Heru/LawgiverAndProjectHistory
Lawgiver and his Project: A History
Back in the twilight millennium of the First Age their was a Twilight Solar Exalt by the name of the Honorable Everlasting Royal Unity, though most of the other Solars just took to calling him Lord Heru of Ardemi. He was not one of those Exalted who had seen combat in the Primordial War though his predecessor had, an Exalted who had died fighting in one of the Fair Folk Invasions. Heru had been born to mortals inhabiting one of the Threshold states near the Eastern Wyld Incursion Zone. For this reason Heru always felt a strong need to figure out the Fair Folk and end their threat to Creation forever.
In an interesting twist of fate, he was present at the battle that saw his previous incarnation dead. He was evacuating the town, as were all the other people, when the Lord Solar fell to a huge horde of Fair Folk and the behemoth they had brought with them. Since he was present at the battle the Exalted Essence of the fallen Solar immediately, without pause to go back to Yu-Shan, entered into him and gave him the Second Breath - Exalting him as one of the Solar Exalted. Despite being relatively new at the entire Exalted business, Heru was given enough boost in power to fight the Fair Folk invaders and defeat their mighty army and forces. In fact it was to his blades that the behemoth fell and to his magic that the capture of at least two of the Fair Folk Lords was accomplished.
As a Solar Exalted, despite his youth, it was he who led the mopping up operations done to remove the Fair Folk from the region - though it was considered a temporary measure only. It was also during this cleaning operation that Lord Heru brought before him one of the Fair Folk Lords that he had captured. Forcing him to swear powerful and binding oaths, Heru had the Fair Folk use his magic to forge a Cup, Ring, Staff and Sword Grace for him. As part of the bindings was the promise, which used a Charm to make sure it was untwistable or modifiable, that once created the Fair Folk would hand over ownership of the created Graces to Heru. Heru would use the existence of these Graces over the centuries (not until, of course, he managed to solve the riddle of the Solar castes) in order to learn a large number of highly powerful Fair Folk Charms.
After about a month or so of this, a message from the Deliberative arrived with a number of Terrestrials to respectfully escort him to the Blessed Isle and the White City of Meru. To honor what he did upon Exaltation he was granted possession of a three-dot Solar aspected Manse in the heart of the Twilight Diocese of Meru. In addition, he was also given a huge ten thousand acre estate in the southern mountainous region of the Blessed Isle. This location would provide him with many benefits in the times to come. The fact that he Exalted in the midst of battle, and even took over from where his predecessor had fallen, provided him with much fame and acclaim.
It would also provide him with various contacts and friendships that would come to be quite useful centuries later. One such group of contacts were various elementals and gods which had previously made great use of the lands he was given. Instead of requiring them to leave, as was his right, he instead negotiated a deal in which they would help him in exchange for the right to travel through his domain freely. Beyond the gods and elementals that he made friends with were the vast number of Solars and Lunar Exalted - including some very powerful and politically connected Solar Lords.
Centuries would pass as Lord Heru fell into his own and expanded his knowledge, ability and power considerably. He delved into the Three Circles of Sorcery and the Two Circles of Necromancy as well as the more mortal arts of Thaumaturgy. He would go on a path of spiritual understanding that would see his Essence constantly growing till he reached around the 8th dot.
It was during this time that he had come into his political own with the penning of The Great Truths of Solar Exaltation which declared that despite Caste differences all Solars were actually one and thus at higher levels one could remove that which made differences and unite as one. Though ridiculed in some circles, the huge 500 page tome was relatively quickly accepted amongst the elite savants of the day. His premise was soon proved to be true when he managed to create a grouping of Charms that made him, for all intents and purposes, a member of the Zenith Caste as well as the Twilight. This was replicated overtime until he could truly call himself a member of all five Solar Castes. Sadly, despite his meticulous work very few of the other Solars were able to gain enough spiritual understanding in order to replicate the results. A number of others did though proving that it wasn't a fluke, that given time any Solar could make himself a whole and not a part.
