The Ghost/Iskandar

Iskandar is a first age city, lost to the contagion and the fair folk invasion over 700 years ago. It is now coming back to life under the aegis of The Patron who wields the power of the Five Signs of Harmonic Unity.

Iskandar

Iskandar Is comprised of a large area surounded by a circular wall. At the edge of that wall are twelve triangualr towers which contain the major military resources of the city. Of these towers eight have been fully excavated, and the nineth is being examined and the sand removed even now.

Within the city is organized into four quarters but only two of them are even partialy excavated, the two on the eastern side of the city, and even there many buildings stil lslowly seep sand into the streets out of cracked window paines and door seems. The buildings of Iskandar tend to a certain egyptian flare or perhaps it would be better to say pre-arabic since they are after all by and large the product of the low first age. The buildings are built of a quasi imperishible ceramic that resembles adobe, with the most signifigant having windows of Charoscuro Glass and doors made of either that same substance or Stainless Steel. Buildings are generaly between six and ten stories high with essence powered air conditioning and elivators both of which the Patron must personaly repair before the building becomes usable again.

Unlike many old realm cities Iskandar is laid out on a grid, instead of in a radial pattern. This gives a geomantic bonus to the people who live there: namely that mortals gain +1 xp per time XP is awarded. This bonus actualy acrews every half year if using long term awards. The players can uncover this information with an wits+occult roll once every month they spend in the city begining on the second day they are here. The bonus only applies to true mortals, not god blooded, ghost blooded, awkaened Martial artists, or any exalt, but does apply to dragon kings and jadeborn who are not Artisans.

So far roughly half of the city has been uncovered, but even here there are a lot of buildings that are colapsed, or still filled with sand and roped off with red cables and even more locations where there are red cables indicating small shadowlands or dimenses that are not to be aproached untill the city can close/cap them.

The excavation is procedeing irregualrly, moving from the east wall out tward the west except around the central manse and the road from the north gate to the south gate. There are markets in most squares and a number of shops on the ground floors of buildings. Few merchants here are oficialy affiliated with the guild since many people in the city are escaped guild slaves and loath the guild vehemently.

Nearly everything except slaves is avaialable for sale, including many products from the wyld. Firewands and Flame Peices are the core of the weapons markets allong with accessories such as bayonets, powder horns, and pices of flint or obsidain for strikers. Intrestingly Cannons are not for sale, being reserved for the govornemnt, but anyone with contacts 2 or higher could find someone who knows someone who could get a permit for purchasing a few for export. Armoring is more advanced, and even some artifact armors are for sale, though they would be a resources 4 purchase at minimum, and that is for the simple stuff like Jade breastplates. Things like Yuroy Scout armor is beyond the means of anyone in the party though that comes up for sale very rarely except through ilegal chanels. Jade Full Plate and Super Heavy Plate are more commonly avaialable, in fact there are people in the city that can be comissioned to make it. Orochalcum and Monsilver are not comissisonalbe but in the still covered parts of the city are facitilies to work it. There are no ficilities in the city for Soulsteel or Starmetal, but there is a workshop in one manse that has been uncovered to work Adamant, though finding any to use would require Wyld Cauldron Technology and spending XP: such is the life of the Exalted...

There are a number of Inns, Caravanserai, and Hostles near the city gates, while fuirther in nearly every corner of an inhabited area has at least one restraunt or coffee shop. Tea houses by comparison are rare, and true bars are unuusal enough to be remarked upon when a new one is found. Most living quarters do not have kitchens, which is why many hab towers which have been excavated dont have permanant residents and so many resteraunts can stay open. Many resterauts in fact rent themselves out to people wishing to cook for their families or are owned by consortiums of citizens who hold them in comon for comunal cooking with contracts for use and upkeep requirments.

All of the city's roads are at least 20 feet wide, plus a five foot sidewalk to etiher side. This is for the smallest streets, most are 40 feet wide with sidewalk and a few main thoroughfairs are 60 feet wide. The streets keep themsleves magicaly clean once each section is repaired by the Patron, but only a very few sections are reapired and many people who work as street sweepers clearing sand wish for it to stay that way. (Each 10'x10' section is a different artifact and must be individualy repaired. There is one street in the city's west that is a first age relic and stil working. However it can only afect things up to 30 feet above itself, so it is a long tunnle of clear street bounded on all sides by packed sand.) The streets are made of fiited 5'x5' blocks of granite, and one can sometimes determine which part of the city one is in by the color of the streets. The north east the blocks are blue and green, the south east red and green, the south west red and black and the north west blue and black. The citie's four central parkways are each a solid color relating to their element and 40' wide on each side and the grand square around the central manse is white and 60' wide at it's narowest point. However many streets were repaired with gray, white, or red granite tward the end of the shogunate and are not properly color coded.

The City has at least 5' of clearance between all buildings: meaning that there are many allies in which one can get lost. You can often tell which parts are in use and which unocupied by weather there is sand filling the allies or they are clear.

Manses and Demenses of Iskandar

Iskandar was at one time subject to major geomantic engineraing projects that gave it a large number of demenses and then manses relative to it's size. Most of those manses are still here, still active, and even now being located and excavated. A few however were partialy unstable and have long since exploded. These few are roped off as dangerous and plans are underway to re-cap them, led of course by the Patron. Note that there are more manses and demenses within the city that have not yet been found, and that at one time there were even MORE demenses in the city which have colapsesd into a dormant state due to the changes in the city's essence flows and could be reactivated with the apropraite rituals once the city is fully excavated and geomanticly remapped, these demenses however were all small ones, level 2 at the most, so weather such effort is worth it in the short term, or even a good idea, is debatable. See The Ghost/Manses and Dimenses of Iskandar for further information.

History

Prehistory

Though most do not know it Iskandar's deepest foundations were laid in an era long past by the Dragons Kings. The City flourished in the age between the advent of humanity and the Primordial War with many of the first exalted visiting the place at one time or another in the several decades of lead up to the overthrow of the Primordials. Then when the war began the city was wreathed in destruction by one of the super weapons of the masters of creation, utterly annihilating most of those that dwelt therein and reducing the city to a smoking crater of volcanic glass. Still, beneath the burned and blackened surface some parts of the old under city survived, and wait there still.

The First Age

During the First Age many of the survivors of the primordial war remembered their time in 'Highana' fondly and after excavating much of the old substrata and leveling off the damaged areas to make way for new constructions raised up a new city on the site of the old. This city was dubbed 'Solzarian' in honor of The Unconquered Sun and in memorial to the Great Dragon King lady who had ruled the city so well and wisely ere it's annihilation. The City would remain a significant but out-of-the-way part of the Old Realm all the way through the first age.

The Ocher Fountain Era

During the beginning of the First Age when Queen Merela ruled over all creation from the eternal capitol of Rathess Solzarian was still being reconstructed, and there was little of note that occurred in the city. One event in particular was notable however: the Conclaive of Solzarian in year 99 of the old realm, a symposium on the rights and freedoms of the people of creation which some in later years would argue laid the foundations of the Meru Uprising which led to the formation of the Deliberative.

The First Deliberative Era

By the time of the founding of the Deliberative the reconstruction of Solzarian was largely complete, and over the next few decades the city became a favored retreat for both Solars and Lunars seeking to get the heck out of Meru and the stifling politics of the great city. One of Merela's closest allies Angus the Wirehair was given rule of the city as part of the division of creation into fiefdoms and made it his personal residence. Under Angus rule the city prospered though it by-and-large remained a backwater compared to such metropolis as Chiaroscuro and Rathess. However, thanks to it's solar overlord and his close relationship to the Queen of all Creation the city began the long process of incredible geomantic engineering which would in time lead to it being known as 'The City of Manses'.

Unfurling Horizon Era

While this era of creation went by largely without incident of significant note at this remove of history it is still recorded that many of the great eforts to explore and expand the borders of Creation in the south used Solzarian as a staging ground or stopover point before plunging into the true wilderness at creation's rim. This continued to encourage the exalted to play 'tourist' in the city and helped keep it's economy vibrant. It is also noted in some histories that there was a major strike of Red Jade near the city in 811 which produced a 'Jade Rush' led by two rival Dragon Blooded brothers and their servants which escalated into a short civil war in the city 2 years later in which significant damage was done to the city's infrastructure by all three* factions. The Civil War was only halted when Angus the Wirehair returned from Meru at the head of a wing of elite Dragon Blooded shock troops and brutally suppressed both rival groups with mass arrests and a number of executions. (What happened to the brothers is unknown, but their names do not reappear in the historic record for 700 years, and at that time associated with different elemental aspects leading most scholars to conclude that they were 'dealt with' privately by their family.)

• (The Two consortia backing the rival brothers and the cities law enforcement detachments.)

The Aftershock War

In spite of the growing significance of the city and it's powerful assets in terms of equipment and hearthstones Solzarian was not at first much involved in the Aftershock War. Passed over in favor of more militarily significant targets by the Primordial Forces the city did not come under fire until 1131 when a force of some 3000 first circle demons led by a trio of 2nd circle demons assaulted the city in the dead of night via a fleet of living airships. The 'Battle of Solzarian' was considered a significant victory for the forces of creation due to the large number of Golden Janissary Style practitioners in the city who were able to make fairly short work of the first circle demons allowing the detachment of Dragon Blooded stationed in the city to confront the second circle demon commanders and dispatch them.

However the war was not all glorious victory for the people of Solzarain, Angus the Wirehair went missing during the final battle with the primordial forces and would not be seen again for over 500 years. For most of that time he is presumed dead by the people of the city, though the Solar Exalted know better as his shard has not found a new host.

Shining Reflection Era

During this period Solzarian looses much of it's former significance as the seat of one of Merela's close allies. Few of the Exalted visit the city and the grand engineering projects grind to a near halt. The only events of great significance that occur here are two: 1: The Duel of the Magisters in 1313 where the reincarnations of Theis, Leelah, and Sonah engage in a duel of sorceress power which damages large sections of the city and forces all three of them to be censured by Merela herself: And; 2: In 1492 a major strike of Orichalcum is made a few hundred miles south of the city, and Solzarian becomes a stepping off point for prospectors of every stripe looking to get rich quick mining Orichalcum. The City's economy runs strong off this sudden influx of cash, people, and goods for the next 30 years.

