affected, and
careful soil management, and Dragons cultivate private so each is accountable for the whole. Most members of
gardens. Caravaner soldiers and junior officers make the Dragon Caste descend from high-caste, Realm-born
up the bulk of Prasad’s armies, led by Dragon generals jatis. Once they Exalt, they swear a greater allegiance to
and senior officers, advised by Sage strategists and en- their superhuman peers than to any mortal community,
gineers, and maintained by Corporal farriers, sappers, though some favoritism is common and expected.
and field medics.

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MANY NATIONS, MANY STORIES THE INDISPENSABLE CHEF

Each jati carries extensive written, oral, and artistic Some societal duties are too important to leave to
histories, including unique founding myths. Prasa- members of a single caste, and so are practiced in
di citizens prize their jatis’ historical accomplish- some form by members of each caste. The Carava-
ments, allies, and rivals. A few examples follow. ner Caste has its teachers, some Sages learn es-
oteric arts of self-defense, and every caste needs
The Maharan descend from the first Dynasts to cooks. Lower castes may not cook for their betters
discover Prasad; other Dynastic jatis have splin- for fear of spiritual contamination, and likewise
tered off from them across the centuries. The may not handle or gather ingredients beyond their
reigning rani-satrap, Burano Rohavin, hails from station without direction and ritual cleansing from
this jati, and her position secures considerable po- the appropriate caste. The time and expense re-
litical power for her fellow Maharan. quired to purify imported foods can be prohibitive,
so high caste chefs often broker custom supply
The prestige of the Namika comes both from their chains, creating monopolies on uncontaminated
Realm-born descent and the strong pedigree that novelties.
sees more of its members Exalt than almost any
other jati. Their marriage prospects are among Corporal citizens subsist mostly on rice, root veg-
the strongest of any Prasadi Dragon-Blooded, and etables, fish, fowl, beer, and “lesser” fruits like
some even marry Dynasts. breadfruit and coconuts. They pay well for goat
meat and superior fruits, like kiwi, prepared by
The Katora once hailed from a valley blessed by a Caravaner. Many dream of being honored with
the gods, and are now valued as graceful dancers Dragon Caste delicacies such as chocolate, cher-
and patient servants. ries, tiger meat, and above all, peafowl.
The Lasarat are ill-regarded, despite their reputa-
tion for charity and excellent storytelling, for they’re
notoriously unlucky, a curse thought to afflict any- matriarch willing to serve as his guarantor. He’s treated
one who comes near them. as a member of his guarantor’s clan and jati, and she’s
Recent and resentful additions to the empire, the held responsible for any crimes or faux pas that he
Thakan carry reputations as hardworking sailors, commits while in Prasad. A guest’s slaves remain her
woodworkers, and cheats. property, though the Prasadi — who keep no slaves
themselves — find the practice troubling.
Nermaia judges and merchants keep centuries’
worth of scrupulous records, and fiercely assert A foreigner who lacks legitimate business in Prasad is a
their legendary honesty. stranger. Strangers have no role in Prasadi society, and
no rights to speak of. Even the lowliest Corporal may
The blood of the hill-god Munsarin runs in the veins bully them freely, though they may eke out a living as
of the Manik, renowned as priests and architects of drudges, fed and clothed in exchange for performing
Clan Akatha. thankless or dangerous tasks. Strangers are seen as in-
The warriors and farmers of the Qibin descend herently untrustworthy, and prolonged interaction with
from Realm legionnaires, but feuding clans threat- them is considered impure. Strangers have no right to
en to break their jati apart. own slaves, though the Prasadi usually don’t interfere
directly with their control over their slaves. Their slaves
are also deemed strangers unless they find refuge as
guests.
Strangers in a Strange Land
Foreigners in Prasad don’t fit into the caste system. A Vision of Purity
Depending on their nature and intent, they may be
viewed as either guests or strangers. The Pure Way of Prasad is a syncretic religion born
from the Immaculate Order’s influence over ancient
Guests are those with legitimate business in the empire,
Kamthahari traditions. Adherents believe in a natural
such as foreign ambassadors, visiting merchants, or
place and order for all, judged and controlled by the
immigrants working to accumulate sufficient dowry to
Elemental Dragons. Unlike Immaculate canon, gods and
marry into an established clan and jati. For a foreigner
elementals have their place in the cycle of reincarna-
to become a guest, he must find a Prasadi household
tion, and greed and hubris can drag them down to mere

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are gods or elementals capable of sharing particular

THE WINDING ROAD insight into Creation’s Essence.
TO ENLIGHTENMENT A week’s ride from Kamthahar, a valley conceals the
Inner Crucible Monastery, a staging ground for the
Prasadi society discourages isolation but encour- Pure Way’s Wyld Hunts. Sometimes they return with
ages insularity. Even in tight-packed cities, cara-
captives: ghosts, demons, Fair Folk, and even Lunar
vans, and military camps, citizens mostly interact
Anathema may surrender to the shikari and seek the
with and marry within their own caste and jati.
wisdom of the Pure Way. These are brought to the
Prasadi often believe they’ll reincarnate among
peers and loved ones repeatedly, perfecting famil- bucolic confines of the nearby Monastery of the Red
ial bonds across lifetimes. Paragons of enlighten- Butterfly. There, through hard work, obedience, and pu-
ment are mourned for the certainty that they have rifying rituals, unclean creatures seek a cleaner death,
left for a superior incarnation. and a place in the cycle of reincarnation.

Within the long-lived Exalted of the Dragon Caste, Twin Dragons Circling
beliefs regarding reincarnation are especially
significant. Many Kinships swear loyalty across Once, Kamthahar was a rebellious satrapy, and its
lifetimes, and launch quests to find young Exalt- captors — Burano and Ophris — were ambitious Great
ed worthy of claiming reincarnation from a lost Houses hungry for wealth and glory. They were rivals
Hearthmate. Legendary Dragon-Blooded leave
with opposite temperaments, chosen for the task
bequests to their reincarnations, prompting great
because the Empress expected each to undercut the
competitions to prove that the fallen hero has re-
other. Yet in Kamthahar the two houses found victory,
turned to resume her destiny.
camaraderie, and opportunity that they’d never find on
the Blessed Isle. They embraced their differences, and
claimed the satrapy together.
humanity. According to the Pure Way, the Dragon Caste
are a worldly breed of gods, clothed in flesh like the Clan Burano hews closely to traditions inherited in cen-
Exemplars before them, and just as worthy of worship. turies past from both the Dynasty and the old Exemplar
Caste. They work tirelessly to create a more perfect em-
Monks of the Pure Way proselytize, train, and enforce pire, and make countless adjustments to social planning
the social order as zealously as their Immaculate cous- so that Prasad’s many cultures can work in harmony. It
ins. They don’t police mortal worship as strictly, but was Burano that first saw the promise of the budding syn-
they quickly strike down spirits who extort worship cretic cult that would become the Pure Way, and propped
or deny Dragon-Blooded divinity. A monk has neither up its order to lend legitimacy to the Dragon-Blooded. In
jati nor clan, set apart from secular society. Pure monks peace, they’re contemplative and aloof. In battle, Burano
traditionally spend a year in personal service — called cataphracts are impossible to miss, clad in heavy armor,
nivedana — to one of Prasad’s pantheon of gods, to bet- with siege weapons trailing behind them.
ter recognize and enforce divine propriety.
Clan Ophris forever seeks new pleasures and adven-
With divine insight, God-Blooded and Exigents easily find tures, evolving along with the changing landscape of the
a place in the Pure monkhood. Immaculate monks occa- Dreaming Sea. They’re performers and demagogues,
sionally journey to Prasad to prove the Pure Way’s hypoc- ready to take chances and clever enough to tilt the
risy, by debate or by duel. At the rani-satrap’s request, most odds in their favor. In the aftermath of the conquest of
Immaculate monks visit only for a season. A rare few stay, Kamthahar, Ophris dared to negotiate with the Empress
wishing to become Pure. Others stay in secret, developing for the city’s future, and secured her mercy for only a cen-
underground cults to disrupt Prasad’s heresy. tury of doubled tribute. Sensual and hedonistic, members
of Clan Ophris delight in finding new frontiers to explore
The central temple of the Pure Way is the Most Pristine and new enemies to duel with words and weapons.
Sanctuary of the Spirit, in the heart of Kamthahar. It’s
sumptuously decorated with gilded idols, vividly paint- The two halves of the Dragon Caste compete in many
ed murals of divine pantheons, and statuary of Dragon- things, but they’re true partners in the expansion of
Blooded demigods, as the Pure Way long ago abandoned their empire. They practice a system of imperial inher-
the Immaculate Order’s aniconism. Their recruitment itance known as tanistry: While a member of one clan
and training practices closely align with the wisdom of rules as rani- or raja-satrap, the ruler’s heir is elected
the Immaculate Order, though many of their instructors from the other clan. Every member of the Dragon Caste,

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THE CLAN INVISIBLE THE SEA PRIMEVAL

When the Exemplar gave way to the Dragon, some According to ancient Kamthahari myth, the Dream-
God-Blooded embraced new lives with their divine ing Sea was strange and wondrous long before
parents and cousins, out of the public eye. Clan the Fair Folk invaded and twisted vast stretches
Akatha has married further both into Prasad’s of seascape. Sages debate whether the Dreaming
divine pantheon of gods and its reigning Drag- Sea was the birthplace of humans, elementals, or
on-Blooded families. No longer a part of day-to- all natural life, but most agree that it’s a sacred,
day mortal government, the Akatha reside in a life-giving font. This myth serves as one of the driv-
network of interconnected divine sanctums, and ing forces behind Prasad’s expansion; the faithful
politick with spirits. They appear in public to per- cannot allow the region’s backward, debased em-
form important Prasadi religious ceremonies and pires to foul the Dreaming Sea’s waters unchal-
speak on the gods’ behalf. Most of the time, they lenged.
work unseen to build Prasad’s spiritual strength
and subdue rival pantheons.
mapped out by Dynastic explorers early in the Empress’
all across the empire, has the right to a vote, as long as reign. Desert-weary travelers and escaped slaves of the
all votes are tallied by the final night of Calibration on Fair Folk spoke of mountains made of multicolored jade
an election year. Once an heir is elected, she retains the in the distant southeast. Though no Jade Mountain has
position until the current ruler either dies or demands ever been found, the young Realm’s explorers did find
a new election. Unless the heir dies, the ruler can only quarries filled with great veins of multihued jade. The
call for a new election every five years. Repeated elec- rich and powerful city-state of Kamthahar, which had
tions can bankrupt an heir through campaigning costs, claimed many of these fruitful quarries, quickly bent the
but risk outraging her clan. Because of this alternating knee to the distant Empress for the promise of Imperial
succession, each Dragon Clan typically works to elect garrisons to protect its lands. The Immaculate Order
one of the other’s eldest members as heir, hoping to see was an unwelcome addition to the arrangement, which
the throne return to them quickly. This also makes the the Kamthahari initially assumed would be no more
heir of an age with the reigning rani-satrap, who may than a nuisance. Heavy religious suppression, backed by
find such a peer a closer friend than younger kin from the very Realm garrisons that Kamthahar had desired,
her own clan. brought about rebellion and a more lasting conquest.

Prasad’s current rani-satrap, Burano Rohavin, was a Today, Kamthahar provides more raw jade to the Blessed
celebrated warrior and diplomat, strengths that won Isle than any other two satrapies. The Foreign Office as-
her an election and throne. Then, nearly a decade ago, sumes that it could provide much more, for Kamthahar
Rohavin’s trusted heir vanished on a voyage across the is now the capital of a great empire. The Empress only
Dreaming Sea. Suspicious of sabotage, Rohavin now is- increased Prasad’s expected tribute incrementally,
sues orders and decrees without leaving her Kamthahar for she didn’t wish to overextend her legions to force
palace. After centuries of steady land conquest, Rohavin compliance, or test the loyalties of any Great Houses by
plans to expand into the Dreaming Sea within her life- sending them to bring Prasad to heel. In her absence,
time, and studies the Realm’s legendary naval power for many Dynasts who’ve visited Prasad and seen its wealth
inspiration. Kamthahar’s location slows her ability to find it intolerable that so much jade should be wasted
manage armies, so Rohavin has commissioned a forti- on a mere satrapy, however grand.
fied palace near Prasad’s eastern border. She has thus
far resisted demands for a new election, insisting her Jade is far from the only commodity Prasad offers.
old heir isn’t yet lost. Clan Ophris funds expeditions into Uncanny creatures run wild across plains south of the
the Dreaming Sea to find proof of their prior tanist’s life Dreaming Sea, many carrying some mix of divine blood
or death. Rohavin is old; many fear what may happen and Wyld influence. Massive sea creatures circle in
should she perish without an heir. the Dreaming depths, overflowing with oils treasured
for occult perfumes. Scavengers have found medicinal
The Shining Coast herbs thought lost in the Second Age, relegated to
historical accounts of their wondrous effects. Strange,
For most of Creation, Prasad’s claim to fame lies in alien-seeming manses and artifacts await the fortunate
the so-called Jade Road, a trade route painstakingly or skilled explorer — evidence of Wyld taint, perhaps, or
wonders that predate any age of humankind.

