Somori/ICCardDecks

The Decks of Exalted

We can't really use the four suit breakdown of the poker style playing cards or tarot decks in this world, 5 is far too important a number. So here's some decks that are based closely on the occult correspondances of various parts of Creation.

Both these decks can be produced along the same lines as Tarot decks in the real world. The core correspondances remain the same, but the deck may take a theme and present all of those correspondances through the lens of that theme. For example, a particular Dragon's Blessing deck focused on combat would use the weapon associated with each aspect to represent the numerical cards and print each of the three Godly cards with that weapon in hand. When it's used in cartomancy it would make divinations regarding it's theme slight easier.

Dragon's Blessing Deck

The Dragon's Blessing Deck is the best known. It is widely used across the Realm as a tool of gambling, from the lowest cocaine dens with their small waxed board to the most sophisticated Realm functionary's stiffened silk. The deck originated in the Usurpation as the Sidereals needed to distribute propaganda affirming the Dragon-blooded as the leaders of Creation. It was a modification of the earlier Worlds Knowledge Collected Deck (described below) which removed the Celestial beings as important to the workings of the world.

However, as a propaganda tool and a Bronze Faction wish of how the world work, it is incredibly inaccurate for divination. Cartomancers who are using this deck should have increase the difficulty of any Occult rolls they make using it by 1.

The deck is made of five suits, one for each element. Within each suit are eight cards, 5 numbered cards, the Censor, the Immaculate, the Dragon. The usual deck names each Immaculate, so that the cards are printed with Sextes Jylis instead of Immaculate of Wood for instance. The Censor and Dragon are known by their element only, although some decks through history have named the Censors.

The 5 numbered cards were first used to represent ranks within the element but this was found to make the deck completely unsuitable for detailed cartomancy. Decks produced in the late Shogunate and throughout the Imperial periods give those five cards minor elemental aspects. 1 for Air, 2 for Wood, 3 for Fire, 4 for Water, 5 for Earth. Thus the 2 of Fire became Fire and Wood. Where the major and minor aspects match, they are known as the True Card of that element. This quickly led to the addition of a hand in the game of Somori/DragonsGambit to specifically reference collecting the True Elemental cards. The cards are marked with both number and their Elemental aspects.

Worlds Knowledge Collected

The principle of "As above, so below" was well known in the First Age, so much so that Twilight scholars devised an accurate means of reading the world through the means of laying out cards. The deck was borrowed by others, less mystically inclined, and games created based on the arcane symbolism that was professed by those scholars.

The deck is split into two arcana, the Terrestrial Arcana (which was eventually used to form the Dragon's Blessing Deck) and the Celestial Arcana. The Terrestrial Arcana uses five numbered cards, a Censor and a Dragon in each element. 1 through 4 of the Elemental cards represent the various ranks of the spirit courts and 5 always represents a Terrestrial Exalted. The Celestial Arcana consists of 15 cards, one each for each Caste of the Solars, one each for each *original* caste of the Lunars and one each for each Maiden.

In the modern day, the deck is known as the True Order Deck and is widespread among those areas where the worship of the Dragon-blooded is unknown. It is mainly used for cartomancy, but still finds gamblers willing to use it.

Comments

I love it! I love it a lot. In fact, I love it enough to make card sheets for it. Be warned - they're full sized...