Thousand Struggles Era

The First part of this period proceeds much from the previous one: everyone is aware that one of the legendary solar exalted has died of old age, but this makes little difference to the struggling backwater that Solzarian has become: then in 1776 everything changes.

In the Records of Solzarian 1776 is called: 'The Year of the Thousand' for the massive wave of change that sweeps over the city in this year. The First thing that happens is Angus the Wirehair 'returns from the dead' on the 11th of Ascending Water storming into the city with a small group of Solars, Lunars, and Siderials and calling everyone he can reach into the city with him to face what he calls 'The Storm of the Millennium'. Ten days later the storm arrives, and following in behind it a host of the fair folk the likes of which has not been seen in centuries. The city is invested and besieged for two months by the Fairie Host and the siege is only broken by the arrival of four full realm legions armed with Cold Iron. Once the Fair Folk are driven back and the city is again secure Angus orders most of the city leveled and an engineering project the like of which the city has not seen in over half a millennium undertaken to extensively alter it's geomancy. To finance this undertaking he produces several tons of jade, from what source none can say, and uses his Wyld Shaping charms, which until his return no one knew he possessed, to manufacture the raw materials needed from the chaotic energy left behind by the Fair Folk.

However no sooner was the project under way than orders came down from the Queen that he was to return to Meru at once and answer for his absence: and bound by the oaths he took as one of the Golden Hero Vassals so very long ago he departs. Following up on the plans he has left behind his circle mate Levian of the Gilded Staff begins directing the super-massive construction and engineering projects which will if successful create one of the greatest concentrations of manses and geomantic relays outside of the Blessed Isle. By late in Descending fire half the city is gone and an entirely new street plan and so on is rising in it's place, along with a massive upgrade to the walls and towers of the city perimeter as well.

What exactly passed for Angus in Meru is unrecorded by any presently known records except perhaps those of the Bureau of Destiny but what is recorded is the results of that visit: Angus was striped of his rulership of his fief in the south including Solzarian and sent on a quest of penance into the frozen north: while Solzarian and the surrounding area was given into the hands of a relatively young solar of the Twilight Caste from another circle named Keisha Adriana Mullion and her lunar mate Maxim of Personal Liberty.

While Keisha was young she was not stupid and consulted with Levian of the Gilded Staff on what she was doing with the engineering of the city. With the elder Twilight's help she finished the geomantic reorganization as designed by Angus and by the end of Resplendent Air the basic project is finished. The city is now rife with uncapped dimenses and sites that will become dimenses once they can be activated after some of the others are capped. The city also now confers a geomantic bonus on all mortals living there, allowing them to develop their skills and abilities more quickly than those living in other cities. The full culmination of the project with the activation and capping of all dimenses will not be complete for another 36 years.

Time of Cascading Years

The Time of Cascading Years took rather longer in Solzarian and the surrounding area than it did in most of creation: 3333 years to be precise. The relatively young solar ruler who went into the Time of Cascading Years and her only slightly more experienced Lunar Spouse emerge from it with a weight of skill and refinement which makes them elders among the solars and lunars. They also are now both arrayed with panoply of artifacts and charms that make them forces to be reckoned with in the new Deliberative. The passage of the 'Age of Isolation' in Solzarian is marked by a number of rebellions and uprisings, and the invasion of their lands by the fair folk towards the end of it, from whence none can say. Supposedly it was the destruction of an artifact which the Raksha Commander carried which restore time to it's normal flow according to the people of Solzarian.

Second Deliberative Era

During the Period of Long Silence Solzarain is one of the few areas still doing significant research, thought they are hampered by the continuing disunity of creation and the fearfulness of creation's mortals who are all accustomed to traveling too far from home casting you into a different time line.

With the Establishment of the new deliberative however Solzarian is thrust into the spotlight for around a hundred years as the home and workshop of one of the most important Copper Spiders of the deliberative. During this period the city is a known destination for the many young twilight caste members who were reborn following the restoration of time's proper flow.

As this era goes on however Solzarian becomes less and less important with the rebuilding of the rest of creation, the other Twilights drift away to rule their own fiefs and work on their own projects and as has happened before Solzarian's position far from most significant events of history both at the center of creation and at it's rim mean it becomes a backwater. Even it's solar and lunar rulers spend more time in Meru than at home, leaving the city in the hands of Dragon Blooded legates.

Era of Dreams

During the first part of the Era of Dreams, though Solzarian flourishes on the mundane level it remains a backwater on the scales by which The Realm measures such things: a functional and unimportant city in a functional but unimportant section of the world. It does however receive an I AM Transmission Node linking it to the broader network of information which now spans creation.

Then in the year 3381 it's twilight caste ruler is goaded into violating her eclipse oath to not attack other celestial exalted in Meru, setting in motion a chain of events that will altar the shape of Solzarian's fate for centuries to come, and that of the rest of creation. At first the botches come hard and heavy, but then they stop and Keisha thinks the oath's punishment has run it's course.

It has not.

Returning to her holding in the south she begins to work on constructing a Proto Shinmatic Vortex and at a key stage of the process the final botch of set activates and the PSV explodes, killing Keisha and creating an intense Wyld Zone south of the city over a hundred miles wide.

Maxim of Personal Liberty calls upon every favor he has and even takes on new obligations to arrange the deliberative sending experts at Wyld Shaping to close the rift in the fabric of reality, but the people sent are not the high essence Solars and Lunars he hoped for but rather a cadre of neophites who have scarce mastered Wyld Cauldron Technology and are woefully unprepared for the madness of the deep Wyld which exists within the rift. Three of them die before the other two call it quits leaving the Wyld Zone barely stabilized around it's edges. It is unrecorded at this remove what keeps the deliberative busy and the more powerful Wyld shapers tied up, but it will not be for another 3 decades that the Wyld zone is fully dealt with, and that not by an individual any more experienced than the ones first dispatched, though with far greater caution than the first circle that was sent showed.

Government

In basic the Government of Iskandar really consists of a single man: The Patron. He is an autocrat, ruling by divine mandate and shier power, as he is capable of defeating significant deities in single combat. However the Patron is one man, and as such has organized his subjects with several branches of what we would consider a more normal government. This normal government is organized into twelve 'Adeptus' which each are led by one of the twelve 'High Lords of Iskandar'. These twelve powerful individuals form a council that advises and assists The Patron in his leadership of the city, feeding him data on several topics such as the state of his subject's religious convictions or the preparedness of his military. Though each High Lord is immensely powerful they all are The Patron's fanatical partisans and would not dream of challenging his authority, even if they could.

The Adeptus Millitate

The Adeptus Millitate is one of the largest branches of Iskandar's government, with no fewer than 1250 members in all it's branches and sub groups. Though officially in charge of Iskandar's Armed services it has a rival in The Adeptus Aeronauticus who oversee Iskandar's air-forces. The Adeptus Millitate is run by Fist of the Land a God-Blooded martial artist who is somewhat uncomfortable leading an army of over a thousand people.

The Adeptus Millitate has the following departments and offices:

The Departmento Munitorum

Oversees the acquisition and care of the equipment and supplies for the army.

The Officio Technis

Deals with the army's Magitech assets.

The Officio Cibum

Oversees the all important function of providing provisions for the troops.

The Officio Armorium

Handles the more mundane arms and armor of Iskandar's troops.

The Officio Quartium

Is responsible for most everything else, from tents to uniforms to bedrolls.

The Departmento Servicum

Oversees the actual troops and officers and their training regimens.

The Officio Acadamicain Legionarius

This office oversees the training of new recruits and officers running two training schools for them.

The Officio Cooptatione Legionarius

This is the group that sees to the recruitment and if necessary conscription of new troops for the army.

The Departmento Latrocinium

Oversees the hiring and 'control' of any mercenary units the government employs, but is better known for a more sinister function.

The Officio Mercenarius

Does the Hiring and Firing of actual mercenaries.

The Officio Assasinoritum

'The Office of Assassins', to use the Vulgate, runs at least four secret dojos training mortal agents in martial arts that facilitate them serving as The Patron's spies and assassins. Assassin of the Grey Spire 'leads' this office: He is not a master of the White Veil Style of martial arts and has most definitely not taught many of it's members this secret art form. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean? Say no more, say no more!)

The Officio Adminstrad Militate

This 'Floating Office' makes sure that all of the other Departmento and Oficio within this Adeptus do their jobs properly.

The Adeptus Arbitiese

The Adeptus Arbitese oversee Iskandar's police forces, and are one of the larger branches of the government with only 150 individuals on staff, counting every beat cop all the way on up to the High Lord Herself as well as all the file clerks and so on that work for the adeptus but are not actually part of it's 'fighting strength'. They have only one departmento and less than a dozen officio, but so far are keeping a lid on the political turmoil of the city. The High Lord of the Arbitese is Steel Garden who is not a very good investigator but a decent politician and capable administrator.

The Departmento Queastorum

This department is responsible for making inquiries and investgating crime, thus far it is the only Department of the Adeptus Arbitese but the Offico Correctionibus is exprected to become a departmento in it's own right some day.

The Officio Homicide

The Office of Homicide consists of only eight people, four detectives, three CSI techs, and one overworked file clerk. Their closure rate hovers at around 50%, though that is only due to them being able to count any suspect killed by the ghost of the victim as a closed case. Laural the Axe is the unoficial leader of this group but oficaly they answer directly to the High Lord of the Arbitese.

The Officio Servus Aucupes

The term 'office of slave catchers' is somethig of a misnomer. These detectives do not catch slaves, rather they catch people keeping, taking, or recapturing slaves and send them to their just punishments. This office consists of five overworked personell, two detectives, two forensic accountants, and one file clerk. Their closure rate is around 30% since it is hard to prove that someone was a slaver without catching them in the act.

