Tales of the Moonlight Maiden: Hazy Images of a Lost Age (Exalted)

Howdy again, folks.

As usual, I don't really have much to report here that would be of any particular interest. I mean, if you're following this and you're an Exalted fan, it might behoove you to check out the Indiegogo for Exigents: Out of the Ashes, the upcoming 'fatsplat' covering the Exigent Exalted, Chosen of various non-Incarna deities. You may remember the concept of Exigents (and the Exigence) from the first couple stories I ran, which I'm sure is going to raise some questions trying to reconcile a few elements of that arc with things we've learned since then. But I'll get into that when that plot comes back around (after all, the Pale Mistress is supposed to get an Exigent of her own at some point...).

But as Exigents in general are kind of a 'roll your own' variety of Exalt, the book doesn't present a standard set of mechanics like it does for other Exalted. What it does, have, however, are full mechanics (with charm trees) for four different sample Exigents (one of them Strawmaiden Janest, who appears in the fiction in the core book), and guidelines on making your own unique Exalts. This also includes guidelines on homebrewing your own Charms and Evocations from scratch. That's part of why they're releasing the book now while there are still so many other classic Exalt types to update, because having that homebrew Charm guide will make it easier for people to fake it, as it were.

For the record, I didn't work on the book or anything. I'm just excited about it and wanted to share.

So now we step away from the endless potential of the Exigents and move back towards the Lunars who sail the waves upon the Moonlight Maiden. Or at least they do when not in the middle of the desert.

And it occurs to me that I should offer up again a disclaimer first seen when discussing Lathe, is that the characters have entered territory about which there is almost no canon whatsoever. Like, we've got a couple of paragraphs on Lathe in the Third Edition core book. All we know about the Three Devil Princes is they're reclusive Lunars who lead a rich and mysterious kingdom. That's it. They have come up exactly twice in canon text, three times if you count a map label, and in each of those appearances they get maybe get a line or two that just emphasizes that they have vast treasures and are terribly mysterious. The first reference to them doesn't even say they're Lunars, just shapeshifters. There's another minor setting element that I've conflated with them, but what I'm getting at is that much like my players' Circle of Lunar characters, in terms of setting material we are well off the map. Hell, the name 'Mirage Kingdom' is something I just came up with as I was writing notes for this story in the days before the session.

I have no clue as to whether the Three Devil Princes or their mysterious kingdom is ever going to get more depth in print -- I suspect it will eventually, and knowing my luck there's an even chance that it'll come out as soon as the characters leave and have no further use for such material. Much like how I stumbled onto a big stack of stuff about An-Teng that would have been helpful, and then in the next session the characters left. Because that's just how it works.

Also, not only is the city kind of a throwback to the First Age, arguably it's a bit of a throwback to Second Edition. Second Edition had a box set that fleshed out the First Age, revealing that it was this advanced magitech-heavy society, bordering on science fiction in its presentation. But it committed the cardinal sin of 'prequel' supplements, and made a thing that wasn't supposed to exist any more into something so cool much of the game line from that point revolved around trying to bring that stuff back into the present. (See also Clanbook: Cappadocian) But I've made the executive decision to portray the Mirror City, capital of the Mirage Kingdom, in the style of that borderline-sci-fi wonkiness to help evoke a sense of awe and contrast with the rest of the world as the characters know it. Though as I said before, it's a little more Shevat, as opposed to Solaris.

What I'm getting at is that this is intended to be a weird outlier and not any sign as to how I'm portraying the First Age or anything like that. There might be other cities like this out there, there might not. We'll see.

Also, this is another one of my really 'talky' sessions. So assume my usual disclaimer about not always having every detail about every bit of every conversation in the correct order applies.

But with that out of the way, let's get on with it.

The Circle of Lunars stands by the water's edge, staring up at the beautiful city ahead of them. The city floats in the sky, though looking around they recognize that it's protected by some sort of magical barrier that blocks the outside view. Sunlight filters through it, but it's like frosted glass. They see that the city builds up on an incline to a tower in the center, and the outermost edge has a wall that holds many towers that hum and buzz with magic, presumably the magic that maintains that protective barrier and/or whatever it is that keeps the city in the air.

