Gunstar

Overview

• “With the underlying sickness treated, the Exalted have all of Autochthonia in which to work their will. Souls of Autochthon are brought into experimental complexes for analysis and alteration, reshaping them to enact the progress of Autochthon towards his final form. The most dramatic changes come from the execution of souls within the recombination arrays, as when the Divine Minister Ku was slain to cleanse the Maker of his fears and doubts. The vast majority of operations, however, are more subtle. A war-deva might have synthetic cerebellum implants grafted onto its cortex to subtly differentiate Autochthon’s strategic thought processes, while a stubbornly pacifistic exmachina might have its personality resculpted through mind-altering Charms. After millennia of operation, almost every significant exmachina has received at least minor fine-tuning in the laboratories of the Lawgivers.
• Aside from these metaphysical changes, the Exalted have physically altered the Great Maker, grafting powerful artifact-organs onto his living body to facilitate and empower his transformation. The Primordial’s outer hull bristles with Essence artillery and siege-artifacts installed by the Exalted, the almighty Realm Defense Grid. Essence turbines in Hadal draw power out of the Elemental Pole of Crystal to empower this divine arsenal, giving it power enough to demolish entire planets. Within his world-jouten, expedition crews headed by Lunar shikari have ventured into the furthest Reaches of Autochthonia carrying vast motonic machinery, installing them directly into the Maker’s body as prosthetic enhancements. A synthetic nervous system of starmetal circuitry spreads throughout the Reaches, while a massive pumping facility installed in the Pole of Smoke dumps countless tons of theocarcinogenic smoke into Elsewhere every day. A pulsating sphere of orichalcum and moonsilver the size of a small moon revolves in a narrow orbit around the Elemental Pole of Crystal, a second heart beating alongside Autochthon’s own.”
• “Soon, whether in a thousand years or a single century, the transformation of Autochthon will be complete, finalized with a single decisive alteration to his fetich-core. Out of the Great Maker’s husk will emerge the Gunstar, the greatest sword ever seized in the hands of the Exalted. When that day comes, the titans will weep.”
• “Jade-lined vaults in every metropolis house heaped-up slabs of the magical materials, mined from both the body of the Great Maker and from metal-rich planetoids encountered in the Gunstar’s flight. Impossible treasures and exotic prodigies shaped from the prismatic haze of Wyld nebulae fuel the tireless progress of Exalted artificers, allowing potent treasures and supernal weapons to be forged en masse in defense of Autochthonia. Miracles of industrial artifice are commonplace for the Realm’s citizens, from the Gates of Auspicious Passage that link distant cities to the comforting silo-spires of the Immaculate Dragon Aeries, forward bases of the Gunstar Defense Line. And above all, the Realm has the personal power of hundreds of Celestial Exalted and hundreds of thousands of Dragon-Blooded, all working together for a single purpose.”
• “Populat workers manufacture voidfighter gunships in Estasian munitions factories and excavate veins of magical materials from alien planets. Soldiers drawn from the Militat serve under the Exalted in the ranks of the Deliberative Army and the Void Hunt, risking their lives to protect the Realm. Administrators of the Olgotory act as bureaucrats and local planners, answering to each nation-district’s Dragon-Blooded governor and implementing laws, regulations, and schedules passed down from the Deliberative. The Theomachry sees to matters of morale, history, and dogma, devoting as much time to maintenance of state-sanctioned Exalted cults as it does to the worship of the Great Maker. The Sodalities compete with one another for the choicest of resources, but the Realm’s constant war footing leaves no room for jealous hoarding. Their technical know-how keeps lights lit and engines humming, allowing all of Autochthonia’s citizens a degree of safety and comfort in the darkness of the Maker’s body. Hard work has its rewards; dutiful laborers of even the lowest social caste can expect enough living space to comfortably house them and their families, ample allocations of food, access to essential magitech amenities, medical treatment, public entertainment, and more.”
• “Medical alchemy provides remedies and cures for almost any plague or poison, while the policing of the Alchemical Exalted and the Regulators keeps crime to a bare minimum. Advances in magitech infrastructure and Municipal Charm development have diminished the risk of industrial hazards in the workplace. But while the Exalted have solved many of the problems facing Autochthonian mortals, new perils have appeared in their absence. Massive geomantic grids can provide power to entire cities, but system failure results in nation-wide blackouts that can last for days. Advanced industrial machinery and labor automatons have removed much of the risk to human life from mining and manufacturing, but reliance upon these technologies makes their breakdowns all the more disastrous. Even when they work in the shadow of the great Solar god-engines, mortals must still contend with mechanical failures, industrial dangers, and grinding hours of labor.”
• “It is written on the first line of the Tome of the Great Maker and upon the walls of the Solar Deliberative that not all could be saved, that even the Sun’s Chosen were unable to deliver the whole of humanity or the Chosen from the Primordials. Under the burden of their ancient failure, they have committed to their plan of reclamation with unwavering conviction. . . . The Sun’s Chosen do not make their hard decisions and necessary sacrifices with callous detachment, but neither do they let their tears blind them to the greater purpose they pursue.”
• “Humanity is not the only race in exile. While mortal and Exalted humans make up nearly the entirety of the Autochthonian Realm’s populace, its cities are also home to gods, exmachina, renegade deva, and the last surviving Dragon Kings. A small enclave of gods holds court in the Palace of the Maidens, those who survived the wrath of the Primordials in the last days of the War. These gods are not worshipped directly by the mortal peoples of the Realm, but instead receive tithes of Essence from the prayers made unto the Exalted. In exchange, they serve the Solar Deliberative, granting their blessings and boons. Lytek labors tirelessly over the Celestial Exaltations in his sanctum-laboratory, while the goddess Wun Ja casts her auspices upon the Municipal Charms that form the basis of the Realm’s infrastructure. The Rat Avatar oversees the progress of the Scurrying Nation, a nomadic kingdom of talking rats that has spent centuries mapping out the crawlspaces and narrow passageways of the Reaches on behalf of the Deliberative.
• The Divine Ministers also attend the meetings of this court, representing the Great Maker and his pantheon. While these supreme exmachina have cooperated with the Solar Deliberative since its inception, they do not trust the Sun’s Chosen. Ku’s empty throne stands as a testament to the lengths to which the Exalted will go to achieve their aims, and each of the Ministers fears that his execution might one day be deemed a necessary sacrifice. Beside them are the rebel deva, spirits who rose up against their Primordials in defiance. While these renegade souls were welcomed aboard the Gunstar in recognition of their war heroism, they have never fully escaped the suspicion that comes with their Primordial descent. Most keep to seclusion, save for a few confidantes among the gods or Sidereal Exalted.
• While the divinities keep to their abode in the Palace of the Maidens, the Dragon Kings live amidst humanity. Once the mightiest and most honored of the races made by the Primordials, the Dragon Kings have fallen far, brought to the break of extinction by the wrath of the Shining Tyrant. Now, they linger on by the benevolence of the Exalted. Most keep to dedicated environments in the arcologies of Nurad, dwelling amid ziggurats and great monuments built in imitation of their lost home planet. A few have made homes in Hadal, living alongside the Exalted. While some have found membership in the Void Hunt or the Deliberative Army, little is expected of them by the Exalted. Most Solars look at the Dragon Kings as a race already broken by their ordeals, and see little use in pushing them further. Whether this is compassion or condescension, this attitude is almost universal in the Deliberative.”

