Jupiter

Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets

Motivation: Ensure the preservation of all knowledge for the time it must be known.

The Maiden of Secrets is the most taciturn of the five sisters, perhaps to an unhealthy degree. Secrecy is more than Jupiter’s watchword. Secrecy is her obsession, and she pursues it to the point of paranoid madness. The exact scope of Jupiter’s insight is itself a secret. Some say that she knows every fact in Creation that is not generally known—making her virtually omniscient. While such boundless awareness seems improbable, even for an Incarna, Jupiter does hold dominion over wisdom and learning, spycraft and thievery, stealth and misdirection. Assassins venerate Jupiter as well as her sister Saturn, particularly when they fear capture. Whatever the limits of Jupiter’s knowledge, however, her insights avail her little—the Maiden of Secrets cannot bear to see her most arcane secrets revealed, no matter what benefits she might reap by the revelation.

• Jupiter appears as a woman on the cusp of middle age, the oldest of her siblings, but still young and vital. She invariably wears green clothing (the color associated with savants and sages). She carries a measuring rod that measures the length of threads in the Loom of Fate and so predicts the lifespans of mortal beings. Mortals and even younger Exalted say that coming under Jupiter’s gaze feels like standing naked in front of a vast jeering crowd.
• When Jupiter directly involves herself in the Bureau’s activities, her instructions are often cryptic to the point of incomprehensibility. Her Chosen suspect she occasionally abuses her position by ordering the murder of some mortal savant on the verge of returning lost lore of the First Age to widespread circulation. Getting anything from Jupiter invariably must be done in secret, and requires a pledge to hide some piece of information so it shall never be known.
• Apocryphal legend has it that alone among the Maidens, Jupiter once had no dominion, but simply existed as the caretaker of her sisters. One day she happened upon a terrible Primordial behemoth in the frigid lands near the Elemental Pole of Air, set to guard all the secrets in Creation. She posited to the beast that she knew a secret it did not. Scoffing, the beast answered her with a challenge, proclaiming that its mastery of all things hidden was perfect and complete. She asked it what the nature of her divine domain might be. The beast opened its maw, and no answer came forth. Flustered, it retreated to its cave, and began to rummage through all the secrets in Creation and beyond, discarding them over its shoulder as it went. Jupiter calmly stood outside the cave, picking up each secret as it was cast out into the snow. Finally, when the cave was empty, the beast slumped back outside to admit defeat—but the Maiden was no longer there.
• When asked about the veracity of this tale, Jupiter simply smiles, as is her way.
• Jupiter is the oldest of the Maidens, and her looks reflect that, if only slightly. Seemingly on the cusp of middle age, Jupiter radiates maturity, experience and mystique. Her all-knowing air and her distracted demeanor work together to arouse a subtle provocation in the hearts (and bodies) of those who see her. Having no end of suitors, the Maiden of Secrets is the eternal focus of intrigue and obsession throughout Yu-Shan. Yet none can allege to have claimed her hand, for Jupiter knows how much value there is in withholding herself as an unattainable secret.
• Jupiter wears multi-layered robes of white, emerald and jade, through which unknown things slither and leap just beneath the surface. Affixed to her skirts are hundreds of keys that seal away some of the world’s greatest secrets, even from her mind, so that she cannot be forced to reveal them. Her hair (also green) is typically adorned with dozens of tiny bells. These she once used to call the other Maidens, when they were still children. Now that they are grown, the bells serve another purpose, announcing the approach of her sisters. When Mercury approaches, the bells of Jupiter either jingle like sleigh-bells or ring like the bells of naval ships and dinghies. When Venus is close, they have the peal of wedding bells, and when Mars is imminent they ring with the sound of hammer on anvil. When Saturn draws nigh, the bells of Jupiter toll like somber iron funerary bells, striking terror into those to whom Jupiter is paying a visit.

