Sidereals

The Sidereals in General

Working for the Bureau of Destiny, most Sidereals come to recognize one another by sight. Word passes quickly among the Five-Score Fellowship. After a Sidereal spends 20 or so years as an Exalt, she knows the reputation of nearly every other Sidereal in Creation.

The Sidereals in Exile

Most assume that the chosen of the maidens present a unified front. That being privy to the inner workings of fate makes them above the petty squabbles that divide the Lunars and the Solars. This is a lie that the Sidereals seek to propagate.

In truth, they are as bitterly divided as the Solars and Lunars, some camps wanting to take the fight back, others saying that they can build a new world in the wilds, destroy what is so relentlessly pursuing them, and weave an entirely new fate. But some ignore the political machinations of their fellows, actually preferring to do the work to keep all of them alive for the moment. But these pariahs can be counted on one hand.

These factions: Gold who support Narikon and his cigar chomping laser eye warring and Bronze who support Leviathan and Raanei’s ideas. Of course, this subtly influences how they do their work. For example, Righteous Sage Bride is Bronze, attempting to show people that fighting isn’t always going to be the answer. Sadly, she’s never found a suitable bride for Narikon.

Notable Sidereals

Duchess of Brass and Shadows:

• A Chosen of Serenity, none have seen this Sidereal’s face for over two centuries. There are many stories of her before her Exaltation. That she was a common whore or a courtesan of renown or simply a normal woman living in one of the many cities. She likes these stories, because they keep everyone guessing.
• The Duchess is the Proprietor of the classiest whorehouse in Autochthon, the Pale Lady. She promises discretion to all of her patrons and that no vice shall go unfulfilled in her borders. She employs a few chosen as courtesans, notably a few Lunars who serve as bodyguards as well as more… Exotic tastes.
• She appears as a woman dressed in a form fitting black dress, with a mask over her face, cast in brass (her name comes from her appearance, as she has never introduced herself) with an eternal knowing smile.
• There have been cries of corruption and what the Gunstar needs to NOT have, but the Duchess has always managed to keep her business open with a combination of guile, brashness, and straight blackmail. Many influential people have needed to blow off steam, and where better?

Eight-Handed Serpent Beast:

• Or Orochi, as his friends like to call him. Or Beast. He is a quiet supporter of the Gold Faction, but prefers to meditate and perfect his martial arts. He stands opposite of Ni Zhang, though he denies most access to his tutelage, taking only those he wants rather than selling himself out. This Chosen of Secrets believes that since Martial Arts are beyond the grasp of the Primordials, he can use them against them and destroy them.
• He dreams of finding a slew of worthy students after two thousand years of waiting, imparting his experience into young and eager minds, and showing off his strength and knowledge to the rest of the viziers.
• He is a master of many styles, though most call him mad, which he probably is. But that doesn’t make him WRONG. He’s given to fits where he disappears into the wilds of Autochthon and reappears with a new style under his belt. Sometimes, he doesn’t remember what has done, where he has learned the odd styles that emulate the Raksha in the Wyldstorms, or the style that chills him and makes him think of the stories of the Ebon Dragon.

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.”

Vanilla Sidereals

Chejop Kejak: Chosen of Secrets It is necessary.

• What can one say about the master of the Bronze Faction that is not common knowledge in the Bureau of Destiny? The Five-Score Fellowship whispers that Chejop Kejak has so few secrets because he knows the power of secrets: he is a master of blackmail and treachery and fomenting dissent among allies. Why would he provide others with such weapons to use against him? Of course, no one actually believes that the eldest Chosen of Secrets actually lives a life of such honesty and openness. He must simply be better at keeping those secrets than others.
• I actually don't hate the idea of using him, he's a fairly interesting 'all work, for the greater good' in general it's just when weighed against Creation's history does he look dumb. Still, I think between the setting NPCs and yours we've covered a lot of alternatives we could use him for so oh well.

Ayesha Ura: Chosen of Journeys This world could be so much better if people would only take a chance on hope!

