MelWong/SavantsTarot

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The Savant's Tarot

This deck was inspired by our present-day Tarot decks and the meanings assigned to many of the cards. As the regular Tarot has four suits it doesn't mesh well with Exalted, which is based on fives, so I took the liberty of working up a deck based on multiples of five, with five suits in the number and court cards.
Disclaimer: I am not a Tarot reader and this deck wasn't made for divination purposes, except for ingame events, so if you draw up your own deck and have a reading that says Yozis will eat your mother, please don't send hatemail.

The Greater, or Celestial, Arcana

The Greater Arcana are most used in divination. In one variant of the gambling game played with these cards, however, they are trump cards that allow the person who played them to win the trick regardless of the value of the suit cards played by other players. Many decks made in the Realm lack these cards altogether, considering them idolatrous and heretical, or are altered significantly to be aniconic and feature figures more pleasing to the Immaculates.

0: The Mortal

Description:
A sturdy young man garbed simply in the robes of a traveller or a postulant shades his eyes as he gazes into the sky. A cliff lies before him, and a road behind. He bears a heavy bundle upon his back and holds a walking staff in his other hand. Birds sing about his head and small creatures of the woodland watch his passing. In some other decks this card depicts a fool and is thus named; in others it is a blank trump and called Calibration.
Meaning:
As the zeroth card in the set, this card represents infinite possibilities and new beginnings. It is often used to represent the querent when a divination reading is done. The traveller's or postulant's robes represent the journey the seeker is embarking on; the staff and bundle the transformations their path can take. The cliff represents the potential danger ever-present in such journeys.

1: Sol Invictus

Description:
A beautiful man, four-armed and mighty, holds up a lance, a burnished shield, a laurel branch, and a horn. He is clad in shining bronze plate and his skin is the golden tone of dawn on the eastern sea. The sun's light radiates from him; he stands upon a chariot pulled by celestial lions. This card is sometimes called the Unconquered Sun or Helios.
Meaning:
This depiction of Sol Invictus in the tarot represents the male principle present in Creation and beyond, and the puissance of willpower and desire. When Sol Invictus appears, it is to reveal what is hidden by night with the light of the sun. Many readers interpret his appearance in a reading as telling the querent that what they are seeking in their heart of hearts will be made plain to them soon.

2: Luna

Description:
An androgynous figure, either a pretty boy or a handsome young woman, stands clad in pale diaphanous garments that do not reveal its gender clearly despite their translucency. It wears a breastplate of moonsilver and bears no weapons save its teeth and nails. Its eyes are clear and mad and its skin glows with the pure, chilly light of the full moon. This card has remained the most consistently named and depicted through the years by different artists in different decks.
Meaning:
Luna, the Silver Lord or Lady, is the card of instinctual and secret knowledge. What Luna knows may or may not be clear, as is hinted at by its androgynous nature. Patron of shapeshifters and the night, it sends the rays of the moon to illuminate their path. Luna's appearance in a reading often represents the illumination of what is otherwise unseen, and the revelation of arcane secrets.

3: Gaia

Description:
A motherly, fecund woman stands gowned in cloth of many colors. Her skin is the color of rich soil, her hair the color of ripe wheat, and her eyes glitter like gemstones. Shimmering fish leap in the oceans of her skirts and leaves rustle in her mantle. Flowers blossom at her feet and in her footsteps and she stands in a bower of vines adorned with ripening fruit.
Meaning:
Gaia, one of the mothers of Creation, represents the giving of earthly gifts. She is strongly identified with the creative impulse, be it the creation of art, business, or the generative impulse which gives rise to new birth. When Gaia is drawn, the card is often interpreted as a motherly force, capable of feeding an idea, caring for it, and then letting go of it when the time has come. Gaia is an auspicious card when drawn in readings concerning pregnancy and childbirth.