Through the open gate, a short woman with green skin and fiery red hair approaches. Xương and Hǎifēng recognize her as a flame duck, a type of fire elemental that can take on a humanoid form. She greets them, introduces herself as Majestic Feather, and says they were expected, which surprises the group because it's been a month since they informed the Devil Princes' agent Lathe, Tepora, that they were coming, and didn't exactly specify a date they'd be arriving. The flame duck then kinda drops her somewhat-formal demeanor and explains that it's not like there's a red carpet ready to roll out or anything, it's more that they knew vaguely that the group would be arriving, and they had oracular magic that let them narrow it down to within a couple of days. From there, it was just a matter of keeping an eye out.

She leads them into the city and explains that quarters have been prepared for them. She waves down a rickshaw pulled by a lion dog, a type of Terrestrial spirit[0] often assigned to guard things that Heaven thinks need to be guarded, but not so important as to assign a celestial lion to it. Lion dogs, as the name suggests, appear as a hybrid of lions and dogs, are two yards high at the shoulder, and are made of living jade. (One can assume they look like Chinese guardian lion statues, or if you wanna get more contemporary with it a Hisuian Arcanine.) 

The group piles into the rickshaw and, while not given a full tour of the city, do wind up seeing its various 'layers.' While I didn't intentionally draw upon Ba Sing Se when visualizing the city, it's really easy to reflexively draw upon Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra for inspiration for this stuff. This is my way of saying that while not as rigidly enforced as in Ba Sing Se, there are three distinct layers to the city.

• At the outermost level seem to be a lot of the lower-level workers, manufactory stuff, and the engineers who keep things running. It seems to be mostly, though not exclusively, made up of humans (or beings that pass for human). 
• As they pass through the second layer they see what appear to be what might be monasteries, city guard barracks, or possibly both. In fact, they see a lot of people wearing what seem to be monk-like robes, some of whom are lightly armored and/or visibly armed.
• And then they reach the third, innermost layer which seems to be government buildings, what might be some high-class housing, and at the center of it all a tower that looks down upon the whole city.

One thing that really stands out is there are a lot of nonhumans in the city. The concentration slants more human in the outermost layer, but the further inward they see more and more beastfolk, God-bloods, and spirits.[1] All in all, at a glance somewhere between 30-40% of the city might be noticeably nonhuman.

The rickshaw takes the group to a small house. Majestic Feather explains that they've had it ready for them. Not customized or anything, but it's got the basic amenities. She leads them in and they see it has a few bedrooms, two bathrooms with running water[2], magical lamps, and a crystal on the wall they can use to summon someone if they need anything or are ready to make an appointment with the Princes. She hands them a key and tells them they can stay however long they need to, though she suggests that they shouldn't try to overstay their welcome. She apologizes if she's a little blunt, it's not normally her job to greet visitors, but someone bailed on her.

The trio start talking about how long they're staying among themselves -- Hǎifēng wants to linger at least a few days since they have the opportunity for some self-pampering if nothing else. Xương would rather move on as quickly as possible. Majestic Feather quietly ducks out while they go back and forth on this, and the conversation winds up just being put on pause until later while Xương and Hǎifēng call dibs on the bathrooms -- the former because he's basically a human sea monster who's been drying out and having to get by on oils and moisturizers so as not to dry out like Lady Cassandra from Doctor Who, and the latter because living rough is just very harsh on them and this is probably the first proper bath they've had since leaving An-Teng. I mean, there might've been some public baths in Lathe, but that's about it.

While they both have a good, long soak, Shango steps outside, shifts to bird form, and takes to the sky over the city to get a better look at everything. He can clearly see now that there is definitely some sort of magical geodesic dome-style barrier over the city. A lot of filtered sunlight comes through, enough to know where the sun is and cast shadows and all that, but it's impossible to see outside in enough detail to gaze out over the desert landscape. It would be all too easy to forget where you are, if you lived here. He also finds that on the side of the city opposite from where they came in is a bunch of crop farms and greenhouses. There aren't any obvious signs of livestock farms, but it definitely looks like there's an extensive operation for growing fruit and vegetables here. The whole city is very clean, and the sheer percentage of nonhumans still stands out.

