OhJames/PreviousAnnouncements

Archived Announcement things (aka I don't have the heart to delete stuff)

So... I'm about to run my first game of Exalted (!!!) and the characters are going to be entering Yu-Shan. As mortals. To steal some shards from good ol' Lytek. With the help of a demon-blooded son of Erembour and the god of thieves. But! I would like some input on how, exactly, the Bureau of Heaven would be structured. Physically, I mean. There would be a freaking ton of Celestial Lions and Lion Dogs, but the characters have a couple of trinkets to let them sneak past those.

Anyway: Ideas on where the Bureau of Heaven is located in Yu-Shan, what the building(s) look like, and where Lytek's office might be located. Anyone?

Said Ideas

See if you can get a map of The Forbidden City in Beijing. That's what I sort of picture it looking like. -Okensha

I'd picture a vast citadel constructed of a medley of towers and cathedrals of ever-increasing size toward its core. Their sides would be carved into vast dioramas and images of the Celestial Incarna, and between them bridges both mundane and magical (all quite spectacular in architecture, however) wind their way across meditation gardens, quiet sanctuaries and placid lakes filled with divine life. Undertunnels and discreet cloisters form another method of transport between the different branches, and few beyond the Maiden Of Secrets have documented them all.

Running down the length of the Bureau is an enormous and grand staircase, from which myriad passages spread either direction. At its summit is built the Jade Pleasure Dome, unbeholden to all but the most senior officials within the Bureau and affording brilliant views over Yu-Shan. Built beneath this structure, the Bureau Of Heaven is in the enviable location of the middle of Heaven itself.

Lytek's office is atop one of the uncountable towers. Inside, its surface, walls, and ceiling are entirely covered with occult apparatus, carved filing cabinets full of motes of something and other, less identifiable objects. Constructed in circular tiers leading downward from the grand doors that front it, an enormous globe of solid adamant is suspended from the ceiling over the entire affair. It refracts light oddly, and many half-seen, half-imagined images flitter through it when watched. The Celestial Essences are probably stored beneath a solid starmetal seal anchored into the lowermost floor...DeathBySurfeit