Solars and NPCs

Known also as the Lawgivers, the Solar Exalted are the champions of the Unconquered Sun. Once the masters of Creation, the Solars were betrayed and usurped by their trusted advisors and soldiers. Most Solars were unable to be reborn until recently, their Exaltation trapped in the Jade Prison, and the Wyld Hunt was organized to slay those few who did find a way to reincarnate.

The Deliberative

After the war was over, the Unconquered Sun chose to reward his scions with dominion over Creation. Within days of the war's end, the Solar Deliberative was founded as a council where all Exalted could have a voice, and serve as a collective driving force for the future of Creation. While the Solars became the Lords of Creation, the Lunar Exalted became their linked companions and mates. The Sidereal Exalted served the Deliberative as advisors, and the Terrestrial Exalted's ability to breed made them ideal soldiers. This time became known as the First Age, where Creation thrived and wonders of all kinds blanketed Creation. Unfortunately, it was not to last.

The Great Curse

Of all the Exalted, the Great Curse affected the Solars the strongest. Like a sickness, it grew unnoticed at first, slowly twisting the Solars' virtues into horrifying magnified versions of themselves. Where once there had been compassion there was corruption: valor turned to vanity, conviction turned to cruelty, and even temperance gave way to self-righteousness and malice. Eventually these flaws drove the Solars away from the guidance of their patron god, while the Unconquered Sun himself turned his face in return.

The Usurpation

In the face of this great corruption, the other Exalted could not deny the Solars rule was becoming harsher by the day. The Sidereal Exalted, using their mastery over fate, determined they had three options. Leave Creation to the Solars, which would eventually lead to the destruction of Creation. The Second option was to negotiate or restore the Solars to their former purity, though this option led to an uncertain future. The final option was to guide the Terrestrial Exalted in overthrowing their masters, completely eliminating the Solar Exalted from Creation. In the end, the Sidereals elected for this final option, as it was the only of the three that guaranteed Creation's continued (albeit diminished) survival.

Over time, the Sidereals convinced the Dragon-Blooded that their only hope for survival was to overthrow the Solars. The Dragon-Blooded crafted their plans in secret, constructing secret artifacts and negotiating with gods until the time came. The first act of the Usurpation was by far the bloodiest. While almost every Solar in Creation attended a great banquet, the Dragon-Blooded and Sidereals ambushed the party, slaughtering many of the unarmed Solars in one fell-swoop. While several Lunar Exalted died with their mates, most had recognized the growing decadence from their mates and were not as quick to defend as they may have once been, most choosing instead to flee to the edges of Creation. Cut off from the center of their power, the remaining Solars' great powers and skills were not enough to withstand the combined Fate-weaving of the Sidereals and the seemingly limitless supply of Terrestrial soldiers. One by one the Solars were defeated.

Though normally the Solar Essences would have been reincarnated through the natural process of death and reincarnation, the sorcerers of the Sidereals used powerful magic to draw the souls into an enormous construct they called the Jade Prison. The powerful artifact would hold the Solar Essences inside, preventing them from reincarnating and protracting the Usurpation into an endless war. When all of it was done, the Sidereals chose to simplify things for the new masters of Creation and removed themselves and all traces of their existence from Creation. As their final act before withdrawing, the Sidereals rewrote portions of history to cast the Solar and Lunar exalted in as dark a light as possible, establishing them as Anathema-- mad with power and in league with demons.

The Return of the Solars

Though most Solar Essences had been trapped in the Jade Prison, a few Solars managed to elude capture long enough to escape that fate. Unfortunately, their souls found a different kind of torment, as the Dragon-Blooded Wyld Hunt mercilessly hunted and exterminated any and all Solars they could find. This reach was often extended by Sidereals operating secretly within the Realm. For centuries the Wyld Hunt was incredibly successful, preventing any major solars from becoming a significant threat. The Wyld Hunt, however, was swiftly diminished by the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress, as the political maneuvering of the Dragon-Blooded's Great Houses resulted in most of the Realm's troops being withdrawn to the Blessed Isle.