4: Mercury

Description:
A lithe, slender maiden on the cusp of womanhood stands aboard a gold-trimmed barque afloat in the sea. She holds a sealed scroll under one arm and a compass rose is blazoned on the visible palm of her free hand. She wears simple robes dyed with saffron and an anklet set with amber stones. Gulls dip their wings to her in the air and waves foam in her wake. In some decks this card is named either the Maiden of Journeys, or simply Travel.
Meaning:
When this card is drawn in a reading, it signifies travel, either spiritual, emotional or physical. In any case, the presence of Mercury tells the querent that they will often have to move with the forces driving them, or step out of where they are comfortable, to find what they seek. The Maiden of Journeys is an auspicious card when a reading concerns an actual physical journey.

5: Venus

Description:
A curvaceous, seductive maiden smiles as she reclines on a curtain-draped bed, facing the viewer of the card. Beside her someone lies somnolent on their side, back pressed against hers. The cerulean robes she wears hang off her shoulders as though undone for willing bedplay; her sash hangs empty off the edge of the bed. She clasps a lute to her side and a ring set with sapphires adorns her left hand. In some decks this card is named either the Maiden of Serenity, or Pleasure.
Meaning:
Despite the depiction on the card, Venus is concerned with more than just pleasure, sex and love. When Venus is drawn, it signifies that the querent will come across a person, career prospect or challenge that they cannot resist, as though drawn to it by Venus' touch. They will know instinctively the decision to have it or not may mean diverging from their current path in life for better or worse, but they may never be complete without it. The Maiden of Serenity is an auspicious card when a reading concerns match-making or marriage prospects.

6: Mars

Description:
A fierce, almost mannish young maiden stands tall in armor lacquered the red of fresh blood, her arm raised for spearcast. Her red-plumed helm lies cast aside at her sandaled feet, revealing her short-cropped red hair. Arrows bristle from the ground around her yet none have made their mark; she stands victorious and alone, a girdle of rubies about her loins. In other decks this card is sometimes named the Maiden of Battles, or sometimes War.
Meaning:
Mars is the fierce Maiden of Battles, and she is read to mean not only conflict for the querent, but the gains that may come from mastering one's self and marshalling one's forces. For example, Mars may signify either a very real battle next week for a mercenary, or the hard process of procuring the right marble for a commissioned monument in the case of a stonewright. In either case, there will be blood, sweat and tears, but the victory will be worth it. The Maiden of Battles is an auspicious card when a querent is seeking a reading regarding some kind of struggle they are facing.

7: Jupiter

Description:
A handsome maiden stands robed in various shades of green, a measuring rod held in her right hand, a key in her left. She wears a half-mask hiding the top half of her face. Her smile is mysterious and maddening, and her emerald eyes stare knowingly back at the viewer. A profusion of ivy frames the card and a collar of emeralds and green jade is clasped about her neck. This card is sometimes named the Maiden of Secrets, or Secrets.
Meaning:
Jupiter is the most mysterious of the Five Maidens, well she should be. Her presence in a reading signifies that the future that the querent is seeking should remain unknown until it has come to pass. Some more circumspect readers will end a reading once the Maiden of Secrets has appeared, seeing her hand in the warning thus given to not pry into what is not writ.

8: Saturn

Description:
A white-haired maiden stands silhouetted by the dancing flames of a funeral pyre, her expression sad and quiet. Wisps of smoke rise to curl about her head. She is robed in violet and black, and holds a slim, simple sword in one hand and a skull with a prayer strip affixed to it in the other. Uncut amethysts glitter at her ears and a pair of scissors and an hourglass hangs from her simple girdle. This card is named in other decks as the Maiden of Endings, or Death.
Meaning:
Saturn is often mistakenly the most-feared of the Five Maidens, which is unfortunate, for she portends a merciful and final ending as well as the rebirth that comes after such an end. And the ending may not be literal death itself; often the ending referred to may be the dissolution of a partnership that is no longer profitable, or the ending of a marriage that has become acrimonious. From such endings come the hope of renewal and better beginnings. Ultimately the Maiden of Endings is a card of transformation and hope. She is also an auspicious card when the querent seeks a reading upon funerary matters.