• “The Gunstar Defense Line is the largest branch of the Solar Deliberative’s military forces, more than doubling every other branch combined in numbers. Its void-pilots risk their lives flying interdiction for the Gunstar, keeping demonic invaders from swarming into Autochthonia and holding infernal battleships at bay. Maintaining a barricade against any enemy that can approach from any direction in three-dimensional space would be next to impossible, but the powerful weaponry of the Realm Defense Grid mounted on the Gunstar’s hull forces invaders to approach through narrow blind spots to avoid obliteration, giving the Defense Line a clear field of battle to hold. Every metropolis that could be assailed through one of these blind spots has its own posting of the Gunstar Defense Line, operating out of the silo-spire of an Immaculate Dragon Aerie, a combined forward base, hangar and barracks. Within the Aerie’s black walls, its Dragon-Blooded pilots lead a life of constant training and vigilance. Flight drills, combat simulations, and tactical training are carried out using the Realm’s most advanced technology, from memory crystal uplinks to vaults of woven dreams. Stimulant drugs keep them awake and functional on only a few hours of sleep. When the clarions sound, the voidfighters move out in seconds.
• A council of five Solar generals appointed by the Deliberative leads the Gunstar Defense Line, overseeing campaigns across the entire Realm. Reporting directly to them are the brigadiers, who head the Defense Line’s operations in a single metropolis. Most are Solars, although especially skilled or elder Dragon-Blooded may also receive brigadier postings. Beneath these are a sprawling hierarchy of Terrestrial officer ranks. While the vast majority of pilots are Dragon-Blooded, other Exalted also serve in the ranks. Lunars on the Line are among its most devastating aces. Luna’s Chosen have no need of gunships, shapeshifting into deadly battle-forms in which to grapple and crush demons and behemoths. Some Alchemicals also see service on the Line as the best way to protect the mortals they champion, using their technomorphic Charms to integrate themselves into their voidfighter ships—or, like some Colossi, transforming themselves into living warships. With only the rarest exceptions, Sidereals are too few and too fragile to risk in direct combat. Instead, they act as tactical analysts and intelligence operatives, coordinating the operations of voidfighter squadrons through telepathic links and prescient insight—throughout the history of the Gunstar Defense Line, only three Sidereals have ever served as combat pilots.
• While the Gunstar Defense Line patrols the void for external threats, the Deliberative Army stands against those from within, a legion of augmented mortal soldiers under Dragon-Blooded captains. Every advancement in Realm military technology has been put to use preparing these soldiers for a second Primordial War: anagathic treatments, power armor, mutation regimens, Essence-enlightening thaumaturgy, martial sorcery, and more. When demonic invasions, exmachina incursions, or civil war threaten the cities of the Eight Nations, it is the Deliberative Army that marches to put them down. But for all its training, augmentation, and preparedness drills, the Deliberative Army has been relegated to small-scale incursions and planetary expeditions, denied the chance to take the fight to the Primordials. Centuries of constant drill, ceremony, and technological advancement might keep its mortal members content, but even they are starting to feel restless—to say nothing of the demigods who have spent centuries preparing for the Second Primordial War. The Army’s leadership chomps at its bit, pushing for any opportunity to deploy its forces. Voidfighter pilots often dismiss the Army as a legion of layabouts, drilling with flashy weapons while the Gunstar Defense Line fights the forces of the Primordials face-to-face. Deliberative soldiers, in turn, see Defense Line pilots as arrogant hot-shots who expect the Army to clean up their mistakes.”
• The Gunstar routinely pulls in magic material-rich asteroids, which sometimes contain dangerous animal and plant life for miners.
  • “Chthonic horrors flail spined, venomous tentacles at miners unlucky enough to unseal their cavernous tombs, while biolumenescent fungi can strand mortals in a hypnotic daze until they starve to death. Such horrors are collectively called the Darkbrood, and their discovery spurs swift responses from the Alchemical Exalted or the shikari of the Void Hunt. “
• Sometimes, they stumble upon full planets, which they stop and mine. Occasionally these are housed by intelligent life, but the Deliberative cares not as they stripmine to fund the war effort.
  • “Some rare few of these worlds are populated by intelligent life: the jewel-skinned Sephoi, the many-bodied Jathorn swarms, the living islands of the Nanithoi Dominion.”
• Twilights have started shaping Wyldstorms into ideal planetoids, though they are also infested with raksha. And perhaps, just perhaps, the Wyldstorms themselves are sentient.
• Though a hotbed of political intrigue, more dangerous than the bureaucratic wars of Hadal are threats of direct treason or civil war.
  • “The Sidereal known as Ten Stars, driven to insanity by something he’d seen in the outer dark, tried to warp the Samkhya Heresy Protocols within the Loom, turning it into a beacon for the Primordials’ armies. The shadow war between Priest-King Moh and his No Moon nemesis, Nadika, almost flared hot when Moh’s mate accused Nadika of infernalism. It took the collected might of the Deliberative to pry the two rivals away from each other’s throats.”
• Yet most often, the source is a champion. Not five centuries into the Deliberative, the Adamant case Harbringer of the Golden Engine stood in revolt, establishing a base of power in over three metropoli and demanding Estasia be allowed to secede. This was brought short by a young Changing Moon called Ma-Ha-Suchi, using the Champion's compassion to kill him. And yet, Alchemicals still to this day feel the plight of humanity more than any others, and are carefully watched by the Deliberative because of it.