The sudden drop in the Wyld Hunt's efficiency couldn't have come at a worse time for the Realm. About the same time as the Scarlet Empress' disappearance, the Deathlords set out to seize and harness the power of the Solar Exalted. Their attempt, however, was only half-successful. Approximately half of the imprisoned Solar essences were captured and corrupted, resulting in the birth of the Deathknights. The other half were able to elude capture, and within a year the Solar Exalted began manifesting across Creation once again.

Exaltation

Solar Essences tend to seek out individuals who are both extremely talented and ambitious, mirroring the greatness of the Unconquered Sun. Exaltation may manifest itself at anytime, though the Essences seem to attach themselves most commonly to young adults, manifesting in times of great emotional or physical strain.

Harmonious Jade
Night Caste
The South

Harmonious Jade was born in the southern city-state of Gem and was sold to the slave-markets by her mother's midwife, her mother having died giving birth to her. Her earliest memories are of the Salmalin, a group of Yozi-worshippers, training her in the art of assassination and of stealth. During her tenure with the Salmalin, she was often sent to kill in Gem, Chiaroscuro or The Lap, sometimes killing for the cause of the Salmalin, other times for the money.

During a failed mission to kill a magistrate in Paragon and being chased by the roused guards, soldiers and citizens of the city, Harmonious Jade was chosen by the Unconquered Sun. He said to her, "My child, for too long you have lived in the shadows, hidden away in the darkness. The shadows will still be your friend, but now, they will be the shadows cast by my light. You have a greater purpose than you have yet been told, and such as these cannot keep you from it." Returning from her mission in Paragon, Harmonious Jade told her Salmalin masters of what had happened. They realized that she had become their greatest enemy - one of the servants of the gods who had imprisoned the Yozis - and ordered her execution. In her flight from the Salmalin, she killed her former tutor, Sahan. She now roams the world looking for her purpose as a child of the Unconquered Sun.

Since her Exaltation
Harmonious Jade found work as a freelance mercenary and assassin. During one of her jobs, she came into contact with a Twilight Caste Exalt by the name of Zeroun who began to tell her what it meant to be Exalted. He told her of the greatness of the First Age and of the treachery of the Dragon-Blooded. He was also the one who told her of the tomb of the body she had once worn in another age - the tomb where she would find her Orichalcum powerbow.

Harmonious Jade has also had several adventures with her companion, Dace, notably an encounter with an Earth Aspected Terrestrial sorcerer and the three man-scorpion tinsiana demons that he had summoned. She has also formed a circle with Arianna, Swan, Panther and Dace. After finding out that their Exaltation had not given her companions any kind of unified idea on what to do with their powers, she left her Circle behind. Recently she has sought to rejoin them, sensing that they are all bound together by something stronger than mere companionship.



Swan
Eclipse Caste

Swan trained as a diplomat for the Coral Archipelago, far to the West. He learned the rites and ceremonies flawlessly, but under the tutelage of Master Garnet Shoal, Swan also to defend himself, his superiors, and dignitaries in his charge without forgetting the essentials of proper decorum. As one of the younger sons, his family expected Swan to bring them family honor through his service to the ministry. Swan, however, concerned himself less with family honor than with doing well in his studies. Being a diplomat meant opportunities to travel and see the world, and even as a boy, he had longed to leave the islands of the archipelago, sail across the sea, and visit the lands of Creation.

Swan can still recall his father's stern pride when he graduated to the role of junior diplomat and received his first posting. He recalls his mother's tears before he left the docks of his island for the wider world. The grand adventures that he had expected quickly gave way to trade negotiations, administrative duties, receptions, state dinners, and all the many duties of a junior diplomat.

