#house-tepet

[electron-sutra]

The Windrose Arsenal

Artifact ••••: The Windrose Arsenal (Blue Jade Flying Fang Daggers)

The general and matriarch Tepet adopted several children after his house was raised up, among them a young yamabushi of the Eastern Rose school named Karst. Karst was a scout, spirit-speaker, explorer, and cartographer of great renown. The Blessed Isle had been shaken during the Thousand Tragedies period and the end of the world, so Tepet charged his new daughter to map the mountains at valleys at the heart of the world.

Karst's husband made the Windrose Arsenal to accompany her on her voyages. He magnetized blue jade from the mines in Lord's Crossing, to serve as a needle to always point her home. He dug meteor iron from beneath the Imperial Mountain so she would never lose her way. Karst's countless mapping journeys were a success, and her work is even today regarded as the canonical set of maps used by House Tepet; her tomb is a place of honor in Lord's Crossing, and the originals of her maps decorate the walls of the yamabushi halls.

The Windrose Arsenal is physically a necklace, very light and beautiful. When activated, the jewels of the necklace spark to life, and summon up an array of eight phantom-glass flying kunai. Each of the knives trails a unique color of light and explodes into a trigram on impact. Each of the knives is inscribed with the name of the wind from its direction. When summoned, the eight knives are always aligned to the eight directions.

The Arsenal gives absolute direction an attunement bonus and it may be used as an exceptional tool for creating maps and charts. The Evocations of the Arsenal relate to exploring, cartography, and manipulating the landscape. Just weeks before the Battle of Futile Blood, the Windrose Arsenal was paid by House Tepet as a husband-price to one of the other Great Houses; the boy's mother schemes endlessly as to how she can maneuver her way to regaining the Windrose Arsenal and putting it to use to rebuild Tepet's glory.

[sondersonne]

Trying to post more. Sketch of my Exalted character Tepet Vimah, for the House of Bells game I'm in <3

[paint-lady]

6 and 18 for any (or all) OCs

6. How does your oc feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

There's a cultural context to consider for a few of the OCs. For Maru and Hazel, who presumably exist in a world similar to our own, their upbringing and life experiences do dictate a lot about how they feel about labels. Hazel was around queer people from a very young age and the term lesbian has been a title she has comfortably worn for most of her life and all her unlife. Hazel's childhood was in NYC and her adolescence was in Atlanta Georgia. Being a lesbian and proudly saying so is armor, despite it all.

Maru grew up in Kaidan where queer life is very different and their identity wasn't ever talked about or addressed. As an adult they tried on several different titles and labels and really just- none of them stuck. They have a more casual attitude, where their gender shouldn't be a factor in their life, but don't really make waves about how others gender them- despite how they feel.

Red lives in the world of Creation. She grew up in the Realm, an empire of dragonbloods and is a member, albeit disgraced, of House Cathak. Across the great houses, marriage and having children is one of the most important things in a dragonbloods life. Now this could go very homophobic, and say queer relationships are forbidden, I have decided that's stupid. This is a world full of spirits and magic and superpowers. Of course theres magic and spirits and powers that can make it possible to have kids if there are any obstacles- whatever they may be. Identity ain't really a problem or a worry so long as you DO your social duty of making the next generation of dragonbloods. Hell, even polyamory and having open relationships is widely accepted- so long as you're making more dragonbloods. BUT that doesn't mean citizens, particularly Red, would WANT to perform this social obligation. As a result, her relationship to her sexual orientation is touchy. To admit being attracted to someone would mean she could end up in the same cage that encased her mother, her grandmother, and countless warriors before them. So she really doesn't utilize labels like lesbian or queer- there really aren't words for those things in High Realm anyways. She's just the disgraced daughter of House Cathak- in so many ways. Anathema, unmarried, childless.

18. Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels, or keep it unspecified? Why? If applicable, do you change their labels depending on circumstance?

I prefer to use they them pronouns for Maru and refer to them as genderqueer, but honestly, it's whatever. I just switch it up bc Maru is somehow all of them and none.

For Red, I will jokingly say her orientation is Atalanta energy or "attracted to anyone who can beat her in a fight," but it is VERY accurate. Shout out to Tepet Ejava for punching her lights out.

