EndlessChase/ConceptBook1
= We Who Are Together
- Chapter One: Our Souls Through Our Eyes
- Chapter Two: Obligations to the Caste
- Chapter Three: The World Awaiting Us
- Chapter Four: Voices Not Our Own
- Chapter Five: Dreams of the First Age
- Chapter Six: Magic of the Perfect Circle
- Appendix One: Signiture Characters
- Appendix Two: Who We Have Become
Our Souls Through Our Eyes
Grandfather
When I reflect on my life, both as a mortal and as an Exalt, I find coincidence wherever I look, it seems. The first, and perhaps either the most or the least signifigant, is what my name, the one I was born into, means. Peleps Ichigo. My given name means "One who protects". Now that I have discarded that name, I find that it applies more than ever. Now I like people to call me Grandfather, or Gi-sama, as it is said in Old Realm.
It was in the city of Arjuf that I was born. My earliest memories are of my mortal guardians watching me or training me in the basics of the immaculate arts. My surroget father told me that I was the bastard child of Peleps Mosua, sent to live with more distant members of the family until the blood of the dragons awoke within me. Both he and my real father were dissapointed when it never happened.
Regardless of their dissapointment, they both started me on the path to becoming an Immaculate monk. I spent my adolescence learting the martial arts of the Water Dragon, and I showed prowess and talent for the style despite my innability to use the intricate magics the techniques demanded. In my thirty-fourth year, reaching nearly the height that a mortal can, I was invited to join my blood-father in the wyld hunt. I was given a talon of mortal troops to guide and teach, training them in the time that we were not on the hunt. This was most of our time, to tell the truth. There was so little notice of the appearance of the anathema, and so many squadrons that we were only sent on three true hunts.
The first of which was a total failure. The Anathema we were sent for was one of the shifting demons, as we called them. A Lunar Exalt. I barely caught sight of the creature, but father and the other Dragon-Blooded certainly did. Inside a merchant's warehouse near the docks in Arjuf the Lunar had been sighted. We, being the only hunt staged in the city, were send immediatly. That night was traumatic, to say the least. One of the Dragon-blooded under my father's command died, as did three of the five troops under my command, and the Lunar wasn't caught.
Our second hunt, with four replacements to fill in our gaps, went as beautifully as any Dragon-Blood could hope. The victim was a Solar Exalt who had Exalted only a few days travel from Arjuf. Two of the Dragon-blooded were master trackers, and it was of little difficulty for them to find the errant solar. Unprepared and frightened, the young man was killed in only a few moments of fighting. Needless to say we were extatic, having been a part of the most important aspect of the Immaculate Order's duties.
It took me some time to come to terms with how the third chase had resolved, and even then heavy guilt was with me-is still with me, for the part I played. Our hunting party had been sent into the scavenger lands to see about rumors of heratics and peace-usurpers that had been preaching the glorys of a false god. I was an old man allready then, allready well into my sixtieth year, though my arms still helt the weight of my tiger claws and my joints moved freely, with only a little pain if I strained myself.
Once there we accosted and arrested the people responsible. Three young men and a young woman. They had been spreading the word that the Unconquered Sun, greatest of all gods, was going to turn his face from the world no more, and those that had always accepted the immaculate order as the one true religion would pay for their misguided faith. We scoffed at the heresy, and toted the four away to be brought to a realm outpost where they could be executed publicly.
The night before our arival to the outpost came, and everything seemed as it had for the previous nights. The four prisoners spoke little, save for their very vocal prayers to their god, and the leaders of the hunting party let them, laughing at their prophetic words of redemption and restitution. In the morning we woke to find one of the young men had made an escape from under the eyes of their Dragon-blooded guard. The young exalt was punished for his lax behavior, and sent after the escapee. He returned just before noon with a leather bag the sixe of a large water skin under his arm and a grin on his face. "This is what the rest of you have to look forward to tomorrow night." he sneered as he opened the bag, revealing the severed head of the young man that had managed to run.
The sun was at it's zenith at that time, and the look of rage from the three surviving prisoners was nearly painful to watch. Their anger only made the Dragon-blood laugh.
Erm... a small note, a Dragonblooded generally lives a few centuries, so it wouldn't be that odd for a DB to not be worn out. There is also the fact that a mortal can't use Water Dragon Style Martial Arts, unless you're postulating that he has mastered the mortal components of the style; ie. no charms out of him and only 3 dots of ability and what have you. - Haku
- Gi-sama isn't a Dragonblood - he does state this rather obviously, so he is merely a mortal with dragonblood ancestry at the time he is speaking off - and the mortals who don't exalt gain no especial longevity. As to the martial arts, Grandfather notes in the text that he cannot use the charms, but this brings up a thought I should probably put over in MartialArts - what is the mortal component of a supernatural martial arts style? Given MA as a generic skill, there is currently no difference between a person who uses Tiger style, say, and someone practiceing Prismatic Arrangement of Creation style, untill they use charms, and while this is in line with the level of abstraction the Exalted skill system in general supports, it doesn't encourage flavor. Gamlain
- Well, I'd argue that the Sidereal-level MAs don't have mortal analogues, since they're so esoteric and peculiar, but yeah, I agree. :) - David.
- Fair enough, it's just that I read Dynast + Immaculate style and my mind just fixates... I know, bad Haku... should pay more attention to what I'm reading. - Haku