Exaltation
After only a few short years as a junior diplomat, Swan was entrusted to handle certain matters on his own. Even though some of the assignments were dull and dry, he loved them because they allowed him to be himself, traveling from place to place. He would often be on his own for weeks or months at a time, and this allowed him to experience the beauty of Creation and made him appreciate the pleasures of civilization all the more when he returned to them.

He was on his way through the North on a minor trading mission when his Exaltation happened. He was traveling through the first snows and as the weather turned worse, he forced himself to travel on, lest his mission become delayed for weeks, or possibly even the entire winter. As he traveled, he noticed a glimmer of light that he thought was a trick of the sun, but as he watched it, it grew brighter and stronger, and he could see that it was moving quickly toward him. It was a horse unlike any that he had ever seen, and sitting astride it was a slim figure swathed in dark robes. Behind the steed came a thundering collection of hooves bearing a half dozen warriors armed and armored for battle. He could see, even at a distance, the ornate style of their armor and the gleam of the different colors of jade from the weapons they carried and knew immediately that these were Dragon-Blooded warriors pursuing the slim figure as was the duty of the Wyld Hunt. They were arrogant and cruel, howling for the blood of the one they chased across the land.

Swan was sure that they would all thunder past him, but one of the Dynasts lowered his spear as if in a charge. Fire blossomed around its head, then a bolt of flames lanced out and struck the dark rider's horse. The horse screamed in pain and the rider was thrown from the horse from the force of the blast. He was already running toward the scene and he reached the rider just as a long braid of white hair tumbled from a loosened scarf and eyes as pale blue as the winter sky looked up into his. Her skin gleamed like bronze in the dying light and a fresh cut across her face still oozed blood, which stained the scarf crimson. As she rose on shaking legs, he stepped between her and the onrushing hunters.

The woman stepped in front of him and released a swarm of black, buzzing shapes like a storm of obsidian knives that lashed out at the oncoming Dragon-Blooded. They barely had time to rein in their mounts before the spell struck and their horses were cut to ribbons. The hunters were not slain and as they came on, bloody and torn, Swan stepped forward to meet their charge. He dropped into a wary stance that Creation had not seen for a thousand years and felt power flow through him. His hands wove patterns through the air, leaving faintly glowing traceries of Essence in their passing. As the Dynasts attacked, he batted aside spears and swords, grabbing arms and snapping them with ease. Weapons skidded across his skin, but it was hard as scales and the weapons left nothing more than scratches. He struck like a serpent, fast and deadly. Attacks and defenses came to him that he'd never seen before, much less practiced. Then suddenly, it was over. Dynasts lay scattered and moaning about him, but Swan stood, bleeding but alive and filled with energy. It was then that he knew who and what he was.

Turning to find the woman that he had aided sprawled alongside the road, her skin having lost its bronze tone and having become pale and fine as milk, he lifted her gently and carried her off into the deepening darkness of the forest.

Since his Exaltation
Swan has continued with his duties as a diplomat to various kingdoms and empires in the Threshold, but he has also expanded his duties and occasionally serves as a diplomat to various spirit and Raksha courts. He has also been cultivating a romantic relationship with Arianna, a Twilight Caste Solar and sorceress.
Swan is a member of a Solar circle with Dace, Panther, Arianna, and Harmonious Jade. Swan feels that they must cut the cancer out of the Realm before they tackle any other problems. In this, he is in agreement with Panther, but disagreement with Dace who feels that they can grab a large piece of the Threshold and starve the Realm out of their tribute now that the Scarlet Empress is gone.



Rune
Eclipse Caste
Whitewall (home)

Before exaltation, Rune worked hard in the family business in Whitewall (north). All as well until his sister was lost to the wilderness. His mother followed, never returning. His father fell into a deep depression, forcing Rune into taking over the business. In time, he too died leaving the young man alone.

The reason for his family's demise soon revealed itself as a stranger come to embrace and provide for Rune. Lios, a fae of the northern courts. Falling into step with the Fae, Rune soon became his friend and lover, journeying together. It was then that Lios invited Rune into Whitewall. But the entirety was a trick, as the Syndics immediately knew of the relationship and banished Rune.