Hadal

(Centropolis, Orichalcum caste)

• “From the Centropolis of Hadal, the Solar Deliberative presides over the Eight Nations, overseeing both the constant defense of Autochthonia and the plans for their vengeful return to the Spiral.”
• “The Deliberative divides the Autochthonian Realm into eight administrative nation-districts, each of them built around one of the ancient metropoli that were the first cities raised by the Exalted Host. At the conflux of these Eight Nations is the Centropolis of Hadal, the elder city of orichalcum that sits atop the Elemental Pole of Crystal like a shining crown. Amid the sprawling factory-complexes and Charm-engines of the city’s municipal infrastructure is the mile-high dome of gold and black basalt where the Solar Deliberative convenes to rule. The Deliberative’s control radiates out from the dome through realm-spanning systems of technology. Hologlyphic projection relays transmit the oratories and proclamations of Celestial senators to crystalline display screens in every city of the Autochthonian Realm, while the world-moving machinery of the theotechtonic navigation grid sets the drift of Autochthon’s continent-organs in the order ordained by the Exalted. Artificial dragon lines channel elemental Essence from the Pole of Crystal to empower the Realm Defense Grid built by the Exalted, and the stolen Loom of Fate that sits at the pinnacle of Hadal.”
• A moonsilver cathedral waits to house Luna, Gaia, and the humans and Dragon-Blooded they saved on Gnosis, should they ever be found. The Deliberative is confident they will be potent allies for ending the war. I'm not so sure myself!

