Thnktfthbx/Liet
Name: Liet Sol’Haraa (he rarely mentions his family name, keeping things casual, and never mentioning his parents)
Caste: Twilight
Nature: Explorer
Anima: Stained Glass Window
Concept: Tinker-Scholar
Contents
Physical Details
- Dusky Grey Skin
- Vibrant red hair, curly/wavy, cut close to head boyishly.
- Has a goatee
- Sparkling Violet Eyes
- Nearly 6 foot
- Appearance marks him as from the south
- Often Smiling, Easily likable, Generally optimistic
- Very curious and, while not incautious, sometimes has a higher danger threshold
http://xs38.xs.to/pics/05296/Glass_Sword.png
Liet's Exceptional Straight Sword, made of Chiaroscuro Glass
Early Life
Liet was born on the 27th of Resplendent Fire, to a petit-Noble couple in the city of Paragon. As you well may know if you have had any dealings with that region of the southlands, Paragon has a reputation of a singularly unusual bent. It is ruled by an immortal tyrant by the name of “The Perfect” who enforces the Laws and his wishes equally with the use of a First-Age artifact of great power. He wields a great scepter, which after a small ceremony, binds mortal and Exalted alike to an oath of citizenship, to the extent of causing pain or even death to those who transgress the laws of the city, and some whisper, allowing the Perfect to see and hear wherever any of his citizens roam. This rigid grasp over the city leaves Paragon one of the safest and most orderly cities, but also sucks much of the joy and life out of it as well.
Liet’s childhood was by necessity fairly bland, taking lessons from the family tutor and playing, albeit with the proper restraint, with others youths of his class. There was always an overtone of nervous apprehension reaching as far back as he could remember. The normal mischief that growing boys get into was severely suppressed, and many were the slightly traumatic moments when a friend or acquaintance of the family was found to have transgressed any of the rules, or refused a command from on high. The Nobles were particularly sensitive to any appearance of impropriety, as any family in whom the Perfect lost trust would soon find themselves commoners again, and fairly destitute commoners at that.
Much to Liet’s parents’ pride, he developed a reputation among his teachers for being precocious in the scholarly ways best suited for a life as one of the city’s librarians or savants, and so was selected at the age of 10 as one of the few Nobles qualified for special teaching provided by the city, meant to groom the publics next generation of intellectual elite.
As he entered puberty, he found more and more distaste boiling inside him at the confinement of the city, the suffocating strictness that allowed for no error. But like all of his peers, in school and out, he was too afraid to say a word of his growing resentment for fear of retribution against him and his family. Yet from the knowing glances and drawn out grimaces on the faces of his classmates in some of his classes, he could tell without a doubt that he was not the only one to harbor such life-threatening opinions; dreams of freedom.
Trrieeden Glimmers-in-Ash, Steward of Hollow Father’s Rock, Courtier of the Court of Resplendent Fire,
“Ahh, yes, the Liet-child was such a wonderful suckle-fruit to have fallen in my lap at just the right time. I was left behind that year, when the favored of the court went off to hold their audiences and swarés at the Grand Season Court, I seem to recall it was down south in the sand-caverns of Ulieth. I would so have liked to go, but those offspring of stingless scorpions felt I lacked that certain nobless… Yes, I was there watching that city of the deathless cur they call the Perfect when HE was born. Of course I could tell he bore one of the souls of the bright ones, and would one day wield great power…, if he survives the dragon-spawn hunting him that is. I knew he could be a useful ally if I were to be in the right place at the right time, but only if the rest of the local menagerie overlooked him, so I tasked a couple of Veestra to keep an eye on the budding exalted and to distract the wandering eyes of my peers once they returned. It wouldn’t do for him to be oath-bonded to the city’s overbearing bully, so I had to find a way to remove him before he reached the age of 14, but it seemed like plenty of time. Unfortunately my high and mighty lord chose that following season to send me on a voyage to the Stktystle court to the west… something about them having insulted a member of our court… I still shudder at the memory of their inelegant clicking and screeching speech, and their many legs, all jointed and carapaced… But I’ll not boor you with those details. Suffice it to say that by the time I had returned, hearing only occasional reports from the Veestra now and again, a decade or so had passed. Suddenly I had but a couple of years to extricate him, and without attracting the attention of my rivals, before he would be caught with little hope of flying free.
Fortune was with me, for the answer flowered right in front of me soon after he reached his 13th year. That very Calibration, a wonderful chaos arose in Paragon. Along with the normal turmoil that comes with Calibration (especially for we spirits), a twist of the essence in the vicinity of the city put a thwart on that relic that keeps the imperfect Perfect in power. And with nearly all of the major players busy in the Far East plying their advantages while no faction held sway, I had the perfect opportunity to slip away and make my move…"
On the second day of Calibration in Liet’s 13th year, in the twilight hours before waking, he sank into the claws of a feverish dream. In this dream, it was his 14th birthday, and was brought before the Perfect to experience the bonding ceremony, terrified, knees shaking and a cold sweat crawling over his skin. The Perfect, nightmarishly transformed beyond human proportions into a monster of gloom and malice, stood over Liet’s kneeling form, incanting in some harsh and jagged voice, finally grasping Liet’s head, immediately before an intense burning pain through his being while on his hand a living eye opened and looked back at him.
