Lexicon/NineWindsCoalition
Nine Winds Coalition
Paradise Cloud, Humble Immaculate Scribe, writes of the lessons history can teach the wise:
Just as one who devotes himself to the path of the Five Dragons moves ever towards perfection, so history moves ever from chaos towards a state of order. From the inhumane rule of Those That Came Before, through the evil of the Anathemas' rule and the infighting of the Shogunate, we reach eventually the benevolent stewardship of the Scarlet Empress. And yet, despite history's unceasing march towards perfection, there are always those who wish to drag it backwards towards chaos and evil; the Nine Winds Coalition are one such group.
It seems, from Mouse That Hunts Eagles' All Creators Great and Small: Origins of Divinity, that the Nine Winds Coalition are an ancient group of sky gods:
"Following the fall of the Primordials, there was chaos in the skies as unruled winds and storms made Creation a place of destruction and fear. This period, known as the Age of Ravening for this and other reasons, lasted almost a decade, until the first Thunderbirds took form from the skies, great hawk-headed gods who tamed the winds. The greatest warriors of the Thunderbirds would lead their hunts against wild winds, sky fae and lawless elementals, and were named the Nine Winds. Under their guidance, order was somewhat restored, and at that time, the Wind Masters, powerful gods of the polar winds, appeared. These ursine entities proceeded to tame the Thunderbirds just as the Thunderbirds had tamed the wild winds and, throwing down the Nine Winds, established a hierarchy which remains to this day."
The Coalition appear to have remained in hiding for millenia, awaiting an opportunity to take revenge for the usurpation of their position. Yet, like the Anathema who try to return Creation to its former decadence, they were destined to fail, crushed beneath the interminable wheels of history's progress. History can never repeat itself.
In the first days of the Shogunate, Ausang Torokanu is said to have discovered ancient references to these entities, and believing they would be useful to her, summoned one of them just as it was attempting to steal the magical breath of the sleeping Wind Master, Ben-Li. Having caught a glimpse of the Thunderbird's attempted crime, Torokanu ensnared it within a mirrored cage and presented it to the Council of the Wind Masters for punishment. In return the council pledged the Aerial Legions of Yu Shan to Raikuru of Telben's struggle for the Shogunate, tipping the balance in her favour during the climactic Battle of Quickening Vines.
It is said that when the winds howl their fiercest, one is actually hearing cries of the Nine Winds calling in pain and supplication from their sky-bound prisons. One can only assume that in time the returning Anathema will be likewise imprisoned and tormented.
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