#THE MIGHTY RED JADE DAIKLAVE

[sondersonne-art]

Of the Five Magical Materials, Jade is one of the most visually striking. In particular, Red Jade is particularly renowned for its beauty. From House Cathak's treasured artifacts, to storied blades fabled across creation, they can be identified at a glance. Red Jade ranges in hue from a deep, almost black of burnt-out-coals, to a bright, fiery...

...

Is that soup?

I've been obsessed with making mapo tofu and while simmering today I noticed it was a particular red batch.

Having finished an Exalted session less than 4 hours prior, my mind was in a particular place.

[unconqueredfun]

Hey ya’ll. I made a grand daiklave. Also tumblr killed my formatting I made in the write up and I’m not redoing it. But maybe add some more decorations.

Stormrune Blue jade grand daiklave Artifact rating 4 Attunement: 5m Type: Heavy (+1 ACC, +14 DMG, +0 DEF, OVW 6) Tags: Lethal, Melee, Reaching, Balanced, Two-Handed Hearthstone slot(s): 2 Era: Age of Sorrows

From the diary and collected notes of Peleps Liao Wen, maker and first wielder.

Sun’s day the 22nd of descending fire. Realm Year 762.

        Today marks the forty-eighth day since I came to the Blessed isle. It has been a very rainy day, I am not one to complain however. I quite like it. However I find it noteworthy to point out as it gave me great inspiration for the making of a great blade. As I visited the Dragon’s footprint temple to study its ancient architecture, a storm rolled in overhead. As I walked around the temple under my umbrella, studying how the ancient constructors funnelled the rainwater so neatly into the moat and ponds lightning starts to thunder overhead. I found myself upon a bridge of the moat overlooking the greenery and the twin waterfalls of the Blessed Tiger and Blue Eyed Doe rivers when suddenly lightning struck an old pavillion. The old green copper spines of the roof glowed red hot and hissed in the rain as it melted and ran down the water spouts made of stone in the shape of dragon-maws.

        I ran over to check and do what I could to save the pavillion from collapsing, I found that the copper had solidified and looked a lot like lightning bolts of their own, forking over shingles and out of the pillars created by the fall. They had splashed down down onto the cobblestone into a puddle, droplets cascading out of it shaped like dragon-tongue letters, bursting out of it. Much to my surprise however I found that despite that the spines were no longer there, the structure made from the melted copper and hardened by the rain again carried the shingles and roof just fine. The bolts carried the rainwater out of the dragon-maws and onto the stone and into the moat just fine as well. I find it hard to appreciably describe what I saw to give it any justice. I feel like I can only describe it as seeing the elements in harmony with one and another in a tiny scale.

        Seeing the lightning carrying the rain and becoming a focal point to carry the structure upon itself gave me ideas for a blade. Upon which I aim to contain this harmony as caused by lightning into a blade that functions in harmony with its own design, where its own elements become a mighty dragon in combination with each other. I think the letters that the copper spelled out in flawed strokes would be ideal for this, but to make inscriptions in jade as fine as brush strokes will be a great challenge, but nevertheless I believe this will hold the power of lightning for the blade. Together this sword will move quicker than its peers and fork into many avenues of approach for the strikes.

Mercury's day the 12th of resplendent wood Realm Year 763.

        My toil with this blade has reached an end with this blade and it is a mighty fine one if I am to be allowed to boast. I do not know if blades have been made a like it, but I find my design to be very interesting. I can hold it in several ways and the way it's formed allows me to switch between my hand to hand techniques, even if they are a little inelegant at times, and the greatsword between heartbeats and without losing any of the defensive posture I desire.

        My own affinity for lightning and storms however may have bleed more into the sword than I had intended. Nevertheless, it has created a versatile greatsword that carries the unrelenting fury of a storm and the alacrity of lightning. I'm sure it would be a great boon to my immediate future as war looms between my home and invaders from the further north.

Attunement benefit: Stormsurge Slash unlocks at no extra cost. Additionally Stormrune’s design allows the wielder to easily hold onto it, in the heat of battle she suffers no penalties for making unarmed attacks while wielding Stormrune and do not need to drop it even during a grapple. Additionally unarmed attacks made without artifact weapons gain +1 overwhelming that does not stack with charms.

