Exalted - Unofficial Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:The Ghost/TheHierarchyofSouls

2015-06-19T01:30:59Z

The Ghost: /* Unknown */

= Warning! =

Most though not all content on this page is NON-CANON. Not only that but the segments which are not are unmarked. You should probably consult with your storyteller before using ANYTHING you read here in your own games. If on the other hand you are playing in one of MY games you should probably consider EVERYTHING you read here canon.

It must also be noted that this project will not be complete all at once: for now I am working on filling in the details of the canonical items on this list, then I will start adding to the other segments.

You have been Warned.

If you are lucky enough to BE an ST and have stumbled upon this page, grab what you like and use it, just be sure to leave a note to that effect on the talk page: because it makes me feel all glowy to know someone liked my stuff enough to use it and encourages me to continue the project.

= A Note On Format =

This page is organized as follows: first are the names of the Yozi, each under a main header like this one, then each sub heading under them is one step down their soul hierarchy, like so:

== Third Circle Soul/Unquestionable ==

This will be the headings for all the souls of the Yozi for which we will assume that the majority of them have no more than 18. The only exceptions to this rule will be Malfias and the Ebon Dragon, who will have 21 and 19 respectively: and many others will have considerably less, though none as few as Autochthon, with only Nine.

=== Second Circle Souls ===

Each Unquestionable will have entries for each of it's second circle souls, of which there are exactly seven, who will be listed in this order:

Defining/Fetch

Protecting/Warden

Gratifying/Indulgent

Communicating/Messenger

Expressive/Artistic

Reflective/Meditating

Understanding/Wisdom

==== First Circle Progeny ====

Lastly, filed under still a fourth layer of sub heading we will have the first circle progeny of each second circle soul.

== Further Note On Format ==

With each heading and sub heading will come a brief blurb and a link to the page for that soul or type of demon. The blurb will try to give you the 'in a nut shell' info on the soul or breed, but if you really want to know what they are about go check out their individual pages.

On with the Show!

= Malfias, The Demon City, Prison of the Yozi =

== Ligier, the Green Sun, Fetich of the Demon City ==

=== Sondok, She-Who-Stands-in-Doorways ===
Protecting/Warden

==== Erymanthus, the Blood-Ape ====

=== Berengiere, the Weaver of Voices ===
Gratifying/Indulgent

==== Neomah, the Makers of Flesh ====

==== Passion Moray ====

=== Gervesin, the Grieving Lord ===
Communicating/Messenger

==== Decanthrope ====

==== Metody, the Malfean Elemental ====

= Ceclyne, the Endless Desert =

== Orabilis, the End of All Wisdom ==
Sixth Soul of Ceclyne

=== Lucien, the Guardian of Sleep ===

Expressive

==== Gilmyne, the Dancer at the Saigoth Gates ====

==== Perronele, the Living Armor ====

=== Florivet, the Whim-of-the-Wind ===

Reflective

==== Agata, the Beauteous Wasp ====

= She Who Lives In Her Name =

== Munaxes, the Ravine of Whispers ==

Fourth Soul of She Who Lives in Her Name

=== Unknown ===

Protecting/Warden

==== Orb Spider, AKA 'Common', Anuhles ====

=== Octavian, the Living Tower ===

Defining

==== Luminita, the Deer That Hunts Men ====

==== Tomescu, the Clamorous Cloud Arsenal ====

=== Stanewald, She Who Surmounted the Omphalos ===

Reflective

= Adorjan, the Silent Wind =

== Jacint, the Prince Upon the Tower ==

the Eighteenth Soul of Adorjan

=== Zsofika, the Kite Flute ===

Communicating/Messenger

==== Angyalka, the Harpist ====

==== Teodozji, the Lion Sent Into the World ====

=== Gumela, the Jeweled Auditor ===

Understanding/Wisdom

==== Amphelisia, the Teakettle Courtier ====

==== Hopping Puppeteer ====

= The Ebon Dragon AKA TED =

== Erembour, That Which Calls to the Shadows ==

=== Makarios, the Sigil's Dreamer ===

Protecting/Warden

==== Chrysogona, the Crying Woman ====

=== Alveua, the Keeper of the Forge of Night ===

Expressive

==== Firmin, the Needlemaker ====

==== Sesselja, the Stomach Bottle Bug ====

=== Mara, Shadow-Lover, Eater of Souls ===

Reflective

==== Bisclavarets ====

=== Gorgiomiria ===

Understanding/Wisdom

== Phylimondrius, Prince of Insufficient Light ==

=== Phylomina, the black Phoenix. ===

Warrior soul of Phylomondrius.

==== Eristrufa ====

= Cytherea, the Mother of Creation =

== Unknown ==

=== Unknown ===

Defining

==== Founder ====

= Kimbery, the Sea That Marched Against the Flame =

= Isidoros, the Black Boar That Twists the Skies =

= Oramus, the Dragon Beyond the World =

= Elloge =

= Hegra =

= Metagaos =

= Qaf =

= Sacheverell =

= Szoreny =

User:The Ghost/TheHierarchyofSouls

2015-06-18T18:52:11Z

The Ghost: /* Luminita, the Deer That Hunts the Man */

= Warning! =

Most though not all content on this page is NON-CANON. Not only that but the segments which are not are unmarked. You should probably consult with your storyteller before using ANYTHING you read here in your own games. If on the other hand you are playing in one of MY games you should probably consider EVERYTHING you read here canon.

It must also be noted that this project will not be complete all at once: for now I am working on filling in the details of the canonical items on this list, then I will start adding to the other segments.

You have been Warned.

If you are lucky enough to BE an ST and have stumbled upon this page, grab what you like and use it, just be sure to leave a note to that effect on the talk page: because it makes me feel all glowy to know someone liked my stuff enough to use it and encourages me to continue the project.

= A Note On Format =

This page is organized as follows: first are the names of the Yozi, each under a main header like this one, then each sub heading under them is one step down their soul hierarchy, like so:

== Third Circle Soul/Unquestionable ==

This will be the headings for all the souls of the Yozi for which we will assume that the majority of them have no more than 18. The only exceptions to this rule will be Malfias and the Ebon Dragon, who will have 21 and 19 respectively: and many others will have considerably less, though none as few as Autochthon, with only Nine.

=== Second Circle Souls ===

Each Unquestionable will have entries for each of it's second circle souls, of which there are exactly seven, who will be listed in this order:

Defining/Fetch

Protecting/Warden

Gratifying/Indulgent

Communicating/Messenger

Expressive/Artistic

Reflective/Meditating

Understanding/Wisdom

==== First Circle Progeny ====

Lastly, filed under still a fourth layer of sub heading we will have the first circle progeny of each second circle soul.

== Further Note On Format ==

With each heading and sub heading will come a brief blurb and a link to the page for that soul or type of demon. The blurb will try to give you the 'in a nut shell' info on the soul or breed, but if you really want to know what they are about go check out their individual pages.

On with the Show!

= Malfias, The Demon City, Prison of the Yozi =

== Ligier, the Green Sun, Fetich of the Demon City ==

=== Sondok, She-Who-Stands-in-Doorways ===
Protecting/Warden

==== Erymanthus, the Blood-Ape ====

=== Berengiere, the Weaver of Voices ===
Gratifying/Indulgent

==== Neomah, the Makers of Flesh ====

==== Passion Moray ====

=== Gervesin, the Grieving Lord ===
Communicating/Messenger

==== Decanthrope ====

==== Metody, the Malfean Elemental ====

= Ceclyne, the Endless Desert =

== Orabilis, the End of All Wisdom ==
Sixth Soul of Ceclyne

=== Lucien, the Guardian of Sleep ===

Expressive

==== Gilmyne, the Dancer at the Saigoth Gates ====

==== Perronele, the Living Armor ====

=== Florivet, the Whim-of-the-Wind ===

Reflective

==== Agata, the Beauteous Wasp ====

= She Who Lives In Her Name =

== Munaxes, the Ravine of Whispers ==

Fourth Soul of She Who Lives in Her Name

=== Unknown ===

Protecting/Warden

==== Orb Spider, AKA 'Common', Anuhles ====

=== Octavian, the Living Tower ===

Defining

==== Luminita, the Deer That Hunts Men ====

==== Tomescu, the Clamorous Cloud Arsenal ====

=== Stanewald, She Who Surmounted the Omphalos ===

Reflective

= Adorjan, the Silent Wind =

== Jacint, the Prince Upon the Tower ==

the Eighteenth Soul of Adorjan

=== Zsofika, the Kite Flute ===

Communicating/Messenger

==== Angyalka, the Harpist ====

==== Teodozji, the Lion Sent Into the World ====

=== Gumela, the Jeweled Auditor ===

Understanding/Wisdom

==== Amphelisia, the Teakettle Courtier ====

==== Hopping Puppeteer ====

= The Ebon Dragon AKA TED =

== Erembour, That Which Calls to the Shadows ==

=== Makarios, the Sigil's Dreamer ===

Protecting/Warden

==== Chrysogona, the Crying Woman ====

=== Alveua, the Keeper of the Forge of Night ===

Expressive

==== Firmin, the Needlemaker ====

==== Sesselja, the Stomach Bottle Bug ====

=== Mara, Shadow-Lover, Eater of Souls ===

Reflective

==== Bisclavarets ====

=== Gorgiomiria ===

Understanding/Wisdom

== Unknown ==

=== Unknown ===

Expressive

==== Eristrufa ====

= Cytherea, the Mother of Creation =

== Unknown ==

=== Unknown ===

Defining

==== Founder ====

= Kimbery, the Sea That Marched Against the Flame =

= Isidoros, the Black Boar That Twists the Skies =

= Oramus, the Dragon Beyond the World =

= Elloge =

= Hegra =

= Metagaos =

= Qaf =

= Sacheverell =

= Szoreny =

User:The Ghost/TheHierarchyofSouls

2015-06-17T13:05:46Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

= Warning! =

Most though not all content on this page is NON-CANON. Not only that but the segments which are not are unmarked. You should probably consult with your storyteller before using ANYTHING you read here in your own games. If on the other hand you are playing in one of MY games you should probably consider EVERYTHING you read here canon.

It must also be noted that this project will not be complete all at once: for now I am working on filling in the details of the canonical items on this list, then I will start adding to the other segments.

You have been Warned.

If you are lucky enough to BE an ST and have stumbled upon this page, grab what you like and use it, just be sure to leave a note to that effect on the talk page: because it makes me feel all glowy to know someone liked my stuff enough to use it and encourages me to continue the project.

= A Note On Format =

This page is organized as follows: first are the names of the Yozi, each under a main header like this one, then each sub heading under them is one step down their soul hierarchy, like so:

== Third Circle Soul/Unquestionable ==

This will be the headings for all the souls of the Yozi for which we will assume that the majority of them have no more than 18. The only exceptions to this rule will be Malfias and the Ebon Dragon, who will have 21 and 19 respectively: and many others will have considerably less, though none as few as Autochthon, with only Nine.

=== Second Circle Souls ===

Each Unquestionable will have entries for each of it's second circle souls, of which there are exactly seven, who will be listed in this order:

Defining/Fetch

Protecting/Warden

Gratifying/Indulgent

Communicating/Messenger

Expressive/Artistic

Reflective/Meditating

Understanding/Wisdom

==== First Circle Progeny ====

Lastly, filed under still a fourth layer of sub heading we will have the first circle progeny of each second circle soul.

== Further Note On Format ==

With each heading and sub heading will come a brief blurb and a link to the page for that soul or type of demon. The blurb will try to give you the 'in a nut shell' info on the soul or breed, but if you really want to know what they are about go check out their individual pages.

On with the Show!

= Malfias, The Demon City, Prison of the Yozi =

== Ligier, the Green Sun, Fetich of the Demon City ==

=== Sondok, She-Who-Stands-in-Doorways ===
Protecting/Warden

==== Erymanthus, the Blood-Ape ====

=== Berengiere, the Weaver of Voices ===
Gratifying/Indulgent

==== Neomah, the Makers of Flesh ====

==== Passion Moray ====

=== Gervesin, the Grieving Lord ===
Communicating/Messenger

==== Decanthrope ====

==== Metody, the Malfean Elemental ====

= Ceclyne, the Endless Desert =

== Orabilis, the End of All Wisdom ==
Sixth Soul of Ceclyne

=== Lucien, the Guardian of Sleep ===

Expressive

==== Gilmyne, the Dancer at the Saigoth Gates ====

==== Perronele, the Living Armor ====

=== Florivet, the Whim-of-the-Wind ===

Reflective

==== Agata, the Beauteous Wasp ====

= She Who Lives In Her Name =

== Munaxes, the Ravine of Whispers ==

Fourth Soul of She Who Lives in Her Name

=== Unknown ===

Protecting/Warden

==== Orb Spider, AKA 'Common', Anuhles ====

=== Octavian, the Living Tower ===

Defining

==== Luminita, the Deer That Hunts the Man ====

==== Tomescu, the Clamorous Cloud Arsenal ====

=== Stanewald, She Who Surmounted the Omphalos ===

Reflective

= Adorjan, the Silent Wind =

== Jacint, the Prince Upon the Tower ==

the Eighteenth Soul of Adorjan

=== Zsofika, the Kite Flute ===

Communicating/Messenger

==== Angyalka, the Harpist ====

==== Teodozji, the Lion Sent Into the World ====

=== Gumela, the Jeweled Auditor ===

Understanding/Wisdom

==== Amphelisia, the Teakettle Courtier ====

==== Hopping Puppeteer ====

= The Ebon Dragon AKA TED =

== Erembour, That Which Calls to the Shadows ==

=== Makarios, the Sigil's Dreamer ===

Protecting/Warden

==== Chrysogona, the Crying Woman ====

=== Alveua, the Keeper of the Forge of Night ===

Expressive

==== Firmin, the Needlemaker ====

==== Sesselja, the Stomach Bottle Bug ====

=== Mara, Shadow-Lover, Eater of Souls ===

Reflective

==== Bisclavarets ====

=== Gorgiomiria ===

Understanding/Wisdom

== Unknown ==

=== Unknown ===

Expressive

==== Eristrufa ====

= Cytherea, the Mother of Creation =

== Unknown ==

=== Unknown ===

Defining

==== Founder ====

= Kimbery, the Sea That Marched Against the Flame =

= Isidoros, the Black Boar That Twists the Skies =

= Oramus, the Dragon Beyond the World =

= Elloge =

= Hegra =

= Metagaos =

= Qaf =

= Sacheverell =

= Szoreny =

User:The Ghost

2015-06-17T11:24:01Z

The Ghost: /* Demon/Yozi */

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

== NPC Creation Guidelines ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top|Top Page]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Top|Attributes]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Abilities]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Virtues/Top|Virtues]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Backgrounds/Top|Backgrounds]]

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solar/AsterSnow|Aster Snow]]

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon/Yozi ===

[[User:The_Ghost/TheHierarchyofSouls|The Hierarchy of Souls]]

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

User:The Ghost

2015-06-17T11:23:18Z

The Ghost: /* Demon */

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

== NPC Creation Guidelines ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top|Top Page]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Top|Attributes]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Abilities]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Virtues/Top|Virtues]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Backgrounds/Top|Backgrounds]]

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solar/AsterSnow|Aster Snow]]

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon/Yozi ===

[[User:The_Ghost/TheHierarchyofSouls]]

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

CreationTimeline

2015-01-23T18:47:22Z

The Ghost: /* RY 768 */

This is a consolidated timeline of the events in Creation, as best we can figure out. All years are by the Realm calendar.

== The Prehistoric Age ==

All time before the end of the Primordial War is considered "before history". ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pp. 10-11).

* [[DragonKings]] rule most of Creation, except the West, where they constantly clash with the [[Lintha]].
* [[Jadeborn]] created.

=== Year 0 (very roughly RY -4,500) ===

* Primordials surrender during Calibration.
* Four Primordials remain free: [[Gaia]], [[Autochthon]] and two others.
* [[SheWhoLivesInHerName]] burns away "nine out of every 10 important things" in the instants before her imprisonment.

== Ochre Fountain Era (Year 1-109) ==

=== Year 1 ===

* [[Merela]] accepts the [[CrownOfThunders]] and the [[CreationRulingMandate]]. She rules from the [[OchreFountain]], a neighborhood of the mortal section of Rathess ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 11)
* Birth of [[ChejopKejak]] ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 11)
* Birth of [[TammizUshan]] ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 11)
* Solars begin a rule that lasts for a "timeless age". ([[Books/Exalted|Exalted]], p. 11)

=== Year 9 ===

* [[Brigid]] returns to recently founded [[Sperimin]] with the secrets of [[Sorcery]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 11)

=== Year 17 ===

* [[ChejopKejak]] exalts amidst fighting between the solars loyal to Merela, the [[GoldenHeroVassals]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 11)

=== Year 100 ===

* Merela decrees the establishment of a central government for all Creation in [[Meru]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 11)

=== Year 101 ===

* Jadeborn-made artifacts begin to deactivate. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 12)

=== Year 108 ===

* Deliberative proposed, suggesting all solars be given an equal voice. Merela rejects it. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 12)
* Meru War begins. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 109 ===

* Meru War ends with compromise, creating the Deliberative, but with Merela still as queen. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)
* Deliberative demands [[Autochthon]] sanction the Jadeborn, or else the Deliberative would go to war against them. The Great Maker responds by placing the [[GreatGeas]] upon the Jadeborn. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

== First Deliberative Era (Year 110-652) ==

=== Year 110 ===

* Deliberative renames [[OchreFountain]] to the [[Realm]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)
* Many lunar exalted volunteer to explore the South, West and North. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)
* Human settlement of the [[BlessedIsle]] begins. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 111 ===

* Eight mortal heroes begin to secretly travel Creation at the behest of Autochthon, gathering components for the [[EwerOfSouls]] and filling it from the [[WellOfSouls]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 121 ===

* Autochthon departs Creation, creating [[Autochthonia]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)
* The Autochthonian calendar, which calculates years "in the same fashion as the Old Realm", begins. So, in the timeline within Autochthonia, "the current year", corresponding to RY 768, "is 4878"; however, see notes in the section below on the Time of Cascading Years. ([[Books/ExaltedTheAutochthonians|Autochthonians]], pg. 24).

=== Year 124 ===

* Brigid's student [[Thesis]] begins teaching sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 230 ===

* Thesis's student Sonah founds the Sonan School of Sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 449 ===

* Sonah's student Nanica begins teaching sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== circa Year 550 (roughly RY -3,900) ===

* Ascension Day, when the lesser elemental dragons were elevated to the status of gods.

=== Year 594 ===

* Nanica's student Leelah begins teaching sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 639 ===

* [[DissolutionInvasion]] begins, with a [[FairFolk]] army seeking to end shape. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 13)

=== Year 652 ===

* [[DissolutionInvasion]] ends, with the Deliberative throwing back the armies of the [[FairFolk]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 14)

== The Unfurling Horizon Era (Year 653-1215) ==

=== Year 653 ===

* Deliberative becomes more interested in the Wyld. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 14)

=== Year 700 ===

* Leelah's student Derja founds the Derjan School of Sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 834 ===

* Derja's student Chone begins teaching sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1039 ===

* Brigid vanishes. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 14)

=== Year 1107 ===

* One of the free rougue Primordials launches attack at Creation's heart, starting the [[AftershockWar]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 14)

=== circa Year 1110 ===

* [[FairFolk]] swear oaths granting eclipse caste solars diplomatic immunity. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 14)

=== Year 1129 ===

* Thesis ceases teaching sorcery; joins the [[AftershockWar]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1130 ===

* Sonah vanishes in search of Brigid. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1199 ===

* Nanica dies in Primordial assault on [[Sperimin]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)
* Leelah ceases teaching sorcery, joins [[AftershockWar]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1205 ===

* Exaltations of Brigid and Sonah reincarnate. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1215 ===

* Theis and Leelah die in final assault against Primordial forces. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)
* [[AftershockWar]] ends. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

== The Shining Reflection Era (Year 1216-1721) ==

=== Year 1238 ===

* Chone's student Halleus begins teaching sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== circa Year 1300 ===

* Solar fashion dictates wearing and using items only made by ones self. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)
* Directional languages (e.g. earthtongue, flametongue, etc.) intentionally developed, replacing Old Realm in mortal lands. Languages included built-in thaumaturgical prayers, acting to stabilize Creation. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1439 ===

* Chone transfers all students to Halleus, ceases teaching sorcery, shifts focus to magitech engineering. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== circa Year 1650 (roughly RY -2,800) ===

* The Kukla becomes the first greater elemental dragon and is promptly bound by the Unconquered Sun.

=== Year 1676 ===

* Halleus' student Kemal begins teaching sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

=== Year 1721 ===

* 14th Ascending Wood: Death of Facet Raven, the first solar to die of old age. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 15)

== The Thousand Struggles Era (Year 1722-2543) ==

=== Year 1734 ===

* [[RosePetalTea]] stages military attack on [[BorZan]]'s prefecture, killing him. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 16)

=== Year 1762 ===

* Rival kills Chone and Derja. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)
* Kemal's student Hano assumes teaching duties at the Derjan College. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Year 1807 ===

* Birth of Ingosh Silverclaws. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Year 1827 ===

* Just after Calibration, a solar circle called the [[WhiteJadeFeatherSociety]] violate oaths to attack rivals within Meru. Within six months, Deliberative attendance ends, with many fleeing Meru entirely. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 16)

=== Year 1946 ===

* Snow Period begins, where no celestial exalted fight one another, despite constant expectation of conflict. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Year 1983 ===

* Hano's student Devon founds the Devonian School of Sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Year 2046 ===

* Snow Period ends. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

== Time of Cascading Years (Year 2325-2543) ==

=== Year 2325 ===

* Time becomes subjective, with different locations experiencing different durations. This era is measured from when this time split started to when it ended and time become universally applied again. Convention holds that this period is "officially counted" as 217 years long, but this a mostly arbitrary decision based on the time reference of the historians doing the labeling. To some, the period lasts a single afternoon. Within this section, each subjective timeline will be referenced independently, using "Cascading Years" (CY) as a subjective measurement from when this era begins. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Heaven's timeline ===

* For heaven and all immaterial spirts, no time passes. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Merela's timline ===

* CY 1000: Era ends. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)

=== Autochthonian timeline ===

While no official word exists on how Autochthonia experiences this timeline, it seems likely, being Elsewhere, that they experience it the same way that Heaven does: with no time passing. Since the Autochthonian time line is the only canonical one that spans the First Age to the present in a known number of years, this assumption will be used in the rest of this document when trying to determine the relation between First Age dates and RY 0. It is also assumed that Realm historians "officially" count the duration of the Time of Cascading years as 217 years. Naturally, events currently reckoned to have happened "3000 years ago" depend significantly on what timeline you are looking through.

