GoldenCat/DarkFate

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Fated in Dark Stars

A Dragon-Blooded campaign once ran by me. The first Exalted campaign run by me. About a group of Dynasts and their Sidereal who go to Varang after an attempted coup slays the royal couple, leaving an uncertain young girl in the control of a country that stirs to chaos. It was fun. Very, very fun. Sometimes, I was a little too melodramatic, especially on the openings. We still had some very annoying writing ticks from the old days. But you can see everyone poured alot of themselves in it.. and we were all clearly enjoying ourselves. Some things I lost I feel I have to regain, as I compile this... and hope I do.

Introduction

As far as Fate is concerned, it began with an attempted coup. Calistas and Lyrin know that; That it began as some malcontent generals of the Varangian City-States, the astrologically-obssessed empire southeastern of Creation, tried to overthrow the royal family on the first day of the first week of Ascending Wood. And they had Zombies and Hungry Ghosts at their side. And the people... they were driven and psychotic, the same way the Immaculate Monks sent to clear up Rainfall had found its populace when they came for the purge, on the wake of events an year ago. Said coup was stopped by the Varangian forces, but not before its king, the powerful outcaste Anteus Delei Akhil, its queen, Maya Akhil and most of its Dragon-Blooded Elite Guard, were struck down by the rebels. The Generals’ executions have yet to come, and are scheduled to be held during Calibration.

An even greater chaos would ensue if the Royal Astrological Ministers hadn’t placed forth the firstborn of the Varangian royal family, the Mars-Born Asha Akhil – and she was no disappointment to them, managing to muster enough presence to hold back the chaos and fill the commonfolk with confidence. At least, for the moment. The seeds of revolution are still fertile, and a number of powers are aware of any crack in the wall they can leak in by... like the nearby Jackal Tribes, and the inclement Fair Folk. Varang needed help to keep its order, and so, it called for the instituition they have always been great supporters and allies of - the Realm.

Asha is a Dragon-Touched lady, but not a real Exalted, to her shame. Varang needs good blood, money, and power, to make up for what they lost during the coup attempt... and beyond. They need the Dynasty. Peleps Leonidas was a good friend of the queen, and grieved her death deeply. Well-liked on Varang( To the extent a foreigner, even a Prince of the Earth, can be, there.), and of good breeding – both grandson and great-grandson to the Empress from mother and father - his’ was a logical choice to marry princess Asha. Peleps needs the foothold on the Threshold, the power and money that come with it. But... something seems to be up in Varang aside from territory... something that made other Great Houses cast their lot on it as well.

V’neef has little intention of actually losing the money for the initial investment of the courtship and social help in Varang, since trade with it is already so lucreative, but is determined to have a foothold in it as well. The courtship would not only be expensive, but unsure – since Leonidas already has such a good standing there, any competition would be risky at best, and they cannot afford to try and lose.

And as such, in well-planned gestures of ‘good will’, they lent one of their few First Age Luxury Liners to Leonidas, and a escort... that is at the same time their plant on the Peleps projct, someone with charisma and skill to create a power base in Varang, a way to have Peleps in their debt and to spat on their face... by giving them the talented, ill-reputed social outcast V’neef Lyrin. But it’s not only V’neef’s hands. There are eyes for other houses among Lyrin’s own troops as well. And of course, house Ledaal feigned political maneuvering sending a bureaucrat, Ledaal Calistas, to court.

But Ledaal is not interested on the Throne, or in maneuvers for it. It is interested on the Realm.. and on the implications of the events in Varang. Calistas is there for the Realm, and for Heaven – for where those who work fate are blind, he who perceives the terrestrial veil shall see, and find out why. Winter Rose, his wife, is with him, unknown to the Dynasty. Her and Blaine, a walking fountain of trouble, but himself a Chosen of Fate as well.

But Winter Rose knows the truth Calistas and Lyrin have not heard about – of how, on the wake of the Coup, the City Father of Yane vanished, as did all of its protector spirits. On the realm of spirits, Yane is now empty. A Celestial takeover has begun, cloaked in the Terrestrial one, and Heaven has already lost one agent to it. And then, there is Lily... an agent of the All-Seeing Eye, sent there to spy and learn. To protect Calistas, and learn what he does, and from him. But, unknown to herself, also sent there, cryptically, by the higher eschelons of Heaven.

Together, they leave. To Yane. To their Fate.

Under Inauspicious Fate

  • Winter Rose - Chosen of Serenity, also child of the Kite Flute. Married to a Ledaal Dragonblood she'll never beat in Gateway and sleeps as much as the Bronze will let her. Dresses like a priestes and has a nifty sword. Adores Pattern Spiders and Sesselja. Is saddled with mentoring the greatest hellion in the story of the Bureau of Fate.
  • Ledaal Calistas - The Snake. Air-Aspected Dragon-Blooded from house Ledaal, criminal investigator, sorcerer, scholar, player of games, diviner of truth. Smokes from a pipe. Can't ride a horse to save his life. Fights with a gentleman's cane. A classic figure out of a detective novel. Married to a Sidereal and knows it. Manages not to strangle the hellion.
  • V'neef Lyrin - Wood-Aspected Dragon-Blooded. Saw his best friend and kindred spirit become a Solar and die. Commander for the Vermillion Legion's 'Iron Saviors'. Has plenty of cute, creepy and unique lieutenants. Carries around a Soulsteel blade with the soul of an insane Sidereal. Dark, brooding and cool. Has no patience for kids and would behead the hellion.
  • Lily - Air-Aspected Dragon-Blooded. Former slave, geisha and lost egg, turned into agent of the All-Seeing Eye upon her Exaltation. Has quite a harsh matter. Air Immaculate prodigy, achieving steps in it at the unprecendented young age, shortly after her Exaltation. Young and cute and killy. Gets the task of keeping the hellion in check.


The Stories

Before the Storm: Heaven's Hellions
- Winter Rose just wants to stay in bed... but Heaven will have none of that, as she meets two of Serenity's hellions.

Before the Storm: Setting up the Pieces
- Ledaal Calistas meets an old friend, plays Gateway, and the pieces for the game and his assignament are set.

Before the Storm: The Mystery of Rainfall
- Calistas comes to Rainfall, discovers many truths, runs from shadows, and gets really uncomfortable around horses.

Before the Storm: Painful Lessons
- Lily receives her finall test... and it's pass or die.

Gathering of the Forces
- At the Garden of Sublime Wisdom, they gather.

Seaside Meetings
- At the port, they meet Peleps Leonidas, Miran, V'neef Lyrin... and the ship that will take them South.


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