While he was gaining political and spiritual power he was also making plans for the establishment and construction of his special and unique home. The first stages of this was the development and production of one of the fabled Threefold Heart Generator, an operation that would take centuries before he managed to accomplish the goal to his satisfaction. But even then the generator was cumbersome, dangerous in the wrong hand and prone to problems if not adequately maintained by someone like him.
The second portion of his plan took over a year and it was the coming up with the plans and blueprints for exactly what he wanted. This would entail using some of the most advanced Charms imaginable to accelerate operations and to make it so that everything necessary was included - that nothing was forgotten or left out. The plans were looked over by various allied gods, elementals, Terrestrials, Sidereals and Lunars. Heru even had a few artisan demons and the Fair Folk lord he captured read over the data before he gave it his final approval.
The third portion of the operation was one of the most intense diplomatic affairs of his millennia long life. This was necessary for Lord Heru wished to use the natural rock and earth of the Elemental Pole of Earth itself for his construction. A process which he knew needed to be accomplished if he wanted to make the fortress-city go from a dream to reality. He visited some 375 of the 500 Solar Exalted as well as hundreds of Lunars and dozens of Sidereals trying to get them to approve of his plans when he brought it before the Deliberate. He even spoke to various mighty gods, like the God of Meru itself, Ameru.
The main point he used in his favor was the promise to use his own wealth to evacuate the region and store everything. He also said that he would do all the work and spend all the Essence to remove the terrain from the mountain. Afterward, he would use powerful magics to influence and get the element of earth and the Elemental Pole itself to regrow what had been taken away. What actually made it for most was that he gave them the full right, with a certain exception of making sure that the borders between Solar districts meshed together, to design what terrain format would replace the region removed. Though it would take over a week to accomplish all his plans, afterward the Solars would be able to say they lived in a district of the city that they had designed at their own will.
After over a year of traveling from domicile to domicile Lord Heru realized that he gathered all the support he was going to get. With this he went before the Deliberative and presented his proposal. He presented them the information that he would evacuate vast regions on one side of Mount Meru and then use mighty magics to cut the region from the mountain. One day after removing parts of the mountain another massive expenditure of magic would be used to repair the damage and bring the terrain back to what it was - except shaped to the desires of the Exalted masters. A day after that the structures and artificial emplacements would be brought back into the section and life would go on as if nothing happened. He would then take the part of the mountain he cut off and use it to construct his own special residence.
The debate and discussion in the Deliberate was not that fierce or that long for all the previous discussions he had had paved the way for a somewhat smooth time. It took about a month, which was relatively short, but his document was passed and he was given the right to do physically accomplish that which he had long planned. A week after the vote was approved he began evacuating the region of all people, constructs, structures and Essence-based infrastructure. He than did his massive workings of magic to accomplish the feat that had never before been accomplished by any being short of a Primordial, nor was it duplicated afterward. Vast terrain from the side of Mount Meru was carved out in the shape of an acorn and then turned upside down so that the flat surface was on top. Then magic was utilized to clean and replace the territory removed, using the plans created by the various Exalted Lords to recreate their lands and properties as they wished it to be.
After a day of rest after it was all accomplished, Lord Heru and his floating mountain began making for their private lands in the southern slope of the Blessed Isle. The floating mountain, kept afloat at this time by the workings of gods and elementals, put itself in a stationary position over a deep gorge where construction could begin on creating the necessary internal infrastructure. This construction would see the use of large armies of mortals, Terrestrials, demons, elementals, gods and even a few Fair Folk. One or two Sidereals would also provide assistance in terms of their Charms as would the few Lunars and Solars very close to Lord Heru. All in all construction would take over two centuries before Lord Heru declared that the Floating Citadel was exactly that which he had envisioned and thus it was now finished. (Construction of course continued, and probably always will, as the land inside the floating mountain allows for such expansions and redevelopments.)