9: The Maker

Description:
The card depicts a one-eyed smith working at his forge, hammering at a half-formed daiklave. He is clad in a leather apron and his arms are bare. He stands in the darkness of evening, lit by the cherry-red lanterns of molten metal. In some decks this card is called the Smith or the Artificer; in ancient ones it is called Autochthon and bears only a mysterious one-eyed visage.
Meaning:
The Maker is a solitary smith, laboring away at his works even past the time of daylight. In a reading he represents the querent's livelihood and profession, and the slow gains that come from steady work. In this card is also a warning to not lose one's life in work, lest they be left at the anvil alone and in the encroaching darkness of night. Some artificers and battle-sorcerors who practice readings for themselves prefer to use The Maker to represent themselves as the querent.

10: The Deathlord

Description:
A cowled figure stands by a dying tree, its mask painted with a serene, but ultimately false visage. It wears layer upon layer of finery and a breastplate of soulsteel, but on closer examination the cloth of its robes is rotting and it leaves a trail of decay in its wake. Peeking out of its sleeve is what seems to be a pale, fair hand that is actually skeletal bone. In the First Age this card was named The Hekatonkhire, and usually depicted one of those fell things.
Meaning:
The Deathlord speaks of the past and how sometimes memories will not die, but like the figure on the card, gain power and glut themselves upon the living in the present. This card is often interpreted as a cautionary, that the querent has spent too much time trying to gain the glory of times past, and losing their own struggles in the present. The finery the Deathlord wears is ultimately false, and the seeker will have to abandon false pride and old notions to drive the ghosts of memory away from their present.

11: The Raksha

Description:
A barely-human, too-perfect figure sits surrounded by thralls, its garb fantastic and notional. The peacock plumes on its collar seem to shimmer and blink, and its feathered tresses and bird's feet seem robbed from the most beautiful birds in Creation and beyond. Jewels glitter about its neck and wrists and gossamer weapons lie at its sides. Some decks name this card the Fair One, or the Fair Folk.
Meaning:
The Raksha is, by its nature, a creature of fable and tale. Yet it is also a living story that can batten itself upon the souls of the living. This card represents lies to be told or untruths that have already become accepted as truth; the cautionary is not to be beguiled by the easy falsehoods and become enslaved to what is ultimately cold lumps of gossamer behind honeyed lips and brilliant plumage.

12: The Yozi

Description:
A black-skinned maiden sits upon a throne of brass and basalt. Her eyes glimmer like moonstones and her midnight hair is touched with hints of white. Filmy silver robes hang from her girlish form and a rat's tail peeks out the back of her robes. She bears a great silver ram's horn upon her knee and a captive lies at her feet, chained with white jade and soulsteel. Above her in what seems to be the main focus of the card, a nightmarish green sun is eclipsed by a dragon made of shadows.
Meaning:
If Venus represents the rightful enjoyments of life, The Yozi represents the unspoken and unspeakable impulses in every soul. Many interpret this card as to be a cautionary warning against indulging in one's gluttonous nature lest one become chained to one's vices as the captive is chained to the demon. There is, however, another side to this card, as those who are too restrained are also said to be under a form of enslavement. With this card the querent is warned of potential enslavement to virtue or vice, a form of slavery where the slave willingly puts the chain around his neck.

13: The Behemoth

Description:
A great strange brute all teeth and mane, glittering with scales and hooves and tufted tail. It leaves great scars in the ground where it treads and bellows with the force of a gale. It stands in a circle of self-made ruin, ancient trees gouged and broken, boulders smashed by its strength. Harmless swords and arrows stick out of its thick hide like the quills of a porcupine. This card is sometimes named The Beast.
Meaning:
This card represents the forces of nature and destiny, and sometimes, government, that cannot be averted or pushed aside. The Behemoth being drawn is interpreted as a great change or hardship coming the querent's way, that may not be fought or pushed aside, but only avoided. Yet, by yielding, the querent may yet win a victory of his own. Unlike Mars this card counsels the seeker not to stand and fight, but rather to bend with the forces about them and let the figurative creature bring itself down by its violence.

