The Book Of Fire/Elder Exalted

Rama Khan, No Moon Elder

Exalting just after the Usurpation, Rama Khan was already a well-respected No Moon who had served his people well in all the ways of his caste, until the Contagion and the Fair Folk Invasion. While not averse to fighting, he saw his time and energy better spent helping those weaker than himself to survive that deadliest of times. At this, he was mostly successful. Entire tribes owe their continued existence to Rama, and remember him to this day. But in any war, there will always be sacrifices...

Among the many animal species wiped out by the Wyld, was the unique type of monkey that was Rama's own Spirit Shape. Since then, he has turned his considerable intellect, power and resources to one end: Recreation of this lost species. Some among the Silver Pact quietly whisper that grief-spawned madness has him in its grip; indeed, so focussed has he become on this goal, that he has carelessly let his standing among the Lunar Nation slip. Yet he cares not, so long as he attains his dream.

So far, it has eluded him. He has gathered all the surviving knowledge of First Age biomanipulation that he could locate, becoming possibly Creation's foremost authority on the subject in the process, and has a sizable stock of life to experiment on, yet nothing has worked. Despair was finally beginning to set in when he learned of the Solar's return. If he can get one or more of the Twilight Caste to work with him, he reasons, than restoration of his totem may no longer be a dream! But first he must find them, then convince them to aid him. He knows of the Copper Spiders' independent ways, and knows that that last feat may not be so easy...

He has claimed a mid-sized island on a large lake in the Southeast for his territory, over which he rules as a god-king. Although he maintains a Cult 3 rating, he mostly ignores the Barbarians living there, except for when he needs the occasional experimental subject. Those few who Exalt as Terrestrials are subjected to especially bizarre and painful experiments meant to increase the power of their bloodlines. Rama Khan has made extensive use of mundane selective breeding and Wyld Seeds, First Age biomagic, and spells such as Summon DemonThe_Book_Of_Fire/Elemental, Imbue Amalgam and The Spawning of Monsters, in every conceivable combination to alter and create the many varied and bizarre lifeforms on the island. Nearly every form of flora and fauna on the island has been altered by Rama Khan in some way, all to the purpose of mastering First Age Biogenesis techniques. He painstakingly tracks each and every mutation he produces in a huge tome, whose records go back centuries, and would be a treasure trove to any Second Age savant interested in Craft: Genesis techniques.

While many of the islands' creatures are bestial, some are sentient, and all fear and worship their creator (as few are alike, these are best represented by applying random mutations to the Barbarian template). One such is Galuda, an intelligent Godblooded giant flaming hawk that he bred from a summoned Garda Bird and a Matagalaptan Roc. Galuda serves as both Familiar and riding mount, and faithfully protects his master.

Rama Kan looks like an out-of-shape, middle-aged Western man. He has a jovial, if a bit distracted, manner, until the subject of his quest comes up; then, his speech and eyes are lit with an almost fanatical light that is both inspiring and terrifying to behold. His Spirit Shape is that of a 5 ft tall silver simian, of a type that no longer exists in Creation. He often uses this form when working in his workshop, as its longer reach, prehensile tail and articulate feet allow him to accomplish his work much faster. His Tell is a thick patch of silvery fur growing on his chest. He only assumes his Deadly Beastman Form rarely, and his liberal use of the Perfected Hybrid Interaction Knack makes it a truly horrifying blend of hooves, tentacles and feathers...