Just before the moment where he most certainly would have screamed himself awake, a crisp and peculiarly accented voice cut through the nightmare, dispelling it with simple words. The voice spoke of escape, of self-preservation, of freedom. Never before had Liet allowed himself to truly allow himself the luxury of this level of hope, and it made for a sweet dream.
Upon awakening, still glowing from the rush that such musings had awoken in him, he wondered at such vivid dreams, and idly guessed at their meanings. Just when he was about to dismiss them as fantasies best left in bed, the voice from the dream spoke to him again. It did not come from any person or location, but from somewhere inside Liets head. “Do not doubt” it said, “You can indeed save yourself from the servitude that chains your parents and peers. Collect what possessions you cannot live without, dress for travel, and direct yourself toward the East Gate. Do not be concerned for the consequences; what would be suicide on any other day, these few days will go unnoticed. Fear not the guards for they are otherwise occupied, nor for your parents, who will suffer no ills by your leaving. Make haste, this opportunity will not come again.”
It may come as a surprise that he did not question the voice that spoke to him then. Indeed, if asked any time before that morning he would have laughed and questioned both his own sanity and that of the one asking him. But in that moment, with the images of the night still crystal-clear in his mind, he did not even wonder where the voice might have come from, almost as if he knew on a level beyond conscious thought that what the voice said was true, and that this was the only chance he would have in his entire lifetime.
The decision made, there was not much he needed to pack. Several books, a few changes of clothes, some jade, some small keepsakes of his childhood, and several wrapped pockets of bread and meat from the family’s kitchen servants in his pack, he left quietly, knowing any mention of his intentions to friends and family would only be painful, and they might even attempt to stop him for fear of retribution that could fall on him or them. He Did leave a letter of farewell for his parents, explaining how he simply could not allow himself to become a slave to the state, promising to return someday, and to make them proud of him.
As the voice had promised, the way was clear as he approached the gates, and even the normal gate-guards seemed distracted and did not seem to see to consider a young boy going on a trip as something to take note of.
Once out onto the road, headed East and North towards the nearest village outside of Paragon’s grasp, a fishing village where Liet felt he could purchase passage on a trading vessel to Chiaroscuro with a gold enamel clasp he had received as a present the year before. But before he had walked an hour, the voice returned again, telling him to stop a moment. Curious, and still trusting the disembodied commands more than the situation might have called for, he followed it’s directions off the road, past several olivar trees to a small field of stones, where he was aimed towards a stone block that was remarkably like a stone block made for a building. The voice informed him that it had indeed been the corner-stone of an estate in ages past, but that it was also a container. At the voice’s behest, Liet took another rock, this one fist-sized, found the side marked with a natural swath of darker stone, and rapped on the exact center three times then two then five. After the last beat, a panel of the stone separated, and fell forward, revealing the hollow interior of the stone, and 4 old but well kept books inside. At this, the voice said one more thing and then fell silent: “With this you must buy your future. Learn well young one.” This would be the last time he heard the voice for many years.
The trip to the Village was a hard one for one so unaccustomed for such travel, but Liet was determined, and had the patience and resolve to make it. Once at the village, he was taken pity upon by the local tavern-keepers mate, and was given a pallet in the common room after closing and some of the simple rice and scraps that the hired help were given. In the morning, he located the captain of the trading sloop docked at the village’s simple pier, and made his offer of the cloak clasp for passage. The captain found his youth and genuine sincerity refreshing, and agreed.
Three days later found Liet puzzling out the winding streets of Chiaroscuro; a great city of broken glass towers and cobbled together buildings, full of traders and urban clamor. Stumbling upon a very prosperous marketplace where the buildings of glass seemed miraculously intact, he began searching for a wealthy book or artifact merchant to buy the books he had found, for on the water voyage he had examined them and realized with the little knowledge he had of such things that these were very old, and no doubt would fetch a fair price in such a city, money that he would desperately need to survive. Three of the books were large, and very detailed, including some diagrams difficult to comprehend, and the fourth was a small hand-bound journal of sorts, filled with writing artfully curved into simple animal and geometric shapes, reminding one of some sort of poetry or fanciful prose. After asking at several stalls, an elderly woman, slender and tall with long gray hair and wearing brilliant robes of gold and vermilion, approached him, and asked in a kindly tone what he was looking for. After explaining something of what he was looking for, the sympathetic faced woman offered to point Liet towards someone who would give him the very best price for his purposes in exchange for the smallest of his books. While that might have been a steep price for untried information, the woman seemed in high regard, as several passing visitors to the square greeted her brightly with a “Good day, lady”, or simply smiled warmly and nodded in her direction. After having ample evidence that a little trust in fate can have it’s rewards, and seeing that this woman was so highly respected in the community, Liet agreed, and handed over the smallest book. The woman proceeded to give him directions, not to a merchant, but to a small academy not very far from the square, two blocks away in fact, and bade him ask for an instructor named Ja-Harim.
—knock on door—
Ja-Harim: Come?