14: The Panoply

Description:
A sword, a breastplate, a crown, a seal of office and a girdle, all made of the Five Magical Materials, lies upon a table covered in silk brocade. In old decks this card would depict the panoply made only with Four Magical Materials, short soulsteel. Some specific decks show the articles made with only one kind of magical material, such as jade, or in some cases, soulsteel.
Meaning:
The Panoply represents a querent's finances and wealth, be it humble or vast. Implied in the card is also the promise of greater wealth. Many readers interpret the Panoply as to be a hint of the querent's fortunes increasing in the near future, either through unexpected gifting or through rightful work. The Panoply is generally quite an auspicious card in most drawings due to this aspect of wealth and increase; hidden is also the fact that the increases in prosperity will likely require new responsibilities.

15: The Demesne

Description:
A great geomantic cathedral rises from a cliffside. Essence-lightning rises from its spire and two figures duel in the background, surrounded by auras of gold and silver. Different decks will often depict different Manses, especially in cases where the deck is commissioned to glorify the holdings of a particular Exalted.
Meaning:
The Demesne is most often taken to represent a querent's home, wherever it may lie, and is usually read in conjunction with other cards. Taken on its own, it represents a homesteading, a house or a country, and the responsibilities one bears towards it. It is also something of a card of warning that one's love of home or country may drive them into conflict with others.

16: The Vizier

Description:
A gray-robed savant studies the constellations in the sky above, face turned away from the viewer, gender unknown or unclear. Spiders wrought in meteoric iron and precious gems spin iron webs about the edges of the card. In other decks this card is called the Advisor, the Savant or the Stargazer. In ancient First Age decks this card depicts the Sidereal Exalt, eyes full of brilliant stars.
Meaning:
The Vizier is anonymous and unknown, unremarkable and forgettable. Yet it speaks of the future, with clarity and insight. In most readings the Vizier is an auspicious card, albeit in a subtle way. Riches are not about to befall the querent, nor will they undergo any immediate or powerful change. However, they might leave the reading feeling reassured of their place in Destiny. In conjunction with the Raksha, the Yozi or the Deathlord, this card is a cautionary against hubris fuelled by hopes for the future or memories of the past. Not all divinations are accurate and this card is a warning thus.

17: The Steward

Description:
A comely woman with silver hair and bestial features stands reflected in a pool of water. The full face of Luna shines above her and beasts cavort in the background. She is clad in robes of white and accouterments of silver but her feet are bare. In some other decks this card is the Moon-Beast, depicting a beastman marked with swirling silver tattoos. In ancient decks this card is called The Lunar Exalt.
Meaning:
The Steward stands behind in a supporting role that is no less important than that of their master. This card represents many such individuals, such as the seneschal, the loyal journeyman, or the dutiful housewife, without whom great enterprises may never be done. This is also a card of feminine intuition. Unlike the meaning of Luna, however, this card represents knowledge sought by the querent and gained intuitively or in dreams, rather than being revealed to the querent by outside forces.

18: The Lawgiver

Description:
A teenage boy is clad in the gilded panoply of a true king, his dark hair held back with a filet of gold. He is mounted upon a magnificent charger in barding touched with gold. A sword is girt at his side. He bears a banner in one hand and a writ of proclamation in the other. The sun is ascendant above him and its rays illumine the entire card. In other decks this card depicts the Sun-Child. In ancient decks this card is called The Solar Exalt.
Meaning:
This card can be seen as an auspicious one, promising the querent glory, truth and success. It can also be taken to represent discovery made conscious, through knowledge and work, rather than the unconscious intuition of Luna or the Steward. This is a card of intellect and clarity of mind, and also of the promise of youth and vigor. When drawn in conjunction with Gaia, this card may signify that the child the querent is or will be expecting is a boy.

