Lexicon/ManseBulwark

As described by The Stalwart Wasteland Prince in missive to Chejop Kejak:

O Great Master Kejak... I do not recall voicing any complaints when you made me dress as a woman to penetrate, er, ... penetrate... the Virgin Priestesses of Ahlat. I fail to summon to mind any instance of protestation when you commanded me to play the part of the corpse to smuggle my way into the Sijanese death cult - where, might I add, I was shown far more loving attention than any corpse should be. However, can this please be the last time I am sent underwater just to examine the ruins of a manse? I cannot express to you the things I had to do to buy my way out of the local Storm Mother's court. I need a bath.

As best could be gleaned from historical records of the time, as well as first-hand study of the Manse, the design of the central Manse of the Manse-Bulwark seems to have been one focused primarily on the defensive. Despite its great decay, certain structural features suggest that it was Air-Aspected. Moreover, despite historical records that say that the Manse provided flight capability to the islands, it seems that this was a redirection of its innate energies and properties, and that properly harnessed it was meant to have been a defensive manse.

Its most important feature at the time was its control over the various 'pieces' of the Zhang Zhe Way, allowing the owner of the Hearthstone (the Lunar exalt Frozen Expanse Heart, and head of security for the Namarath Principality) to control portions of the Way as desired. It was due to the destruction of the Manse that the Way collapsed, ending the Battle of Quickening Vines, and with it the Lace and Paper War (as well as bringing the Namarath Principality's capitol city crashing into the Western seas).

See Also:

• Zhang Zhe Way
• The Bitter Flower Empire
• The Namarath Principality
• Kravelt
• Lace and Paper War
• The Battle of Quickening Vines

• Other M Entries

-- Miedvied

Comments

The reference to the Manse-Bulwark in the Keep-Manse Reem entry explicitly states that the Manse-Bulwark was a system of multiple Manses, not a single Manse. - Quendalon

Fixing, because Miedvied told me he's too lazy to do it himself. It's unfortunate that he already wrote all of the links coming off this entry; I'm tempted to try to shuffle in another phantom link with a connection to the Manse-Bulwark so that someone else can address the system of Manses itself, but I can't think of any appropriate ones. So hey, if you're reading this and you see a good phantom that might help address the mysterious larger Manse-Bulwark system, that would be cool.
~ Shataina