BillGarrett/ChejopKejakMustDie

The Sidereals gathered to make a Second Prophecy. The first had been invalidated by the Great Contagion. Once again, the Sidereals foresaw three fates.

In one future, the Exalted were doomed to die, torn apart by internal strife. The first victim would be the Steersman - Chejop Kejak himself, slain by a hated rival.

In another future, the Exalted were fated for damnation, and would fall prey to dark forces. Chejop Kejak, in this future, would be slain by a powerful agent of the Yozis.

In the third, the Exalted exiled themselves from Creation. In this world, Chejop Kejak was assassinated as part of the political machinations that would lead to the exile.

The Steersman knew this was his fate. He had survived a first, aborted Prophecy that lasted perhaps half as long as anyone expected. He didn't expect to survive a second anyway.

Now, three assassination attempts had been made. Chejop had fallen to one. But which one? Whichever it was, it determined the fate of the Chosen. The scene of the crime was a locked and sealed room in Yu-Shan, where several powerful Celestial Exalted were gathered. Nobody professes to have witnessed the actual cause of death, but the old man very definitely did die with a discharge of Essence.

The PCs must investigate the death. But whatever clues they uncover will lead to a solution, if they are clever and determined enough - and that solution then controls the fate of the Exalted.

Comments

Chejop Kejak committed suicide using Peaceable Conclusion! But as it turns out, the suggestion had come from a hated rival who Chejop thought was attempting to manipulate him. In fact, the one who gave him the suggestion was none other than the mysterious Yozi, "Grand Butler To The Eminence" in disguise... - Arafelis

As it happened, he was preparing for his own death when it struck. That it struck unexpectedly doesn't surprise me in this one instance - if he knows he's doomed anyway, he's not going to have all his foresee/avoid stuff running, but he WILL make preparations within the organization for his departure. -- BillGarrett

As the strands of Fate unravelled before him, Chejop Kejak resolved to himself one act of defiance, a violation against the inscrutable whim of destiny, that his own accomplishments might not be dissolved as he will be. He arranged for his own death, in the fervent hope that this would prevent the chaos in his wake. Little beknownst to him, this was the Prophecy of which all others were simply facets. In his murder and initiation of the fates he loathed to come to pass, Chejop Kejak was his own bitterest rival. In covering its cause, he would begin the accusations, treacheries and strife that would tear the Celestial Bureaucracy apart. As the world itself comes apart, the Exalts flee its limits and the Primordials are free to roam once more, Chejop Kejak acted an agent of the Yozis' own whims...DeathBySurfeit

To the ancient Sidereal, knowlege is power, even knowlege of thy own doom. Thus did he work with his enemies, to hide the cause of his own death amid a tangle of threads, in the hope that those who came later could untangle the correct one. -FlowsLikeBits

As the PC Sidereal Detectives investigate and continue to unravel the threads of fate wound around this mystery they finally discover the real answer. Chejop Kejak was so steeped in fate and mystery that the cause of his death is unknown even by fate itself! It will only become known when the Detectives announce the killer then the thread of destiny will unfold leaving clues behind and prophesy ahead. Will the PCs follow one of the three great prophesies? Will they sacrifice a fellow sidereal? Or will they take a different path by showing that he did not die in one of the prophesied ways and leave the Sidereal Fate planning departments rudderless and possibly dooming the entire world?
--BrilliantRain

Ooo, I like. Anyway. Upon learning that he had to die, Chejop Kejak conceived of a great plan. Free of any outside influences, he made use of the prerogative (sp?) of high-Essence beings and defied the Loom of Fate. He killed himself. The prophecy is broken, because none of the possible outcomes are true. The Loom, wrenched hugely by such an unexpected destiny, begins to crack and fail. Will this let in the Yozis at last, or will it merely grant humanity true free will? Or both? only you can decide... - Falcon