19: The Deathknight

Description:
A pallid but beautiful maiden garbed in black and carved bone stands above a horde of undead rising from a mass grave. A single ragged wing hangs from her shoulder trailing insubstantial banners of silk from its bleached bones. She grips the hilt of an enormous daiklave, a fount of blood dripping from both her clenched hands down the blade and flooding on the defiled earth. In ancient decks this card was oft-named the Nemessary.
Meaning:
This card represents he or she who toils in the favor of an ultimately false master. When this card is drawn it is a cautionary to the querent to at least think about who they are serving in the long run. Many take this card to represent how false beliefs can lead to downfall and eventually, spiritual slavery, but it may also be taken to indicate more mundane situations, such as that of the apprentice abused by a severe master, or the wife who is beaten unfairly by her husband.

20: Yu-Shan

Description:
A table set with boards and gaming pieces, improbably complex and carved from gems and the Magical Materials, is foremost. A delicate hand moves a piece in the board, its owner eclipsed by the edge of the card. Dreamstones, coins-of-quintessence, heavenly peaches and goblets of celestial wine surround the board of games. This card is framed by an elaborate doorway made of orichalcum, moonsilver, starmetal and jade.
Meaning:
This card depicts the abode of the gods, and similarly it is taken to symbolize spiritual matters or rewards. The appearance of Yu-Shan is taken by most readers to mean that the querent may need to be more assiduous in making offerings to the gods, and that the gods' blessings follow their worshippers. Some other readers prefer to take this card as a warning that becoming overly involved in spiritual or esoteric matters may eclipse important matters in the querent's life.

21: Malfeas

Description:
A chaotic city of basalt and tarnished brass stands in the middle of the card. Bells, and chimes hang from every roof and twisting filaments of roads connect towers to each other. Above are spears of light cast by an acid-green sun. The card is framed on the left by a tangle of roots, on the bottom by a tainted sea, and on the right by a neverending desert.
Meaning:
When Malfeas appears it is at once a reassurance of the natural order, and a warning of what is to come. What is coming is not what the querent would like, or what the querent fears. It is what they deserve - be it rewards for a good deed, or punishment for bad.. Readers warn querents that when Malfeas is drawn, they should mind their actions, sit and think about whether they have done things they regret in the past, and to make restitution for past wrongs.

22: The Wyld

Description:
This card depicts a twisting chaos of elements, air, wood, fire and water woven into an inescapable vortex. A jade prayer wheel turns in the eye of the impossible storm, and fanciful creatures mark each corner of the card.
Meaning:
The Wyld is a card of change, and sudden change at that. Nobody can predict whether one will find great wealth in the Wyld, or deadly hobgoblins; similarly, this card does not predict the nature of the change the querent is in for, only that they are in for some of it. A reader may view The Wyld in conjunction with other cards to try and refine the nature of the change predicted, but the Wyld is unreadable to those who study Destiny and the reader should be cautious.

23: Underworld

Description:
A barque of reeds and papyrus slides gracefully on a translucent, black-tinged river past a silent city of ancient jade and marble. Every inhabitant bears a death-mark or is the green of a Contagion-sufferer. A pall of constant darkness hangs in the sky, broken briefly by the strange and unwholesome twinkle that is the stars of the dead.
Meaning:
The Underworld represents stagnation untouched by the forces of death and change, far beyond the touch of the Maiden of Endings, who brings all things their ends. It is often read as a warning that the querent is clinging too strongly ego or old beliefs, and that they are living by rote and remembered passions, as ghosts do. The card urges the querent to change lest they be caught in an unending existence unleavened by change or relief.