Shango returns to the guest house to find Hǎifēng waiting for him. Hǎifēng asks where he's been and points out that the bath is free, and suggests he take advantage. Just because Hǎifēng likes traveling with Shango doesn't mean they necessarily want to smell him. There's some back and forth about whether or not Shango smells, but he goes to get cleaned up while Hǎifēng goes to talk to Xương through the bathroom door, because Xương refuses to get out of the tub unless the group has someplace to go.

Hǎifēng asks Xương through the door exactly what they need to talk to the Princes for -- like, why specifically they had to come all the way here to meet them personally. Xương says that all he knew is that they trade in artifacts, and couldn't find any concrete info on how to do that, so he figured they'd come to the source. Hǎifēng points out that it'll be awkward if they meet with the Princes, only to find out they could have sold the artifacts at a store down the street. The conversation's difficult to have, though, because Xương refuses to get out of the tub and Shango's still bathing as well, so they can't work this out as a group unless Hǎifēng wants to run from one bathroom to another, passing messages.

So they just go to the crystal panel inside the front door and poke at it until it lights up. A few minutes later, a woman who appears human but not quite human shows up, and Hǎifēng recognizes her as a Mask, a spirit like the one that served Vaihil. She introduces herself as Silver Lily, their liaison to the city. She explains that she was the one who was supposed to greet them when she came to the city, but through some sort of oracular ability that Masks possess she was aware they'd previously had an unpleasant experience with one of her 'sisters,' and thought it would be best if they first face they saw when they arrived was a different one. Hǎifēng insists that the group wouldn't have had a problem and her worries were unfounded, but she still stands by her choice. 

They ask how they can make an appointment to see the Princes, and she says that she'll go to arrange that herself and then get back to them. She doesn't know how long it will take, but depending on their schedule the Princes could be available to see the group as early as that evening or tomorrow at the latest. And this means that they also have some time to get cleaned up, relax, get some food perhaps. When Hǎifēng asks about that, she goes on to describe a number of restaurants in town serving dishes in styles from all over Creation, and gives directions to some within walking distance. She says if need be, she can track them down if there are any updates.

She also tells Hǎifēng that the group should feel free to enjoy themselves and not worry about money -- the city usually doesn't use actual currency. It's implied that the city is capable of providing for everyone there, as long as those who can contribute do so. Also, being Lunars means they're honored guests and that comes with some privileges, so the group should feel free to ask for whatever they might need. (She also informs Hǎifēng that there is no war in Ba Sing Se, though they're not sure what that has to do with anything.) As she goes to leave, Hǎifēng also asks if they can get some moonsilver ink and tattoo needles, and she agrees to have that sent over. So she takes her leave.

Hǎifēng then gives Xương some more time in the bath before pretty much all but physically dragging him out so they can go get some food. When it's pointed out they don't have to pay, Xương argues that they'd be 'paying in the stares of curious locals.' Hǎifēng points out that there are other Lunars here and they don't have to hide who they are. As the two go back an forth on this, Hǎifēng also mentions the tattoo supplies they requested, and Xương asks if they've talked to Shango about that. And also, there's the subject of why now. Hǎifēng says that it's because that this is the first place they've been in a while where they weren't on a ship, a wagon, or surrounded by normal humans. Opportunities to take the time to do this have been rare, they argue, and at this point Shango comes out and asks what's been rare.

Hǎifēng explains that they were thinking that maybe it's time that Shango get his Caste tattoos, if he feels up to it (at the very least, they'll have the supplies). Shango admits that he'd honestly forgotten about that and wants to give it some thought, and maybe it's something they can work out more after they meet with the Princes. Hǎifēng points out that they've got a meeting in the works and can get some food in the meantime. Shango asks how they're covered for payment, and Hǎifēng says they don't have to pay but if something goes wrong they might have to fix it. Shango says that if he's learned anything from his family, it's that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But they come to the agreement that they have the resources to pay, should it come to it.

