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The Jester Wreathed in Flames

The sea is deep. It hides the corpses of ships sunk in rage and fury, the remnants of treasure stained with rust and salt, and the voices of a thousand lost souls buried beneath the unforgiving waves.

In the vast Western Ocean sleeps a shadowland small enough to escape notice. Its crux is buried deep beneath the waves, in a graveyard for ships lost to the sea. The light is dim here, but at the heart of the graveyard is a mile-high tower, pure white and unblemished by the constant flow of water and salt around it. Blue flames lick the surface of the tower, sending light glinting through the darkness in a pale imitation of faerie fire. This is the Ivory Tower in Depth and Light, citadel of the Deathlord known as the Jester Wreathed in Flames.

History

The Jester Wreathed in Flames was, in life, an Eclipse Caste Solar known as Zhu, the Laughter of Ages. He was a peerless performer and comedian, and the writer of a thousand plays and productions that were the backbone of First Age entertainment. Handsome and loved by all, Zhu spent his time between the spirit courts of the West and his amphitheatre-Manse on the Blessed Isle, where he personally performed some of his greatest works. When the Usurpation came, he was on stage performing the part of the great Solar hero Speaks-as-Thunder, delivering a soliloquy upon the death of his Primordial foe. So great was his talent that the audience did not realize the sudden appearance of a masked assassin on stage and the subsequent battle was not a part of the scene in the first place.

Zhu died, but did not die, his spirit lingering in pain and anger at the sudden absense of life. A strange whisper approached him soon, offering him a chance for revenge, and to continue his tireless work toward artistic perfection. The years in the Underworld, wandering aimlessly with no sense of purpose had driven him slightly mad, and he agreed without hesitation.

It took him many years to fashion his citadel from the bones of mariners lost at sea, and to light it with strange blue flame that burns even beneath the waves. It took him longer to find servants and ghosts to bind to his will, forced to perform farces and comedies to his increasingly maniacal laughter. His joy is terrifying, but his anger is even more so. He is the Jester now, his peerless face hidden behind a mask of bones and flame, his chaotic whims the only laws of his court.

Description

The Jester Wreathed in Flames is a tall, thin man swathed in dark robes and wearing a large bone mask that dances with blue-white flames. His voice can be both calm and manic, soothing and terrifying depending on his mood.

Servants

The Jester has many servants, but these three Abyssals are his most prominent.

• The Failure of Wisdom : The Failure of Wisdom is a young, beautiful woman with long pearl-white hair and fair skin. Her eyes are still brilliant blue, the only color she wears now -- everything else about her is white. A Daybreak, she acts as judge and jury to the Ivory Tower from her seat at the right of the Jester. Sadly, with the ever-changing laws of the Tower her rulings are often rendered useless before a day has passed.

• The Hero of Days Lost and Forgotten : The Hero is a Dusk, though he is slim and lightly armored when compared to many others of the caste. He is handsome, but never speaks. Aside from defending the Ivory Tower (a nominal job), he plays a slim soulsteel flute so mournfully that anyone who hears it cannot help but weep for memories long since forgotten. He has yet to be defeated in battle.

• The Maiden in Shadows on the Edge of Twilight : The Maiden is a Moonshadow caste, a darkly beautiful woman in sable with white designs worked on her dark skin. She is a sorcerer and a diplomat, and delights in forcing demons and spirits to do her dirty work for her. Lately, however, she has become somewhat disillusioned with the Jester's court, and has been spending more and more time away from him, much to his chagrin.