Noble Castes

 

Shadowed Diplomats

 

Nobles with a shadowed Staff turn their diplomatic talents to the service of their primary caste. They use a Diplomat’s insight, temperance and talent for forging compromise and community to express the fundamental nature of Cup, Ring and Sword.

 

Anarch (Warrior and Diplomat): Anarchs are the savagery of the Wyld. The natural state of chaos is an endless, raging battle, where every raksha is enemy to every other. There is no industry, no culture, no knowledge, no time, no art and no society. All and each live in continual fear of death or subjugation, and the life of every creature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. The raksha create the art of the staff to rise above this time and live in opulent luxury, but in the Anarch, the sword ascends above the staff. They use the arts of diplomacy to destabilize human and raksha courts, driving their kin and their victims into primal conflict.

Some do this to spur evolution or from quasi-religious devotion to the concepts of strife. Most, being raksha, are just self-oriented monsters. Ill-suited to conditions of luxury and empire, they seek the decay of order. In places of chaos, strife and madness, driven by treachery and fear, the Anarch thrives.

Anarchs wield both military and diplomatic power — the sword and the staff. For this reason, they are creatures both of battle and the between. It is their gift to find the points of compromise between any two positions. It is their nature, on finding such opportunities for reconciliation, to shatter them and use the splintered pieces to fuel the fires of hatred and madness.

Luminary (Entertainer and Diplomat): Luminaries are the radiance and beauty that changes every rule. They burn with the same crisp brightness as a god’s blessing, a child’s first summer, the taste of a cold grape, the pains of opium withdrawal or the searing beauty a condemned man knows waking up to the symphony of birds on the day announced for his execution. Their touch exalts, transforms, muddles and inspires those around them.

Luminaries wield the cup and the staff — the tools and powers of Entertainers and Diplomats alike. Their cup is ascendant. Its corrosive power changes and subverts the order of society. The staff is the symbol of that order. Luminaries turn it to the service of the cup, sweeping away resistance to their power. Their ability to twist others to their ends knows no equal. Some are rakes and seductresses, trading pleasure for promises, unbalancing their diplomatic rivals to achieve more favorable agreements. Others are priests, celebrities and skalds, reshaping the courts of the raksha with their arts.

Panjandrum (Worker and Diplomat): Panjandrums are the living hearts and ritual centers of the raksha courts. They are architects of societies and worlds, organizing others into the patterns of their vision. The influence of the Panjandrum is seen everywhere in the Wyld. They are shamans and mystics and, on occasion, social theorists. Their will and dreams and whispers shape the culture and courts of the raksha into eccentric, mad and alien forms. Where the leaders of the raksha use the staff to shape society in pragmatic service to their own ends, the Panjandrums shape society because they can — one seeking to balance the interests of the residents in glorious utopia, another crafting her Freehold into the endless twisted branches of a silver moebius tree where blind Worker acolytes trudge forever across the wood singing the songs that govern the tree’s life.

Panjandrums wield the ring and the staff — the tools that define themselves and their society. Because their ring is ascendant, they shape the order of the world to better fit their definition of themselves. They make others the mirror of their own identity. In so doing, they provide stability of a sort. Their desires for society and the influence they wield flow consistently from their nature rather than changing based upon their needs.

The Transformation: Luminaries, Anarchs and Panjandrums are fundamentally dissatisfied with the societies in which they find themselves. If they should discover or build a place that appeals to them, functioning in accords with the nature of their hearts, they often transform into Courtiers, Imperial Raksha and Scribes.

 

 

Shadowed Entertainers

 

Nobles with a shadowed Cup bend the arts of the Entertainer to the service of their caste. They use an Entertainer’s symbiotic and parasitic arts in service to the fundamental principles of Staff, Ring and Sword.

 

Artisan (Worker and Entertainer): Artisans are the virtuosos, the maestros, the geniuses, the crafters, the artists and the builders of the raksha. They are priceless resources, for each has mastered the trick of pleasing others with their arts. They craft wonders of art, architecture, science, glamour and policy such as even the raksha must treasure.