The Officio Vitium

Unlike the officio above this office is not quite so overworked, and the two often help each other out because their work frequently overlaps. The 'Vice Squad' mostly conserns itself with drugs and prostitution, since licenced gambling establishements and most pornography are both legal in Iskandar. The officio consist of Four Detectives, five undercover officers, three CSI techs, and a harried file clerk. Their Closure rate is about 45%.

The Officio Interioribus

This officio is more for show than anything, since all of Iskandar's police are held by the Stone of Invincible Loyalty. It consists of Two Detectives and one Forensic Accountant. They often spend their time quietly helping out other offices.

The Officio Fraude Aucupes

This is actualy one of the larger ofices within the Arbities, having eleven total personell, six detectives, three forensic accountants, a CSI tech, and a file clerk. The office trys to keep a lid on the Guild and others defrauding Iskandar's citizens through various means and does a fairly good job. Their closure rate is about 70%, though this is largely due to a lot of sucsess catching many smallfry while the remaining 30% is allmost all of the big players.

The Ofiicio Fures

The 'office of thieves' is responsible for all break-ins, burgalries, purse snatchings, muggings, cutpurses, and so forth in the city. In spite of having eight detectives, five undercover agents, six CSI, four Forensic Accountants, and five file clerks their closure rate is about 12%. Garion Cromarch is frankly disgusted with them and has told The Patron so. The Patron knows they are doing their best but has ordered mandatory aditional training for all members of this office.

The Officio Pax Patronum

The remainder of the police force is in this office. These are the beat cops that enforce the law by their presence and vigilence. Iskandar is a large city and they constantly must be on the lookout for any kind of crime but especialy things like drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, making an afray, and so on. This office consists of 57 patroll officers and over a dozen file clerks. Twelve of these officers are part of a sub office of 'Mounties' who do thier patrolls in teams of three on horseback, they are often called in to supress larger riots. The officers always patroll in teams of three, one to watch the front of a building and two to look around the sides and chatch criminals in a pincer movment. They all carry magitech com units that let them use Wind Carried Words Techneque and have Linguistics 3. (Their closure rate is not aplicable, since they work out of elven precincts and each one has a different closure rate.) One of these officers does not need a coms unit: being a dragonblooded air aspect outcaste named Secret Eagle. They have offered to promote him many times, but he prefers to be a patroll officer, though he has deigned to accept the rank of patroll sargent for the fourth precinct.

The Officio Correctionibus

The office of corections deals with the punishment rather than aprehension side of crime. They are chronicaly overworked and typicaly have more criminals than they know what to do with but manage to do their jobs adiquitely. This floating office is overseen by Iron Sands, a member of The Broad who has lots of experince getting slaves to do as they are bid.

The Adeptus Judicate

Working closely with the Adeptus Arbities the Adeptus Judicate is the other half of the justice system. These are the many Judges, Lawyers, and Clerks of the Court who make sure that the innocent are not punished with the guilty. At the present time the Adeptus Judicate consists of 11 judges, 15 prosecuting attorneys, 23 Attorneys of Due Justice (Public Defenders.), 42 'Clerks of the Court' who record and file all rulings and court ordered contracts, and 17 "Agent's Protection" who follow up on inconsistencies in court records and the welfare of Iskandar's citizens in cases such as child abuse allegations and locating jurors that fail to show up for a trial. There are also about 200 private attorneys who are technically part of this adeptus but not part of the government. The High Lord of the Courts is Molly McBride a Demon Blooded northerner who has spent her whole life fighting against injustice and corruption in every form.

Additionally The Patron himself is technically also a member of this branch as he has the right to sit in judgement if he chooses on all High Crimes and acts of Treason. He has invoked this right exactly once, mostly to prove that he could. (The person in question was found "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity" and sentenced to lifetime confinement to a mental institution pending a treatment or cure of his condition. He stood accused of twelve counts of grand theft, but psychoanalysis found him to be a kleptomaniac. The police often consult him on serial theft cases, and he is actually fairly good at solving them. However he does have a problem with stealing other patients belongings and the doctors pens and notebooks.)

Trials are in the American/British style, with a 'jury of ones peers' and the judge presiding from the high seat. The witness's sit to the judge's left and the clerk to the right. The prosecutors are on the left side of the courtroom and the Jury the Right while the accused is in the middle. Unless the accused is elderly or crippled and unable to stand they may not sit. For this reason individual segments of trial must last no more than 3 hours. Only citizens may serve as witnesses, but since one can at the present time become a citizen after 24 hours residency this is not a problem. Citizens MAY testify with respect to events from before their citizenship. The accused is entitled to an 'Attorney of Due Justice' in the event that they cannot retain their own private council. The judge may dismiss any case at any time with or without prejudice, which is done routinely with respect to picayune or spurious civil cases so as to free up Attorneys of Due Justice for criminal trials. The patron is looking into finding more Judges and Attorneys of Due Justice so that civil cases do not need to be dismissed so frequently, which has a distressing tendency to lead to murder.

Abnormaly The Adeptus Judicate does not have any departmento or officio, but there are those within it and without that are bucking to change that.

The Adeptus Sororitatus

The 'Sisterhood' as they are called by the common folk is the government Adepta that oversees all female clerics and thumaturges in Iskandar Like their Counterparts in the Adeptus Fratris they are few in number but powerful in influence. Technically also responsible for the worship of all female gods in the city it is common that women will be priests of male deities and men prelates of a goddesses church. The division of male and female clergy between the AS and AF however is strict while the division of deities wavers like the landscape in the summer heat. In spite of these difficulties the two branches of government get along quite well and cooperation between them is without rancor or strife in most cases. The High Lady of the Adepta is Unrepentant Emerald. She is a mortal with Enlightened Essence and is exceedingly circumspect in her actions, a paragon of temperance. She is also the head priestess of Iskandar Seline.

The Officio Festivalius

This floating office submits to The Patron which days and locations should have festivals to honor the goddess' of the city. A circle of female clergy decide these events and pass them on to the patron, who generaly aproves them without comment. This circle is chaired by Unrepentant Emerald.

The Departmento Eclesiast

This is the main branch of the Adepta, overseeing and licenceing all female clergy in Iskandar. The departmento technicalty consists of all licenced female clergy in the city but in practice most of the female clergy get their licences and are about their buisness having no further interaction with the govornement except to re-up their licences once a year.

The Officio Licentiae

This officio handles the licenceing porcess for all official preistesses, which requires proving you have the following capabilitities: Ability to speak and read Old Realm, Basic knowledge of Spirittual Etiquite, (At least 3 dots in occult or 1 + an apropreate specialty.) and training in proper prayer procedures. (Prayer roll performance pool of at least 5 dice.) These requiremnts may be wavied if the cleric has a 'sponsor' with proper licence who is taking on the new cleric as a student to train in service to their god/goddess in which case a 'Postualnt Permit' is issued instead. Licences are issued per deitiy, so if you wish to be clergy of multiple gods multiple licences are required. This is waived in the case of Zenith Caste solars, since it would be more trouble than it is worth to issue a licence for every god in creation.

The Officio Sanctionite

This is a smaller office within the departmento, making recomendations to The Patron on which female ditieis should be given offfical sanction within Iskandar. All the female dieities mentioned under the Religion section are sanctioned unless noted otherwise. Being unsanctioned does not mean you cannot be worshiped, but it does mean that you cannot have space allocated for a temple or licenced clergy. Sanctioning however is fiarly easy to get, since The Patron often simply signs the forms without reading them. (Additionaly all the incarnae are sanctioned, + Gaia and the Dragons.)

The Officio Hetterodox

This office deals with instances of rogue gods and clergy, such as the notorious Tuggie of the Scavenger Lands and other instances where the celestial beauracracy has broken down to an unaccpetable level. Employing many outside contractors they put spirits who demand ilicit worship or blood sacrifice in their places and also hunt rogue demons and the fair folk's ravagers. Though the actual functionaries of this officio are few their agents are many and they are always busy.

The Adeptus Frateris

Sometimes referred to as 'The Farternity' by outsiders this adepta is responsible for all male deities and male clergy in Iskandar. They take their job seriously and are sometimes noted for being taciturn and uncompromising. They are led by Wauli the Wolf, who like his female counterpart is a mortal with awakened essence.

Structurally the Adeptus Frateris is identical to the Adeptus Sorroitatus.

The Adeptus Mechanicus

The Adeptus Mechanicus are an odd bunch. Dressing in Rust Red robes and communicating in their own strange dialect of old realm they keep outsiders at arms length. This Adepta is responsible for helping The Patron find and repair the magitech of the city a task that they perform supremely well but which many wonder if this group of strangely obsessed men and women are actually best suited for. Led by Adamant Sprocket, an elderly Djala man and his young adult daughter Gears of Fate, this group employs many Djala escapees in the task of repairing and rebuilding the city.

The Adeptus Diolougus

What some would call the state department or the diplomatic corps the Adeptus Diolougus is one of the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government. Led by Exultant Ivory Mother this group of spies and agent's provocateur work to keep Iskandar a free city and outside the clutches of both The Guild and foreign powers such as the Realm.

The Adeptus Medicae

Easily among the smallest Adeptus of the Iskandarian government if one only counts the actual government personnel instead of approximately dozen dozen licensed doctors, psychiatrists, and physicians whom they are tasked with overseeing and who like private attorneys in the city are technically part of the Adeptus: the Adeptus Medicae is as one might have guessed responsible for the physical and mental health of the city. They Tend to this taks primarily by licensing and monitoring the city's medical personnel. This Adeptus role is two fold: first they are responsible for overseeing those practicing and utilizing any kind of medical skill in the city, from alchemists manufacturing morphine, Seven Bounties Paste, or Age Staving Cordial, to those offering psychiatric counseling outside of a church setting, to the several small private hospitals around the city, to even veterinarians. The Second task of the group is more dangerous and ripe for abuse by far: it is they in large part, as the only people with the requisite expertise, who draw up for The Patron's approval the statutes of law which they are tasked with enforcing. Thus far there has been no conflict of interest or abuses of power but the vast majority of people among the medical personnel of Iskandar wait anxiously or avidly for this to begin changing.