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Jewels on the Diadem

UNCUT GEMS
The Empire of Prasad stretches from the deserts west of
the Summer Mountains to the Dreaming Sea’s tip, and Though some neighbors bow to the empire’s hun-
it’s still expanding. With its wealth and power, Prasad ger for expansion, many offer bitter resistance.
doesn’t need to conquer every nation in its path. Some The city Loha Kamta straddles a great chasm that
states offer valuable services or military might in ex- stymies infantry and siege engines, and offers ref-
change for a measure of autonomy under Prasadi con- uge (for a price) to gods fleeing Pure monks.
trol. The empire often accepts nations ruled by gods and
outcastes as allies. Most other nations, Prasad claims or After decades spent avoiding Prasadi armies, the
conquers, remaking each in a variation of its image. Austrech Nomads of the plains now raid and ruin
Prasadi settlements, then escape on bird-beasts to
Prasad forcibly divides a portion of the new territory’s hidden Wyld sanctuaries.
population across multiple cities, accustoming them to A triad of ancient stone cities in the jungles north-
their role as a new jati while discouraging organized west of Kamthahar, the Sisters wield small
revolt. The empire also imports citizens from older armies of ghost-animated stone soldiers to guard
territories to establish proper social order, and to re- their control of a river-trade route to distant Nexus.
shape the territory according to the empire’s needs at
the time. First- and second-generation citizens may The port city of Champoor has remained indepen-
purchase relocation to any Prasadi territory but their dent in part thanks to the patronage of the divine
homeland, and visit their homeland in small numbers Court of Secrets, but the rani-satrap has begun
every five years. Third-generation citizens may return discussing plans for an invasion with the Pure
to their jati’s homeland, if they wish. Way’s monks.

The small city of Reverie began as a campsite around a

monument to some forgotten god, growing in concert
with the monument’s legend. Those who enter its great The Lap
doorways and sleep beneath its towering minarets Deep in the Southern Threshold, the Last Penitent rests
dream of those they love the most, and these dreams its immense bulk, an ancient megalithic idol carved from
always carry the ring of truth. Reverie has a reputation a single lonely mountain, its cloud-crowned head and
for hospitality and relaxation. Spirits view Reverie with rainswept shoulders rising above the low surrounding
respect, and visit its ancient monument to negotiate hills. Cradled within the Penitent’s lotus-crossed legs is
with each other, or with stranger creatures. the Lap, a busy, prosperous city that’s the breadbasket
of the Southern Threshold and among the Realm’s most
The bluntly named Rockship is an industrious city
important Southern holdings.
known for its mining and metalwork. It’s built around
and within its namesake, an enormous, many-masted
ship. The dreadnought is partially buried in the earth, Anatomy of the Lap
made of an imperishable ochre stone, and far from
the sea. The Dragon Caste has stepped up excavation The Penitent faces northeast, toward the Imperial City.
efforts, for if the Rockship actually floats, it will dwarf Adobe villages gather around its skirts, home to work-
any vessel of Ysyr, the Fair Folk, or the Gigantes of Dis. ers too poor to afford the security of the city proper.
Laplanders navigate the city by body part. Northleg is
Screeward was built on a mountainside by several fractious a wealthy district, adorned with quality homes, mar-
clans of goatfolk. They fought against the empire bravely, kets, auditoriums, and arenas. Eastleg is a sprawl of
then accepted their new rulers quickly. The Screeward low-quality housing and industry. The area where the
jati now serves across the empire as hardy members of legs cross is known as the Fold, site of wheat-grinding
the Caravaner and Corporal castes. As many humans now windmills, harvest-storing warehouses, giant hoists and
live in Screeward as goatfolk, with rope-and-pulley ele- rope-and-ladder elevators, and the homes of the most
vators for citizens incapable of climbing sheer rock faces. impoverished and the criminally desperate. The Lap
Screeward’s patron deity, Kajisti-of-the-Heights, serves Proper, colloquially named the Crotch, houses govern-
as an honored advisor when Dragon Caste generals must ment buildings, Immaculate shrines, and the wealthiest
deal with challenging or unnatural terrain, or when lovers Laplander’s mansions. A small valley of fertile land
navigate complicated romantic tangles. called the Verdant Triangle is cradled between the
Penitent’s thighs.

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A forest grows along the Penitent’s folded arms. and religious culture. The Lap hosts twice-yearly sum-
Landowners visit to hunt game birds, picnic, and enjoy mits on regional trade and economy, an event considered
the view, and the richest magnates maintain summer important enough that virtually all communities and
homes there. Streams of rainwater from the forest tribal groups reliant on the Diamond Road to distant
flow into the Step Fountains, an elaborate network of Gem send envoys to participate in the discussions.
aqueducts and reservoirs that provides water to the
city, supplementing cisterns and deep wells. Rough Quality of life varies greatly with one’s economic stand-
trails leading to the statue’s shoulders are haunted by ing and location on the Penitent. The Crotch’s gentry
wildcats and birds of prey, and see snowfall in winter. dress in dyed silks and jewelry, feast on roast oxen and
fowl prepared with foreign spices and honey-sweet-
Two upward-sloping tunnels carved through the ened cakes, and drink wine and fresh water. Wealthy
Penitent’s feet permit entry and exit to and from the Fold; a Northleggers wear cashmere, drink sweet beer, and eat
third tunnel exists, but is restricted to business. Rope-and- dried meats, flavored bread, and dates, while the low-
winch elevators haul cargo, beasts of burden, and anything er-class Eastleggers make do with linen robes, ordinary
else too large to cross the tunnels into the city. Scaling the beer, and plain bread. The Fold’s inhabitants make do
outer portions of the Penitent’s legs is a difficult feat, while with linen shentis, stale bread, and the grimy, gritty
approaching over its back is all but impossible. water that trickles down from the Step Fountains.

Economy At age 13, native youths accept indenture to the state

— the alternative being exile. Indentured citizens
The Verdant Triangle and the broad, fertile fields below endure backbreaking menial labor until retiring at age
the Penitent permit year-round harvests, enhanced by the 43, except for those promoted to leadership positions
Realm’s most sophisticated agronomic technology and during quinquennial reviews. High-ranking retirees
scholarship. This feeds the Realm’s legions and auxilia- receive pensions, and possibly administrative positions
ries in the region without relying on shipments from the in government or on state plantations. Nepotism, al-
Blessed Isle. The Lap also has a thriving administrative ways rife, is spiraling out of control since the Empress’
disappearance.

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she plans to crown herself prince of the Lap, leveraging

SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM the city’s bounty for high rank in whatever new order
comes to pass. This requires eliminating her co-satraps.
Despite the Lap’s importance to its satraps’ hous-
es, the city-state’s garrison has shrunk significantly Co-satrap Ragara Aloru, an experienced merchant,
over the past few years. Each house took turns with- has proven effective in squeezing money out of the Lap,
drawing troops, intending for the other two houses earning him local magnates’ enmity. Now he labors to
to take up the slack. By the time this game of brinks- strongarm neighboring satrapies for trade concessions.
manship ended, the garrison was down to less than His fiscal preeminence only fails at the gaming table.
half of its original numbers. Garrison commander Normally devoted to the Realm and House Ragara, he’s
Cynis Rylan has leveraged this vulnerability to justify notorious for selling his vote to pay off gambling debts.
the expansion of her auxiliary forces.
Co-satrap Peleps Tuchet, youngest and newest of the
triumvirate, is more socialite than administrator. Of the
three, he’s the only one actually loved by the Laplanders,
The Lap’s native military patrols a long stretch of the and he’s the Triumvirate’s face in negotiations. But his dis-
Diamond Road, guarding caravans and hunting bandits. comfort with committing to decisions infuriates his peers,
Scouts braving the dangerous climb to the Penitent’s and he takes perverse pleasure in stringing them along.
shoulders can see for dozens of miles in every direction,
revealing incoming shipments along the Road — or raid- Garrison commander Cynis Rylan is as ambitious as
ers sweeping in from the hills. In exchange for this pro- Sijip. When not subverting officers in the three house
tection, the Lap has negotiated favorable trade deals for garrisons or training up auxiliary troops loyal to her
the grains it exports, and collects a tariff on any goods alone, she schemes with her lover, Vallish Argo — grand-
brought into the city. Visiting merchants sometimes son and heir to the dying prince — to consolidate real
evade these fees by setting up markets in the outlying political power for Argo, and to rule the region together.
villages, but these make easy pickings for neighboring
steppe tribes. While the Lap’s military protects caravans Neighbors
traveling the Diamond Road, those who’ve stopped to
trade outside the city receive no such protection. The Southern port Chalan brings Gem’s riches and the
Lap’s foodstuffs to the Inland Sea. Its people are loyal to
Government the Realm, whose troops traditionally guarded against
weird beasts and human-faced monsters arising from the
The Lap’s civil government, the Majilis — a council of nearby Weepstone Waste. But they hate their rulers —
two dozen major landholders under Prince Vallish House Simendor, a cadet line of sorcerer-kings propped
Macotri, a figurehead dying of old age — is theoretically up by a Mnemon satrap. In this time of tumult, pirates raid
in charge of the day-to-day management of the town Chalanese shipping, a resistance of oppressed minority
and outlying farms. But in practice, the Realm manages groups and Guild-backed merchants plots to overthrow
almost every aspect of its governance, far beyond the the ruling house, and younger Simendors hope to usurp
usual hands-off arrangement. Satraps from Houses the throne. And if the Realm descends into civil war, the
Cathak, Peleps, and Ragara form the so-called Golden trade wealth flowing through Chalan makes it a target for
Triumvirate, ensuring that no one of them has too much Great Houses seeking funds for their war effort.
influence over the massive wealth entering the Lap via
the Diamond Road. The garrison is under House Cynis’ Like many of its neighbors, Kovental strengthens ties with
command. the Lap. Located in foothills west of the Lap amid prime
acreage for extensive flocks of goats, sheep, and zebu cat-
The current triumvirate speak as one publicly— indeed, tle, Kovental has always relied on the Lap’s military for de-
their edicts must be unanimous — but in truth are bitter fense. Fearing property damage and financial ruin should
rivals. Until the Empress’s disappearance, their infight- Rylan enforce her dictates, the zebu barons acquiesce to
ing was kept in check by the threat of removal from their every demand issued in the prince-regent’s name. A few of
post. Since then, each has grown bolder in her efforts to the wealthiest seek to recruit God-Blooded, outcastes, and
oust her rivals and claim the Lap for her house. Their other champions to guard their caravans.
machinations threaten to upend the Lap’s civil order.
Lake Oathel’s small but profitable pearl fishery relies
Co-satrap Cathak Sijip won a reputation in the Cathak heavily on foodstuffs from the Lap, freeing citizens from
legions for tenacity and pragmatism. Now she’s seen the farming and ranching responsibilities to spend more
writing on the wall. When Realm civil war breaks out, time in the mussel beds beneath the lake. Despite this,

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Coast. It’s a melting pot of small, blue-haired Meiyu

PRONUNCIATION natives; dark and powerfully built Zhao; lean, ol-
ive-skinned Baihu; and any number of foreigners, from
In Zhao words, “zh” sounds like the “s” in “usual,” visiting Dynasts to Tengese laborers, descendants of
while “j” sounds like the “y” in “you.” foreign merchants, and folk of neighboring tribes.