[shehili]

SHURIMAN GLOSSARY

Phrases I intend to use in RP, sorted by origin.

SHURIMAN • source is @voidsought on Tumblr & the official companion book which I own.

MISCELLANEOUS water and shade to you – universal greeting; binsikhi – little explorer, daughter (possibly); bibi – grandmother; Maza – respected elderly woman (possibly); echnebi – foreigners, a group of people (possibly); (the) Great Sai – a grand desert separating north from south; Sai Faraj – desert region in southern Shurima, located west of the Sun Disc; Sai Kahleek – desert region in southern Shurima, located east of the Sun Disc, called "the Bone Sea" in northern dialects; shayatin – the Beasts of the Last Infinity i.e. the Voidborn. Also referred to as "outerbeasts" by Shurimans.

TITLES Hagyett Sadja of Nashramae; Hagya Ta'Fik of Tereshni; Hagyos Valif & Hazir Ima'Sai of Bel'zhun. NOTE: I don't have the lorebook on me right now, but IIRC Valif & Ima'Sai were co-rulers. Distinction is unclear.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN • in-verse, these all originate from Ancient Shuriman and occur in all dialects. Take it and everything else down below with a grain of salt.

COMMON WORDS nek – swearword in the spirit of "shit" or "fuck"; neket iadet – piece of shit; sen – brother (affectionate nickname for one's companion); seni – my brother (possibly); senet – sister; ??? – my sister. likely "seneti"; khered – child; mes-en – born of; hereret – flower; felucca – small boat; stela – stone slab bearing inscriptions or paintings; where? – tjen?

COMMANDS shem – go; ab – stop; mesneh – turn backwards, reverse; kheti – retreat; wesef – be idle; hi-i or hi'i – strike, beat; seseh – smash, destroy; seki – perish, destroy; aha – stand, arise; sheni – surround; mes – bring (imperative).

TITLES sefetjew, seftew – butcher; tepey (m, n), tepet (f) – chief, head; seshem – lead, guide; neb – sir, also used when the addressee's gender is unknown; nebet – lady; Nebetah – lady of the palace/house; Henuttaneb – mistress of all lands. Used for the empress, nowadays attached to Mariam mostly by highborn sycophants. Va-Nox terms are used to denote military rank in so far as northern dialects are concerned.

MISC • in-verse, these belong to the tribes that have populated Shurima's northern banks since before the empire's fall. Phrases marked with * are shared between all northern tribes. Unmarked entries are specific to the Tereshan dialect.

Teresh, -an*; Bel'zhun, -ite*; Urzeris, -rite*; Void take you – Mariam's invention and her favorite curseword; sheeplover – swearword, substitute the animal as needed; aslema – hello; bislema – goodbye; marhaba* – welcome; shokran* – thank you; yaishek – a tenderer way of expressing thanks ("life to you"); azizty – dear one; hbibty – my love (can be platonic; alternatively: habibi* or habibti*); hobi – my love (romantic; alternatively: hubbi* or hubbee*); sokar* – sugar, used for children.

ARABIC HEART-MELTERS • pure self-indulgence.

NOTE: placing "habib" in front results in love of my… albi* – my heart; hayati* – my life; rouhi* – my soul; wahashtini* – I miss you.

[unconqueredfun]

Got a new drawing tablet so I tried it out to doodle a little bit. Made a quick picture of Wen. Quite liking the tablet too.

[shiftingpath]

House of Bells Third Year Squad 7

Zyden and his squad from school, adorable 16-year-old puppy Zyden with his best friends/polycule!

Cathak Melio, Air-Aspected strategist: a quiet planner who worries endlessly that he’ll never live up to his House’s needs Peleps Kytek, Water-Aspected squad captain: an adaptable combatant who insills her squad with her own flexibility with tactic and weapon, held back by her paralyzing perfectionism demanded by her House Tepet Baladar, Earth-Aspected tank: an easy-going guy and young Zyden’s best friend, whose good humour is blunt and infectious, and whose anger issues are becoming overwhelming as his House falls apart around him Ledaal Zyden, Fire-Aspected duellist: a brilliant fighter and spear wielder who excels in the physical aspects of the military academy and constantly struggles in the academic side V’Neef Zyll, Wood-Aspected scout: a scion of V’Neef with incredible breeding whose fun-loving carelessness gets her into trouble endlessly, and her connections get her back out just as easily

back in the good old days!