The Adeptus Medicae is led by Simon Baker, a psychiatrist by trade, who is among the most dangerously insightful and persuasive people you will ever meet, at least that is not one of the exalted. He is in fact a godblooded, son of the patron deity of an order of physicians on the blessed Isle, and is not much taken with the Imacualtes, treating them with frosty professionalism.

The Adeptus Fabricae

Easily the largest and most diverse branch of the Iskandarian government the Adeptus Fabricae oversees all matters which involve or pertain directly to any sort of production, manufacturing, functional artistry, or creation of goods within Iskandar's lands. Though ferreting out matters of a criminal nature fall under the heading of the Adeptus Arbitise, and the governance of the legal codes is the province primarily of The Patron himself, and Prosecution and judgement of crimes is the business of the Adeptus Judicate, all three of these functions fall partially under this adeptus' remit.

The Adeptus Fabricae first submits for The Patron's approval all codes and strictures which govern the actions and enterprises of fabricating all tangible products in Iskandar, and exhaustive list of matters which fall under their control would be impossible but a few of the more salient follow: Print Shops, Compounding Pharmacies, Paper Mills, Glass Works, Jewelers, Magitech Repair Shops, Smithies, Book Binders, Cobblers, Tailors, and Farms: estentialy anything which would be made by any sort of "Craft:XXX" skill is within their authority. The patron then reviews these legal codes and approves or rejects them, which become the strictures that the Adeptus Fabricae enforce upon the businesses of Iskandar.

Most production facilities of any kind are within the Adeptus Fabricae's remit, with the notable exception of restaurants, taverns, eateries, pubs, tea houses, inns, and food carts which fall under the aegis of the Adeptus Medicae, though oddly pharmacies do not. Neither adepta is happy about this but neither is willing to lose or exchange the area they do have power over for reasons of their own which seem fully sufficient to them. Furthermore any business that produces a tangible product and directly employs more than 50 people in any capacity is under their remit to license, inspect, and if necessary fine or refer to the Arbiters for investigation.

The following are the Departmento and Officio of the Adpeptus Fabricae, each one with significant discretionary power and held in check solely by the High Lady of the Adeptus Auspicious Crystal Lightning and The Patron.

The Departmento Iura

The 'Department of Laws' devises and writes out the codes of law which govern the production and creation of goods in Iskandar. They have created and submitted to the patron and extensive and thorough list of legal codes regarding the conditions, control, creation, and compensation for most products in Iskandar, and those they have not they are working on.

The Officio Iura Laboris

The 'Office of Labor Laws' designs the codes of law concerning the employment, treatment, and management of Iskandar's workforce. They are in the main as despised by the plutocracy as they are beloved by the common folk. Among other laws they have enacted is the 8 hour work shift and the 6 day work week.

The Officio Iura Fabricación

The "Office of Manufacturing Laws" creates the codes of law governing the actual production of goods. Other offices govern the details of different types of production facility or field, but this office creates the general guidelines which the others work by.

The Officio Iura Cotagium Industria

The "Office of Cottage Industry" drafts the limited and simple codes which control small scale manufacturing by individuals and small business. They would like to have more extensive and detailed codes but The Patron uses his authority to make the official versions of the law to pare back most of their red tape and BS. He is in fact thinking of suspending this office for a period of some months while he looks for a better and less over eager set of people to be it's officers.

The Officio Iura Officinis

This office makes the laws respecting the specific difficulties of production in a factory type setting. Any production facility with 50 or more employees falls under their regulating authority, even things that are not normally their province such as farms, eateries, and pharmacies. For this reason many production facilities and such, run with staff's of 40, so that even if they hire a handful of temp workers they will not move into this Officio's dominion. This Officio is not well liked by most business owners, being seen as overly restrictive and exceedingly interfering.

The Officio Iura Pharmicopia

This section is not finished, expect more content in the next few days.

The Adeptus Vectigalia

Lying squarely in the middle of the Adeptus of the city in terms of size the Adeptus Vectigalia are The Patron's Tax Collectors and Auditors of Accounts. Little liked by most people in the city they are nevertheless key to it's continued function. In addition to overseeing that the government is given it's due and being called on to check the books of businesses which the Adeptus Arbitise feel might be doing illegal activities the Adeptus Vectagalia also run's Iskandar's national mint, which means that they are monitored closely by both The Patron and the Adeptus Arbitise.

Noted for being uncompromising and humorless the Adeptus Vectigalia dress in imperishable formal clothing left behind from the first age. The hot stuffy suits and jackets only contribute to their reputation as dour and unsmiling drones of government oversight, which is perhaps the point of the dress code.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is divided into three Departmento: The Departmento Salari, which collects the taxes in cash or kind, the Departmento Quastorius, who audits people books, and the Departmento Signo, who oversees the minting and engraving of all Iskandarian currency.

The Adeptus Vectigalia is led by Manifold Gemstone a perfectly ordinary man, who happens to be an excellent forensic accountant, if only a passable administrator.

Religion

Faith and practice in Iskandar is as diverse as the people who have come to live there. Everything from Immaculates to ancestor Worshipers to CotI members to simple priests and adherents of various gods all rub elbows on the city's streets. Bellow are a brief run down of the most prominent of the city's faiths and the deities they worship.

Immacualtes

Though the smallest of the city's faiths the Immaculate Doctrine still has hundreds of adherents among the people of the city, many of whom are enlightened martial arts practitioners. They also have a strong support network in the form of outside contacts with The Realm and other Dragon Blooded.

The Common Faith/Hundred Gods Heresy

The Majority of the population of Iskandar believe in the gods as most people of the threshold do: they worship those who can provide them with benefits they want or need and don't understand much about the celestial bureaucracy or how things worked in the first age and that the present state of affairs is a corruption of the 'proper' order of things. Those that do often take the stance that "this is the way things are" and simply go on with their day.

What Follows is a brief list of the major deities of Iskandar and who or what they are affiliated with:

Iskandar Seline

Iskandar Seline: As the City Mother of Iskandar, Iskandar Seline is the leader of the city's spirits. She was promoted from off the dole in heaven by the machinations of a number of bronze faction Sidereals and is fully cognizant of the fact that she owes them, but at the same time of the fact that as a dispossessed spirit promoted to the rank of City Mother she has few allies and many enemies. For these and other reasons she does not play favorites, at least not much, and is working hard at her job coordinating the smooth running of the city. Though she tries to be largely neutral in truth she is in the camp of the Immaculate Faction, which is part of why the Imacualtes are as strong as they are in the city.

Mother Midnight

Mother Midnight: As the the Senior Goddess of all natural misfortunes in Iskandar 'Mother of Midnight Murder and Mayhem', to use her full name, is a very good person for The Patron to have on his side. Mother Midnight takes positive glee in afflicting his enemies with all manner of troubles and ailments, from murder most foul to tripping on a dropped piece of lumber and spilling twenty boxes of crack from their backpack right in front of a police officer. However she is not really playing favorites, she still inflicts all manner of problems on the Patriots, their enemies just get it first and worst. Mother Midnight also has another interesting fact to her favor: she has been at her post for the past 3000 years. She get's audited on a regular basis and comes up smelling like roses: every, single, time! This drives Wong Bongerok to a level of near slavering fury, especially since he is certain Mother Midnight has been doing some kind of double dealing and bellow board hustle to keep herself fed and clothed during Iskandar's long dormancy, but has no way to prove it. Thing is, he's wrong. Mother Midnight became a doomsday prepper just after the usurpation and had been stockpiling quintessence and ambrosia for centuries ere the fairfolk invaded. She has been living off that stockpile for all the time since, and even now could go several centuries were the city to fall again ere she would need to start hustling for her sustenance.

In form Mother Midnight looks like an exceedingly overweight woman with coal black skin and long dreadlocked black hair that hangs so long as to trail on the ground. She typicaly apears nude or dressed in rags but can summon an armor of bones and broken pottery for a cost of 3 motes that gives her 10 lethal/bashing soak for the rest of the scene. For one mote she may reflexively cause any weapon that strikes her which has a hardness of less than 10 to automatically break*, and any weapon that has less than 15 hardness but more than 10 take 5d of damage. Energy weapons are immune to this, such as beam klaves and weapons with hardness of more than 15 cannot be effected. These powers do not count as charm use.

• (The weapon still inflicts damage before breaking from this effect.)

Pauldron Of Sanctity

Pauldron Of Sanctitity: is the new titular war god of the state, estentialy exiled to the post by Atlhat since he is a rabbidly punctual and rules obsessed deity that Atlhat has detested for centuries. Pauldron of Sanctity takes the form of a tall man in Gunzosha armor and wielding a shock pike. He believes in well regimented and organized military units who are drilled and well equipped. In many ways his notions of war are still trapped in the low first age, when he was spawned as the god of a mercenary company, but this is just fine because he is the war god of a city with much of it's low first age equipment and infrastructure intact. Though he favors the Immacualtes he is not willing to alter the course of outlined fate one millimeter without approval through proper channels.

Garion Cromarch

Garion Cromarch: is the god of Iskandar's police force, who has waited patiently these seven centuries and more since the loss of the city to the fair folk working unofficially as a P.I. in Yu-Shan and who is the author of Iskandar's rebirth, having convinced the Bronze Faction to engineer the events which have led to that happening. Garion is perhaps more involved in the doings of the city's police than he should be, often helping them out with 'gut feelings' and leading dreams, but so far his interference has not crossed the line of allowed behavior.

Garrion's form looks like an idealized southern human male wearing Sentinel Defense Force armor blazoned with the symbol of Iskandar, an eagle in flight wearing broken manacles.