In any case, if these assumption are true, the following relations exist:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Event !! First Age !! Autochthonia !! Realm
|-
| History begins || 0 || -121 || -4448
|-
| Autochthon leaves Creation || 121 || 0 || -4327
|-
| Start of Time of Cascading Years || 2325 || 2204 || -2123
|-
| End of Time of Cascading Years || 2543 || 2204 || -1906
|-
| Realm Begins || 4449 || 4110 || 0
|-
| Present || 5217 || 4878 || 768
|}

=== Year 2543 ===

* All survivors of this era, including Dragon-Blooded, all remember personally performing some notable task that restores Creation to its rightful configuration. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 17)
* Souls of 73 celestial exalted who died during the era, including Halleus, reincarnate. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 18)

== The Second Deliberative Era ==

=== Year 2544 ===

* The Period of Long Silence begins, where few exalted conflicts occur and not much research either. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 18)

=== Year 2626 ===

* The Period of Long Silence ends. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 2678 ===

* Deliberative reestablished. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 2730 ===

* Treaty of Limbs ratified. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 2758 ===

* Kemal dies of old age. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 2931 ===

* Devon incinerates his books, retires from public life and gifts his sorcerous academy at Sperimin to Hano's student Salina. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)
* Salina founds Salinan School of Sorcery. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3125 ===

* Hano's student Silur founds the Silurian School of Sorcery, ostensibly to revive the traditions of Brigid. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3193 ===

* I AM activated. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

== Era of Dreams (Year 3204-3516) ==

=== Year 3204 ===

* I AM transmission network established. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3255 ===

* Birth of [[Leviathan]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3275 ===

* Exaltation of [[Leviathan]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3280 ===

* Anonymous Silurian sorcerer begins distributing the Abscissic Guide to summoning demons. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3366 ===

* Black Nadir Concordat emerges from the Underworld with the secrets of [[Necromancy]]. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3491 ===

* Deliberative votes in favor of Operation Wyldhand. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3493 ===

* Operation Wyldhand begins. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3494 ===

* Operation Wyldhand ends. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== Year 3516 (roughly RY -933) ===

* The "present" for ''Dreams of the First Age'' campaigns. ([[Books/DreamsOfTheFirstAge|Lands of Creation]], pg. 19)

=== circa RY -800 ===

* The Unconquered Sun gets angry at the Solar Deliberative and turns his face from the Solar Exalted.

== Usurpation & Shogunate ==

=== circa RY -750 ===

* The Usurpation, followed by "decades" of war to exterminate the Solars. ([[Books/Exalted|Exalted]], p. 11)

=== circa RY -700 ===

* Start of an era where "the Dragon-Blooded managed to hold everything together for seven centuries". ([[Books/SiderealsSecond|Manual of Exalted Power: The Sidereals]], pg. 224)
* "The Dragon-Blooded" rule for "centuries". ([[Books/Exalted|Exalted]], p. 11) This refers to the [[Shogunate]].

=== circa RY -405 ===
* Swan Dragon becomes Censor for the South from "345 years after the Usurpation up until the last days of the Contagion". His tenure is at least "a few hundred years". ([[Books/HousesOfTheBullGod|Houses of the Bull God]], pg. 102)

=== circa RY -5 ===

* The arrival of the [[GreatContagion|Great Contagion]]. Based on the description events between this and the founding of the Realm ([[Books/Exalted|Exalted]], pp. 11-12), this probably happened only a few years before RY 0.

=== RY -1 ===

* The [[SeventhLegion|Seventh Legion]] encamps in [[Deheleshen]] (the future site of [[Lookshy]]) ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

== The Second Age ==

=== RY 0 ===

Also known as [[YearOfSevenTigers|The Year of Seven Tigers]].
* The [[ScarletEmpress|Empress]] founds the Realm. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], pp. 17-22)
* The [[GreatContagion|Great Contagion]] ends.

=== RY 12 ===
* The [[AllSeeingEye|All-Seeing Eye]] is chartered. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 22)

=== RY 20 ===
* [[Lookshy]] is founded on the ruins of Deheleshen. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 38 ===
* The core of the Realm ministries is in place by this year. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 22)

=== RY 40 ===
* The legions of the Realm first achieve full strength. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 23)

=== RY 45 ===
* Realm agents make first contact with [[Locations/ScavengerLands|Scavenger Lands]] cities, persuading some to swear fealty to the Empress; most cities refuse. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 47 ===
* First invasion of the Scavenger Lands by the Realm. The invading force is the Fourth Imperial Legion. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 52 ===
* [[Nexus/CouncilOfEntities|Council of Entities]] takes control of [[Nexus]]. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 53 ===
* Fourth Imperial Legion withdraws from the Scavenger Lands to its allied cities on the coast. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 69 ===
* [[BremMarst|Brem Marst]] born in [[GreatForks|Great Forks]]... or, at least, where Great Forks will be founded... ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 75 ===
* Second Realm invasion of the Scavenger Lands begins, with four legions as the invasion force. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
** Lookshy besieged by Realm forces ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
** Nexus occupied by Realm forces; Realm forces are pushed out after several weeks. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 76 ===
* Realm invasion of the Scavenger Lands continues. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
** Siege of Lookshy lifted by use of a First Age weapon. (This probably creates the shadowland of [[MourningField|Mourning Field]], in which case we know that Lookshy was besieged by the Sixth and Ninth Legions.) ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
** Seventh Legion forces march to [[GreatForks|Great Forks]] -- or at least, to the conjunction of the [[YellowRiver|Yellow River]] and the [[RollingRiver|Rolling River]] where Great Forks will be founded in RY 278 -- and destroy the Fourth Imperial Legion there. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
* Realm forces withdraw from the Scavenger Lands. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 83 ===
* Realm ships raid merchant vessels of the Scavenger Lands, resulting in privateer campaigns against the Realm by those lands. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 88 ===
* Third and final invasion of the Scavenger Lands by the Realm, with seven legions. Seventh Legion forces are scattered, but units from [[Melevhil]] and [[Nathir]] tie up Realm forces. The invaders are harrassed by guerrilla forces. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
* [[BremMarst|Brem Marst]] stuck in the Lap, studies with the [[Counters]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 89 ===
* Empress' Own Guard destroyed near [[Melevhil]]. The third invasion of the Scavenger Lands is repulsed. General Vondy Beulen of the Realm defects to [[Lookshy]] along with several Dragons. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)
* [[BremMarst|Brem Marst]] returns home. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 95 ===
* The [[LeagueOfManyRivers|League of Many Rivers]] is formed by the free cities of the Scavenger Lands as an alliance of mutual aid and support. Members include [[Lookshy]], [[Nexus]], [[Sijan]], and others. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 66)

=== RY 99 ===
* [[BremMarst|Brem Marst]] founds the [[Guild]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 103 ===
* The [[RealmDeliberative|Deliberative]] of the Realm is created. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 23)

=== RY 104-109 ===
* Coastal states of the Scavenger lands join the League of Many Rivers. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 67)

=== RY 114 ===
* An assassination attempt on the Empress prompts her to promote infighting among the servants of the Realm as a security measure. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 24)
* The Empress takes the noble Rawar of Arjuf as a husband. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 26)

=== RY 117 ===
* The [[Guild]] moves its operations to [[Nexus]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 139 ===
* Ragara is born to the Empress and Rawar of Arjuf. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 26)

=== RY 146 ===
* [[BagrashKol|Bagrash Köl]] founds a kingdom in the [[Locations/North|North]] using the [[EyeOfAutochthon|Eye of Autochthon]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 174 ===
* The [[NineDuchies|Nine Duchies]] rebellion against the [[Realm]]. The [[Empress]] discovers [[Guild]] involvement after the rebellion is crushed. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)
* The [[Guild]] withdraws from [[BagrashKol|Bagrash Köl]]'s kingdom. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 176 ===
* The [[EyeOfAutochthon|Eye of Autochthon]] destroys [[BagrashKol|Bagrash Köl]]'s kingdom. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 179 ===
* [[BramMarst|Bram Marst]] dies. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 211 ===
* The [[Delzahn]] horde conquers [[Chiaroscuro]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 223 ===
* By this year, most of the Threshold -- those nations on the shore of the Inland Sea -- is under Realm control. Exceptions include the Scavenger Lands and a few others. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 25)

=== RY 244 ===
* House Manosque attempts a coup in the Realm. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 24)

=== RY 263 ===
* Tensions increase between the [[LarisDistrict|Laris]] and [[VelenDistrict|Velen]] districts in the Scavenger Lands. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 67)

=== RY 265 ===
* Tensions between the Laris and Velen districts in the Scavenger Lands erupt into a brief war. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 67)

=== RY 270 ===
* The Raksha Yseult re-enters Creation. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 64)

=== RY 278 ===
* [[GreatForks|Great Forks]] is founded. (Scavenger Sons, p. 78)

=== RY 281 ===
* Haltans make a treaty with the Fair Folk. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], pp. 29, 37)

=== RY 299 ===
* Peasant uprising on the [[Locations/Realm|Blessed Isle]]: Trae Leng's Revolt. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 28)

=== RY 301 ===
* The Realm sends an expedition into the Scavenger Lands, which is quickly crushed by Seventh Legion Forces. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 67)

=== RY 303 ===
* House Iselsi attempts a coup in the Realm. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 24)

=== RY 318 ===
* The Outcaste [[DragonBlooded]] Summer Conflagration leads the Linowans in an attack on Halta and is miserably defeated. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 37)

=== RY 326 ===
* Peasant uprising on the Blessed Isle: the Vengeful Harvest. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 28)

=== RY 335 ===
* The [[Guild]] establishes its first office on the [[Locations/Realm|Blessed Isle]], at [[Chanos]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 364 ===
* [[ArczeckhiHordes|Arczeckhi Hordes]] invade the [[Locations/ScavengerLands|Scavenger Lands]], according [[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]]. This seems to be about 90 years too early, though... ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 370 ===
* The Empress' husband Rawar of Arjuf is assassinated. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 26)

=== RY 371 ===
* The [[Guild]] establishes [[LordsCrossing|Lord's Crossing]] as its hub city in the [[Locations/Realm|Realm]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 393 ===
* The [[Realm]] begins taxing the [[Guild]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 416 ===
* The [[TradeWar|Trade War]] begins between the [[Realm]] and the [[Guild]]. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 418 ===
* The [[TradeWar|Trade War]] ends with a pseudo-compromise. ([[Books/ManacleAndCoin|Manacle and Coin]], p. 13)

=== RY 435 ===
* [[ArczeckhiHordes|Arczeckhi Hordes]] invade the Scavenger Lands; are turned back by Guild mercenaries, Lookshy forces, and Hundred Kingdoms soldiers. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 67)

=== RY 465 ===
* Peasant uprising on the Blessed Isle: Unbroken Rushes Rebellion. Lasts until RY 466. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 28-29)

=== RY 547 ===
* Fair Folk invade the Hundred Kingdoms; the League of Many Rivers alliance collapses under the assault. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], pp. 64-65, 67)

=== RY 554 ===
* Fair Folk are finally driven from the Hundred Kingdoms. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], pp. 65, 67)

=== RY 557 ===
* The Confederation of Rivers is created by the major cities of the Scavenger Lands. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], pp. 65, 67)

=== RY 563 ===
* Beginning of the war between the Fair Folk nobles Slulura and Yseult, in the Northeast. Lasts until RY 568. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 60)

=== RY 568 ===
* Creation of the stone forest of the Proving Ground ends the war between Slulura and Yseult. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 65)

=== RY 591 ===
* Peasant uprising on the Blessed Isle: Ragara's Widow's Uprising. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 28)

=== RY 707 ===
* Peasant uprising on the Blessed Isle: Bloodied Scythe Uprising. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], p. 28)

=== RY 708 ===
* House V'neef is founded. V'neef may have been born this year, but it seems more likely that she was already an adult when the house was founded. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], pp. 27, 84-87)

=== RY 748 ===
* The Realm foments a coup d'etat in Thorns. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], pp. 65, 67)

=== RY 750 ===
* Thorns attacks the Scavenger Lands. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], pp. 65, 67)

=== RY 754 ===
* Thorns is defeated by the Confederation of Rivers at Mishaka. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], pp. 65, 67)

=== RY 757 ===
* The Scarlet Empress disappears during Calibration. ([[Books/ScavengerSons|Scavenger Sons]], p. 67) (This is probably in error; see [[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]].)

=== RY 761 ===
==== Resplendent Air ====
* The Bull of the North attacks the Rokan-jin and Talinin tribes, leading to the war between him and the Realm (specifically the Tepet legions). This war lasts until Ascending Earth RY 764. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], pp. 38-41)

=== RY 762 ===
==== Ascending Water ====
* War between the Bull of the North and northeastern tribes escalates; the Linowan enter the fray against the Bull. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 38)

=== RY 763 ===
==== Descending Earth ====
* Linowans request aid from the Realm in their war with the Bull of the North. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 38)

==== Descending Wood ====
* The Tepet legions join the Linowan in their war with the Bull of the North. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 38)

==== Resplendent Fire ====
* The Bull of the North commits completely to the war between his forces and the Realm in the Northeast. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 38)

==== Calibration ====
* The Empress disappears. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], pp. 30, 33)

=== RY 764 ===
* Council of the Empty Throne elects Regent Fokuf to "reign" over the Realm. ([[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], pp. 30, 33
* Thorns is conquered by [[MaskOfWinters|the Mask Of Winters]]. (Exalted, p. 77; [[Books/ExaltedTheDragonBlooded|Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded]], pp. 30, 33)

==== Ascending Air ====
* Battle of Krellen Ford ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 39)
* The Bull of the North's forces retreat from Krellen Ford, but devastate their Tepet pursuers after receving reinforcements. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 39)

==== Resplendent Air ====
*Battle of Ironthorn Forest. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 40)

==== Ascending Water ====
* Battle of Fallen Lapis. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 41)

==== Resplendent Water ====
* Tepet forces begin retreat from the Bull of the North. (Kingdom of Halt, p. 41)

==== Ascending Earth ====
* Last of the Tepet legions in the Northeast are destroyed in the Battle of Futile Blood. ([[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]], p. 41)

=== RY 766 ===
* According to Scavenger Sons, p. 19, this is the earliest that the Bull of the North is mentioned, uniting the icewalker tribes. Obviously, this contradicts information in the [[Books/KingdomOfHalta|Kingdom of Halta]] sourcebook, which has him waging war in the northeast, south of the Linowan Nation, between 761 and 764. See [[Discussions/BullOfTheNorth]] for more on this.

=== RY 768 ===

Present year.

Approximate dates for other time keeping systems:

Year of the Shogunate: 1468

Elder Reckoning: 5317

== And the Future! ==

The events chronicled in this section are only quasi canonical, based on the timeline outlined in [[Time of Tumult]], weather they will or will not happen in your game is up to the ST and the involvement or lack of same of your characters. Be advised that any or all of what follows may be considered spoilers, you have been warned.

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

=== RY 770 ===

[[Gem]] falls to the [[Locust Crusade]], its people are slaughtered or enslaved by the Yugashites.

=== RY 771 ===

[[The Lap]] is besieged by the Yugashites, however their grasp of creations's trade networks and siege craft is rudimentary at best and they leave [[Port Rawar]] open and active as a trading point for the city for "several months".

=== RY 772 ===

Faced with starvation and plague the people of [[The Lap]] turn on the [[Realm]] garrison and sell them out to the Yugashite army. The Lap negotiates terms of surrender and is absorbed into [[Yugash]]'s territorial possessions in creation.

=== RY 773 ===

The Realm counter attacks against the Yugashite forces, but fails due to their superior technology and it's own internal divisions thanks to the looming [[Realm Civil War]]. The Yugashite Army may respond in force against [[An-Teng]] as a reprisal.

(Further than this this author knows of no official timeline data.)

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-26T18:36:41Z

The Ghost: /* The Officio Iura Laboris */

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the [[The Ghost:History/HighFirstAge/SecondDeliberativeEra/PeriodofLongSilence|Period of Long Silence]] Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Solar/TwilightCaste|Copper Spiders]] of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Dragonblooded/Top|Dragon Blooded]] legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

During the first part of the Era of Dreams, though Solzarian flourishes on the mundane level it remains a backwater on the scales by which The Realm measures such things: a functional and unimportant city in a functional but unimportant section of the world. It does however receive an [[I AM]] Transmission Node linking it to the broader network of information which now spans creation.

Then in the year 3381 it's twilight caste ruler is goaded into violating her eclipse oath to not attack other celestial exalted in Meru, setting in motion a chain of events that will altar the shape of Solzarian's fate for centuries to come, and that of the rest of creation. At first the botches come hard and heavy, but then they stop and [[The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha]] thinks the oath's punishment has run it's course.

It has not.

Returning to her holding in the south she begins to work on constructing a [[Proto Shinmatic Vortex]] and at a key stage of the process the final botch of set activates and the PSV explodes, killing Keisha and creating an intense Wyld Zone south of the city over a hundred miles wide.

[[The Ghost:Characters/MaximofPersonalLiberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]] calls upon every favor he has and even takes on new obligations to arrange the deliberative sending experts at Wyld Shaping to close the rift in the fabric of reality, but the people sent are not the high essence Solars and Lunars he hoped for but rather a cadre of neophites who have scarce mastered Wyld Cauldron Technology and are woefully unprepared for the madness of the deep Wyld which exists within the rift. Three of them die before the other two call it quits leaving the Wyld Zone barely stabilized around it's edges. It is unrecorded at this remove what keeps the deliberative busy and the more powerful Wyld shapers tied up, but it will not be for another 3 decades that the Wyld zone is fully dealt with, and that not by an individual any more experienced than the ones first dispatched, though with far greater caution than the first circle that was sent showed.

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

Easily the largest and most diverse branch of the Iskandarian government the Adeptus Fabricae oversees all matters which involve or pertain directly to any sort of production, manufacturing, functional artistry, or creation of goods within Iskandar's lands. Though ferreting out matters of a criminal nature fall under the heading of the Adeptus Arbitise, and the governance of the legal codes is the province primarily of The Patron himself, and Prosecution and judgement of crimes is the business of the Adeptus Judicate, all three of these functions fall partially under this adeptus' remit.

The Adeptus Fabricae first submits for The Patron's approval all codes and strictures which govern the actions and enterprises of fabricating all tangible products in Iskandar, and exhaustive list of matters which fall under their control would be impossible but a few of the more salient follow: Print Shops, Compounding Pharmacies, Paper Mills, Glass Works, Jewelers, Magitech Repair Shops, Smithies, Book Binders, Cobblers, Tailors, and Farms: estentialy anything which would be made by any sort of "Craft:XXX" skill is within their authority. The patron then reviews these legal codes and approves or rejects them, which become the strictures that the Adeptus Fabricae enforce upon the businesses of Iskandar.

Most production facilities of any kind are within the Adeptus Fabricae's remit, with the notable exception of restaurants, taverns, eateries, pubs, tea houses, inns, and food carts which fall under the aegis of the Adeptus Medicae, though oddly pharmacies do not. Neither adepta is happy about this but neither is willing to lose or exchange the area they do have power over for reasons of their own which seem fully sufficient to them. Furthermore any business that produces a tangible product and directly employs more than 50 people in any capacity is under their remit to license, inspect, and if necessary fine or refer to the Arbiters for investigation.

The following are the Departmento and Officio of the Adpeptus Fabricae, each one with significant discretionary power and held in check solely by the High Lady of the Adeptus [[The Ghost:Characters/AuspiciousCrystalLightning|Auspicious Crystal Lightning]] and The Patron.

=== The Departmento Iura ===

The 'Department of Laws' devises and writes out the codes of law which govern the production and creation of goods in Iskandar. They have created and submitted to the patron and extensive and thorough list of legal codes regarding the conditions, control, creation, and compensation for most products in Iskandar, and those they have not they are working on.

==== The Officio Iura Laboris ====

The 'Office of Labor Laws' designs the codes of law concerning the employment, treatment, and management of Iskandar's workforce. They are in the main as despised by the plutocracy as they are beloved by the common folk. Among other laws they have enacted is the 8 hour work shift and the 6 day work week.

==== The Officio Iura Fabricación ====

The "Office of Manufacturing Laws" creates the codes of law governing the actual production of goods. Other offices govern the details of different types of production facility or field, but this office creates the general guidelines which the others work by.

==== The Officio Iura Cotagium Industria ====

The "Office of Cottage Industry" drafts the limited and simple codes which control small scale manufacturing by individuals and small business. They would like to have more extensive and detailed codes but The Patron uses his authority to make the official versions of the law to pare back most of their red tape and BS. He is in fact thinking of suspending this office for a period of some months while he looks for a better and less over eager set of people to be it's officers.

==== The Officio Iura Officinis ====

This office makes the laws respecting the specific difficulties of production in a factory type setting. Any production facility with 50 or more employees falls under their regulating authority, even things that are not normally their province such as farms, eateries, and pharmacies. For this reason many production facilities and such, run with staff's of 40, so that even if they hire a handful of temp workers they will not move into this Officio's dominion. This Officio is not well liked by most business owners, being seen as overly restrictive and exceedingly interfering.

==== The Officio Iura Pharmicopia ====

This section is not finished, expect more content in the next few days.

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

=== Pauldron Of Sanctity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-21T01:36:03Z

The Ghost: /* Thousand Struggles Era */ Link Reworking

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the [[The Ghost:History/HighFirstAge/SecondDeliberativeEra/PeriodofLongSilence|Period of Long Silence]] Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Solar/TwilightCaste|Copper Spiders]] of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Dragonblooded/Top|Dragon Blooded]] legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

During the first part of the Era of Dreams, though Solzarian flourishes on the mundane level it remains a backwater on the scales by which The Realm measures such things: a functional and unimportant city in a functional but unimportant section of the world. It does however receive an [[I AM]] Transmission Node linking it to the broader network of information which now spans creation.