24: Creation

Description:
This card is a drawing of the Blessed Isle, with Mount Meru featured prominently. It is framed by the four elements and the Inner Sea, and a compass rose is traced about the peak of the mountain. Other decks often feature different parts of Creation more local to the artist who drew it, or the person who commissioned it. Some ancient decks depict a Creation far greater than what is currently known to the cartographers.
Meaning:
Creation is a card of successful conclusion, of many things coming together to make something great. This is not the dissolution Saturn speaks of. Rather, this is the glorious masterwork, the triumph of someone's life and the climax of their journey in one. When Creation is drawn it usually is interpreted as the querent reaching the end of the journey they took as the Mortal, that Mercury sent them on.

The Lesser, or Terrestrial, Arcana

Decks made solely of the Lesser Arcana are by far the more commonly found in Creation. In the Immaculate-controlled parts of the Threshold and the Realm, such cards are often aniconic, differentiated by color-coded inks and High or Low Realm ideograms in place of the pips. In other parts of Creation the various Suits can be elaborate indeed, from the popular Southern decks featuring elementals of all stripes in the illustrations, to the eerie Underworld decks using the elements of the land of the dead.

Most of these decks are used for games of chance such as bakrat and Five Hands, as well as elaborate games of solitaire, but they may also be used for divination in conjunction with a set of Greater Arcana.

The Suit of Air

Description:
The Northern suit in the Lesser Arcana, the Suit of Air is traditionally depicted with rings, the symbols of Temperance as a major recurring motif. Sometimes, the rings are replaced by chakrams. Gusts of wind, clouds, and formations of ice also feature frequently in this Suit, as do the landscapes of the frozen North. As befits the suit's elemental and directional alignment, the Dragon is an elemental dragon of air, often said to be Mela. Figures touched elementally by Air feature both in the numbers and the Court cards. Whether those figures are Air-Aspected Dragonbloods, Northern raksha or air-elementals tends to depend on the deck in question.
Meaning:
The Suit of Air speaks of all that is mental, speech and word, thought and memory. It is associated with the virtue of Temperance and the Season of Air, and corresponds to the merchant and the artisan. It warns against speaking or thinking too much.

The Suit of Earth

Description:
The Suit of Earth is traditionally considered to be the central suit of the lesser acana, due to the central position of the Blessed Isle, the Elemental Pole of Earth. The symbol of this deck is the heart, seat of willpower and self and a reflection of one's nature. Great mountains, natural monuments and gem formations feature in the iconography of this suit. The landscapes it draws on are the pastoral views of the Blessed Isle's many villages and the might of Mout Meru. Some decks feature jokun and kri as the court figures, others, fanciful depictions of Mountain Folk. More traditional renderings depict Earth-Aspected Dragonbloods and crown the suit with Pasiap, the Dragon of Earth.
Meaning:
The Suit of Earth has correspondences with the querent's self and identity. It also corresponds to the power of one's will, the Season of Earth, the crowned and noble, and warns against obsessing over material wealth and comfort.

The Suit of Fire

Description:
The Suit of Fire is Southern in direction and features swords, the icons of Valor. Tongues of flame and pools of magma feature in the iconography of this suit alongside the harsh deserts of the far South. This suit's elemental Dragon is said to be a depiction of Hesiesh, and the figures in the number and Court cards are often Fire-aspected Dynasts, Southern raksha, or in the decks drawn by an artist of Gem, flame elementals such as garda birds.
Meaning:
The Suit of Fire corresponds to the querent's passions and ambitions. It represents the virtue of Valor and the Season of Fire. It is also taken to correspond with freemen or commoners, and warns against an excess of zeal.