Stormsurge Slash Cost: 1m Essence: 1 Duration: Instant. Keywords: Withering-only, Stackable Type: Supplemental Prereq: None Each slash energizes Stormrune. The runes along the blade light up with bright blue and electrical sparks travels down the furrow between the two sides of the blade.

Every successful withering attack made supplemented by this increases the withering damage by 1 of Stormrune until the next turn. This effect stacks up to (lower of essence or 3) times and each consecutive use extends the duration until the end of the next turn.

Dragon Thunder Might Cost: 3m+ Essence: 2 Duration: Instant Keywords: Decisive-Only Type: Reflexive Prereq: Stormsurge Slash When making a decisive attack with Stormrune the she may transfer as many threshold successes as she has charges of Stormsurge Slash built up. She may activate this after the attack roll but When three charges are spent in this manner the decisive damage gains double 10s.

At Essence 3, the wielder may activate Dragon Thunder Might during a clash by spending another two motes before the attack roll, to release an electric shock from the runes of the blade. For each charge being spent she removes one success from the opponent’s successes.

Lightning Flash Crash Cost: 2m 1i Essence: 2 Duration: Instant Keywords: Perilous. Withering-Only Type: Reflexive Prereq: Stormsurge Slash After missing a withering attack, the wielder can attempt a follow up attack making a secondary withering attack using an unarmed jab holding Stormrune with her other hand. This secondary attack takes into account the onslaught penalty occurred by the original strike. If this unarmed strike lands, it automatically extends the effect of Stormsurge Slash until next turn.

The attack is considered to be mundane unarmed for the purposes of damage and accuracy. But may inherit the protection or unbreakability of an artifact if a defensive effect calls for it.

Special activation rule: This cannot follow Thunder Follows Lightning or One Weapon Two Blows strikes.

Thunder Follows Lightning Cost: +1m +1i Essence: 3 Duration: Permanent Keywords: Withering-only Type:  Permanent Prereq: One weapon two blows, Lightning Flash Crash This permanently upgrades One Weapon Two Blows  and allows the wielder activate regardless of whether or not she passed her victim in the initiative order, as long as she hit her target but not crashed them, by paying an additional mote and one initiative. This attack may only be withering.

Coil of the Stormdragon Cost: 5m 1wp Essence: 3 Duration: Instant Keywords: Perilous Type: Reflexive Prereq: Thunder Follows Lightning After successfully crashing an opponent with a withering strike. The wielder may forgo the initiative gained by the damage and grapple the victim as if she had successfully landed a grapple gambit. For the control roll she gains automatic successes equal to Stormsurge Slash charges in the blade and an additional number of dice equal to the victim’s onslaught penalty.

Thunderbolt Hold Stance Cost: 4m 2i Essence: 2 Duration: Until next turn Keywords: None Type: Reflexive Prereq: Lightning Flash Crash Charging her speed and reflexes from the energy of the blade, the wielder flows her attacks in harmony with defense as the elements remain in harmony with each other. At the end of her assault the wielder may reflexively take a full defense action by grabbing a hold of the back end of the daiklave and using it similarly to a staff or spear.

Lightning Animated Blade Cost: 2m (+2i) Essence: 1 Duration: Instant Keywords: Perilous Type: Simple Prereq: Stormsurge Slash, Lightning Fingers (merit) Aligned with the element that Stormrune carries within. The wielder can use their own ability to manifest lightning and use it to charge the blade. After a jolt, the blade keeps its current charges of Stormsurge Slash active until the end of the next turn.

Alternatively she can attempt to animate the blade further by spending 2 initiative and roll her intelligence + occult for lightning fingers . If she succeeds at this it adds another Stormsurge Slash charge to the blade and extends the duration to the end of the next turn.

Heaven Cleaves the Mountain Cost: 5m 3i (1wp) Essence: 4 Duration: Instant Keywords: Decisive-Only Type: Reflexive Prereq: Dragon Thunder Might, Thunder Follows Lightning The wielder raises the dragonblade above her head and brings it down with thunderous might upon her foe. As the attack is dealt, Stormrune lets loose a thunderous crash in a flash of light that blinds and deafens anyone present save for the wielder upto medium range. Significant opponents receive a -3 dice penalty to all non-movement related actions for a number of turns equal to the amount of charges of Stormsurge Slash expended by Dragon Thunder Might to a minimum of 1. Trivial opponents gains this penalty for the rest of the scene. If it deals at least one level of damage, Heaven Cleaves the Mountain knocks the victim prone from the force of the blow.