Then in the year 3381 it's twilight caste ruler is goaded into violating her eclipse oath to not attack other celestial exalted in Meru, setting in motion a chain of events that will altar the shape of Solzarian's fate for centuries to come, and that of the rest of creation. At first the botches come hard and heavy, but then they stop and [[The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha]] thinks the oath's punishment has run it's course.

It has not.

Returning to her holding in the south she begins to work on constructing a [[Proto Shinmatic Vortex]] and at a key stage of the process the final botch of set activates and the PSV explodes, killing Keisha and creating an intense Wyld Zone south of the city over a hundred miles wide.

[[The Ghost:Characters/MaximofPersonalLiberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]] calls upon every favor he has and even takes on new obligations to arrange the deliberative sending experts at Wyld Shaping to close the rift in the fabric of reality, but the people sent are not the high essence Solars and Lunars he hoped for but rather a cadre of neophites who have scarce mastered Wyld Cauldron Technology and are woefully unprepared for the madness of the deep Wyld which exists within the rift. Three of them die before the other two call it quits leaving the Wyld Zone barely stabilized around it's edges. It is unrecorded at this remove what keeps the deliberative busy and the more powerful Wyld shapers tied up, but it will not be for another 3 decades that the Wyld zone is fully dealt with, and that not by an individual any more experienced than the ones first dispatched, though with far greater caution than the first circle that was sent showed.

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

Easily the largest and most diverse branch of the Iskandarian government the Adeptus Fabricae oversees all matters which involve or pertain directly to any sort of production, manufacturing, functional artistry, or creation of goods within Iskandar's lands. Though ferreting out matters of a criminal nature fall under the heading of the Adeptus Arbitise, and the governance of the legal codes is the province primarily of The Patron himself, and Prosecution and judgement of crimes is the business of the Adeptus Judicate, all three of these functions fall partially under this adeptus' remit.

The Adeptus Fabricae first submits for The Patron's approval all codes and strictures which govern the actions and enterprises of fabricating all tangible products in Iskandar, and exhaustive list of matters which fall under their control would be impossible but a few of the more salient follow: Print Shops, Compounding Pharmacies, Paper Mills, Glass Works, Jewelers, Magitech Repair Shops, Smithies, Book Binders, Cobblers, Tailors, and Farms: estentialy anything which would be made by any sort of "Craft:XXX" skill is within their authority. The patron then reviews these legal codes and approves or rejects them, which become the strictures that the Adeptus Fabricae enforce upon the businesses of Iskandar.

Most production facilities of any kind are within the Adeptus Fabricae's remit, with the notable exception of restaurants, taverns, eateries, pubs, tea houses, inns, and food carts which fall under the aegis of the Adeptus Medicae, though oddly pharmacies do not. Neither adepta is happy about this but neither is willing to lose or exchange the area they do have power over for reasons of their own which seem fully sufficient to them. Furthermore any business that produces a tangible product and directly employs more than 50 people in any capacity is under their remit to license, inspect, and if necessary fine or refer to the Arbiters for investigation.

The following are the Departmento and Officio of the Adpeptus Fabricae, each one with significant discretionary power and held in check solely by the High Lady of the Adeptus [[The Ghost:Characters/AuspiciousCrystalLightning|Auspicious Crystal Lightning]] and The Patron.

=== The Departmento Iura ===

The 'Department of Laws' devises and writes out the codes of law which govern the production and creation of goods in Iskandar. They have created and submitted to the patron and extensive and thorough list of legal codes regarding the conditions, control, creation, and compensation for most products in Iskandar, and those they have not they are working on.

==== The Officio Iura Laboris ====

The 'Office of Labor Laws' designs the codes of law concerning the employment, treatment, and management of Iskandar's workforce. They are in the main as despised by the plutocracy as they are beloved by the common folk. Among other laws they have enacted is the 8 hour work shift and the 6 day work week.

This section is not finished, expect to see more content soon.

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

=== Pauldron Of Sanctity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-17T16:51:38Z

The Ghost: /* Era of Dreams */ Not Finished...

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the [[The Ghost:History/HighFirstAge/SecondDeliberativeEra/PeriodofLongSilence|Period of Long Silence]] Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Solar/TwilightCaste|Copper Spiders]] of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Dragonblooded/Top|Dragon Blooded]] legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

During the first part of the Era of Dreams, though Solzarian flourishes on the mundane level it remains a backwater on the scales by which The Realm measures such things: a functional and unimportant city in a functional but unimportant section of the world. It does however receive an [[I AM]] Transmission Node linking it to the broader network of information which now spans creation.

Then in the year 3381 it's twilight caste ruler is goaded into violating her eclipse oath to not attack other celestial exalted in Meru, setting in motion a chain of events that will altar the shape of Solzarian's fate for centuries to come, and that of the rest of creation. At first the botches come hard and heavy, but then they stop and [[The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha]] thinks the oath's punishment has run it's course.

It has not.

Returning to her holding in the south she begins to work on constructing a [[Proto Shinmatic Vortex]] and at a key stage of the process the final botch of set activates and the PSV explodes, killing Keisha and creating an intense Wyld Zone south of the city over a hundred miles wide.

[[The Ghost:Characters/MaximofPersonalLiberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]] calls upon every favor he has and even takes on new obligations to arrange the deliberative sending experts at Wyld Shaping to close the rift in the fabric of reality, but the people sent are not the high essence Solars and Lunars he hoped for but rather a cadre of neophites who have scarce mastered Wyld Cauldron Technology and are woefully unprepared for the madness of the deep Wyld which exists within the rift. Three of them die before the other two call it quits leaving the Wyld Zone barely stabilized around it's edges. It is unrecorded at this remove what keeps the deliberative busy and the more powerful Wyld shapers tied up, but it will not be for another 3 decades that the Wyld zone is fully dealt with, and that not by an individual any more experienced than the ones first dispatched, though with far greater caution than the first circle that was sent showed.

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

Easily the largest and most diverse branch of the Iskandarian government the Adeptus Fabricae oversees all matters which involve or pertain directly to any sort of production, manufacturing, functional artistry, or creation of goods within Iskandar's lands. Though ferreting out matters of a criminal nature fall under the heading of the Adeptus Arbitise, and the governance of the legal codes is the province primarily of The Patron himself, and Prosecution and judgement of crimes is the business of the Adeptus Judicate, all three of these functions fall partially under this adeptus' remit.

The Adeptus Fabricae first submits for The Patron's approval all codes and strictures which govern the actions and enterprises of fabricating all tangible products in Iskandar, and exhaustive list of matters which fall under their control would be impossible but a few of the more salient follow: Print Shops, Compounding Pharmacies, Paper Mills, Glass Works, Jewelers, Magitech Repair Shops, Smithies, Book Binders, Cobblers, Tailors, and Farms: estentialy anything which would be made by any sort of "Craft:XXX" skill is within their authority. The patron then reviews these legal codes and approves or rejects them, which become the strictures that the Adeptus Fabricae enforce upon the businesses of Iskandar.

Most production facilities of any kind are within the Adeptus Fabricae's remit, with the notable exception of restaurants, taverns, eateries, pubs, tea houses, inns, and food carts which fall under the aegis of the Adeptus Medicae, though oddly pharmacies do not. Neither adepta is happy about this but neither is willing to lose or exchange the area they do have power over for reasons of their own which seem fully sufficient to them. Furthermore any business that produces a tangible product and directly employs more than 50 people in any capacity is under their remit to license, inspect, and if necessary fine or refer to the Arbiters for investigation.

The following are the Departmento and Officio of the Adpeptus Fabricae, each one with significant discretionary power and held in check solely by the High Lady of the Adeptus [[The Ghost:Characters/AuspiciousCrystalLightning|Auspicious Crystal Lightning]] and The Patron.

=== The Departmento Iura ===

The 'Department of Laws' devises and writes out the codes of law which govern the production and creation of goods in Iskandar. They have created and submitted to the patron and extensive and thorough list of legal codes regarding the conditions, control, creation, and compensation for most products in Iskandar, and those they have not they are working on.

==== The Officio Iura Laboris ====

The 'Office of Labor Laws' designs the codes of law concerning the employment, treatment, and management of Iskandar's workforce. They are in the main as despised by the plutocracy as they are beloved by the common folk. Among other laws they have enacted is the 8 hour work shift and the 6 day work week.

This section is not finished, expect to see more content soon.

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

=== Pauldron Of Sanctity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-17T15:48:22Z

The Ghost: /* Second Deliberative Era */

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the [[The Ghost:History/HighFirstAge/SecondDeliberativeEra/PeriodofLongSilence|Period of Long Silence]] Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Solar/TwilightCaste|Copper Spiders]] of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Exalted/FirstAge/Dragonblooded/Top|Dragon Blooded]] legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

Easily the largest and most diverse branch of the Iskandarian government the Adeptus Fabricae oversees all matters which involve or pertain directly to any sort of production, manufacturing, functional artistry, or creation of goods within Iskandar's lands. Though ferreting out matters of a criminal nature fall under the heading of the Adeptus Arbitise, and the governance of the legal codes is the province primarily of The Patron himself, and Prosecution and judgement of crimes is the business of the Adeptus Judicate, all three of these functions fall partially under this adeptus' remit.

The Adeptus Fabricae first submits for The Patron's approval all codes and strictures which govern the actions and enterprises of fabricating all tangible products in Iskandar, and exhaustive list of matters which fall under their control would be impossible but a few of the more salient follow: Print Shops, Compounding Pharmacies, Paper Mills, Glass Works, Jewelers, Magitech Repair Shops, Smithies, Book Binders, Cobblers, Tailors, and Farms: estentialy anything which would be made by any sort of "Craft:XXX" skill is within their authority. The patron then reviews these legal codes and approves or rejects them, which become the strictures that the Adeptus Fabricae enforce upon the businesses of Iskandar.

Most production facilities of any kind are within the Adeptus Fabricae's remit, with the notable exception of restaurants, taverns, eateries, pubs, tea houses, inns, and food carts which fall under the aegis of the Adeptus Medicae, though oddly pharmacies do not. Neither adepta is happy about this but neither is willing to lose or exchange the area they do have power over for reasons of their own which seem fully sufficient to them. Furthermore any business that produces a tangible product and directly employs more than 50 people in any capacity is under their remit to license, inspect, and if necessary fine or refer to the Arbiters for investigation.

The following are the Departmento and Officio of the Adpeptus Fabricae, each one with significant discretionary power and held in check solely by the High Lady of the Adeptus [[The Ghost:Characters/AuspiciousCrystalLightning|Auspicious Crystal Lightning]] and The Patron.

=== The Departmento Iura ===

The 'Department of Laws' devises and writes out the codes of law which govern the production and creation of goods in Iskandar. They have created and submitted to the patron and extensive and thorough list of legal codes regarding the conditions, control, creation, and compensation for most products in Iskandar, and those they have not they are working on.

==== The Officio Iura Laboris ====

The 'Office of Labor Laws' designs the codes of law concerning the employment, treatment, and management of Iskandar's workforce. They are in the main as despised by the plutocracy as they are beloved by the common folk. Among other laws they have enacted is the 8 hour work shift and the 6 day work week.

This section is not finished, expect to see more content soon.

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

=== Pauldron Of Sanctity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-15T23:52:25Z

The Ghost: /* The Adeptus Fabricae */

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the period of long silence Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important copper spiders of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of Dragon Blooded legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

Easily the largest and most diverse branch of the Iskandarian government the Adeptus Fabricae oversees all matters which involve or pertain directly to any sort of production, manufacturing, functional artistry, or creation of goods within Iskandar's lands. Though ferreting out matters of a criminal nature fall under the heading of the Adeptus Arbitise, and the governance of the legal codes is the province primarily of The Patron himself, and Prosecution and judgement of crimes is the business of the Adeptus Judicate, all three of these functions fall partially under this adeptus' remit.

The Adeptus Fabricae first submits for The Patron's approval all codes and strictures which govern the actions and enterprises of fabricating all tangible products in Iskandar, and exhaustive list of matters which fall under their control would be impossible but a few of the more salient follow: Print Shops, Compounding Pharmacies, Paper Mills, Glass Works, Jewelers, Magitech Repair Shops, Smithies, Book Binders, Cobblers, Tailors, and Farms: estentialy anything which would be made by any sort of "Craft:XXX" skill is within their authority. The patron then reviews these legal codes and approves or rejects them, which become the strictures that the Adeptus Fabricae enforce upon the businesses of Iskandar.

Most production facilities of any kind are within the Adeptus Fabricae's remit, with the notable exception of restaurants, taverns, eateries, pubs, tea houses, inns, and food carts which fall under the aegis of the Adeptus Medicae, though oddly pharmacies do not. Neither adepta is happy about this but neither is willing to lose or exchange the area they do have power over for reasons of their own which seem fully sufficient to them. Furthermore any business that produces a tangible product and directly employs more than 50 people in any capacity is under their remit to license, inspect, and if necessary fine or refer to the Arbiters for investigation.

The following are the Departmento and Officio of the Adpeptus Fabricae, each one with significant discretionary power and held in check solely by the High Lady of the Adeptus [[The Ghost:Characters/AuspiciousCrystalLightning|Auspicious Crystal Lightning]] and The Patron.

=== The Departmento Iura ===

The 'Department of Laws' devises and writes out the codes of law which govern the production and creation of goods in Iskandar. They have created and submitted to the patron and extensive and thorough list of legal codes regarding the conditions, control, creation, and compensation for most products in Iskandar, and those they have not they are working on.

==== The Officio Iura Laboris ====

The 'Office of Labor Laws' designs the codes of law concerning the employment, treatment, and management of Iskandar's workforce. They are in the main as despised by the plutocracy as they are beloved by the common folk. Among other laws they have enacted is the 8 hour work shift and the 6 day work week.

This section is not finished, expect to see more content soon.

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

=== Pauldron Of Sanctity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

User talk:DevilTiger

2014-12-13T20:45:06Z

The Ghost: Saying Hi.

= Greetings, salutations, and other words meaning 'Hello' =

WoW, there has been quite the uptick in new users over the past few days, and I am most glad to see it. I am 'The Ghost' and your formal greeter on the wiki, if you need any help just ask and I will try to answer! (Though it rather seems to me you already have an idea of what you are about and doing here, so I don't know If I will be as helpful as I might be for some people.) In any case, welcome and good luck with your games and contributions, I look forward to seeing more from you! --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 20:45, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

FancyMel/MassCombat

2014-12-10T02:05:59Z

The Ghost: Simplifying

Mass Combat fix

Mission Statement:
To make it possible for epic large scale battles without massive bog down of the entire game where entire players are made irrelevant.

That said it should be adjustable so that if desired by the play group the complexity can be increased as needed.

For the most part the base rules assume on the majority of the people in following unit are generic units that are there simply to act as an extension of their leader. Think Dynasty Warriors or the Lord of the Rings battle scenes and you'll get the vibe I'm trying get across.

'''Base Unit Stat Block'''

'''Magnitude''': Number of Extra's inside the unit or their numerical equivalent.

'''Attack''': Accuracy Pool divided by three rounded up

'''Damage''': Base Damage Pool divided by three rounded up

'''Armor''': Divide by two rounded down

'''Defense''': Calculated same as Parry Defense except round down

'''Magnitude''':

The overall size of the unit,and partially a measure of potency. A Commander can control up to his (War+relevant Specialty) in Magnitude without any penalty.

-Each point of Magnitude adds one die Unit's Pool.

-Whenever the Unit attacks,it's target receives a cumulative -1 Onslaught DV Penalty for every two full points of Magnitude it
has over the target.

''Example: A Magnitude 3 Unit attacking a Magnitude 2 Unit inflicts no penalty. But should the Magnitude 2 Unit drop a point to a Magnitude 1 it would begin suffering a -1 Onslaught Penalty if attacked by the same opponent.''

-The overall health of the Unit is indicated by Magnitude,when the Unit suffers enough damage to mark the Incapacitated level
it loses a dot of Magnitude.

-For each point of Magnitude above the Commander's War the Unit suffers a cumulative +1 Difficulty to all relevant rolls.
However each relay attached to the Unit increases the total possible magnitude by (War+Relevant Speciality/2) though at a cost.
Each Relay within the unit increases the speed of actions by +1

-Whether supplementing,attacking or defending against the Unit Charms without the War Keyword must be activated a number of
additional times equal to half the unit's magnitude rounded down or in the case charms which can have multiple targets activated
a number times until the total number of targeted units is equal to the Magnitude.

For Example:
Poor Test Subject is currently under attack from Experimental Unit 1. Like all good Solars he wishes to use Seven Shadow Evasion to avoid the surplus of pain that would come from getting a full Unit of Boots connecting with his rear. Unfortunately the Experimental Unit has a Magnitude of 5 meaning what is normally 3m Perfect Defense now needs to be activated a total of 3 times for a whopping 9m.

Experimental Unit Commander 1 seeing that his Unit's target is burning through his mote pool at egregious rate decides to add more to poor fellow's troubles. He decided to go with Hungry Tiger Technique adding a die to post-soak damage for each mote he spends,not a bad deal so he decides to spend 5 motes for a grand 5 extra dice added. Still supplementing such a large Unit's(Magnitude 5) abilites comes at a hefty cost the Commander needs to activate the same Charm two more times ,3 in total, for a total of 15 motes.

But all is not lost! You need not burn through your entire mote pool every time you engage with or against a Unit! You see the Pattern Spiders adore big epic fights and wish to see as much of it as possible,with big epic Princes/s of the Earth hopefully involved for extra entertainment value. So in addition to your standard Stunt Die rewards each Natural die in the reward counts towards the total activations of the Charm! So following the above examples if Poor Test Subject had been able to one die stunt his madcap escape he would only needed to activate Seven Shadow Evasion twice! Or is Unit Commander had managed an appropriately entertaining two die stunt describing his magically fueled unit's attack he would have only had to pay paltry single Activation!

Alas there are limits to what the Spiders can do in the name of Entertainment,even if either fellow had managed a totally Epic 3 Die Stunt this bonus cannot reduce the cost below a single activation.

Now you got all rules behind how to get Magnitude and what sort of things it affects,but what exactly can you do with said Unit's dice pool now that you figured it out?

Things you can do with said Unit Dice:

'''Attack''': Of course! With every Success you get On the Unit's roll you get a number of Successes added to your Total Attack roll (Aka the Unit's and it's Commander's total number of successes) equal to the Unit's Attack Value. What's more for every die the Unit rolls after the first it lower's it's Target Number by One(to a minimum of 3) and inflicts a cumulative -1 Coordinated Attack Penalty on the opponent.

'''Defense''': Add the Unit's defense to their DV.This is in addition to the automatic Bonus from simply having a Unit.

'''Additional Attack''': The Same as the First,this counts as a completely different attack.So no reduced Target Number or Coordination Penalties aside from what the attack would get from the number of Unit Die devoted to it.

'''Attack,Damage,Defense and Armor''':
This is a bit simpler then Magnitude

Add the respective numbers in Successes to each of the Commander's pools.In the case of Defense simply add the number to the Commander's Physical Parry DV.

User talk:FancyMel

2014-12-07T22:00:24Z

The Ghost: Saying Hi.

= Greetings, Salutations, and other words meaning 'Hello'. =

Welcome to the Wiki my friend, and good to see you join us. I am your greeter and would like to talk to you more if for no other reason than that you are a welcome addition to our small but dedicated community. Again, welcome, and good luck with your contributions. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 22:00, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

The Ghost:Characters/Solar/AsterSnow

2014-12-06T06:02:04Z

The Ghost: Next Step.

Name: Aster Snow 
Caste: Zenith 
Motivation: To Restore the Glory of the First age, at the point of a sword if necessary. 
Anima: A snarling dragon coiling about her as though protecting a nest. 
Concept: The girl who was sold as a slave, The slave who Exalted as a Solar, The Solar who Became a General, The General who will conquer Nations. 

Attributes 
Strength ••, Charisma •••••, Perception ••• 
Dexterity •••••, Manipulation ••, Intelligence ••• 
Stamina •••, Appearance ••••, Wits ••• 

Abilities 

Dawn:Archery 0, '''Martial Arts''' 3, Melee 0, Thrown 5, '''War''' 4. 
Zenith:'''Integrity 3, Performance 5, Presence 2, Resistance 3, Survival 2.''' 
Twilight:'''Craft: ''See Sub-Section'',''' Investigation 1, Lore 2, Medicine 1, Occult 3 (''Supernatural Etiquette 1''). 
Night:'''Athletics''' 2, (''Judo Tricks 1'') '''Awareness''' 5 (''Scent 1''), Dodge 2, Larceny 0, Stealth 0. 
Eclipse:Bureaucracy 1, Linguistics 3, Ride 0, Sail 0, Socialize 1. 

Crafts: Air 0, Earth 0, Fire 0, Water 3 (''Kitchen Wtich 3''), Wood 0. 

Backgrounds 
Artifact: Radiant Vestments •••• 
Artifact: Portal Boots •••• 
Artifact: The Teeth of the Serpent ••• 
Artifact: Torque of the Faithful Courtier •• 
Tiger Warriors: Tribes of Mirth Fanatics •••• 

Virtues 
Compassion ••, Conviction •••, Temperance ••, Valor •• 
Limit 
Willpower •••••••••• 
Essence •••• 
Personal 
Peripheral 

Health Levels 0*1, -1*2, -2*2, -4*1, Incapacitated

Charms 

Combos 

Sorcery 

Combat 
Join Battle 8, Soak 6B/6L, Hardness 1B/1L, Dodge DV 6, Mobility Penalty , Fatigue 
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 9, Damage 2, Parry DV 5, Rate 3, Tags N 
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage 5, Parry DV 3, Rate 2, Tags N 
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 8, Damage 2, Parry DV -, Rate 1, Tags C, N, P 

Social Combat 
Join Debate 8, Mental Dodge DV 8 
Presence: Speed 4, Accuracy 7, Parry 4, Rate 2 
Performance: Speed 6, Accuracy 10, Parry 5, Rate 1 
Investigation: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Parry 3, Rate 2 

Intimacies 

Her Troops (Duty), 
Ajada (Honor), 
The Circle (Loyalty), 
Her Officers (Respect), 
The Guild (Despised), 
Addictive Substances (Loathing), 
Aj-Aran (Obligation) (1/3), 
Iskandar (Patriotism) (2/3), 
Slavery (Hatred *RL), 
Her Cult (Motherly Concern *RL) 

Description 

Aster Snow is a woman of partially Linowan decent and partially northern barbarian stock. She is in her mid 20s and looks slightly younger, but has a care worn and deeply lined face which shows she has had a hard life. Her hair is auburn or flame red depending on the light and her eyes are green. She has pronounced cheekbones, full pink lips, and clean white teeth. She dresses in green's blues, and reds but adorns herself with her signature orichalcum weapons, gifts from her mentor [[The Ghost:Characters/Adjada|Adjada]]. She wears a Buff Jacket for protection and is a practitioner of snake style, the latter of which is writ plain in her stance and bearing, showing herself as a warrior and killer.