People of Note

Narikon: General of the Gunstar Defense Line, Dawn caste

• Dragged into Autochthon by his Lunar mate, he remembers the war and has the personal drive and temper to keep the Gunstar in its state of war, seeing any slack as insubordination in wartime. He is one of five generals of the Gunstar Defensive Line, and the only to remember the war.
• Narikon savors skirmishes against his ancient foes - taunting the Sun away from the Gunstar in his Voidfighter Undaunted Sunrise, or diving into the World-Engulfing Maw's gullet, enduring the inferno inside and cleaving the behemoth's heart in two.
• “Extensive magitech augmentations have honed Narikon’s body into an even deadlier fighting machine. His arm-mounted beamklave armature has been the last thing more than one Infernal has seen, and when one of the Empyreal Chaos’ minions tore out his eye, he had it replaced with a miniaturized Essence cannon. The least Narikon can do is to remake himself for the coming war, just as his fellow Chosen are remolding the Great Maker. Next time, the Dawn vows, things will be very different.”

Raanei: Empyrean Astrogator, Twilight caste

• Raanei plots the course of the Gunstar with her legendary mathematical acumen, eluding the Daystar by navigating the Gunstar through a cluster of stellar vortices by plotting the course in her head within her first century of her job. A senior Twilight, she holds tremendous authority but rarely uses it, and is generally known by the public by her cheerful face, though she's rarely seen outside of official functions.
• “Raanei spends hours each day dangling in a simulated void, plotting out a course on thin adamant filaments. She’s also one of the few Exalted with the authority to consult with the Magnus; over the past few centuries, they’ve come to know each other well, though Raanei doesn’t dare let down her guard around him. Conversation with the elder Twilight is one of the few pleasures she has left—he’s left his mark on her, but it is nothing compared to what the crush of years has done to her.”
• Underneath it all, Raanei is tired of running and hiding, of the struggles and the losses. She sees no hope in returning to the Spiral, instead hoping the Deliberative has a future among the stars, with the Gunstar acting as a defense to a multi-planet

The Magnus: you can trust me, Twilight caste

• “His cell is carved into the Elemental Pole of Crystal, trapped beneath miles of diamond and adamant. Glyphs of binding and sorcerous wards line the walls of his cell, drawing untold power from the geomantic infrastructure of Hadal to ensure that the arch-sorcerer cannot escape with one of his countless spells. An artificial blight zone opens into his prison, draining every last breath of Essence from him. It is not enough. Even with these precautions, the escape of the Magnus has been prevented only through the combined efforts of the Solar Deliberative. The renegade Twilight Caste is supremely intelligent, undauntedly bold, cunning, charismatic, brilliantly creative—and also dangerous. In the past, his superhuman intellect has served the Realm well. He designed the theurgic rituals used in reshaping the Great Maker’s soul hierarchy, and played a crucial role in convincing the Great Maker to grant the secrets of sorcery to the Chosen. But as centuries went by, his plans grew in both ambition and madness. He blinded the eyes of the cosmic scorpion Ishiika and sent it into battle against the Tyrant Sun, darkened a thousand stars to conceal the Gunstar from pursuing Primordials, and even sought to trap the Silent Wind in a giant prayer-mill to serve as a power source.”
• “In spite of all this, the Deliberative still needs the Magnus. His understanding of Primordial metaphysics, motonic science, and esoteric sorcery is unrivaled, making him often the only one capable of solving impassable obstacles in the theurgic modification of Autochthon or catastrophic failures of the Gunstar’s magitech infrastructure. His solutions have never failed in all his centuries of imprisonment, though they often have their own catastrophic consequences, forcing his jailers to return and seek further advice from him. A geomantic grid recalibrated to his specifications may restore power to blacked-out sectors of the Realm Defense Grid, but its new Essence signature draws wild exmachina and destroyers out from the Reaches. Executing one of Autochthon’s exmachina on the Magnus’s orders might advance the process of theurgic transformation by years, but it will also cause Realm-wide earthquakes as the Great Maker’s body shudders in agony. The Deliberative has long since made the connection between the Magnus’s plans and their unforeseen outcomes, but his insights are simply too valuable to cease dealing with him.
• In conversation with his captors, the Magnus is composed, cultured, and often witty. He enjoys keeping up on the Realm’s culture and intellectual discourse, often asking his interrogators to recite the aria from the latest Gulaki opera, explain the particulars of a new philosophical movement, or to keep him up to date on current events. He favors those who do, rewarding them with advice and boons that seem to carry no adverse consequences. But his genial demeanor doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. He is an analytical genius, comprehending the entirety of his interrogators’ personal histories and psychological complexities before even the first word is spoken. His speech is laced with latent suggestions and hypnotic compulsions, the potent mental coercion of Charms he has had centuries to develop. Not even the powerful mental defenses of the Solar Exalted are a guarantee of safety against him, for the Magnus is a master of making offers that his captors will not want to resist, embedding his escape plans and complex agendas in their own desires and ambitions. Most do not ever realize they have been compromised by him, and those who do rarely comprehend the extent of his influence.”

