Revision as of 17:39, 11 April 2007

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The Savant's Tarot

The Greater, or Celestial, Arcana

The Greater Arcana are most used in divination. In one variant of the gambling game played with these cards, however, they are trump cards that allow the person who played them to win the trick. Many decks made in the Realm lack these cards altogether, considering them idolatrous and heretical, or are altered significantly to be aniconic and feature figures more pleasing to the Immaculates.

0: The Mortal
A sturdy young man garbed simply in the robes of a traveller or a postulant shades his eyes as he gazes into the sky. A cliff lies before him, and a road behind. He bears a heavy bundle upon his back and holds a walking staff in his other hand. Birds sing about his head and small creatures of the woodland watch his passing. In some other decks this card depicts a fool and is thus named; in others it is a blank trump and called Calibration.

1: Sol Invictus
A beautiful man, four-armed and mighty, holds up a lance, a burnished shield, a laurel branch, and a horn. He is clad in shining bronze plate and his skin is the golden tone of dawn on the eastern sea. The sun's light radiates from him; he stands upon a chariot pulled by celestial lions. This card is sometimes called the Unconquered Sun or Helios.

2: Luna
An androgynous figure, either a pretty boy or a handsome young woman, stands clad in pale diaphanous garments that do not reveal its gender clearly despite their translucency. It wears a breastplate of moonsilver and bears no weapons save its teeth and nails. Its eyes are clear and mad and its skin glows with the pure, chilly light of the full moon. This card has remained the most consistently named and depicted through the years by different artists in different decks.

3: Gaia
A motherly, fecund woman stands gowned in cloth of many colors. Her skin is the color of rich soil, her hair the color of ripe wheat, and her eyes glitter like gemstones. Shimmering fish leap in the oceans of her skirts and leaves rustle in her mantle. Flowers blossom at her feet and in her footsteps and she stands in a bower of vines adorned with ripening fruit.

4: Mercury
A lithe, slender maiden on the cusp of womanhood stands aboard a gold-trimmed barque afloat in the sea. She holds a sealed scroll under one arm and a compass rose is blazoned on the visible palm of her free hand. She wears simple robes dyed with saffron and an anklet set with amber stones. Gulls dip their wings to her in the air and waves foam in her wake. In some decks this card is named either the Maiden of Journeys, or simply Travel.

5: Venus
A curvaceous, seductive maiden smiles as she reclines on a curtain-draped bed, facing the viewer of the card. Beside her someone lies somnolent on their side, back pressed against hers. The cerulean robes she wears hang off her shoulders as though undone for willing bedplay; her sash hangs empty off the edge of the bed. She clasps a lute to her side and a ring set with sapphires adorns her left hand. In some decks this card is named either the Maiden of Serenity, or Pleasure.

6: Mars
A fierce, almost mannish young maiden stands tall in armor lacquered the red of fresh blood, her arm raised for spearcast. Her red-plumed helm lies cast aside at her sandaled feet, revealing her short-cropped red hair. Arrows bristle from the ground around her yet none have made their mark; she stands victorious and alone, a girdle of rubies about her loins. In other decks this card is sometimes named the Maiden of Battles, or sometimes War.

7: Jupiter
A handsome maiden stands robed in various shades of green, a measuring rod held in her right hand, a key in her left. She wears a half-mask hiding the top half of her face. Her smile is mysterious and maddening, and her emerald eyes stare knowingly back at the viewer. A profusion of ivy frames the card and a collar of emeralds and green jade is clasped about her neck. This card is sometimes named the Maiden of Secrets, or Secrets.

8: Saturn
A white-haired maiden stands silhouetted by the dancing flames of a funeral pyre, her expression sad and quiet. Wisps of smoke rise to curl about her head. She is robed in violet and black, and holds a slim, simple sword in one hand and a skull with a prayer strip affixed to it in the other. Uncut amethysts glitter at her ears and a pair of scissors and an hourglass hangs from her simple girdle. This card is named in other decks as the Maiden of Endings, or Death.

9: The Maker
The card depicts a one-eyed smith working at his forge, hammering at a half-formed daiklave. He is clad in a leather apron and his arms are bare. He stands in the darkness of evening, lit by the cherry-red lanterns of molten metal. In some decks this card is called the Smith or the Artificer; in ancient ones it is called Autochthon and bears only a mysterious one-eyed visage.

10: The Deathlord
A cowled figure stands by a dying tree, its mask painted with a serene, but ultimately false visage. It wears layer upon layer of finery and a breastplate of soulsteel, but on closer examination the cloth of its robes is rotting and it leaves a trail of decay in its wake. Peeking out of its sleeve is what seems to be a pale, fair hand that is actually skeletal bone. In the First Age this card was named The Hekatonkhire, and usually depicted one of those fell things.

11: The Raksha
A barely-human, too-perfect figure sits surrounded by thralls, its garb fantastic and notional. The peacock plumes on its collar seem to shimmer and blink, and its feathered tresses and bird's feet seem robbed from the most beautiful birds in Creation and beyond. Jewels glitter about its neck and wrists and gossamer weapons lie at its sides. Some decks name this card the Fair One, or the Fair Folk.

12: The Yozi
A black-skinned maiden sits upon a throne of brass and basalt. Her eyes glimmer like moonstones and her midnight hair is touched with hints of white. Filmy silver robes hang from her girlish form and a rat's tail peeks out the back of her robes. She bears a great silver ram's horn upon her knee and a captive lies at her feet, chained with white jade and soulsteel. Above her in what seems to be the main focus of the card, a nightmarish green sun is eclipsed by a dragon made of shadows.