History 

Born in a town called 'Cowslip' (After the Flower) in the scavenger lands between the borders of the Liniwan nation and the lands held in thrall by the hawk riders of Mount Metagalpa, this is about all Aster knows about her past before the age of 8. She knows that around the age of 5 she was sold to the Guild as a slave in exchange for seed grain following a string of bitter winters and late frosts which killed most of the crops, but until recently she did not even know her birthday. (The 20th of Descending Fire at 11:11AM.) She was raised from 8 to 18 as a slave of the guild, kept in Nexus and mercifully passed over time and again by those who would have sexually abused her but at 18 that luck ran out. Having matured into her feminine body Aster was at last noticed among the Guild's chatles and sent to work in the harlotry. She would have lasted scarce a month of rape and torture if not for the visit of Tahn Jo, God of Righteous and Justified Uprisings.

Plot Hooks

XP: 
Spent: 
Unspent: 
Total: 

Spent For/On Date:

The Ghost:Characters/Solar/AsterSnow

2014-12-05T23:46:14Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

User:The Ghost

2014-12-05T23:13:33Z

The Ghost: /* Solar */ oops

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

== NPC Creation Guidelines ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top|Top Page]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Top|Attributes]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Abilities]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Virtues/Top|Virtues]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Backgrounds/Top|Backgrounds]]

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solar/AsterSnow|Aster Snow]]

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon ===

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

User:The Ghost

2014-12-05T23:11:32Z

The Ghost: /* Solar */

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

== NPC Creation Guidelines ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top|Top Page]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Top|Attributes]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Abilities]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Virtues/Top|Virtues]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Backgrounds/Top|Backgrounds]]

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/Solar/AsterSnow|Aster Snow]]

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon ===

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template

2014-12-05T23:06:04Z

The Ghost: Touch Up

Name: 
Caste: 
Motivation: 
Anima: 
Concept: 

Attributes 
Strength •, Charisma •, Perception • 
Dexterity •, Manipulation •, Intelligence • 
Stamina •, Appearance •, Wits • 

Abilities 

Backgrounds 

Virtues 
Compassion •, Conviction •, Temperance •, Valour • 
Limit 
Willpower ••••• 
Essence •• 
Personal 
Peripheral

Health Levels 0*1, -1*2, -2*2, -4*1, Incapacitated

Charms 

Combos 

Sorcery 

Combat 
Join Battle , Soak , Dodge DV , Mobility Penalty , Fatigue 
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV , Rate 3, Tags N 
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV , Rate 2, Tags N 
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV -, Rate 1, Tags C, N, P 

Social Combat 
Join Debate , Mental Dodge DV 
Presence: Speed 4, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 2 
Performance: Speed 6, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 1 
Investigation: Speed 5, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 2

Intimacies 

Description 

History 

Plot Hooks

XP: 
Spent: 
Unspent: 
Total: 

Spent On/For:

The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template

2014-12-05T22:47:46Z

The Ghost: Simplifying

Name: 
Caste: 
Motivation: 
Anima: 
Concept: 

Attributes 
Strength •, Charisma •, Perception • 
Dexterity •, Manipulation •, Intelligence • 
Stamina •, Appearance •, Wits • 

Abilities 

Backgrounds 

Virtues 
Compassion •, Conviction •, Temperance •, Valour • 
Torment 
Limit 
Willpower ••••• 
Essence •• 
Personal 
Peripheral

Health Levels 0*1, -1*2, -2*2, -4*1, Incapacitated

Charms 

Combos 

Sorcery 

Combat 
Join Battle , Soak , Dodge DV , Mobility Penalty , Fatigue 
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV , Rate 3, Tags N 
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV , Rate 2, Tags N 
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV -, Rate 1, Tags C, N, P 

Social Combat 
Join Debate , Mental Dodge DV 
Presence: Speed 4, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 2 
Performance: Speed 6, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 1 
Investigation: Speed 5, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 2

Intimacies 

Description 

History 

Plot Hooks

XP: 
Spent: 
Unspent: 
Total: 

Spent On/For:

The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet

2014-12-05T22:37:23Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

Name: 
Caste: 
Motivation: 
Urge: 
Unwoven Coadjutor: 
Anima: 
Concept: 
XP <nowiki>Left/Total:</nowiki> 0/0

Attributes 
Strength •, Charisma •, Perception • 
Dexterity •, Manipulation •, Intelligence • 
Stamina •, Appearance •, Wits • 

Abilities 

Backgrounds 

Virtues 
Compassion •, Conviction •, Temperance •, Valour • 
Torment 
Limit 
Willpower ••••• 
Essence •• 
Personal 
Peripheral

Health Levels 0*1, -1*2, -2*2, -4*1, Incapacitated

Charms 

Combos 

Sorcery 

Combat 
Join Battle , Soak , Dodge DV , Mobility Penalty , Fatigue 
Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV , Rate 3, Tags N 
Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV , Rate 2, Tags N 
Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy , Damage , Parry DV -, Rate 1, Tags C, N, P 

Social Combat 
Join Debate , Mental Dodge DV 
Presence: Speed 4, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 2 
Performance: Speed 6, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 1 
Investigation: Speed 5, Accuracy , Parry , Rate 2

Intimacies 

Description 

History 

Plot Hooks

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-05T17:44:39Z

The Ghost: /* The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy */

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the period of long silence Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important copper spiders of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of Dragon Blooded legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

=== Pauldron Of Sanctity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-05T17:12:24Z

The Ghost: /* The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy */

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]] who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

= Iskandar =

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

== Manses and Demenses of Iskandar ==
Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See [[The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar]] for further information.

= History =

== Prehistory ==

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the [[Dragons Kings]]. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the [[Primordial War]] with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

== The First Age ==

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of [[The Unconquered Sun]] and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

=== The Ocher Fountain Era ===

During the beginning of the First Age when [[Queen Merela]] ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of [[Rathess]] Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

=== The First Deliberative Era ===

By the time of the founding of the [[Deliberative]] the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as [[Chiaroscuro]] and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

=== Unfurling Horizon Era ===

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of [[Red Jade]] near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)
*(The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

==== The Aftershock War ====

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of [[Golden Janissary Style]] practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, [[The Ghost/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

=== Shining Reflection Era ===

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two:
1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And;
2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

=== Thousand Struggles Era ===

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Angus the Wirehair|Angus the Wirehair]] 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to [[Meru]] at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the [[Golden Hero Vassals]] so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Levian of the Gilded Staff|Levian of the Gilded Staff]] begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Keisha Adriana Mullion|Keisha Adriana Mullion]] and her lunar mate [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Maxim of Personal Liberty|Maxim of Personal Liberty]].

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

==== Time of Cascading Years ====

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

=== Second Deliberative Era ===

During the period of long silence Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important copper spiders of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of Dragon Blooded legates.

=== Era of Dreams ===

== The Shogunate ==

== The Fall ==

== The Rebirth ==

= Government =

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]]. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

== The Adeptus Millitate ==

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by [[The Ghost:Characters/Fist of the Land|Fist of the Land]] a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

=== The Departmento Munitorum ===

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

==== The Officio Technis ====

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

==== The Officio Cibum ====

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

==== The Officio Armorium ====

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

==== The Officio Quartium ====

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

=== The Departmento Servicum ===

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

==== The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius ====

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

==== The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius ====

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

=== The Departmento Latrocinium ===

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

==== The Officio Mercenarius ====

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

==== The Officio Assasinoritum ====

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. [[The Ghost/Assassin of the Grey Spire|Assassin of the Grey Spire]] 'leads' this office: He is ''not'' a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most ''definitely not'' taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

=== The Officio Adminstrad Militate ===

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

== The Adeptus Arbitiese ==

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is [[The Ghost:Characters/Steel Garden|Steel Garden]] who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

=== The Departmento Queastorum ===

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

==== The Officio Homicide ====

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. [[The Ghost/Laural the Axe|Laural the Axe]] is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

==== The Officio Servus Aucupes ====

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

==== The Officio Vitium ====

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

==== The Officio Interioribus ====

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

==== The Officio Fraude Aucupes ====

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

==== The Ofiicio Fures ====

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

==== The Officio Pax Patronum ====

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

=== The Officio Correctionibus ===

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

== The Adeptus Judicate ==

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is [[The Ghost:Characters/Molly McBride|Molly McBride]] a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally [[The Ghost:Characters/The Patron of Iskandar|The Patron]] himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

== The Adeptus Sororitatus ==

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is [[The Ghost:Characters/Unrepentant Emerald|Unrepentant Emerald]]. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of [[The Ghost:Characters/Iskandar Seline|Iskandar Seline]].

=== The Officio Festivalius ===

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

=== The Departmento Eclesiast ===

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

==== The Officio Licentiae ====

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

==== The Officio Sanctionite ====

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

==== The Officio Hetterodox ====

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

== The Adeptus Frateris ==

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Wauli the Wolf|Wauli the Wolf]], who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

== The Adeptus Mechanicus ==

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Adamant Sprocket|Adamant Sprocket]], an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter [[The Ghost:Characters/Gears of Fate|Gears of Fate]], this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

== The Adeptus Diolougus ==

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both [[The Guild]] and foreign powers such as the [[Realm]].

== The Adeptus Medicae ==

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, [[Seven Bounties Paste]], or [[Age Staving Cordial]], to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by [[The Ghost/Simon Baker|Simon Baker]], a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

== The Adeptus Fabricae ==

== The Adeptus Adminstradum ==

== The Adeptus Aeronauticus ==

== The Adeptus Vectigalia ==

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by [[The Ghost/Manifold Gemstone|Manifold Gemstone]] a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

= Religion =

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

== Immacualtes ==

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

== The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy ==

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

=== Iskandar Seline ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/IskandarSeline|Iskandar Seline]]: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she '''owes''' them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

=== Pauldron Of Sanctitity ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PauldronOfSanctitity|Pauldron Of Sanctitity]]: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sancitiy takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and weilding a shock pike. He beilives in well regimented and organized miltary units who are drilled and well equiped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercianry company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one milimeter without aproval through proper chanles.

=== Garion Cromarch ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/GarionCromarch|Garion Cromarch]]: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unoficialy as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to enginear the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interferance has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

=== Lissom Shining Spring ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/LissomShiningSpring|Lissom Shining Spring]]: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

=== Sonari ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sonari|Sonari]]: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the beauraoe of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloudcover reaches Iskandar as well as the apropraite amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearfull of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little florishes like rays of light in winter and cool breazes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

=== Meroka Jin ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MerokaJin|Meroka Jin]]: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actualy an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corupt as the day is long but adept at hinding his perfidity from anyone and everyone, including to a degeree himself. Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigrous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru. Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and atraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detent on the matter of the two factions in which they are most intrested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic realtionships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into marages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

=== Bibwit Heart ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BibwitHeart|Bibwit Heart]]: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimatly becomeing starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that stratagy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

=== Cela Dinarius ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/CelaDinarius|Cela Dinarius]]: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no freind of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifiacts from Iskandar for sale to it's forign rivals. Formerly the godess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall controll of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an atractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Veragian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron godess of a new verangian cloth consortium.

=== Zalril ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Zalril|Zalril]]: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Memebers working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and furhter Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Preistesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's preistesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Intrestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacment but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/Sulramia|Sulramia]] finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/GayePachudiweOgesu|Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu]] and [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/OxandRainbowSlave|Ox and Rainbow]] the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaining while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who convineitently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called [[User:The Ghost:Characters/Mortals/Iskandar/IronandHoneyMaiden|Iron and Honey Maiden]] and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constatly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

=== Walziri ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Walziri|Walziri]]: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travil and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Indpenedent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The caball have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him fileing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly stenghtening thier animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the cammels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javalin and returns instantly to his hand.

=== Anyaka Tetsuo ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/AnyakaTetsuo|Anyaka Tetsuo]]: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervaning years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicous number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investagation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streek and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shoulderd, throughly tatoted man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'. He also carries a bag at his hip in which are stored the magical set of orochalcum dice for which he was once least god. Tetsuo's sanctum is excedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into notheing.) Tetsuo typicaly has many of the small gods of gamblling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colegue of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

=== Baegong Fangrick ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/BaegongFangrick|Baegong Fangrick]]: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deiety of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

=== Wisp Verunga ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/WispVerunga|Wisp Verunga]]: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills signifigantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their compettion, for the mement. The thing is that Wisp is runing a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore avaialbel as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Untill the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the godess of it's central library, she efectively promoted herself to chief godess of education by cozying up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interveiws and had her replacment as god of the library already preped and ready to take over at once. This is not precicely an ofense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit.

=== Principle of Justified Action ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/PrincipleofJustifiedAction|Principle of Justified Action]]: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was fromerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of fairie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the beauraoe of humanity's education office. He finaly thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction sidarials and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing diety for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not suposed to be any real criminal procedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the forseeable future he accepted. What nither he nor the sidarials that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who realy dont want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarityies were rather a shock. Of course there were differnces, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principel of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an aplication to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experince and is drowning in her duties, let them see what puting an untired adminstrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning. The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated socity. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconcious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of ofense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has comitted no less than 5 level 1 ofenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than meer subconcious nudgeing, after all he has not realy messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remaant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his immage as wise leader of the courts. Abnormaly for a god of justice he is leinient with most ofenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

=== Mother Midnight ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/MotherMidnight|Mother Midnight]]: As the the Senior Godess of all nautral misfortunies in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for the Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes poistive glee in aflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripeing on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not realy playing favorites, she still inflicts all maner of problems on the Patriots, their enemeis just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another intresting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regualr basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especialy since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustleing for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an excedingly overweight woman with coal balck skin and long dreadlocked balck hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken potery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexivly cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automaticaly break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are imune to this, such as beam klaives and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be efected. These powers do not count as charm use.

*(The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this efect.)

=== Sakarzi ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Iskandar/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]]: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and atraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hotspring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakend memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hotspring she tried to seduce him. She Failed. The patron was clearly atracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebufed, but always politely. This is why she is terified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especialy since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an efect that should have compeled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and the patron certainly is one: but it is his imunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts avaialble to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh atempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his suporters again he would not pull his blows the second time. These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her suport for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you eract a shirne to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who litteraly cannot wear clothing. Her mearest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

=== Machuko; Torch of Freedom ===

[[User:The Ghost:Characters/gods/Celestial/MachukoTorchofFreedom|Machuko; Torch of Freedom]]: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? [[Rabsolga]], the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is [[User:The Ghost:Characters/ThePatron|The Patron]]'s patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

== Ancestor Cultists ==

Led by [[The Ghost:Characters/Sharima of the Three Disciplines|Sharima of the Three Disciplines]] and her ghostly lover [[The Ghost:Characters/Aruna the Defiant|Aruna the Defiant]] this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the [[The Ghost/Salaru|Salaru]].

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small [[Shadowlands]] across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron]]'s injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as [[The Ghost:Characters/The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth|The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth]] he is a martial artist in service to The [[Mask of Winters]] who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of [[Autochthonian]] [[Soulsteel]], held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the [[Underworld]]. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of [[Autochthonian Soulsteel]] can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

=== Xufuwne Onuke ===

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

=== Aruna the Defiant ===

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

=== Emerald Lotus ===

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

=== Monkey of the City ===

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

=== Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill ===

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.
*(Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

== Cult of the Illuminated ==

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

= Geography =

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named [[The Ghost/Sabris of the Two Spears|Sabris of the Two Spears]] convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

= Ethnicity =

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to [[The Ghost/The Patron|The Patron's]] zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, [[Virangia]] and [[The Delazen Empire]].

== The Salaru ==

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

=== The White Scars ===

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

=== The Golden Bulls ===

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

=== The Get of Vexan ===

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

=== The Iron Raptors ===

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

=== The Kelderkin ===

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

=== The Chosen of Flame ===

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

=== The Iconigraphers ===

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

=== The Eisil ===

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

=== The Mantis Tribe ===

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

=== The Broad ===

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands.
The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

=== The Western Salaru ===

=== The Northern Salaru ===

=== The Eastern Salaru ===

== The Djala ==

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of [[The Ghost/Meroka Jin|Meroka Jin]] and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because [[The Ghost/Sakarzi|Sakarzi]] is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.

== Verangians ==

== The Delazen ==

== Deep Southerners ==

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Water

2014-12-05T00:07:54Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

Craft: Water is the skill for crafting anything with water or that is liquid.

= Summary =

Craft: Water is a very diverse and broad skill; from cooking, to perfuming, to actually practicing most alchemy rituals, to Brewing and distilling, to paint and pigment mixing. It is probably the most common of the elemental crafts to see on any NPC or realistic character sheet.

= Ratings =

What follows is a description of what the seven possible levels of skill in this craft mean thematically and mechanically. Remember that the following rubric is applied to these tasks: on average each level of skill yields a number of successes on the role equal to it's rating due to being assumed to be paired with a like attribute, and as a craft skill that must be a minimum of 1 degree over the difficulty of the task to make progress on the extended roll. Therefore the accomplishments listed here are GUIDELINES and should never be taken as gospel by players or GMs because as everyone knows the dice are a fickle and malicious mistress and even the largest pools can botch.

For each step of this chart except Zero the accomplishments listed should be considered 1 difficulty lower than the rating of the skill, so this also gives guidelines for what this author thinks the difficulty of various tasks should be: again, players beware of your ST disagreeing with my assessments.

== Zero ==

You have no proficiency in cooking, one of the most basic life skills required by human beings, to say nothing of the other applications of this craft: throughout most of creation you will be looked down on by the majority of people as an incompetent unless you are of a class which both is considered to be 'above' the need to know how to cook AND acknowledged within the area where you find yourself. If you attempt to cook, brew, practice alchemy, or compound wet pigments you are doomed to failure, and will be belittled and insulted by members of the majority of professions for your lack of talent and laughable decision to ignore the craft which is in a sense the foundation of most others. In terms of what you will accomplish when using this craft you are one of those unfortunate people who can 'burn water' when trying to cook.

== One ==

Nearly everyone in creation, no matter their profession or station, has at least this rank in Craft: Water. The Warrior classes pick it up when on campaign, the working classes learn it at their parents knee, the tribal societies just seem to spread it around by osmosis, and the intelligentsia are forcibly taught it by their tutors so they know how to compound inks and brew coffee. In terms of what you can accomplish with this level of training you would most likely be able to do any of the following: Brew typical 'office' coffee, cook a grilled cheese sandwich, mix up water colors from prepared pigment sticks, steep black walnut hulls to make ink, and with access to a stocked first age kitchen cook premixed soups from a can.

== Two ==

Here we get into the province of those who actually give a flying about being able to use the craft effectively but who have not gotten quite up to 'professional' status. In the majority of creation's cultures this level is seen as 'above average' competence for men but bellow average for women. It may be sexist but that is simply how things are, women are expected to do the cooking and men the hunting or farming. There are of course exceptions, such as the Togo Togo people of the west who believe that fire is a man's element and therefore any task which uses it, cooking included, must be done by men. In their culture the women do the fishing and the men the cooking, but they are an exception, not the rule.

With respect to what a person with this level of skill can be expected to accomplish the following is a good rubric: Cook soups, stews, breads, and roasts such that they will satisfy a hungry family, dye cloth black with iron and tannin, mix simple oil paints from prepared bases, and press olive oil from olives or cider from apples.

== Three ==

This level is the bailiwick of those who use this skill as a profession, including throughout most of creation the majority of women. Those using this skill in this manner almost always spend 5 or more hours a day doing some subset of this craft, be it cooking for a family or working in a perfumery.

When deciding what is appropriate for people with this level of Craft: Water to be able to do use the following guidelines: Cook food which people would wish to eat frequently, distill base perfume oils from raw flowers, stew old mutton into something edible, compound the bases for paint to have pigments added, ferment ingredients into 'small beer', and dye cloth various simple colors.

== Four ==

Now, at last, we come to those the people of creation would consider talented. These are those who are set a cut above the average housewife: Chefs, Master Perfumers, Artists known for their unusual pigments, and compounding pharmacists.

To give a better sense of what these people would be known for use the following as your guidelines: (with other skills similarly ranked as appropriate.) Cook food which would please the pallet of a 'foodie', Create personalized scents for women of the minor nobility and upper mercantile classes, master the arcane arts of mixing plant and mineral pigments to make new colors, properly ferment or distill various wines and spirits, and prepare alchemical concoctions for resiting diseases and numbing pain.

== Five ==

And here we find ourselves entering the rarefied heights of those who are storied and lauded in their professions, the crem-de-la-crem, the five star chefs, the true Artistes, and the pioneers in the fields of medicinal alchemy. Here most mortals scarce dream to tread and fewer still actually achieve. A person with the necessary talent and skill to walk in these circles emerges perhaps once in a generation in any major nation or region of creation and sometimes are not recognized within their own lifetime for their true talents.

As a rubric for the kinds of things one should consider worthy of a person at this level the fallowing would be a reasonable guide: Cook food which would be lauded by kings and princes, found a brewery which could coast for 50 years on the strength of it's first showing, create new foods which would become the basis of an entire school of cooking, compound perfumes which would cause most unladylike fistfights among the women of the nobility, and create minor wonders such as 7 Bounties Paste with alchemy.

== Six ==

And finally, at the highest end of things, we come to those who will be legend. These lofty heights are achieved perhaps once in 100 years in each of the five cardinal directions outside the Exalted, and often times women such as this BECOME exalted on the strength of their talent. When one talks of such people it is in hushed tones, with reverence, and often beneath their portraits in schools of craft founded in their honor.

To gain a sense of what persons such as this are capable of use the following as your guides, knowing full well that we as players and STs almost certainly will never truly stand among people of such stature in our real lives and ergo know but little or what it is that drives men and women such as these: Cook food which draws the gods to dine, Create a perfume which would not be called to task for the slogan that it is loved by 'Every Girl Alive', Reorder the steps of a well defined brewing process in order to make a new kind of alcohol, and Create entirely new types of dye which creates colors found nowhere in nature.

