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The Jade Faction

Long ago, in the First Age, humanity reached for the best. Led by the Celestial Exalted, they had access to technologies the likes of which the world hasn't seen since. However, these blissful days turned to an epoch of sorrow, as the Solars became corrupt and tyrannical. The Usurpation was engineered, and the Sidereals undertook a new mission - to safeguard the world alone, allowing a lesser world in place of the glory and danger of the First Age.

The Jade Faction of the Sidereals believes that the danger is not yet past. The Deathlords have risen, and mysterious Autochthon, and the Lunars still lurk in the dark places of the world. Now, more than ever, the world needs safety, not risk. Others, even other Sidereals, may not understand this, but risks are a chance for failure, and in these unsettled times, any failure could result in the destruction of the world.

Membership

The Jade Faction numbers around forty Sidereals, and includes the majority of the elder Sidereals and First Age survivors. Led by Cheop Kejak, they continue to plan the destiny and fate of the world. Their membership is divided roughly evenly amongst all Castes, and they count as allies a number of powerful gods and spirits.

The Jade Faction continues to try and be the first to find and train new young Sidereals, but they have of late had increasing trouble doing so. Many elders of the Jade fear that young Sidereals do not properly understand the dangers of the paths that the Steel and Gold are treading, and worry that they will not last long enough to revive the Faction. Many of the Jade, being the oldest Sidereals, are within anywhere from a few years to fifty years of dying, and when they go, the power of the Jade will be weakened. This is generally considered by Jade elders to be among the pressing concerns facing the faction, and many are quietly glad that the problems facing Creation are happening now, instead of fifty years from you.

Territory

The Jade Faction has influence and power spread out through the world, but they are centralized both in Yu-Shan and in certain aspects of the old Shogunate. Their strongest hold is on Pangu and Deheleshen, as well as having a lesser degree of direct influence over Chiaroscuro. They also count three Terrestrial censors and over 30 Celestial censors as direct allies, over a quarter of the censors in the Celestial Buerocracy. Through these censors, they keep control of spirits through corruption. Spirits who go against the Jade faction and don't have equally powerful protectors find that audits and fines are levelled against them for every minor offense, even offenses that are usually overlooked as not worth bothering about. By contrast, spirits that mind the order and don't disturb the main status quo in notable ways can often get away with whatever crimes they please.

The Jade faction struggles with the Steel for control of Chiaroscuro, and has long since lost New Estasia and the Balmori Republic. Influence within the Western League and Rathess is small, especially in Rathess, where the Dragon Kings have just enough influence to protect and guard local gods. For reasons that should be obvious, they have no contacts or influence of note within Autochthon.

Organization

The Jade faction remains organized along traditional lines, within the Bureau. Jade faction Sidereals tend to believe that the risk to Creation caused by powerful supernatural beings is never worth the advantage in having them potentially onside. This means not using ghosts, fair folk, Lunars, Solars, Abyssals, Alchemicals, Deathlords, or any other force not under the direct control of Heaven if you can destroy them. A side effect of their intense distaste for risk-taking is their strong support for the Wyld Hunt, and their enmity with the Lunar Exalted and the Steel Faction. Any member of the Jade faction caught associated deliberately with such beings must be prepared to defend his actions rigourously, before his extremely upset superiors. They may well launch a full audit if immediate answers do not completely satisfy them, often one which will punish the Sidereal by dragging up all manner of offenses.

The Jade faction functions as a political force within the Bureau of Destiny, and therefore follows the Bureau's official organizational structure. However, the Jade faction tries to further their own agenda, and therefore tends to offer more support to fellow Jade factioners, while slowing the progress made by the Steel faction. The Jade Faction always acts to keep the status quo, which they still consider superior to the uncertainty and risk of the alliances that the Steel seek. Some say that this is ultimately a limiting force, but the Jade retort that these limits were decided long ago, and there is no reason to change them now.