Palaces, manors, and monasteries stand on hillsides

above the city, mantled in brilliant gardens and jew-
Lake Oathel’s governor refuses to bow down to Rylan’s el-bright aviaries. Beneath lies urban sprawl from a city
demands for greater tithes of pearls to be sent to the grown too large too quickly, having gathered foreigners
Lap, fearing overharvesting of the delicate mussel beds. with its wealth, and Zhao and Baihu refugees from
Realm conquest of the northern provinces. Its docks are
Steppe and hill tribes raid the villages surrounding the a forest of masts thick with fishing boats and merchant
Lap and caravans on the Diamond Road. The Tebyan vessels, its slums a veritable swamp infested with street
ride claw striders in pursuit of caravans, enslaving gangs — the cocky Hammer Gang; the brutal, drug-deal-
their crews and burning their cargos as a sacrifice for ing Snakefire Syndicate; the Tengese immigrants’ secre-
their patron oasis-gods. The Sedra are infamously tive Golden Root; the nativist insurrectionists of the
bloodthirsty, but the Realm’s missionaries have seen Sea-and-Mountain Brotherhood.
great success in converting them to the Immaculate
Philosophy in the last century. They acknowledge the Architecture varies widely. Many-tiered upswept gables
spiritual supremacy of the Golden Triumvirate and the are traditional, though the slums simply pile one flat-
rest of the Lap’s Dragon-Blooded, but contend that their roofed story upon the next, while the rich often adopt
raiding is a sacred homage to Mela. foreign styles, and immigrants employ their homelands’
traditional methods. Structures near the river are raised
Zhaojun on stilts to avoid damp and vermin.

The streets themselves throng with folk of many cul-

The story of Zhaojūn begins with fire from the sky.
tures and every class. Merchants in shop and stall loudly
When the Seven Tigers raised their banners against the hawk Western spices, Tengese silk, and precious stones
Empress, they were joined by many peoples. The proud and slaves from Gem. Students of medicine, music,
Zhao pledged their spears to the cause, the cunning Baihu astrology, and law argue drunkenly in wineshops. Even
their ships. But the Tigers burned in the fires of the Sword beasts are of every stripe — dogs laze, cats stalk, snakes
of Creation, and the Zhao and Baihu fled in fear of the and lizards bask, turtles crawl, caged chickens squawk,
Empress’ retribution. They traveled west and south for bright songbirds preen, and monkeys thieve.
many years, eventually settling along the Meiyu Sea’s shores.
Beyond Goldenseal
Where the Baihu raised feuding city-states on isles off-
shore, the Zhao armies marched inland, subduing peo- The rich, wet lands surrounding Goldenseal are speck-
ples still recovering from the Contagion. They built a led with farming villages and webbed with irrigation
great nation, establishing trade with distant lands from canals that terminate in “market ponds” outside trading
Gem to the Caul. But they couldn’t escape the Empress towns. Giant frogs as big as boars, raised in hutches amid
forever. rice fields, snap up vermin with long sticky tongues;
fed household waste, they’re themselves harvested for
Imperial expeditionary forces carved province after meat and leather. Orchards produce tropical fruits such
province from Greater Zhao in successive wars, making as banana, coconut, mangosteen, and rambutan, as well
each a new satrapy. Finally, half a century ago, the High as honey and beeswax.
Queen proclaimed from her throne in Goldenseal — the
old capital of Red Fan long since lost — that to avoid war, Farther down the estuary, near the sea, stand the shad-
she would marry a scion of House Mnemon, and bring owland ruins of two cities destroyed in Greater Zhao’s
her nation of Zhaojūn into the arms of the Realm. wars. Alder, on the north shore, is being salted by
overburdened Immaculate monks slowly struggling to
Goldenseal close the shadowland. Riven, to the south, still throngs
with hungry ghosts and other shades. Smugglers visit
Goldenseal, built along the Changdao River estuary, is to broker deals on neutral ground, or to partake in the
the richest and most cosmopolitan city on the Meiyu “ghost trade” — exchanging mortal goods for unearthly
merchandise and dark favors from the dead. Legitimate

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ZHAOJŪN’S MINISTRIES

Ministry of the Blue Robe: Jurists and inspectors responsible for investigating and prosecuting breaches of
Zhao law. Rumored to have a secret police branch.

Ministry of Earth and Water: Organizes peasant labor for government works such as building or repairing
roads, canals, and levees.

Ministry of the Heavenly Sword: Staff officers responsible for levying, supplying, and directing Zhao military
forces. Agitating to crush Hawkflower and reassimilate the other Zhao satrapies.

Ministry of the Immaculate Dragons (formerly the Ministry of Gods and Ancestors): Responsible for
negotiating with spirits, arranging festivals and sacrifices, and liaising with the Immaculate Order.

Ministry of Iron and Salt: Manages government monopolies, such as iron mining, salt harvesting, and the
state mint.

Ministry of Red Paper: Creates and verifies documentation guaranteeing citizens’ ethnic backgrounds and
other matters of lineage, including testaments and noble succession. Notoriously venal.

Ministry of Silver and Jade: Zhaojūn’s treasury, responsible for collecting and spending revenues. Constantly
working to hide money from the satrap.

Ministry of Spring and Autumn: Responsible for managing public granaries and cisterns.

Ministry of the Unimpeachable Signet: Arranges contracts and guarantees debts between the government
and private entities. Locked in rivalry with the treasury.

Ministry of the Zhao Palace: Maintains the High Queen’s household, lands, and properties; staffs the palace
guard; and handles royal ceremonies.

merchants sail to other Meiyu ports and beyond for sea- Palace at the head of a complex bureaucracy. Gracious
food and spices to appease adventurous Zhao palates. and revered, she’s devoted to her people and family,
but also ruthless, jealous, and vain. Her eldest daugh-
Upriver along the Changdao rises the ancient city of Holy ter Zhao Mnemonrai Feiyen, a ranking official in the
Fire, its fanes to Zhaojūn’s old gods transformed into Ministry of the Blue Robe, is balanced between loyalty
prestigious Immaculate temples to which the High Queen to Enzei and impatience to rule. Holy Fire and Footprint
performs an annual pilgrimage — visiting every noble have their own lesser cousin-monarchs.
household along the route. Farther east rises the trade city
of Footprint, the juncture between river commerce and the The royal Mnemonrai family, renamed for its Dynastic
mountain passes leading to Gem and other Southern lands. ancestor, has not begotten enough Princes of the Earth
to become a cadet house. Enzei’s Dragon-Blooded sib-
Civilization largely peters out beyond the Changdao ba- lings were pledged by their mother to the Immaculate
sin. Jungles are home to wild beasts and reclusive tribes. Order lest they usurp the throne, and none of Enzei’s
Zhaojūn mines iron from the Stonewake range, jutting children have yet Exalted.
from the Firepeaks. Independent-minded hill tribes
shelter there, and have since been joined by rebel Zhao Satrap V’neef Boru, comely and charming, was chosen
princelings who reject the Realm. Together they’ve specifically to court Crown Princess Feiyen and secure
formed an inchoate pretender state, Hawkflower, whose a marriage alliance. Feiyen responded by persuading
raids trouble Zhaojūn and neighboring Zhao satrapies. the sardonic garrison commander, Sesus Chay Darim,
to court her as well. Now each suitor frantically corre-
Government sponds with his house over ways to sweeten the pot,
and seeks aid from visiting Dynasts to help press his suit
Zhao Mnemonrai Enzei, High Queen of Zhaojūn and and undercut his rival.
Queen of Goldenseal, rules from the Summer-and-Winter

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ZHAOJŪN NAMING PRACTICES LANGUAGES OF THE MEIYU COAST

Zhaojūn natives have three names: ethnonym, Zhao and Baihu speak archaic Flametongue di-
family, and personal. Zhao aristocrats take the eth- alects, while the native Meiyu folk speak a Sea-
nonym Zhao. Commoner Zhao clans employ eth- tongue dialect. Many other tribes, such as the Tay
nonyms like Baizhao, Gongzhao, or Suzhao. Eth- Chai Nha and Tay Man Tau, each speak their own
nonyms for non-Zhao include Bai for Baihu, Nha local tongues.
for Tay Chai Nha, Mei for native Meiyu folk, Teng for
Tengese immigrants, and Wàn for Blessed Isle im-
migrants (even those who aren’t ethnically Wàn).
This nomenclature doesn’t apply to foreigners. devoted to gods of night. And the proscribed Empty
Path philosophy preaches freedom from reincarnation
Zhao family names are typically two- to three-syl- through the Six Harmonious Emptinesses — “without
lable names in the vein of Biru, Kuasa, Suria, and cruelty, without duplicity, without selfishness, without
Zharen. Aristocratic given names are similar: Bera- fear, without indifference, without pride” — and reviles
ni, Tanlo, Sutera, Zhiye. Commoners’ given names the Fair Folk as incarnate reminders of the crimes of the
are usually plain words like Jade, Lake, or Rose. Anathema.
But Zhaojūn is a melting pot. Each ethnicity has its
own naming conventions, and often borrows from Neighbors
the others.

Acting under a false ethnonym is a crime — a cap- The long, wooded peninsula called the Spine that en-
ital crime for the Zhao ethnonym. Misnaming other closes the Meiyu Sea remains home to native peoples
people, especially with invented ethnonyms, can be who resent the Zhao and Baihu conquests. Isolated by
affectionate behavior with family or close friends, cliff-girt shores and by shadowlands at the Spine’s base,
but is more often used as an insult. they remain fiercely independent.

Three other Zhao satrapies look on resentfully from the

north. Maichu, northernmost and former capital, fell first
Society and Culture and bloodiest; it remains impoverished and full of ghosts,
downtrodden by Ragara satraps and prostrate before
Zhaojūn society is ethnically hierarchical, with one’s brigands and foreign raiders. Forest-girt Ferazha, its dec-
ethnicity affecting taxes, legal protections, and general adent rulers overthrown by fanatical Immaculate hill folk
prestige. The Zhao hold the highest rank, followed by decades ago, is now in decline, its Tepet satrap powerless,
the “Three Righteous Peoples” — Blessed Isle natives, its common folk resigned to banditry. And coastal Zhujen
Baihu, and the Tay Chai Nha, a tribe that aided the Zhao — clasped in Ferazha’s arms — controls that satrapy’s river
upon their arrival. Beneath these are the native Meiyu trade and enriches the Cynis satrap thereby.
folk; neighboring peoples such as the fiercely indepen-
dent, marsh-dwelling Tay Man Tau and the fractious, Farther north, tiny Baihu city-states speckle the Spine’s
militant Rao; and immigrants such as the Tengese. tip, and cluster along the peninsula called the Talon and
Persons of mixed ancestry have the rights and privileg- its surrounding islands. These fell to the Realm as the
es of their least prestigious lineage. Marriage between Zhao did, and have been grouped together into a hand-
the Zhao and lesser ethnicities is forbidden. Rampant ful of satrapies. The largest of these city-states, Huang
corruption in the Ministry of Red Paper allows wealthy Hei, is a major Imperial navy depot, its royal family a
or well-connected citizens to evade these restrictions. Peleps cadet house. Peleps has been bivouacking and
drilling ever more marines there; these now outnumber
Immaculate proselytization predates the Realm the Ledaal garrison.
conquest by centuries. The royal family adopted the
Immaculate Philosophy and supports suppression of To the south, Meiyu cities once ruled by Greater Zhao
heretical worship. But wealthy merchants and nobles have had decades to shake off the yoke. Even so, a few
still find their way to the estuary god Blue Jasper still pay tribute to Zhaojūn, while others suffer from
Dream’s wandering pleasure boat, its luxurious interior border raids meant to accumulate booty and keep the
far larger than the outside, to gamble and take their lei- Zhao military sharp. Inspired by the Empress’ disap-
sure in exchange for prayer. Though the Tay Chai Nha pearance, an anti-Zhao confederation is brewing among
outwardly follow the Immaculate Philosophy, they’re the southern cities’ leadership.
rumored to retain secret copies of an ancestral scripture

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Beyond the southern Meiyu Coast lie wildlands and for centuries. Some ancient and some newly fledged, all
badlands. From there, the feared reavers of Raolai thrive in the vacuum left by Nemoia’s hands-off reign,
Damay — that legendary mountain fastness of blood- and they’ve never been more powerful. Some protect
wild warriors sworn to cruel gods — emboldened by the downtrodden against thugs and thieves. Others form
the Realm’s purported weakness, come forth to raid and criminal gangs controlling their domain through violence
pillage. and intimidation. Each school claims a corner of Wu-Jian
as its own and, capricious as the ocean, forms alliances and
enmities at a dazzling pace. When members of opposing
Wu-Jian schools meet, citizens scatter — Wu-Jian’s rickety build-
ings are no match for the fists of a martial artist.
Built atop a First Age city bearing the same name, Wu-
Jian’s narrow maze of dead-end alleys, teetering hous-
Ocean’s Endless Slumber is one of Wu-Jian’s oldest
es, and rickety rope bridges is confusing and hostile. Yet,
schools. Its masked disciples claim their master comes
starry-eyed sailors flock here — they dream of settling
to them in waterlogged dreams to teach them the
the gateway island, only to find land at a premium and
flowing murder-movements of Seven-Limbed Tempest
themselves relegated to the slums, or seek passage fur-
style. The school rules the sluice streets in Mud, de-
ther West to be stranded by overpriced berths and un-
manding a tithe from all sluice farmers. Those who
scrupulous captains. The locals pay them no heed and
can’t, or won’t, pay are taken during the five nights of
no pity — they have their own struggles to contend with.
Calibration — when the school sacrifices wine, flowers,
and its enemies to the dark waves.
Strength is Law
Thousand Waves Break the Shore is comprised of
Wu-Jian is a seemingly lawless den of crime. Its ruler, mortals rising in unity — and anonymity — against
Nissar Vedan, belongs to a cadet house that broke Dragon-Blooded dominance. The Guild funnels mon-
the reign of the Lords Criminal and installed itself as ey to the school, made untraceable through a web of
Wu-Jian’s governing authority with House Peleps’ pirates. The school actively undermines the Dynasty,
assistance, yet the downfall of the city’s crime princes hiding suspects wanted (for any reason) by the Realm,
has merely left Vedan to contend with countless smaller stealing taxes, and offering protection to preachers
gangs and syndicates. Meanwhile, satrap Sesus Nemoia willing to go against the Immaculate Philosophy. The
cultivates influence with local gangs to circumvent school’s Prince-Eating Mendicant style focuses on at-
Vedan and House Nissar, as well as the drunkard garri- tacking in groups, and striking quickly before vanishing
son commander Tepet Berel Alun. again into Wu-Jian’s alleys.