= End Notes =

Here are filed a few notes and links which have no where else to be on this page...

== Helpers ==

The Following Users have helped provide material assistance with this project

[[User:The Ghost|The Ghost]]

== Back Link ==

The Following link will take you back up one page in the project: [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft/Top|Crafts]]

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft/Top

2014-12-04T00:57:39Z

The Ghost: linking

Unlike the other abilities Craft is actually over a dozen separate abilities which each have their own specific rules and ratings, as such this age has been created to organize links which connect all of these abilities so they too can be rated as per the rules outlined on the abilities top page. (Found [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Here]])

= Organization =

== Elemental Crafts ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Air|Air]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Earth|Earth]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Fire|Fire]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Water|Water]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Wood|Wood]]

== Esoteric Crafts ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Dreams|Dreams]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Fate|Fate]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Genesis|Genesis]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Gossamer|Gossamer]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Magitech|Magitech]]

== Underworld Crafts ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Moliation|Moliation]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Necrosurgury|Necrosurgury]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Soulforging|Soulforging]]

== Modern Crafts ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Electronics|Electronics]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Machinery|Machinery]]

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Elemental|Elemental]]

= End Notes =

Here are filed a few notes and links which have no where else to be on this page...

== Helpers ==

The Following Users have helped provide material assistance with this project

[[User:The Ghost|The Ghost]]

== Back Link ==

The Following link will take you back up one page in the project: [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Abilities]]

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top

2014-12-04T00:53:47Z

The Ghost: linking

There are 25, or arguably 27, base abilities which characters in Exalted can be fluent in: but the real way that all of them should be rated on any given character are never properly defined, this page provides the basic rating system for them and the reasoning behind it then provides links to the individual pages for each ability. (Or the top page in the case of Craft.)

= Base Precepts =

Different books give different standards for what an ability of 1 means VS and ability of 5, to be able to give meaningful information these rules give one unified standard to all of them, which necessitates the following assumptions.

1: All abilities are being used by mortals, so a rating of zero confers a -2 penalty to the roll.

2: In order that an ability show meaningful mechanical growth at each level we also assume that the related Attribute is equal to the ability in question so that we can assume an increase of 1 success per level on the arbitrary roll. In most actual game situations an increase of 1 success per dot is not a reasonable assumption, so the mechanical benefits you would see when actually playing a character with these ratings would probably be somewhat lower. (This does not apply to an ability of 0, which normally cannot be paired with a like attribute.)

3: For completeness sake we rate all abilities from 0 dots to 6. Abilities higher than this are the province solely of elder exalted and gods and are in most cases not especially relevant as PCs would not normally have them. While some argument could be made for going to a rating of 9 due to the effects of specialties this does not map properly with our assumption 2 above so we have decided to save ourselves the work and not go there.

= The Rating Scale =

Each ability will be rated based on the following scale, with explanations of what this means mechanically and game wise included at each level in their own writeup.

== Zero ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 0 in an ability: Incompetent, laughable, illiterate, foolish, lack wit, and Rank Novice.

Simply put without immense natural talent someone with this level of skill will be almost incapable to doing related tasks. When writing up this level in the related notes failure is assumed.

== One ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 1 in an ability: Apprentice, initiate, novice, trainee, new blood, cadet, and basic skill.

Simply put those with 1 dot in an ability are ether new to the skill and it's associated profession or have not bothered to develop it after attaining a rudimentary understanding.

== Two ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 2 in an ability: Journeyman, Sophomore, Associate, Member, and Gifted Amateur.

Simply put those with 2 dots in an ability are trained in their ability but still a cut bellow true professional competence, probably working on honing their craft or going through a finishing process before taking their places as full experts in their field.

== Three ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 3 in an ability: Master, Artisan, Practitioner, Graduate, Officer, Certified, and Professional.

Simply put those with 3 dots in an ability are the people who make their full time living at the ability and are considered ready to begin training others. They still have things to learn but they are skilled enough at their art, science, or craft to pursue it full time as a profession without a person standing over them providing guidance.

== Four ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 4 in an ability: Grand Master, Artist, Skilled Professional, Luminary, Professor, Expert, and Captain.

Simply put those with 4 dots in an ability are More than mere professionals, they are the individuals that lead crafts guilds, teach the intricacies of difficult fields of study, and represent the elders and experts that lesser practitioners call upon when they find themselves out of their depth.

== Five ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 5 in an ability: Best in their Field, Honored One, THE (Blank), Dean of (Blank), Generalissimo, and Secret Master.

Simply put those with 5 dots in an ability are among the best in the world, at these lofty heights only a handful outside the Exalted tread, people with this level of skill are spoken of with awe by their leasers as they know that to reach such heights is a feat they will never achieve and has taken a dedication and depth of study which few will manage.

== Six ==

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 6 in an ability: Living Legend, (Person's Name) 'The Great', Arch-Dean, Prince of (Profession), inhuman, demi-god, and chosen.

Simply put those with 6 dots in an ability are BETTER than most Exalted can be without their charms, and better than some are WITH them. This level of skill is the province of people trained to their art, craft or Science from birth, and those who have natural talent such that their names will go down in history as legendary practitioners who will be remembered for ages to come.

= The Abilities =

The 27 base abilities each are broken up into 6 sections of 5 or less abilities based around the castes of [[Solar]] exalted and then the two which were introduced in [[SotED|Shards]].

== Dawn ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Archery|Archery]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Martial Arts|Martial Arts]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Melee|Melee]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Thrown|Thrown]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/War|War]]

== Zenith ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Integrity|Integrity]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Resistance|Resistance]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Performance|Performance]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Presence|Presence]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Survival|Survival]]

== Twilight ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft/Top|Craft]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Investigation|Investigation]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Lore|Lore]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Medicine|Medicine]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Occult|Occult]]

== Night ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Athletics|Athletics]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Awareness|Awareness]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Dodge|Dodge]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Larceny|Larceny]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Stealth|Stealth]]

== Eclipse ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Bureaucracy|Bureaucracy]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Linguistics|Linguistics]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Ride|Ride]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Sail|Sail]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Socialize|Socialize]]

== Modern ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Drive|Drive]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Firearms|Firearms]]

= End Notes =

Here are filed a few notes and links which have no where else to be on this page...

== Helpers ==

The Following Users have helped provide material assistance with this project

[[User:The Ghost|The Ghost]]

== Back Link ==

The Following link will take you back up one page in the project: [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top|Top Page]]

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft:Elemental

2014-12-04T00:34:07Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

Craft: Elemental is a variant rule under which all of the elemental crafts are combine into one ability to save on space on character sheets and to make playing a craft's person a more attractive choice of character path. It is not for everyone but is included on my list of crafts for completeness sake.

= Summary =

A person with Craft: Elemental will be equally adept at cooking, forging a sword, building a house, weaving cloth, and gem cutting. In short this craft is even more cinematic than normal exalted. They also can meet the minimums for lots of esoteric crafts with far fewer EXP or BP invested than normal, as ranks in 'Craft: Elemental' count as ranks in all five of the normal elemental crafts.

= Ratings =

What follows is a description of what the seven possible levels of skill in this craft mean thematically and mechanically.

== Zero ==

You are incompetent at normal craft related tasks. You cannot cook, spin, carve, shape, or create: anything. You may have the ability to fight or be social but in the arena of most professional skills you are laughable and fail at almost anything you try.

== One ==

You have achieved basic understanding of how to craft things. You can probably cook your own food, though it will be bland and uninteresting, Sew simple clothes, dig a ditch, and pitch a tent. Almost everyone in creation has at least this level of this craft. (If you are using this rule variant.)

== Two ==

You have the level of skill in professional pursuits that shows you are interested in more than basic understanding but not enough to work at it independently. You can forge a knife, spoon, or fork, cook satisfying food, distill basic scents from flowers, write in a hand that is not considered crude, but neither is it 'fair', and dig a burrow dwelling into the side of a hill or shore up a mine. You this is the level of competence achieved by most people in creation when they are in that awkward stage between childhood and adulthood.

== Three ==

Here we encounter the level of competence that is actually considered the 'baseline' by the majority of creation's people. At this level of skill you can accomplish the following readily: Forge an axe, hatchet, or farming implement such as a rake, trowel, or pick, hew, dress, and lay a stone block, plant and tend a garden, cook food that is appropriately sweet or savory and would make the average person wish to eat it frequently, throw a pot, spin smooth thread suitable for weaving and sewing, cobble a shoe, tan a hide, cast a tub or hammer, or cut a small gemstone so that it will sparkle and shine.

== Four ==

Now we get into the province of those who have achieved more than what the people of creation consider 'Professional' skill. At this level the following are within your abilities: Forge swords and arrowheads from steel, design and erect a civic building such as a library or town hall from rich stones such as colored marble and granite, Carve and fit an ornate rocking chair, Cook food which would please the pallet of a 'foodie', Create personalized scents for women of the lower nobility, cut precious gemstones up to the size of a fingernail, and Weave pictures into fabric with different colors of thread.

== Five ==

Here we approach the limits of human competence, this is the province of those trained from a young age and mustering great natural talents. People with skills at this level could achieve any of the following feats (With other relevant skills at the same level.): Design and raise a simple manse, Cook food which would make kings and princes hungry for more, Illuminate books of spells and the occult, Lay out the street plan of a major city, Forge a Daiklave, Cut diamonds the size of a man's thumb, Brew bear which could coast for 50 years on the strength of it's first showing, Create perfumes which would not be called to task for the slogan that it is loved by 'Every Girl Alive', painting portraits which are seen as national treasures, or weave cloths which would be the envy of guild factors who are in the cloth business. People outside the exalted who reach this level of artistry come along once in a generation in any given nation or geographic region.

== Six ==

And at this level we come to the stuff of legends. People with this level of skill are seen once a century in any given cardinal direction. They are known for accomplishments such as the following: Raising manses of level 3 or 4, Cooking food which draws the gods to dine, designing and crafting the crowns of major nations, forging several daiklaves which work as a set, Creating traps to ward the tombs of Anathema, weaving cloth from which the robes of office for religious leaders are made, and Casting statues of bronze 5 stories high to be the epicenter of a major temple complex. At this level of ability the very exalted grow jealous of your skills, and your life may become far more 'interesting' than you would like.

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Master Template

2014-12-03T23:32:53Z

The Ghost: Basic updating work.

This page stores the master template which is used to rate the levels of the various statistics which are used for the creating of characters. It should not be edited with actual content.

= Summary =

= Ratings =

== Zero ==

== One ==

== Two ==

== Three ==

== Four ==

== Five ==

== Six ==

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top

2014-12-03T23:29:45Z

The Ghost: /* Rules Sections */

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-03T22:28:18Z

The Ghost: /* Religion */

The Ghost/Iskandar

2014-12-03T21:10:55Z

The Ghost: /* Thousand Struggles Era */

Erlik

2014-11-29T01:53:14Z

The Ghost: /* Tyrian */

Erlik in a Nutshell: Erlik is a legend within [[Autochthonia]], a mythological place where an [[Apostate]] [[Alchemical]] has managed to grow into a city. Below are presented three versions of the 'City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies', each more horrific than the last.

= Warning! =

The Content of this page is purely an exercise in theoretical mechanics and hypothetical social constructs: It should be included in actual games with utmost caution and complete awareness that it will be disruptive to established content.

You have been warned.

= The Three Versions of Erlik =

Herein are outlined the three Versions of the Erlik phenomenon each one designed to build upon the legends of the dark city to make them something that the Storyteller of an [[Alchmicals]] game can actually use.

In "Code Name 'Erlik'" the original 'City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies' is long dead, destroyed by the protocol 'Retribution of Mog' but it was far from the last of it's kind. 'Erlik' is now used as a secret code name for any Apostate who manages to ascend to the status of Pattropolis/Matropolis, of which there have been several but fortunately never more than one at any given time.

In "Erlik: the City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies" The original Erlik is still alive and a menace to all of Autochthonia. This is perhaps the easiest of the three potentialities to use, but far more Horrific is...

"Erlik: the Dark Nation." In this version Erlik is not one Apostate city, it is an entire nation of ascended apostates from which void cults spring and to which those apostates who escape the retribution of their loyalist fellows congregate.

= Code Name 'Erlik' =

Many among the citizen's of [[Autochthonia]] have heard the legend of the apostate patropolis of 'Erlik'. It's legend is known to nearly every Void Cultist across the Octet, and it's dark flag is shown to every Regulator and Arbitrator as a symbol to watch out for when conducting investgations as a sign of treason and Heresy. What no one but a few elder champions and the members of each national Tripartite Counsel Know is this: Erlik is dead, killed these more than 1000 years hence by the Soulsteel Caste champion [[The Ghost/Truthful Architect of Peace|Truthful Architect of Peace]] through the God-Machine protocol 'Retribution of Mog'. The survivors of the multinational force that had been sent to destroy Erlik reported back to their tripartites and passed on a decision that had been reached on the long march home through the reaches: There should never be more than one 'Erlik'; that word should become a code name for any apostate who achieved patropolis or matropolis status. The national tripartets consulted with one another in secret and agreed upon this plan: ever since any time such an event occurs 'Erlik' is the codename used for the dark city until it too can be hunted down and destroyed.

== A Terse History of 'Erlik' ==

The Original Erlik arose in 3815 DA from a champion who had been part of the hunt for [[Blade of the Apostate]]. Having been impressed by Blade of the Apostate's strength and determination in the face of the force hounding him [[The Ghost/Garmand; the Wandering Factory|Garmand; the Wandering Factory]] reverse engineered and installed several of Blade of the Apostate's void-tech charms. Back then no one knew why Blade of the Apostate had gone mad and turned against the great maker, so Garmand did not realize what he had done. However it was not long before the gremlin syndrome infection seized full control of him and he disappeared into the reaches.

Garmand had been ready to begin the journey to become a Patropolis for years, and shortly gathered together many of the more crazed tunnel folk and voidbringer cults from the spaces beyond [[Claslat]] and started the trek deep into the reaches. After more than 40 years of wandering they came to rest at what would in later days become the location of the Patropolis of Xexas.

Renaming himself "Erlik" based on a word in the language of one of the tunnelfolk tribes his followers had enslaved for a gremlin custodian Garmand transformed himself into a Patropolis and began to produce vehicles and weapons to exploit the riches of the pole of smoke. Some 17 years later his people attacked [[Gulak]] and did significant damage to several towns. This was to prove their undoing. Gulak communicated with the other eight nations and assembled a force to hunt down Erlik. After five years of searching and exploration they located, besieged, and destroyed the renegade city.

Three more times over the next thousand years or so an 'Erlik' has come into existence and been destroyed. The Second 'Erlik' was born from [[The Ghost/Masanta; city of blessings|Masanta; city of blessings]] when she attempted to build a municipal charm that could purge gremlin syndrome from those infected. The Third 'Erlik' was formed by the infamous Apostate [[The Ghost/Tarnished Moonsilver Needle|Tarnished Moonsilver Needle]] decades after she had been thought killed, but was exposed when she exalted her first batch of champions twenty years later. The fourth 'Erlik' appeared only 100 years ago and had the misfortune to settle on the borders of Estasia, being destroyed in a matter of months.

== 'Erlik' Today ==

It has been noted with distress by the tripartites of the Octet that the time between appearances of 'Erlik's is growing less and less. Even now reports are filtering back from the borders of Jarish that there may be a fifth 'Erlik'. These reports talk of an area in the reaches where a blight zone is forming and apostate champions have been seen gathering in tunnel folk and attacking exmachina. With all the dangers Jarish and the other members of the Octet face these days it is unclear how soon a force to destroy this new 'Erlik' can be assembled.

= Erlik: the City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies =

[[Blade of the Apostate]] was the first known Apostate [[Alchemical]], but was not the first Apostate ever. Many centuries before him the being that would become Erlik: the City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies would grow mad in despair of a lost age of glory and turn to the dark, setting in motion a chain of events which would lead inexorably to the dire straights now facing [[Nurad]] and threatening the other nations of the octet.

== A Terse History of Erlik ==

All members of the learned classes of the Octet know the story of Phrygia and the end of Nurad's [[First Progressive Era]], but what is not commonly known, or at least not acknowledged is the darkness that was born when that light was snuffed out.

Erlik at the time was an essence 5 soulsteel caste alchemical called [[The Ghost/Dutiful Burning Guardian|Dutiful Burning Guardian]] in service to Nurad's tripartite. When the rioting was over and the Luddites had won he could not accept the end of the glory for which his 'mother' and mentor Phrygia had fought so long and so hard. Gathering about himself those still loyal to Phrygia's ideals he left Nurad on a journey of self improvement and development.

Centuries passed as he and his band wandered the pole of metal, and year by year he saw more of the knowledge he had sought to preserve lost. Still they pressed on until they found a suitable site to build a town which would some day become a city far from the other nations. As the years wore on however his people began to suffer sickness and hunger and seeking a way to provide Dutiful Burning Guardian designed a charm which could grow meat laced with potent medicine to keep them fed and healthy. This may have been the first [[Void Tech]] charm ever made and it drove Dutiful Burning Guardian mad. What was worse is the onset of gremlin syndrome occurred mere months before he began his ascent to the status of Patropolis: had he displayed more patience he might well have been able to provide for his followers without becoming a monster.

At First the new patropolis of "Erlik" seemed fine, but over time he slowly warped the culture of his citizens into something inhumane and evil. Power came to be the only thing people respected and all manner of depravity reigned. The dream of a new progressive era was warped into a dream of vengeance and annihilation of the nation that had turned it's back on Phrygea's ideal. In time other apostates found their way to Erlik and embraced this image of destruction and vengeance and the city experienced a sort of prosperity for a time.

After centuries of research Erlik's people constructed a terrible voidtech charm which allowed their city to move, cutting it's way through the body of the great maker and tearing apart his sacred systems so that they could crawl their way closer to Nurad and the fulfillment of their eternal Vendetta. That was 200 years ago...

== Erlik Today ==

The blight zone encroaching on [[Nurad]] is not a natural part of the broad collapse of the Maker's systems due to his long isolation from the resources of creation and the [[Wyld]] beyond. At it's heart lies the fabled dark city of Erlik.

Erlik has unique Voidtech charms which allow him to extract useful resources from the chaos of blight zones, charms which he has used to provide for his people for the past 200 years and more. He also tears apart the makers systems with adamant tipped drills as he delves through his body, pulling out magical materials and nutrients. He constantly is in search of fresh nutrient feeds to tap for his hungry citizens and magical materials to power his relentless drive to improve his military resources in preperation for the final assault on Nurad.

Erlik is a highly unsafe environment for humans to live in. There is nothing like any kind of safety codes there, for Erlik revels in each death due to his systems and would never tolerate a 'waste' of resources on preserving human life. He controls his lust for suffering ruthlessly however, hovering at around Dissonance three or four, and does not let it rule his decision making. Even so Erlik has negative population growth under normal conditions, it's population only increasing due to a constant influx of [[Void Cultists]] from across the Octet.

Structural Erlik resembles a cross between an immense squid, scorpion, and centipede, it's Adamant tipped tentacles leading the way trough the structure of the great maker while its core structures scuttle behind on thousands of Soulsteel legs. Inside the core body portion live and work the almost 100,000 people who call the Dark City home, almost 50% of them void cultists from across the octet spirited away to Erlik by his champions to live and die in his nightmare realm of industry, greed, and power games. The other 50% include all the members of his dark Tripartite, for he will not brook an outsider of any description having power over those born within the confines of his blasphemous bulk. Those who come to Erlik from the rest of the octet are led to expect a Paradise of leisure and casual depravity where they will be leaders of dozens of native void cultists, only to find that they are slaves to be worked to death in the dark city's service. Their dismay and anguish is as wine and chocolate to Erlik's pallet. The barracks of the city are violent crowded places where life is cheap and cannibalism unremarkable though not quite common. The convoys of void cultist that are brought to the city are implanted with multiply redundant digital devices which will kill them if they attempt to escape, or if Erlik simply feels like killing someone in an agonizing way. They then are assigned to one of the 20 barracks zones and probably will be dead within 7 years.

=== Natives of Erlik ===

The People of Erlik, those born there, largely fall into one of three groups: The Militate, the Tripartite, and the Populat controllers. Those who come to Earlik from outside, no matter their station before, are treated as populat of the city. Their shift leaders and the like are drawn from the people born to the city who's soul profiles indicate they are to be part of the Populat. The Militate of Erlik are not like those of Estasia: they are trained not for raiding but for bitter and brutal WAR, total war where the goal is destruction not the capture of resources. They are fantastically equipped, with individual speeder bikes and universal power armor. They too live but a short time, as the moment they turn 16 they are implanted with Aegis Inset Amulets so that they can interface with their artifact equipment. Even with all the equipment Erlik is able to provide them with the tend to die long before they would grow old while facing down the frequent attacks on the city by destroyers and the Adamant Caste.

All the natives of Erlik enjoy living standards Far above what the ensnared Void Cultists do. The very least of them share eight person 'Comunes' similar to Kamak and the city's most trusted mortal legates, his 'Black Nonitate Council' have residences in the flukes of the squid body right in front of it's scorpion tail where they live with staffs of handpicked slaves. Erlik's human scale champions also have their apartments here, with their own staffs of slaves and mechanical servants.

=== The Demiurges of Erlik ===

One secret kept well by the rulers of Erlik is that there has not been a Demiurge born into the city since it's inception. Their champions must constantly hunt out and capture them from among the tunnel folk tribes across Autochthonia and drag them back to Erlik in chains in order to let Erlik continue to produce his blasphemous batches of 'champions', and that the timing of these exaltations is not so much to do with resources or the city's needs but rather when they can assemble the five demiurges they need to complete the process and break their will so that they will perform the blasphemy that is being asked of them. The capture of demiurges is a high priority for Erlik and he devotes a significant amount of resources to it, even going so far as to break his own rule of not allowing outsiders to have more status than his natives in this '''one''' instance. The Five or more Demiurges are accorded status similar to the city's Ruling Council and have their own apartments with a staff of slaves for their pleasure: Erlik understands that while the stick may be more fun and satisfying the carrot is more effective over the long term.