-before he stood up to them trying to kill another student, before they beat the shit out of him for doing so, before they hazed him his entire last year, before they hunted him from one quarter of Creation to another. back in the good days.

[black-quartz-sphinx-judge-my-vow]

Exalted 3e Villain Analysis

When I was first going through the various Adversaries of the Righteous, I skipped right past Adeimantus, because I’m shallow. His art just isn’t evocative. But ho boy! Beneath that pale, bland exterior lurks a villain worthy of an entire campaign. So let’s talk about that.

Adeimantus is the ruler of a utopian City from the Shogunate named Beimeni-Ta. A city which was consumed by the Wyld ages ago. It now creeps into Creation like an infection transforming cities and slums into itself.

What a great freaking idea, wow. The sidewalks the towers, the people all transform into echoes of a golden age lost to time. Can’t you just see the brick back alley suddenly becoming a marvelous marble tunnel? The building torn halfway between one style and material and the next? The crowds of excited peasants waiting for their shacks to complete their transformation into mansions? Now that’s a threat! How do you even deal with something like that? Do you burn down the infected part of your city to keep it from spreading? Do you jail the new citizens to stop the from singing the praises of utopia, and converting more people to their cause? Or do you go after the Raksha that’s behind it all?

What I like most about Adeimantus is that he’s totally on the up and up, at least in my interpretation. He’s not doing this because he wants to eat every baby in Creation. He genuinely wants everyone in the world to live in his perfect city. So much in fact that he has a charm that not only changes the city to match the desires of an individual, but he himself changes to match that desire.

After the players have defeated Adeimantus and sent his city back to the mists: “That’s alright, we’ll start over as many times as you need. This is all for you.”

Which brings another terrifying aspect of Adeimantus into view. When he vanishes, so too does the city, and all of it’s people. Any buildings and individuals changed by Beimeni-Ta get whisked away to the Wyld, even victory can mean that a entire slice of a city is amputated. Spooky.

As far as a combatant, meh. If you’re using Adeimantus to beat people down, you’re doing it wrong. Although he does have a knife that can make you ugly to anyone who can read, which is fun. His main power in combat comes from his ability to summon battle groups of his followers to attack the pcs. Plus ya gotta involve the city itself in any combat you do. Potholes open up beneath your feet, shingles slide off the roofs onto your head, and other such irritants. Maybe give the city it’s own initiative, and stat block, why not?

His real strength comes from his ability to manipulate intimacies. Not only can he instill them in people through their dreams, but he can also make you disregard any that make you oppose him. Very fun, and could be interesting if you have players who are very dedicated to rp. Otherwise think of all the NPCs you can target, and turn against the players. Now that’s high drama. Solars want to live in Utopia too right?

Especially since as I said before Adeimantus is a chill dude. He doesn’t want to resort to violence, he rules a utopia, and wants to share it’s bounty with the world. Of course his Utopia ends up being pure madness when it returns to the Wyld, but no one seems to be dissatisfied.

So I’ve gushed on about this beautiful bald man long enough. What are some ways you can use him in a game?

1. A world saving device was once held in Beimeni-Ta, and it’s needed once more. Do you: look for a city infected by Beimeni-Ta. Crusade into the wild to reclaim the lost city. Or maybe infect a nearby city, long enough for the vaults of Beimeni-Ta to manifest.

2. Beimeni-Ta begins to arise within Great Forks. How does the city of a thousand gods react to such an intrusion? Is the draw of Utopia enough to tempt even a deity? Or do they hold firm as more and more of their followers join the cult of Adeimantus?

3. Every Winter Adeimantus visits a struggling village in the north, and provides them with supplies needed to survive the harsh winter. What scheme is he up to? It’s been generations since he started doing this, and no apparent harm has been done. The villages are convinced he’s a benevolent god of winter, how will they react when the players try to destroy him before he can corrupt their village?