Nemoia is unaccountable to anyone but the Empress, and The Blood paint their bodies and faces with dark red
the latter hasn’t been an issue for five years. House Sesus sigils. These are meaningless, intended only to intimi-
has inquired if Nemoia would — hypothetically speaking date and misdirect enemies and lend members a myste-
— back a play for the throne, but she’s politely postponed rious air. The Blood run a racketeering ring in Shades,
the conversation. Nemoia is loyal to her house, and Wu- offering protection against malignant ocean spirits and
Jian would be invaluable in moving troops and resources raksha. So far, the only real victims are shopkeepers
from the Western Archipelago to the Blessed Isle, but she who refuse to pay, though the Blood stage an elaborate
needs more assurance than mere hypotheticals. ceremony replete with props once a year to make it seem
they’re indeed driving off spirits and fae. The school’s
Sesus Nemoia is very laissez-faire: As long as trade flows Roaring Iron style incorporates firewands — not all in
unhindered and respect is paid — at least nominally — working condition, but the Blood manage to obscure
to the Immaculate Philosophy, citizens and Dynasts that with their forceful posturing.
are free to do as they will. Nemoia does come down on
fights between scions or sailors of House Peleps and
V’neef, both of whom use Wu-Jian as a steady harbor,
Places to Go
but she can be bribed to turn a blind eye. Meanwhile
The rich and powerful claim the countryside, while
she fills the empire’s coffers, and her own pockets, with
Wu-Jian’s citizens are crammed together in precariously
gains both well and ill-gotten.
stacked high-rises. Wu-Jian is far larger than its popu-
lation warrants, as the city is riddled with uninhabited
Thirteen Schools
pockets infested with ghosts and malignant spirits, taken
The so-called Thirteen Schools, underground martial arts
over by gangs and underworld princes claiming whole
societies whose initiates swear mighty oaths of obedience
blocks for themselves, sealed off due to plague and nev-
to their masters, have existed in some form or another
er reopened, or simply too deteriorated to live in. The

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LINTHA IN WU-JIAN OFFSHORE

Wu-Jian’s lawlessness provides an ideal environ- Far from the Realm and the Western archipela-
ment for the dreaded Lintha crime family. Reavers go, Wu-Jian is mostly untroubled by neighboring
run protection rackets in Topside and Shades, the states above the waves. Beneath is another matter.
spoils of piracy are fenced at underworld auctions,
and smuggler ships loaded with all kinds of con- The Spirit Court of Drowned Promises consists
traband set sail from Wu-Jian’s docks to ports all of old allies of Luna, and they’ve failed to impress
across Creation. Far from the family’s headquar- the Immaculate Order. Starved of prayers, the
ters on Bluehaven, its local operations are over- spirits have turned against each other — rumors
seen by a pair of Lintha elders. swirl that Kindly Hetrokonta devoured one of her
grandchildren — and their discord is spilling over
Grandmother Fang is the local family’s unques- to worshippers in Shades.
tioned crime queen, a master necromancer served
by a spectral retinue of Lintha ghosts that spy on The Gazrhan People are a seafloor civilization of
her foes and scour the ocean floor for sunken rel- eelfolk. In times of prosperity, they conduct trade
ics. Grandfather Maw is a retired admiral who with Wu-Jian; in times of want, they raid merchant
mastered countless exotic martial arts in his jour- vessels sailing to and from its ports. They worship
neys, and whose clout with the Thirteen Schools an ancient crystal idol that sank beneath the waves
has made him an arbiter of disputes among them. an age ago, which speaks to Gazrhan priests
He prefers to resolve disputes in his illegal blood- during certain convergences of the stars.
sport arena, pitting a student of each school against
Aquatic fae dwell in the Azure Dunes of the
each other in a fight to the death.
Deep, ill-pleased at the Realm driving them from
Wu-Jian. The court’s raksha prince, Dreaming
Coral, works to bring the Ocean’s Endless Slum-
ber school under her sway, teaching martial prow-
Shades and Mud districts make up most of the city, and
ess in exchange for access to dreams and minds.
see the most visitors looking for danger and adventure.
Dreaming Coral plans to unleash the school on
a murderous rampage during Calibration, so the
Inland
Azure Dunes of the Deep may feast on the victims’
Wu-Jian’s island is steep and rocky, but it nonetheless souls.
contains a few attractive pieces of land. After two
centuries of dispossession, thuggery, and bribing the
satrap, the Dragon-Blooded have claimed every scrap sway dangerously in the wind — but at least they have
of worthwhile countryside — driving out what farmers wind, and sunlight. Topside also grants a spectacular
and shepherds the island once had, replacing rice and view of the ocean. Sesus Nemoia spends most of her time
sheep with lawns and gardens. Each estate is walled, here, valuing the proximity to her kingdom of criminals.
gated, and patrolled. All land is privately owned, and
trespassers dealt with at the owner’s discretion. Selachii raptors occasionally ravage Topside, carrying
death on swift wings. Birds of prey with water and coral
Sesus Nemoia holds a modest estate here, where she substituting for flesh and bone, these monsters were cre-
hosts valued guests and emissaries of the Realm. The ated by the aquatic raksha — a parting gift to the Realm.
Sesus garrison is also stationed here, led by Tepet Berel When the raptors come, the elite of Topside move to low-
Alun and — as satrap Nemoia intended — far removed er districts — hiring thugs and bribing guards to forcibly
from the bustle of daily life in Wu-Jian. Much of the gar- evict lesser citizens from any semi-appealing homes.
rison’s manpower has been withdrawn to the Blessed
Isle or other Sesus satrapies, as the house believes the Shades
city’s geography makes it unassailable by any but the High enough above Mud’s sluice streets to diminish
most powerful naval forces. the stench of stagnant ocean water, yet low enough
that houses are affordable, Shades is packed with every
Topside entertainment. Bars lure customers with homebrewed
Merchants lacking resources to claim an Inland estate, liquor, and brothels are open at all hours. Arenas hold
powerful gang bosses, and Dynasts looking to “rough it regular competitions — none officially to the death, but
with the natives” find a place in Topside. At the upmost they offer no guarantees after a wounded combatant
levels of Wu-Jian, these homes are narrow, lopsided, and leaves. Gambling is rampant, with casinos packed into

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The Immaculate Order maintains a mission near

the island’s pinnacle, housed in an ancient tem-
ple-manse, serving as support haven for Wyld
Hunts heading West. Beyond that, a few small tem-
ples and numerous shrines are scattered through-
out Topside and the Shades. Monks do their best
to tend to the faithful, but much of the city is too
lawless for even Immaculates to travel safely. The
Thirteen Schools have largely opposed the Order’s
attempts at rooting out heresy in Shades and Mud,
though a few schools seek to gain power or help
defend the weak by allying themselves with the
Immaculates.

tiny corner shops while bookies take bets on everything

from the weather to the next Wyld Hunt. Shops peddle
all manner of fish, rice, seaweed, and occasionally meat.

Wu-Jian’s citizens live wedged between this cacophony,

sharing too-small rooms in buildings cast in perpet-
ual shadow. But much of Shades remains untenanted,
though not necessarily empty. Abandoned buildings
hold a plethora of shrines to ocean spirits — be they
gods outlawed by the Immaculate Order, demons of the
deep, or aquatic raksha.

Mud
Wu-Jian’s tidal sluices officially open and close twice
a day, diverting ocean water to canals used for traffic
and sewage, then draining out to sea when the tide
falls again. In reality, many sluices are so clogged no
one remembers when they last functioned. Never wast-
ing resources, the people of Mud grow rice and raise
small livestock atop the trash and ocean silt. They’re
sponsored by gangs who claim a lion’s share of the
profit. Citizens unwilling to indebt themselves turn to
mudlarking, digging up lost treasure and coins carried
on the tides.

Mud is filled with practices and creatures outlawed by

the Realm. Two outcaste sisters practice their sorcery,
rebuffing any offers of adoption by the Dynasty. An ex-
Mud on the tide, spirits of murder victims and undocu-
iled Fair Folk, Crimson Water Hues At Twilight, makes
mented travelers unceremoniously flushed out through
their home on Pig Street, selling invocations of luck
the sluice system.
in exchange for a suckle on a soul — and disposing of
accidentally dream-eaten customers in the ocean. The The Docks
Hungry, a family of bandits whose ancestors mated
Wu-Jian’s massive port offers berths for vessels travel-
with raksha, come out to hunt mortal flesh on moonless
ing to and from the West. The bulk of these are Imperial
nights. Rumors persist of an Anathema, a demon-god-
Navy ships belonging to House Peleps, outnumbering
dess of war, who escaped the Wyld Hunt and now hides
Merchant Fleet vessels outfitted by House V’neef.
under the filth and wreckage. Restless dead return to
Guards patrol the docks, as much to keep Dynasts of the

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rival houses from escalating their petty feuds to a street broken remnants of the Crescent Temple — dedicated
war as to protect the warehouses. The latter are stocked to Luna, her Chosen toppled it into the sea at the end of
with goods, sometimes deliberately held back to create the First Age lest the usurpers desecrate it.
shortage and drive up prices.