Liet: Sir? Are you Ja-Harim? The man at the door said the office was somewhere in this hall…
Ja-Harim: Yes yes, that is indeed me. Now what do you want?
Liet: I, uh, I’m trying to sell these old books, and a woman at the market told me that you’d be the person to ask…
Ja-Harim: Hmm, that’s not something I usually… Old books you say? Well, let me have a look. [takes books and scrutinizes the covers, and then glances at the first few pages of one, eyebrows raised and rising a little ever few moments] Child, do you realize what you have here?
Liet: I know they’re quite old sir, and that they have to be worth enough to keep me alive for a while. I’m afraid I’ve recently left home and I don’t have much jade at all… [Liet peters off, unsure of how much to say, and is fairly sure that the instructor is only paying cursory attention to what he says as he leans forward into an examination of the books. A few minutes of awkward silence later, he speaks again, more serious this time].
Ja-Harim: Boy, I’m going to have to thank the person who sent you my way personally, these… these are near-priceless! Who on earth told you where to find me?
Liet: Uhh, an old woman in red and gold robes came up to me and told me she would tell me the best place to sell these in return for the smallest of the books I had, it was smaller and had a fancier script shaped into things, like a book of poetry or something.
Ja-Harim: Great Ias, Grandmother Bright sent you to me?
Liet: Who??
Ja-Harim: [chuckles] Now I KNOW you’re not from around here. Her name is Grandmother Bright, and she’s very well known in this city. You probably couldn’t tell it by looking at her, but she’s thousands of years old.
Liet: …
Ja-Harim: She’s a spirit, very benevolent, but mind your manners. In fact, you probably ought to visit her tomorrow to thank her. I know I will be for sending you to me. These books are unlike any of our current collection of First Age books, and make no doubt; these are unquestionably from the First Age. I think I can certainly offer you at least three years for these.
Liet: Wait, years?
Ja-Harim: Yes, I suppose I could pay you some jade for them flat out, but I get the sense that you haven’t anywhere particular to go, nor a plan for your future. We teach here, you can learn a valuable trade. Besides, the value of 3 years tuition, plus I’m sure we can find a room for you and even get you simple meals, would be far and above what you could get in hard currency.
Liet: [stunned at the completely unexpected turn of things] That would be.. You… I would be honored sir! I had to stop my instruction when I left, and I so loved learning from my tutors, but I had to go so badly, and I hadn’t dreamed I could…
Ja-Harim: Ah, good, then you are interested in the offer?
Liet: YES!
Ja-Harim: Good, then this is what we shall do: I will take these to be appraised, they may be worth even more than I hope, they seem to be instruction manuals, given these diagrams, but I’m not the expert on Old Realm that old Goffar is. You we will put in one of the empty cubicles we have for students and servants, so you have a place to sleep. You should talk to our castalene, down this hall that you came in from, on the end to the right. She will get you something to eat, as I know a boy your age cannot go for long without his stomach pleading for more. Tomorrow, you should return to the plaza and thank Grandmother Bright, then return here to me and we shall talk all about your circumstances, where you come from, and then test your abilities and knowledge to place you in the appropriate classes. It won’t be easy here, we expect our students to do hard work, but we will do our best for you. Besides, Grandmother Bright sent you to us, and I cannot conceive of her being wrong about your potential. Agreed?
Liet: Oh Thank you sir, I’ll not disappoint you, I promise!
Chiaroscuro
Reassured of his future, Liet began his education anew. He learned many more things than had ever been spoken of by his tutors, obviously there were whole subjects that were avoided by the tutors of Paragon. Quickly expressing an interest and a startling aptitude for the lore of artifacts of ages past, he was easily accepted by all of the instructors, in particularly by a man named Goffar, the local specialist in First Age mysteries. Liet was also drawn to Goffar for his hobby, that of restoring old pieces of antiquity to some of their former beauty or functionality. In a city like Chiaroscuro, with ancient walls and relics in some cases literally lying in the very streets, there was a large trade in relics. And many that would be worth only the scrap materials they was made out of to the majority of people, could be put together, brushed, oiled, and sold for a surprisingly generous amount. Goffar kept a small antiques shop not far from the academy. Sometimes seeming more like a museum, Goffar spent most of his free time outside of teaching his students there.
More happy and free than he had ever felt in his life up to that point, Liet settled down into a comfortable routine of studying, reading, and helping Goffar in his shop, first with small things like an errand here or there, or inventory, but later growing to include help with the actual restoration projects, of which there were always ten to twenty ‘in progress’ in the back rooms. Liet pleased his instructors by being energetic, self-motivated, and sincerely invested in learning, and when the three years were up, he began doing real work for Goffar in his shop to help pay for his continued education, developing real skill at restoring the relics that Goffar found in his thrice weekly perusal of the various bazaars, learning the various tell-tales needed to identify one type from another, and getting a feel for how much different levels of quality might fetch to different clients. This left more time for Goffar to spend either in teaching or else writing volumes on the notes he’d taken from studying the artifacts and books of the First Age.