• Lover and intellectual equal of Chejop turned against him when she learned of the sacrifices made by the Bronze Faction. For all her skill at bureaucratic infighting and scheming, Ayesha is one of Heaven’s leading socialites. She does some of her best work at parties.
• I like her hook, I never really knew about her! I am the worst. It's easy to play up a bleeding heart and says the turn back isn't worth it. This makes Chejop the conversative again if used - 'We've committed this much, we have to go back.'

The Green Lady: Chosen of Secrets

• A spy who tries to play the Deathlords against one another, though she begins to lose herself to her roles.
• Ha ha, I forgot about her. Definitely a fun option to consider!

Nazri: Chosen of Endings

• Risest to the highest official position in the Sidereal hierarchy, while defying both Bronze and Gold Faction for not considering forces outside Fate, he is the face and friend of those who choose no faction - at least those who deserve the friendship.
• Easy to translate and fun. Turns out I don't hate Sidereals???

Gracious Shaina: Chosen of Serenity

• Shaia is one of the first Sidereals many Solar recruits ever meet, and she instinctively seems to know what approach to take with them—she can play the stern taskmistress, the lovesick young innocent, the vixen or the motherly figure, as necessary. Though her cohorts consider her a manipulator in the extreme, her secret is her sincerity.
• If used, she can still be Gold here, I'd like to have A Chosen of Serenity against Venus (ditto for Battles and Mars) if possible.

Righteous Tsunami: Chosen of Battles

• Righteous Tsunami fully embodies the hard practicality of war. She doesn’t like bloodshed per se, but she does whatever she must to achieve a swift, decisive victory (an attitude that makes her a favorite of Hu Dai Liang, Mars’s deputy in the Division of Battles). She encourages the same ruthless efficiency among her staff. “Better a hor-rible ending,” she says, “than horrors without end”—an attitude that many Chosen of Saturn also applaud. She argues that a swift victory, however harshly obtained, saves more lives in the long run and leaves the survivors less embittered.
• So uh pretty much copy paste eh? Alternately, she could be the Chosen of Battles that doesn't side with Mars - this War has dragged on too long, too many lives have been lost. Either way!

Shepard of the North Star: Chosen of Journeys

• As an agent of the Bureau of Destiny, Shepherd specializes in guiding travelers and explorers, making sure they reach their destinations—or not. He takes every opportunity to meet new people and visit new cultures. Nothing pleases him more than arranging a friendly meeting between two societies. Indeed, Shepherd of the North Star gets along with most folk. He says that people can’t help but like you if you show you like them—a maxim he has put to the test in settings ranging from icewalker campgrounds to the soirees of Nexus tycoons. Often, he gets so wrapped up in meeting new people or seeing new places that he loses track of time. Other Sidereals tease him about being the only Harbinger who is perpetually late.
• Cute but non-essential idea.

Iron Siaka: Chosen of Serenity

• Some fellow Viziers think Iron Siaka should be one of Mars’s Chosen, for she has great skill in battle and a formidable temper. For her, though, beating the crap out of enemies is a deeply visceral pleasure. As one of the most martial Joybringers, Iron Siaka finds herself a bit of a fish out of water in the Cerulean Lute. She doesn’t particularly care much for sorcery, arcane engineering or the soft styles of martial arts typically practiced by most other Chosen of Venus.
• Welp nevermind this is the Chosen of Serenity for Gold if used.

Crimson Banner Executioner: Chosen of Battles

• Working an assassin in a suit of armor only his Exaltation can wear, being trained by a past incarnation he disagrees with philosophically.
• Eh, doesn't immediately grab me!

Lupo: Chosen of Secrets

• A sifu on the Gold Faction, one of its most conservative members thinking the returning Solars should still be under Sidereal aid rather than rule themselves. More interestingly, desires to recruit deathknights into the Gold Faction, and secretly wishes to learn their style.
• Decently interesting, but can probably be rolled into your Orochi.

May Blossom: Chosen of Secrets

• Exalted before singing a satirical song lampooning her family's Exalted's misdeeds, she shortly after wrote the information down and paid a servant to leave it in a place she prophecized it would cause the most uproar. She often leaves her targeted group in an uproar as hidden scandals come to light.
• A fun kind of Chosen of Secrets. And she likes Wood Dragon Style!

