Sidereals and NPCs

Also known as the Viziers, the Sidereal Exalted are the champions of the Five Maidens and the keepers of Fate. The Chosen of the Maidens are the savants and astrologers of the Exalted, as well as matchless martial artists. During the Primordial War, they acted as advisers and spies for the Solar and Lunar generals. Near the end of the Age of Dreams, they undertook the Great Prophecy, which eventually led to the murder and usurpation of the Solar Exalted. Because of certain actions taken during the usurpation of the Chosen of the Sun, all 100 of the Fivescore Fellowship became stricken with Arcane Fate, which makes it very difficult for people to remember they exist at all. Because of this, the Sidereals have lurked in the shadows since then, manipulating the course of not only the Realm, but Creation as a whole. They are most gifted in Martial Arts, however, learning Sidereal Martial Arts with the most ease out of anyone else in Creation.

The Deliberative

After the Great War, the Fivescore Fellowship was put in charge of the upkeep of the Loom of Fate, fixing snags in the Tapestry of Creation, and advising and Lawgivers and the Stewards. They were also, befitting their position as Celestial Exalted, each allowed a vote in the Lower House of the Deliberative. However, as time went on they saw their Solar rulers becoming more and more corrupt. The Viziers foretold a Great Prophecy, and after much debate acted on path they thought was best.

The Usurpation

One portentous Calibration, the Seers put their plan into action. That night, Meru burned. Over the five days, all but a handful of the Solars were purged, their shards locked away in the Jade Prison and sank into the ocean. To protect themselves, they used incredible Astrology effects, actually shattering the Constellation of the Mask. To this day, though everyone knows the truth, no one can prove the Vizier's involvement in the Usurpation. The attack was not without cost, however, and the Sidereals suffered many casualties as well.

The Shogunate and the Realm

For the next two hundred or so years, the Sidereals rebuilt Creation from behind the scenes. They made sure the proper communities thrived while those that were supposed to fell. They ushered certain Terrestrials into power, making sure the emerging Shogunate would have the infrastructure to survive without the Glorious Golden Gods. For about 750 years, the Shogunate thrived. However, during that time a lot of the glories made by the Solars and Lunars broke down. It was never expected that the Chosen of the Sun and the Moon wouldn't be around to fix things. Slowly, Creation dwindled from the Age of Dreams to a pale imitation.

Then the Great Contagion struck. Hundreds of millions wiped out practically overnight. The Seers in Yu-Shan did the best they could, but nothing could stop the virulent disease. Hot on its heels came the Balorian Crusade, killing millions more. Luckily, something else happened the Seers didn't see. A Dragon-Blooded woman activated the last bastion of Creation's defense, the Realm Defense Grid. Once it was seen that Creation would indeed survive the twin tragedies, the Viziers once again got to work. They nurtured the nascent Realm into the sprawling empire it is today, rewrote then brought the Immaculate Philosophy to the height it is today, and still continued to fix snags and tears in the Tapestry.

The Time of Tumult

Now, the Solars are once again returning, trying to reclaim their former glory. Creation faces new challenges with the Deathlords on the move, typical and corrupted Solar essences Exalting everywhere, strange machine-beings having been spotted in the South. They are also facing the impending death of one of the most powerful of their number Chejop Kejak.

Exaltation

Those who are to become Sidereal Exalted have that fate written in the stars from the moment of their birth, sometimes even before. If they aren't ferried off to Yu-Shan to begin their training pre-Exaltation, the new Seer is usually collected within hours or days of her Exaltation. Usually. Sometimes, though, Fate throws a curveball, and maybe a Sidereal didn't die at the time they were Fated to, causing someone else to receive the Exaltation. One way or another, though, every person who is Blessed by the Maidens is fated to. Not because of the deeds they had accomplished or the potential in them, but because the Loom says they're supposed to.

The community of the Sidereals is split into two main factions. The Bronze Faction and the Gold Faction. The Bronze Faction believes the Solars were supposed to fall for the good of creation, and everything that can be done should be to prevent their corruption from infecting the world again. The Gold Faction, on the other hand, believes the Solars might not be corrupt any longer, or that they will be led in such a way that if they do become corrupt, they can be talked to or, worse come to worse, killed.

There is also a small faction of independents, sometimes called the Walkers of the Middle Path. Other factions are rumored to exist, such as the Silver Faction and Iron Faction, but no Sidereal has ever openly admitted to being a member of these, and so they may just be a rumor.