The years passed, and Liet became more active and independent in his trade. He took outside commissions to appraise items, or restore some of their former utility or finery, or research some of the history of a specific relic. At first these were only occasional, and only from previous customers of the store. But as time went on, those who had commissioned his services in the past, recommended him to others with similar interests and needs for his very pleasant attitude, professional manner, and his quick, intuitive insight into items, leading to other jobs. From Goffar he learned the language used in the First Age, Old Realm, so that he could learn directly from the books written in their own hand. He also took time to visit and make friends with some of the other craftsmen in the city who worked in the same field of refurbishing relics, and if they were amenable, he picked their brains about different methods, even apprenticing to a few of the best for a month or so each, honing his art.
As his formal education neared its end in his 20th year, he began preparing for independence. He started actively searching out commissions, and with the jade from those added to what he had saved beyond his tuition, he found a small shop/home to live in and to set up as his own place of business. Things were a bit shaky at first, but once the patrons who knew him realized he had his own shop, they were quick to spread the word, and to visit themselves. In the few years after, he spent most of his time building a customer base, working on restoring pieces he found or bought from open markets, doing appraisals, etc…. In addition, he kept contact with most of his old teachers, particularly Goffar, coming in to speak to some of the student on subjects at which he been particularly skilled, and occasionally tutoring a student. Also, as a hobby, Liet began dabbling in glasswork. This was mostly simply for a change of pace, allowing him to create in truth, instead of merely fixing some other long dead craftsman’s work. It also provided him the opportunity to understand a bit more about the material, as a great deal of the artifacts found in the city and it’s environs were made of glass, understandable given how practically the entire city was once composed of shining glass towers and streets. Manipulation of the glass shards left from that wondrous age were far beyond his skills of course, and even beyond those of his tutor at glass-craft, but simply finding a feel for how the substance is formed and worked helped in his comprehension.
A Delzahn Noble’s Request
So the years passed, his business slowly growing, giving him more resources with which to pursue his own research. This was how it was not too long before his 25th birthday, when he was approached by a lesser member of the Delzahn Nobility who had an offer for him. This noble had come into the position of a very old artifact, a pendant that was, if the noble’s information was correct, a sort of battery for the sun’s light. But the man did not come to Liet for information. Instead, he was looking for someone to help him test the limits of the artifact’s potential. Elsewhere in the city, in a part where few ventured, there was a Crystal tower, one that still stood from the First age, due in large part to the great protections set upon it. At night, the dead rise and patrol the grounds and floors of the tower, attacking any who come too near. But the characteristic important to the noble was that in the day, when the dead disappeared, the tower reflected the sun’s light and amplified it 20-fold, making it impossible to look at the tower without going blind. Indeed, even looking away might cause blindness from the reflected light, even diminished it had great power. Those around the tower draped great banners across the streets to keep the unwary from becoming blind simply from looking up. The noble wished the artifact to be taken before the tower in the morning, and held there, gathering power at it’s greatest, until the pendent would take no more. This was dangerous of course, for there was a very real danger of becoming blinded, even with all possible safety precautions. But what made him come to Liet was that whoever was to do this, they would have to be able to tell when the artifact had reached capacity and stop, without looking at it at all. There was the danger that the charm might be faulty and explode, taking the user with it, or that any number of unknown disasters might befall the unlucky man caught up in it. For all of these reasons, Liet decided that it was to great a risk, even though the noble promised him a goodly reward for the service. That night, Liet was astonished to find himself hearing the voice from his childhood. It told him that it was a mistake to pass up this opportunity, and that he should trust in his abilities to deal with whatever might happen at the tower. It also told him that for payment he should ask for defensive training, as such a thing would be useful in his life, particularly if he ever planned on leaving the city walls to visit ancient sites or other city’s libraries or any of a number of travels Liet had dreamed of one day doing.
So the next day, fresh in the early morning, he visited the Noble at his large home and explained that he had had a change of heart, and that he would do as the noble wished in return for the ability to defend himself. Having realized how unlikely it was that any learned man would risk as much as he was asking, the noble quickly accepted, and took Liet to his house scholar to work out the details.
The next morning, Liet stood outside the banner on the north road, preparing to enter. He had to blind-fold his eyes 3 times, once with a black cloth, once with a black leather strip, and once with a silvery silk cloth that would supposedly reflect more light away. Holding the charm out to his side, he walked backwards in even steady steps till he judged he was approximately halfway through the courtyard, and stopped. He said the word of activation, with the proper inflections, and felt the pendant begin to hum with power. He had stood there for almost three hours, keeping close track of the artifact’s progress, when there came a sudden flux in the feel of it, dangerously uncontrolled. Keeping his cool, as well as his eye protection well in place, Liet attempted to halt the artifact’s process, but it was too late. The humming jumped in pitch wildly, building up to a crescendo, and then letting out such a burst of light that Liet saw some of it through his blindfold, he developed a sunburn soon after, and all the city saw the great burst of light in the direction of the tower, temporarily overwhelming all other light.