The drama of their time together ended, Lios sought to kill Rune as he was expelled from the city. The Sun had other ideas, exalting Rune as an eclipse. In return for the pain Lios inflicted, he invoked hospitality and demanded the winter to be spent in Lios' estates of Fae. When the spring came, he left Lios to Whitewall as a decorated ambassador between the living, the ghosts, and the fae courts.

Yet still, more than ever, Lios desires Rune. Their battles continue ever onward, as Rune continues his work as an ambassador, and Lios vies to become the leading fae of the north, and his returned lover.

Ellis
Zenith
No Circle
Concept: exaltation historian

Ellis was born to a small farm, mother and father and a little brother. Her life was simple and tiny. Often she sat on a rock while tending sheep to think about all the amazing places she wanted to go. All the things she wanted to see. If she but closed her eyes, shes could dream about them. And that was good enough for her! Her mother fell poorly ill, so she wandered the woods and streams to find arrowroot for headaches. On her journey, she neared too closely to a fae hiding in a water fall. Little Ellis was never found.

Later as the exalted circle of our story found her stone form, and saved her from death, she would have all those dreams come true. Her body shook in bloodloss, shock, and a bordering condition of ravaging. Death crept closer and closer, yet she fought hard. All of her dreams were dark, terrible, filled with pain, until she laid in the sun's shrine.

Someone asked her about her journey, her dreams. And she remembered, showing this kind father her life. The sun blazed through her body, granting her life, but keeping her arm from her. To regain one thing, she had to sacrifice another. A pair of hands reached out taking hers, a smile filled with sunlight and happiness, to dance in groves and sing. Ellis now sees as she did before. But it is terribly confusing!

First Age incarnation was Adora, the Summer Sung Cricket. During the First Age, she kept the records of every exaltation in her little head! Her duty under the sun was to hear of their lives, keep their deeds, and bring glories to their names. At times, she followed the mighty of the sun, moon, and stars with many little gods and spirits of the Bureaus to keep detailed records of the deeds in Creation. Unlike many of the other record keepers and historians, her exploits were sunny and happy, finding the best in people and reminding them of their hearts and souls. She had little temperance, but mountains of compassion! Often when not working, she was found playing among flowers in fields, creating beautiful songs, singing to the skies, and dancing...dancing...dancing.

Corvant
Twilight
Home: Nexus

Corvant had many names in his time, all of them...terrible. Elder of Iron and Glass. The Black Sorcerer. He has lived ages upon ages.

In his first incarnation, his name was Garshan. He studied with the first twilights and no moon, to write the foundations of sorcery, naming spirits, and acquiring spirit courts. With the coming of the Fae wars, a hunger awoke in him. He captured the fae, tore into their minds, unravelled their shaping, drank of their blood, wound their hair among his own, consumed every possible mote of magic in their making.

During the Primordial War, he ripped apart the fabric of reality, awakening horrors that only the abyss would find kinship wih. Demons became as armies, laid over his body as armor, and spoke his words upon the bones of the world.

It was in this war, the man Garshan fell. And immediately was reborn in Corvant. But the Black Sorcerer was far too cunning, too strong. Whatever man he had been, the spirit of the solar stripped away. He took upon himself the name of his last kill, coiled a new identity about himself, but always within smoldered the truth.

Far more names and disastrous tidings would be of his devising. But he had grown wiser, leaving the blame on others. Onward this went until finally he had to leave the world he knew. With the uprising of the Dragonblooded, everything he knew vanished.

He left the world behind. His research. His desires. And in the wilds, ever roaming, he began to understand the most basic of things. Humanity. Kinship. Humility. Wisdom. Suffering. Now as the age turns again, will he continue his path to greater inner wisdom? Or return to the devil he has always been? Has he changed, or is this only a ruse for the world to see?

