by Agrippa » Sun Mar 13, 2011 6:58 am
Setting specific terminology.
Anathema: The term used by adherents of the Immaculate Order to demonize the Celestial Exalted.
Blessed Isle: This is the continent-sized island located at the center of Creation. Surrounded by the Inland Sea and weeks distant from the closest Threshold port, the Blessed Isle is the center of the Realm and the unquestioned dominion of the Dragon-Blooded.
Creation: The world of Exalted and everything in it. Beyond its borders lies only the formless Wyld.
Cult of the Illuminated, the: A cult devoted to the worship of the Shining Ones, mystical saviors who are prophesied to lead mankind into a new golden age. The Gold Faction of the Sidereal Exalted has subverted the Cult in order to use it to find, shelter and train newly Exalted Solars.
Deathlord: One of 13 mighty ghost-kings of the Underworld. Their power springs from their Neverborn masters and from their own great age and unmatched knowledge. The Deathlords are quite possibly the greatest threats to Creation in the Second Age.
Dragon-Blooded: The more common name for the Terrestrial Exalted.
Dynast: A member of the Scarlet Dynasty.
Elemental Dragons: The offspring of Gaia, the Elemental Dragons are the lords of the Terrestrial Bureaucracy, responsible for overseeing its hierarchy of spirits. Like most gods, the Dragons have become decadent and self-absorbed in the time since the end of the First Age. The Elemental Dragons seldom inquire into the state of their subjects, and the Terrestrial spirits ignore their duties more and become more independent with each year that passes. The Immaculate Order venerates the Elemental Dragons as the Immaculate Dragons, the apotheosis of spiritual development and the lords of Creation.
elemental pole: One of the five cardinal points of Creation. In the North is the Elemental Pole of Air, in the East is the Elemental Pole of Wood, in the South is the Elemental Pole of Fire, and in the West is the Elemental Pole of Water. These four poles act as the boundaries of shaped Creation, beyond which lies only the Wyld. At the center of the Blessed Isle lies the Elemental Pole of Earth, the central axis of Creation, upon whose stability all else relies. As one moves closer to the four active poles, their elemental effects grow stronger, so only the mightiest of Exalts and elementals of the appropriate type can survive in close proximity.
Fair Folk: A term used to describe the beings who dwell beyond the elemental poles in the Wyld.
First Age: This was the Golden Age after the Exalted defeated the Primordials, when wonders and magic undreamed of in the Second Age were commonplace. The First Age is commonly considered to stretch from the end of the Primordial War to the time of the Great Contagion, nearly eight centuries ago. Most learned savants place the fall of the First Age some 600 years earlier, however, with the murder of the Solar Exalted.
Five Maidens: These five deities are second in power only to the Unconquered Sun, though Luna is rightly considered an equal. The Maidens are Mercury, the Maiden of Journeys; Venus, the Maiden of Serenity; Mars, the Maiden of Battles; Jupiter, the Maiden of Secrets; and Saturn, the Maiden of Endings.
Gaia: She is the spirit of Creation, the mother of the Elemental Dragons, and godmother of all living things born of Creation. Gaia is, in fact, one of the Primordials, but she sided with the gods out of love for her consort Luna.
ghost: This is the soul of a human being that lingers on after death because of some attachment it has to its prior existence rather than reentering the natural cycle of reincarnation. Ghosts are aberrations to the proper course of existence, and they have existed only since the deaths of the Neverborn.
god: A god is a naturally dematerialized spirit of some facet of Creation. As many gods exists as there are things and concepts, though few are of significant might to challenge the Exalted. Those gods who represent universal concepts dwell in the Celestial City of Yu-Shan, where they look down in scorn or pity upon their Terrestrial brethren. Since the end of the First Age, the gods have become increasingly decadent and remiss in their duties, often extorting worship, and the Essence it brings, to perform their rightful duties. The Immaculate Order has striven with some success to impose order onto these rogue gods, but truly, it is the recent return of the Lawgivers that worries many of these spirits.
Great Contagion: This supernatural plague was engineered by the Deathlords in the hopes of ending all life. Although the world survived, much of the glory of the previous Age was lost, as well as 90 percent of Creation’s population. In its wake, the Fair Folk invaded the world en masse and would have destroyed it had not the woman who would become the Scarlet Empress dared enter the Imperial Manse and gained control of the Realm’s First Age defenses. The Great Contagion is popularly considered to mark the fall of the First Age.