Lissom Shining Spring

Lissom Shining Spring: a goddess of the local Oasis who temporarily holds two positions both in her old job and as the minster of all water sources within Iskandar's sphere of influence. She is not perfidious in this role like Alhat who should not hold both the aegis of southern war god and god of cattle, but is genuinely looking for a replacement to take over the role of goddess of springs and oasis: however she is a perfectionist and committed to finding a perfect candidate, which means that though she has interviewed over a hundred prospective applicants she has not found one that she feels is worthy of her longtime position. The Bronze Faction are willing to let her conduct further interviews, for now, but have made it clear that if she does not have a new spirit in the position by the end of next year she will be censured and the task of finding a replacement will be out of her hands. To this end she has compiled what she calls her 'secondary list': those gods that she felt were 'almost' up to her lofty standards, and if she is running out of time will call them back for a second interview and chose the best one. She still hopes for a perfect applicant however and only has four names on her 'secondary list'.

Lissom Shining Spring's form is that of a large fish, but lately she has been finding herself slipping into the form of a young woman in the suit of one of the city's hydro engineering personnel who assist the Patron in making sure that all the pipes are sound before restoring the flow of water to a building. She is not sure she likes this.

Sonari

Sonari: is the divine minster of sunlight and shadow for Iskandar. She works with the bureau of nature to ensure that the proper degree of cloud cover reaches Iskandar as well as the appropriate amount of sun. Like many of the gods of Iskandar she is newly promoted from being on the dole and fearful of losing her position, but even so dares to encourage the cult to worship her with little flourishes like rays of light in winter and cool breezes in summer.

She takes the form of a cloud from which pour rays of sunlight.

Meroka Jin

Meroka Jin: the minister of romance and love in Iskandar is actually an old pro at the role, having been the minster for the task in the old city and then for the Salaru tribes. He is corrupt as the day is long but adept at hiding his perfidy from anyone and everyone, including to a degree himself.

Meroka Jin takes the form of a vigorous adult man of the south with a rose in his teeth and a rakish smile. He often appears nude or in the robes worn for a wedding among the Salaru.

Meroka is eternaly locked in a biter feud with his theoretical partner Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction, who is constantly trying to break down the stable romantic relationships her 'partner' builds. For the moment they have reached a detente on the matter of the two factions in which they are most interested, If Sakarzi will do her job for the romantic relationships of the Solarions then Meroka will not try to pair off the Ancestor Cultists into mirages and leave Sakarzi to push them to rut in wild abandon. They have not agreed about what to do with the rest of the population which makes up more than 60%.

Bibwit Heart

Bibwit Heart: The 'least' god of Iskandar's central manse, Bibwit is uncomfortable with the cult worshiping him as they do. He has seen many least gods that have found themselves at the center of cults growing arrogant and ultimately becoming starmettal and is afraid this will happen to him. He has survived both the fall of the solars and the shogunate by being small and unobtrusive, keeping his manse functional and active while the rest of the city fell apart and he is not going to change that strategy. Still, he is an important god in the city, and as such they venerate him. Bibwit takes the form of an anthropomorphzed rabbit with white fur and a tailored coat. He carries a pocket watch that lets him make flurry attacks up to his DEX score with no penalty.

Cela Dinarius

Cela Dinarius: Cela is the godess responsible for Iskandar's economy, and she is a personal friend of Glorious Weapon. She is no friend of the Guild and works as much as she dares to keep the guild from stealing artifacts from Iskandar for sale to it's foreign rivals. Formerly the goddess of Aj-Aran's main market square she was promoted to overall control of the economy of Iskandar via the machinations of the gold faction. She knows the city father is a bronze faction plant but reasons that as long as they both do their jobs properly they should not come into much conflict. The two have a standing date for tea every Venusday.

Cela Dinarius form is that of an attractive woman carved from silver, and she wears the clothing of a Verangian cloth factor, which was her first job beyond as a least god some 4 centuries ago, patron goddess of a new Verangian cloth consortium.

Zalril

Zalril: Formerly the Least god of Iskandar's north gate Zalril has by what amounts to sheir force of will moved up to become the patron god of Guild Members working in Iskandar. The exact operation of this occurrence has been shrouded in mystery at the orders of Kejop Kajac himself, and further Nazri signed off on it too. The Guild maintains a large shrine just outside his old gate where they leave offerings before entering the city and where three slave women were taken under cover of night and sworn to become Zalril's Priestesses in exchange for their freedom by an Eclipse caste member who often works for the guild. Though two of them still keep their roles as the god's priestesses the third has left the shrine and now lives in the cty as a teacher for the city's new public school. Interestingly she has suffered no ill efects from 'breaking' her oath. Zalril has asked for the Guild to send a replacement but they are still trying to figure out why the oath failed in the first place. Meanwhile Sulramia finds fulffillment in teaching her students as do Gaye Pachudiwe Ogesu and Ox and Rainbow the two women that still work at the shrine. Ogesu is an old women and does the cooking and cleaning while Ox and Rainbow stands guard over the shrine. Sulramia also came with another gift for the god, her daughter, as she was part of a quadratic set, Maiden, Warrior, Mother, and Crone, and if she was to be the 'mother' Zalril insisted that she have a child as proof of her status, who conveniently doubled as 'maiden'. Sulramia's daughter is called Iron and Honey Maiden and is just the cutest five year old you will ever see, with an appearance score of five already. Her mother lives constantly with the fear of pedophiles, but does not let it rule their lives.

Walziri

Walziri: as the god of beasts of burden within Iskandar's lands Walziri is a major player in the lives of Guild personnel who must work or live here. Formerly a lesser deity of travel and trade in Harborhead Walziri was appointed to his new post by the machinations of a cabal of 'Independent' southern Sidereals, and understands that he OWES them for this big break. The cabal have not called in that favor, at least not yet, but for the moment are content with him filing informal reports on the going's on in Iskandar. While still hard at work at his new post he has already started to play favorites a little with the Guild's Men who pray to him, subtly strengthening their animals and selecting them last when a sickness is due to strike the camels or what not of the city. Walziri takes the form of a large man of Harborhead derivation wearing several coral necklaces and white robes. He carries a Jade cattle prod which can be used as a spear or thrown as a javelin and returns instantly to his hand.

Anyaka Tetsuo

Anyaka Tetsuo: The minister of Chance and Gambling in Iskandar, Tetsuo is not new to this job. Created as the least god of a set of enchanted dice not long after the Primordial War Tetsuo has risen over the course of the intervening years to a position of moderate power in this city through diligent work and a suspicious number of 'lucky' breaks. Though no investigation has ever found him guilty of any wrong doing there are enough people that are suspicious of what he surely must have done with his powers to better his status that it is unlikely he will ever rise any higher. Some deities would plot and scheme to continue advancing, but Tetsuo knows better. As a god of chance and gambling he is well aware that he has been on quite the lucky streak and that is when you should count your winnings, leave the table, and cash in your chips before your luck runs out. He is content to be the god of all chance and gambling in Iskandar: and will only rise higher if his natural luck brings him a sudden break, which he is not holding his breath for. He wiles away his time by playing games with the gamblers of the city, making them win or lose in a big way, but staying within the bounds of prescribed fate.

Tetsuo looks like a tall, broad shouldered, thoroughly tattooed man with a cup and dice for playing a popular gamblaing game called 'Han or Cho'.

Tetsuo's sanctum is exceedingly large, he has had 700 years of dormancy in Iskandar in which to expand it, and it now takes the form of a vast resort with several small casinos and many spas on what appears to be a small tropical island. (At the boundaries of it's area there is a big reef beyond which the water falls away into nothing.) Tetsuo typically has many of the small gods of gambling and chance living in his sanctum with him at any time. Tetsuo is a colleague of Mother Midnight, not her subordinate, but the two work closely to determine which gamblers will face a string of ill luck.

Baegong Fangrick

Baegong Fangrick: As the God of Vermin within Iskandar Fangrick is an odd person to aid the guild but the guild will take allies where it can find them. Fangrick is a subordinate of Mother Midnight but has kept himself mostly out of her way and done his job without fuss since the revival of the city. Formerly the deity of rats for the Salaru tribes he was promoted upon the city's revival in recognition of many years of hard work with little reward and not the slightest blemish on his record.

Baegong Fangrick looks like an aged anthropomorphic rat, dressed in the robes of a shogunate era martial arts practitioner.

Wisp Verunga

Wisp Verunga: As the managing deity for all education in Iskandar Wisp is a VIP for the Patriots, because she helps their people learn new skills significantly faster, which helps them stay a step ahead of their competition, for the moment. The thing is that Wisp is running a knife edge game with staying inside what is allowed within her post as manager for all education in Iskandar and what could be censured. This is very very bad: because she is already in trouble with the local censor's deputy for bearing a godblooded child, who is still alive and therefore available as evidence. Just to add insult to injury the censor's deputy has a personal vendetta against her for rebuffing his advances in favor of a mere mortal. Until the revival of Iskandar Wisp Verunga was the goddess of it's central library, she effectively promoted herself to chief goddess of education by cozening up to the Patron while he was excavating her manse. When he decreed the first mandatory schooling sessions for the early colonists he had them pray to her as patron of all education in Iskandar at the start of each day, when the prayers reached critical mass a few months later she had already conducted a quiet set of interviews and had her replacement as god of the library already prepped and ready to take over at once. This is not precisely an offense against the laws of heaven, but it is somewhat 'bad form' and would count against her slightly in a formal audit. It also has earned some of her fellow deities enmity, especially:...

Principle of Justified Action

Principle of Justified Action: Heaven has gods of just about everything, including educators. Principle of Justified Action was formerly a deity of a major school out in the distant threshold before the fair folk invasion, and only survived that calamity by mere chance, having been in heaven on a vacation when the hosts of faerie scourged the world. Since then he has lived on the dole and schemed endlessly to get another position in the bureau of humanity's education office. He finally thought he had one all lined up when Iskandar was scheduled to be rebuilt as it's manager of education, but the Patron and Wisp Verunga snatched it out of his hands. Yet, when one door closes another opens and a cabal of Gold Faction Sidereals and a few people who were still his friends from the old days managed to finagle him a consolation prize. The role of managing deity for the court system of Iskandar was still open since there were not supposed to be any real criminal proceedings for several months yet. Desperate to get off the dole by then and seeing this as his last chance for the foreseeable future he accepted.