Even with the Dynastic presence and mortal guards, Utahi

pirates dock under cover of night and false flags to fill
In the West, at the southernmost extent of the Neck ar-
Wu-Jian with illicit wares. The outcaste pirate Storm
chipelago, sits the mountain city of Utahi on the island
Mother’s Son still makes regular stops, trading gems
of the same name. An ancient and dignified city-state,
and firedust stolen in the South. Underwater lie the

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Utahi commanded tribute from 13 other nearby city- over genealogical disputes, or die to protect a rare copy
states at its height four centuries ago. The great system of an outlawed lineage record showing their ancestral
of hanging bridges and narrow mountain paths between ties to the behemoth slayer Aua Lo.
the city-states of their dominion — the Feathered Roads,
originally constructed under the rule of Great Hero The Great Hero is central to Utahin culture, a being
Imen-Ath-Kuru-Au-Bala — still exists. Peleps architects who transcends his limitations and becomes more than
carefully tend this vital trade and military network now, his flesh and blood permits. When the reigning Great
the veins and arteries of a subjugated power, to make Hero dies, steps down, or is denounced as infirm by a
sure they never collapse into the dizzyingly distant majority of the populace, the time comes to choose a
sounds and valleys below. new Great Hero. The heads of every family that claims
descent from a Great Hero form a council, and every
Utahi sits on the sheer side of a mountain, Teue Utahila, Utahin has the right to address them, proclaiming her
which looms majestically over the bay below. It’s a city mighty deeds and explaining why she deserves to be
of brass-sheathed stone and soaring ziggurats, carved chosen. Until they choose a new Great Hero — and years
from rock and built upon for countless generations may pass before they find a suitable candidate — the
with quarried stone, burnished metal, and gaily painted council of families lends temporal authority to one of
wood. In the city’s center sits the Remembrance-of- the former Great Hero’s descendants, who reigns as the
Heroes-Past Plaza, wherein burns a score of braziers, Hero.
one for every Great Hero the city has seen. Here is
found the Palace of the Hero, a great stepped pyramid When House Peleps first learned of this custom, they
that culminates in a glorious gold-sheathed palace, as believed it would be all too easy for a Dragon-Blood
well as the Temple of the Honored Past, wherein the to be acknowledged as a Great Hero, founding a cadet
genealogical records of each Great Hero are kept. Here house offshoot to dominate Utahi even if House Peleps’
also stands the satrap’s estate, a grand walled enclave satrapial lease should lapse. To their frustration, this
once claimed as the home of each successive reigning isn’t the case. While fighting off ten pirates single-hand-
Hero’s family, now flying banners showing the Peleps edly would suffice to prove a mortal’s heroism, more
mon above the central spire. is expected of the Exalted. They must achieve feats
that test the limits of their own divine might to prove
Once, representatives of each of Utahi’s vassal city- themselves to the Utahin, and as of yet, Peleps’ scions
states and villages would form a procession through this have failed to do so. Immaculate missionaries argue that
plaza every day at noon, a reminder of the city’s glorious the Dragon-Blooded inherently possess this spiritual
place at the pinnacle of Creation. But the vassals grew superiority, and more than one has been driven to rage
tired of their masters’ abuses, and rose up in a series of by an Utahin’s refusal to submit to the idea of Dragon-
wars over the course of centuries. By the time House Blooded superiority.
Peleps seized control of its satrapial lease a decade ago,
only two city-states and a few dozen villages still sent As more missionaries arrive monthly, though, more
conscripts to serve Utahi. Since then, Peleps forces have Utahin convert to the Immaculate Philosophy, and many
warred to place their satrapy’s traditional vassals back more have begun to keep their opinions to themselves.
under their control, a fact which has once again united They know that no matter what the foreign monks say,
them against a single foe. the Utahin choose the Great Hero, and they hold only
their own council. Only great deeds combined with
Bloodlines of the Great Heroes great spirit will make the next Great Hero, and not the
Realm’s political pressure. The most recent Great Hero
Power in Utahi comes from heroic lineage. Each family was Akapa, who earned his place by making peace with
keeps its own records, with copies held in the Temple the Realm. His grandson, the Third Hero Akapa, is the
of the Honored Past. The closeness of the ancestry, the current Hero of Utahi, appointed for his keen foresight
number of Great Heroes in the family’s past, and what and skill with the leiomano.
deeds they performed create a complex tapestry of so-
The Third Hero Akapa is publicly the voice of his peo-
cial expectations and privileges. Descent from the Great
ple in the satrap’s ear, protecting his people from the
Hero Anuk the Astronomer gives authority in matters of
excesses a tributary state can expect. In reality, satrap
prophecy and mathematics, for example. Families that
Peleps Teseri Nef keeps the Hero in check by a combi-
cannot claim descent from any Great Hero form the sa-
nation of threats and bribes. She keeps him entertained
trapy’s underclass, toiling in menial labor and dreaming
with drugs, concubines and rare delicacies, combined
of the day that one of their kin raises their lineage out
with the promise to execute him publicly and assert
of the dust. Utahin families are perfectly willing to kill
direct control over Utahi if he ever tries to exercise his

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power. With the native Utahin military having already Stone has summoned inquisitors from the Blessed Isle
been in decline before being savaged by the Peleps con- to investigate.
quest, the Third Hero sees little recourse against such
threats. He resents being made House Peleps’ puppet, Neighbors
but fears his people would suffer greatly if he disobeyed.
As time passes, he gradually loses more and more of his Bisajé was one of the first Utahin vassal-cities to rebel
people’s approval. after the Great Hero Lau Wo the Conqueror executed
their representative. Their army is small, but their
Life in Utahi warriors invoked urchin-devils to inhabit their bodies
and fill them with strength, while Bisajén haruspices
An Utahin’s garments and abode are determined by guided their lightning raids. House Peleps’ efforts at
the Great Hero she claims descent from. The lineage of reconquest have met with failure thus far. They believe
Anuk the Astronomer wears robes embroidered with House V’neef is assisting Bisajé, despite the Utahin’s
constellations and lives in open-roofed homes, while insistence that unhale forces are at work.
descendants of Sword-Handed Halu dye the left sleeve
of their clothing red and adorn their dwellings’ walls Repanga began trading with Utahi after it conquered
with hawk feathers. their trade partner, the city of Arafa Aru. Utahin ships
carry bronze weapons, breadfruit, and golden orna-
Cassava, taro, sweet potatoes, coconuts, bananas, and ments to Repanga, and return laden with slaves, cacao
breadfruit are staples of the Utahin diet, along with fish, beans, and pearls. At the time House Peleps conquered
pork, chicken, monkey, dog, and shellfish. A variety of Utahi, Repanga was stricken by plague, and agreed to
chili peppers are used as seasoning, and have become submit to Utahi in exchange for medications imported
favorites of the Dynastic palate. for the Blessed Isle and the services of Dragon-Blooded
physicians. Now that the island has recovered, it seeks
The Immaculate Order has seen great success in sup- to renege on its bargain.
pressing Utahi’s indigenous religion, which centers
around veneration of the first Great Heroes — the siblings Starfoam is one of the few cities that remains an Utahin
Kaloli the Trickster Sun and Komaka the Jaguar Moon vassal, its latest effort at rebellion utterly crushed by the
— as creators of the world. The Immaculate Dragons are Peleps garrison. Its wind-turned prayer wheels were
now worshipped in their stead, although syncretization smashed by Immaculate monks, and the remnants of
of Kaloli with Daana’d and Komaka with Mela have its army conscripted as Realm janissaries. The Utahin
come into prominence. Suspicious of Anathema infiltra- are troubled, feeling that Starfoam has become Peleps’
tion of these syncretic cults, archimandrite Ice Shatters vassal, not theirs.

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Nellens Tregane watched another officer being carried out of the courtyard on a stretcher.
It was the third this month, putting yet another of Faxai’s sword-saints out of commission.
She found it pointless, this dueling to replace their fallen leader. What use was killing
your brothers and sisters at arms when their strength was needed to retake the shrine
cities? Tregane was too new to the order, too low-ranked. Posing such a question would be
inappropriate. She could only watch as her betters maimed or slew one another in pursuit of
power.
She’d abandoned her dreams of a respectable rank and a quiet retirement after the
disaster in Juche. While her failure hadn’t brought about all of House Nellens’ troubles in
the prefecture, it had been one of many contributing factors, and for that she was deeply
ashamed. Coming here to Faxai-on-the-Caul and assisting the Sword-Saints of the Divine
Tempest was a way to start over. A way to atone.
Here, protected by Faxai’s hieroglyph-covered walls, she found a kind of peace. When she
wasn’t drilling with her unit, she was out on patrol. As she drifted off to an exhausted sleep,
contemplation of the Thousand Correct Actions kept her mind off her failings and instead
on redemption: Aid the sword-saints in taking back the shrine cities, let Dragon-Blooded
pilgrims seek Feng-Yi once more, and thereby strengthen her house and stabilize the Realm.
It was different here on the Caul, and that was its own kind of balm. Never before had she
seen so many outcaste flags flying beside those of the Great Houses. Their bright colors stood
out against Faxai’s gray walls like flashes of hope. More than once, Tregane found herself
swept up in a street procession, or had her already-light sleep interrupted by hymns, bells, or
chanting. So much life here, defiant in the face of so much death.
Because alongside the color and clamor, she’d seen hawkfolk circling overhead, and heard
the howls of turtlewolves in the dead of night. She’d been tumbled from her bed when the
ground below set the city’s pillars to shaking, a sign that Sha’a Oka was on the move.
Now a horn blew, calling Faxai’s defenders to their posts. Tregane nodded to other soldiers as
she maneuvered her way through the crowds. What tension there was between house guards
and other Faxai-based orders was, if not completely erased, at least tamped down when the
Lunar threat came calling.
The hawkfolk’s shrieking jeers made Tregane’s blood run cold, and her relief at not being
in command against that unnatural force came tinged with shame. She recalled a quotation
from the Thousand Correct Actions — “The upright soldier sacrifices her desire for personal
glory” — and held it in her mind. It took the rest of the walk, but as she joined her unit,
tranquility returned.
The sword-saint beside her was anything but calm. The young man’s hands shook as he
checked the fastenings on his armor. Tregane knew him; he’d arrived from Arjuf the week
before. She remembered how she’d felt that day on Juche’s border and saw that same panic
in his eyes. “Soldier,” she said, gruff but soft.
He glanced at her, eyes wide.
She was no Exalt. She couldn’t offer him earth’s strength or water’s stillness. But she clapped
a hand on his shoulder and nodded in solidarity. He relaxed just enough, nodded back.
The gates opened, and they marched out to face the enemy.

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 Chapter Seven

The War for

the Caul
It doesn’t heave into view over the horizon, as land In this endless struggle, each side’s fortunes have waxed
ought. One might watch the seas ahead as one sails, but and waned over the centuries. At times, the Realm has
a moment’s glance away or even an eyeblink suffices. held all five of the Caul’s shrine cities — at others, the
A great landmass is suddenly there, as though one first Lunars claimed two, even three of the sacred shrine
sighted it hours ago. There’s no scent of land as else- cities, barring the pilgrimage route to Feng-Yi. But as
where in Creation, nor the scent of seaweed and dead the Deliberative withdrew the Realm’s legions from
fish that landfolk think is the smell of the sea. the Caul, dividing them up amongst the Great Houses
in preparation for the coming civil war, the Lunar host
Sailors who come here bear every talisman their faith struck decisively, taking four of the five shrine cities in
provides, for to cross the line separating the sacred from a rout and leaving the Realm’s remaining forces pinned
the profane is a terrifying thing. This is no mere island — behind the walls of Faxai-on-the-Caul, the Realm’s pri-
this is the Caul. The Caul is and is not, a place out of time mary port of entry to the sacred continent. The faith-
that calls to the Exalted’s souls. This mythic continent, ful clamor for a counterattack, and in Faxai crusaders
only real in the most tenuous of senses, may be the key sharpen their blades and await reinforcements.
to the salvation of the Dragon-Blooded and the Realm. It
may also spell the ultimate destruction of both. In truth, the crusade to retake the Caul isn’t as popu-
lar as pilgrims and warriors in Faxai would hope. The
Myth No Longer Great Houses have been sending daughters and sons
The Caul slipped away long ago, one of many casualties to spill their blood on the Caul’s strange soil, and for
of Creation’s slow decline. When it vanished in the Great what? To ensure that more Dragon-Blooded will be
Contagion’s wake, it was thought lost to the Wyld; in time, born by sacrificing those who already live? Though
only savants and those few ancient Exalted who’d been some see the Caul’s conquest as a spiritual imperative
there remembered it. And then, suddenly, the Caul returned, that will preserve the Dragon-Blooded forever, many in
discovered by a ship bearing the ascendant Scarlet Realm’s the Deliberative see the struggle as a waste, like casting
flag. The news spread like wildfire; popular imagination talents of jade into the ocean’s depths.
was seized by this strange unmade-and-made continent,
mythic home of the Elemental Dragons and claimed birth- Nonetheless, as a concession to militarists and
place of the Dragon-Blooded themselves. Pilgrims flocked Immaculate zealots, the Deliberative voted to order
to the newly risen continent. But they weren’t alone. the immediate liberation of the Caul’s shrine cities. But
to provide legions would be tantamount to admitting
The Lunar Anathema felt the Caul’s return, a siren call that they never should have left the Caul in the first
from a sacred realm where Gaia and Luna once walked place, and would meet stiff resistance from the Great
as one. Here, they thought, was a chance to reclaim mir- Houses that had claimed the legions for their own pur-
acles and nightmares thought lost to the ages, and a cru- poses. Instead, they encouraged the Realm’s outcastes
cial battleground in their long war against the Realm. to join martial orders (p. XX) in the Caul and fight to
That Sha’a Oka, the Black Lion lost and mourned long restore what was rightfully theirs by their birthright as
ago, returned with the Caul only lent fuel to the fire. Dragon-Blooded.
The war commenced immediately, and has raged ever
since, the Empress declaring a grand crusade to protect The Pilgrimage to Feng-Yi
the birthplace of the Exalted and to keep forever open When the five shrine cities are held by the Dragon-Blooded,
the way to Feng-Yi, the otherworldly Last City at the the resonance of their elemental Essences can open the
end of the pilgrim’s path. way to Feng-Yi. A Dragon-Blood who completes the path of

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from Faxai, though they need not attempt the trials of

THOSE WHO TREAD SACRED GROUND any shrines they’ve already passed a second time.