Great Curse: As the Primordials fell to the Chosen of the various gods, they cursed their Exalted killers. The Curse was elaborate and vast, but its core was that the Exalted would forever be cursed with the hate, immoderation and treachery they’d shown in the Primordials’ murder. The Great Curse has dogged all the Exalted since that day, but it settled most squarely on the shoulders of the Solar Exalted. Ever since, the Solars have been subject to terrible melancholy and violent emotional outbursts.
Great House: One of the noble bloodlines that make up the Scarlet Dynasty. There are 11 Great Houses, and together they form the aristocracy that governs the Realm.
Great Prophecy: It was this prediction made by a conclave of all the Sidereal Exalted that set the course of the Solar Exalted’s murder at the hands of the Dragon-Blooded. Concerned with the Solars’ increasingly erratic behavior, the Sidereals prophesied three possible futures. In one, they did nothing, and the world was destroyed. In another, they tried to guide the Solar Exalted back onto the path of righteousness and had a small chance of success, though the world would become a place of darkness and misery if they failed. In the third, they eliminated the Solars and the world continued on, diminished but whole. It was decided by the Sidereals that this last future was the safest bet to ensure Creation’s survival, so they conspired with the Terrestrial Exalted to bring it about.
Guild: This organization is a vast network of merchants, trading in goods of all form, from foodstuffs, textiles and metalwork to addictive drugs and human slaves. The Guild is unconcerned with good and evil. Its only concern is profit. If it is profitable to do something, you can bet the Guild is doing it, has done it, or will do it as soon as it is brought to the merchant princes’ attention. Though based in the city of Nexus, the Guild operates Creation-wide.
Immaculate Order, the: This is the state religion of the Scarlet Empire. The Immaculate faith preaches that the soul is reincarnated again and again over successive lives until it reaches perfection and joins with the Five Elemental Dragons. The final incarnation before joining with the Dragons is as one of the Terrestrial Exalted, making the Dragon-Blooded the pinnacle of the Order’s Perfected Hierarchy and the natural rulers of Creation. The Immaculate Order frowns upon the popular worship of spirits of any sort, because it is believed they are merely celestial functionaries rather than true gods. Instead, the Order itself propitiates these spirits at predetermined times. It is the Immaculate Order that branded the Celestial Exalted as Anathema during the period of the early Dragon-Blooded Shogunate. Immaculate monks are known for their martial-arts skill, and Dragon-Blooded monks are rightly feared for their mastery of elemental style martial arts.
The Immaculate Order also serves as a front organization for the Bronze Faction Sidereal Exalted, allowing these Exalts to continue shaping the destiny of the Realm. The existence of the Order has let these shadowy Exalts manipulate the course of the Realm for nearly 800 years.
Loom of Fate: The divine structure upon which is woven the Tapestry of Creation.
Luna: Luna is a many-faced trickster god, appearing equally male and female. Luna is the consort of Gaia, is a ferocious warrior nearly the equal of the Unconquered Sun, and is the mother and patron of the Lunar Exalted.
Malfeas: Malfeas is the demon realm in which the Yozis are imprisoned. This realm is constructed from the body of the mightiest Demon Prince, Malfeas himself.
Neverborn: Cousins to the Yozis, the Neverborn were those Primordials slain by the Exalted in the time before history. In dying, they created the Underworld. They sleep forever in their enormous sepulchers overlooking the Void, dreaming of the day when all that exists will join them in death.
outcaste: An outcaste is a Terrestrial Exalt who does not belong to one of the Great Houses of the Scarlet Dynasty. In the Realm proper, such unfortunates are termed “lost eggs.”
Primordial: This is the term applied to those who came before the gods and first wrenched Creation from the chaotic stuff of the Wyld. Only two Primordials survive intact, Gaia and the Great Maker Autochthon. The rest were either slain, becoming the Neverborn, or imprisoned, becoming the Yozis.
Realm: The empire that, until quite recently, controlled the whole of civilized Creation. Called also the Scarlet Empire, the Realm never officially “ruled” more than the Blessed Isle directly, but it exacted tribute from countless local governments, which paid it homage. Those governments were independent in theory, but they were actually little more than puppet states. Since the Scarlet Empress has disappeared, the Realm has been paralyzed by indecision. There is a weak regent on the Scarlet Throne, and the various Houses of the Scarlet Dynasty plot endlessly, each attempting to gain enough power to place its own candidate on the Throne.