Jakou
Origin: The West, First Age
Manse Keeper of Sal'Maneth

Jakou named himself Prince of the West. In truth, he was just that. The seas sang in his blood, those of water and sky. Despite his one sole desire to adventure, his mind is that of a keen tactician. When pressed to it, he can wheel and deal better than most. The problem...he doesn't want to.

After gaining a foothold in the west, settling all of the terrors that threatened in the deep, he left the continued rule of those islands and waters to other solars, and lunars, including Leviathan. And where did he go? Seeking adventure! No expectations, no wagging fingers. Just him, the wandering maiden (his ship), his sister at the keel, and the skies and waters beyond them.

So it was during his travels he learned of Mahasuchi, and other such playboys. Finally...someone to truly set his skills against! What better war than that of love, eh? So it was a woman stole his ship, leaving him stranded in Sal'maneth. Wow, did he fail. Utterly.

As the city was attacked, he seemed the best choice for saving. Despite his constant wanderings, when set on a task, his will was as strong as orichalcum.



Circle: World Walkers
Maron Du'Shan/Thalo
Shadow Master of Nexus, Mistress of Law
Eclipse, Solar
Wife to the Lone Knight Aramis

Maron is a recent exalt, a solar. In the first age, she was a judge trying to rule with a righteous belief in the sun under the queen of the Deliberative. She holds no memories of her past, only a vague knowledge of it based on her anima of a judge in golden robes. She once held a meager bookkeeping position in the ports of House Peleps (the Dragon-blooded navy). After exaltation, and further adventures with her circle, she has claim a position in Nexus. Her husband Aramis has a mercenary force in high demand. But what foals she truly has, none can say. Maron will yoke the world, in quiet, until it is time to take it. She is an eclipse, with connections with Sideral, Dragon-blooded, Nexus lords (secret), the Guild, Chairoscuro, and now looks north and west.

She can be a powerful ally. But the terms can be steep.



Aramis Du'Shan
Solar, Dawn
Husband to Maron
Master/leader of the Knights of the Crown, Nexus

Aramis was a simple mercenary that fought as needed for whatever coin could be afforded. His father once held a fine position in the mortal legions for House Tepet (army), but was disgraced and killed after assaulting a house noble with foolhardy intentions. He never thought he would amount to anything, and then he exalted as a Dawn. He sought refuge in the ports of Peleps to find passage south when he found other exalted, all called together and trying to escape. Here he met Maron, and they led the group, becoming a circle, and seeking to safeguard any exalt they could find.

He has created a mercenary force of mortals now housed in Nexus to help fight the realm. He knows and understands little of what deals Maron makes, but stays by her side for love and to save her from herself.



Sameal
Twilight
Location: Sal'maneth
Familiar: cobra

Who can say where this man came from? He simply appeared in Chaunta, gathered supplies, leaned upon a walking stick and set off into the trees. He refused to answer hails, never spoke a word. His eyes remained on the horizon of trees, never blinking, never wavering.

When spied again, he was found in the crumbling city of Sal'Maneth. He seems a leader of the 100 odd scholars that travel the city. Among them, he keeps some form of order, providing daily chores and assignments for research. In the evening, he leaves to makeshit quarters, dawning the lost artifacts of the long dead. In his dreams, he walks hallways no other can see. He learns who no other can. He loses more of himself every moment. But oh...the power.

In life before his exaltation, Sameal was a simple man. He worked on thatch for buildings. With nimble fingers, he wove together thresh and cord, laying it with accuracy upon walls, ceilings, for houses and barns. He always felt happy with his small life, no wife, no promise, no ties. And yet, he was loved by those around him. For he remembered everything. Ever birth, death, story, tidbit of gossip, formula for mixing supplies, anything you told him, he kept in mind. Many considered him the living treatise of a small town.