Jupiter is widely worshiped by scavenger lords who entreat her to give up a portion of her secrets. She is a popular figure in Threshold artwork, and a statue of her, blindfolded and contemplating a closed book, may even be found in the entry hall of the Heptagram. Libraries are often decorated in shades of dark green intended to mollify the Maiden of Secrets and prevent her from growing wroth at the idea of so much information being offered so freely. More unexpectedly, she is also widely worshiped by pirates. The Lintha in particular make lavish yearly sacrifices while asking that she keep the secret routes through the sargasso sea around Bluehaven from falling into the hands of theirenemies. Lesser freebooters also attempt to propitiate her in the hopes that their buried loot and hidden ports will not be uncovered.

Relationships

Jupiter has stayed neutral in the tense cold war between her two siblings - as least, as far as anyone is aware. Perhaps because she knows of something much worse, outside the Eight Nations, that threatens mortals. Or perhaps she knows how that will play out. No one really knows how far her domain stretches, and she would certainly never say. However, if she knew of a Fiend on the Gunstar, her interest might be piqued, and she might very well trade some information for secrets of the modern Spiral.

The Forbidding Manse of Ivy (The Division of Secrets)

The Forbidding Manse of Ivy is well named—the building looms over visitors as if challenging their right to approach. Externally, the Manse looks like a circular building of enormous size, more than 200 feet tall and twice as wide—a plan similar to that of some First Age public libraries, although much larger. White marble columns 10 feet wide surround the building and support it. Dark green ivy covers most of the building. Persistent rumors state that writhing tentacles of ivy will tear apart anyone who dares to attack the Manse. Another legend about the edifice explains why no one has put the first tale to a test—supposedly, anyone who plans to attack the Forbidding Manse of Ivy will be unable to find it.

As huge as the Manse looks from the outside, it is actually much bigger on the inside—larger than most cities in Creation. The Division of Secrets keeps records on quite literally every fact ever recorded. Actually finding a particular piece of information is a daunting task, as the librarian gods who maintain the division’s seemingly infinite records vaults require copious paperwork before allowing anyone access to the relevant files, and it is nearly impossible to find anything in the records department without the aid of a librarian. Some files, such as those providing the true names of Third Circle demons, are so restricted that a querent needs a requisition countersigned by the Maiden of Secrets herself.

The Personnel of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy

• Nara-O invariably manifests as a being of indeterminate gender, completely draped in voluminous robes of blue and gray that cover every part of its body. It speaks in a soft whisper that could be that of a man, a woman or even a child. No one knows what Nara-O looks like under its robes. Some Seers suggest that its true form is impossibly beautiful or unspeakably ugly. At the moment, the most popular theory is that Nara-O has no true form at all: if Nara-O’s robes of concealment were stripped away, nothing would remain.
• Nara-O’s principal subordinates all stay relatively loyal—the cryptic deity frightens them too much for them to consider betraying it. After all, treason must begin in the heart... known only the traitor himself and, therefore, by Nara-O. Nevertheless, its lieutenants do have their own agendas.
• The Oracles of the Division of Secrets are among the most learned beings in Creation, if not always the most wise. These peerless savants and sorcerers of the Five-Score Fellowship preserve a tradition of scholarship and a mastery of First Age science that has all but vanished from Creation. In the modern era, the Chosen of Jupiter are among the most skilled sorcerers extant. Most Oracles also possess an encyclopedic knowledge of history, philosophy and First Age craftsmanship, and they are unquestionably the best astrologers among the Five-Score Fellowship.
• Modern Oracles not only keep secrets, they excel at ferreting them out. Often, this means going places where other Sidereals might fear to tread: the Wyld, the Underworld, even the Yozi Realm. Such places exist beyond the gaze of Sidereal astrology. If the Sidereals want to know what goes on there and how it might threaten Creation, then the Chosen of Jupiter must lead the mission.
• Sidereal fieldwork requires secrecy, stealth and deception, so Oracles are always useful. Oracles often receive direct command of missions that involve the dissemination of secret information, new discoveries or recovered wonders of the First Age. Missions likely to interact with denizens of the Wyld, the dead or with powerful Essence users also typically call for the presence of a Chosen of Jupiter.