MoonSword/OurSaviorKejak

Queen of the Earth and Master of Heaven

"Why have you brought me here, Chejop? Answer me, I demand it!" his guest snapped.

The ancient Sidereal glanced back at the red-haired, red-robed Exalt. "Because I needed you gone but not dead," he replied simply, raising an eyebrow. "Why else would I kidnap the Scarlet Empress? For the ransom? All the jade in the Realm is meaningless in Yu-Shan, my dear Terrestrial." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Perhaps you mean why have I done any of this? That's not so simple an answer and a long one indeed but we've got quite some time." He smiled slightly. "I think I can take a few days to explain it. I've tended Creation so long now; I'm certain our underlings can handle it for a short period."

The scarlet beauty's angry glare answered him before her words did. "Fine. What is your grand scheme?" she spat poisonously. "You know just how bad an idea this is, Kejak. You helped me set up the government; you know it'll turn on itself without me to govern it."

Chejop Kejak chuckled. "Of course it will. That's the point. I need that disruption and chaos for what I'm planning. I'm not interested in you, not at the moment, anyway. You've played your part on Creation's stage for the moment, my dear Empress. Take a time to rest, perhaps read some of the books here," he offered, gesturing. "This may be a cage, but it is gilded in jade and gold."

"What plans?" the woman who called herself the Scarlet Empress asked, curious in spite of her resentment over his actions and desperate to find a way out of the trap he'd set.

"My plans," he replied simply, "to redeem and restore the Solar Exalted." At his companion's shocked look, he smiled and nodded. "Let me explain..."

Introduction

The architect of the Usurpation of the Solar Exalted was Chejop Kejak. Leader of the Bronze Faction, he laid the plans that led the Dragon-Blooded into open revolt against the Chosen of the Sun and helped usher in the rule of the Princes of the Earth. These facts are not in dispute by either side; the Bronze Faction hails him as its greatest hero, the Gold Faction as their ultimate opponent. To the Dragon-Blooded, he is their greatest patron within Creation; to the Solars, their greatest betrayer.

Everyone knows that. Chejop Kejak has cast his lot with the Bronze Faction, choosing the safest path. This is common knowledge.

Which is just how he wants it.

Origins

Basically, I read this thread over at the White Wolf Forums talking about the onrushing end of his life. I read of his struggle with the decision, the necessary sacrifice of the Solars that Creation might yet survive. I read of the inner heroism underlying the brutally ruthless manipulator. And then I read a post saying that he would die as he lived, a man fighting for a seemingly-noble cause only to be sadly, tragically mistaken.

This is, of course, completely in keeping with the Greek roots of Exalted. One of the greatest themes of Greek drama is hubris, where a man's own arrogance, either through its own work or the hand of the gods, strangles him and undoes the work of his life. Hubris is a valuable tool in the kit of any storyteller, Exalted or otherwise.

But something about that post offended me. Not personally. I bear the poster no ill-will; his post was both germane and logical. What it offended was my inner desire to see a hero struggle for his victory, take a dire chance, and finally change the world. I believe it was Edmund Burke who once said, "All it takes for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." I decided that I'd like to see Chejop Kejak do something. Something a little different. Something worthy of a good man struggling against horrific odds, worthy of an observer in the mold of Friedriche Nietzche... and worthy of a Sidereal master astrologer and manipulator, a visionary that made all Creation dance to his tune.

This is the result. It's not canon, of course. It directly contradicts canon in multiple places; if you put it and canon into the same room, they might explode. This is an alternate world, not so different from the one in the books on the surface. Under that surface, though, one man weaves a new destiny, calling for a new world that redeems and rebuilds the glories of the old... but one where the Exalted are aware of their own greatest foes... the dark beasts in their own mortal hearts.

Changes

Chejop came to a realization. The Bronze Faction was right; as they were, the Solars were incapable of rule and, indeed, needed to have their hands pried off the controls. The Gold Faction was right; the Solars, having the Mandate of Heaven and also being more tied to Creation as a whole than the others, were best fit to rule and quite possibly, the only ones who could. So, realizing these truths, he walked out of the deliberations, walked somewhere quiet, and sat down to think of how to reconcile them. Being the intellect he was and is, he found a way. When he did, he walked back into the loud, confrontational deliberations between the Sidereals on what to do and started laying his plans for the future, a better future. Those plans have yet to come to fruition.

The most basic difference is that outlined above, where Chejop Kejak comes to the conclusion that, for Creation to be saved, the Solars have to be broken, the cancer in them exposed and cut out, and then their shattered pieces mended into a new, better whole. His own arrogance and the faith in his judgement inspired by the Great Curse led him to believe that he could do it, that his vision would save Creation, regardless of the beliefs of his fellow Sidereals. Just as in the canon events, he guided the Usurpation, leading the Dragon-Blooded to revolt and smashing the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun. He built the Shogunate and later the Realm, advising the Scarlet Empress on the best way to do things. His manipulations led to the rise of Deathlords and the creation of the Abyssals, respectively the darkest ghosts of Solar folly and a twisted, black parody of the glory of the Solar Exalted.

The difference is that he was building the Shogunate and the Realm with an eye towards their fall. The Realm was designed to turn on itself when the Empress was removed, not as a check on the authority of its constituent parts but to engender chaos. The Jade Prison was made to fail, ultimately. The Deathlords (and, unintentionally, the Abyssals) were brought about to show just what depths the Solars had fallen to. All of this was to serve as an opportunity for the Solars to return to power... and a warning of just how dangerous they really were.

While not understanding the Great Curse itself, Chejop Kejak stumbled onto a method of defeating it: the Solars' own vigilance and the example to everyone of just how dangerous it really was, provided by himself. The sheer hubris and arrogance of the plan is breathtaking, a fact that is largely lost on Chejop Kejak himself (but not on those aware of it, such as the Maiden of Secrets or, after her disappearance, the Scarlet Empress). This very arrogance will serve as a warning to the power of the Great Curse, a warning that, along with the ones Chejop Kejak is knowingly providing, will be heeded by the Solars in the future.

The Time of Tumult is the work of one good man determined that the light shall never be extinguished again, to light that lantern in the darkness that will never go out. The Solar Exalted are to be that light. Chejop Kejak, in whatever reality, is a man consumed with the concept of "what evil good can be." This is his evil, his good. His dark means to a glorious end.

Now, will it all be nought or will the Exalted, all of them, grow to be the heroes they were born to be? Will the work of hero's direst villain, the villain's most implacable foe, be successful? Will the Great Curse strangle itself, victim to itself through the actions of one lone anti-hero, or will it have the last laugh at the hubris of a good man?

Comments

Neat, I like it. Mind if I put this over in Lore One?

 Sure, go ahead. - MoonSword