Black Ice Shadow: Chosen of Endings

• A Sidereal oddity created by being raised in a Shadowlands, he ends up under suspicion when deathknights are very similar to what he is.
• We could do something with this if we wanted.

Kai: Chosen of Endings

• Kai is a notable savant of First Age technology. He would be something of a celebrity among the Chosen of Endings, except… something happened during his long training period. He emerged from the Violet Bier of Sorrows more than half insane. On first meeting people, Kai treats them with gentle bonhomie. Only people he knows well see his wild mood swings, from deep gratitude to hysterical grief to sober and dispassionate analysis, changing from moment to moment. The Bronze Faction receives his greatest ire: If members even mention their cause, Kai reacts with anything from stalking away coldly to a screaming fit of rage. He shows an equal devotion to the Gold Faction, though no one knows why. For all his eccentricities, Kai gives the Bureau of Destinies exemplary service and has never been convicted of any offenses against Heaven. The Gold Faction finds him equally zealous and successful in the tasks it assigns him. Kai has become one of the best recruiters of young Solars for the Cult of the Illuminated. The task seems to focus his thoughts and give him self-control. More than any Charms Kai brings to bear, his sheer intensity of belief often convinces Lawgivers that the Cult’s work is absolutely necessary for the good of Creation.
• I actually don't feel strongly on this, but it's hard to cut this down without missing something fairly big so there you go.

Ahn-Aru: Chosen of Endings

• As one Chosen by the Maiden of Endings, she was trained as an assassin and executioner first and an administrator second. Though she has a soft, almost restless demeanor, Sad Ivory is an isolated warrior-scholar who carries out her job with ruthless efficiency. Yet, her heart longs for the companionship of her peers, and she holds a position that makes the company of her fellow Exalted a rare thing.
• More interestingly, she has grown following the Bronze Faction all her life, making it a deeply religious issue for her - and she recently killed a Gold Faction Sidereal during a Wild Hunt because of a disagreement. The act shook her, but I think as time goes on we could use the event to escalate the tension even higher between the two, using the same catalyst if need be.

The Maidens

• Mercury, the Maiden of Journeys
• Venus, the Maiden of Serenity
• Mars, the Maiden of Battles
• Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets
• Saturn, the Maiden of Endings

When the Maidens officially came into being, they represented the fullness of Primordial vision for Creation. No longer were they a culmination of unrealized miracles being beamed to the Primordials across time, but five full-fledged Celestial Incarnae bearing the hallmark of Primordial design. Yet none could say who engineered them! Some looked to Autochthon in suspicion that they were his, but while Autochthon agreed that he could have been their designer, he could not confirm it. Others thought Oramus might have had a hand in it, but he was unable to answer, for the Maidens were a known thing and thus beyond his sight. The Dragon’s Shadow rankled at the sight of them, while secretly suspicious that they might have been his own masterworks gone awry and moving the course of things independent of his control. As for the Maidens themselves, when questioned on their parentage, they always fielded the query to Jupiter, and Jupiter wasn’t telling.

At this point, the Primordials believed their work to be complete. They saw the Maidens as the product of their genius, designed solely to service the Loom of Fate. But the Maidens had other ideas, for the Maidens had known the Primordials in the time before Creation and despised them for their shortsightedness. Looking back/forward across the ages, the then-Fates encountered Luna and the Unconquered Sun, and seeing their dreams and tragedies, fell in love with them from afar.

The Maidens set out on the perilous journey through time to meet Luna on Creation’s first night, knowing they would be bound to act (mostly) impartially for the benefit of Creation but believing they could steer the course of events in their favor anyway. In the other Incarna, they saw kindred spirits in an otherwise lonely existence comprised of dismal titans and insane unshaped. They also saw in them the potential to be rid of their noxious makers.

They could not, however, be certain of the outcome. Where the Unconquered Sun was concerned, oracular vision had a way of becoming distorted as time spun itself in an orbit around his crushing gravity. More importantly, the Maidens did not foresee the Exalted, who formed an existential hole in their vision. Most alarmingly, they failed to foresee their own enslavement to the Games of Divinity, proving that not even they could account for everything that would happen.