13: The Behemoth
A great strange brute all teeth and mane, glittering with scales and hooves and tufted tail. It leaves great scars in the ground where it treads and bellows with the force of a gale. It stands in a circle of self-made ruin, ancient trees gouged and broken, boulders smashed by its strength. Harmless swords and arrows stick out of its thick hide like the quills of a porcupine. This card is sometimes named The Beast.

14: The Panoply
A sword, a breastplate, a crown, a seal of office and a girdle, all made of the Five Magical Materials, lies upon a table covered in silk brocade. In old decks this card would depict the panoply made only with Four Magical Materials, short soulsteel. Some specific decks show the articles made with only one kind of magical material, such as jade, or in some cases, soulsteel.

15: The Demesne
A great geomantic cathedral rises from a cliffside. Essence-lightning rises from its spire and two figures duel in the background, surrounded by auras of gold and silver. Different decks will often depict different Manses, especially in cases where the deck is commissioned to glorify the holdings of a particular Exalted.

16: The Vizier
A gray-robed savant studies the constellations in the sky above, face turned away from the viewer, gender unknown or unclear. Spiders wrought in meteoric iron and precious gems spin iron webs about the edges of the card. In other decks this card is called the Advisor, the Savant or the Stargazer. In ancient First Age decks this card depicts the Sidereal Exalt, eyes full of brilliant stars.

17: The Steward
A comely woman with silver hair and bestial features stands reflected in a pool of water. The full face of Luna shines above her and beasts cavort in the background. She is clad in robes of white and accouterments of silver but her feet are bare. In some other decks this card is the Moon-Beast, depicting a beastman marked with swirling silver tattoos. In ancient decks this card is called The Lunar Exalt.

18: The Lawgiver
A teenage boy is clad in the gilded panoply of a true king, his dark hair held back with a filet of gold. He is mounted upon a magnificent charger in barding touched with gold. A sword is girt at his side. He bears a banner in one hand and a writ of proclamation in the other. The sun is ascendant above him and its rays illumine the entire card. In other decks this card depicts the Sun-Child. In ancient decks this card is called The Solar Exalt.

19: The Deathknight
A pallid but beautiful maiden garbed in black and carved bone stands above a horde of undead rising from a mass grave. A single ragged wing hangs from her shoulder trailing insubstantial banners of silk from its bleached bones. She grips the hilt of an enormous daiklave, a fount of blood dripping from both her clenched hands down the blade and flooding on the defiled earth. In ancient decks this card was oft-named the Nemessary.

20: Yu-Shan
A table set with boards and gaming pieces, improbably complex and carved from gems and the Magical Materials, is foremost. A delicate hand moves a piece in the board, its owner eclipsed by the edge of the card. Dreamstones, coins-of-quintessence, heavenly peaches and goblets of celestial wine surround the board of games. This card is framed by an elaborate doorway made of orichalcum, moonsilver, starmetal and jade.

21: Malfeas
A chaotic city of basalt and tarnished brass stands in the middle of the card. Bells, and chimes hang from every roof and twisting filaments of roads connect towers to each other. Above are spears of light cast by an acid-green sun. The card is framed on the left by a tangle of roots, on the bottom by a tainted sea, and on the right by a neverending desert.

22: The Wyld
This card depicts a twisting chaos of elements, air, wood, fire and water woven into an inescapable vortex. A jade prayer wheel turns in the eye of the impossible storm, and fanciful creatures mark each corner of the card.

23: Underworld
A barque of reeds and papyrus slides gracefully on a translucent, black-tinged river past a silent city of ancient jade and marble. Every inhabitant bears a death-mark or is the green of a Contagion-sufferer. A pall of constant darkness hangs in the sky, broken briefly by the strange and unwholesome twinkle that is the stars of the dead.

24: Creation
This card is a drawing of the Blessed Isle, with Mount Meru featured prominently. It is framed by the four elements and the Inner Sea, and a compass rose is traced about the peak of the mountain. Other decks often feature different parts of Creation more local to the artist who drew it, or the person who commissioned it. Some ancient decks depict a Creation far greater than what is currently known to the cartographers.

The Lesser, or Terrestrial, Arcana

The Lesser Arcana comes in five suits, one for each element. Each element is also associated with a symbol, Rings for Air, Swords for Fire, Staves for Wood, Cups for Water, and Hearts for Earth. Most of the depictions of the lesser arcana tend towards the simple, almost aniconic, save for the court cards, which number five, and the Pole card, which is the equivalent of an ace.

The cards are as numbered: Dragon, Empress (or Emperor!), Consort, General, Courtier, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, Pole.

There WILL be more about the various suits and the numbered cards, meanings, and descriptions. But not now.

• Back to [MelWong].

Comments

The Savant's Tarot is something I came up with as background/IC fluff for a character, /Burning Anise, that kind of took on a life of its own. Basically, it's a Tarot deck based on fives as Exalted is, with arcana drawn from the setting itself. I see it being used in-game for gambling, like Tarocchi, or for divination. Or even for a game of solitaire played with the lesser arcana.
There will be meanings for each card for divination purposes, and quite likely illustrations later, but right now this is what I do have. [MelWong]

This is interesting, but wouldn't modern day tarot cards from the Realm or Realm controlled regions or even from the shogunate have the Lawgiver, Steward, and Vizier named different? ~ haku

I've actually noted so in the introduction to the decks, but I decided it's up to whoever wants to use this deck to change the cards in question, as I already have a hundred of them to work out (25 greater arcana, 75 lesser arcana) and it's going to be a lot of work. MelWong

My suggestion for those using Realm-decks would be to have The Lawgiver replaced by The Empress, The Vizier replaced by The Deliberative, and The Steward replaced by The Great House. Pictures may vary, but the symbolic representations are the same; Empress ruling, the Great Houses supporting, and the Deliberative advising. - FrivYeti