4. Beimeni-Ta is ruled not only by Adeimantus, but also a Senate of Demons. So this Fair Folk, has an alliance with demons, as well as a permanent city in the Wyld. There’s something deeply interesting going on with Adeimantus. In his Stat block it does say the Senators are Raksha too, but I much prefer him being a complete weirdo. But as for plot hooks. A city has already fully fallen to Beineni-Ta. Now there is only one thing left to do. Characters must introduce a bill to the demon senate which will revoke the city’s hold on creation, at least this part of it. Can the pcs, get it through sub-committees, and over come a filibuster lead by a second circle demon?

5. Burns 100 Poets is a monk of the Immaculate order who has thrice vanquished Adeimantus from creation. He carries the weight of the many poets he’s killed to keep Adeimantus from spreading his corruption. He is retired now nearly 200, and works day and night to craft the poems which could have been were it not for his diligence. He may hold valuable information in how to stop Beimeni-Ta from spreading. However this gentle poet of an old man may suggest methods the pcs would consider frightful.

Finally let’s talk about a campaign that has Adeimantus as it’s big bad.

I call this one: Lookshy, Rise of The Shogun.

The basic premise of it being Beimeni-Ta was a city during the Shogunate Era, a pretty important one. Reclaiming it would finally give The 7th Legion reason to accept a new individual as Shogun.

Act 1

The Players, Dragon-Blooded protectors of Lookshy are tasked with looking into strange happenings around the city. The marching band plays a song hundreds of years out of date, a new building appears seemingly out of nowhere. Things escalate when a section of the city’s rampart’s becomes infected with shiny new lightning ballista. Suddenly the General Staff is torn on how to deal with the situation. with some opting to let the infection spread to access Beimeni-Ta’s ancient resources, to others wanting to combat the plague before it’s too late. The group is forced to navigate this tenuous situation, while beating back Adeimantus’ growing cult, and corrupted gentes. Culminating in the final confrontation with Adeimantus, and a member of the general staff he’s corrupted. Adeimantus vanishes with his pawn defeated, and takes however much of Lookshy he’s corrupted away with him, back to the wild. The walls are breached, the city is in ruins, the army is divided, and things are looking dire. Were The Realm not crippled by The Scarlet Empresses’ disappearance, this would be the end.

Act 2

After a brief recovery clarity comes to the surviving populace of Lookshy. The Shogunate Bureaucracy has records detailing this Beimeni-Ta many of the afflicted citizens were rambling about. It was once a seat of power for the Shogunate a place of immense importance, that fell into the Wyld never to be seen again, until now. Most importantly it was the final resting place of The Imperial Seal. The stamp with which The Shogun made words on paper law. With it, a simple document can be stamped and a new Shogun can be appointed, the shogunate will live once more. If only Beimeni-Ta can be dragged back out of The Wyld. If only... we could find it.

No maps of Beimeni-Ti’s location survive, only records of military assignments. Letters for a general to withdraw from the defense of the city, a general by the name of Tepet...

With the only lead they have the players are sent under cover to The Realm to find what they can about Beimeni-Ta from it’s ancient defenders. There’s investigation, spy work, a heist. All of which ends in a social confrontation with Tepet’s ruling Council which presents them with an offer: fulfill their oath to the Shogunate, regain their honor by retaking Beimeni-Ta.

Act 3

The impossible has happened. The players have convinced Lookshy to break with tradition, and march on the Wyld. House Tepet has given their only legion to the cause. The two armies of the Shogunate unite like something unseen in anyone’s time, and march through the river lands towards the end of the world. It’s a long grueling march, through an untold number of kingdoms. The centuries of Lookshy’s political favors, and military threats fray with each border they cross. Threats seeks to divide them with armies and from within. The Lookshy soldiers see their Tepet allies as traitors, and the Tepet aren’t too fond of the scavengerland barbarians either. The players must use their genius to get their army through in one piece. Until they reach, the border marches.