Heaven Cleaves the Mountain may only be used once per scene but may be reset by building up to three charges of Stormsurge Slash and landing a decisive attack that deals at least three levels of damage.

Special Activation Rule: When a melee withering attack crashes an opponent she may activate this reflexively. If it follows One Weapon Two Blows or Thunder Follows Lightning the cost is increased to one temporary point of willpower.

Thunder Tempest Burst Cost: 10m 4i 3a  Essence: 5 Duration: Instant Keywords: Decisive-only, perilous Type: Reflexive Prereq: Heaven Cleaves the Mountain. Bringing herself in harmony with the runes of her blade and the storms kept within, the wielder makes use of its power in one tremendous burst of speed and power. The wielders makes a fierce uppercut that sends her target soaring and then leaps after. Where the wielder is seen slashing with unrelenting ferocity over a short moments in the air until bringing herself and the victim down to the ground like a lightning bolt hurtling towards the ground. From the impact excess lightning arcs and forks from Stormrune into any unlucky being that happen to be nearby.

When at 15 points of initiative she may choose to use an unarmed attack from which she unleashes her tempest, declared before the attack roll. If this attack succeeds the target is launched up into short range with the wielder and Stormrune in hot pursuit, but no damage is rolled. The threshold successes instead become bonus dice on a withering attack made with Stormrune where the target suffers the prone penalty to their defense. The damage from this attack is instantly rolled with the initiative as decisive damage as the wielder brings sword and target down to the ground. If this damage is avoided fully, the target takes short fall damage instead. Once completed Stormrune unleashes a one time environmental effect difficulty 5 damage 5L that afflicts everyone in close range as lightning chains and forks through everyone nearby. Only the original victim and the wielder are not affected by this.

Special activation rule: If the target is grappled then wielder may use this as her grapple actions. It succeeds automatically as she throws the victim into the air. The remaining rolls of control is added as bonus dice on the attack roll and then proceeds as normal.

[theonyxpath]

Hi, folks. Eric and Robert have sent along a new preview from Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought — House Tepet!

RY 765

I’ve a soft spot for fellow soldiers, and I suppose you did come all this way. Fine. I’ll tell you about killing Anathema. Not Jochim — I’ll wager that copy of the Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier in your pack is dog-eared on that section. Wipe that look off your face, Swift. I don’t need Mela’s wisdom to know your type.

Fear-Eater was a Deceiver. He didn’t have the talent Jochim or the Bull had, of training men to be fierce and fearless in weeks, so he took a more literal view of things. Fear-Eater was a shaman before he was Anathema, well-versed in the language of spirits. They taught him some of their tricks, including one he showed off to me during a parlay, where he reached into a man’s head and heart and actually drew out the fears in bunches of spiked purple fruits on twisted vines. Take a guess as to what he did then. When he smiled, his teeth were lacquered a dark purple.

The Anathema’s real skill as a general lay in building coalitions. Fear-Eater cut deals with forest gods, spirits of disease and murder, and the Mammoth Avatar. He was damn subtle about it — we didn’t know about the Bull’s alliances until a hundred-foot mammoth god charged our lines. We’d have days of hit-and-runs from hostile spirits before Dragon-Blooded could respond and fight them equally. Our quartermasters spouted wounds in their sleep and our supply trains fell to improbable sickness, rotting in the sun. I pulled the Tepet yamabushi together, told them to show the Deceiver we could play that game better.

The year after Fear-Eater loosed his allies on us, we knew the campaign was lost. We’d smashed the Bull’s van at Fallen Lapis, led him and that witch through that city (which we then burned to the ground), took her arm and broke the back of their supply lines. It was a bloody nose to save face, and we all knew it. After that the Bull relied on the spirit alliances to harass us while we withdrew. Fear-Eater pinned down our rear guard at Futile Blood. The moment I was on the scene, the Bull slammed our front and flanks with a fresh van.

I saw Fear-Eater, eclipse-mark flaring on his brow and body lit by a corona, fetishes orbiting him in a whirl, throwing his facial scar-tattoos into sharp relief. He relied on sheer power to fight, but he’d never faced the hurricane before. He saw me, ducked past the fire-wreathed blade of my Hearthmate, and smiled that sly purple smile of his. “Doesn’t matter what happens now,” he said. “Yurgen will snap your soldiers like dead branches.” He pinned Tepet Nezurin with subtle magics, punched through jade armor like water and consumed her heart with a fiery mandala of sunlight. “Maybe,” I answered through the sorrow of losing a Hearthmate, “Jochim said that before I took his head, and he was twice the fucking soldier you are. How will you fare?”