Demetrius
Maiden of Secrets
First Age
Unknown location
Goals: To unwrite what must be to fulfill a perfected future
Bronze or gold: Bronze, f the solars
Connections: influence all houses of Dragon-Blooded
He goes by many names, many guises. In the world of exalts, he has been known since the coming of the first age. An adviser to generals... A tactician for kings... A comrade in arms... The most hated of enemies...

Have our intrepid heroes met him? Yes. Do they know it? No.

He was made keeper of the Sidereal manse of Sal'maneth. Yet, the risen Lunar and Solar know not where or when he is. And he prefers it that way.



Percivalle
The Once Lord of Sijan
Maiden of Serenity
Goals: To aid communities to flourish, to remember those that passed
Bronze or Gold: neither, he has been outta commission for some time, moving between bureaus
Connections: Sijan, the quiet supporter
"You can call me Percy"
Brother of Demetrius

Black Ice Shadow
Maiden of Endings
Goals: To know what it means to be human, to find all the things he was robbed of
Bronze or gold: he doesn't care
Connections: Beloved and connected to all Deathlords, despised by infernals/malfeas, best friend to Shepherd of the North Star
The Seemingly Abyssal non-Abyssal

For those that meet him, they think him an abyssal. His magic, abilities, speech if heard, EVERYTHING about him is abyssal. Just the way the secretive work of the Sidereal wanted. But now, they don't want him anymore. Neither faction seeks him or claims him. He has few friends if any at all. No one understands him, or wants to. And all he wants is to understand what it means to be human...

If he had a single friend, it would be Shepherd of the North Star.


Shepherd of the North Star
Maiden of Journeys
Goals: bring all cultures into contact
Bronze or gold: she doesn't care
Connections: South and Chiaroscuro, city festivals and gods
Wanders everywhere
Seeks to bring all cultures and peoples into contact
Always...ALWAYS late...



Iron Siaka
The Happy Warrior
Maiden of Serenity
Goals: Beat up creatures of darkness until they get the message and leave Creation alone. Now, that would be serenity.
Bronze or gold: completely a HUGE secret, he is the leader of the small Silver Faction, supporting the Lunar Thousand Stream project
Connections: Shepherd and Black Ice


Chejop Kejak
The most powerful exalt alive...
Essence: 10
Age: Almost 5,000 years old (the end of his lifespan is close)
Maiden of Endings
Goals: to maintain control of heaven over the world itself
Bronze or gold: leader of the Bronze faction, enacted the Ursurpation
Connections: personal advisor and empowered the Scarlet Empress (leader of DB), Mouth of Peace (leader Immaculate Order), lord over Demetrius, only exalt to have the ear of Nara-O, professor aspect at the Heptagram

Pre-Exaltation
As a boy, Chejop Kejak met the Maiden of Endings herself. His biography states the Maiden told him he would bring the end of an age: here it errs, she said he would bring the end of "two ages".
Exaltation
Chejop Exalted the same moment as Tammiz Ushun, but someone by the name of Ain Learning Pike concealed the fact for reasons unknown. The only two aware of this fact, and that the two were reborn the same date, are Chejop and Tammiz (reborn as Ayesha Ura).
Since his Exaltation
He was present for the Prophecy that led to the Usurpation, and firmly believes that it was the right course of action to take. As the Shogunate began to dissolve and the Great Contagion struck, Chejop Kejak allied with the soldier who became the Scarlet Empress, allowing him to help define more closely the course of Creation. Kejak is responsible for creating the Immaculate Order's and its status as the state religion of the Realm. It should be noted that Chejop Kejak has nearly reached the end of his exalted lifespan, so it's likely that he'll be ushering in the second ending to an age very soon.
He resides primarily in Yu-Shan reading the Loom of Fate and planning the course of all Creation. His dedication and status are legendary: there are rumors he knows the locations of lost Gates to Yu-Shan and that he is behind the Convention on Oversight.
Other notes on Chejop Kejak

* Chejop Kejak holds the Chair of the Capital Convention and belongs to all of the special conventions.
* He is the senior Vizier in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy.
* He engages in plans with Nara-O, the god of secrets only one person knows, although since the return of the solars the god of secrets has been questioning Chejop Kejak's goals.
* He works in the Palace Sublime as an adviser to the Mouth of Peace.(leader of the Immaculate Order)
* Occasionally lectures at the Heptagram.
* Chejop Kejak is near the end of his Sidereal Exalted lifespan (the longest lifespan of the Celestial Exalted), around 5,000 years old.
* Was once a very close friend of Tammiz Ushun and then the lover of his reincarnation Ayesha Ura.
* Chejop Kejak was an Essence 7 Exalt just before the Usurpation. In the Age of Sorrows, Chejop Kejak is an Essence 10 Exalt.