Five millennia have passed since then, and unlike any other era in their existence, those 5,000 years have had a significant effect on the Maidens. For most of their existence, the Maidens were withdrawn, dispassionate, robotic, inhuman; a cold and decisive collective moved only by necessity. But the Exalted, and the Sidereal Exalted in particular, have had an amazing effect on them. By observing and interacting with their Sidereals and the other Incarnae, the Maidens have begun to take on human traits, feelings and motives. They have even gone against their own natures to break the laws of destiny in order to follow their hearts—hearts being something they very much didn’t have previously.

Five goddesses weave the destiny of the universe. Autochthon once remarked in faint awe to a Sidereal that he wished he had made them, and no other titan takes credit for doing so. The Ebon Dragon considers the goddesses a blight upon his invention of fate, meddlesome pests who keep time from assuming the shape he would impose upon it. He suspects another Primordial forged them in secret just to spite him, since that is what he would have done. The most likely explanation is that existence itself brought them into being to keep watch over it, but the likeliest explanations seldom apply to fate’s keepers.

To understand the Maidens, one must see them as a unit. Any single act that greatly affects the course of destiny will eventually pass through the domain of each of the five sisters. In the event of a great war, for example, while it might be Mars who assigns nations into alliances against one another and signs off on which battles will be won and which will be lost, and who will be the ultimate victor, she does not work alone. If an entire line of kings will be obliterated at the war’s climax, Saturn is there. If cities are sacked into rubble and entire histories are lost, if brother turns upon brother in the final hectic moments of a siege, and if a bodyguard is paid to betray his general at the start of a skirmish, Jupiter sees and hears all. And what are wars if not epic struggles to move supplies, troops, and massive amounts of money and information across long distances? Mercury knows. When a war finally does come to an end, Venus must preside over the peace that comes in the wake of pandemonium, which she does with relish.

The five are not bound to act in concert, however, and sometimes one Maiden will act singly on behalf of the whole, creating a conflict in the sisterhood-collective. For example, Venus has repeatedly proposed a marriage of the Maidens to the Unconquered Sun. On every occasion, the Unconquered Sun has accepted her proposal only for Saturn to break off the engagement before the wedding. These sorts of disagreements are not an anomaly or malfunction in the Maidens’ design, but rather just another expression of their upholding the laws of fate. When it seems Mercury might finally best the Unconquered Sun in a footrace, Saturn trips her without fail and without explanation. Jupiter knows it is because Saturn would loathe seeing any of her sisters best Ignis Divine where she has, at so many Carnivals of Meeting, failed, while the Loom of Fate itself insists that the Unconquered Sun cannot be defeated.

Aside from one another, the only true peers of the Maidens are their fellow Incarnae. Although it would better serve the cause of destiny if the Maidens did not care about Luna or the Unconquered Sun, they find that, against their better judgment, they cannot help but regard the sun and moon as their peers, allies, friends and sometimes more. Saturn struggles against these bonds of affection most of all, for she knows that they, like all things, must end in time. Jupiter is aware of the unwanted feelings afflicting the Maiden of Endings but is kind enough not to speak of them.

The Intimacies of the Maidens are strange and rarely appear to make sense to other beings when the goddesses deign to share them. Yet, the five share the following common attachments: the Tapestry (Awe), the future (Hope), the present (Delight), the past (Satisfaction), Oblivion (Horror), Other Maidens (Camaraderie), the Fivescore Fellowship (Exasperated Affection), Autochthon (Wary Gratitude), Gaia (Respect), the Yozis (Sorrow), Luna and the Unconquered Sun (Uneasy Friendship) and pattern spiders (Pride).