Even when the Realm held the shrine cities, the way to
Before the Realm discovered the Caul, before the
Lunars descended upon it like a storm, Southwest- Feng-Yi opened only sporadically; the right to under-
ern sailors knew of this strange continent’s return. take a pilgrimage could be granted only by the Empress’
A few settled there — and their descendants dwell decree. She reserved this gift of a miracle for Dragon-
there still. The Caulborn are a strange, insular Blooded who’d won her favor through deeds of legend-
people who keep many superstitions and rituals. ary heroism that served her will, scions of families she
Both sides in the war know the Caulborn have an wished to elevate or restore to power, and the rare out-
innate sense for the Caul’s rhythms, and use them caste in whom she saw the potential for greatness. Now,
as guides. Caulborn clans engage in dealings with this power is held by the Deliberative, though with the
both sides — but neither side truly trusts them, Realm’s loss of control over the shrine cities, they be-
who have no reason to love the armies that have lieve it a moot point. Not all Dragon-Blooded are so pes-
made their home a war zone for centuries. simistic; some hope to launch a conquering pilgrimage,
reclaiming the shrine cities from their Lunar occupiers
and then waiting for the way to Feng-Yi to open.
pilgrimage between the five shrine cities and then to the Last But the Dragon-Blooded aren’t the only ones who might
City receives the blessings of the land where the Elemental undertake the pilgrimage. If all five shrine cities were to
Dragons once dwelled — her next child is assured to draw fall under the Lunars’ control, if the Caul were to fully
his Second Breath, receiving the Dragons’ gift. resonate with their otherworldly Essence, the gates of
Feng-Yi might open in the other direction. No Lunar
Not all pilgrims can complete their journey, whether
has completed the pilgrimage in living memory, so none
repelled by the Caul’s daunting perils or called away
know what its result might be, but elders and neonates
by some urgent crisis. Should they wish to renew their
of the Silver Pact alike speak wistfully of what lost won-
quest to Feng-Yi, they walk the pilgrimage route anew
ders might be regained thereby.

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 THE REALM

A War of Gods and Monsters

Though the Lunar Anathema lash out at the Realm’s THE EFFACED WALLS
presence throughout the Threshold, the bloodiest bat-
tleground between the two is the Caul. When armored Faxai’s hieroglyph-covered walls tell stories of
turtlewolves rise up from the forests and the sea, when the First Age, of gods and heroes, of wars against
hawkfolk swoop down from the mountains screeching, monsters and demons, and of the founding of the
and when the Black Lion’s presence is felt, it’s no subtle Caul’s first civilizations. Dynastic scholars study
thing. Though the Lunars ever harass the Realm’s forc- these writings to the extent that they remain legi-
es, none can forget when the Caul’s entire Lunar host ble. Wind, tide, and vegetation have taken their toll,
marches together to war. weathering many of these ancient inscriptions to
near-indecipherability. But beyond that, some of
Historically, there were always at least two legions the writings have been deliberately destroyed.
stationed in the Caul. These legions guarded the cities,
made safe the roads between them, and escorted im- Centuries ago, when the Realm first seized Faxai,
portant pilgrims. When the Lunars’ armies fell upon Immaculate monks took chisels to the city walls,
them, they retreated behind great earthworks and obliterating many of its hieroglyphs and bas-re-
liefs. The people were forbidden to pass on any
fought the horde to a standstill.
knowledge thus expunged. Even so, stories lin-
Both Dragon-Blooded and Lunar hold the Caul sacred; ger, whispered from parent to child in Faxai’s
homes, or chanted among Caulborn tribes in the
neither will countenance disruption of the Essence
wild lands. But whether the subjects of these lost
flowing through the land. Nothing is built in the isle’s
stories — Nahundau the Hour-Drinker, Axe Saint
sacred demesnes, and any new construction must be un-
Malinti, Walanua of the Many-Colored Dawn, and
dertaken with the greatest care to avoid disrupting the their ilk — were heroes, gods, or devils is no lon-
dragon lines, especially near the shrine cities. Armies of ger remembered.
savants check and recheck every pillar, every nail, to en-
sure it leaves the natural geomancy untouched. Legions,
rather than taking up position in the shrine cities, con-
struct fortresses nearby — Lunars, similarly, are loath Faxai is the Realm’s last foothold in the Caul, the last bas-
to let their massed forces dwell there. Neither side will tion of civilization before the hills and woods of the interior,
risk defacing the divine gift that the Caul represents. where Lunar warlords rule over hordes of beastfolk and
whatever unfortunates survived their sudden assault five
Once, the legions’ fortresses stood proudly along the path years ago. The city is a melting pot, houses that loathe each
of pilgrimage, their walls firm and guarded 24 hours a other sleeping beneath the same roof, Dynastic royalty din-
day. Now their earthworks are shattered, their person- ing across from penniless outcaste crusaders. Here is the last
nel scattered across the Blessed Isle as the houses gird breath of fellowship and safety before the pall of unending
themselves for civil war. Realm citizens unable to flee the dread descends, where scions of Mnemon and Ragara break
shrine cities have been enslaved or slain by Lunars. bread in the name of a greater good — the quest to drive the
Lunars from the Caul forever. Yet even here, all the Realm’s
Faxai-on-the-Caul intrigues remain, set against the Caul’s terrifying and alien
backdrop. Whether faith in the cause or ancient Dynastic
From the sea, Faxai-on-the-Caul seems a port city like rivalries will win out in the end is yet to be seen.
any other, a grey and brown mass that sprawls along
the shore, its ancient, hieroglyph-crusted walls curv- Life in Faxai-on-the-Caul
ing around it in a protective embrace. Flags of every Walking down the street, it seems that every other build-
Great House fly in the wind, along with the flags of in- ing houses an Immaculate temple, a chapter of the Wyld
numerable outcaste families and martial orders. As the Hunt, or a paradoxically quiet urban monastery. Faxai
ship ties up at dockside, the first glimpse of the city’s teems with Immaculate monks, no surprise in a land held
strangeness can be seen — the dockside district sways to be the home of the Immaculate Dragons themselves.
upon the waves, and the docks continue into Faxai, be- A tenth of the resident population have either taken mo-
coming its streets and paths. Every building stands on nastic vows as oblates, or serve a martial order (p. XX)
thick pillars that lift it above the Caul’s soil, for the very that’s come to reclaim the Caul; this lends the local cul-
earth here is sacred, and none tread it lightly. Anything ture a deeply spiritual weight. The majority, however, are
buried in the earth of Faxai will endure beyond time, here for more pragmatic purposes, for all they may kneel
and Imperial decree forbids the interment of both the on the boardwalks when a procession bearing a portable
living and the dead. shrine passes, bells ringing in time with each step and
priests calling out the praises of the Immaculate Dragons.

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Faxai is kept supplied by some of the wealthiest and most Still, the road is well marked with ancient stones that the
exotic Western and Southwestern satrapies and trade Lunar Anathema won’t defile. The forest grows thicker,
networks. As a result, the city frequently has the air of a darker, more foreboding. Just as one might wonder if the
slightly crazed celebration that never ends, even in the Lunars tampered with the road, Garianghis appears.
face of the worst setbacks the Realm has experienced in all
its history in the Caul. For some, it’s because they’ve yet to The buildings are overcome with vines and moss, but
set foot outside the Walled City — for others, it’s the only even as the plants force their way into the cracks be-
way they can keep themselves anchored having done so. tween the stones, they take up its form — a tree becomes
Faxai is a bright, raucous city that never truly sleeps. a brick wall, a weed a paving stone, all flowering and
reaching for the sun that filters into the clearing that
The Walled City’s Caulborn royal family was extin- the city fills. Garianghis is a mélange of natural and ar-
guished by conquering Dynasts long ago, though rumors tificial, and for the supplicant it serves as the border be-
persist of a surviving heir. Now Mayavin Utterdepth, a tween. She’s left Faxai-on-the-Caul, and now she walks
puppet prince from a lesser lineage, rules at the satrap’s her pilgrimage.
bidding. Young and fearful, she dares not defy Faxai’s
satrap or engage in Dynastic politics, spending her days Life in Garianghis
painting impossible landscapes and composing philo- Before the Lunars came, the Realm held Garianghis for
sophical treatises when not acting as a figurehead. centuries, and despite the city’s strangeness a thriving
community dwelled here, supporting trade and the
The Earth Shrine Realm’s presence. Garianghis wasn’t as celebrant a
Alone among all structures in Faxai, the Earth Shrine is town as Faxai, but there was a certain joie de vivre that
built directly upon the soil. The sacred, all-preserving seemed to rise up from the soil, present in each bite of
earth keeps the shrine in perfect condition even in the food, breath of air, and draught of water.
midst of a bustling port city at war, seemingly enduring
out of time. All pilgrimages on the way to Feng-Yi begin Now, Garianghis is all but abandoned. When the
here — a supplicant ritually cleanses herself with oil and Lunars rose up in wake of the legions’ departure, Third
dust before descending the steps into the Earth Shrine, Daughter of the Leaves took Garianghis, and she holds
first of wood and then of ancient, unbowed stone. Once it now for her own, having slain citizens that couldn’t
she crosses the threshold, the true test begins. A sense escape. Her turtlewolves are all she needs, and they
of awe and power fills the supplicant if she’s judged prowl the woods around Garianghis, hunting animals
worthy to undertake the pilgrimage. Should she be and would-be pilgrims seeking to oust her alike while
wanting, she feels nothing. she contents herself with strange rituals that, rumor
has it, are intended to poison the dreams of what few
When she turns to leave, the sun doesn’t shine so high Dragon-Blooded remain in the Caul.
in the sky, or night has fallen, or the season is later
than it was. To the pilgrim, she’s judged in an instant, The Wood Shrine
but those who cautiously observe from the top of the Rising from the center of Garianghis is what seems to
stairway know the truth — it’s been hours, days, even be an enormous tree. But as one approaches and lesser
weeks. Those who are worthy, the earth of Faxai pre- structures fall behind, it becomes clear that this is no
serves. None know how it, or any of the Caul’s other mere tree, but a majestic shrine whose entire structure
shrines pass such judgments, but failure is perilous. has been superseded by plant life. Its many roots do not
Those found unworthy are left to the tender mercies of find purchase in the soil, but coil around the open space
time, without awareness of its passage — whether they of the shrine before coming to rest on the countless ban-
survive or not depends only on how long the earth of yans that uphold the gigantic trunk like so many pillars.
Faxai holds them. In some cases, it even seems to speed This is the Wood Shrine of Garianghis.
time along its course — one infamous case, now legend,
tells of an unworthy pilgrim who rotted away into dust Strictly speaking, a pilgrim may “open the gates” to the
within seconds of setting foot in the Earth Shrine. The Wood Shrine from anywhere in Garianghis, but it’s tradi-
way to Feng-Yi does not open without risk. tional to do it from the shrine’s steps, and history bears out
that those who do so are more often successful. The physi-
Garianghis, The Garden of Dreams cal gates to the Wood Shrine are themselves ever shut tight,
and cannot be opened. In any case, the pilgrim lies down to
As one leaves Faxai-on-the-Caul, the world simultane- rest and falls into a deep sleep, where she begins to dream.
ously opens wide and closes in. The walls are left behind,
The dream is always the same — she is chasing some-
and now it’s the trees that deny the horizon to the traveler.
thing. What it may be, she cannot tell, until she’s able