His Essence 7 allows him to have built up his Medicine, Occult, Lore and Craft (Genesis) up to 7. He has Terrestrial and Celestial Sorcery and has built a hidden Level 4 ManseThe_Book_Of_Fire/Factory Cathedral to Shogunate standards (with a Specialty in Craft: Genesis), which is where his work is done. Altho he specializes in biological matters, Rama is also an accomplished forger of Artifacts, possessing an entire panopoly of Moonsilver Artifacts, including his favorite, a Quicksilver Aegis Talisman. It is in this fashion that he most often meets other Lunars, who brave his freakish paradise to have him create or repair their wonders, which he can be persuaded to do far easier than most Lunar craftsmen, as he only ever asks for more "exotic ingredients" (ie, kidnapped people and creatures from various parts of Creation). He has a personal Artifact rating of at least 20. He has also mastered many Martial Arts styles, but lost the ability to perform his personal favorite, Celestial Monkey Style, when he became obsessed with his current quest...

Rama has currently fallen from his Ikth-Ya rank down to Uf-Ya status. He is guided by his driving Conviction (5), and so is victim to the Curse of the Hungry Wolverine.

Malaika, Ancient Full Moon

Malaika was Chosen by Luna well into the First Age, and, in her Bald Eagle Spirit Shape, she took to both the skies and her duties as warrior with equal delight. As she steadily rose thru the ranks of the Deliberative's Sky Guard, she gained great reknown as an innovator of aerial maneuvers designed to combat airborne invasions of Fae and Demons. Her greatest thrill besides that was leading the hunts for the Cloud Whales and other great flying beasts that populated the skies in those days, until she met HIM: A Solar of the Dawn caste, so at home in the sky his feet seldom touched the ground, magnificent whether astride his Skysled or Warbird, a rising officer in the Sky Guard. When he was assigned to her command, Malaika knew it would only be a matter of time before he took it from her; such was the unlimited skill of the Sun-Chosen that only a supremely gifted few, such as Leviathan, could hold a post above them for long.

They fought over protocols, over strategy, over priorities, and the fights were not always bloodless. It took a surprisingly long time for them both to come to the conclusion that everyone around them had long since reached: That they were perfect for each other, even though they were not each other's destined mates. Although they could not even agree on who first proposed to whom, still were they married, and their lovemaking was as aerial and passionate as their still-frequent fights. Thus did the centuries fly by...

Until, near the end of the First Age, the Solar Deliberative received word of a possible buildup of Fae forces in the Wyld. They ordered Malaika's husband to gather his forces to mount a preemptive, punitive strike in the Wyld. Of course, she wanted to come with him. He wished her to remain behind, to shore up the Realms' defenses should anything happen to him. They had their longest, bitterest fight over this, but in the end, she ceded to his wishes. Vowing to make it up to her, he took his Kireeki-class assault Skyreme into the Wyld to carry out his mission.

She never saw him again.

Shortly after that, the Usurpation occured. Malaika fought back against the upstart Terrestrials who dared to use her own Sky Guard weapons and tactics against her and those Solars she led, and she outflew and struck down many, but was eventually shot down by their vastly superior numbers. Before they could finish her off, she was found and spirited away by other Lunars who sadly informed her that the Realm was now lost to them. Malaika accompanied them to the edges of the Wyld where they planned to regroup, only to fall prey to its twisting grip as the rest of them did. As though lucid dreaming, she is still not sure how long she fluctuated, before the No Moons discovered how to fix her form with their tattoos.

Unlike many Lunars, Malaika never felt out of place in the Old Realm's civilization, and so she still resents the Dragon-Blooded for forcing her into a more primal lifestyle. In the eons since, she has claimed many Demesnes on mountaintops and other high places, and often rules the territory above the ground area ruled by other Lunars. Many young Lunars (esp. of flight-worthy Totems) seek out Malaika's patronage, for not only does she enjoy sharing her knowledge of First Age ways and sponsoring adventurous Packs, but she also delights in personally training them in airborne manuevers and leading them on hunts.

Malaika never understood why the slain Solars of her time did not simply reincarnate. Still, her husband was not among those slain, so she closely watches the Bordermarches, and not just for signs of Fae incursion...