Most gods and Sidereals, better informed than Creation’s average mortal, believe that the multitudes of prayers directed to the Maidens are cast forth in absolute and utter futility. But every now and then, for reasons none other than the Maidens themselves could explain, a prayer will catch the attention of one of the sisters. When this happens, the Maiden in question almost invariably descends to Creation to investigate in person, and just as invariably does so in an unas-suming disguise. Mercury prefers to wear the guise of a wandering mendicant, dock worker, refugee or retired merchant. Venus often plays the role of the minor noble, runaway slave, disgraced monk or harlot. Mars prefers to investigate matters of Creation in the form of a mercenary, blacksmith, proreus or hunter. Jupiter walks among mortals assuming the role of a librarian, cutpurse, Gateway champion or a mourner at the funeral of an accomplished scavenger lord. Saturn is stirred to make the fewest visits to Creation, and generally does so as a vartabed, orphaned child, world-weary gambler or black crow.

Maidens Beyond the Five?

The Unknown Maidens

• There could have been other Maidens long ago. There could be Maidens yet unborn. In one legend, the unknown Maiden of Wisdom stood in the path of the Three Spheres Cataclysm and doused its fires with her Essence, shattering herself forward and backward in time to spare some part of Creation. According to other stories, the Maidens mourn sisters fallen and entombed in the Orrery of Arainthu, adding the mystery of their Chosen to the speculation why Sidereals number only 100 to the 300 of the other Celestial Exalted. As in so much else, the Maidens are more enigma than answer, pledged to guard the future against the present and never forget the lessons of the past. The strangeness of the Sidereal Exalted pales before the strangeness of their patrons, but in each day that dawns anew, the victory of the Maidens stands over chaos and entropy and the unknown threats they alone witness.
  • Originally I was thinking of making the Maidens more fatalistic than the other Incarnae as a nod to that they perhaps know they're more expendable than the others. But then I realized 'Oh wait they're the only Incarnae on the Gunstar moot point.' Though this still could be exploited - another Maiden or a few come to the Gunstar - but are they friend or foe, real or a trick? Especially, if they do appear, how have they dealt with being separated from the Loom? It's got room for exploration, but we've got so much going on it's no loss.

Little Sister

• Since no god was trustworthy or competent enough to oversee the Bureau’s functioning, the Maidens simply made one who was. The Five Maidens combined their powers and forged... a Sixth Maiden. “Little Sister,” the god whose pronouncements shape nearly every aspect of Sidereal existence, manifests as a six-year-old child clutching a china doll, sitting in a tiny chair in a hidden and door-less room beneath the Loom of Fate. She never moves or speaks above a whisper, but the Loom itself responds to her words. Fortunately for Creation, the child has no agenda of her own, or even any personality beyond that of the frightened little girl she appears to be.
• Little Sister reflects the consensus viewpoint of the Five Maidens. She monitors every action of the Sidereal Exalted and the gods of the Bureau of Destiny. When she confronts any controversy or indeed anything at all that might interest the Maidens, she considers it from the perspective of each of her creators. If all five viewpoints agree on what should be done, Little Sister communicates this consensus through the Loom. If even one Maiden dissents, however, Little Sister does nothing. Thus, Little Sister is also the source of the malaise that has infected the Bureau of Destiny, especially during the Time of Tumult: the Maidens disagree on how to deal with the returning Solars and the other crises that afflict Creation.
  • Easily translates to the Bronze/Gold Faction in Gunstar if we use her. Also if we use her, she's definitely got room for being exploited by Zirak????????????????????