Hǎifēng mentions that they haven't even really done any work in a while, and Xương mentions that perhaps Hǎifēng can wash some dishes. Hǎifēng says, somewhat indignantly, that they don't wash dishes. Someone's back, maybe. But not dishes. But the group goes out and finds a restaurant that serves Western-style seafood, with actual fish. It's not 'pulled out of the ocean today' fresh, but it's no worse than we'd find an an inland seafood restaurant in the real world. There's stuff other than fish, though it's worth noting that what they have besides fish is mostly some sort of mystery meat that Xương won't touch but, when Shango asks about it, is apparently some sort of insect protein. (They do sometimes get in proper meat, but not often.)

After they eat, Hǎifēng wants to go shopping, but Xương really just wants to just get their business over with and get out. He finds the city creepy, as it's a little too nice and he doesn't trust it. Why doesn't all of Creation get to live like this, he asks? Hǎifēng compares it to the opulence of the Realm, but Xương gives them a look and points out that not even the Empress gets to casually live like this.

But as they're leaving the restaurant, having this conversation, a clockwork bird flies over to them. It tells them that they have an appointment at about 7pm that night, and informs them that the tattoo supplies have been delivered to their quarters. So the group's got some time, and thus there's a shopping trip. There are a variety of stores carrying stuff from different parts of Creation, mostly from the West and the Southern 'third' of creation. They also get a look at some of the rarer beastfolk in the city, particularly toadfolk and some mantisfolk. They notice that all of the mantisfolk, and for the most part just about everyone with any sort of insect features (even if not full-blown mantis-human hybrids) seem to be part of the religious order that also appears to include the city guard.

When the appointment time arrives, Silver Lily meets them outside the tower that is the center of the city and the location of the Prince's offices. She leads them in and takes them to an elevator, explaining to them what an elevator is. Though she talks about it kind of casually in a way that gives them permission to just nod and smile, without treating them like provincial rubes. They're led to an audience chamber with a raised dais where, sitting at a large table, are three individuals. There is a humanoid mantis in those robes, sitting at a spot marked with a full moon symbol, a corpulent anthropomorphic desert toad sitting at a spot with a new moon carved into it, and a swan-woman at a seat marked with a crescent moon.

When the group comes in, the three of them are in the middle of a conversation, with the swan woman talking about 'him coming back,' and the conversation quickly quiets as the group gets there. The toad speaks first, introducing himself as Yanisin Stoneblood (he/him), the mantis individual to his right as Haloke Harbinger (they/them), and the swan on his left as Temulun (she/her).[3] Xương immediately says that he finds Yanisin Stoneblood to be a 'rad' name (we determined that's a term in Creation), and Yanisin points out that in the First Age he was known as Blood-from-the-Stone because of his predilection for alchemy, and it kind of got compressed over a thousand years. Haloke explains that they are known as 'Harbinger' because in some cultures, the mantis is often seen as some sort of prophet or sign of times to come. Xương says that he himself has a nickname, 'the Bonetaker,' and Haloke says that they've heard.

So if my memories and notes are correct, we start with the group asking what this place is. The Princes explain that it used to be a staging ground for expeditions into the Wyld back in the First Age. When the Usurpation happened, the Lunars were scattered all over Creation, and some fled to the literal edges of the known world. Yanisin, Haloke, and a third Lunar who didn't survive the intervening years found the city, and found it defensible and self-sufficient enough. At some point it fully clicked that they're now the stewards of a bunch of First Age treasures and lore, and have built a kingdom around preserving what they can of that age. It wasn't their intent to build any sort of 'Lunar kingdom,' though it is a kingdom that's run by Lunars, if one gets the distinction.

They point out there are other Lunars who live in and work for the kingdom, as well as a handful of outcaste Dragon-Bloods, a couple of Exigents, and so far a single Solar -- Dakuri, whom the group has met and is Temulun's Solar mate. The group asks if they're trying to recruit more, and they say they are, but it's difficult because their first line of defense is mystery and inaccessibility, and neither of those things is extremely conducive to reaching out and bringing people in.

And this leads into a conversation about the technological capabilities of the city, how there's a lot of the First Age stuff that still works just fine, but not all of it. They've got impressive resources, enough that the city is effectively post-scarcity, but they can only maintain that for a limited number of people. But they do some limited trade with the outside, make things available to their vassal city-states and the like. It's the best they can do maintaining things themselves -- sure, as Lunars they can do better than the Realm or Lookshy in that regard, but some stuff really needs Solar engineers for proper upkeep and repair. Right now, the city's operating at about 70% of its capabilities compared to the First Age.