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to catch it and bring it to ground. Then, and only then, The Fire Shrine
does she see what she’s been pursuing, and has a heart- A squat structure of onyx and obsidian, the Fire Shrine’s
beat to make a choice — does she let her quarry go, or sealed gates hide a stairway that spirals down into an
kill it? If she takes its life, when she rises, the gates will ancient lava tube.It’s tended by an ancient order of
be open. If she doesn’t, they remain shut. Caulborn monks, pledged to burn with Houshou each
night, and return to life each dawn. They believe the
And of those who were successful in their dream-hunt? shrine is a gate to the secrets of life and death, and can
The Wood Shrine demands blood, for nature is red in only be unlocked by the agony of fire. Their religion
tooth and claw. The prey may be a small animal or a great is a separate mystery altogether from the pilgrimage
one, and at times the Wood Shrine makes the dreamer to Feng-Yi, but they offer what wisdom they can to
hunt a person. When the victorious dream-hunter aris- pilgrims.
es, she finds her quarry dead on the shrine’s steps, slain
in precisely the manner she slew it in her dream. The The Fire Shrine’s gates won’t open to any save one who
way to Feng-Yi does not open without a sacrifice. has braved the Pyre of Houshou. A would-be supplicant
must remain behind as any others depart the city, and
Houshou, The Pyre That Consumes Itself when night falls, the flames erupt and consume her.
Even Immaculate Monks walking the path of Hesiesh
One leaves the forest and the hungry Wood Shrine behind, never endure such pain as the city of Houshou demands
journeying north through hill and dale. Wet grasses give of a pilgrim; it burns them down to their very bones,
way to dry shrubbery, and before long Houshou appears and then consumes even those. Many cannot endure the
in the distance. Houshou is a city with two faces. By day, pain, and flee the city screaming for help only to be con-
it seems to be like any other, its buildings erected in the sumed by the flames just outside the gates. While they
humble, simple style common to the Caul, but the very rise once more with the dawn, the gates will not open
moment the sun vanishes below the horizon, it bursts for them. Only by accepting the flames can one become
into flame, consuming itself and sending flames roaring worthy of entry to the Fire Shrine. The way to Feng-Yi
up into the sky. On a clear night, the Pyre of Houshou does not open without surpassing the self.
is visible as far as Faxai-on-the-Caul, a dull and subtle
glow from over the horizon, but to the traveler outside Sekima, The Whisper of Memory
its gates, the flames are almost too intense to behold. The
city burns itself to the ground each night, and each morn- As one leaves the smoke and flame of Houshou behind
ing it stands anew, as though the fire had never been. and ascends the Ghost-Hand Mountains, the air grows
thin and chilly far quicker than it should. The trees give
Life in Houshou way to scrub grasses and shrubs that cling to cracks in
While Houshou has walls, these burn with the city. The the rock, and at last the pilgrim arrives at the place she’s
flames of Houshou consume any permanent structures been told to seek, the city of Sekima, only to find no city
within a mile of the Fire Shrine, and so the Realm for- there. Thin grasses, waving in the near-constant wind,
bade construction within this boundary — thus, the only just hide the scattered remains of foundations of
outer city of Houshou sprang up, a scattered ring of buildings that once stood here, surrounded by a few
newer buildings circling the old, all of sturdy stone and recent villages and a series of pillars draped in pale,
fireproof tile. The inhabitants of inner Houshou were ragged banners. In the winter, snowfall will hide them
never many in number, and at dusk they forsook the further under gentle inches of pure white. The city of
city, the population streaming out through the gates as Sekima was destroyed long ago, and nothing, not even
bells tolled out the coming night hours ahead of time. the sacred Air Shrine, remains.

The legions’ earthworks now smashed by the ferocity of For all this, the pilgrim can remember the city as it once
the invading Lunars, the outer city stands largely emp- was in perfect detail, so vividly that she can walk down
ty. What few Realm citizens remain are held in thrall or what once the high street and smell the scent of cooking
hunted for sport by the terrifying Skathra Venomchild, meat and pastries, hear the laughter of children and the
who dwells in the inner city by day and by night. In quiet chatter of friends and neighbors. She remembers
mockery of Hesiesh, Skathra paints each of their scales conversations with these people that she’s never had,
to resemble a single flame and dances in the light of homes she’s slept in that crumbled ages before her
Houshou’s Pyre, cackling and howling as they flirt with birth. It’s impossible to forget the city of Sekima once
the all-consuming fire, darting in and out of the city even one has trod upon its sacred earth, even without ever
as it burns. Even the other Lunars of the Caul, monstrous seeing the city as it was.
and puissant though they are, find Skathra unsettling.

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Life in Sekima hawkfolk flocking around the mountain peaks surround-

The Memory of Sekima is powerful and vivid, such that ing Sekima and eagerly awaiting Dynastic travelers. Any
even though a pilgrim may, to the outside observer, be who approach the city now must deal with them, for
eating nothing but empty air as she wanders through their mistress doesn’t suffer the hated Dragon-Blooded
a wasteland, she’ll nonetheless be nourished by the disturbing what’s hers and hers alone, and they’ll fight
meal she remembers. A fire that guttered and died eagerly for the hope of gaining her favor.
in the ancient past will still warm her in the chill of
Sekima’s night. When the Realm held the city, a Hearth The Air Shrine
of Immaculate monks dwelt full-time within, sitting in a How does one enter a building that no longer exists?
circle on the cold ground while remembering their time This riddle sits at the heart of the pilgrimage to Sekima,
in a monastery that crumbled to dust ages ago. a koan that must be understood before the Air Shrine’s
gates will open. The city lives on in memory, perfectly
Centuries ago, the legions constructed great pillars of inscribed into the mind of anyone who has stood upon
stone around the city’s circumference, hung with sim- the ground where it once was. Though the bustling, rau-
ple banners of white silk, to mark the boundary and pre- cous city may seem nothing but a strange miracle and a
vent the unwary from being enmeshed in a memory not distraction from one’s true purpose, these memories are
their own. Outside these pillars, they raised settlements in fact the key to progressing on one’s pilgrimage.
around it much in the manner of Houshou, far below.
Here the legions and the local population lived, ever The Memory of Sekima is such that one can interact
mindful of the gaping hole that tugged at their thoughts. with it, remembering conversations as they take place.
The old walls of the legions’ fortresses still stand, a re- The pilgrim speaks at once with the empty air and
minder of the days when the Realm held Sekima — for- with an innkeeper, and she remembers taking a room
tresses that offered them no protection from the sky. as any traveler might. She remembers meeting a lovely
person in a teahouse that’s now little more than scat-
Sandswept Garda-Empress, a Lunar who wears the tered stones, conversing with that person for hours,
shape of a titanic raptor, has claimed the city, her and walking home with them that evening. With a little

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effort, an entire life in Sekima begins to unfold within due to the city’s indefensibility — it has no walls, and
the pilgrim’s mind as she acts out its particulars, comes archers taking advantage of the tall towers quickly find
to know the locals, and, in time, finds her way to the themselves stranded with no hope of escape.
sacred Air Shrine, where she petitions for entry. Such
a petition isn’t always granted by the Caulborn monks But there’s another reason few choose to live in
within the memory, but the greater ties one has with the Melilune: It’s simply too strange. The first of Melilune’s
community, the more likely they are to look on a request secrets isn’t difficult to intuit: By day, the skies reflect-
favorably. ed in the water’s surface twinkle with starlight, and
by night brightly lit clouds play in the reflected sky, all
After a journey to Sekima, many take up an artistic while reflections go about their lives — some without
pursuit, the better to craft representations of the city any visible source, others cast by those standing atop the
so indelibly carved into their minds. Yet, no matter how mirror-flat surface of Melilune’s lake-streets. More un-
many are made, one difference persists — no one ever settling is the fact that the reflections differ from those
renders their perfectly remembered Air Shrine quite who cast them, sometimes in significant and disturbing
the same. The way to Feng-Yi does not open without ways, and few can long bear the sight of it.
remembrance.
The Water Shrine
Melilune, the Reflection of the Self Melilune is not one city, but two, one reflected by sun-
light and one by moonlight, that become one only when
Crossing the Ghost-Hand Mountains at the pass of both of those light sources are extinguished — in other
Sekima, the pilgrim now descends onto the western words, at the new moon or during an eclipse. For these
slope, past streams that coalesce into ponds, which feed brief moments, it’s possible to approach the Water
great rivers that pour into an enormous freshwater lake. Shrine, but though the steps are rendered solid, the way
Here, the stories say, is Melilune, and tall, beautifully remains barred. The pilgrim’s own reflection stands
worked spires gleaming with opal and pearl indeed rise before the gate, stepping out from the glass-smooth sur-
from the lake, reaching into the sky. As one draws closer, face of the waterfall that pours over the shrine’s outer
it becomes clear; the lake is but a few inches deep, leav- pavilion, and will not move aside. In her reflection, the
ing an undisturbed surface that acts as a perfect mirror, pilgrim faces her own self laid bare, a study in contrast,
which echoes the graceful towers down into vertigo-fu- for at some point in the pilgrim’s past, she came to a
eled infinity. decision that affected the rest of her life — and in that
moment, her reflection made a very different decision.
The water of Melilune is, despite what one might expect,
nothing but pure, clean stream water, still cold from the To pass, the pilgrim must intuit that pivotal moment, be it
glacial runoff that feeds it. It has no unusual properties, through conversation, contests, or even battle — for here,
though vials of it fetch unheard-of prices from collec- on the Water Shrine’s steps, her reflection is as real as she
tors of relics. Beneath the shimmering surface are great is. Many pilgrimages end here, either for the pilgrim’s
wells that suck excess water into underground chan- inability to face herself, or because she and her reflection
nels, ancient magic and artifice perfectly regulating the come to blows and, in the struggle, she is slain.
flow that carries the water to a spring a few miles dis-
tant, from whence it flows into the sea. Water Aspects But understanding isn’t enough, for the pilgrim must also
on pilgrimage have plumbed these depths, but there are accept the choice her reflection made, the reality that,
no answers to be found in the caves beneath Melilune. had she chosen thus, she would be the reflection. When
this moment of acceptance dawns — when, like Melilune,
The Water Shrine is an enigma beyond enigmas, for the two become one — the reflected self vanishes, and
though it appears solid, carved of a single enormous piece the doors to the Water Shrine open. When the pilgrim
of lapis lazuli, its form wavers and ripples when touched, returns from within, she casts no reflection, not in the
and objects pass through as though it’s not there — what sacred waters of Melilune nor in any other surface.
seems real and solid is only the Water Shrine’s reflection.
A majestic waterfall descends from its heights, cascading And what of the other self, the absent reflection of a life
over its walls; this waterfall has no source that can be not lived? No known sorcery can coax the pilgrim’s re-
found, nor does it raise the level of the lake’s water. flection, identical or otherwise, back into existence, and
the weight of understanding the different decision is
Life in Melilune bested only by the weight of never knowing what might
Throughout the Realm’s tenure in the Caul, Melilune have been had she made it herself, for the way to Feng-
has never hosted a large population. This is partially Yi does not open without a question unanswered.

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Feng-Yi, the Last City

BEYOND THE SHRINE CITIES
The journey’s end can be seen in the gates of Feng-Yi. A
humble city, long uninhabited, it nonetheless possess- Realm expansion has been thwarted by the Caul’s
es a profound serenity in its simple architecture. Here difficult terrain — high mountains, jagged green
is something ancient and lost, and something that has hills, dense jungles, treacherous marshes, and
not yet come. Many have come to Feng-Yi, only to find reptile-haunted pampas. Caulborn clans are far
abandoned buildings overgrown with vines and toppled better suited to battle here than the Realm’s le-
statues without faces. The true way to Feng-Yi can only gions, such as the toadfolk of Guchol, who drag
be walked by a pilgrim who’s passed through the five their foes beneath the waters of their swamps
shrines, and opens only when the stars and seasons are to drown, or the warriors of Caligo, who hurl ar-
right, and all five shrine cities are held by the same mas- rows and javelins from howdahs mounted atop the
ters. Sometimes the way has remained closed for years shoulders of colossal apes.
at a time; at others, it has reopened mere hours after a
In addition to Caulborn and Lunars, the Caul is
pilgrimage’s end. Until it opens, pilgrims wait on Feng- home to all manner of inhabitants. Wild beasts
Yi’s outskirts. haunt jungle, hill, and plain. Fair Folk princes’ free-
holds sparkle on mountain peaks. Demons crawl
The way to Feng-Yi is not a door. The pilgrim under- into the world through the liminal boundaries of the
stands this, for she’s tempered her soul with the trials Caul’s shores. And elementals and forgotten gods
of her passage through the Caul. The way to Feng-Yi is hold court deep beneath the earth.
a road, for Feng-Yi has not yet come. The way to Feng-
Yi is a map that shows the path to what once was, for
Feng-Yi is unspeakably old. The pilgrim possesses the
way to Feng-Yi within her heart, but it’s only when she winds die, the remembered city is real again, in the rush
passes through the Last City’s gates that the truth be- of dust and debris. But only for a heartbeat.
comes clear to her. She walks, calm and sure, through
the streets, approaching the tall doors of the Shrine of In Melilune, the floodgates open, and the lake is pulled,
Feng-Yi, which open at her passage. churning, into the caverns below. It will take a day to fill
once more, the water flowing in through the channels
In Faxai-on-the-Caul, the earth breaks its long vigil and and cracks and giving rise to a strange music that many
dances, rolling and shifting like the sea it stands beside. strive to recreate, but never do.
The city on stilts trembles for a moment, tossed like
foam on the sea, and the inhabitants are reminded how When the pilgrim reemerges, she carries something sa-
fragile and ephemeral the world is. They rebuild what cred about her, something that even the casual observer
has been lost nonetheless. can easily see. Her very person seems inviolable, her
voice ringing with the deep mystery of the Caul. Her next
In Garianghis, all residents fall into a deep sleep, dream- child will bear the Dragons’ blessing — she knows this
ing strange, green dreams they cannot articulate. When as she knows herself, for the way to Feng-Yi has opened
they awaken, five sleepers have vanished without trace, within her heart, and she will never again be as she was.
while five young, healthy trees have appeared in the
grove surrounding the Wood Shrine. Some say that Enemies Ancient and Powerful
those who vanish are reborn as the pilgrims’ children,
finding enlightenment as Dragon-Blooded. This may be The Lunars of the Caul, who dwell in wild cities of
true. beastfolk and revere pristine demesnes, have long strug-
gled to rid the sacred continent of the Dragon-Blooded.
In Houshou, fire rains from the sky, but nothing is Historically, they know that they and their beastfolk
burned. The flame is cool, slippery to the touch, and cannot stand against the might of the Realm’s legions,
doesn’t consume itself, but evaporates in the day like and to do so would be folly. Therefore, the Lunar war ef-
water after rain. Relic hunters prize this liquid flame, fort in the Caul combines asymmetric raiding and open
and it fetches an unheard-of price from sorcerers and warfare. Only rarely do they send great forces against
the faithful alike. walled cities, when they believe there’s advantage to be
gained from doing so. Rather, they interdict supply car-
In Sekima, a terrible gale descends, and those present avans and merchant convoys, hunt traveling Dynasts,
must take cover against the storm. Then, with equal and raise vast armies of beastfolk to unleash at the right
suddenness, the winds die down, and the air is calm as moment. There has never been a stand-up fight against
it never is in the mountain pass. For a heartbeat, as the