Act 4

From here on it’s all out warfare. The players and their small army must reclaim creation step by step enduring every machination the Wyld can through at them, from raining lava, to forests of grass as tall as a warstrider, and as sharp as a blade. All until they lay siege to Beimeni-Ta. At last the jewel is within their sight. They just have to overcome Beimeni-Ta’s endless militia of maddened citizens, their 100 Demon Senate, and of course Adeimantus fully empowered by the wyld and Beimeni-Ta itself. Who can with but a look, a touch, who’s very presence beckons you to join him in Utopia, in oblivion.

And what are the rewards for such an epic journey? A brand new city to rule over? The title of Shogun, and resurrections of the shogunate? An arsenal of first age weapons from the shogunate’s richest city? Who’s to say what dreams await you in Beimeni-Ta? 

Only Adeimantus knows.

Only Adeimantus can show you the way.

[keenmixer]

Prompt #2- Air.

Tepet Novinha of House Tepet, Exalted by Whitewolf Games, Dragonblooded, Air Element. Only played her for a short while, but she traveled the main continent before returning home to the Imperial City. Now she serves as a messenger for her house, who holds the throne in the Scarlet Empress’s absence. I decided to include my original artwork, so that I can see how far or little my sketching has changed. Plus, I love her colors. Only doing shaded sketches now so I can put my work out faster, but I LOVE coloring my own work.

[mechanicalriddle]

Journal Time

HERE it is, my Exalted Secret Santa journal for this year! Sorry for being late on this, whomstever my secret santa is, I’ve been a little busy finishing my last semester of college but I had a spare couple of hours today to get this out.

BROKEN STAR is a day caste, and a loyalist under the command of the bodhisattva anointed by dark waters. In life he was the youngest detective in Onyx PD’s homicide division. He can never shy away from a good mystery, though if he'd learned some restraint he might still be alive...

Star is 21 years old, a goofy, immature try-hard who worships his boss religiously, despite the fact that his new un-life is kind of a deeply traumatic nightmare and all his coworkers think he’s obnoxious. With a little time and a more thorough brainwashing he’d make an excellent enforcer for the bodhisattva’s secret police, though whether he will even make it that far is questionable at best. Currently he’s lost in a distant corner of creation thousands of miles from home, after a detour through the labyrinth separated him from his company and also resulted in the neverborn being wired directly into his brain. He’s joined forces,  much to his master’s chagrin, with a pair of unaffiliated deathknights who had also gone in search of the invisible fortress.

Appearance-wise, he’s a little on the short side (5′5″) with a compact, athletic build, also the victim of some overenthusiastic necrosurgery. the little extraneous metal bits are the result of the artifact he wields, which are wings made out of knives, i don’t often draw the knives in detail because its a huge pain in the ass. No the wings do not come off (though the feathers can); neither does the mask, that’s holding his brains in! Overall he is just sort a nasty boy. He wears like two outfits because everything has to be custom-tailored but you can put him in whatever you want really. Also his anima is a writhing mass of frantic black birds dark enough to blot out the sun.

I have a lot of pictures of this guy. No really. Like a lot of fucking pictures. Here is his main, most updated ref; a lot of the other pictures I linked are from various previous iterations of his design. You can also look through his tumblr tag though it is mainly jokes about birds and also his mortifying dietary habits; he has an aesthetic tag as well though I don’t often update it.

---

TEPET JERAI is an ex-dynast wood aspect. He used to be part of the tepet legions, but bailed after some shit went down and fled eastward to spend a few decades as some kind of forest hermit. 

Jerai never really “got” his family’s competitive mentality, nor their taste for violence, conquering, and forcing the weak under their heel. Despite this he recieved instruction in the art of military strategy and wartime medicine at the House of Bells; it took many more years to unlearn what he had learned there. He has not been home since long before the Bull of the North laid waste to a third of the house’s scions, though he delights at his family’s misfortunes. Among the Tepets his name is spoken only in harsh whispers.

Jerai is real small (5′2″). Don’t let the dad bod fool you, he’s significantly stronger and faster than he looks. Clothes are mostly made of natural materials; he tends to wear and carry a lot of things, though his fashion still has a bit of a dynastic flair to it, it’s pretty subdued. Overall he has kind of a rolling plains-based schtick which shows in his aspect markings (dandelions in his hair in the spring and summer, dead grass in the winter) as well as his anima, a field full of tattered banners and broken, rusted weaponry. His horse (?) is a boon from a nature god; she is a baby and rascal.