But they talk some more about reaching out to more Solars, seeing who they can bring in, and so forth, but they're also treading carefully because not all of the Solars have come back 'properly.' The so-called Abyssal Exalted come up, and Xương shows the scar he got from Slit Throats' Last Gasps to emphasize they're no joke. And then this comes back around to Xương's Solar mate Rashmi, and the Princes share what little they know of them, is that their power is linked to Malfeas in some manner and some circles refer to them as the 'Infernal Exalted.' They don't know the Infernals' agenda and point out that the Infernals themselves might not know it, if they even have one -- the minds of the Yozis can be not merely unknowable to mortals but perhaps even dangerous to perceive or understand.

At this point Haloke indicates that Hǎifēng has been wanting to say something for a little while, and Hǎifēng then gets into the situation with the Captain of the Ashen Umbra and the group's encounter with the Captain's mate. This leads the Princes to talk about what little they know of the Deathlords, that they all appear to be the ghosts of First Age Exalted. They don't know much about all of them (again, first line of defense being mystery and inaccessibility makes for less-than-comprehensive spy networks), but suspect there are as many as 13 of them, they're immensely powerful, and they want Creation dead. Haloke says that they've been quietly operating behind the scenes since the early Shogunate, and have only begun moving openly because the Abyssals have empowered them to act.

And speaking of the Deathlords acting, this gets into the subject of Blackened Bone Whispers, which confirms a theory the Princes had about the Captain and the volcano god working together. But the Princes have the impression that their visitors have a plan to do something about this. Xương says that they've got something very specific in mind for Blackened Bone Whispers, and Haloke immediately gets what he's laying down and is into it. Yanisin asks about their specific plans, and they talk about it and get into the obstacles. Most notably, dealing with the sanctum. 

Either Yanisin or Haloke, I can't recall which off-hand, says that they've got stuff that can help with that, but this winds up getting into a thing between the two of them about it. Not a full-blown argument, but it's obvious one of them (I think Haloke) has something specific in mind, and the other would rather go through their cache of treasures and artifacts and collected magic and find something else. The group might have to stay a day or two while they go through this, and that leads into how much Hǎifēng loves the Mirror City. Temulun comments that it's been a labor of love, though she only came into it later. She came to the city with her own followers fleeing the Great Contagion, and when her predecessor among the city's leadership died fighting the raksha during the Balorian Crusade (also known as the Fair Folk invasion), she stepped up.

And this segues into an important point -- Shango. Yanisin has reason to believe that an earlier incarnation of Shango's is their lost comrade, and if he would like they'd like to examine him to figure out if that's the case. If it is, they may be able to unlock some old memories and skills and some of his essence (Yanisin makes sure to specify that's 'essence' with a lower-case 'e'), if he's so inclined.[4] Xương remarks that's not fair, as all he's inherited from a prior life is a 'weird boyfriend.' And I'm blanking on exactly how this came up, but I think one of the Princes comments that Silver Lily's oracular abilities mentioned Xương's vision, which he confirms and then describes.

The elder Lunars glance at each other and mutter "The Empty Palace," upon hearing the description of the vision. They think they have an idea as to what's going on there, and think he may have a tie to a Lunar fortress called the Empty Palace once maintained by a Lunar known as Queen Kirka. And like a lot of places, it was lost in the chaos of the Wyld overtaking reality during the raksha's invasion. This leads into a larger discussion about Wantari's Crucible and the lands of the Silver Principiate, and how they could have Xương work with someone to do some research and figure out where the vision he had places the Palace.

I believe this leads into Hǎifēng talking about how it's like they're here with a couple of celebrities, and Yanisin comments that back in the day, they Exalted all generally knew each other, as between Solars, Lunars, Sidereals, and Exigents there were less than a thousand of them in all (not counting the Dragon-Bloods). But he comments that they were technically celebrities and muses with some nostalgia, that once upon a time they were heroes and god-kings. (Which is a little creepy, to hear someone say that so casually) The subject of the Exalted knowing each other segues around into one of the Princes asking about the Captain of the Ashen Umbra's Lunar mate and the current disposition thereof, as Hǎifēng had mentioned them in passing. They explain that it was Omari-Khenti, which confirms a theory the Princes had about the Captain of the Ashen Umbra's identity. 