What neither he nor the Sidereals that helped him expected was that he would LIKE the work. Managing a court system is not so different in truth from managing a school, you have trouble makers, erudite and passionate people, a lot of people who really don't want to be there, an ever changing cast of characters doing many old and a few new stupid things, a complex set of rules you must adhere to; the similarities were rather a shock. Of course there were differences, mostly in the fact that things move both so much slower most of the time and so much faster in the crunch, but he got his sea legs within a month or two and found himself enjoying having a real job again. That said, Principle of Justified Action is still no friend of Wisp Verunga and would dearly love to put in an application to replace her should she fall afoul of the auditors. However he bides his time, after all, he is employed in a job that he does not find onerous and has plenty of prayers coming in from both sides of the law, Wisp has no experience and is drowning in her duties, let them see what putting an untried administrator into such an important post does! Chances are that within the decade he will have her job: so runs his reasoning.

The Patron is another matter. He likes the Patron, rather a lot, and finds in the autocrat of the city a kindred spirit: and of course cannot fault the man on the matter of his dedication to an educated society. He sometimes pokes the patron in the subconscious when he is contemplating a bad law, or about to reject a good one, and thus far does not consider it any kind of offense against heaven's rules. He is in fact wrong, he has committed no less than 5 level 1 offenses in this manner, but that will largely be ignored unless he does more than mere subconscious nudging, after all he has not really messed up any major plans this way so far.

In form Principle of Justified Action looks like a tall man from the furthest east, wearing the green and red robes of a seated Judge of Iskandar's courts. His hair is shock white, a remnant of his time among the starving an unemployed but he finds it suits his image as wise leader of the courts. Abnormally for a god of justice he is lenient with most offenders, reasoning that if you punish too harshly you deny them a chance to learn from their mistakes. However anyone who harms children sees the other side of him, a fury of unrelenting hatred that will see them hanged if at all possible.

Sakarzi

Sakarzi: though she would dearly love to bring about the Patron's ruin and overthrow Sakarzi: minster of lust and attraction for Isakandar, has a problem: She is both terrified of him and lusts after him obsessively. Sakarzi met the Patron before he mastered Iskandar when she was bathing in a sacred hot-spring on the borders of the lands now claimed by the city in the guise of a comely Salaru maiden and he was following his awakened memories back to the city to claim his destiny. There at the hot-spring she tried to seduce him.

She Failed.

The patron was clearly attracted to her and wished to accept her advances but mastered himself with and effort of will and politely refused. Five more times in five different guises Sakarzi has tried to seduce him and each time has been rebuffed, but always politely. This is why she is terrified of him, no one else whom she has ever tried to seduce has refused her advances so many times, especially since each of those times she has used progressively more of her supernatural powers, in the last instance activating an effect that should have compelled him to lie with her will he or no. She lusts after him because she has a weakness for powerful men, and The Patron certainly is one: but it is his immunity to her mystical powers that has made it an obsession. With the Patron Sakarzi can use only the arts available to a mortal woman to snare the man she desires, and it is driving her to distraction. Perhaps an hour's worth of time out of each of her days is frittered away trying to think up new ways to seduce the Patron that rely only on her natural skills and personal beauty, but thus far she has not come up with anything worth using on a seventh attempt. The reason that Sakarzi would love to see the patron fall is that after she started a feud between three of the early families of colonists by seducing three of their sons and declaring that only the last one living would bed her the patron caught her outside her sanctum and beat her to within an inch of her life, declaring that if he ever caught her pulling that kind of stunt on his supporters again he would not pull his blows the second time.

These conflicting emotions are tearing Sakarzi apart, she lusts after the patron, but wants to ruin him, but is terrified of him, but she wants to have sex with him so bad she can taste it: Etc, Etc. In the mean time she has appeared to several of the Patriots and declared her support for the patron's cause offering her help in securing the objects of their desires and the word has spread among them that if you erect a shrine to her in your residence and pray at it twice a day, morning and night, she will aid you in seducing whoever you most lust after.

While Sakarzi has many forms she can assume her true form is that of a Salaru woman of surpassing beauty and grace who literally cannot wear clothing. Her merest touch causes any garment to become invisible for one hour, so there is no point in her wearing any kind of raiment except for it's protective value, which she rarely does.

Machuko; Torch of Freedom

Machuko; Torch of Freedom: Is it any wonder, considering the status of Iskandar as a free city where none may be held in bondage without due process of law, that the patron dietiy of Liberation and Abolistionisim should veiw it with favor and even more so it's leader who enacted the law in question? Rabsolga, the patron of slavery, hates and dispises Iskandar and if for no other reason than that Machuko loves and protects it. Furthermore Machuko is The Patron's patron god, to whome he prays five times a day, and is celebrated with five feast days each year, one at the begining of each 'resplendent' month. Even the Imaculates honor these five days of worship, because the Patron has been known to have those that speak against honoring the feasts arested and tried for sedition and/or aiding and abbetng slavers, and their leader does not need that kind of atention, so he has siad "These days honoring Machuko are sanctioned by the imacualte faith, so long as you pray unto him only on these days you do not sin against the orders of Heaven."

Machuko keeps a large temple in the city's north east quarter: a level 3 fire aspected manse called 'The Wheal of Torches' from it ride forth his clergy and devout adherents numbering several dozen strong on raids into the wastes beyond Iskandar's borders proclaiming Machuko's glory and the freedom of all people within the lands of Iskandar. Machuko has many preists across all of creation but nowhere are there so many gathered together as in Iskandar.

In form Machuko looks like a tall muscular man of what modern people would call jewish/hasidic/israli derivation, with a wild beard and long hair that hangs in ringlets. He carries a gore maul and choping sword of orochalcum and white jade which when used togheter can cut any chain or bond. He has another form, which he assumes rairly except when in heaven, which is that of a great Dragon filled with yellow-white fire and made from milions of broken chains, collars, and manacles.

Ancestor Cultists

Led by Sharima of the Three Disciplines and her ghostly lover Aruna the Defiant this group of citizens are a large and vocal part of the city's population. Though dwarfed by the percentage of the city who worship the city's gods and elementals the Ancestor Cultists make up as much as 20-25% of the city's population, and are especially prominent among the Salaru.

The Ancestor Cultists make use of the large number of small Shadowlands across the city to communicate more directly with their patron spirits and interact with the underworld: but are mindful of The Patron's injunctions about not breaking the circles of salt and other wards which keep the ghosts within the Underworld. They are however constantly working to locate 'new' and unguarded Shadowlands for their patrons to use to slip in and out of the underworld, which The Patron minds not one bit so long as they report them for the Adeptus Sororitatus/Frateris to seal in due course.

Though most of the people of Iskandar are unaware of this fact the Ancestor Cultists are being controlled from behind the scenes by a Deathknight known as The Fluttering Fist of the Deadly Labyrinth he is a martial artist in service to The Mask of Winters who has wandered off on his own agenda far from thorns and The Mask's traditional area of operation. "The Fist" came to Iskandar in search of a rumored cache of Autochthonian Soulsteel, held in the vaults of the under city, but has found that much of the under city is sealed and inaccessible even from the Underworld. In the meantime he works on the ancestor cultists as both a way to support himself and something to occupy his time while he trains to learn the charms that will allow him to enter the prehuman depths of the city where he hopes the bars of Autochthonian Soulsteel can be found.

Though the ghosts of Salaruku are numerous and very old surprisingly few of them are Heroic Ghosts and willing/able to serve as patrons for Iskandar's ancestor cultists. Of those that do It is surprisingly four of the youngest ghosts that are the main patrons worshiped by the cultists: along with one exceedingly old ghost from the fall of Salaruku.

Xufuwne Onuke

The leader of Isknadar's relatively large population of ghosts from the time of the fair folk invasion Onuke is frighteningly powerful but relatively easy going. He has outlasted Iskandar's long dormancy and now looks forward to an era of joy and plenty for the city's dead. A dragonblooded warrior in life Onuke was killed battling the invaders from the wyld and in an odd twist of fate they buried him with high honors. His tomb lies in the still sand covered western half of the city at the center of a small park. In form Onuke looks like a typical dragonblooded of the shogunate, dressed in power armor and wielding a daiklaive. He has subsisted by hunting plasmic creatures for most of 700 years but welcomes the changes of the reborn city. Onuke is the cult's equivalent of a war god, a role he shoulders without complaint but also without relish.

Aruna the Defiant

Hialing from Chiaroscuro Aruna is the lover of Sharima, and they have many ghostblooded children together. They were maneuvered into leadership of the cult by agents of The Archon of Apostasy who wished to have a shining example of ghost/mortal co-operation in Iskandar to help people accept the death cult in their midst. The Archon's agents do not believe the plan is working but they are wrong, were it not for the two of them the cult would have been burned out root and branch. Aruna is a relatively young ghost but has become powerful quite quickly thanks to her lover and her association with various death cults. In appearance Aruna looks like a young woman of the Delazen, beautiful and alluring for all her ghostly translucence and pallor. Aruna is the cult's patron of love and romance, but gives short shrift to lust.

Emerald Lotus

Like her partners Monkey of the City and Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill, Emirald Lotus has been elevated to leadership by the machinations of the Patron, who decreed a feast day in their honor on the day of their deaths defending Iskandar from an attack by a trio of 'Hounds of the Unbroken Earth'. None of them is experienced enough to really do the jobs that they have had thrust upon them but they all are rising to the challenge. Emerald Lotus resembles a typical woman of the deep south dressed in a white robe and headscarf that cover everything but her face, and over top that a breastplate of steel. She is neither attractive nor ugly but is very charismatic. She carries an infinite jade chakram as her main weapon and also bears a perfect chopping sword for close fighting. Emerald Lotus is the patron 'deity' of the cult's Martial Artists, as she had some experience with that in life. She still is finding her feet as a ghost and defers to Xufuwne Onuke on most matters.