Just in the past few years he has had the devils own luck and managed to secure 5 Demiurges who have become Void Cultists and willingly come to Erlik. He is currently running through 200 years of backlogged resources in exalting fresh batches of 'Champions', pausing only to secure the necessarily heroic souls to make the process work, for which he is capturing and killing people from all of the eight nations but especially Nurad who he thinks possess the requisite sternness of spirit. Ironically among these batches of Champions Soulsteel Castes such as himself are rare, since Soulsteel is the material he himself requires to build and repair his body and charms and they also pose the risk of consuming the heroic soul used to exalt them, so he only attempts to exalt a Soulsteel caste if he has a soul that he is both certain will serve for that purpose and is also certain will not serve for any other. The other four castes by contrast are common since he possesses large reserves of the other types of magical materials.

The current demiurges of Erlik are as follows:

==== Tyrian ====

Once a member of the Prolific Scholars of the Furnace Transcendent in Trantek, second greatest city of Kamak: Tyrain began experimenting with soul steel after being assigned to do maintenance on the [[Ephemera Storage Manifold]] and eventually realized that the alien faces in the soulsteel of Autochtonia belonged to some race which the great maker had condemned to destruction. This realization of the great maker's utter ruthlessness turned him into a Void Cultists, and with his research notes in tow he hooked up with a group headed for Erlik. On the journey he was identified as a Demiurge and singled out for special indoctrination. When he reached Erlik he found himself whisked away from the rest of the convoy and placed in a private suite with automaton and human servants. He is surprisingly humane for a void cultist and treats his slaves well. His motivation is known to many in Erlik, find a way to release the alien souls trapped in Autochthon's Soulsteel.

He recently has received a leg up on this: one of Erlik's scouting parties captured a small party of beings who look just like those strange people, and brought them to Erlik for experimentation. Tyrian immediately petitioned Erlik to place them under his authority, as they could be key to his work, knowing that he needed the man Erlik agreed, and within a few months Tyrian had learned their language. Now with their help he is working on a method that could in theory allow him to finally release the souls of their forebears from their soulsteel matrix, the problem being this: to do it would require both Celestial Circle Sorcery, God-Machine Protocols, and to place another soul into the soulsteel, which he is sure that Erlik will not allow. Erlik has a use for soulsteel and human souls, he does not need the souls of the Ereta'een

==== Jamri and Larvos ====

These two demiurges came to Erlik out of Nurad, not captured as many have been but willingly, on the run from their own city's Tripartite assembly. They were born as twins to the same mother, but in their previous life were lovers, and for some reason their previous incarnations personalities have carried over to their current lives.

Jamri's role in Nurad was as one of the Glorious Luminators of the Brilliant Rapture, a post she did fairly well in but not exceptionally. She was passed over for promotion many times but her one solace was...

Larvos: her twin brother, and ultimately lover. He had been slated from a young age to be one of the Meticulous Surgeons of the Body Electric and did well in that post, but could never fully deny his inappropriate feelings for his sister.

The two danced around the disturbing attraction that they felt for each other since they were teenagers, but it was not until Jamri was passed over for promotion within the Luminators for the fourth time that she broke down and stole the access codes that would allow her to check her and her brother's soul records.

What she found shocked them both, their souls had been recycled out of Kamak, a pair of high ranking tripartite members who had had an affair outside their mirages and then when discovered committed suicide togehter by diving into a vat of liquid nitrogen. They had been found together locked in a permanent kiss when the vat was drained, and the events surrounding it were even now being unraveled to be made into a morality play about infidelity.

Confronted with the source of their unnatural attraction the two gave in, and began to clandestinely have carnal assignations, until they were discovered by the Perceptors. However the Perceptors made a key mistake and let them go thinking they would lead them to an incestuous Void Cult they had been tracking. Instead they drove the pair into it, and when they followed them, some of Erlik's 'champions' were waiting.

With the Perceptors Dead Erlik's champions and Millitate spirited the whole cult away into the blight zone and thence to Erlik, where the majority met the ususal fate, but the Pair of Demiurges found a life of luxury and connubial bliss. They are now Erlik's fanatical partisans, and have just received the happy news that Jamri is pregnant for the first time. Erlik's other Surgeons warn them not to get their hopes up, the soul shortage in Autochtonia is growing steadily worse and many children are stillborn these days for lack of souls, not to mention that even with their vaunted status Erlik will not continence a deformed or retarded child, but the couple have faith that [[The Gods of the Void]] will not allow that to happen, their baby will be born hale and sharp witted, and will perhaps one day become part of Erlik's Tripartite.

==== Witlindine ====

Unlike the three demiurges presented above Witlindine is here against her will. Captured in a raid against a community of tunnel folk on the fringes of the blight zone she was identified as a Demiurge and separated from most of the rest of the slaves. Erlik had the wit to keep her with her parents, but this may have backfired as her parents drilled into her head that she was supposed to be a kind an gentile person and never do anything to hurt anyone. Erlik now dances a careful dance with her of trying to turn her away from 'good' and 'kindness' to serve his aims as a Demiurge, while not tipping off her parents what he is doing so they will push back and force him to take drastic measures. He sees it as an immensely complex game of gateway in five and six dimensions, and it amuses him to play it, for now.

Witlindine is a slight girl of 11 years, with a false soul gem glued to her forehead, and with cherry red hair and green eyes. Had she been born in Nurad instead of a tunnel community she would have been one of the Pious Harvesters of the Hallowed Flesh, as several of her ancestors were before being banished, but she wasn't and all of Autochthonia may pay the price for that. She dresses in greens as befitting her new station in life, and Is learning the arts of a harvester from the elderly void cultist Harvester that Erlik has recruited.

She misses her home in the tunnlefolk town where she grew up, and if given the opportunity to escape Erlik ''with'' her parents would leap at the chance. Unfortunately for her and everyone else Erlik's subtle manipulations have already erased almost all loyalty to anyone but her parents from her personality.

==== The Others ====

Like with the deathlords this author leaves the personages of some of Erlik's demiurges up to the ST to fill in. There are eight of them in total, and they are not unified in their reverence for the dread city that harbors them. Two of the remaining four are willing converts but the other two were abducted and brought here at sword point, and all of them are powerful allies for an Alchemical in Erlik, if they can just promise and deliver those things the Demiurge most wants, be that an attractive new slave, the health and well being of their child, or their freedom.

== The Champions of Erlik ==

At present Erlik has about 27 champions, a fantastical number for a single city to field. Of those 7 are the survivors of the previous batches of exalted he has created himself, 9 are void lords that have pledged themselves to him, 5 are the new batch which he has just exalted at the point where the PCs meet the Dark City, (Or perhaps are the PCs themselves and the fellow members of their first assembly...) and 6 are left wholly up to the Storyteller to play around with.

There are two classes of 'Champions' who serve Erlik, those that the dark city exalted himself and those that have come to him from outside and pledged themselves to his Service. As with all else Erlik does this division is more sharp than might be imagined.

=== The Outsiders ===

=== The Natives ===

=== The New Blood ===

There are two versions of this section, which this author refers to as types Alpha & Omega.

Type Alpha is for the new batch of exalted to Be the Players Characters, the players start off right from the beginning as void lords in service to Erlik.

Type Omega By contrast is when you use Erlik as presented here as an adversary: the five freshly exalted 'champions' with their voidtech already thrumming rushing to defend their city and master.

Both options will be given a full presentation bellow.

==== Type Alpha ====

A Type A game is much like an Abyssal or Infernal game, with one key exception, Type A games characters are irrevocably damned. If they were to uninstall all the voidtech which Erlik has built them containing they would briefly be able to experience clarity instead of Dissonance. And then the other 'Champions' of Erlik would kill them. It therefore is advised that you only embark on this game with players that seriously WANT to play the bad guys and do a lot of nasty, vicious, mean-spirited, and heinous things, and also that you keep such a chronicle short lest playing such a role permanently effect a weak minded players psyche.

If you do embark on this chronicle, knowing the dangers and problems you will face along the way, the following outline may be of help.

Stage 0: Char Gen.

Character generation is accomplished as normal, except that characters may take any voidtech submodules for free and must have at least one charm which is voidtech or has a voidtech submodule installed. Advise the characters that they ought to take Strain Resistant Chasis modification a few times to survive what comes next. As an Alternative to taking the Strain Resistant Chassis Modification Consider using the rules variant found [[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag|HERE]].

Stage 1: Learning your place.

The characters exit the vats and are 'jumped in' by the existing exalted, taking a single barehanded punch from each of them who are in the city at the time and not colossi. This will probably roll them over into lethal damage, but if they fight back they will be killed, as they have already been warned. The then are escorted to their apartments and allowed to take their anger out on their slaves as they heal. Over the next few weeks they learn that as far as Erlik's Exalted go they are at the bottom of the heap in a society that considers casual cruelty the 'nom-de-regur' and that they have to struggle for almost everything they get. During this time they will be expected to patrol the city for escape attempts, assist the Nonartite in whatever way is required, and help with defending the city from Destroyer attacks.

Stage 2: Play out the leash.

The characters will eventually be paired with several of the other exalts and sent on missions deep into the reaches, after Erlik thinks he has leverage to make sure they will report back, even for him the characters represent a significant investment. Misisons can include retrieving Void Cultists to replenish the population, murdering or kidnapping tunnlefolk, and scouting missions into Nurad. The characters will be expected to report on each others activities and play mutual commissar. This will be the longest phase of the chronicle, and ends only as Erlik at last breaches Nurad's cavern chamber. During this phase Erlik will exalt more 'champions' and the PCs will be expected to monitor and control the next set of 'New Guys'.

Stage 3: The Fall: of Nurad; or Erlik?

The last part of the chronicle will be a bitter war betwene the champions and army of Nurad and the same forces of Erlik. The two will fight in a bitter and epic struggle for supremacy as Erlik's terrible engines of destruction and dark champions lay waste to Nurad's structure and landscape.

Even if Erlik 'wins' at the very last the ST is advised to have him lose: when he at last takes his place in the ruins of what was once Phrygea he has his people try to cannibalize and install the charm which was to allow her to interface with the great maker, hoping to kill Autochthon with one psionic blast of hatred, but instead he is destroyed as his former mentor was. When a man, or a city, embarks on a path of vengeance, he should first dig two graves.

==== Type Omega ====

In this type of situation the party of Exalts has located Erlik and is ready to attack the dark city with a substantial force. In a desperation move Erlik exalts one last batch of dark champions to aid in it's defense and attempt to repulse the invaders. the final five champions which Erlik creates at this time are given rough outlines bellow and links created to their full sheets^.

^(Footnote: At the present time none of these sheets are finished, or in point of fact started. This footnote will be edited to reflect this authors progress with creating the characters in question. It is my intent to eventually have full sheets for all of them so that they can be pulled out and used by the ST at a moment's notice. Two types of sheet will be provided: a 'quick NPC' sheet and then as time permits a full sheet with all details, the ST should chose one of the two to use and stick with it due to the inherent incompatibility of the two approaches. If the ST chooses to use these characters in her game she is requested to copy whichever sheet she chooses onto a page under her own account and edit it from there to reflect what happens in her game rather than use these sheets to track such things. All edits by persons other than myself will be reverted and the action reported to the moderators.)

===== Arc of Void Lightning =====

This orichalcum caste champion's previous incarnations include a succession of polar mutants and a handful of Lumitors. She also was once a member of the Militate in Erlik, some 105 years ago who died at barely the age of 18 facing down a destroyer who had come to attack the city during it's long crawl to fight Nurad. In her incarnation as a champion she fights with a Shield and Daiklave of orichalcum and Gunzosha armor.

[[The Ghost/Arc of Void Lightning|Arc of Void Lightning]]

===== Chains of the Profane =====

This Starmettal caste is the second of the five alchemicals to emerge from the vats. He is a martial artist who uses a fighting chain and wears discreet essence armor. In many of his past incarnations he has been a martial artist as well, and some of that training has carried over into his perfected lotus matrix granting him the charms of a MA style used with a fighting chain up to the form type.

[[The Ghost/Chains of the Profane|Chains of the Profane]]

===== Barbed Vengeance of the Void Gods =====

[[The Ghost/Barbed Vengeance of the Void Gods|Barbed Vengeance of the Void Gods]]

===== Perceptor of the Gathering Dark =====

[[The Ghost/Perceptor of the Gathering Dark|Perceptor of the Gathering Dark]]

===== Flowing Disruption of Systems =====

[[The Ghost/Flowing Disruption of Systems|Flowing Disruption of Systems]]

=== The Others ===

= Erlik: the Dark Nation. =

== A Terse History of Erlik ==

== Erlik Today ==

=== Cobol: The Founder ===

=== Absys: The Shadow of Sunlight ===

=== Fortran: The Bloodied Silver City ===

=== Pascal: The Starmetal Worm ===

=== Ocami: The Black Diamond ===

=== Babbage and Yorick: the twin Blasphemies ===

== The Champions of Erlik ==

User talk:BogMod

2014-11-29T01:44:15Z

The Ghost: /* Hello */

= Hello =

You seem to be one of the few users that still hangs around here. I am trying to drum up more interest in the Wiki, would you be willing to guide any neophyte players I rope into this shindig? --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 01:54, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Sure but not sure what you want me to do exactly.

Just Help me greet people, stand by for advice, check the recent contributions page and comment on user projects, you know, all the stuff you used to do on the other wiki before it went down, please? --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 01:44, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft/Top

2014-11-29T01:41:00Z

The Ghost: /* Modern Crafts */

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Craft/Top

2014-11-29T00:24:31Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top

2014-11-28T23:23:07Z

The Ghost: lets start something

User:The Ghost

2014-11-28T21:45:14Z

The Ghost: /* Rules Variants */

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

== NPC Creation Guidelines ==

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top|Top Page]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Top|Attributes]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Abilities/Top|Abilities]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Virtues/Top|Virtues]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Backgrounds/Top|Backgrounds]]

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon ===

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Appearance

2014-11-28T21:33:06Z

The Ghost: /* Appearance */

No Attribute is more often abused than appearance, and it's easy to see why. Not only is Appearance the god-stat of social combat it is one of the fondest fantasies of most players, to be a legendary beauty or devilishly handsome. However, the truth of the matter is that like the majority of the population most exalts should be appearance 2, exaltation selects for heroism, not beauty. Furthermore without the power of exaltation it normally should not be possible to upgrade your appearance after you reach adulthood. Some argument could be made for doing so if you change certain habits such as always being dirty and disheveled or ceasing to constantly scowl, but under normal circumstances most people have a single constant appearance score and this should not change positively after their features stabilize at full maturity. Moving on, what follows is a more complete accounting of the potential scores for appearance from 0 to 6, which require a more through explanation than most stats.

= Appearance =

The first thing to understand, which apples to all of these stat readouts is that 'appearance' is more than your actual ''appearance'', it includes things like how you smell, how you stand, your facial expression, how you gesticulate, how you are groomed, and what your clothing looks like. These factors combine can allow a certain small degree of upward mobility in terms of your appearance scores effects but are not enough even when combine to cause a permanent increase to appearance as all of them except matters of stance and gesture are temporary and changeable. STs should ''perhaps'' '''consider''' allowing a permanent increase of 1 point to appearance over a character's starting rating if they can marshal all of these factors on what would reasonably be considered a permanent basis, but under normal circumstances this is more of a temporary circumstance bonus awarded by the ST.

== Zero ==

0: Appearance zero is the province of the disfigured and deformed. People who look like walking corpses and stink of blood have this level of appearance. Outside god blooded and certain exalts this type of appearance is exceedingly rare, 1 in 10000 people or less is this hideously ugly. It must also be noted that people with this level of appearance are so hideous looking that they appear monstrous and are treated as Appearance 5 when attempting to intimidate people. People known to the modern audience with this level of appearance include Freddy Kruger, Your Typical Zombie, and Lotney 'Sloth' Fratelli from the legendary children's movie "The Goonies".

== One ==

1: Appearance one is more than 'substandard' it means that nearly everyone will get at least 1 bonus success against you in social combat. However, though people with this level of appearance are considered 'ugly' it is actually fairly common. Depending on the local between 1 person in 20 and one person in 50 will have this level of appearance. It also should be far more common among the Exalted than the general population, as having a poor appearance score gives a person more opportunities to display heroism. Those with appearance 1 probably have uneven features such as a walleye, harelip, or badly deviated septum.

== Two ==

2: There is more to say about appearance 2 than you might think, While it may be 'average' it also runs the gamut of typical mortal phenotypes. Nappy hair, wavy hair, straight hair, frizzy hair; short hair, long hair, bald; brown hair, auburn hair, red hair, blonde hair, white hair, gray hair, black hair, blue hair, green hair; lavender eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, tawny eyes, brown eyes, ruddy eyes, gray eyes, hazel eyes; black skin, brown skin, red skin, tanned skin, pale skin, pink skin, golden skin, bluish and greenish skin; small teeth, square teeth, round teeth, pointed teeth, large teeth; tall, short; thin, fat, or fit: there are places where every conceivable combination of these are or have been considered the height of beauty and the depths of ugliness somewhere in creation. However: NONE of them actually are. One's appearance, as has been intimated above, has less to do with one's actual appearance per-se as with ones carriage, bearing, scent, and poise. In so far as ''appearance'' actually plays into it it is not about if you are one ethnicity, or a specific social class, but if your features are well proportioned, not by any arbitrary standard but in relation to themselves, if your skin is free of blemish, or in some cases has one small blemish in just the right place to keep one's perfect symmetry from becoming overwhelming and unnatural seeming. ST's should feel comfortable rating almost anyone at appearance two, and in fact should do so for the VAST majority of people.

== Three ==

3: Appearance 3 is actually more common among above average scores than almost any other. About 1 person in between 10 and 80 has it depending on region. These are the 'popular' people of your high school, office, gym, church, country club, or PTA. It usually does not take much to set someone above the 'average' of the human population, probably not even something you can put your finger on exactly: they just have this look or stance that says 'obey me' to some primitive part of your brain: and here is the kicker, which exalted does not model ''at ALL'' well: you probably HATE them for it. One thing that almost everyone in the real world has which practically no exalted GM thinks to include on NPC character sheets is a negative intimacy towards people who are more attractive than them: and it makes sense. Having a negative intimacy towards someone or something boosts your MDV against social attacks which try to make you act in accordance with that person or thing's interest, which, lets face it, in the case of the 'popular' people usually run counter to your own. Having traded on their good looks their whole life most of these people are selfish, opinionated, self centered, grasping, conniving, jerks. Having a negative intimacy towards them is a survival mechanism: but unfortunately it can only provide a +1 to your MDV which brings us to...

== Four ==

4: These people. This level of appearance is fortunately FAR rarer than appearance 3, by an entire strata of rarity, from appearance 3 to four we go from the 'popular' people to the people who are your local and state leaders, mayors, chiefs of police, state senators, and spokespersons for your company. THESE are the people who can actually get by solely on their good looks, because against the majority of the human race even that +1 leaves us at a -1 penalty, and in social combat that is huge. Fortunately for the rest of us in numerical terms these people are about 1 in 10 to 25 thousand, so chances are that we never personally meet one in our entire lives.

== Five ==

5: While the jump between appearance 3 and four is vast, the jump to appearance 5 is much less so proportionally, perhaps one person in 100 to 500 thousand has this level of appearance. These are the models, the actors and actresses, and the national politicians, if you can think of someone that is a 'household name' and is not known for being homely it is possible that they have this level of appearance. However, there are those...

== Six ==

6: Ironically, considering how much I rail against abusing high appearance, 'legendary' appearance is probably the most common legendary stat in existence. The Queen of Sheba, Helen of Troy, Marylin Monroe, Betty Paige, Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, just to name a few. Interestingly Cleopatra does not actually make this list, according to her contemporaries she actually had appearance of 4 or 5, but legendary [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Manipulation|manipulation]] and socialize.

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Appearance

2014-11-28T21:31:59Z

The Ghost: /* Appearance */

= Appearance =

No Attribute is more often abused than appearance, and it's easy to see why. Not only is Appearance the god-stat of social combat it is one of the fondest fantasies of most players, to be a legendary beauty or devilishly handsome. However, the truth of the matter is that like the majority of the population most exalts should be appearance 2, exaltation selects for heroism, not beauty. Furthermore without the power of exaltation it normally should not be possible to upgrade your appearance after you reach adulthood. Some argument could be made for doing so if you change certain habits such as always being dirty and disheveled or ceasing to constantly scowl, but under normal circumstances most people have a single constant appearance score and this should not change positively after their features stabilize at full maturity. Moving on, what follows is a more complete accounting of the potential scores for appearance from 0 to 6, which require a more through explanation than most stats.

The first thing to understand, which apples to all of these stat readouts is that 'appearance' is more than your actual ''appearance'', it includes things like how you smell, how you stand, your facial expression, how you gesticulate, how you are groomed, and what your clothing looks like. These factors combine can allow a certain small degree of upward mobility in terms of your appearance scores effects but are not enough even when combine to cause a permanent increase to appearance as all of them except matters of stance and gesture are temporary and changeable. STs should ''perhaps'' '''consider''' allowing a permanent increase of 1 point to appearance over a character's starting rating if they can marshal all of these factors on what would reasonably be considered a permanent basis, but under normal circumstances this is more of a temporary circumstance bonus awarded by the ST.

== Zero ==

0: Appearance zero is the province of the disfigured and deformed. People who look like walking corpses and stink of blood have this level of appearance. Outside god blooded and certain exalts this type of appearance is exceedingly rare, 1 in 10000 people or less is this hideously ugly. It must also be noted that people with this level of appearance are so hideous looking that they appear monstrous and are treated as Appearance 5 when attempting to intimidate people. People known to the modern audience with this level of appearance include Freddy Kruger, Your Typical Zombie, and Lotney 'Sloth' Fratelli from the legendary children's movie "The Goonies".

== One ==

1: Appearance one is more than 'substandard' it means that nearly everyone will get at least 1 bonus success against you in social combat. However, though people with this level of appearance are considered 'ugly' it is actually fairly common. Depending on the local between 1 person in 20 and one person in 50 will have this level of appearance. It also should be far more common among the Exalted than the general population, as having a poor appearance score gives a person more opportunities to display heroism. Those with appearance 1 probably have uneven features such as a walleye, harelip, or badly deviated septum.

