Caelene/Suaven

Bound in Webs of Discarded Fate

Much about the Chaos Seers of the Mountain Folk is unknown, even by the Jadeborne themselves. Some Jadeborne who have had to put down an elder Seer reported to the Conclave that, as death drew near, silvery strands of Essence wrapped around the body of the mad Enlightened one just before the body vanished. No Jadeborne not touched by the starry madness knows the reason for such disappearances, and the Seers rarely speak of them.

If pressed, a Seer will sometimes speak of beings known as the suaven, a name meaning fate-bound in Old Realm. These beings are said to be Chaos Seers that have fused with the Loom upon their deaths, joining the fibers of Creation and acting as guides for the visions of the Seers granted by the Charm Heart of Chaos. The total number of these beings is unknown, but there are rumors of caverns within the Imperial Mountain lined with statues of the suaven, each covered with a fine layer of silvery threads of Essence.

Seers sometimes pray to these semi-divine beings, seeking their blessings on their ventures. Each suaven grants a different blessing, depending on what they did in their life; to gain a blessing, one must sacrifice a particular item during the prayer. If the prayer roll succeeds, the character either decreases the target number or the difficulty of rolls tied to one of the Abilities attributed to the suaven (as per the Artful Prodigy or Blissful Idiot Blessings of Sidereal Astrology). This blessing lasts one month. The devotee can be under the blessing of more than one suaven – a number up to his Essence rating, in fact – but the difficulty of the prayer roll increased by one for each blessing already on the character.

For example, a Seer who is about to lead a force to do Fate’s will often pray to Favren, an Enlightened Warrior-turned-Seer that let his men to greatness (much to the chagrin of his Artisan general, who feared the Warrior’s charisma) before sacrificing his entire unit to allow the general’s rival to gain power in the Conclave. If the prayer succeeds, he gains one of the Blessings in either Archery or War for a month.

As one would expect, worship of the suaven is expressly forbidden by the Conclave; any shrines to the beings that are found are quickly destroyed and their owners are brought before the conclave for judgment. Details on the beings rarely leave the minds of the Chaos Seers, although it is said that a number of the Sidereals who tend the Ancient Academy on Meru have learned of them and study them. Some may even offer prayers to the beings, but those that do keep this fact from their fellows; the suaven are still relatively unknown, and their effect on the Loom has yet to be fully determined.

Known Suaven

Name: Favren (Archery, War)
Caste: Enlightened Warrior
Known for: His great tactical ability
Offering: An arrowhead carved from stone or crystal, charged with the devotee’s Essence and soaked in the blood of a Darkbrood

Name: Avendi (Awareness, Survival)
Caste: Enlightened Warrior
Known for: His ability to track nearly anything through the myriad tunnels under the Mountain
Offering: Cat’s eye gem set into the bone of a Darkbrood creature

Name: Rivana (Craft, Lore)
Caste: Enlightened Worker
Known for: Crafting artifacts that led her Exalted patrons to their destined Ends
Offering: A tool of some kind that has been used by the devotee for at least a month

Name: Rena (Medicine, Resistance)
Caste: Artisan
Known for: Treating young children of the Chosen, requesting favors in return that eventually caused huge changes her patient’s fate
Offering: A bandage worn by an injured child

Name: Harel (Presence, Socialize)
Caste: Artisan
Known for: Weaving tight-knit webs of allies and connections among his fellow Artisans that eventually led to their downfall
Offering: A spider web made from spun silver

Name: Tyan (Larceny, Stealth)
Caste: Enlightened Worker
Known for: Sneaking into the workshops of his ‘betters’ and slightly changing the designs to cause havoc when the devices were turned on
Offering: Metal cog broken in half

Name: Zhen (Martial Arts, Melee)
Caste: Enlightened Warrior
Known for: Clearing an entire spawning nest of Darkbrood by himself, unarmed and unarmored
Offering: A blood-soaked weapon

Name: Sabhya (Integrity, Investigation)
Caste: Artisan
Known for: Judge whose decisions became more erratic as his connection to the spiders grew
Offering: A list of the devotee’s crimes, both large and small