Malaika, in her true form, is a tall, Southern woman well-past her best years, altho still handsome. Of course, with her Lunar Knacks, it is child's play for her to regain her youthful good looks, when she cares to do so. Her Tell is a headful of white eagle's feathers. In Deadly Beastman Form, she becomes a 7-ft tall fully feathered eagle woman with taloned hands and feet and large wings growing from her back. Her mouth is replaced by a piercing beak and she often uses Voice of the Night Bird to emit a damaging shriek in fly-by attacks.

Malaika still considers herself a First Age officer, now fighting a guerilla war against insurgents. As such, she has no problem with using the most advanced combat methods she can find, and is always on the lookout for reliable Artifact weapons, esp. those that can be used in airborne combat. Although dangerous in all forms of combat, she is absolutely lethal at Ranged combat, having mastered all such charms and developed many charms and combos of her own. Malaika has huge stockpiles of every mundane and Artifact throwing and archery weapon there is. She also possesses many Hearthstones from the many Aeryie Manses she has had constructed, although she often lends these to younger Lunars to aid their missions for her.

The Packs that she sponsors are held to a strict military discipline. While often allowed to adventure on their own, they are available for recall at a moment's notice, and will respond immediately to her summons. In payment for her training, they often bring her lost and damaged First Age flying vehicles that they discover as tribute, which she is quite skilled at repairing. She also commands the respect of many other flying entities, from elementals to god-blooded animals, who may supplement her forces if called to do so. Malaika has the Reputation of an Ikth-Ya. Her Valor drives her and she is subject to the Curse of the Lone Wolf.

Salmissra, Ancient Changing Moon

The snake-totemed Salmissra was originally a Waxing Moon working with the Swords of Luna. Many of whom questioned her dedication to their cause, if not her very sanity, as she seemed to actually enjoy traveling through the Border and Middle Marches of the Wyld purely for its own sake. Yet none could gainsay her success at acting as Creation's diplomat and ambassador, learning the ways of both the Wyld and Raksha, and figuring out the best ways of defeating them without fighting, often tricking them into oaths. And if she was a little Wyld-addled, well, all genius is a little eccentric, right?

At first, Salmissra barely noticed the Usurpation. Few Solars stayed in her chosen playground long enough for her to discover her Solar mate, which was how she preferred it. When more Lunars came crowding into her space, her initial annoyance soon became pleasure, as those who had scorned her now had desperate need of her expertise.

But like so many other Lunars, she soon realized that something was horribly wrong. Surprisingly, she was not the first to begin to go Chimera; in fact, it was her familiarity with the Wyld that enabled the No Moons to prevent others from warping, and bought time to stabilize the Castes, although her original was lost forever. Although she hated having her beautiful true forms branded with Moonsilver Tattooes, Salmissra could not deny their usefulness. Finally, she was free to explore the deepest, furthest regions of the Wyld without fear (of mutation, at least)! And she did just that, leaving the fledging Silver Pact to develop without her.

She has been seen infrequently in Creation since, like an eccentric old aunt, bringing strange treasures and stranger tales from the Wyld. Sometimes, she even leads Creation-born lost within safely back by ways only she knows. She has probably traveled more of the Wyld than any creature from Creation and even many born to the Wyld itself. She has been to the secret home of the Flame Gryphons and hunted unicorns; swam oceans of fire and danced among boulders spinning thru the air. She has made love to the Unshaped and seduced a Fae Prince, who reached into her heart and pulled out the part of her soul that housed her Compassion, and forged it into a magic flute that she could engage in Cup Shaping play with him. When he displeased her, she evicted him from his Freehold, which she then took as her own...

Many of the Silver Pact Elders are worried about how increasingly alien a creature Salmissra is becoming. They are especially alarmed at hints that she may be experimenting with creating Wyld societies that could have no use in Creation. And yet, they cannot deny that she is more useful to them now than ever before. Whether this will remain the case remains to be seen...