== Two ==

2: There is more to say about appearance 2 than you might think, While it may be 'average' it also runs the gamut of typical mortal phenotypes. Nappy hair, wavy hair, straight hair, frizzy hair; short hair, long hair, bald; brown hair, auburn hair, red hair, blonde hair, white hair, gray hair, black hair, blue hair, green hair; lavender eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, tawny eyes, brown eyes, ruddy eyes, gray eyes, hazel eyes; black skin, brown skin, red skin, tanned skin, pale skin, pink skin, golden skin, bluish and greenish skin; small teeth, square teeth, round teeth, pointed teeth, large teeth; tall, short; thin, fat, or fit: there are places where every conceivable combination of these are or have been considered the height of beauty and the depths of ugliness somewhere in creation. However: NONE of them actually are. One's appearance, as has been intimated above, has less to do with one's actual appearance per-se as with ones carriage, bearing, scent, and poise. In so far as ''appearance'' actually plays into it it is not about if you are one ethnicity, or a specific social class, but if your features are well proportioned, not by any arbitrary standard but in relation to themselves, if your skin is free of blemish, or in some cases has one small blemish in just the right place to keep one's perfect symmetry from becoming overwhelming and unnatural seeming. ST's should feel comfortable rating almost anyone at appearance two, and in fact should do so for the VAST majority of people.

== Three ==

3: Appearance 3 is actually more common among above average scores than almost any other. About 1 person in between 10 and 80 has it depending on region. These are the 'popular' people of your high school, office, gym, church, country club, or PTA. It usually does not take much to set someone above the 'average' of the human population, probably not even something you can put your finger on exactly: they just have this look or stance that says 'obey me' to some primitive part of your brain: and here is the kicker, which exalted does not model ''at ALL'' well: you probably HATE them for it. One thing that almost everyone in the real world has which practically no exalted GM thinks to include on NPC character sheets is a negative intimacy towards people who are more attractive than them: and it makes sense. Having a negative intimacy towards someone or something boosts your MDV against social attacks which try to make you act in accordance with that person or thing's interest, which, lets face it, in the case of the 'popular' people usually run counter to your own. Having traded on their good looks their whole life most of these people are selfish, opinionated, self centered, grasping, conniving, jerks. Having a negative intimacy towards them is a survival mechanism: but unfortunately it can only provide a +1 to your MDV which brings us to...

== Four ==

4: These people. This level of appearance is fortunately FAR rarer than appearance 3, by an entire strata of rarity, from appearance 3 to four we go from the 'popular' people to the people who are your local and state leaders, mayors, chiefs of police, state senators, and spokespersons for your company. THESE are the people who can actually get by solely on their good looks, because against the majority of the human race even that +1 leaves us at a -1 penalty, and in social combat that is huge. Fortunately for the rest of us in numerical terms these people are about 1 in 10 to 25 thousand, so chances are that we never personally meet one in our entire lives.

== Five ==

5: While the jump between appearance 3 and four is vast, the jump to appearance 5 is much less so proportionally, perhaps one person in 100 to 500 thousand has this level of appearance. These are the models, the actors and actresses, and the national politicians, if you can think of someone that is a 'household name' and is not known for being homely it is possible that they have this level of appearance. However, there are those...

== Six ==

6: Ironically, considering how much I rail against abusing high appearance, 'legendary' appearance is probably the most common legendary stat in existence. The Queen of Sheba, Helen of Troy, Marylin Monroe, Betty Paige, Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, just to name a few. Interestingly Cleopatra does not actually make this list, according to her contemporaries she actually had appearance of 4 or 5, but legendary [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Manipulation|manipulation]] and socialize.

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Appearance

2014-11-27T21:59:32Z

The Ghost: Basic updating work.

== Appearance ==

No Attribute is more often abused than appearance, and it's easy to see why. Not only is Appearance the god-stat of social combat it is one of the fondest fantasies of most players, to be a legendary beauty or devilishly handsome. However, the truth of the matter is that like the majority of the population most exalts should be appearance 2, exaltation selects for heroism, not beauty. Furthermore without the power of exaltation it normally should not be possible to upgrade your appearance after you reach adulthood. Some argument could be made for doing so if you change certain habits such as always being dirty and disheveled or ceasing to constantly scowl, but under normal circumstances most people have a single constant appearance score and this should not change positively after their features stabilize at full maturity. Moving on, what follows is a more complete accounting of the potential scores for appearance from 0 to 6, which require a more through explanation than most stats.

The first thing to understand, which apples to all of these stat readouts is that 'appearance' is more than your actual ''appearance'', it includes things like how you smell, how you stand, your facial expression, how you gesticulate, how you are groomed, and what your clothing looks like. These factors combine can allow a certain small degree of upward mobility in terms of your appearance scores effects but are not enough even when combine to cause a permanent increase to appearance as all of them except matters of stance and gesture are temporary and changeable. STs should ''perhaps'' '''consider''' allowing a permanent increase of 1 point to appearance over a character's starting rating if they can marshal all of these factors on what would reasonably be considered a permanent basis, but under normal circumstances this is more of a temporary circumstance bonus awarded by the ST.

0: Appearance zero is the province of the disfigured and deformed. People who look like walking corpses and stink of blood have this level of appearance. Outside god blooded and certain exalts this type of appearance is exceedingly rare, 1 in 10000 people or less is this hideously ugly. It must also be noted that people with this level of appearance are so hideous looking that they appear monstrous and are treated as Appearance 5 when attempting to intimidate people. People known to the modern audience with this level of appearance include Freddy Kruger, Your Typical Zombie, and Lotney 'Sloth' Fratelli from the legendary children's movie "The Goonies".

1: Appearance one is more than 'substandard' it means that nearly everyone will get at least 1 bonus success against you in social combat. However, though people with this level of appearance are considered 'ugly' it is actually fairly common. Depending on the local between 1 person in 20 and one person in 50 will have this level of appearance. It also should be far more common among the Exalted than the general population, as having a poor appearance score gives a person more opportunities to display heroism. Those with appearance 1 probably have uneven features such as a walleye, harelip, or badly deviated septum.

2: There is more to say about appearance 2 than you might think, While it may be 'average' it also runs the gamut of typical mortal phenotypes. Nappy hair, wavy hair, straight hair, frizzy hair; short hair, long hair, bald; brown hair, auburn hair, red hair, blonde hair, white hair, gray hair, black hair, blue hair, green hair; lavender eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, tawny eyes, brown eyes, ruddy eyes, gray eyes, hazel eyes; black skin, brown skin, red skin, tanned skin, pale skin, pink skin, golden skin, bluish and greenish skin; small teeth, square teeth, round teeth, pointed teeth, large teeth; tall, short; thin, fat, or fit: there are places where every conceivable combination of these are or have been considered the height of beauty and the depths of ugliness somewhere in creation. However: NONE of them actually are. One's appearance, as has been intimated above, has less to do with one's actual appearance per-se as with ones carriage, bearing, scent, and poise. In so far as ''appearance'' actually plays into it it is not about if you are one ethnicity, or a specific social class, but if your features are well proportioned, not by any arbitrary standard but in relation to themselves, if your skin is free of blemish, or in some cases has one small blemish in just the right place to keep one's perfect symmetry from becoming overwhelming and unnatural seeming. ST's should feel comfortable rating almost anyone at appearance two, and in fact should do so for the VAST majority of people.

3: Appearance 3 is actually more common among above average scores than almost any other. About 1 person in between 10 and 80 has it depending on region. These are the 'popular' people of your high school, office, gym, church, country club, or PTA. It usually does not take much to set someone above the 'average' of the human population, probably not even something you can put your finger on exactly: they just have this look or stance that says 'obey me' to some primitive part of your brain: and here is the kicker, which exalted does not model ''at ALL'' well: you probably HATE them for it. One thing that almost everyone in the real world has which practically no exalted GM thinks to include on NPC character sheets is a negative intimacy towards people who are more attractive than them: and it makes sense. Having a negative intimacy towards someone or something boosts your MDV against social attacks which try to make you act in accordance with that person or thing's interest, which, lets face it, in the case of the 'popular' people usually run counter to your own. Having traded on their good looks their whole life most of these people are selfish, opinionated, self centered, grasping, conniving, jerks. Having a negative intimacy towards them is a survival mechanism: but unfortunately it can only provide a +1 to your MDV which brings us to...

4: These people. This level of appearance is fortunately FAR rarer than appearance 3, by an entire strata of rarity, from appearance 3 to four we go from the 'popular' people to the people who are your local and state leaders, mayors, chiefs of police, state senators, and spokespersons for your company. THESE are the people who can actually get by solely on their good looks, because against the majority of the human race even that +1 leaves us at a -1 penalty, and in social combat that is huge. Fortunately for the rest of us in numerical terms these people are about 1 in 10 to 25 thousand, so chances are that we never personally meet one in our entire lives.

5: While the jump between appearance 3 and four is vast, the jump to appearance 5 is much less so proportionally, perhaps one person in 100 to 500 thousand has this level of appearance. These are the models, the actors and actresses, and the national politicians, if you can think of someone that is a 'household name' and is not known for being homely it is possible that they have this level of appearance. However, there are those...

6: Ironically, considering how much I rail against abusing high appearance, 'legendary' appearance is probably the most common legendary stat in existence. The Queen of Sheba, Helen of Troy, Marylin Monroe, Betty Paige, Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, just to name a few. Interestingly Cleopatra does not actually make this list, according to her contemporaries she actually had appearance of 4 or 5, but legendary manipulation and socialize.

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Dexterity

2014-11-27T21:57:00Z

The Ghost: Basic updating work.

= Dexterity =

Like with strength one and two the first few levels of dexterity require no further explanation, but the next four on the other hand need to be defined a little better. Dexterity is one of the two 'godstats' of Exalted, and unfortunately far to many players and GMs just put it at 5 for all of their characters for mechanical reasons, the guidelines bellow will give more thorough definitions of each level above average so that a more realistic approach can be taken.

3: Unlike Strength you should not feel justified in giving almost anyone above average Dex. Without native talent almost everyone has Dex 2, and it is something that can only be trained in a limited manner, the natural degree of Dexterity you have as an adult can be increased by no more than 2 dots through training if you are being realistic and not one of the exalted, but conversely your natural aptitude cannot take you to more than Dex 4. Jugglers, dancers, and warriors typically have Dex 3 and no higher, and most of them from training more than talent. Numerically people with Dex 3 are one in 100 or less.

4: Dex 4 is exponentially rarer than people with Dex 3, just as people with Dex 3 are rarer than people with Dex 2. Dex 4 is the province solely of those with natural talent for dexterity or an incredible degree of training, probably since birth. Characters who ''might'' have Dex 4 include Martial Artists, Circus Acrobats, Cat Burglars, and Assassins. Numerically one person in 10K has Dex 4

5: Now we get into the province of legends. Numerically one person in 10 million or less has Dex five, and GMs should er on the side of less. This is the province solely of those with BOTH a natural talent for Dexterity and training. People who have Dex 5 that people in the real world would recognize include the most legendary of Olympic figure skaters, Jackie Chan, and SEAL team 6. People in exalted who could ''possibly'' have this level of dexterity in Exalted include Ninja, Martial Arts Masters in their prime, and Princes of Thieves who's names will be legend in the criminal underworld.

6: Like STR this level of Dex is the stuff of mythology, but unlike STR I cannot think of a single instance of a hero who is legend for his Dexterity. There are those who are legend for dexterity related Abilities but I cannot think of a hero from folklore and mythology who is known for his incredible agility or speed which would not require charms in exalted to accomplish his legendary feats. As such without suitable god-blood or similar STs should probably consider 5 the upper limit of mortal Dexterity.

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Strength

2014-11-27T21:53:23Z

The Ghost: Basic updating work.

= Strength =

Strength: 1 and 2 STR don't need much in the way of further explanation: but the next four levels do.

3: For strength 3 is actually almost as common as 2: you are probably a sturdy yeoman farmer, a stevedore on the docks, or the strongest person in a family of intellectuals. Players and STs should feel justified giving any adult character 3 strength if they have a job requiring heavy lifting or strenuous activity or who 'works out'. Numerically people with STR 3 are one in 10

4: STR 4 however is much more unusual. If the character has STR 4 they almost certainly are both naturally stronger than average '''and''' have a job that requires abnormal physical exertion, such as miner, warrior, or farrier. Numerically people with Str 4 are about 1 in 1000

5: Str 5 is far rarer than even str 4. This is the province of Olympic weight lifters and animals such as horses. Players and GMs should not feel justified giving characters this level of strength unless they also have some kind of background such as cult or influence which marks them as being well known in their region. Numerically people with STR 5 are one in a Million.

6: This is the province of legendary heroes such as Samson, Goliath, Gilgamesh, Hercules, and Paul Bunion. People with this level of strength come along once in a millennium, other than among the exalted, appropriate god blooded, and animals.

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Top

2014-11-27T21:51:26Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

= Attributes =

The guidelines for Attributes are fairly well laid out: 1 is substandard, 2 is average, 3 is above average, 4 is exceptional and 5 is full mortal potential: the rare exceptions to this going to no more than 6 and those being considered 'superhuman'. However a few of the stats need some better guidelines so that players and STs are not so tempted to simply treat the scales as if they had only 3 settings, 1, 2, and 5. Bellow are links to each of the nine Atributes and what they mean in terms of population numbers and mechanics.

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Strength|Strength]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Dexterity|Dexterity]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Stamina|Stamina]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Charisma|Charisma]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Manipulation|Manipulation]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Appearance|Appearance]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Perception|Perception]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Intelligence|Intelligence]]

[[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Attributes/Wits|Wits]]

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top

2014-11-27T21:36:25Z

The Ghost: Deconsolodateing

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top

2014-11-27T21:23:28Z

The Ghost: moved The Ghost/NPCCreationGuidelines to The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top: Refining my parameters and working on splitting up the content for ease of access.

NPCs, the bane of every ST's existence. You need them, by their hundreds, and in some cases they need to be as detailed as the PCs, and in many cases they need to be more powerful in some way: BUT the PCs have trouble enough keeping track of their own sheets and abilities: how can you handle creating dozens upon dozens of NPCs when there are no good guidelines for what a character should look like in terms of stats? This rule set addresses that.

= First Precepts =

The first thing to remember about the content on this page is that it is not a rule variant, but more a set of rules which the ST can apply to create detailed NPCs of any power level. For a more 'quick and dirty' solution Google "Fixalted Simplified NPCs".

Second thing to remember, this establishes guidelines for the relative availability and scalar nature of Attributes, Abilities, Backgrounds, and Virtues. It uses Mortals as it's base assumption and therefore is only really suitable for starting Exalted PCs and most NPCs: exalts who have been active a while break all the rules by their nature.

Third, as mentioned above these are ''guidelines'', if you have a good NPC idea which does not fit this set of rules do it anyway. These rules are here to help, not hinder, and should never be taken as some kind of gospel.

= Stat Guidelines =

This is where the guidelines for the various stats of Exalted are spelled out, do note that these stats may not match those in the books, this is either A: Deliberate, or B: because I didn't know what the books said and made something up, in either case please use the Talk page to discuss any issues you have with the material presented.

== Attributes ==

The guidelines for Attributes are fairly well laid out: 1 is substandard, 2 is average, 3 is above average, 4 is exceptional and 5 is full mortal potential: the rare exceptions to this going to no more than 6 and those being considered 'superhuman'. However a few of the stats need some better guidelines so that players and STs are not so tempted to simply treat the scales as if they had only 3 settings, 1, 2, and 5.

=== Strength ===
Strength: 1 and 2 STR don't need much in the way of further explanation: but the next four levels do.

3: For strength 3 is actually almost as common as 2: you are probably a sturdy yeoman farmer, a stevedore on the docks, or the strongest person in a family of intellectuals. Players and STs should feel justified giving any adult character 3 strength if they have a job requiring heavy lifting or strenuous activity or who 'works out'. Numerically people with STR 3 are one in 10

4: STR 4 however is much more unusual. If the character has STR 4 they almost certainly are both naturally stronger than average '''and''' have a job that requires abnormal physical exertion, such as miner, warrior, or farrier. Numerically people with Str 4 are about 1 in 1000

5: Str 5 is far rarer than even str 4. This is the province of Olympic weight lifters and animals such as horses. Players and GMs should not feel justified giving characters this level of strength unless they also have some kind of background such as cult or influence which marks them as being well known in their region. Numerically people with STR 5 are one in a Million.

6: This is the province of legendary heroes such as Samson, Goliath, Gilgamesh, Hercules, and Paul Bunion. People with this level of strength come along once in a millennium, other than among the exalted, appropriate god blooded, and animals.

=== Dexterity ===

Like with strength one and two the first few levels of dexterity require no further explanation, but the next four on the other hand need to be defined a little better. Dexterity is one of the two 'godstats' of Exalted, and unfortunately far to many players and GMs just put it at 5 for all of their characters for mechanical reasons, the guidelines bellow will give more thorough definitions of each level above average so that a more realistic approach can be taken.

3: Unlike Strength you should not feel justified in giving almost anyone above average Dex. Without native talent almost everyone has Dex 2, and it is something that can only be trained in a limited manner, the natural degree of Dexterity you have as an adult can be increased by no more than 2 dots through training if you are being realistic and not one of the exalted, but conversely your natural aptitude cannot take you to more than Dex 4. Jugglers, dancers, and warriors typically have Dex 3 and no higher, and most of them from training more than talent. Numerically people with Dex 3 are one in 100 or less.

4: Dex 4 is exponentially rarer than people with Dex 3, just as people with Dex 3 are rarer than people with Dex 2. Dex 4 is the province solely of those with natural talent for dexterity or an incredible degree of training, probably since birth. Characters who ''might'' have Dex 4 include Martial Artists, Circus Acrobats, Cat Burglars, and Assassins. Numerically one person in 10K has Dex 4

5: Now we get into the province of legends. Numerically one person in 10 million or less has Dex five, and GMs should er on the side of less. This is the province solely of those with BOTH a natural talent for Dexterity and training. People who have Dex 5 that people in the real world would recognize include the most legendary of Olympic figure skaters, Jackie Chan, and SEAL team 6. People in exalted who could ''possibly'' have this level of dexterity in Exalted include Ninja, Martial Arts Masters in their prime, and Princes of Thieves who's names will be legend in the criminal underworld.

6: Like STR this level of Dex is the stuff of mythology, but unlike STR I cannot think of a single instance of a hero who is legend for his Dexterity. There are those who are legend for dexterity related Abilities but I cannot think of a hero from folklore and mythology who is known for his incredible agility or speed which would not require charms in exalted to accomplish his legendary feats. As such without suitable god-blood or similar STs should probably consider 5 the upper limit of mortal Dexterity.

== Stamina ==

== Charisma ==

== Manipulation ==

== Appearance ==

No Attribute is more often abused than appearance, and it's easy to see why. Not only is Appearance the god-stat of social combat it is one of the fondest fantasies of most players, to be a legendary beauty or devilishly handsome. However, the truth of the matter is that like the majority of the population most exalts should be appearance 2, exaltation selects for heroism, not beauty. Furthermore without the power of exaltation it normally should not be possible to upgrade your appearance after you reach adulthood. Some argument could be made for doing so if you change certain habits such as always being dirty and disheveled or ceasing to constantly scowl, but under normal circumstances most people have a single constant appearance score and this should not change positively after their features stabilize at full maturity. Moving on, what follows is a more complete accounting of the potential scores for appearance from 0 to 6, which require a more through explanation than most stats.

The first thing to understand, which apples to all of these stat readouts is that 'appearance' is more than your actual ''appearance'', it includes things like how you smell, how you stand, your facial expression, how you gesticulate, how you are groomed, and what your clothing looks like. These factors combine can allow a certain small degree of upward mobility in terms of your appearance scores effects but are not enough even when combine to cause a permanent increase to appearance as all of them except matters of stance and gesture are temporary and changeable. STs should ''perhaps'' '''consider''' allowing a permanent increase of 1 point to appearance over a character's starting rating if they can marshal all of these factors on what would reasonably be considered a permanent basis, but under normal circumstances this is more of a temporary circumstance bonus awarded by the ST.

0: Appearance zero is the province of the disfigured and deformed. People who look like walking corpses and stink of blood have this level of appearance. Outside god blooded and certain exalts this type of appearance is exceedingly rare, 1 in 10000 people or less is this hideously ugly. It must also be noted that people with this level of appearance are so hideous looking that they appear monstrous and are treated as Appearance 5 when attempting to intimidate people. People known to the modern audience with this level of appearance include Freddy Kruger, Your Typical Zombie, and Lotney 'Sloth' Fratelli from the legendary children's movie "The Goonies".

1: Appearance one is more than 'substandard' it means that nearly everyone will get at least 1 bonus success against you in social combat. However, though people with this level of appearance are considered 'ugly' it is actually fairly common. Depending on the local between 1 person in 20 and one person in 50 will have this level of appearance. It also should be far more common among the Exalted than the general population, as having a poor appearance score gives a person more opportunities to display heroism. Those with appearance 1 probably have uneven features such as a walleye, harelip, or badly deviated septum.

2: There is more to say about appearance 2 than you might think, While it may be 'average' it also runs the gamut of typical mortal phenotypes. Nappy hair, wavy hair, straight hair, frizzy hair; short hair, long hair, bald; brown hair, auburn hair, red hair, blonde hair, white hair, gray hair, black hair, blue hair, green hair; lavender eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, tawny eyes, brown eyes, ruddy eyes, gray eyes, hazel eyes; black skin, brown skin, red skin, tanned skin, pale skin, pink skin, golden skin, bluish and greenish skin; small teeth, square teeth, round teeth, pointed teeth, large teeth; tall, short; thin, fat, or fit: there are places where every conceivable combination of these are or have been considered the height of beauty and the depths of ugliness somewhere in creation. However: NONE of them actually are. One's appearance, as has been intimated above, has less to do with one's actual appearance per-se as with ones carriage, bearing, scent, and poise. In so far as ''appearance'' actually plays into it it is not about if you are one ethnicity, or a specific social class, but if your features are well proportioned, not by any arbitrary standard but in relation to themselves, if your skin is free of blemish, or in some cases has one small blemish in just the right place to keep one's perfect symmetry from becoming overwhelming and unnatural seeming. ST's should feel comfortable rating almost anyone at appearance two, and in fact should do so for the VAST majority of people.