It was when the last of the eldest friends he had died, that the sun chose him. Left alone, hand laid on the forehead of his friend Gertrude, he remembered everything about her. From earliest childhood pranks to her dying breaths. As he remembered her, he began remembering another moment just like this one. A hand laid on a friend's. Closing her eyes. His own weeping. And he remembered everything. All in a flash that filled the hut and exploded through the windows and gaps in thatch. He walked out of the hut, eyes open, staring in the distance. Without a word, filled with blinding golden light, he left into the world a Solar exalt marked as a twilight.

Jin
Zenith
Circle mates: Maron, Aramis, Sameal
Concept: wandering monk

Alliances: Silver Pact of Lunars, Delzhan of the South
His name among Lunars is Stands Against Hordes

Jin was born of a less than noble family, but carrying touches of Dragonblood within it. As such, being the 8th son, he was given to the monastery. His life was one of an immaculate monk. He tended gardens, aided the populace with prayers, and prayed to the five dragons morning, noon, and night.

And then a strange light came to the skies while he tended the garden. He saw it reflected in a pond. And reaching for it, he exalted. The sun spoke with him at length, burning away all he knew in a moment that lasted lifetimes. If not for the aid of another in the township, coming to seek help and turn herself in as an anathema, he would have died.

Maron found him glowing as she once had. That night onward, they ran for their lives. Escaping in ships. Dodging the Dragonblooded. Cornered to die, a lone knight found them and single-handedly saved them. It was the first time Jin shed blood. He wept being a damned and terrible thing.

They met others, frightened of what happened. And always he held the right answers. As a family, he counseled him. His heart leapt to embrace them, and others. Yet constantly, his faith was tested. To embrace his abilities was to bend his skills in martial arts into a killing form. One day, he woke and followed the sun into the great deserts of the south. What happened there he speaks of little, but he was found and tested by the Lunars. Through brutal tests, he earned a place among them and was marked in golden tattoos against the Wyld.

He can be a quirkie sort, funny in a dry sort of way. He can be deathly serious, insightful when sought, and absolutely devoted to those around him. His goals are to cleanse the world and battle the dragonblooded who he believes are the root of so much evil.

Bull of the North
Dawn
Location: The North
Yurgen was a simple Northman. But through his life among the Icewalker tribe, that would change with the Sun's touch. What many do know is that he threatens the Dragon Blooded. His sights are fixed on the Blessed Isle. He has destroyed forces of Tepet.

He is coming to the East...

The Bull's Solar Exalted Circle has consisted (at one time or another) of himself plus: Samea, Grilo, Jalith, Fear-Eater, Crimson Antler, Raneth and Nalla Bloodaxe.



Nialle/Starless Sky
Solar, night caste

Her age is an unknown. Her demeanor could be called that of a rude and angry donkey, ready to kick and bite. Anry, annoying, dour. And yet when she was with true friends, there was a warmer woman under it all. Nialle was a true night caste, hidden away and escaped from the First Age, though she never let on such a fact. She left into the east as the hunts came into Nexus. She never spoke to her circle, used charms to wipe her memory from their mind, from the minds of everyone in the world, to never be found.

But this safety came at a terrible price, eating away at what it meant to be a person. Humanity was something she prided herself on during her life in the world as a hand of the Unconquered Sun. After the ages spent as a non-person, not even a figment or fragment of memory, she lost that touch to become something alien to this world.

That is until she fell across the path of the most unlikely of men. He was crude, a bastard in most respects. She met him at a tender age in his life. Yet he never expected anything of her, accepted the company, and never demanded more than she would give. The relationship lured her to live again, no longer running or hiding. And in time, she revealed the truth of her life. She was not one of the many names she gave him, but Nialle, the Seventh Guardian, exalted of the Night.

As she watched this man age, she felt the first stirrings of concern. The need to keep a companion. She remembered artifacts and spells that her kind once used to take mortal lovers, to keep them through eternity. She left his side, her Archimedes, to find a cure for what he ailed from. Being mortal.

She was never heard from again. Every word or thought was that she had died. Messages even arrived telling him of such. But the truth...is unknown. But one thing he does know, he can still remember her.