When she cares about being recognized, Salmissra often appears as a young-looking Western woman wearing a revealing sari of some improbable material. But she rarely cares about making such an impression, and so literally anything is possible...Her Spirit Shape is that of The King Cobra, and she uses Mountainous Spirit Expression to enlarge this form to truly gargantuan proportions. As a result of an Oath she swore to with a Fae Court, she has also gained the Feathers mutation (perhaps to cover up those unsightly Tattoos), which manifest as brilliant, rainbow-hued plumage, granting her a small Soak boost. Salmissra's Compassion Virtue has been crafted into a Cup Grace and then forged into a Glamour Spell of the Desire Circle. Taking the form of a Moonsilver flute, playing upon it gives her access to effects of Raksha Addiction and World-Shaping Charms, both in the Wyld and in Creation. This has not affected her Compassion-based Limit Break, the Curse of the Mother Hen, at all.

Finally, like most Lunar Elders, Salmissra is a force to be reckoned with. Her knowledge and mastery of the Wyld (and of those Charms dealing with it) are second to none, and she also has an impressive amount of sorcery and martial arts mastery to draw upon (preferring Snake, Silver-Voiced Nightingale and Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Styles). But perhaps her greatest asset is her extraordinary beauty and grace; she has lost none of the social skill her lost caste was renown for, and will not hesitate to use those wiles for the Silver Pacts' purposes or her own...

Bilis the Underhanded, the Last Half Moon

Bilis, a First Age Half Moon with the Spirit Shape of the Fox, was always a controversial figure. Ironically, one of the least-trusted of Luna's Chosen has done the most for his people. The Silver Pact would doubtlessly honor his memory more if only they knew he still existed...

A member of the Winding Path, Bilis was one of the few Lunars who saw the Usurpation coming. But he also saw quite clearly just how far the Solars had fallen, and so he did nothing and warned no one. Also unlike most Lunars, he did not set out for the Wyld, but was prepared when the chaos hit, and instead sneaked into Yu-Shan, where it was child's play to hunt down the god responsible for the species of fox that Bilis had for a totem, and take his form and destiny. Bilis has not set foot in Creation since then.

A Bureaucracy as extensive and complex as Heaven's is simply another jungle to a social predator like Bilbis, and his Caste talents and deceptive nature served him well in mastering it over the centuries. Of course, he was discovered, but by then he had already ensconced himself in the system so deeply, and was owed so many favors, that openly moving against him would only cause havoc in Heaven. The odd Sidereal assassin (usually on punishment duty for some embarrassing failure) sent to kill him he regards as merely exercise. So far, only the Bronze Faction Inner Circle and the Bureau Heads are aware of his true identity, but as long as they believe he is only interested in saving his own hide, they don't try too hard to remove him.

Of course, Bilis is interested in more than that. Unknown to Yu-Shan, it was he who first leaked the information to the Silver Pact about how the Sidereals were using the Loom of Fate to track them. It was also he who subtly convinced a few Sidereals that perhaps the Lunars were the key to a greater future, thereby inspiring the so-called Silver Faction. In addition, he spends his spare time exploring the vast continent city, often in disguise as a menial spirit or elemental, and knows more of the Secret City than perhaps any other being.

Bilis knows of the Thousand Stream River, and considers enacting his own project within Heaven itself, perhaps among the Elemental underclass or within the disenfranchised in the ghettos. He has yet to meet a tattooed Lunar, and would probably be saddened at the current state of the Silver Nation. One of his greatest regrets is that his service to them must go unrecognized, and so he has no Reputation or renown among them. He does confess to some curiosity as to what will become of his successor: Since he personally never underwent Wyld warping, is his Essence still unchanged?

Led by his Temperance, Bilis suffers the Curse of the Drunken Monkey. He has learned to be wary when Luna is winning the Games of Divinity, and usually manages to get himself to his patron's Hunting Grounds to indulge in his Limit Breaks.