Returning, Liet explained to the noble that from what he could tell, the battery seemed to have had a definite limit on the power it could hold, unlike the noble’s contact had told him. Subsequent examination showed that the enchantment on the charm had been severely weakened, failing to hold even minutes of light. Since the danger and damage had been through no fault of his own, the noble felt that Liet deserved the entire fee he had been promised. And after Liet spent the rest of the day studying the amulet with the Noble’s scholar and artificer, figuring out a great deal, enough even to allow the artificer the possibility of creating more of the much-reduced pendants, the noble decided something above and beyond payment was due. First, the Noble gave the now mostly-useless pendant to Liet, incase he could find a use for it. Then, he arranged for one of the best swords-teachers in the city to instruct Liet twice a week for a year. And finally, he commissioned a sword for him, one of the very prized glass weapons that Chiaroscuro is so famous for, a straight sword of exceptional balance and grace made especially to defend against an aggressor. Again, the voice had led him spectacularly aright.
Exaltation of Patience in the Hidden Place
Several years after his weapons training had ended, Liet was sorting through a box full of questionably old manuscripts he had received in payment for an appraisal job, when he came across a very authentic First Age volume. It was written in Old Realm, but the words and letters were confusingly placed, in odd orders and positions that did not make sense. After some thought, Liet decided that the writing must be in some sort of code, and made it one of his personal projects to decode the work, partly as a mental challenge, and partly out of a strong curiosity for what might be important enough to so encode the text. Over the course of the next few months, he spent an hour or so each day jotting down an idea or two, trying one form of decryption or another, attempting to find the pattern to it. When he figured out how to decipher the code, he found that the book detailed the life of a great First Age artisan, and also, wonder of wonders, it made plain the location of his resting place to the East and South, into the great Desert.
Excited about the possibility of such a find, Liet quickly began planning an expedition. He contacted several of his acquaintances from amongst the merchants to find a reliable guide, found two good camels, and collected supplies for the trip. The trip went quickly for him, though it took close to 5 days to arrive, the last day entirely deep in the dry and harsh desert. The morning of the 6th day they approached the site, a simple doorway into the side of one of the small plateaus that fractured the landscape. The door was a bit of work to open, but not too difficult. But as they entered the chamber and set down their packs, a large rumbling came from the passage back to the entrance. The Guide, afraid of some sort of trap, leaped back through the passage to escape, placing him in the middle of the tunnel when the great slabs of rock fell to block the exit, crushing the guide completely.
Liet began to panic, realizing that he was trapped alone in the chamber, with no way to leave since there seemed to be no other exit, having limited food and water, and his guide was now squished beneath an unmovable block of rock. After passing the swell of terror in his throat, he started to calm down a bit, and assess his situation, still edgy from the adrenalin and the situation. He observed the room, the bier with it’s skeleton on it, the sculpted frescos on the walls. Seeing several other skeletons previously hidden on the other side of the bier which looked like past explorers who had starved to death, he reasoned that there must be some mechanism by which the stone is raised, even if it is only a timed system set to open after a year had passed. Beginning to feel the panic return, he began to pace, staring at the walls to look for some trigger, and yet not seeing them as the oppressive feeling of being trapped got stronger and stronger. He began to feel light-headed, and felt a burning sensation on his forehead as the world seemed to turn upside-down. Abruptly, all the panic and stress and confusion disappeared, leaving only the prickling heat on his forehead and a great silent calm that seemed to fill the room. A voice, not the one he remembered from childhood, rather a warm but undeniably commanding and authoritarian voice boomed in his head, telling him to be unafraid, “For you are Chosen of the Sun, and let no threat bar your way. You have the skills to master this and more, you have only to find them within yourself.”. The hushed composure that infused Liet was unlike anything he had ever experienced, and without thinking he followed a feeling towards the fresco at the back of the chamber, pressing up and in at two spots that clicked at his touch, and then turning a stylized Sun that rotated in place in the design, causing a door to open, not back outside, but farther into the tomb. That bier and chamber had not been the true resting place; it was a counterfeit to catch unwanted thieves and visitors. The newly opened door reveled a very small room, and another door. Searching with senses that felt more sensitive and finely honed than ever before, Liet examined this new door, eventually finding a small catch that triggered the release of the opening mechanism hidden in the door’s texture. Liet did this 5 times, each door opening onto another small room with another single door, each door presenting him with a new puzzle, a novel way to secure a door against entry. Each one was slightly more difficult than the last, but as he began to fall into a rhythm, Liet found that the time he spent on each one remained the same. Even though the difficulty of the devices was somewhat frustrating, there was also an element of fascination in his mind, making observations and mental notes about design and structure. The 5th door he opened led to a great rounded chamber, with another, more graceful bier sitting up on a dais, a skeleton garbed in what must have been fine clothing once upon a time. At the skeleton’s side lay a simple but decorated sword, looking to be some sort of ceremonial gift. At the four cardinal directions around the dais were 4 depressions in the stone, each containing an artifact gleaming despite their age and antiquity. Along the simple and unadorned wall, seven doors radiated out, each looking to be well locked and mechanized as the previous ones. Feeling sure that the way out must be through one of those three doors, he stepped right up and began to work at the first door. Past 2 o’clock now, he felt no hunger as he devoted all his attention to opening the doors. This door opened to a small hallway, and yet another door. An hour later, that door was open, this one leading to a wall of solid glass. Liet attempted to break it, but it resisted all attempts. Somewhat disheartened at the sight of the outside, but encouraged knowing that the outside was nearby, he started in on the next of the doors, this one also leading to another door, and then to an unbreakable glass wall looking over the desert.