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the Realm’s undivided strength in the history of the war tall as a man at the shoulder and fast as a horse at a gallop
for the Caul, which vexes the legions stationed here to — prowl forest and waves alike, picking off those foolish
no end. enough to walk outside the Realm’s walls.

Sha’a Oka, the Black Lion It is she who took Garianghis, she who marshaled every
Sha’a Oka is dead. He died when the Caul sank beneath living turtlewolf and set them against the legions there,
him into chaos. He died when the Caul returned, slain and she who summoned the demon Kurunnu, the Flesh
by the jade daiklaves of the Realm. He died when he led Dirge, who bathed in Exalted blood and sang gleefully,
an army against Garianghis, taking hundreds with him loud enough to be heard in Faxai. Paradoxically, the rest
before an Immaculate follower of Sextes Jylis sacrificed of the Caul is safer now than it once was; her wolftur-
himself to put the monster down. Sha’a Oka is dead. tles stick close to the city now, guarding it in their dark
mother’s name, while she sleeps and dreams.
Sha’a Oka lives. Every tale of his death is exaggeration,
falsehood, or misunderstanding, for more than any of his Skathra Venomchild
Lunar kin the Black Lion has a talent for feigning his death Skathra dances with death to prove they are immortal.
and surviving the impossible. His adherents call him His They do not burn in the flames of Houshou — behold
Divine Lunar Presence. The sense that Sha’a Oka stands the flesh that knows not how to die! They’re set upon by
beside them, even when he goes into seclusion to prepare a wild beasts and devoured, yet do not perish — behold the
massive attack, is more than just faith in him, and it drives wounds that heal themselves! They shed no blood upon
them ever onward, reminding them at all times of the law the spears of the Dragon-Blooded — behold the scales
of the Caul — if you dwell here, you fight the Realm. All invincible! Their soul is not degraded by the depreda-
those who come to the Caul, from ancient elders to the tions of the raksha — behold the nightmare that teaches
rawest of the recently Exalted, uphold this rule, for though the fae to fear! Skathra laughs at all these, knowing that
he’s not among the eldest, none can gainsay his greatness. Luna’s blessing is also a well-told joke upon the world.

When Sha’a Oka begins to move, it’s like nothing else in The Venomchild kills at will with the poison of ten thou-
Creation. For some days prior, there come great roars sand beasts, with the moonsilver edge of their grimc-
from the hills — yet no hawkfolk can find their source. leaver, with bare hands that crush bone and strangle
The rivers reverse their flow, drawing brackish water up dragons. The Venomchild enthralls and beguiles, their
their great lengths for a day before relaxing and letting it skin slick with psychedelic toxin, their comely features
rush out to sea in a torrent. The whole of the Caul seems borrowed from countless lovers, their eyes piercing the
to quake with his passage, and then, he and an army of best-guarded hearts. Skathra doesn’t rage against the
lionfolk rise to batter down the walls of the Realm’s for- Realm as their brethren do, but they freely share their
tresses. Many times, some hero of the Realm has claimed gifts of madness and violence with the Dragon-Blooded,
to have slain the Black Lion, but ever he rises again. Each and that will suffice for the Silver Pact.
time, the call goes up: Sha’a Oka is dead. Sha’a Oka lives.
Sandswept Garda-Empress
Third Daughter of the Leaves, Few think to look up when they search for danger, but those
the Stone-and-Flesh Witch who’ve been stationed in the Caul for any length of time
When the shadows grow long, Third Daughter listens. When have learned better, scanning clouds fearfully for flocks
the rains fall, Third Daughter listens. When Calibration of hawkfolk — or worse, their mother, who has snatched
comes, or the moon swallows the sun, Third Daughter lis- up siege engines in her claws and carried them off. This is
tens. What she hears, only she knows, but her enemies fear Sandswept Garda-Empress, a hawk whose wings birth a
that she hears all. They’re not far from the truth. storm with every beat, whose claws pierce jade, whose cry
deafens. It’s she who seized Sekima from the Realm, she
Her rage is so cold as to be mistaken for serenity, born of who roosts there, she who grows restless and takes flight
memories of the death of her Solar love in a past incarna- to hunt the Dragon-Blooded and their lackeys.
tion. Third Daughter won’t forgive Heaven or the Realm
until the suffering meted out to the Dragon-Blooded Though few know it, Sandswept Garda-Empress is the
and the Sidereals equals that which they inflicted in the last of a dead people from the far South, obliterated by
Usurpation. Third Daughter has plagued the Realm’s forc- the Imperial legions for being insufficiently generous in
es in the Caul for centuries, summoning great storms to tribute. It was her survival that caught Luna’s eye, her
send against their ships, calling forth unheard-of numbers thirst for revenge that empowered her to destroy those
of elementals to her service as shock troops, and even turn- who orphaned her. She won’t be satisfied until she’s de-
ing loyal legionnaires against their comrades with wicked stroyed the Realm’s very nest, but first, she will break
trickery. Her turtlewolves — armor-plated pack hunters as their spirit here, in the Caul.

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Lintha Haquen Fia-Shaw Flowers consolidate power in the Caul, necessitating frequent
Unbending in the Storm compromises with the war effort’s other leaders.
The enclave of Lintha who dwell in Asura, on the south- Faxai’s garrison leader is Ledaal Deja, a zealous devo-
ern coast, have long been a thorn in the Realm’s side. The tee of both the Immaculate Philosophy and her house’s
Imperial Navy has many times attempted to blockade the Shadow Crusade who publicly rails against the other
port, but misty waters with sharp outcroppings of rock houses’ failure to support the Caul. Deja nominally
lurking within have stymied every attempt, for only the shares command of the crusade’s armies with strategos
Lintha know their secret routes and witch-ways. What Cathak Nejara Rin, but the Empress’ disappearance
the Realm doesn’t know is this is no mere pirate port, for and the looming specter of civil war on the Blessed Isle
these Lintha are a weapon wielded by a Lunar sprung have reduced Rin’s forces to scarcely anything, as the
from among their own — Flowers Unbending in the houses recall their soldiers and paramilitaries. The hol-
Storm, who stalks the coastal waters as a bloody-jawed low shell of her army now serves only to maintain the
siaka, guiding her cousins to ships that stray from con- lie that the Realm has not given up on the Caul entire-
voys. Few who fled the Lunars’ onslaught five years ago ly; it cannot coordinate the flow of goods and materiel
from the Caul’s southern shore survived, the Lintha fall- as it once did. This power vacuum has given hyparch
ing upon the refugee fleet en masse, Fia-Shaw herself de- Mnemon Torala the perfect excuse to absorb more and
vouring dozens. She could hold Melilune, if she wished, more of the strategos’ traditional authority through her
but there’s far more prey at sea, and she is ever hungry. close ties to Faxai’s martial orders, though she has little
experience with directing such vast quantities of des-
Withdrawal and Reorganization perately needed supplies. Deja is happy to undercut the
house loyalist Rin by working with Torala, seeing it as a
With the Imperial legions dismembered and the Great pragmatic necessity for securing the Caul’s future.
Houses bringing every asset they can home to the
Unable to rely on Lanusa or Deja for support and with few
Blessed Isle, it’s no surprise that the Lunars were able
assistants, Rin is in the unenviable position of defending
to overwhelm the Realm’s forces, driving them all the
Faxai with the disparate elements of martial orders, house
way back to Faxai’s sacred walls. Refugees from the oth-
militias, and the few veterans who remain, trying to weld
er cities — those who survived the initial assault and the
together a stable social order while resisting Torala’s
long flight to Faxai — squat in barely seaworthy ships
efforts to bring the garrison commander under her influ-
moored to the long, sprawling docks of Faxai, or else in
ence. The political game isn’t Rin’s chosen vocation — it’s
the rapidly growing shantytown just outside the city’s
why she stayed with the legions well into her sixteenth de-
walls. Citizens of the Realm able to arrange passage
cade before accepting the position of strategos — but she
leave the Caul day by day, a steady stream of the best
has no choice. Common purpose must be maintained, no
and brightest the crusade has to offer.
matter the cost, or Faxai will surely fall.
The War Effort
Turnabout and Recrimination
Faxai has ever been the headquarters of the Realm’s war
There’s still great anger over the withdrawal, especial-
effort in the Caul. While the satrap and the garrison com-
ly within the Immaculate Order and the more pious
mander play a vital role in coordinating military endeav-
quarters of the Dynasty, and violence has already been
ors, they alone cannot oversee the continent-spanning
done. Though garrison troops clamp down on any seri-
crusade. They share that duty with the Harmoniously
ous social unrest, a murder here or there is easy enough
Guided Strategos and the Most Serene Hyparch, twin
to miss amidst rising tensions. Sooner or later, though,
officials appointed by the Empress’ hand. The strategos
someone important will fall to this brewing storm, and
oversees all military operations outside of Faxai’s satrapial
Faxai’s guardians will turn against each other, leaving
boundaries, coordinating with the satrapy’s garrison com-
its walls vulnerable.
mander and the hyparch to manage their combined forces.
The hyparch provides spiritual guidance to the Realm’s Of the Caul and the Future
assembled forces on the Caul, administers the Caul’s mar-
With outcastes streaming into Faxai, there’s hope for
tial orders within Faxai, and liaises with the Immaculate
the Realm. Faxai can rely on what it has and nothing
Order. If these four figures were at loggerheads at times
more, but every outcaste weights the scales just a little
— or constantly — it only displayed their fervor for retak-
in the Realm’s favor — even as they begin to outnumber
ing the Caul. This balance of power has held, with the
Dynasts. There are religious celebrations seemingly ev-
Empress’ careful hand guiding it, through the present day.
ery night in Faxai as an eschatological fever grips the
The current satrap of Faxai is V’neef Lanusa, though population — they’ll either crush the Lunars, or die try-
her house lacks the numbers for her to effectively ing. There are no longer any other options.

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And if they die — if the Lunars descend as one upon Faxai, But if the crusaders are successful? They owe allegiance to
Sha’a Oka leading them at the head of an army of lionfolk no house, the Empress is gone, the Deliberative is a band
— then the Caul will become a bastion for their wider war of impious cowards, and the Dynasty pulling their strings
against the Realm, its sacred power turned to the Anathemas’ is venal and unworthy. No, if the Dragon-Blooded are to be
ends. One isle will have fallen before them — surely another, saved, and Creation with them, a new Realm must be born,
much more important one won’t be far behind. upon the Caul’s sacred ground. This hope already flickers
within a few hearts in Faxai, the dimmest of embers in a
dying fire, but it may yet be kindled to greatness.

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