Gunnar the General, Full Moon Elder

Gunnar the General was one of the great War-makers of the First Age, although most of Creation remained blissfully unaware of his guardianship of Reality from the Horrors Beyond. He was fully in favor of Operation Wyldhand, and fought valiantly in it. He spent most of his time since the Usurpation raising an enormous army in the far North to retake the Realm, only to be blindsided in his focus on the Terrestrials, by the Contagion and the Fair Folk invasion, which decimated his legions. Now, his armies begin to reach their former levels once more, but he will not be taken by surprise again...

Gunnar, who normally stays in his enormous Polar Bear Spirit Shape, has sired no Beastmen of his own, although he has adopted a tribe of Leopard Seal Beastmen to his cause. He has given up hope for Mankind, and intends to replace Man with a prototype species of lightly furred humanoids that the Primordials abandoned in the far North. Gunnar has spent much time civilizing, training and arming them, and their numbers swell each year. These New Men, as he calls them, are accompanied in battle by packs of Horned Snow Hunters and Demitaurs, and their elite troops ride Great Terrors. Also, their territories are guarded by hidden Snow Lions. All of these beasts have been tamed and trained to serve them by Gunnar himself, making extensive use of the Commanding the Beasts spell.

The General claims as his territory a wide swath of the land where the Far North fades away near the Elemental Pole of Air. This territory is watched over with every Boundary Charm he has learned, and he is virtually indestructible within it. He has only recently awoken from his latest use of Bear Sleep Technique, and is pleased at how his New Men have developed in his absence. He knows of the Deathlords, and wonders at the wisdom of personally razing their citadels to the ground. Perhaps an alliance with the admirable Bull of the North would aid him considerably...

In combat, Gunnar prefers the straightforward approach of simply becoming a giant Polar Bear, Soaking everything and savaging the enemy with his Fury; his troops are well-trained enough not to need his constant direction, especially if they are being led by his second, a Sabretooth Tiger Totem Changing Moon whom he has been mentoring. The General, guided by his Valor, suffers the Curse of the Raging Bull.

Master Sonson, Elder Changing Moon

Lunar Exalts have always served with distinction as Grandmasters of the Martial Arts community. Among them is the current Eastern Grandmaster, Sonson. Exalted at the end of the 1st Age, she was one of the most promising students of Lilith. Unlike her former master, she has honed her skills since the Usurpation, and she is eager to learn if she has finally surpassed her. Sonson has taken a broader interpretation of the Thousand Stream River: Why focus on shaping one society, when one can mold an influential subculture that spans ALL societies? And so, the Eastern Martial Arts World is Sonson's project, one which she subtly infuses with the honor, pride and virtues of the Silver Pact. She keeps her Exalted nature secret, and has actually served as every Grandmaster for the last thousand years: Whoever progresses far enough to earn a challenging match with her latest form, is allowed to win, then consumed for their form shortly afterwards, in which she continues her important work.

Sonson has had many Lunar and Godly students, and will even teach Terrestrials and mortals if they are promising enough (and can be influenced towards her goals). Her most famous student is the Crow-Totem No Moon swordsmith called Dreadwing, whose own Thousand River Stream project mirrors hers, although on a much smaller basis.

Although her work was bearing fruit, Sonson was starting to get bored...until the Solars returned. Now, she eagerly awaits for any news of them attending any tournaments, and wonders what she will do if called upon to train one. She also awaits the inevitable appearance of her former mate, who was one of the mightiest of Lawgiver martial artists, a Twilight who considered the martial arts among the greatest of sciences. However, she has also heard disturbing rumors of one of a highly skilled Deathlord, who sounds suspiciously like her lost lover...

Sonson has developed Lunar Hero Style to an astonishing degree, adding more Charms to it than any other Lunar. Used in tandem with Shapeshifting Knacks, this makes her one of the most unpredicatable fighters in Creation. She has also mastered as much as she can of Solar, Terrestrial and Sidereal Hero Styles, and is most eager to see if these new Abyssal Exalts have similar techniques.