Theophant Wotch:

• Exalted merely three years ago, after leading his surveyor co-workers to survival after a disaster. Barely over twenty, he houses a radical plot in his heart, believing the salvation of humanity is only possible with the Unconquered Sun back on their side. But he is young, and he needs allies – The Viator of Nullspace might be one, he thinks.
• (MIGHT be stationed/living in Kadar still instead of Hadal, hard to tell!)

Crown of Gold: Eclipse caste

• “Crown of Gold was a Plutocrat before her Exaltation, a hundred years ago. Her rise through the ranks of the Chosen has been meteoric; she’s one of the Deliberative’s most brilliant economic strategists, and years of tutelage by her fellows have honed her acumen into a powerful instrument of efficiency. Though still young by Exalted standards, the Eclipse has become a force to be reckoned with. She’s one of a handful of Chosen with the authority to set quotas and timetables for all of Autochthonia. This gives her broad, far-ranging authority over her society, including the plans of many of her fellows. Crown’s blessing can ensure that a project goes ahead, and her ire can ensure that it dies before it even gets off the ground.”
• She also moves Chosen around based on their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences so that when disaster strikes, a new circle stands ready, even if they do not realize it. Often times these circles stick around, and only rarely do things go wrong – but sometimes they do.

Bauri of Shadows: Night caste

• Once a Moonsilver Colossus, “[t]he Solar was every bit as heroic as his predecessor, and soon made a name for himself as an infiltrator. After half a century of assassination and espionage, Bauri has become a spymaster in his own right—he controls a ring of operatives that spans the Octet. He’s humble, professional, and quiet, but this masks the man’s inner turmoil.”
• Bauri's husband, Perfected Calculus, went Apostate, and he hopes to bring him back himself, or bring him down himself.

The Shining Bodhisattva: Eclipse caste

• The first Eclipse exalted after the exodus, “[a]s the burning euphoria of Solar Exaltation flowed through her body and soul, she saw a vision of the Sun, his noble countenance twisted with hatred. The Tyrant Sun stared into her with eyes like twin stars, and mouthed the words of a terrible promise: “I am coming for you.” The Bodhisattva’s eyes were burned to ash and cinders, blinding her, and soon after the Daystar came baying after the fleeing Gunstar. As if it were a brilliant beacon against the night-black sky, the Bodhisattva’s Exaltation had called out to the Tyrant Sun, revealing the Gunstar despite all its defenses.
• In the aftermath, as the Solar Deliberative struggled to recover from the Daystar’s first devastating assault, the Shining Bodhisattva was overcome by a horrific guilt that has defined her to this day. Almost immediately, she began working to strengthen the Gunstar’s defenses against the Tyrant Sun, laboring with the Sidereal Exalted to encode the Samkhya Heresy Protocols into the Loom of Fate, an impervious ward against prayer. So long as the Protocols stand, the betrayer Sun cannot sense the Exaltation to seek out his Chosen, nor can the titans hear the heretical prayers offered up by traitors within Autochthonia.
• In the millennia since, the Shining Bodhisattva has ascended to the upper echelons of the Solar Deliberative, securing a role of prominence by dint of age and a fanatical enmity against the Tyrant Sun. Even as an elder, she refuses any healing that would restore her eyesight, bearing the burnt-out sockets like a badge of honor. She has spent untold years studying the psychology and metaphysics of the Unconquered Sun, exploiting his every flaw and shortcoming to secure the Gunstar Defense Line against incursions by the Daystar. Her favored stratagem is to stare into the face of the Sun, taunting him with empathic missives that force him to either abandon the Gunstar in pursuit of her, or to spurn his Valor and the awful might of his Godspear. Such a tactic is tantamount to suicide, but her hatred for the Tyrant Sun long since surpassed any fear of death she might have felt.”

Leviathan: Admiral, Full Moon caste

• “Not ten months into his tenure as the captain of the scoutship Far Moonrise, Leviathan single-handedly destroyed one of Kimbery’s swarms by luring it into a Wyld-nebula thick with raksha. The tactic was unorthodox, experimental, and insane—and it set the tone for the Admiral’s career. The wily Full Moon has made a name for himself by taking risks no one else would, and staring down odds that would make other Chosen go pale in the face. Stories of Admiral Leviathan’s exploits are the grist for countless popular novels; broadcast programs feature audio dramas of his encounters with things out in the void. Though as fearsome a foe as any of his brethren, Leviathan is also magnetic and charismatic, a trait he puts to good use in his leadership of the Gunstar’s Expeditionary Fleet. His crews would die for him, and he would die for them, in turn—and both put their all into ensuring that neither outcome happens. More than once, he’s thrown himself from an airlock, assumed the form of an interstellar horror, and savaged the monsters attacking his ship. Leviathan has hunted some of the deadliest creatures of the cosmos, and he’s all too happy to turn their forms against the Gunstar’s pursuers.”
• However, he knows the worlds and inhabitants the Gunstar leaves barren in its wake, breaking his heart as he does his duty.
• “Leviathan has seen them in person—he’s heard the heartbreaking greeting-song of the Motlani, and seen the mind-shattering complexity of the hive-thoughts of the Lok’thul. He’s taken outsiders as friends, mentors, students, and lovers—and all have been lost to the aeons, along with their worlds.”