My other Hearthmate was on the scene then, whispering Essence and giving me back the strength of the Dragons I’d lost twisting Fear-Eater’s words to his army. He tried to catch the blade, but Jochim tried the same trick once, and it didn’t work then either — they both had spent too much killing my Hearthmates and I made them pay for it. Air finds a gap, and my grandfather’s daiklave found the one between tendon and bone. I buried the blade in his clavicle, wrenched it free easy as a summer’s breeze, then ruined the lovely view of his surprised face with my fist. Then I took his head, stopped to savor the look of fear in his eyes after his flaring anima guttered and winked out in death.

Then I heard the roar from the front, turned to see our lines shattering in the light of three suns, and truly I wish I’d had his damned fruit trick then.

House Tepet—Air Stained By the Blood of Legions

House Tepet is a house of heroes, born from the Scarlet Empress’ blood, but named for her consort Tepet. He was her enemy before he was her lover, a warrior-poet and heir to a fallen Shogunate kingdom that warred against her early in her reign. He sought to prove his claim as shogun through conquest of the Imperial City, and asked only that the Scarlet Empress spare his soldiers after he failed. Impressed by Tepet’s bravery, strategic insight, and unshakable honor, she took him as her consort instead, and adopted his kin into the Realm. In time, she elevated his family line into a Great House with him at its head.

The house’s martial triumphs stand testament to the Empress’ wisdom. Its Melaist traditions and spiritual practices were passed down from their founder, teaching that the warrior’s path is the road to enlightenment. The house’s scions strive not only for strength, but excellence, distinguishing themselves from Dynastic peers through military leadership. The Tepet legions were deemed mightiest in the Realm, rivaling even House Cathak’s and the Imperial legions themselves, and celebrated for defeating many of the Empress’ greatest foes. When they marched against the Anathema called the Bull of the North three years ago, they expected another shining victory. Instead they suffered a devastating defeat, losing many of their greatest heroes and a full quarter of their Dragon-Blooded scions.

Any respect owed House Tepet died with its legions. Now, the idiot Tepet Fokuf sits as regent, a cruel reminder of the house’s chances at the throne. Defeat has left them weak; that weakness hangs over the house like a curse. Many await the house’s fall — like Manosque or Akiyo before it — considering it little more than a ghost. Others sympathize with House Tepet, but sympathy begets no alliances. Taking a Tepet husband is akin to taking in a mangy stray; marrying into the house incites wild rumors of covered-up scandals or hidden depravities.

Raised from childhood expecting to attain positions of power and martial glory, House Tepet’s scions now belong to a house that might not exist tomorrow. They face this perpetual doomsday as their bloodline always has: as warriors.

Ancient Ways

House Tepet follows a martial tradition older than the Realm, preserving spiritual disciplines of the Shogunate lost in other histories. The two most prominent of these are the sublime armigers and the yamabushi. Its sublime armigers draw power from the history and legacy of House Tepet’s heirlooms, taking up a revered ancestor’s legendary artifact in emulation of her virtues. Yamabushi scout ahead of legions on the march, striking pacts with local gods to secure strategic advantages. Most armigers and yamabushi served within the Tepet legions, leaving few surviving practitioners.

House Economics

The Tepet legions were their house’s greatest source of wealth. The Empress rewarded House Tepet for imposing peace on unruly satrapies and securing the Realm’s Northern holdings with a sizable stipend, the dragon’s share of which was invested in the legions’ upkeep and expansion.

House Tepet never fielded its legions as mercenaries, but their prowess was famed across Creation. Tepet generals and strategists charged hinterland nations heavily to train, arm, and advise their armies. The ghost-faced warriors of Ithen marched with the Imperial legions against the Weeping Princes; the traitorous Five Thrones Hearth was brought down by Tepet-trained resistance fighters within their own capital; Mogg the Devourer and her crocodilefolk brood were turned back by the Devil Quag marsh tribes before they reached the Empress’ soil.