http://xs38.xs.to/pics/05296/Burial_Chamber.png
Finally feeling the strain and thirst, Liet returned to get his pack for a drink and a meal, and then leaned himself up against a wall as dusk arrived. The setting sun shown through the newly opened passageways, shining vivid violet-hued light onto the far walls, temporarily illuminating the main chamber. In the waning light, Liet took a small book out of his pack to take notes on the door devices, the shape of the tomb, and many more details. Finally, he allowed himself to drift off into sleep. Early in the next morning, he woke quickly, and ate a makeshift breakfast while working on the third door, revealing yet another hallway, door, and wall of glass. He spent the rest of the morning and a portion of the afternoon opening the rest of the doors, all of which inexplicably opened onto the same thing. Having opened all of the doors, Liet was puzzled. He knew, deep within him that there must be some solution here, but he could not see it. Pacing, he reviewed all the stories of tombs and mechanical locks and such he had heard over the years of talking with the treasure hunters who came to him for appraisals. He went over and over in his mind possibilities, examined walls and other corners of the rooms for something he had missed, but found nothing. Finally, he sat down to think. Realizing that there must be no mechanical device, he began pondering the possibility of a mystical trigger, though how he might be able to find or activate such a thing he did not know. By this time, it was approaching sundown again, and the light began pouring through the glass at the ends of the tunnels as it had the previous night, only much stronger now with the rest of the doors opened. The violet light grew stronger, and Liet paused from his deep concentration to marvel at the strength and beauty of it. Then, as the sun reached a point exactly half covered by the horizon, the light flared, revealing a pattern in the rock against the back wall, a half-dark half-light circle, reflecting the light back towards the walls next to the corridors, each now showing a similar design. The light focused by the room bounced around, and then shot forward down the way towards the blocked exit, and by it’s light Liet saw the great boulders raising up, opening the way out. Moving quickly, he gathered his bags, the artifacts he’d collected, and made his way swiftly to the exit. Looking back, he saw the doors to all of the chambers except the very first door leading to the faux tomb close. Thankfully the camels had not wandered, and Liet loaded them up with what he had, and then carefully wrapped the body of his guide up in his bedroll and secured him to the second camel for the trip back home.
A Task for Grandmother Bright
After returning, Liet made arrangements for the guide’s burial, for he had no living relations, donated what assets the man had to a charity, and went back to his work and routine. But all was not as it used to be. For one, he found his tasks in general to be much easier than they had used to be. For another, Liet found himself much more fascinated by the mystical side of his artifacts, and of life for that matter, as he had just found himself placed fully within the mystical category. There were new skills he was capable of, and many things came with less effort than before. He learned to sense the energy around himself, and to focus it into feats he wouldn’t have dreamt possible before. But there was a downside, for he knew of the ‘Abomination’s reputation in the Realm, and though the Realm did not have official presence or clout in Chiaroscuro, they did come through occasionally, as was driven home one evening when the sight of a Dragon-Blooded in full Jade armor walking down the streets opposite of Liet nearly drove him to panic. Thankfully the Dragon-Blooded seemed not to notice him and went on about his way. This was when he decided that he would need to move somewhere safer, and where in the City was safer than a building in Grandmother Bright’s quarter. He had been thinking about finding a larger shop for a while, but this made the need much more imperative.
Liet approached the venerable spirit at her pavilion in the main marketplace of the quarter on a quiet afternoon, and politely broached the question. She chuckled, and made a wry question of why he’d taken so long. She explained her tradition of requiring a task from those who petition, and that given who and what Liet was, it would be a greater task than those required of mortals. Surprised that she could tell what he was at a look, he listened on. Apparently a mortal Architect had caught her attention. Originally from Gem to the south, this intrepid man had made it his life’s work to succeed in restoring some of the Glass buildings that once made Chiaroscuro Unique among cities. Liet’s task was to assist the man in any manner he needed for a year and a day.
Meeting the architect, whose name was Reahan, Liet found he liked the man quite well. He was one of those rare innovators who have found themselves a dream, and now pursue it with all of their strength. Of course, he hadn’t made a great deal of noticeable progress. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t managed to find any method of shaping the glass, though he did have a lead. In his extensive research and experimentation, he’d tried all of the rumors, checked out one tip after another, and had decided that there was no mortal means of shaping it. But that did not halt him. Instead, he’d searched around till he’d found information on the location of a fire elemental not too far away, only some 50 miles. He seemed quite pleased to have someone help him, and even more touched when he found out that Grandmother Bright had taken an interest in his work. He offered to take Liet with him when he went to request the aid of the fire elemental, though he warned that there was no way of knowing what sort of temperament the being would show towards such a request.