Here is an updated ref I made of him for secret santa. I also have a bunch of older pictures of him you can reference as well: (x)(x)(x)

i have ONE more character for this writeup, which is one I don’t believe i’ve talked about on here before

---

GRIN PORTENT LOOMING OVER FIELDS OF WAR, or Grim, as she is known, was once one of First and Forsaken Lion’s most terrifying singular forces of military might. She is a Midnight and a war supernal, once as vicious, callous and cruel as they come. But one day, something changed. 

Grim exists in the Hour in Black universe (same as Star), set about 5 years after most games traditionally are. She has been on many-a-campaign, and conquered many-a-city at the whim of her Master. On one of these, a troublesome rogue appeared to thwart her plans. The trickster came back, again and again, always with some new wrench to throw into her plans. Eventually she confronted them, when the two stumbled into the claws of a Raksha, and were trapped in its reality-warping mind prison for several weeks. When finally they had escaped, working together with only each other as company, they had come to an understanding. 

The lunar, Prince of Strays (owned by @heedra​), became a frequent visitor of Grim’s personal manse. The satisfaction of violence and total dominion began to dull, and the fulfillment of her duties as a deathknight began to tire her. Even more, they disgusted her. Eventually she had made a slip-up which forced her hand, and the two ran away together to a remote forest in the northeast. There they live in a cabin, miles from any sort of civilization as a necessary precaution, and together raise their two mortal daughters.

Grim wears two faces- one she hid behind a helmet, and another she is still only just becoming comfortable with.  Tall and muscular enough to be intimidating to most, she converses in a curt, military cadence, though she is slowly learning to find softness again. She has locked away all her most dangerous effects in a place where tiny little hands can’t mistakenly grab them, but is still ready to don her dreadful soulsteel plate again should the need arise. 

She wears simple clothes in muted tones, loose shirts with long skirts or trousers. Here she is in a set of lamellar, this is sort of the nicest picture I have of her and it’s really a shame there aren’t more. Her anima is... ehhh, I think it may be a city in ruin, shrouded in darkness, under a looming crimson sky.

addendum: “where is tedeo what have you done to him!!” he is fine! he just got a picture last year, so I felt like some of my other Guys should have a chance. you can draw him if you want though you’re gonna have to dig up some refs for that yourself.

Feel free to take some liberties, if you want to design them a new outfit or anything like that, by all means, go nuts.

Good luck, and godspeed.

[mwritesink]

So, a fire emblem with bloodline brands and some background worry about bloodlines, and continuing them, and fractions politics... Must be the new Dragon Blooded character fodder!!

Granted I’m not sure for most of them, though I can pick a few things:

Edelgard I can see as a Fire Aspect of either House Cathak or House Mnemon

Claude as an air aspect transplanted from Prasad by his mother who is from one of the main ten houses

Dimitri’s element I haven’t noodled out yet, but definitely from House Tepet, with Dedue as an earth aspect outcaste that accompanies him.

Rhea is a chosen of Serenity sidereal, but her past incarnation may have more of an influence on her than most.

Byleth is a liminal exalted, unsure of aspect just yet, but that whole storyline of how the Liminals are made fits rather well.

[no-one-should-have]

So my character that originality started off being an archery dude is now a martial artist with a bit of thrown, which is amusing. I’ll probably dump Theron’s entire backstory and pictures on here when done but as it stands the only picture I’ve drawn is wrong and the backstory isn’t 100% fleshed out. I do know that their ex is Mara and they’re a sneaky bugger (stealth supernal) of house Tepet. They have an interesting dynamic with their brother who betrayed their house for the bull of the north, meaning that the terrestrial exalt left the house for the solar, and the solar is still loyal to the house. Theron has some problematic views when it comes to mortals which should be good for some tasty character development. Anyway I’ll post the shit here when I have it.

