Haku/Dust Setting
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
~ T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) - The Waste Land (1922)
Contents
The Setting
Below are what is commonly known and held to be true by the ordinary people of the civilized worlds, mainly the Realm and where it has influence, but those outside of it may share some of its point of view.
Regarding Heaven and the Celestial Incarna, there are a few marked differences. One of which is that the Unconquered Sun is female and called Sol. I will post more information in the History settion as well as in the Character Generation Sections.
~ Haku
The Realm
The Realm is the heart of Creation, and has been ever since the Scarlet Empress threw back the fae invasion and subdue those who would carve up all of Creation with the remanants of the Dragonblooded Shogunate Legions.
Rather then simply invading the nations and states on the coasts of the Inner Sea, an act that would surely have resulted in everyone resisting the Realm's military. The Scarlet Empress extended a helping hand to those in need; helping them rebuild their infrastructure from the devastations of the Contagion, the fae invasion and the destruction left behind by the Seven Tigers Warlords.
With care and deliberate long term political maneuvering (some might claim), those given aid agreed that the Realm's help was an act of mercy that could never be repaid and that military attachments loaned to them was truly invaluable for protection. Before anyone knew, those states who had been so generously aided by the Realm were client nations, who've ended up senting tribute and payment for the air given to them and the military stationed near them, as well as the freely given advice from Dragonblooded satraps.
Some would claim that the Exalted of the Realm had to have used some sort of charms or sorcery to get those heads of the tributary states to cave into their needs and demands. However, those claims rings hollow when one of the tributary states call for help against something that they can not handle. Be it barbarians, the occasional anathema, insane sorcerers, ghosts, demons and spirits, the Realm was there to help out. And after the fighting is done? They HELP repair the damaged cities / villages, homes and shops of those who got caught in the crossfire, rebuilding destroyed or damaged buildings.
The Scarlet Dynasty admit that they rule the largest empire in all of Creation, and thus they reserve the right to be called Princes of Creation, on the down side, they also acknowledge that they have a DUTY to those who they rule, and those who call them their patrons. Individual exalts take their duties, responsibilities and rights to different degrees. And they will admit that while exalted, they do possess human follies, else they would not be human. They will admit that there is corruption in their ranks and that they do try their best to keep their house clean.
There are a number of beings and nations out there who hate the Realm, and that's also fine by the exalted of the Realm. As long as they don't pay the Realm or any of their protectorates a visit and cause trouble, the Dynasts couldn't care less.
The tributes extracted by the Realm during the Scarlet Empress' reign was reasonable, and could be negociated if the state was facing hard times. However, since the empress' disappearance five years ago, the tribute levied by the Realm have risen steeply, as the Great Houses gird themselves for civil war. The Realm legions have also mostly being called home and reassigned and then very rarely redeployed back out into the threshold and to client nations that the various Great Houses have... 'claimed'.
This has led to tension amongst the tributaries as they now feel that the heirs of the Scarlet Empress may, very well, bring down both the Realm as well as their various nations, in their quest for power.
Solar Exalted and Anathema
Solar anathema are fearsome beings who stride out of ancient tales. Once they were the golden children of Sol, the maiden of light. That was before their fall, when certain members of the solar exalted gave into the brandishment and temptations of the Yozi Princes and gained unspeakable powers.
Once, they were loyal footsoldiers and members of the Shogunate, but after their corruption, they rose as demonic agents who tore apart the armies of Solar exalted who stood firm and loyal to their elemental powered masters.
It was perhaps, the deadliest of wars since the imprisonment of the Yozi princes, as the Anathema fought the righteous exalted of the Shogunate. But in the end, their dark and tainted powers failed against the elemental fury of the dragons and the golden might of the mice of the sun.
Once victorious, the exalts realized that they had a problem on their hand, for the tainted corpses of the anathema would not burn in natural or magical fires, the very earth rejected their flesh. And the spirits of the dead anathema taunted them, stating that they would return in new bodies. Creation itself was littered with the devastation of the aftermath of the war
The dragonblooded host entreated their forebears, the five immaculate dragons, who descended from the Heavens above. Hesiash incerated the dead anathema, Daana'd incarcerated the spirits of the anathema in a mighty jade cage that Pasiap crafted. Sextes Jylis walked all ove Creation, righting nature. Mela gave unto the Dragonblooded host potent arts of war, so that should any other exalts fall to the temptations of the Yozi, they would be able to slay them swiftly and righteously. To the surviving golden children, Mela taught them discipline and ways of seeking enlightenment with martial arts.
Before the rise of the anathema, Sol did still dallied with the mortals of creation as well as with exceptional exalted, gifting the world with more of her golden children. However, her disappointment at her children knew no bounds, and the golden maiden turned her face away from her mortal lovers and no more would there be solar exalted who could claim to be her direct children.
There were dark and vile Anathema who knew that they could not win against the righteous forces of the Shogunate and thus they fled to the far borders of Creation and hid in the far reaches of the insane Wyld.
To this very day, these few fallen exalted still work their wiles against Creation. The current Realm has a swift reaction taskforce of Dragonblooded and elite soldiers to deal with these corrupt and foul beings. They are equipped with potent artifacts and trained by the Immaculate Order to levels of fighting beyond mortal and exalted comprehension.