Ni Zhang:

• A great martial artist who accepts only the best students who prove themselves through heroics – or blackmail him with proof that once a season he summons his demon lover Mara for sparring and loving.

Righteous Sage Bride: Chosen of Serenity

• Some view love as a luxury on the Gunstar, she does not.
• “When the Lawgiver Nine Scars Lan refused to fight, stricken with grief over the death of his family, she matched him with his long-suffering Sidereal lieutenant, whose heart burned with secret love for him. When a pair of Twilights threatened to kill each other over their pet engineering projects, Righteous Sage Bride helped them see how much they had in common—and how union in marriage would be far preferable to competition.”
• “Righteous Sage Bride can see the invisible cracks running through her society like spider-webs—Chosen driven to extremes through grief, stress, or simple hubris; familial and work relationships strained to the breaking point by the harsh demands of life in wartime. The Vizier mends these cracks with a deft, steady hand, maneuvering her fellow Exalted into relationships meant to patch them.”

Unbowed Golden Advocate:

• Three thousand years ago, Advocate rose in Hadal, commissioned as a strategist. Using charisma and willpower, he was able to drive the Deliberative to rush aid with stirring testimonials, tears in his eyes. Over the years, he has grown close to those in the Deliberative, and is generally trusted. But deep in his heart, he knows that there must be another revolution – if not led by another Alchemical, then by him himself.

Also the chick that pilots the Scarlet Empress?

• She's probably actually stationed elsewhere, though.

The Spiral?

“The world that the Primordials made is known to them as the Spiral, a vast cosmology arrayed in seven coils. It is little but legend to most of Autochthonia, existing only in the memories of the Exalted. Even to most Celestials, it is remembered only as a heap of broken images—ancient, shrouded in myth, but still home. What is known is recorded in the secret scriptures of the Tome of the Great Maker. Legends of the Spiral are read aloud at the welcome banquets of the newly Exalted, and whispered to infants in their nativity creches.

• At the highest coil of the Spiral lies the abode of the titans, where the Empyreal Chaos holds court amid crystal manses and starry towers. Where the lowest coils winds to its close, the city of Black Non rises out of the crypt-bodies of the Neverborn at the place where existence ends. In the coils between hang countless worlds, shimmering jewels in the dark. It is a paradise in which any joy or horror can be found. There are worlds where violet flames burn at the edges of time, and worlds whose dreaming depths hold secrets unknown even to titans. Worlds with diamond clouds, forests of corpses, slumbering dragons, oceans of gemstone and metal. Such are the treasures await the Exalted when they finally return to reclaim their rightful thrones.
• Or at least, so say the legends.”

