TheNexusProject/FiveFoldKeyOfShades

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Five Fold Key of Shades

by FlowsLikeBits

"I will say this: seldom have I learned so much from one object."
- Painted Cloud, current owner
"I shoulda charged more. Oh well."
- Indulgent Flame

Recently unearthed at Indulgent Flame's stall by Painted Cloud, the Five Fold Key of Shades is the common name for a painting titled "A Meeting Between Friends Following a Long Separation and Many Changes". It is rumored to show a group of supernatural beings from the First Age in a large room of some sort. It is thought to predate the Usurpation by a considerable degree, although the name of original artist is unknown. The buyer has not been very forthcoming with details and seems reluctant to let people see it. Some say it depicts the Five Immaculate Dragons, while others say it depicts a group of five Anathema. Almost any supernatural creature including Fair Folk and Gods has been expoused by someone; however, all information points to the subjects being human-looking.

Rumours

  • Those who look at it too long become transfixed and open to suggestion.
  • It causes those who look apon it to desire it.
  • The details in the background could be used to find the First Age Manse depicted in it.

Secrets

  • It painting actually depicts a group of five Sidereals, as a relatively small group of individuals in a cavernous room. All have anima banners showing, but none have a visible caste mark. It represents a group that has come together again after going their separate ways. They are discussing their differences and the changes time has wrought. The artist used the flowing color coming from each characther and the interplay of colors between subjects and the background to say volumes about each one's personality, the changes time had wrought and how they now relate to each other. The combinations of light and shadow coming from each subject express both the overt and subtle feelings of each. (Two of the subjects are now rivals, but trying to hide this from the others.) It is a technical masterpiece of visual poetry and the use of color. Besides its intrinsic artistic value, a painter could probably learn a thing or two, especially about color and lighting.
  • Minute amounts of magical materials and various types of demon blood are mixed in with the paint; this and the subject matter cause it to be partially outside Fate and partially affected by the Arcane Fate.
  • While the subjects exist(ed), the meeting place and circumstances are artistic licence.

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