After a short trip, they arrived on the spot, a small region of steam vents and great heat. Reahan spoke the formal greeting and entreaty he had been given to pay proper respect, and the element rose from the vents, a not quite man-sized mass of flames which, while it had no real eyes, had a kind of gaze that one Liet felt move between him and the architect. “What do you wish?” it asked, and Reahan explained his intentions, and requested the elemental’s aid in heating the glass of old to enable him to reshape it, Liet keeping to the background as this was Reahan’s task, not his own. The flame seemed to consider it, and appeared to almost begin to refuse, then it stopped, it’s regard sliding off elsewhere for a moment. When it spoke again it’s gaze returned hotly to Liet, though he spoke to Reahan, “Yes, I will help you do this mortal. Lead, and I shall follow.”
Both surprised at the ease of the interaction, but not willing to question their fortune, Reahan and Liet returned to Chiaroscuro with the elemental, who re-formed itself into a more humanoid shape.
The following months formed themselves into a fairly regular routine. They decided to focus all of their work on a single building, one that was mostly intact just to the east of Grandmother Bright’s domain, what was once a 4-story townhouse, who’s top two floors had collapsed, though the first two were in moderate shape. Their idea was to make as much of an improvement as they could on that one building in the time that Liet was with Reahan, and hopefully afterwards the nobles and wealthy merchants would take notice and fund the restoration of other buildings. They would pay for the materials and the aid of an elemental (either this one or another of similar ability) out of their own pockets for the status-booster of having their home done in restored glass. Since in addition to being time consuming and difficult, one building was all that Reahan, with help from savings Liet had, could afford to do, this was a necessity if Reahan’s work was to continue past the end of the year. Each day, Liet and Reahan would plan out the day’s projects with the elemental standing near listening but rarely volunteering so much as a word. They first focused on stabilizing the first two levels, fixing cracks and potentially dangerous spots by melting the edges and working them together slowly with insulated tools.
After a time, Liet came to trust Reahan quite a bit, and so revealed his true nature to him one evening. This was of course a bit of a shock for Reahan, but he calmed down quickly, particularly after Liet demonstrated how through the use of his powers as an exalted he could manipulate the Chiaroscuro glass to an extent by himself, which gave their schedule of repair projects a considerably generous advantage. From then on, Liet focused on the rest of the repair of the cracks in the wall and the floor and the strengthening of the supports in the first two levels while Reahan and the elemental worked on re-building the third, and then the fourth levels. Liet was sure to be very careful not to let the visual signs of his use of essence show, almost always only using those powers while on the inside away from the public. The flexibility of being able to do more than one project at once even allowed them the time to add decorative flourishes to many parts of the building before the year was at an end.
When the Elemental felt he had helped enough, about when the year and a day had ended, Liet left Reahan already receiving offers for him to work on one great home or another, even one offer from the Tri-Kahn’s second son. Liet returned to Grandmother Bright to make sure she was satisfied, then moved into a recently vacated residence a block away from the main market square, and returned to the projects and commissions he had put aside for the past year.
Incident at the Marketplace
At this point in his life, things were going very well for Liet. His practice was doing very well, and he was developing quite a nest egg of funds from the commissions he was getting. Many of the more prosperous merchants used his services repeatedly, even recommending him to people outside of Chiaroscuro, leading to the occasional job offer arriving by messenger from cities as far away as Nexus. Even more beneficial to his income were the regular consulting commissions Liet got from time to time from Reahan, who had practically overnight become one of the most prosperous craftsmen in the city due to his monopoly on his skill. Also, grateful for the help Liet had given him, and knowing full well that there was something about Liet’s presence that had persuaded the elemental to help, Reahan gave a generous sum to him as thanks, and created a glass sign to be displayed before Liet’s shop.
At this point, to some extent, his identity as an Exalted of the Sun had been integrated into his overall concept of self, but on the other hand, it was a part of him that did not always play a central roll. Certainly he was glad of the abilities he had from time to time when a particularly difficult job came up, and it was an aspect to explore that interested him, leading him to re-read any of the stories he had read that might have been about an Exalted like him, as well as to search out other stories of them. But in his day-to-day life it was only one of many interests.
Feeling like he had exhausted a great deal of the possible information sources in the city, and hungering for something new, Liet took many small week or so long trips to some of the larger cities (though nothing as large as Chiaroscuro) on the seaboard, booking passage on one of the great many trading vessels at the City Port. Liet visited libraries, spoke with local scholars, made copies of particularly interesting books on one subject or another, and combed the bazaars and antique shops for new finds.
A little more than 5 years after he moved into his new home, Liet had a rather disrupting incident at a market back in Chiaroscuro. He was examining some of the mostly mundane jewelry being fobbed off on tourists, looking for the occasional rarity, when a great uproar built up behind him, startling all in the area. Turning, he saw the beginnings of a panic as most of the market-goers tried to run away from a growing cloud of dark billowing shadow with flashes of white and green like unnatural lightning moving across it. Immediately pulling on heightened senses and exceptional observational abilities available to him as an Exalted, he saw that the cloud was emanating from a box-like object being held by a very terrified merchant who stood there paralyzed with fear and shock, and deduced that the incautious man had accidentally activated a fairly potent artifact that would quite shortly cause a great deal of harm unless it could be deactivated. Leaping over a table into the next row over and sprinting up to the man, fighting against the tide of stampeding shoppers, he reached out with his hand and crushed the box’s side in a Shattering Grasp. The box gave a squeal of shorn metal, but it stopped producing the cloud, which seemed to loose cohesion like a true cloud of simple smoke and dissipated over the course of half a minute. Halfway though a harangue about being careful about artifacts of great age, he realized that the merchant still had his terrified gaze only it had been transferred to Liet, which led to the realization that he was enveloped in a blaze of violet, blue and white light, and that his forehead burned with the feeling of his caste mark shining brightly. Stopping in the middle of his sentence, Liet blinked, began to appreciate the awkwardness of the situation and the many possible consequences to being so open in his power, turned, and retreated quickly home.