This Wyld Hunt does not solely deal with solar anathema, for there are other enemies of the Realm and Creation out there; such as the Fair Folk who go over the line, rogue spirits who defy the august laws of Heaven and Creation, and demons who have escaped their sorcerer master.
These heroes of the Realm are also called out if their fellow exalts ( such as Lunars and elder renegade Dragonblooded outcastes) cause trouble and can not be driven off or subdued by the local law enforcers and military. This typically only occurs in tributary states and in the Realm itself.
The Silver Pact
Out in the far reaches of Creation, lies the Silver Pact, and the Lunars who claim membership in that august society. It is an exclusive group, for the only way to be in it is to be a Lunar. The Childe of the Moon God venerate their god in the wilderness, and are a vague rumour to terrify little children. They are seldom seen, but their actions tend to have huge repercussions, as entire tribes of beastmen consider their various lunar progenitors to be living gods and eternal guides to a proper way of living.
It is known that Lunars, when newly chosen, do not possess the moonsilver tattoos that are typically seen by those who’ve been taken in by their elders and taught the mysteries of the Silver Pact and of their duties as the Childe of Luna. It is not known what these duties are as the Lunars that are encountered in the various cities will not speak of them.
What is known is that Lunars are very long-lived and that they all have individual goals and hobbies to while away their time when not doing the mysterious tasks laid upon them by their elders. These elder Lunars have been alive for millennia, and can still remember the glories of the First Age. It is also a well known fact that the entire Halta civilization is the result of a pair of Lunars meddling in human society in the aftermath of the Fair Folk invasion after the Contagion that claimed close to 90% of all human life. It is unknown what the effect the Contagion had on the environment, but it is known that there are entire species that are no longer alive in Creation.
Shadow Lands
Shadowlands are places where there have been massive deaths. To the degree that, the barriers between Creation and the Underworld are... thin. Where the dead may return to Creation, and where the living may venture forth into the dark realm beyond life.
There are powers, dark powers that dwell in that domain... one of which has established enough of a hold in the utter West that it rules a nation caught between life and death.
These Deathlords are mysterious beings of unspeakable powers... the Dragonblooded heroes who ventured against the one known as the Silver Prince died terrible deaths, and it is said that they suffer still, that death brought no relief to them.
The West
As the West is a massive ocean, there are alot of nations who dwell on tiny islands and whose living depends entirely on the bounty of the Ocean... and piracy is a common everyday fact of life. It is said that the wyld and fair folk of the west seeks to wash away all of Creation, and thus there are also witches who travel amongst the islands, stabilizing the land, so that the west is not lost to the oceans of the Wyld.
The Realm pays attention to the needs of these witches, giving them aid when they truly need it, for they too are protected by the savants who sail the edge of Creation and the utter Wyld.
There are fleets of pirates that roam the western oceans, beholden to the various nations who are willing to give them letters of marque and reprisals, and then there are the Lintha as well as Eos and Ossissa
The Lintha family are one of the most feared and hated groups of pirates, slavers and ravagers to sail the oceans of Creation. Brazen and cruel, they are without a doubt truly descended from the Yozi; their leaders certainly believe and claim so; weather there is truth to be found in that statement, is up to those who've heard of them and possess the luck and fate to never encounter them on the open seas.
Eos and Ossissa are simply known as the pirates.and widely feared for their powerful fleet with dragonblooded captains and outcaste solar officers serving alongside them. There is also the small matter of their hiding in the wyld regions of the West, sallying forth from the wyld to strike at Guild merchant fleets with what appears to be utter inpunity and style. No one questions who 'the pirates' are, when a ship limps into port with empty holds and blood-splattered decks.
The North
To the North is a wild frozen tundra, where life is harsh and cold... and only barbarians and the fair folk seem study enough to enjoy the quality of life to be found there.
Lately, the northern nations beholden to the Realm have cried for aid against a terrible barbarian horde being forged together by a terrible barbarian chief. Even with the threat of a civil war looming in the Realm, the legions of House Tepet are mustering to give succour to those northern tributaries.
The East
The eastern threshold... is as it is... as it always has been, where a thousand petty kingdoms duke for power and position, and the whore of the three rivers, Nexus stands to make a profit from it all. Lookshy, is a bastion of power, with its own dragonblooded that sells the bodies and services of their elite warriors as mercenaries.
Perhaps, if the Realm had invaded in a military manner, it would have solidified the eastern threshold into a grand alliance. Such an alliance could have withstood the mighty Arczeckh barbarian hordes that sweep throught that region in the past.
Were it not for the actions of the Lookshy military armed with potent Shogunate weapons and artifacts, and a number of young Lunar heroes, it is possible that a large area of the eastern threshold would have fallen to these barbarians. The Realm legions protected those cities and nations that were tribute states of the Realm or agreed to be such in their time of need.
The city of Great-forks is of interesting note, for it is there that the very gods have taken form and ruled over their mortal subjects. It is said that it truly is one of the most religious cities in all of Creation... for where else, would you find so many temples and places of worship? Where beings of power walk the streets, clothed in their divine flesh made manifest?
There are city-states of note that pay tribute to the Realm, and then there are Thorns and Greyfalls, a pair of cities that have done more then paid homage to the Realm, these two cities have petitioned and successfully joined the Realm, despite not being on the Blessed Isle.
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