The Suit of Water

Description:
The watery and endless West features prominently in the Suit of its directional and elemental alignment. Its symbol is the cup, which symbolizes, holds and catches the overflow of Compassion. Ships, great waves, springs and expanses of water feature in the iconography of this suit, as do Water-aspected Dragonbloods, Western raksha, or water elementals and Storm Mothers.
Meaning:
The Suit of Water corresponds with emotions and is often taken to represent the querent's loves. It is also taken to symbolize overwhelming feeling or sorrow. This suit also corresponds to the virtue of Compassion, the Season of Water, monks, priests and clergy, and warns against overindulgence.

The Suit of Wood

Description:
The Eastern suit of the lesser arcana, the Suit of Wood features staves or bowstaves, foci for the virtue of Conviction. In many depictions those staves are wooden, as per the suit's elemental alignment, and oftimes still-sprouting. Flowers, fruit and great trees are featured frequently in this suit, as are the dense forests of the East. Sextes Jylis is said to be depicted as the Dragon of this deck, along with servitors of Wood-aspected Dragonbloods, Eastern raksha or wood spiders and wood kings.
Meaning:
This Suit has strong correspondences to the querent's body and physical health, indicating that which is in the physical realm. It also corresponds to the Virtue of Conviction, the Season of Wood, the indentured laborer, thrall and slave, and warns against giving up in times of hardship.

The Numbered Cards

The Pole
Meaning:
The Pole of a given suit is the root force of said element, or the associations and correspondences the suit bears. Unlike the masculine force of Sol Invictus or the feminine forces of Gaia, the Pole is raw potential, lacking purpose and will. What is to be done with the potential the Elemental Pole represents is up to the querent himself, for good or will. This card may also represent the season or elemental direction its suit is associated with.

Twos
Meaning:
The Twos are related numerically to the position of Luna in the Greater Arcana, and numerically indicate a quality of duality. Intuition from their Major Arcana patron directs their focus. If Poles are undirected energy and potential, then the Twos indicate knowledge of which direction such potential should take.

Threes
Meaning:
Gaia casts a strong influence about the Threes of the various suits. As one is indivisible and two is a pair, the Threes reflect the two becoming three. Symbolically this card reflects offspring, or the result of the decision and potential reflected in the Pole and Two of the suit.

Fours
Meaning:
The Maidens as a whole cast their threads about this card in the Lesser Arcana, which signifies preservation and stability with regards to the suits of. Such lack of change can be the stasis of contentment, or it can mean that the querent has become trapped in a rut of their own creation and need to break free. The stillness of peaceful contemplation is well and fine, but the stillness of the grave is most inauspicious! This card is at once a marker of the status quo and a warning of what fate lies in wait for the indolent.

Fives
Meaning:
As the steel tempered by the Maker suffers under the hammer and in the forge, so does this card read for the querent. The Five of each suit speaks of the instability of molten ore, of breaking ice, of a bending bough. The querent is trapped by the inactivity or indolence warned about in the Four of a suit, and now suffers for it. However, the metal is heated so its impurities rise to the surface and are cast away as slag - so does the suffering this card portends mean that the querent will be a better person for the trial they've gone through.

Sixes
Meaning:
The Sixes indicate a giving and taking, compromise and exchange. Both the Deathlord and the Raksha cast their auspices about this member of the Lesser Arcana, which may seem inauspicious at first but speaks of the ancestor-worship that feeds the ghost in exchange for favors, and the gossamer wonders some mortals will willingly trade dreams for. This card represents the fragile equilibrium of such choices and trades, and the ease of with which such promises may be cast aside.

Sevens
Meaning:
The Yozi and the Behemoth cast an inauspicious light upon this card, presenting the querent with a loss of choice. The Seven speaks of a situation where the querent is not in control; where outside forces may force their hand. Still, the card counsels courage, for a querent who is circumspect may avoid being trampled underfoot, and a querent who is dilligent will eventually break the chain of his bondage.

Eights
Meaning:
The Demesne and Panoply cast their influences upon the Eight of each suit, cards portending frightening change and sudden transformations, all for the better. Such change may not be easy or the Panoply would never be needed, but as the Seven and Five of the Lesser Arcana warn, remaining unchanged may do more harm than sloughing off what's no longer needed.