Threats Outside the Gunstar

• “Autochthon’s outer shell bears airlocks, vents, and scars from ancient battles—countless ways for monsters to sneak inside, should they survive the Deliberative Void Fleet. Kimbery’s Brood-Swarm optimizes its tactics for just such a purpose: while voidfighters trade Essence fire with immense carrier-beasts and swarms of winged terrors, agile transport-beasts scream through the defensive cordon and vomit horrors into Autochthon’s depths. Some are hacked apart by Destroyers or Gremlins, vaporized by thought-lightning, or dissolved in acid—but most survive to menace the people of the Octet. The Great Mother birthed them to be agents of her endless spite, and they do not disappoint.
• Many of these monsters are designed with guerilla warfare in mind—the most feared among them are the Faceless. These tainted-quicksilver horrors haunt lightless corridors, waiting; they strike like lightning, devouring their victims’ bodies and minds and wearing their skins. The merest rumor of one is enough to send the Silver Pact and its Moonsilver attachés into high alert. The Faceless are as cunning as they are spiteful, and their schemes are subtle and deadly.
• Not all infiltrators are the spawn of the Yozis. Autochthon’s body contains a wealth of resources, and some simply want to steal or use them. The oron are immense armored worm-creatures that lay their eggs in lava seas. A century ago, a pair of them bored through Autochthon’s hull in the Sovan district, and spawned; it took the better part of a year for the District’s Champions to root out the infestation. The galkak pose a different threat: these insectile crystalline creatures travel in immense swarms, and eat metal. When a galkak swarm is sighted, the Deliberative greets it with a wave of purifying Essence-flame.
• Other infiltrators have less comprehensible motives. The roshtonari are clouds of golden vapor possessed of an alien intelligence, and an undeniable urge to proselytize about their ancient faith—about their gods, whom they claim were ancient when the Spiral was young. Despite their bizarre nature, some are swayed by their arguments, and abandon their duties to live in shantytowns in the Reaches under the guidance of their strange patrons. To date, the greatest danger the roshtonari pose is their penchant for driving good workers to dereliction of duty.”
• “[T]he Primordials have long since learned to harness the power of Nirupadhika to create points in space with no intervening space between them. Anything that enters one of these tears appears instantly at whatever point colocates with the first—which could be millions of miles away. The Primordials use these gateways, called Time-scars, to deploy their troops against the Gunstar once they’ve gotten a good idea of its current location. The Time-scars are not locked against the Chosen; the young scout Asha of Journeys made her name by flying her Voidfighter through a series of Time-scars, leading her pursuers on a mad chase until they were hopelessly lost. But her journey was not without peril—she ended up barely outracing the fires of Theion, and she still sees them in her dreams.”
• “The sight of it is fearsome to behold—the Tyrant Sun and his Traitor Queen, the wrathful flames of the Daystar behind them, and ten thousand thousand lumina swarming behind them in the shadow of the Gardullis. The sheer power amassed in such assaults is devastating, and the tactical genius of the Sun has proved superior to countless Solar stratagems. It is fortunate that the Primordial Geas still restrains him from attacking Autochthon directly, or else the wayward titan would have been felled by the Godspear long ago. Instead, the Sun sets his fury against the Exalted, carving a fiery swathe through the blockade of the Defense Line so that the demonic hordes behind him may advance into Autochthonia, or fire upon the Gunstar directly. Sometimes he will follow behind the intruding swarm, entering into the body of the Great Maker to lay waste to the kingdoms of the Exalted. At other times he is content to wait just outside, denying the Exalted crucial opportunities to harvest resources or make upgrade to the Gunstar’s weaponry by his terrifying presence.
• Defeating him is no easy thing. The Solar Exalted have never once been able to deny the Sun the invulnerability of his Aegis of Unconquered Might, forcing them to rely on other tactics if they are to drive their renegade patron back. Exalts who fight through the many defenses of the Daystar and avoid its apocalyptic weaponry may strike directly against it, forcing the Sun to withdraw lest his chariot be crucially damaged. It is also possible to exploit the Sun’s Geas, wiping out his demonic allies so that he must go back to seek reinforcements. Such tactics have always been temporary measures, and have always come at great cost. A permanent victory can only come if the Tyrant Sun is forced to deny the Temperance that empower his invulnerability—but in service to his Primordial master, his loyalty seems unshakable. Some of the Exalted hope against hope that if the Radiant Corona bestowed upon the Tyrant Sun were destroyed, it would free the god from his slavery. Others ask, with tears in their eyes, how they can be sure that the Sun does not hunt them of his own free will.”
• “The Tyrant Sun has not named the exiled Exalted as creatures of darkness. Some take this as a secret sign of his enduring loyalty to the Chosen–that, even in servitude to the Shining Tyrant, the Sun cannot be made to hate those whom he and his brethren Exalted. Others see it as a show of arrogance on the part of the Primordials–what should they fear from the Holy power of the Exalted, when it holds no power over them?
• On the other hand, the Great Maker and his soul pantheon have been named creatures of darkness, making the Tyrant Sun’s Godspear a terrifying weapon against the Gunstar. None of the other Primordials or their deva are creatures of darkness (save the irredeemable Ebon Dragon), nor are the Infernal or Abyssal Exalted.”
• “[T]he Green Sun Princes, the Titanic Exalted, though they are called Infernal by their Celestial foes. Theion claimed the greatest number of these Exalted to serve as his Sovereigns, though each of the Primordial pantheon (save dread Sacheverell) were given their own Chosen. Scourges of Adorjan torment the pilots of the Gunstar Defense Line as deadly cosmic winds, while Metagaos’s Devourers lay siege by spreading festering diseases and corrupting blood rituals throughout its populace. Jheel-Khan’s Mountebanks, Elloge’s Rhapsodes, the terrifying Dements of Oramus—all these and more descend upon the Autochthonian Realm with their awful power.