Haloke remarks that dealing with the Deathlords could be potentially-fraught for some elder Exalted, given that one may find themselves taking the field against the crazed nihilist ghost of someone who was a friend once upon a time. Then they stop and clarify that they personally would be able to handle it, from centuries of basically sorting themselves out, but someone else might have more issues.

This then leads into the Princes offering the group the resources of the Mirror City above and beyond what they've already discussed, as the city has a number of libraries and they maybe be able to help the group with equipment or training in sorcery or a variety of martial arts. But they can sort all that out in time, and Silver Lily can help arrange things for that while they figure out how to deal with Blackened Bone Whispers. This then leads into some of their intel, explaining they've theorized that the Captain and Blackened Bone Whispers were spreading the latter's worship by having an Abyssal pirate menace a community. Then Blackened Bone Whispers sends in some of his followers (who count among their number allied spirits, outcaste Dragon-bloods, and some God-bloods) to offer their protection, and somehow drive off the Abyssal. And while it's not impossible that a group of magically-empowered followers with preparation could chase away an inexperienced Abyssal (after all, Wyld Hunts pull it off against Solars), it seems unlikely.

But they wish the trio a good evening, Silver Lily comes in, and she leads them out to start making arrangements for Shango and Xương sort out their assorted prior-incarnation weirdness.

And we leave off on Hǎifēng following behind, a little down as they still have a lot of mysterious questions about their own history and don't have a group of elder Lunars offering answers on a moonsilver platter.

[0]-- So Exalted has both spirits and gods. One bad habit I tend to struggle with is referring to certain spirits as 'gods,' because 2e used the term 'god' to mean 'any spiritual being that's not an elemental, spirit, or ghost.' I think this was an attempt to make the setting seem more animistic than it was in 1e, or for simpler categorization, but it means that we have stats for the god of a single grain of rice. 3e has been like 'okay, no, we are not going that granular with it' and has also been referring to certain things as 'spirits' that were previously called 'gods.' So I will occasionally call things 'gods' when I mean to say 'spirits,' largely out of habit.

[1]-- It's worth noting that it's tough to tell at a glance if many of them are 'actual' beastfolk, Wyld mutants, God-bloods with animalistic traits from their spirit heritage. The difference is, arguably, mostly semantic, but I feel the need to point it out regardless. For the record, swanfolk are the most obviously represented among the beastfolk of the Mirror City. There are also some hawkfolk, a few toadfolk, mantisfolk, snakefolk, and assorted others. I'm not sure off-hand just how much detail I went into at specific points (the beastfolk aren't evenly distributed), so forgive me if I point out something in the larger write-up that's redundant.

[2]-- Running water is unheard of in 99% of Creation. The magical lights are still quite rare, but are at least a known commodity. This is what I was talking about in the 'intro' about 2e's presentation of the First Age. The characters themselves get into this a bit at one point, but I just want to impress upon you, the reader, that what we consider to be 'a typical penthouse suite' level of luxury is the sort of thing people in Creation will never see unless they wind up in Yu-Shan, there the Celestial gods live. There might be bits and pieces in places built in First Age ruins, but what my characters are experiencing is greater than most mortals can ever imagine.

[3]-- I'm not sure how well it came across on over the voice chat, but for the sake of better differentiating the Three Devil Princes I used specific voices for them. Yanisin was an impression of Orson Welles (or, to be fair, probably more like Maurice LaMarche doing Orson Welles), Haloke was Christopher Walken, and Temulun was Katharine Hepburn. I think my Hepburn was a little lacking in practice, because that requires a certain degree of vocal projection that probably doesn't come up well on a speakerphone mic, but Sean recognized my Walken without needing to be asked, so take that as you will.

[4]-- Bit of a peek behind the curtain, this is leading into a larger thing over the course of coming sessions that Bryan and I have been working on, with helping him redefine some aspects of his character.