Now, House Tepet’s economy is in ruin. The Great Houses divided Tepet’s most valuable satrapies up amongst themselves in exchange for debts forgiven or under the pretense of compensating for Tepet’s military absence. While House Tepet still administers these satrapies on paper, their tributes are reaped by other houses, chiefly Sesus and Ragara. Of Tepet’s holdings, only Medo still pays their tribute of janissaries, largely because of satrap Tepet Niruz’s bloody-minded persistence. The rest have fallen to other houses, who mistakenly believe the mighty warriors subdued by the Tepet legions have lost their will to resist.

House Tepet made few investments in non-military ventures. When the cost of maintaining its legions rose higher than its stipend could support, it resorted to taking sizable loans and conceding lucrative enterprises to other houses. The few it still controls include metal-works, silk farms, and almost-exhausted mines of marble, gems, and jade. House Tepet clings desperately to these, knowing that if they’re lost, so is the house.

House Military

Tepet scions strive to emulate the mythical warrior-hero Mela in their earliest childhood sparring bouts. They’re trained in weaponry from an early age, often by mortal veterans who served under their mother or an aunt. A Tepet learns to read from the pages of the Thousand Correct Actions, and trains for command through conducting war games and riding alongside older relatives. A Tepet formally concludes her childhood study of war when she chooses a code of honor exemplifying her warrior’s path. Many aspire to the house’s valor and selflessness, but a warrior’s code is ultimately hers to choose.

Once a Tepet chooses her code, it’s not enough to simply fight — she must lead. She’s expected to epitomize her code through martial attainments, inspiring her soldiers with her virtue just as Mela illustrates the nature of the ideal warrior to the Dragon-Blooded. Tepet parents put considerable effort into securing their child an officer’s rank in the house legions or the Imperial legions when a position opens.

The Battle of Futile Blood left House Tepet only half a legion’s worth of rank and file soldiers, and fewer officers. When the Great Houses partitioned the legions, they salted the wound by burdening Tepet with the Vermilion (or “Red-Piss”) Legion, an army of bandits, criminals, and drunkards. Only House Cathak objected, respecting the prowess of Tepet’s leaders enough to recognize the threat posed by even a single legion.

Command of the Red-Piss Legion was given to Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack. Once an Imperial legion officer, she resigned that commission to serve her house. Under the Roseblack’s leadership and training, the Red-Piss Legion has hunted pirates, subdued rebellions in the few remaining Tepet satrapies, and fought the mindless puppets of Kejiza the Centipede Witch. Outmatched by the other houses’ sheer numbers, it may yet be House Tepet’s salvation.

Many Paths to Honor

Tepet children are raised as warriors, but aren’t forced into military service. A minority seek other vocations — bureaucrats, artisans, philosophers, sorcerers. There’s no shame in this, so long as they aspire to preeminence, but their kin will always hold them to a warrior’s standards. A poet earns acclaim if her words command the hearts of disciples, but even the most puissant sorcerer invites disdain if his triumphs come without honor or leadership. Since the fall of the Tepet legions, many of the house’s most prominent scions are those who turned their talents to vocations outside the military, whose efforts to secure the house’s future have won them acclaim approaching that of its fallen war heroes.

Enemies and Alliances

Each Great House played a part in the downfall of House Tepet, plotting its demise or profiting from its ruin. House Tepet knows it cannot survive if it opposes the entire Realm. Marriages have become scarce, save for the occasional outcaste and with House Nellens, whose matchmakers delight at procuring scions of refined pedigree without competition from other houses.

House Sesus profited most from House Tepet’s decline, gaining lucrative access to Tepet’s Northen satrapies. This is no coincidence. Sesus spymasters undermined the legions marching against the Bull. They’ve continued sabotaging potential alliances between Tepet and other houses to ensure Tepet remains powerless. The other houses tacitly approved of this, with the expectation that House Sesus would shoulder debts that House Tepet can no longer repay. Whatever backroom dealings secured thusly have fallen through, as House Sesus refuses to acknowledge the Tepet loans, flouting admonishments from House Ragara and other creditors.

House Cathak and House Tepet shared mutual respect based on military might, but this ended when the Cathak legions failed to march to House Tepet’s aid against the Bull once the true danger of the Anathema’s forces was revealed. House Sesus’ scheming was expected, but for Cathak to prove honorless was a much more profound betrayal. House Cathak has refused all overtures of alliance from the Tepets and has blocked all efforts to rebuild Tepet’s military forces. If a Tepet were to make a bid for the throne backed by house legions, Cathak would be the first to move against them.