Several hours later, several of the royal guard arrived at his store-front, requesting his presence at an audience with the Tri-Kahn. Their words were polite, but their tone and stance made it plain that they were not to take no for an answer. Rather than expel the “abomination” as Liet expected him to do however, the Tri-Kahn explained that he had taken notice of the work Liet had done for the city, even now parts of the palace were being re-made in glass thanks to Liet’s help, and that he could indeed stay, but he would have to remain at all times in Grandmother Bright’s domain, for only she could protect him and shield him from the eyes of the Realm.
The Tri-Kahn’s Favor
Several years of very confined living later, Liet’s business was still doing quite well. In particular, he could boast to be one of a practically nonexistent set to whom the Tri-Kahn came rather than vice-versa. On one of these very rare visits, the Tri-Kahn came to him with a problem. Apparently there had been some strange disturbances and attacks in the trade-routs far to the east of Chiaroscuro’s attention, among the many small cities interspersed in the foothills before the desert, near the eastern mountain range.
Favor for Tri-Kahn: One of the major trade routs between the city and the Scavenger lands (hundred kingdoms?) has been getting more and more treacherous. Many caravans have been attacked by hordes of strange winged creatures, and others were strangely affected when going through the passes in one specific mountain range. That section of the rout had always been safe in the past, just in the recent 4 or so years has it been becoming strange. Cause: Old manse from first age finally broke down (begun by a large falling rock), turned into an increasingly wild demesne. Small mountain village nearby changed because of the pervasive energy into bird-men
Notes on Past life & Anima Banner:
http://xs38.xs.to/pics/05296/Stained_Glass.jpg
Liet’s anima banner forms the image of a giant stained-glass window behind him. In three arches, it’s shards of carefully crafted glasswork form the image of the brilliant starburst of a setting sun, half of the colors in brilliant reds and yellows of daylight, half in the dusky blues and purples of night.
When his banner first appears, it is as if the window had been there all along, but only now has the sun come out from behind the clouds to stream through, shining colored shafts of light upon him and all those around him.
The Solar who’s soul would be reborn in Liet, the one who first bore that anima banner, was a great craftswoman, exploring the edges of possibilities in her works of Glass, Architecture, and Sculpture. She found new and innovative feelings within herself and emoted them directly into physical form. The buildings she wrought were breathtaking to behold, and some of the finest temples to the Unconquered Sun were designed or built personally by her.
As Liet, his bent is much more towards the craft of Artifice and Artifact, those great tools, weapons, armors, and items of old that in his first life were so common and well accepted that they had never seemed challenging enough. Also, the need to explore is focused much more outwards. The world as his soul remembers it has changed so very much, and everything is new to both sets of memories. In time, perhaps, Liet will evolve, after collecting memories and emotions, experiences and artifacts and learning, into more of a consummate craftsman, taking all that he has experienced and forging them into great works of utility and beauty.
Notes on Character & Personality:
Liet is very optimistic. When given the chance, he will assume the best of someone, or of a situation. If possible, he will attempt to cheer up someone who is unhappy (though he is often unsure of what to do with someone who is angry, having put his foot in his mouth on previous occasions), or he will put a positive spin on a bad situation.
Cruelty or actions that remove anyone’s free will extremely bother him. In himself it is shocking, and begs for a reassessment, preferably finding a good reason (or excuse if one is brutally honest) for the action. In others, it is very vexing, yet he is reluctant to say something negative, tending to internalize the feelings until some sort of resolution is reached, or until the subject is forced one way or another. This makes him a bit subdued, which he is very inept at hiding, but is preferential in his eyes to saying something that might well hurt someone’s feelings, or turn out to be based on a false assumption or misunderstanding.
This positivistic attitude is particularly applicable to human/emotional situations, and not necessarily to other types of situations. When explaining an experiment for instance, he will happily tell you in great (and possibly gruesome) detail. But the negative in that case won’t bother him at all, because he’s learned that even in failure one learns a great deal, so they aren’t really failures at all. To date he has not applied that bit of wisdom to the rest of life, but the realization is just waiting to happen.
He has a somewhat romantic ideal of battle, more the swashbuckling & honor-bound concepts of great tales, stemming from spending so much time delved deep in tomes of dramatic history rather than experiencing battle first-hand. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t realize that there is death and hurt implicit in battle, some histories and stories are quite explicit in the details of who died and how, and what had to be done to win it regardless of means. This simply means that he has much fewer qualms about fighting “the good fight” than something more rough or brutal; it’s more exciting without the moral frustration, and is more dramatic.