Artisans wield the ring and the cup, with the ring ascendant and the cup in shadow. It is for the common Workers to build to their masters’ design. Noble Artisans craft to their own eccentric muses, weaving threads of pleasure and desirability into their work that their court may find it pleasing.

Courtier (Diplomat and Entertainer): Every court attracts Courtiers — the self-adoring acolytes of finery and coquetry, with their pointless intrigues and devotion to fashion. To the great lords of the raksha, they seem little more than household pets, the harem of the throne and not the rajah. Yet, the dances, whispers, glittering robes and lowered eyes of the Courtiers have a purpose to them. They are artificial contests of power, striving for social place, sheltered from the broader world by the power of the throne.

Though their staff is ascendant, a Courtier’s weapon is the cup. The social orders that they build are fundamentally parasitic. The lords and ladies of the raksha tolerate them because of the power of the cup — the Courtiers do not simply adorn the court, but use the arts of the raksha to make that adornment seem necessary. They drain the strength of their lords, in exchange for entertainment and legitimacy, and in some courts, the titular king, queen or emperor is drained to nothing, a toy they leave on the throne to intercept the swords and staves of outside powers, a doddering and empty puppet who watches over the endless dance of mannerly intrigue.

Xia (Warrior and Entertainer): The Xia fight because, in every time and every place, some must always shed blood. They are sword-dancers and gladiators, dueling for the entertainment, status and bloodlust of their lords. They are soldiers and great generals, marching against the enemies of their court. They are grim avengers and hunters, endlessly working their arts against their foes. They fight for honor and glory and limited objectives, not for victory, for it is the purpose of the Xia to maintain a world in which their kind is necessary. A fallen enemy is a wasted enemy. A dead nemesis is an unrecoverable loss. The Xia will mourn such a creature’s ending forever.

Xia wield the sword and the cup, with the sword ascendant. They take service with others, they make themselves necessary, they provide entertainment and military aid, but the goal of it all is their hunger for conflict. In constructing their world, the Xia seek to free themselves from attachment and dependence. They use the art of the cup to ensure themselves social backing and resources, that they may devote themselves entirely to the arts of war.

The Transformation: Courtiers, Xia and Artisans are essentially secure — their gifts of politics, war and craft give them the confidence that they will not die. If fear takes root in their hearts, or something threatens their survival, many will transform into Luminaries, Eshu or Ornamental Raksha.

 

 

Shadowed Warriors

 

Nobles with a shadowed Sword bend the arts of war to the service of their caste. They use violence, fear and war in service to the ethos of Staff, Ring and Cup.

 

Eshu (Entertainer and Warrior): Eshu are those who survive. They endure the harshest winters, when rains and sleets of acid and cold fire fall; they make their passage through the darkest unformed madlands, and the behemoths dare not trouble them; most are scarred and bear the weight of endless years of others’ failure. They have the raw will to endure. They are dangerous and hardened creatures, who practice the arts of the Warrior so that none may trouble them. Their highest purpose is existence itself, and whether they face lesser enemies or greater, they will not sell their lives cheaply.

Eshu wield the cup and the sword. The cup is ascendant and casts the sword into shadow. They practice the arts of war as a display to others — in most cases, a warning. An Eshu evokes in others a great need and desire not to have the Eshu as an enemy. Many practice other arts as well. There are martial musicians, storytellers, smiths and poets in the Eshu’s ranks — but all are dangerous, and all are survivors because the Grace of survival has cast the Grace of death into its shadow.

Imperial Raksha (Diplomat and Warrior): Imperial Raksha forge empires with the sword. They are creatures of war, not battle — born to the disciplined sweep of behemoths and armies across the territories of the Wyld, binding every strongpoint left behind them with oaths of allegiance or compliance. Not lust for battle nor hunger for possession drives their conquest, but the endless scratching of Scribes who record the limits of their territory and achievement. They are experts at using violence in service of the state.

