Lexicon/PurificationMark
Mark of Purification
Shataina, Singer of Sagas, Lady of Legends, tells the tale:
One of the few friends of the exiled Fair general, Lord Dreaming Steel, Lady Quicksilver Scribe was not merely a companion to him in his last days but also his student. Even the Exalted can learn from the Fae's wild, intuitive mastery of the arts, and Dreaming Steel in particular was, though primarily a general, a truly astonishing bard as well. His epic sagas of battle demonstrate a distinct flavour and quality -- and understanding of war itself -- that is rare and precious; his work is unsurpassed even by Exalted artists. Quicksilver Scribe herself considered him to be the only possible being who could teach her how to master the form of the battle-epic, and to the end of her days spoke of him as the only poet whose standard she thought she could never reach.
It was during this time, while studying with Dreaming Steel, that Quicksilver Scribe received her last visit from the outraged Lady Rage of Seraphs, who had held a grudge ever since Quicksilver Scribe gained the much-desired affections of Lady Vivid Rapture. Despite their mutual tutelage at the hands of Urala, Empress of Aesthetes, Rage of Seraphs refused to forgive -- unless Quicksilver Scribe aided her in developing the so-called Mark of Defilement.
Quicksilver Scribe, devoured by obsession and unwilling to give up her studies for even a moment, refused, and never spoke to Rage of Seraphs again. Their fellow student, the Enchantress of Nine Ice Swans, supposedly attempted to heal the breach, but their pride outlasted her persistence, which faded during her own descent into infatuation and madness.
When Rage of Seraphs developed the Mark of Defilement on her own, Quicksilver Scribe, however, lost no time in creating a tattoo -- in the shape of a rune that only she had the genius to translate -- which counteracted it perfectly, known as the Mark of Purification. Her most devoted student always contested that this was because she felt a great deal of guilt at allowing Rage of Seraphs to develop the deadly Mark in the first place. But Rage of Seraphs, in her turn, was quick to point out that the Weaver of Voices had been Defiled, and that Quicksilver Scribe only developed the Purifying Rune after she heard of the Weaver of Voices' predicament.
Rage of Seraphs attempted to have Quicksilver Scribe arraigned before the Deliberative for the crime of lesser demonic trafficking based on this coincidence, but Lady Cascading Solar Flare found the evidence insufficient, and gravely sanctioned Rage of Seraphs for bearing false witness. When Rage of Seraphs came back later with (contested) proof that the Mark of Purification had its roots in the illegal manipulation of Malfean energy, Cascading Solar Flare refused to hear her case.
The Purifying Rune was rumoured to have other uses, and it was thought that it might have terrifying efficacy if spoken, but Quicksilver Scribe never saw fit to divulge a proper pronunciation -- at least, not to anyone who recorded it.
References:
~ Shataina
See also Shataina's other Lexicon entries