Monkey of the City

Dressed in lamilar and wielding a shock pike monkey of the city is not really suited to his role as a leader of an ancestor cult. Having been an outcast and wanderer in life who always tried to keep people happy and was quick with a joke or to share his water he has not changed much in death. However there is a place for the fun and funny guy in any pantheon and Monkey of the City fills that role for the Ancestor Cultists of Iskandar. Monkey of the City is the cult pantheon's trickster and comic relief, which he does not mind one bit.

Triumphal Eagle of the Flawless Hill

Wearing a Red Jade reenforced Buff Jacket Triumphal Eagle, or simply 'Der Aller'* as he prefers to be called, was not much of a warrior in life, but was on rotation for guard duty when the hounds attacked and was predictably killed by them. Buried with honors along with the rest of the four and then raised up as a patron spirit of the city he has persisted as a leader due largely to The Patron's favor and the fact that he is a very intelligent man, who is knowledgeable about many subjects. His role in the city's death cult is that of a spirit of wisdom and intellect, as well as oddly the patron saint, so to speak, of the Adeptus Aeronauticus.

• (Which means 'the Eagle' in his native tongue.)

Cult of the Illuminated

The Cult of the Illuminated has a relatively small and subtle presence in Iskandar, but never-the-less are present. Their agents and activists walk among the cults dedicated to the various celestial exalted who have come to Iskandar quietly preaching of the unity of creation and the duties of the 'Shining Ones' to be the leaders and stewards of creation. "Some day," they say. "All creation will be united behind the Shining Ones, and on that day those who have served them well will have rewards beyond their wildest dreams."

Among the 17 or so celestial exalted in the city 6 are allied with the Cult of the Illuminated, and some of the others are sympathizers. The CotI worshipers pray to most of them and work to support their interests.

Geography

Geographicaly Iskandar lies at the point just before the sands of the deep desert begin to give way to the rocky foothills of the summer mountains. When the spring rains sweep in from the north it is prone to flooding and mud, while the heat of high summer brings the blazing Simoon roaring out of the deep desaert and with it short tempers and sharp words that some times flare into brutal murders. Winter is a season of joy and happyness for the citizen's of Iskandar, as the power of the elemental pole of Air waxes and the deasert is cooled, allowing snow to breifly form in the nearby summer mountains which is trucked into Iskandar by old roads and made into flavored sherbets and snow cones for those with the Patron's favor, especialy small children of whom the patron is known to genraly be fond. The foothills around Iskandar abound with resources brewed up by the slowly retreating Wyld or pushed from deep within the earth by the strange forces by which creation renews itself over the centuries, including many veins of silver from which Iskandar mints it's curency. Meanwhile the deasert around iskandar is rich with firedust and gem sand,especaily during the nights of the new moon when the Wyld retreats for several miles further south and exposes a wide swath of 'tainted' land, especialy where the city has been slowly pushing the Wyld back by infecting it with billions of grains of what is estentialy Elemental Earth. This area is hazrdous as well however because the tainted area is not just composed of valuable sands, but also dangerous ones, such as quicksand, shatter sand, and hungry sand. For every person from Iskandar who strikes it rich mining firedust or gemsand in the tainted lands on the nights of the new moon another finds themselves injured, killed, or mutated: in Iskandar 'Firedust Miner' looks fair to rank among the top 5 'most dangerous professions' for the first year of recoreded statistics in the city, right behind 'Rogue Spirit Protection Expert' and 'Pharmacicst' but just ahead of 'Building Excavation Team Member' and 'Artifact Recovery Personell'

Nearby to Iskandar are a number of small oasis, hotsprings, and gysers which have long provided the Salaru tribes with water. Though 90% of the tribesmen have returned to their ancestral home a few chose to stay out in the wastelands for one reaons or another, and now gather into three new small tribes: the western, northern, and eastern Salaru.

To the west the deasert is hot by day and cold by night, with only trackless sand to great your eyes, the Salaru who have stayed out in this wilderness journy mile upon mile between oaisies that are often beuried under the shifting sands and must be dug down to gather up their water. They survive by hunting snakes and lizards and trading firedust and jewil sand with the Guild for added food and water. Though trade is their main source of contact with the outside they no lonoger must rely upon it or perish, with the total number of tribe's men in this region reduced by more than 95% they now can survive on their own without help, but it would be a spartan existance. Trade gives them luxuries and better equipment, which they put to good use. The western salaru do not keep herd beasts or in fact any animals except hunting dogs, the land here is too harsh for this to be profitable. They worship many nature spirits, but few major dieities except the Unconqured Sun, whom is seen as a wrathfull god of war and distruction, and Luna in her aspect as The White Navigator, who is seen as a benevolent and helpfull deity. Though they honor the high holy days of the five maidens they are not much reviered outside those times.

To the north the Salaru who have not returned to their city are primaraly herders and gaherers, as the foothills of the summer moutians provide old lava tubes and other places to hide from the sun by day and keep flocks dry when the rains come. Their life is perhaps the least harsh of the three new tribes since they have kept the most of their population, with only about 80% going to live in the city and in all cases leaving a few family members to mind the herds and ancestral cave or rock cut house. They also were the most numorus of the Salaru before the return to Iskandar, having six of the 10 Salaru tribes living in their region. and now are by far and away the most populous of the three 'outside' tribes. They also still contribute a good chunk of Iskandar's food suplies, which means that even the Patron must treat with them on their terms. On the other hand they know that the Patron, while a patient man, does have his limits, and that their families back in Iskandar would suffer first and worst if they cut off the shipments of food and other goods to the city, so they treat the Iskandarians with a much respect as they expect in return: so far the city and the norhtern tribe have a strong alliance of mutual beifit and suport. The northern Salaru frequently revear Atlhat, southern god of war and cattle, in adition they also reveir the celestial incarnae and Gaia as well as many nature spirits.

The tribes to the east were always the most desireous to return to Iskandar, for they could still see it's central tower sticking up out of the sand. However when the time came an infulental leader named Sabris of the Two Spears convinced them that they should instead of all going back to the city leave some people behind and send their sons and daughters back into the summer mountians to live with those that stayed for two years as a right of passage. This has proved to their great advantage, for they now own the rights to much of the mineral wealth in the summer mountains near Iskandar and have risen to be among the city's most wealthy families. The mountain Salaru were hunter/gatherers before Iskandar's recovery and it is in this capacity that the children sent to the old mountain fastenses must learn to survive when they are facing their Adavam Ordeal. The eastern Salaru mostly hold up a host of small gods for worship, and revear the celestial incarnae on their high holy days. They are however the nearest things to athists Creation has, feeling that if a person cannot survive without divine interventiion then they are weaklings that must be excized from the gene pool. Many of them are swayed to a degree by the Imacualte faith, but reject the idea that the Dragonblooded are creations rightfull rulers, their tribes have long memories and have heard the tales told by the Lunrs of the perfididty of the Dragonblooded and the glory once created by the Soalrs, and twice in their exile have seen this glory first hand before the Dragonblooded showed up and ruined things.

To the south of the city a wyld zone bleeds into reality for almost eight hundred miles from the maximum edge of the world. Though the city lies near the edge of this wyld zone it is not part of it, not even when the wyld storms blow in the autumn. This is perhaps partly because the city's strong geomancy prevents it being absorbed or perhaps some form of potent first age artifact still protects the city as it did during the invasion so long ago. If the Patron knows he is not telling. Either way there is and never has been a tribe of the Salaru to the south of the city. If the work they are doing to push back the wyld sucseeeds as well as it has been thus far there may be soon.

Ethnicity

Iskandar is an ethnically mixed city, with people from all over creation having gathered in under it's banner thanks to The Patron's zero tolerance policy towards slavery. In the main however the population is drawn from the peoples of the south, as escaping slaves are most able to reach Iskandar from it's nearest neighbors, Virangia and The Delazen Empire.

The Salaru

Decedents of the people who fled Salaruku in the face of the Balorian Crusade the Salaru have waited a long time to return to their city. Composed of 10 culturally distinct tribes the Salaru make up an ever decreasing percentage of the city's population as more and more foreigners come to the city and settle in. That said the Salaru, though small in number, have a disproportionate impact on the city's culture and politics, due to knowing the lands surrounding Iskandar like no one else and therefore having a vastly outsized amount of wealth and clout.

The Salaru are sub divided into the following tribes:

The White Scars

This tribe numbers about 50 and have long been ancestor worshipers, they have been swayed to the cause of the Ancestor Cultists. They take their name from the practice of ritual scarification of face and hands to tell ones ancestry and chest to recount great deeds. The White Scars hail from the west of the city. The White Scars are a strangely secretive bunch, they keep their own council and follow their own guidance. Alone of the Salaru tribes the White Scars have wholey emigrated to the city, abandoning their ancestral lands to the Western Salaru's care and finding employment within Iskandar. Most of them agree that this has been a drastic improvement in their living conditions. Their ancestors however worry about grave robbers and frequently ask the members of the tribe with the skills to do so to go back and check on the old burial grounds.

The Golden Bulls

Originally hailing from the north of the city this tribe have been sun worshipers since time out of mind, and have naturally gravitated toward the Solarion's cause. They take their name from the bloodline of golden haired cattle that they breed, tend, and guard, which according to legend were a gift from the champions of the sun during an age long past in recompense for their service defeating an army of the Raksha. The Golden Bulls are among the largest tribes of the Salaru, numbering some 300 strong counting both those that came into Iskandar and those that stayed behind to be part of the Northern Salaru. They revere Atlhat and The Unconquered Sun as their patrons and are known for their skill as warriors though they are over matched by some of the other tribes thanks to awakened essence and charms. The Golden Bulls are largely employed as butchers, health inspectors, and members of Iskandar's army, while the large contingent that remained in their ancestral lands tend their heards of golden haired cattle as they always have done, though they now drive the excess males to market in Iskandar for slaughter rather than keeping them home. The Golden Bulls primary combat style is spears and Bullhide Shields, with firedust grenades to break tight formations. They would not look out of place in Harborhead, and marriages between Harborhead immigrants and they young men and women of the tribe are not uncommon, though frowned upon by some of the tribe elders due to the harborheadite's attitudes towards slavery, which the tribe has always held as blasphemy.