In this Time of Tumult, many of the Realm’s tributaries have had their garrisons recalled and been left to their own devices. While some remain loyal vassal states, a few have openly declared their independence. Many more have effectively done so quietly, withholding their tribute under flimsy excuses. Whoever takes the Throne will be faced with the monumental task of re-conquering a majority of the Realm’s old territory.
savant: A scholar and sage who devotes his life to the study of a particular subject, or simply to study in general.
Scarlet Dynasty, the: A collective term for the scions of the 11 Great Houses that rule the Realm. Each House may trace its lineage back to the Scarlet Empress herself.
Scarlet Empress, the: During the Great Contagion, it was she who braved the Imperial Manse and used its control of the Realm’s ancient magical defenses to save Creation from the invading Fair Folk. She then crowned herself Empress of the Realm—using her control of the Realm defenses to crush all opposition—and proceeded to rule the world for the next 750+ years. Her disappearance five years ago has upset the status quo of Creation, and the return of the Solar Exalted has only complicated the situation.
Scavenger Lands, the: The Scavenger Lands is a disparaging term the Realm coined for an alliance of petty kingdoms and city-states in the Eastern Threshold more properly named the Confederation of Rivers. Located in the First Age River Province, these nations have never bent knee or offered tribute to the Scarlet Empress or her Realm, despite repeated attempts by the Realm to subjugate them. The most powerful of these states are the enormous trading metropolis of Nexus, home to the Guild, and Lookshy, home of the surviving Dragon-Blooded Shogunate Era Seventh Legion and its enormous cache of First Age armaments.
Second Age: This is the current Age of Creation, having begun either with the murder of the Solar Exalted or the end of the Great Contagion, depending on whom one asks.
Second Breath: When a baby draws its first breath, the soul enters that child’s body. When a person is Exalted, the influx of divine Essence is very similar. Thus, Exaltation is often referred to as taking the Second Breath.
shadowland: A shadowland is an area where constant or massive amounts of death, possibly augmented by negative geomancy, have brought the lands of the living and the dead into close proximity. Such places are invariably dismal, haunted places plagued by hungry ghosts and the evil spirits of Creation, both of which are drawn to such places by the areas’ negative energy.
Stygia: This city is the largest city of the Underworld and the capital of the Isle of the same name. Though it is technically ruled by a pair of eternal ghostly monarchs, it is actually dominated by the Deathlords.
Threshold: Savants referring to the Threshold typically mean all that lies between the shores of the Blessed Isle and the elemental poles that mark the boundary of Creation. More commonly, it is the term applied to the ring of kingdoms, principalities, satrapies and city-states that abut the Inland Sea.
Unconquered Sun, the: Greatest of the gods, the Unconquered Sun inspired the gods to revolt against the Primordials. His champions, the Solar Exalted, led the charge in the war that followed. After the war’s end, the Unconquered Sun continued to advise his Chosen in their rule of Creation until their pride grew so great he turned his back on them. After the murder of the Solars, his temples were pulled down and his worship banned.
Underworld: This is the land of the dead, a dark mirror of the sunlit world dominated by the 13 Deathlords. The Underworld is a land of long shadows and vast, still seas—a dark wonderland full of dangers foreign to the world of the living.
Wyld: The term “the Wyld” is used to describe both the formless chaos that exists beyond the elemental poles and the places where that chaos has intruded upon Creation, most notably in the wake of the Fair Folk invasion that followed the Great Contagion.
Wyld Hunt: The Hunt is a group of battle-hardened Dragon-Blooded gathered both from the Immaculate Order and the Realm military for the express purpose of hunting down Anathema. With the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress, the Wyld Hunt’s effectiveness has begun to suffer, as those Dragon-Bloods who would be most effective in the Hunt now choose to stay at home to lend their support to their Great Houses in the contest for the Scarlet Throne.
Yozis: Cousins to the Neverborn, the Yozis are forever imprisoned outside Creation in their twisted kingdom of iron and black marble beneath a mad green sun. The Yozis constantly plot to escape the demon realm Malfeas and to overthrow the gods.
Yu-Shan: Also called Heaven or the Celestial City, this continent-sized metropolis is the dwelling place of the gods and home to the Loom of Fate, from which all Creation springs.
Last edited by Agrippa on Sun Mar 20, 2011 9:58 pm, edited 5 times in total.