[electron-sutra]

The Realm Legal System, 1.5

Examples of Fiat in Practice

Appointment of a New Judge

BE IT KNOWN, all ye who read these words: The Empress in Her Glory has delegated upon MNEMON ATAL the authority to express Her wisdom and judgement on matters of justice and order, in concordance with Her guidance on law as expressed in her proclamations and previous judgement. Ye shall bestow upon MNEMON ATAL the rights, responsibilities, and dignities such a person deserves and shall heed Her decisions as expressed through this Appointed Judge on Matters of: GENERAL LAW and THE LAW OF INHERITANCE.

Declaration of a Court-Martial

Oyez and pay heed! Hear and take note! The Empress, through her Most Humble Steward the Lord Admiral, the Fifth Sea Lady, PELEPS BERIM, Chief Justice on Matters of Nautical Law, has declared this court-martial of Her Imperial Navy in session. She has further deemed that the Judges present in this chamber shall remain here gathered to determine the case of Peleps Tempest on the charges of cowardice in Her Imperial Service, of reckless abandonment of her responsibilities, and of theft of Her Imperial Navy's property. May Her wisdom and insight find truth in these matters.

Raising of a Great House

I, the Empress of Creation, Rightful Heir to the Shogunate, ..., declare: The Great House of the GENERAL TEPET, his esteemed line and family, and all of his holdings and vassals, shall so long as it pleaseth Me, act in My stead as governors and stewards of My Realm...

(Note that this document is in the first person. It was produced directly by the Empress herself, as a 'first-order' fiat. Other first-order fiats include the Charter of the Imperial Legions, the Charter of the Imperial Navy, the Acts of Establishment of the Dominion of Arjuf, and so on.)

[sondersonne]

A small captured moment from the last session of my partner's House of Bells game.

It's not easy being the only sorcerer in the illustrious student body of the House of Bells. Your methods are under constant scrutiny, and no matter how much you prove yourself, one remains an outcast from their peers. Whispers of demons summoned in the dormitory bathrooms. Quiet scorn for every unseasonable winter storm. Accusations of planting ideas in the dreaming minds of the sixth year cadets.

Worse, still, you could easily confirm their suspicions if they only had the courage to ask.

During a field exercise, Tepet Vimah had a simple question she wanted answered: How was Mnemon Ibara walking, after Vimah struck her unconscious with a bolt of lightning during the prior night's practical exam?

Academic curiosity, nothing more! But the Mnemon sisters demanded a boon in exchange for their secrets. What could be more valuable than a debt from the Witch of the Fourth Legion?

[theonyxpath]

A great month for Exalted fans!

Mage: The Ascension: Gods & Monsters (PDF/print)

Exalted: Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought (PDF/print)

Exalted: Hundred Devils Night Parade part 24: White Robe (PDF)

Merch

Air Aspect (journal)

Earth Aspect (journal)

Fire Aspect (journal)

Water Aspect (journal)

Wood Aspect (journal)

House Cathak (journal)

House Cynis (journal)

House Iselsi (journal)

House Ledaal (journal)

House Mnemnon (journal)

House Nellens (journal)

House Peleps (journal)

House Ragara (journal)

House Sessus (journal)

House Tepet (journal)

House V’neef (journal)

Kickstarter

The Contagion Chronicle Kickstarter ended with $76,202 of our $50,000 goal, or 152%, with 1530 backers. We’ve hit a lucky 13 stretch goals, including:

Contagion Player’s Companion: Supplement containing crossover interaction rules. “Death,” “War,” “Famine,” “Pestilence.”

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks: Additional locations and Contagion manifestations. “Alarming Outings,” “Deadly Jaunts,” “Fatal Forays,” “Perilous Tours,” “Hazardous Treks.”

Kickstarter backer T-shirt

New Contagion Scout tier

New Plague Bearer tier

Contagion Chronicle Digital Wallpaper

Coming next to Kickstarter: Pirates of Pugmire!

Did you miss one of our previous Kickstarters? The following Kickstarted products are still open for preorders via BackerKit:

Dystopia Rising: Evolution: Dystopia Rising: Evolution rulebook

They Came from Beneath the Sea!: They Came from Beneath the Sea! rulebook

Trinity Continuum: Trinity Continuum (core rules and Trinity Continuum: Æon)

Exalted: Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought

Vampire: The Masquerade: V5 Chicago by Night

Chronicles of Darkness: Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2

Geist: The Sin-Eaters: Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition

Community Spotlight

The following community-created content for Scarred Lands has been added to the Slarecian Vault in the last month:

Consumed

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The following community-created content for Realms of Pugmire has been added to Canis Minor in the last month:

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell

[tophatofdoom]

I’ve got a bunch of exalted lore under the cut.