3: Appearance 3 is actually more common among above average scores than almost any other. About 1 person in between 10 and 80 has it depending on region. These are the 'popular' people of your high school, office, gym, church, country club, or PTA. It usually does not take much to set someone above the 'average' of the human population, probably not even something you can put your finger on exactly: they just have this look or stance that says 'obey me' to some primitive part of your brain: and here is the kicker, which exalted does not model ''at ALL'' well: you probably HATE them for it. One thing that almost everyone in the real world has which practically no exalted GM thinks to include on NPC character sheets is a negative intimacy towards people who are more attractive than them: and it makes sense. Having a negative intimacy towards someone or something boosts your MDV against social attacks which try to make you act in accordance with that person or thing's interest, which, lets face it, in the case of the 'popular' people usually run counter to your own. Having traded on their good looks their whole life most of these people are selfish, opinionated, self centered, grasping, conniving, jerks. Having a negative intimacy towards them is a survival mechanism: but unfortunately it can only provide a +1 to your MDV which brings us to...

4: These people. This level of appearance is fortunately FAR rarer than appearance 3, by an entire strata of rarity, from appearance 3 to four we go from the 'popular' people to the people who are your local and state leaders, mayors, chiefs of police, state senators, and spokespersons for your company. THESE are the people who can actually get by solely on their good looks, because against the majority of the human race even that +1 leaves us at a -1 penalty, and in social combat that is huge. Fortunately for the rest of us in numerical terms these people are about 1 in 10 to 25 thousand, so chances are that we never personally meet one in our entire lives.

5: While the jump between appearance 3 and four is vast, the jump to appearance 5 is much less so proportionally, perhaps one person in 100 to 500 thousand has this level of appearance. These are the models, the actors and actresses, and the national politicians, if you can think of someone that is a 'household name' and is not known for being homely it is possible that they have this level of appearance. However, there are those...

6: Ironically, considering how much I rail against abusing high temperance, 'legendary' appearance is probably the most common legendary stat in existence. The Queen of Sheba, Helen of Troy, Marylin Monroe, Betty Paige, Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, just to name a few. Interestingly Cleopatra does not actually make this list, according to her contemporaries she actually had appearance of 4 or 5, but legendary manipulation and socialize.

== Perception ==

== Intelligence ==

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

6:

== Wits ==

The Ghost/NPCCreationGuidelines

2014-11-27T21:23:28Z

The Ghost: moved The Ghost/NPCCreationGuidelines to The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top: Refining my parameters and working on splitting up the content for ease of access.

#REDIRECT [[The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top]]

The Ghost:NPCCreationGuidelines/Top

2014-11-27T03:36:23Z

The Ghost: Boom! Content!

User:The Ghost

2014-11-26T17:05:14Z

The Ghost: /* My Content */ Moved section for ease of refference.

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

[[The Ghost/NPCCreationGuidelines|NPC Creation Guidelines]]

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon ===

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

User:The Ghost

2014-11-26T17:04:03Z

The Ghost: /* Rules Variants */

== Greetings and Salutations ==
As anyone reading this will probably be aware the official Exalted Wiki has gone bye bye, and so I and no doubt many others find themselves here.

On that other wiki I created a number of new items and charms, in particular working to expand upon the content that would one day become Exalted the [[Alchemicals]].

EDIT1:

It has been over a year since the fall of the other Exalted wiki and few if any people have joined this one: well, no matter, I am here and I am active and I have groups of players who I am sicking on the project of making this Wiki active again along with me, so perhaps we will get some other new people as our activity levels increase.

In the mean time I have declared the following page a community project: [[Characters/ExaltedCensus|Exalted Census]]. It is an important page which like the rest of this wiki regrettably languishes with a lack of updates and completely ignored since shortly after 2nd edition came out. I have published guidelines for updating it to a higher standard a few days ago and am working at it diligently.

I may be the 'Last Active User', but that does not mean this wiki is dead, just that it needs me to help it along.

Stay Frosty Rangers. --[[User:The Ghost|Survival is Niffty!]] 15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

= My Content =

== Chronicles ==

I am currently running a chronicle of my own Under the title '[[The Ghost/This Exalted Thing We Do|This Exalted Thing We Do]]' via Skype and Roll20.

With that chronicle being on the rocks due to player dissonance I have started a new one with the more dedicated players entitled [[The Ghost/Exalted Y2K|Exalted Y2K]]

And some times you just want to hit things, and then things snowball.
[[The Ghost/Tales of the New Road|Tales of the New Road]]

And then people ask you to try to do something with Exalted in space: and you get kind of inspired.
[[The Ghost:Chronicles/And Shine Heaven Now|And Shine Heaven Now]]

== City States ==

[[The Ghost/Iskandar|Iskandar]] The main setting of my chronicle.

[[The Ghost/Hokuva|Hokuva]] A pet project of mine.

[[Erlik]] The City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

== Magical Materials ==

My take on [[The Ghost/Adamant|Adamant]].

[[The Ghost/Viridium|Viridium]]

[[The Ghost/Black Lead|Black Lead]]

== Artifacts ==

This is where my Artifact content will be placed.

=== Any Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Double Bladed Daiklave]]

=== Orichalcum ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Teeth of the Serpent]]

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/The Tiger's Unsheathed Claws]]

=== Jade ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Serpent and Heron]]

=== Mixed Material ===

[[The Ghost:Artifacts/Seven Fold Harmonic Adapter]]

== Charms ==

This is where my Charm content will be placed.

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost/Full Life Technique|Full Life Technique]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Lunar ===

== Backgrounds ==

[[Ths Ghost/LunarBond|Lunar Bond]]

[[Ths Ghost/SolarBondRevisited|Solar Bond]]

== Martial Arts ==

Here are listed the top pages for all of my custom MA styles, current or future.
If I come up with any new ones they will be added in as soon as work starts on them.

(Styles marked with an * are based on 'Official' content, namely styles created to fill in the actual charms of a style named or suggested in an Official source but not given an actual charm tree or charm descriptions.)

=== Terrestrial ===

[[The Ghost/Cascade Disruption Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Racing Lightning Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thrashing Steam Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Stalwart Iron Hero Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Endlessly Turning Wheal Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Thousand Faceted Warrior Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Choking Smoke Saboteur Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Uranium Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Steel Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Brass Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Burning Vitriol Assault Style]]*

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Hidden Master Style]]

[[The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style]]

=== Celestial ===

[[The Ghost/Ebon Dragon Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Plague Rat Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Hydraulic Tremor Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Enlightened Armatures Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steel Fang Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Swallowed Darkness Style]]*

[[The Ghost/Steam Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Lightning Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Oil Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Crystal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Metal Dragon Style]]

[[The Ghost/Smoke Dragon Style]]

== Characters ==

=== Templates/Sheets ===

[[The Ghost:Templates/Alchemical Sheet|Alchemical Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Solar Sheet|Solar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Lunar Sheet|Lunar Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Sidereal Sheet|Sidereal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Abyssal Sheet|Abyssal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Infernal Sheet|Infernal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon Blooded Sheet|Dragon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets|Autochthonian Dragon Blooded Sheets]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Sheet|Ghost Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mortal Sheet|Mortal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Animal Sheet|Animal Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Sheet|Demon Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Elemental Sheet|Elemental Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Deity Sheet|Deity Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/God Blooded Sheet|God Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Ghost Blooded Sheet|Ghost Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Demon Blooded Sheet|Demon Blooded Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Beastfolk Sheet|Beastfolk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Raksha Sheet|Raksha Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Dragon King Sheet|Dragon King Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Mountain Folk Sheet|Mountain Folk Sheet]]

[[The Ghost:Templates/Generic Sheet Template|Generic Sheet Template]]

=== Alchemical ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Blazing Seraph of The Machine God|Blazing Seraph of The Machine God]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Solvent of Intractable Distention|Solvent of Intractable Distention]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Voice of Justified Dissension|Voice of Justified Dissension]]

=== Solar ===

=== Lunar ===

[[The Ghost/Lady Red Fox|Lady Red Fox]]

[[The Ghost/Ana the Mother|Ana the Mother]]

[[The Ghost/Gaia's Gardener|Gaia's Gardener]]

[[The Ghost/Vendetta|Vendetta]]

=== Sidereal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Sancara Holtz|Sancara Holtz]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Iron Storm of Freedom|Iron Storm of Freedom]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Harmonious Flower|Harmonious Flower]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Artisan Faust|Artisan Faust]]

=== Abyssal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon|Mr Benjamen Karat Muldoon]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Killer in the House of Horrors|Killer in the House of Horrors]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Housewife of Dark Designs|The Housewife of Dark Designs]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Little Void Princess|Little Void Princess]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/Soulsteel Axe Queen|Soulsteel Axe Queen]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Black Barron of Vulgaria|The Black Barron of Vulgaria]]

=== Infernal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/Vermilion Glass Rat|Vermilion Glass Rat]]

=== Dragon Blooded ===

==== Autochthonian Dragon Blooded ====

=== Demon ===

=== Gods/Spirit ===

=== God Blooded ===

=== Ghost/Ghost Blooded ===

==== Deathlords/ladies ====

This segment chronicles all of the examples of one of "The Four" whom I have created for my games, understand that these characters are even less 'core' than the rest of the characters I have created.

[[The Ghost:Characters/The Archon of Apostasy|The Archon of Apostasy]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/TheMocker|The Mocker]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/DrownedPrincessoftheStygianDepths|Drowned Princess of the Stygian Depths]]

=== Mortal ===

[[The Ghost:Characters/YaxedaAkimi|Yaxeda Akimi]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/MarakeVorHapilos|Marake Vor Hapilos]]

[[The Ghost:Characters/JamikaVorDarian|Jamika Vor Darian]]

== Rules Variants ==

[[The Ghost/Autochthonian Terrestrials|Autochthonian Terrestrials]]

[[The Ghost/Alchemical Half Caste|Alchemical Half Caste]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v1]]

[[The Ghost/Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2|Let's Not Play Rocket Tag v2]]

[[The Ghost/It's Connections or Nothing|It's Connections or Nothing]]

[[The Ghost/PiercingArmor|"Piercing" Armor]]

[[The Ghost/FAME|FAME!]]

[[The Ghost/Titans of War: Functional Warstriders|Functional Warstriders]]

[[The Ghost/NPCCreationGuidelines|NPC Creation Guidelines]]

== Shards of the Exalted Dream ==

[[The Ghost:Shards/Alas Babylon|Alas Babylon]]

[[The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards|A Galaxy of Shards]]

The Ghost:Shards/A Galaxy of Shards

2014-11-25T19:59:20Z

The Ghost: /* The Undying Court */

== A History of The Galaxy ==

It is the 50,000th year of the Elder Reckoning.

50K years ago Creation was destroyed by an invasion of the Fair Folk, but in their moment of triumph they suffered their greatest failure.

Even as the armies of the Parastian Crusade began to unmake the elemental pole of earth and bring an end to shape once and for all the Tyranian Working was enacted by a handful of surviving exalted, which shattered most of the exaltations but saved the cosmos from destruction.

Creation was broken, the elemental poles shattered and dispersed, but the truth of shaped existence survived.

Each tiny fragment of creation became it's own world, flat but expanding until they became spherical and no longer bounded on all sides by the Wyld. However the Tyranian working took the responsibility for saving them off the shoulders of the exalted, and made each of them self sustaining and self developing. Over time these shards expanded into planets the planets developed solar systems and the solar systems joined together to from the galactic core.

The price of the Tyranian working was higher than many: Yu-Shan found themselves connecting to planets which had not ties to one another for over 100 times 100 years, the solars, lunars, siderials, and abyssals ceased to exist as proper exaltations, Creation lost the Exalted, and mourned their loss.

However what they DID have were the half castes, the descendents of the various kinds of exalted, and these kinds now passed down their glory unto the next generation not unlike the dragonblooded, who also now still existed. Over time the truth of the way exaltation had once functioned was lost, and these pale shadows became known as the Exalted.

In roughly the year 10,000 of the Elder Reckoning the people of Autochthonia created the first of the world ships which could travel through the Wyld between the various star systems formed by the fragments of Creation and began the grand task of knitting them together, the process took over 20 millennium but at last the galactic core was united and all the scattered fragments of creation tied back together. Things were looking up for the cosmos, like there could perhaps be a true future for the peoples of the universe.

The War was devastating.

A single member of the Golden Children united under his banner fully a 3rd of the inhabited worlds of the galactic core and in a series of stunning military maneuvers conquered 90% of the rest. A few outlying systems remained unclaimed but each and every one of them knew that this was not due to the man who now styled himself the 'Golden Emperor' not having the power to take them but wishing to leave them as dumping grounds for dissidents and criminals. The Emperor ruled from his capitol at the Sol system for almost five thousand years, before the arrival of the Primordials.

At that time the very existence of the Yozi and their Infernal servants had been forgotten, but THEY had not forgotten US. Most of the infernals had long ago ascended to become Primordials or duplicates of the existing Yozi in their own right, but now the new Primordials came rushing back into the galactic core with armies of devas and demons demanding their due: a place at the games of divinity. For 200 years the war raged across the galaxy and whole worlds burned in the fires of the powers unleashed by the new Primordials, whilst and at the same time both sides expanded the galaxy thousands of light years in each cardinal direction as they formatted the wyld to create worlds to provide training grounds for their forces or factories and mines to provide them with armor and munitions. In the end the new Primordials were defeated by the limitless numbers and superior training of the defenders of the Imperium and were forced to withdraw, but unlike the Yozi they knew of the perfidy of the exalted and did not surrender. Even now the survivors lurk at the fringes of the galactic disk, expanding it in a vain attempt to build enough forces to launch a Third and more successful Primordial War.

The Second Primordial War had exposed the cracks in the Golden Emperor's regime and after the war's end the Imperium rose in revolt, condemning the Emperor as a dictator and tyrant, both of which were perfectly true. The so called 'Crimson Banner Succession' saw the Emperor dead and the galaxy broken up into about 300 successor states. Over the next 15000 years or so these slowly either balkanized or consolidated until today the galaxy is divided into roughly 13 major powers and thousands of minor fiefdoms sometimes controlling less than a single star system.

== The Galactic Powers ==

Of the 13 major powers 9 will be covered here. The other 4, all of which occupy the ends of the galactic spiral arms are collectively know as the 'Unknown Reaches': and keep their borders closed to outsiders; existing in a perpetual state of both peace and isolation: or so everyone believes.

=== The Terrans ===

The First of the major powers we will deal with is the galactic core: also known as the United Terran Imperial Republic.

The 'Terrans' as they are known to the galaxy at large are perhaps the largest of the 13 powers, occupying the galactic core surrounding the Dowager Gulf, the great mass of swirling hot gasses and plasma storms that envelopes the Well of Undr, the super massive black hole around which the galaxy spins. They consider themselves the true successors of the original Imperium, restored to democracy and honor by the revolution which followed the Second Primordial War. They are led by a council of elected politicians and appointed judges while their head of state goes by the title “Supreme Arch Chancellor”. They are among the most diverse of the various successor states, having both many dozens of races and all of the different kinds of exalted. Their planets are also the most diverse of all the successors, as they occupy the area that was once the whole of Creation's shards.

The Terrans do not engage in military adventurism, but have a policy that any force which attacks them they will conquer and claim at least a significant segment of that realms Territory, and thus they slowly expand out of the galactic core.

The Terrans are currently thrown into chaos by the appearance of a man who claims to be the reincarnation of the Golden Emperor. He has command of vast resources in terms of the hidden but still thriving Cult Imperialis and numerous automaton troops who answer to his coded command signals. Though no one has ever seen his face his knowledge of the Emperor's secret override codes and the like has convinced most people that he is genuine. Civil unrest now wracks the republic over weather to find and kill him, ignore him unless he actively attacks, or embrace him as the long awaited messiah who will restore the glory of the Imperium.

=== The Severn Dominate ===

The next of the 13 powers that we will deal with comes from the galactic east, the only one of the 9 we will cover which does so.

The Severn Dominate, like the Terrans, consider themselves the true spiritual successors of the Galactic Empire. The only major power to occupy the lawless eastern arm of the galaxy they are expanding slowly into the rest of the galaxies eastern areas, claiming star systems by hook or by crook from the many hundreds of petty fiefdoms that dominate the galactic east. The Dominate was until only about 200 years ago one of those petty fiefs, but it's line of 'Emperors' could trace direct patralinial decent from the Golden Emperor himself, and when they were attacked by two of their neighbors the Emperor, Angelous Rex Severn, led a brilliant campaign of conquest and dominance which over 30 years made the Dominate a power of galactic influence.

The next two Emperors continued this tradition and have made the Dominate the rising star of the galaxy, considered a long term threat by most of the galactic powers, but they can do very little about it, it being difficult to exert their influence effectively in the shifting and unstable politics of the galactic east.

The Dominate is an absolute monarchy, like the Imperium it seeks to emulate. The Emperor holds all authority, and delegates that to his various legates as he sees fit. His power is their power, and he may recall them at any time. Below the Emperor are the Sector Governors and below them The System Governors and so forth down to the commissioners individual districts, be they swaths of rural landscape or small segments of cities. Nepotism and favor mongering are rampant and the phrase 'an honest politician' is both the punchline of jokes and if you describe someone as a 'Political Leader' it is a deadly insult as that means that they are a liar, cheat, and scam artist of the first order.

In spite of this the Dominate is doing better than most eastern powers, largely due to their policy of in-gathering sidereal, lunar, solar, and dragonblooded exalts from across the east, who's charms and skills allow them to excel in leadership postilions despite the rampant corruption. Their armies are on the march on a dozen fronts as they prosecute wars of conquest against their neighbors and their wyld crafters are creating whole new star systems above the galactic plane expanding the dominate via war with the Fair Folk.

=== The Grand Union of Polaris ===

Descended from the remnants of the Henelanti League in lost creation the Grand Union of Polaris occupies a swath of space that was mostly cold and barren worlds before they got a hold of them, and still is in some sectors. The Polarions are widely acknowledged as the best people in the galaxy at terraforming planets for human habitation, and their skills are sought out by lesser powers across the galaxy.

Like their forebears the Polarions are a patriarchal society who have a decentralized command structure and an obsession with both dreams and technology. Their government consists of the All Thing, a council of the oldest person from each planet who shows no signs of senility, and which decides all maters of national policy by democratic vote.

Their military is organized only on the local level, planet wide at most. When action is called for as a nation the All Thing elects a 'Lord Commander' for the combine army who then selects a general staff and sets the policy of the war. They make it a point to chose people as 'Lord Commander' that are competent but don't actually WANT the job.

Currently the people of the Grand Union are at war, with...

=== The Undying Court ===

Lying between the true galactic north and the core is the area which on paper calls itself the United Kingdoms of the Galactic Underworld, but which everyone calls The Undying Court.

The courtiers are the largest collection of abyssal exalts in the galaxy, admitting no other kind of exalted into their dominion. The Undying court use many unsavory practices to hold on to their power, from necromancy to mass human sacrifice. Most of the worlds under their control are shadowlands, and those that are not they are hard at work '''making''' shadowlands.

Rumors persist that the undying court serve the dead Primordials known as the Neverborn, though the court denies it vociferously. Most of the galaxy would unite against them if it were proved true, and while some evidence of this has been put forward no PROOF has ever come to light and those suspected of such allegiance mysteriously disappear before formal charges can be brought.

Ghosts and undead enjoy the status of full citizens in the lands of the Undying Court, and are often contributing members of society. The percentage of the living population who are ghost blooded is over 30% and these individuals serve their Abyssal leaders well as spies, assassins, adjutants, and agents of their various bureaus and departments.

The Undying Court's ruler is the ancient and mummified Abyssal [[The_Ghost:Characters/TheEmperessMagnificentCladintheRaimentofBlood|The Empress Magnificent Clad in the Raiment of Blood]] who claims a direct mandate from the former Golden Emperor of the Galaxy to rule over her region. The title of the 'undying court' which is applied to the entire group comes from her personal court of powerful ghosts, each of them thousands of years old, which act as her legates and direct subordinates. Positions in her court have not changed significantly in over a thousand years and thus comes the appellation from her mortal subjects.

=== The Seas of Shadow ===

Turning now to the galactic west we come upon another realm which is much embroiled with the underworld: The Seas of Shadow. Traditionally it had been thought that ocean worlds were largely immune to the corruption of shadow lands, the constant flux and interplay of life within them making the lifespan of any shadowlands which did form in them measured in hours, but that was deliberately and violently proven wrong just after the Primordial War by the legendary Abyssal [[The_Ghost:Characters/ViolenceoftheOceans|Violence of the Oceans]]. In a one man crusade he formatted millions of Waypoints into 50 star systems of shadowland water worlds. In the wake of the Imperium's collapse these systems and their Abyssal and Ghostly denizens formed a theocratic autocracy modeled on the myths of the Skullstone Archipelago from long lost creation.

Today the Seas of Shadow are still a death focused Theocracy, though the sacred bloodline of Violence of the Oceans is long believed extinguished. In their stead rules a council of 50 'High Celebrants' modeled after the examples of the autochthoinian nations of the age before the fall of the Imperium and the isolation of Autochthoinia and the First Primordial's retreat into the depths of the Wyld. Each of them represents one of the original 50 star systems and also a number of the 'lesser systems' which the Seas of Shadow have conquered since.

== The Current State of the Galaxy ==

The galaxy is all a flutter right now over one simple event: the return of the Exalted. For centuries uncountable the only true exalted have been the Dragonblooded and the Alcheimcials, all other types of exalts were in truth half castes who passed their power down from one generation to the next, reaching essence 2 before having children in order to ensure that those of their children who had the necessary spark of heroism to become half castes could do so, and sometimes rising to even higher essences and having children with correspondingly higher degrees of inheritance: though inheritance 5 has been unheard of for tens of thousands of years, and inheritance 4 is considered legendary.

Now however something has happened, a few dozen times that are documented, but growing more frequent with each passing year, there have been exalted who were Chosen, not born. Legends speak of such things having occurred in lost creation, but no one paid them any heed as much of the lore of the days of 'Creation' is treated as mythology, largely viewed as fictional and/or apocryphal. However it cannot be denied that there have been several dozen individuals across the known galaxy who were not members of the Elect but now have started to display the powers of such, long after it should have become obvious if they had been Scions of one of the many hundreds of houses of champions. They come from all stripes of Exalt, (Save Alchemicals who do not have children.) and it has been noted that unlike most exalts they begin their existences in most cases with essence 2, and their children appear to show the signs of being Champions, brand new bloodlines of the Elect. How this is possible no one is sure, but there are also documented cases of sudden surges of power among the Elect in all their forms, and these seem to follow the same patterns as these new 'Chosen'. The questions on everyone's mind is this: "Why now?", and "What does this mean for the future of the Galaxy?"