Night
Caste
When the Unconquered Sun descends below
the horizon to slumber until the next dawn, the world is shrouded in darkness
and secrecy. It is the time of those beings — conspirators, criminals and wicked
spirits — that cannot survive the bright light of truth. The Night Caste fights
these enemies on their own turf and walks in a world of secrecy and lies.
During the First Age, the Night Caste
oversaw the security and welfare of the Realm and its citizens. Serving as the
silent, bedaggered left hand to the Dawn Caste’s
mailed right fist, the Concealing Shadows brought swift justice to those places
the armies of the light could not reach. Where brute force failed, the Night
Caste succeeded with stealth and trickery. When the Dragon-Blooded overthrew
the
With the Solars’
return, the Hidden Suns stalk the shadows of the forests, mountains and the
cities once more. No wall can keep them at bay, and no treachery can escape
their gaze. Members of the Night Caste are chosen from those who excel in
stealth and guile and can formulate clever solutions to difficult problems.
Thieves and assassins are chosen but also secretive scholars, clever city
constables, master woodsmen, sly courtesans, fast-talking merchants and devious
nobles. Any who favor the use of cunning, wit and
skill over raw power may be Exalted into this caste.
Concealing Shadows frequently become the
Circle’s eyes and ears, gathering information for the good of the group. When a
situation calls for unconventional solutions, it is the Night Caste that the
Circle often looks to for leadership.
Anima Banner: Night Caste Solars
have an empty golden ring as their Caste Mark. The animas of these
Exalted are ghostly whites and golds, tinged with
purple and purple-gray.
Anima Effects: The Concealing Shadows have more control
over their animas than the average Solar Exalted, though they cannot match the
masterful illusions of the Lunar Exalted. First, the Hidden Suns may mute their
animas, allowing them to exert their powers without the display of power. When
a Night Caste Solar expends Peripheral Essence, she may spend twice as many
motes in order to prevent the expenditure from adding to her anima banner. This
ability does not allow the character to mute Essence displays caused by the use
of sorcery.
The character may also extend her muted
anima like an imperceptible veil around her. This extended anima last for an
entire scene and costs 10 motes of Essence to evoke. The anima mutes the senses
of those attempting to perceive the Night Caste and, also, the evidence the
Exalted leaves behind for those who would follow her trail. Shadows are darker,
sounds muffled and scent and footprints are both much lighter than normal. In
game-mechanic terms, this muting increases the difficulty of all rolls to
detect or track the Exalted by 1, so long as the muted anima is in effect.
Caste Abilities: Members of the Night Caste excel at
noticing that which others miss and in going places where they are not wanted.
They have a natural affinity for the Abilities of Athletics, Awareness, Dodge,
Larceny and Stealth.
Associations: The season of winter, the colors of
violet and gray, the northern direction, the element of water, the new moon and
the Maiden of Endings
Sobriquets: Hidden Suns, Concealing Shadows, Nightbringers, Iron Wolves, Daggers of Heaven, The Wretched
(derogatory)
Concepts: Troubleshooter for hire, bounty hunter,
neglected youngest sister, escaped fugitive, king of thieves, nobleman’s
mistress, gang leader, crafty merchant, highwayman
Hide
your wickedness
behind
closed doors,
skulk
beneath the earth,
even
conspire in the land
of
dead if you wish —
it
will avail you not.
You may
conceal your evil
from
the light of
the
Unconquered Sun,
but
you cannot evade his eyes.