Nines
Meaning:
The Vizier, Steward, Lawgiver and Deathknight cast their three-fold and one allegiances to the Nine of each suit. Nines are cards of completion, usually portending that the querent is at a point of looking back upon what they have done, earned, or gained. As the Deathknight implies, not all Nines are auspicious. Some things gained were unwanted, and some deeds reflected on are also regretted. In such cases the querent must remember that the past is immutable, and that many things cannot be undone - only learned from.

Tens
Meaning:
The five realms of Creation, Yu-Shan, the Wyld, the Underworld and Malfeas lend the Tens of each suit significant weight. If the Pole of each Suit was its raw elemental potential undirected or unfulfilled, the Ten speaks of the whole of that suit enfolded into one card. It is the ultimate auspicious or inauspicious meaning of each suit and its various associations.

The Court Cards

Courtier
Meaning:
The Courtiers are often depicted as young pages or functionaries bearing letters to the nobles they serve. In most interpretations, the Courtiers portend messages or summons concerning the elemental, directional or other association of the suit they belong to. In other readings, especially those pertaining to the home and family, the Courtiers often represent younger members of a family, usually small children.

General
Meaning:
The Generals have a great affinity for movement and change. Unlike the greater change represented in Mercury, however, the Generals are colored by the suits they belong to, and generally speak of small changes and travel, such as a visit to a temple portended by the General of Water. Some readings also interpret the Generals to be the older children or younger siblings of the querent.

Consort
Meaning:
The Consorts of each Suit represent creativity and creative forces. If the Empress' decrees are motivating forces, then the Consorts are the ones who enable such decrees to be passed down and made. The Generals enforce the decrees with their might, and the Courtiers read the proclamations. The Consort is also interpreted as the querent's spouse or lovers, depending on the cards it is drawn in conjunction with.

Empress
Meaning:
The Empress speaks of authority and dominion within the suits they are drawn from. In many readings they are interpreted to mean temporal power as opposed to the more spiritual kinds of power represented in the Greater Arcana. In readings about family matters, Empresses are often interpreted to refer to the head of a family; in readings concerning political matters they represent ruling monarchs.

Dragon
Meaning:
The Dragon is the beginning and ending of its suit, the zero point from which their element comes and returns to. Dragons in a reading tend to indicate motivations, new beginnings, or fresh starts. The Empress may signify temporal power, or a decree, but without the blessing of the Dragons, she would not be the Empress at all. Thus in more prosiac readings the Dragon is often interpreted to be an important linchpin in a reading, or to be an important spiritual authority wielding its power in the temporal realm.

• Back to [[[MelWong]]].

Comments

The Savant's Tarot is something I came up with as background/IC fluff for a character, TheGatesOfCreation/Burning Anise]], that kind of took on a life of its own. Basically, it's a Tarot deck based on fives as Exalted is, with arcana drawn from the setting itself. I see it being used in-game for gambling, like Tarocchi, or for divination. Or even for a game of solitaire played with the lesser arcana.
There will be meanings for each card for divination purposes, and quite likely illustrations later, but right now this is what I do have. [[[MelWong]]]

This is interesting, but wouldn't modern day tarot cards from the Realm or Realm controlled regions or even from the shogunate have the Lawgiver, Steward, and Vizier named different? ~ haku

I've actually noted so in the introduction to the decks, but I decided it's up to whoever wants to use this deck to change the cards in question, as I already have a hundred of them to work out (25 greater arcana, 75 lesser arcana) and it's going to be a lot of work. MelWong

My suggestion for those using Realm-decks would be to have The Lawgiver replaced by The Empress, The Vizier replaced by The Deliberative, and The Steward replaced by The Great House. Pictures may vary, but the symbolic representations are the same; Empress ruling, the Great Houses supporting, and the Deliberative advising. - FrivYeti