• Green Sun Princes lead the attack on the Gunstar from positions of prominence, either leading ravening hordes of demons and behemoths behind them, or flying as honor guard for the Tyrant Sun. Many pilot powerful artifact ships empowered by bound devas of their Primordial patrons, derisively termed Hellstars by the pilots of the Defense Line. Others take to the fight directly, assuming monstrous battle-forms that embody the full cosmic power of the titans. A Sovereign might unleash the supernova wrath of the Universe Emperor Shintai to burn his foes to cosmic cinders, while a Chosen of Hegra might entrap voidfighters in the nightmare haze of her nebula-body. Dragon-Blooded pilots stand little chance against these Infernals in single combat, relying on cooperation and mass assaults to drive them away. When these fail, Solar aces take to the void to duel the Green Sun Princes as equals.
• Infernals who break through the Gunstar’s defensive cordon penetrate into the Autochthonian Realm, vanishing into its metropoli like shadows. Disguising their true natures with potent Charms, the Green Sun Princes act as covert agents of the Primordials, sabotaging the infrastructure of the Realm, stirring up dissent among its peoples, and stealing the plans of the Exalted. An industrial complex manufacturing magitech weaponry is destroyed in a terrorist attack, melted to a slag of magical materials in a conflagration of emerald fire. A Chosen of Serenity is murdered by the strangling hands of her own shadow before she can convince political rivals in the Deliberative to come to an accord. A ravishingly beautiful lector rises to public acclaim for his sermons and oratory, all the while poisoning the minds of his followers with dream-eating drugs and candied locusts. The Solar Deliberative is perpetually on guard for signs of Infernal subversion, engendering an infectious paranoia in the minds of some Exalted. Night Castes walk on a constant watch throughout the cities of their Eight Nations, flanked by Adamant Castes and Lunar shikari. Sidereals spend long hours poring over the records of the Loom of Fate, trying to find the tell-tale anomalies of Infernal intervention. When a Green Sun Prince is found, the forces of the Realm mobilize through Gateways of Auspicious Passage, sending dozens of Exalted to hunt down the exposed Infernal. Such battles leave nations scarred by the awful, devastating attacks unleashed by both sides.”
• “Akuma bolster the ranks of the Infernal Exalted with their unholy presence, serving as champions, guardians, living weapons, and elite soldiers to the Green Sun Princes. The Primordials fashioned the Celestial akuma from Sidereals and Lunars captured at the end of the war, hollowing out the wills of the defeated Exalted and subsuming their Essence into the titan’s own soul hierarchies. Dragon-Blooded are bred from the bloodlines of captured Terrestrials, produced en masse on warren-worlds and invested as akuma as soon as they Exalt. The titans do not rely on their akuma to deliver them triumphs, leaving victories aside for the Green Sun Princes, but instead bind them with Urges that will wreak havoc among the ranks of the Exalted. Covert akuma can vanish into the ranks of the Chosen, fabricating their identities through illusion and guile. As the Exalted are strained to their limits by paranoia and internal division, the titans hope, the Green Sun Princes can move in for checkmate.
• In recent years, however, strange Exalts have been sighted among the ranks of the Primordial forces. While the akuma are little better than mindless thralls, these have an eerie intelligence to them, a devious cunning that could not come from any Primordial’s Urge. In their power, they are as warped reflections of the Lunars and Sidereals, wielding unknown Charms that bear the unmistakable mark of Lunar and Sidereal Essence. Some Exalted savants wonder if the titans could not have forged new Incarnae of the moon and stars, and through them created strange new Chosen to field in battle—not akuma, but true Exalted.”
• “It is said that none may ever rise from the black hole at the end of existence, but the fallen Solars have returned. Calling themselves the Lawgivers, they raised great funerary palaces over the corpses of the Neverborn, and declared themselves dark champions and deathknights of the lowest coil and its nations of the dead. Black ships patrol the Spiral and the void beyond it on missions of inscrutable purpose, unknown to both Primordial and Exalted. Pilots of the Gunstar Defense Line sometimes claim to have been joined by sleek midnight fighters in heated battles against the titans’ army, only for the mysterious ship to leave as the battle ends. At the same time, sightings of these strange ships out of the Abyss have presaged great catastrophes and disasters within the Realm, leaving the Solar Deliberative to wonder if they might not be responsible.” “[T]he Abyssal Exalted and other creatures of death may recover motes normally no matter where they are, feasting upon the world’s Essence with the same ease of the other Exalted.”
• “Ishiika is the most fearsome of all the alien creatures the Gunstar has ever encountered, a singular monster born into the depths of space. It is the cosmic scorpion, an endless nebula of teeth encircled by countless rings of clicking, disembodied mandibles. Even among the stars, it is vast–its pincers could wrest planets from their orbits and grind them to dust, while its lashing tail spans the length of solar systems. As a child of Nishikriya it is born to strife and violence, but its massive size leaves it slow and ponderous. It might take days for it to close a pincer around the Gunstar’s hull or lash out with its world-killing stinger, ample time for the Exalted to make good an escape. But this does not mean there is no peril in facing the cosmic scorpion. It is a world unto itself, populated with an entire biosphere of monstrous insectoid life. Obsidian mites cling to the gnashing teeth that are Ishiika’s carapace, each one the size of a warship. Cruel hooked worms wind their way through its body, slender ribbons of flesh that stretch on for miles. Corpse-eating wasps with metal eyes gather amid the halo of mandibles surrounding the grand behemoth. All of them partake of the same principle of violence from which Ishiika derives. The Gunstar has encountered Ishiika only a handful of times, driving it back each time at extraordinary cost. The prophecies of the Sidereal Exalted foretell that the Gunstar must face the cosmic scorpion once more if it is ever to return to the Spiral.”