Life is a
journey. It has a beginning and an ending, but what truly matters is the
journey from one point to the next. This journey is what shapes who we are and how we meet our fate. The Primordials
created the Maiden of Journeys to oversee this aspect of Creation and destiny.
All that deals with going and doing falls under her mandate. Now, it falls to
the Chosen of Journeys to oversee this mandate and to ensure that Creation
continues its journey toward its destiny.
In the First
Age, the Chosen of Journeys were charged with maintaining and expanding the
complex web of transportation and communication networks that spanned all of
Creation. Under their management, every kind of commodity, including materials,
people and information, moved quickly and efficiently from one corner of the
world to another. When the Sidereals sought to
eliminate the Solar Exalted, it was the Chosen of Journeys who saw to it that
this vast web was turned against the world’s fallen rulers. Warnings to fellow Solars were lost, escape routes were misdirected into
ambushes, and the Dragon-Blooded outmaneuvered their former lords at every
step.
In the wake of
the Great Contagion, the Chosen of Journeys were tasked with reestablishing the
ties between communities. They worked to reopen trade routes, to instigate the
rebuilding of roads and to maintain the lines of communication among the
far-flung temples of the Immaculate Order. Some of the Chosen of Journeys also
oversaw the remapping of Creation and the recording of the changes wrought by
the Wyld. Others scouted the boundaries between
Creation and the Wyld, watching for further dangers
from the Fair Folk or even the long-lost Lunar Exalted.
Among the
Bronze and Gold Factions, the Chosen of Journeys are responsible for seeing
that their respective conspiracies are able to coordinate their rival efforts.
Bronze members carry messages between the secret masters of the Immaculate
Order, while Gold-aligned Chosen of Journeys perform the same duties among the
Cult of the Illuminated. Through their efforts, the Immaculate Order is always
able to stay one step ahead of the political maneuverings of the Dynasty, while
the Cult of the Illuminated is able to avoid Immaculate
inquisitors. In addition to their duties as messengers, Bronze-aligned Chosen
of Journeys work to maintain the infrastructure of the Realm and its client
states, to monitor the growing number of threats to the Realm’s power and to aid
the Wyld Hunt when possible. Gold-aligned Chosen of
Journeys travel the Threshold working to ferment trouble for the Realm and the
Immaculate Order and to scavenge ancient tombs in search of artifacts to be
used by their Solar pawns. Independent Chosen of
Journeys perform many of these same tasks in order to further their own goals.
The Chosen of
Journeys are always born among those destined for travel, and most are struck
with wanderlust at a young age. Many have grown up among Guild caravans,
nomadic tribes, horse clans and communities of sailors and fishermen. Those
rare Chosen of Journeys who strive to maintain a semi-permanent residence or
mortal identity often do so among communities similar to those they once called
home.
Caste Markings: The eyes of every Chosen of Journeys
have yellow irises, and their pupils appear to be filled with minute yellow
flecks, causing them to resemble a star-filled night sky. During powerful
expenditures of Peripheral Essence, the Sign of Journeys appears upon the
Anima Effect: A Chosen of the Maiden of Journeys can
make the Lesser Sign of Mercury at a cost of 10 motes. This sign causes the
Auspicious Abilities: The Chosen of Journeys are influenced
by those celestial constellations that serve under the Golden Barque of the Heavens. They are the Captain, the Gull, the
Mast, and the Ship’s Wheel, and they grant the Chosen of Journeys a natural
affinity for the Abilities of Endurance, Ride, Sail, Survival and Thrown.
Common Natures: Architect, Bureaucrat, Conniver,
Explorer, Paragon, Rebel, Savant, Survivor, Thrillseeker,
Visionary
Associations: The color yellow, the element and
season of air, the astrological house of the Golden Barque
of the Heavens
Sobriquets: Heaven’s Messengers, Harbingers
Concepts: Bronze Faction messenger, obsessive
explorer, ship’s navigator, Lunar sympathizer,
wandering troublemaker, the Sidereal with No Name, merchant prince, reformed
bandit
As the stars quiver, blown
across the heavens by the
winds of fate, so too does my
heart quail to see you, censor.