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The Legion of Roses

Inspired by the "pink sex-ninja initiates" challenge on CharacterRelay. I at least had to give it a try... enjoy, or don't. -- AVR

"One-night stands" never affect just a single night. Sex is perhaps the most valuable of human interactions in terms of its potential to change the Tapestry; political alliances are made and destroyed through dalliances, and a chance encounter might produce Creation's next great hero or crushing tyrant. Furthermore, in an age of disposable pleasure and desperation, the flows of sexual activity are a force nearly impossible to control by any individual.

As might be expected, the Sidereal Exalted chafed at this. The Chosen of Serenity in particular found their inability to fully control the ebb and flow of desire frustrating; even as they set themselves up as vice peddlers and marriage brokers, with the power to bless marriages and blot names from those fated to love, they could feel their pull over destiny slipping through their fingers. This displeased them, and thus a few quiet voices of Serenity in the Bureau of Destiny began to plan.

Roughly 200 years ago, a Chosen of Serenity named Twelve Copper Bells and two of her associates, Akasha Nema and Storm of Evening, founded the Legion of Roses. The three women began to quietly recruit young men and women from across Creation; their recruits came from all walks of life, but the desperate and disenfranchised were particularly well-represented. The Sidereals offered them training, more than ample payment, and protection from their oppressors in exchange for one simple duty: to act as courtesans, seducers, companions, and dalliances whenever the need called. Perhaps it was only one step up from prostitution, but for many young people facing slavery or starvation, there were far worse options.

As the Legion grew, its purpose clarified itself into one driving goal: to change Fate, fixing its problems and ensuring more auspicious destinies, via careful and above all discreet manipulation of human desire. Although the Chosen of Serenity certainly could have manipulated the Pattern Spiders directly, via petition or Charm, often the human heart could be changed in a simpler and more efficient way. (For example, a Dynastic wedding can always be derailed via use of Shun the Smiling Lady -- but why take a supernatural cudgel to the union when the scalpel-edge of a beautiful and pliant courtesan appearing at just the right time can do the same job?) At first, the Legion's duties were primarily commonsensical changings of Fate -- ensuring an auspicious conception (or lack of such), ensuring or preventing certain weddings or romantic meetings -- but as the organization grew, new applications of a discreet, loyal, and easily-plied team of stealth courtesans revealed themselves. Twelve Copper Bells and her associates began to use the Legion to diverse causes; a seductive whisper in the right ear could end war and change policy, and while the strategy of the seductive assassin was hardly new, it was quite effective when combined with the Sidereal foresight of just when a powerful figure would turn a blind eye to his conquest's poisoned knife.

To this day, the Legion of Roses is not a publically known program, but authorities in Yu-Shan have turned a blind eye to the three Sidereals' "side project," on the logic that it is just another venue for the proper maintenance of Fate. Thus far it has adequately served as such. The Legion of Roses is independent of faction affiliation -- or, rather, it embraces both, as its founders vary widely on the ideological spectrum. (Storm of Evening is a member of the Gold Faction, while Akasha Nema serves the Bronze, and Twelve Copper Bells is infamously independent; the three manage a united front only through strong bonds of mutual respect and by staying to their own functions in the organization.) While it began with the lower classes, the Legion has expanded its recruitment in different directions, and it now boasts several spirits and Exalted among its agents. Their hand is everywhere and nearly invisible -- just as they would have it be.

The duties of an average agent of the Legion of Roses are sporadic at best. Typically they are assigned to a given location and station, maintained in safety and comfort by their Sidereal employers, and may wait months or years before "assignments." These assignments are usually simple orders -- "serve as entertainment at the Cynis orgy three nights from now, and be certain to ply Cynis Keveno with wine and distract him from his guests and his mistress" -- but for more trusted or powerful agents can involve actual explanations of why certain actions are important. The Sidereals do not flinch from giving assignments that may be dangerous or otherwise life-changing (it is not unknown for agents to need to sire or bear children for a certain fate to be properly enacted), but they are not cruel and minimize unnecessary risk. They understand the value of devotion by their agents, and particularly loyal service is often rewarded by the Legion agent happening into an auspicious love match or other fortunate event.

The name "The Legion of Roses" comes from the group's unofficial insignia, the device of a pink rose. While the Legion eschews any sort of formal uniform for reasons of discretion, agents who need to identify themselves to each other often favor pink in their clothing and wear a pink rose clearly visible on their person.

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