Nox, the God of Night

• Nox, called the God of Night but actually an Incarna equal to the Maidens, represented the infinite, unformed potential for action that underlies all fates. While the Five Maidens operated the Loom of Fate, Nox monitored the Loom to observe Creation and report any potential threats to the Lidless Eye That Sees, the great Primordial who oversaw Yu-Shan’s security. The Dark Incarna remained loyal to the Primordials. Thus, before the Primordials could be brought down, Nox would need to be co-opted, a duty that fell to his sisters.
• First, Venus whored herself, seducing Nox into a sexual relationship that would have embarrassed him before the Primordials. Jupiter caused him to fear his secret incest’s exposure, rendering him susceptible to blackmail. Saturn ended his loyalty to the Primordials, finally bringing him into the conspiracy of the Incarnae. In this, Saturn miscalculated. Nox’s loyalty to the Primordials always came second to his own forbidden lust for his sisters. While he pretended to acquiesce to the conspiracy, he actually planned to expose it right as the coup began in hopes of being rewarded with his fi ve sisters as concubines. Fortunately, Jupiter divined his secret intent, Mercury led him astray before he could warn his masters and then Mars bested him in battle. For his treachery, the other Incarnae condemned Nox and stripped him of all his power.
• But the Incarnae refused to slay one of their fellows, for they had all been created together, and they feared that the Primordials might have linked the Incarnae’s fates together in some way. Autochthon then came forward with a solution. He broke Nox’s mind and then linked what remained of his intellect to the Loom of Fate so that the Loom would have a limited sentience, just enough to coordinate the activities of the Bureau of Destiny—and perform the functions of Oversight.
• Some might question the wisdom of putting a brain-damaged Incarna sympathetic to the Primordials in charge of the Loom of Fate. Nox has never consciously abused his Oversight position to the detriment of Creation. Unfortunately, he often does so unconsciously. For instance, the commands given him by Autochthon included one to suppress all knowledge about Nox’s continued existence, lest the idea of a Forbidden God controlling the Loom of Fate undermine the gods’ confidence in the Bureau of Destiny. Nox interprets this order to include using the Loom to suppress all knowledge about Forbidden Gods, lest interrogation of one of them reveal Nox’s existence.
  • Like the others, ripe for a few plot ideas but no real loss.

Aurichim and Aurgentim

• Even at the apex of the First Age, the upper boundaries of Creation remained sparsely explored and imperfectly understood by Exalted astronomers. Although the Incarnae had given their Chosen rulership over Creation, the mightiest gods remained possessive of their dominion over the vast, distant reaches of the sky, and left the aurichim and argentim in place as guardians of the starry vault.
• The aurichim acted as the roving eyes of the Unconquered Sun during the Time of Glory, serv-ing to warn the Most High of incursions against the boundaries of Creation. Ignis Divine invariably no-ticed such threats before his faithful servants brought their warning, but he thanked them regardless. Luna, more easily distracted, sent her argentim to track the movements of Creation’s enemies within its borders, that she might hunt them at her leisure.
• In the wake of the Primordial War, the Incarnae ordered their servants to continue patrolling and safeguarding the wide empty spaces of the celestial void, and they continue in that task to this day. The aurichim speak to the Unconquered Sun less and less over time, though few have dared to suggest that he has forgotten about them. They are zealous beings by nature, and even the most lax and dispirited among them have dared little more than to occasionally make the long descent down to Creation’s cloud layer, to briefly take their leisure among the cloud people.
• The argentim are another matter. They no longer serve Luna, having been wagered and lost in a bet against the Maidens during a Carnival of Meeting in the early First Age. Rather than scouting out Creation’s enemies, they have been reassigned as guardians of the constellations. (The Maidens specifically expressed a desire not to see a certain lamentable incident involving the Mask repeated elsewhere.) They also guard the secret anomalies of the darkest reaches of the starry void, of which they are forbidden to speak.
  • Aurichim and argentim are solitary beings, spending most of their time patrolling the vastness of the celestial realm far above Creation. They inspect the ceiling of the world to make sure it is in good repair, sweep for intruders, gossip about the movement of the heavenly bodies and lament the departure of the Unconquered Sun to Yu-Shan.
  • Occasionally, they do battle with bizarre wonders or horrors pulled into Creation in the wake of the moon’s nightly return from the eastern Wyld. Few have ever visited Yu-Shan or seen one of the Exalted, and most are intensely curious about these storied beings, whom they are intended to bar from disrupting the cycles of the heavens. Argentim often land on the passing surface of the moon and attempt to entice truculee to share news or gossip from Creation’s surface, which they then carry back to their brethren and the aurichim. Truculee invent at least as much news as they report, so the guardians of the celestial void are perpetually ill informed about matters on Creation’s surface.
  • Aurichim appear as tall men and women with bronzed skin and armor, 10 feet in height on average, with blank golden masks for faces and expressive eyes. They fly about on wings made of geometric patterns forged from pure sunlight. Argentim are similar, but silver to the gold of the aurichim, and their wings, formed of bent moonbeams, now gather steady coatings of shimmering stardust from their dalliances with the constellations.