Imperial Raksha wield the sword and the staff — force and diplomacy, battle and the fabric of law. Their staff is ascendant, and thus, martial skills become a tool of diplomacy. Many Imperial Raksha, unable to establish their own kingdoms, serve as emissaries and lieutenants for their stronger kin, securing alliances and tributaries with the threat of force.

Strategos (Worker and Warrior): Strategoi are the machinists of war. They are the weavers of the fates of battle, and at all times, the patterns of power and blood whisper to them. They craft the war plans of the raksha and direct the forces of the courts. They are elegant and dynamic, creatures driven to apply the utmost rigor and control to the byways and channels of death and fear.

Strategoi wield the ring and the sword. The ring is ascendant, and Temperance masters both a Strategos and her plans. Strategoi are crafters foremost, but their art and craft is war. There is no malice to it — in the Wyld, shaping reality to the patterns of death, pain and disease is scarcely more brutal than the patterns of the other Graces. In Creation, it is the same. The Strategos who crucifies 10,000 mortals as a warning to the rest is rarely pleased or saddened by their pain. The exercise simply expresses certain of her beliefs about the inherent applicability of force.

The Transformation: Imperial Raksha, Eshu and Strategoi have mastered the fire in their own hearts. They live not for glory but for their ambitions. Yet, there is always a hunger in them, eating at the back of their hearts — a will to greatness, but also for murder. If their rage and passion and desire for glory break free, they often transform into Anarchs, Xia and Cataphractoi.

 

 

Shadowed Workers

 

Nobles with a shadowed Ring bend the principles of creation and action to the service of their caste. Their dedication, their integrity and their pride in craftsmanship drives them as they pursue the arts of Cup, Staff and Sword. Because their ascendant Virtue casts the Ring of their ego into shadow, these nobles have subtle and understated personalities. Their potential for greatness manifests best when they stand at a more active noble’s side.

 

Scribe (Diplomat and Worker): Scribes are the functionaries of law and the cogs in the machine of empire. They are loyal, dedicated and essentially invisible — they exist as part of the apparatus of the court. They are loyal advisors, ministers and attendants to the great, making their mark on society not through acts of chaotic greatness, but through steadfast, loyal service.

Scribes are creatures of the staff and the ring, but their symbol is the quill. Scribes identify with the mystery of writing — the process that transforms the ephemeral forms of custom, law and story into shaped, eternal forms. The staff, the order of society, is ascendant in their hearts. It subjugates and shadows the ring, and thus, they turn their identity and creative impulse to society’s service.

Ornamental Raksha (Entertainer and Worker): The Ornamental Raksha exist to grace, adorn and pro vide entertainment to the nobles of the court. Their search for beauty in life is almost honest — they craft themselves to others’ desires, rather than crafting others’ desires to them. They are calm and withdrawn even in the face of rejection. Emptying themselves of personal hungers, they seek to please.

Ornamental Raksha are creatures of the cup and the ring, but their symbol is the mirror. They identify with the mystery of reflection, of one creature seeing themselves in another. The cup, the desire for others’ admiration, is ascendant in them and shadows the ring of their own aesthetic.

Cataphract (Warrior and Worker): The Cataphractoi shape themselves as dreams of knights, heroes, warriors and murderers. They are the mailed fist of the courts, bodyguards and elite troops, the warrior-servants of greater nobles than they. They are the shield, the armor and the sword that stands between their masters and the foe. They fight in service to a greater cause, but more than that, because war defines them.

Cataphractoi are creatures of the sword and the ring, but their symbol is the crow. They do not attend wars because they must or from bloodlust or in the name of tactical objectives. They fight because they are Cataphractoi. They come — like the crows — because the war is there. The sword, their identification with violence and battle, supercedes the ring that is their sense of self.

The Transformation: Scribes, Ornamental Raksha and Cataphractoi suborn themselves to their definitions. It is an calm, empty pleasure in their spirits that drives them — they live as they do because a functionary’s life pleases them. When terrible events rouse their egos and force them to take a stand — driving them to plans and motives beyond their duties — Scribes become Panjandrums, ornaments become Artisans, and Cataphractoi claim the role of Strategoi.