Pillar is a small Tepet satrapy on the coast of the far southern scavenger lands. Wedged between the far more profitable satrapy of Jiara to the south and Thorns to the north, Pillar is a satrapy in threat. While the Mask of Winter's attention is mostly north, toward Lookshy and Marukhan, House Tepet has chosen to withdraw most of its troops back to the blessed isle to protect the house's threatened stat, but doubled the taxes on lumber, Pillar's main export, to support the cost of re-raising the damaged house legions. To the south, Jiara is in open rebellion against the empire, House Mnemon, who has not committed in force to putting the rebellion down. 

Pillar's only major settlement is the eponymous city, so named for the First Age pillar base at the center of town, which the locals believe it magically protects the town, a belief the satrap, and the handful of imperial sorcerers who have examined it have dismissed. Pillar's satrap Yusuf Mhammadov maintains power now by playing the various lumber barons against each other, and their jockeying for position is played out less in the markets now and more in the lumberyards with mercenaries. No one is willing to commit fully to a civil trade war, and endanger this year's tithe, returning the realm's attention to the satrapy, but Satrap Yusuf isn't a clever enough man to keep playing the barons off each other forever. 

Brassleaf, the cultivated tree of the region, makes for poor lumber and and poor tinder, but when dried (a ten-year proccess) produces a powerful psychedelic smoke, beloved in pleasure houses for hundreds of imperial miles around. So much of the arable land has been given over to its production that the province largely relies on its few barley fields and food imported from Khirighast and Jiara. In past years, Thorns and the fields of the river province also shipped grain by the talent to Pilar, but with the fall of Thorns, this trade has been strangled, with few traders willing to bargain with the Mask taking a higher tax than guild silver.

The forest people, as the Pilarites and their lumber crews (mainly slave labor, purchased through the guild (which technically doesn't operate in the province, but individual guild merchant princes have set up shop in the region to meet the needs of the region for coffee, qat, marijuana and slaves)) call them have stepped up their raids on the frontier with increased coordination. In the east, their war drums beat nightly. At their head, a fearsome anathema, fresh off beating off a Wyld Hunt dispatched from Gloam. The forest people, Mizrakhan, in their own dialect, have always lived in the forests east of Pillar, worshipping different petty forest gods and fighting amongst each other for foraging spaces, when they aren't raiding lumber parties for their blasphemous logging. The god of the eastern forest, White Sūsanalun, has remained neutral in the Mizrakhis conflict with Pilar’s lumber crews, appreciating the sacrifices he demands from the loggers too much to intercede for the Mizrakhis who have worshipped him above the lesser wood gods for generations.

Recently, an anathema, Kampandze Khan, has united the tribes against the lumber crews, quieting the lesser forest gods. White Sūsanalun is curiously quiet when it comes to Kampandze, refusing to condemn the anathema when confronted by Immaculate priest, but swearing a binding oath never to aid the anathema king.

Kampandze is a hulk of a man, standing some eight feet tall, and almost as wide at the shoulder, but he moves with a pantherlike grace through the trees. When the wild hunt came for him, Kampandze lead them on a protracted battle through the woods, picking off individual dynasts as the hunting party struggled to follow him through the thick trees and ferns. In the end, the anathema stood victorious, the hunting party either dead or lost in the woods. They say Kampandze is not only a brilliant warrior and stategist, but also a brilliant diplomat and that behind his tattooed brow hides an incredible intellect. Fresh off escaping his pursuers, they say he has grown even bolder, unafraid of retaliation.

[shiftingpath]

finally got around to drawing Manus’ spouse Tepet Niruz! the Hand of Towersong’s Clockwork Empire and its Sky Admiral and future head of House Tepet (possibly Emprex). the two of them are a deadly and ambitious team and i adore them. Niruz is a canon character from the 3rd Ed DB book and as soon as I read about them I turned to my GM to demand I get to marry them. job well done.