House Tepet isn’t completely alone. House Nellens has made tempting overtures of a military coalition, providing the troops and financing that House Tepet so desperately lacks. More gravely, senior military officers, house matriarchs, and other influential Tepets have received entreaties from the fallen House Iselsi, presenting a straightforward offer: Join forces against the other houses and claim bloody revenge. Such an alliance would be abhorrent to all notions of honor, but there are grudges to settle and deaths to avenge. Some Tepets may not let the chance for a final reckoning slip from their hands.

Major Holdings

House Tepet’s family stronghold sits in the ancient Shogunate capital of Lord’s Crossing. House leadership is confused and unstable after the disastrous campaign against the Bull. Tepet Usala, then commander of the Tepet legions and house matriarch, fell at the Anathema’s hands. The Tepet family heads have formed a ruling council that meets in Usala’s manse, the owl-haunted Pagoda of Blood and Pearls. The council’s power is shared, but only because no one has risked a decisive grab for power. They play subtle games of influence through younger scions instead, maintaining their honor even as they plot each other’s betrayal.

The Vale of Reverie’s unspoiled wilderness, touched by primeval magic, is a place where the world of spirits draws closer to that of mortals. Small gods drift through the wild as luminous, ephemeral presences, while packs of elementals flourish. Dragon-Blooded are welcome in the Vale by ancient edict of the Worm-Eaten Woman, an ancient and enigmatic spirit who claims kinship with them. Tepet children are brought here for their first lessons on spirits, and return throughout their lives to meditate, pray, and pursue spiritual cultivation.

Most of House Tepet’s satrapial holdings have been lost to other houses. The fortified capital city Dezsofi still juts from the heart of Medo, its gates held by mixed regiments of Tepet soldiers and Medoans, but other satrapies offer meager tribute at best and outright rebellion at worst.

Faraway Ithen remains independent from the Realm, but agreed to treaties of non-aggression and commercial exchange after Tepet military advisors coordinated the overthrow the Weeping Princes and restored their hereditary tyrant to power. In the Empress’ absence, House Tepet hopes to secure Ithen’s loyalty and might for themselves.

Scions of Note

Tepet lies buried at Lord’s Crossing in a tomb of unmelting ice. His deeds are legend among his house — a warrior so noble he won the Empress’ heart even in defeat; the greatest general to test the Imperial City’s defenses; a pious devotee of Mela respected by god and devil alike.

Tepet Orino, a muscular, black-skinned Dynast, is the woman people go to in order to make things happen. Supreme quartermaster of the Tepet legions during their doomed campaign in the North, the devastation of the high command and the respect given her by the rank and file left her the de facto house matriarch and the best candidate to take control of the house legions’ finances. They’re the dregs of a fortune, but nevertheless represent one of the house’s greatest assets. Orino is hell-bent on rebuilding the house legions, but can’t force a majority in the council of house elders. She relies on traded favors, seeking out young Dynasts whose ambitions for glory align with her agenda.

Tepet Arada, the Wind Dancer, has gone from living legend to black sheep of the house. He rose through the Tepet legions to the rank of general, an exemplar of both ideal soldier and ideal warrior. Arada survived the Battle of Futile Blood and slew the Anathema Fear-Eater, but returned changed. Some thought he might take up leadership of the house. Instead he’s grown cynical, trading his daiklave for a gourd of rice wine, his belief in the Realm shattered. However, Arada’s withdrawal shouldn’t be mistaken for weakness. Should civil war break out, he’d tear the Realm apart to protect his family.

Satrap Tepet Niruz holds Medo with a cornered wolf’s ferocity. House Cathak’s offers to “reinforce” the satrapy and House Sesus’s subterfuge would long since have wrested it away from House Tepet were it not for this tenacity. A deadly archer, Niruz openly forswears gender, neither man nor woman, for their warrior code emphasizes truth to one’s self above conforming to the expectations of others. While scions of other houses find this strange or scandalous, Niruz’s Tepet kin would never question their adherence to their code.

Tepet Berel Gadurin is one of the Realm’s most celebrated playwrights. He won his reputation with passionate romances and cleverly crafted comedies, but since the Battle of Futile Blood, he’s turned his attention to creating works of propaganda, seeking to influence prominent figures in the Realm with a predilection for drama with heartbreaking tragedies of warriors sacrificing themselves in the name of love and honor.