The Get of Vexan

Often called simply 'the get' by outsiders this tribe calls themselves the 'Vexanites'. The get are decended from a powerfull lunar who lived among the Salaru for a century or so starting a few decades after the fair folk invasion was driven back by the Empress. The Vexanite's hold a secret: their tribe is led by a family of Serpent Beast Men founded by Vexan and preserved through complex webs of intermarage with other serpent folk from as far away as the silent crecent. The get are curently led by a charming and curvacious young woman from the south east jungles named Nyoka. What they do not yet know is that she is actualy the modern incarnation of their founder's exaltation and has been having sex with one of the tribe's greatest wariors in her spirit form of a twenty foot dragon snake in the hopes of bearing beast folk children. She walks among the tribe in her Warform, that of a great dragon-like serpent woman with the fangs and venom of a cobra and the wings and claws of a dragon. The Get hailed from the mountians east of Iskandar.

The Iron Raptors

Though founded by a group of outlaws and murderers the Iron Raptors are ironically a major component of Iskandar's police force. Having originated as an inner city gang during the last days of the shogunate the Iron Raptors turned their coats when the fair folk came calling at the end of the contagion. They took hundreds of people out of the city through hidden tunnels and other smuggling routs: people who became the founders of the other Salaru tribes. Since then they have slowly moved from running protection rackets over the other tribes, to actually protecting them, to being their main form of law enforcement and wandering justicars. Now that Iskandar is resettled they have taken up the role of their distant ancestors worst enemies, an irony that is not lost on Garion Cromarch. The Iron Raptors central holdings were to the north of Iskandar but they wandered freely among the other tribes and in fact still do, being welcome among any of the other Salaru. They worship Garion Cromarch as their patron deity, but also reviver a number of small gods of crime and larceny, propitiating them in recompense for reducing their portfolios and defeating their natural worshipers.

The Kelderkin

Another tribe from the city's north the kelderkin are the descendents of Marion Kelder, and are an agricultural matriarchy. They revere Gaia to the near exclusion of all other deities and hold that all other gods are really aspects of Gaia, subsidiary souls of the Maiden of Plenty. They are more right in this belief than most people realize. All Kelderkin women can trace their ancestry to Marion Kelder via one of her seventeen daughters, and which daughter you are a descendent of determines what your role in the tribe is. The only roles that are not decided by your ancestry are 3: Shaman, Champion, and Speaker. The Speakers are the leaders of the tribe and set it's policy, while the shamans and champions advise them and defend the tribe. Marion Kelder was a wood aspected dragonblooded and even to this day a kelderkin man or woman will sometimes exalt as another wood aspect. Currently there is one such person among the Kelderkin, Mwaloni Kelder who is a gifted archer and huntress that leads an all female unit of other archers in the Iskandar armed forces. She is also a sex addict and currently dating four separate men, two of which are identical twin Djala who regularly have mainge-a-trois with her.

The Chosen of Flame

Hailing from the city's west the chosen of flame have been firedust gatherers for as long as anyone can remember. They gathered firedust far south of the city during the shogunate and came to Iskandar to trade it. When the host's of Fairie came sweeping in from the edge of the world after the great contagion they ran before them and were caught up in the exodus from Iskandar, helping many of the civilized folk adapt to the desserts. The Chosen of flame make up the lions share of the new western tribe, but even so most of them have moved into the city and settled down as experts and factors in the firedust trade. They are a prosperous tribe that is in a state of transition as they adapt to being a settled people for the first time. Numbering approximately 75 persons in the city and an equal number now part of the Western Salaru the Chosen of Flame boast several god blooded among their number, and actively court new fire elemental unions. Their Godblooded include Gitchsune Folarabi, Malawa Besmar, and Kubrisa Suknis, among others.

The Iconigraphers

Among the tribes of the Salaru few can argue that the Iconagraphers are not among the most learned and civilized. Hailing from the cities north east they have preserved an astonishing amount of lore from the low first age, especially on the subject of geomancy. Now almost universally employed by the Patron excavating and repairing manses they are well off and respected. The Iconigraphers place great store by erudition and knowledge, and gain position and prestige among their own via a set of grueling examinations conducted by their tribe's patron spirits once every ten years, and always in old realm. Because of these tests of knowledge the tribe is led by it's elders, who have had the most time to study and learn, and they are prone to contemplation and thoughtfulness. Among other advantages this has gifted them with is the possession of five small manses outside the city, raised after the city's abandonment by their own hands. These manses have made their ancestral lands fertile and bountiful, making them one of the largest salaru tribes with 200 members in five small villages around the manses before they emigrated to Iskandar. Of all the tribes their desire to return to the city was among the greatest, but they did leave one family behind in each village to see to it's welfare and upkeep in perpetration for their descendents and those selected to join them by the Patron returning. The Iconographers in the city number 175 or so and are very much in the Patron's camp. They are led by Sukiwara Madoka, a god blooded thaumaturge of advanced years and not inconsiderable skill.

The Eisil

As a tribe of pastoral hunters and gatherers in the city's eastern area the Eisil would not be remarkable except for the fact that they are master storytellers and thespians. The role of Storyteller is the most honored position within their culture and many people aspire to it but few succeed. Their greatest tale is that of Sakarazat, a woman who was taken captive by a rapacious dragonblooded lord and over the course of two and a bit years told him a thousand stories which prevented him from killing her, and in the end led the dragonblooded to let her go. Now that the Eisil have returned to Iskandar they are mostly working at simple jobs like sand clearer or coachman (They have long preserved the arts of chariot racing as part of their festivals.) but a significant number of them now take the long coveted role of storyteller or actor, and are among the best in the city, being sought out by talent scouts and stage managers for private and public engagements. The Eisil hail from the high mountains east of Iskandar where the snow falls in winter, they are paler complected than most Salaru and have massive barrel chests from dealing with the thin air.

The Mantis Tribe

From the north west of the city the Mantis tribe straddle the border between the desert and the foothills of the Iskandarian lands. They have survived by placing great store by martial arts and awakened essence, and among their number only the young typically do not have awakened essence, nearly everyone over the age of 25 has mastered this basic precept. By the age of 30 most people have achieved the form type charm of one of the 5 main martial arts of the tribe, and by the time they reach venerable status at 65 nearly everyone is a master of their chosen style. This has allowed the Mantis Tribe to become large and prosperous, but puts them in an uncomfortable position of being alternately feared and nearly worshiped by the other tribes, who look to them for protection from spirits and demons. It also puts them in another uncomfortable position: their various schools of martial arts do not always get along, and more than once the tribe has been wracked by internal strife, especially between the members that adhere to the Immaculate Philosophy and the people that worship the local gods outside that framework. At the moment it seems like the tribe is heading for another such civil war, and this time it may drag the whole city into it.

The Broad

Alone of the Salaru the Broad actually hate the Patron. The Broad were from the uttermost western areas of the Salaru and also alone among their number made a common practice of keeping slaves, but not so much for the purpose of having them work for the tribe but rather to sell to the guild. They ranged far among the sandy wastes waring with members of other tribes and capturing them to sell for the suplies they needed to survive and prosper. Many among their number were heroic mortals and with the exception of the Mantis Tribe and the Chosen of Fire they boasted the most members with awakened essence or god blood. They also served as a dumping ground for the criminal and malcontents of the other tribes leading them to be less cordial with the rest of the Salaru than any other tribe. However, even the Broad wished to return to Iskandar enough to give up their slave taking practices, at least, some of them did. When the Patron decreed all people of Iskandar Free men and women shortly before the Guild arrived the Broad fractured over weather to return to their ancestral homeland or remain in the wastes and live as they had done for centuries. In the end the tribe split 60/40 in favor of returning to Iskandar and becoming part of the new society, but the 40% that remained in the wastes no longer consider themselves beholden to the Patron, Iskandar, or even the Salaru. These people, called by their former associates The Red Broad are now considered outlaws an brigands by the Isknadarian government and hunted whenever they stray close to the fifty foot Glass Pillars that mark the borders of the Iskandarian lands. They are firmly in the camp of the Guild's Men and infiltrate the city regualrly to capture and smuggle out valuable slaves that have escaped to Iskandar from other lands. The 60% of the tribe that have returned to the city are in the camp of the Death Cultists since the Broad were by and large ancestor worshipers before they returned to Iskandar and see no reason to change that now. Calling themselves 'The Green Broad' they have no love for the patron but do love their city and will fight to the death to defend it. Most of them are now members of the city's military and are locked in a bitter feud with their former tribesmen. The members of this tribe that are not military mostly work as overseers for the small but growing cadres of 'indentured servants' kept by the city government in punishment for some of the most heinous crimes such as rape and enslaving another person.

The Djala

The Djala are a sub faction of the Patriots at the present time. Having been liberated by the Patron from their enslavement by many people who have brought them to the city in bondage they are fanatical partisans of the city's leader and from a major component of his power base. The Djala form five small tribes into which new arrivals are folded by ties of kinship, alliance, or marriage within weeks of arrival. The number of newly married Djala in the city is staggering, easily 40% of all new arrivals are pushed into marriages within a month of becoming residents, and somehow nearly all these mirages are happy ones. What the Djala elders know but have not officially publicized is that one of the Djala's patron gods is an old drinking buddy of Meroka Jin and has called in a favor with the minister of romance and love to arrange this happy state of affairs for his people in the city. This is not going to last, because Sakarzi is going to start screwing around with them, but for the moment she is distracted by her work with the death cult.