Diplomat

 

Diplomats are the intermediaries. They live in the between — in that space between the teeth of a demon and the flesh of its slaves, the memory of a lover and the touch of his hand, the fall of a kingdom and the rebirth that follows. There are no two creatures so alien that a raksha Diplomat cannot seek the common ground between them and, finding it, use it to bind them both to his will in an agreement all three find satisfactory.

The tool of the Diplomat is the Staff — not the weapon and not the distaff, but the staff of law, on which they record the bargains and promises of their kind. Their purpose and hunger is to build the alliances and bridges that link the raksha (and others) together through all the timeless years of their existence. In so doing, they bind and channel the Conviction of the rabid monsters of the Wyld, feeding from the Essence cast off by that binding.

The Diplomats hate Creation because it does not bind itself to their bargains. The humans and animals and gods of Creation are oathbreakers, abominations physically capable of promising one thing and doing another. This is sickening, horrible, filthy and wrong. Worse, it is corrosive. If a Diplomat wishes to cope with Creation at all, she must come to understand its ways and learn the structure of the machine. In Creation, if forced to it by the weave of events, even a Diplomat can inadvertently break her word.

In one respect, Creation redeems itself. The Conviction of its fanatics has a rare and heady flavor. Those driven to live in Creation’s reaches sup on the dreams, souls, passion and radiance of zealots, fanatics and ecstatic cultists. For the ravisher, nothing is sweeter than devouring the will of a dedicated victim. She drains her victim’s integrity and drive until his only remaining conviction is service to whatever oaths the raksha chooses to extract.

Caste Traits: Diplomats excel at the arts of intrigue, wayfare and manipulation. Their Caste Abilities are Linguistics, Occult, Ride, Socialize and the assassin’s art, Thrown.

Grace and Virtue: Diplomats feed on Conviction. They favor the Staff Grace and its Charms, which channel Conviction and manifest diplomatic power. The Staff has the power to create and support social order.

Controlling Grace: Valor controls Conviction. Diplomacy is strongest when allied to the Sword and weakest when opposed to it. Imperial Raksha — noble Diplomats who master their Warrior aspect — are the nobles most fitting the Diplomat description above.

Associations: The northern direction, the color blue, the place between, the shinma Nirvikalpa, the social world and unity.

Sobriquets: Rajanya, Constraining Storms, Shapers of Law, Silent Chains, Culture Dancers, Summit and Chasm Folk, Beguilers, Poison Knives, Tulpa

 

 

I’m proud of you.

Sacrificing your life for this pathetic little village —

I can taste the integrity of your choice.

I set in motion the cycle of events that brought you here;

that brought this doom of the wolf god’s wrath; that lets you

save them by standing in its way. It is by my word and my

hand that this is necessary. But it gives me joy to know that

you are not chained. That it is your own nature and your

own desires that keep you here, bound in death’s shadow to

this little town, waiting at the stake —

For the monster to come.