I MPACTO DEL C AMBIO C LIMÁTICO

Cost: Not for sale

Ever since the rise of the New Dark Ages, the language of the flowers long held a strong tradition in the noble courts. Each court has distinctive codes of etiquette and manner- isms, including a few that serve as universal messages. The flowers of Gethsemane take this idea one step further; they literally imbue the flowers with the power to enact their meaning upon those around them. Unlike normal flow- ers, these are not merely dead ornaments worn upon the clothes; they are half flesh, half floral organisms that feed off psychic energies normally found in a typical party. Each of these flowers responds to the moods around them and will in fact release a series of human-keyed pheromones designed to manipulate the reactions of the people around them.

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These flowers are a relatively modern creation, first manifesting in al-Malik courts, only to find Decados variants showing up in quick order. It would become a matter of years before each house had seduced, stolen, bribed, or otherwise acquired a stem of the original seeds and hybridized them with local flora to create new and unique varieties. In the Emperor Wars, the flowers served as emblems of prestige, each manifesting their own Houses’ particular mentality and each triggering a unique series of social interactions.

However, in recent years a more insidious side of these flowers has manifested. Rumors abound that some of these flowers mutated, growing in size and stature and then drew human victims into their maw. Rumors of these attacks became extant enough to warrant inquisitorial investi- gation, which produced what is suspected to be Symbiot organelles inside the flower, causing the strange fusion of flesh and flower. The Inquisition has since instigated a pogrom of these flowers, but finds propagating this informa- tion to be difficult in the extreme, not the least due to noble support of these flowers and the difficulty of distinguish- ing between the hybrid flowers and normal flowers. However, more resourceful members of the nobility learned to harvest these flowers for their pheromones and manufacture them into a perfume. As the Church’s scrutiny is causing the flow- ers to fall out of favor, more and more nobles choose to wear the less conspicuous perfumes. So far, the perfumes them- selves are not proscribed.

Traits

What follows is a list of the most popular varieties of house flowers found in the Known Worlds and their recorded effects:

House Hawkwood’s royal flower is the Delphian starflower, selected for breeding due to its blue curling petals and crys- talline stamen. Its fragrance is reminiscent of a fusion of violets with a slight ruffle of ozone. Though thought to be a little odious at first, the House continues to affirm that the scent grows on you. The hybrid Gethsemane flower causes it to release a fragrance that imbues its wearer with an aura of power, making social and physical challenges against its wearer far more difficult. Anybody attempting to confront the wearer will find themselves filled with a desire to show respect and bend knee and will suffer a penalty to do other- wise. To oppose the effect of the flower the attacker must spend a point of Wyrd.

House Decados is known for the Severan jungle gloam. This flower displays a somewhat savage nature, wreathed in violently purple and black serrated petals. Decados love to wear these flowers with the barbs of its tendrils wreathed

around their necks and like most things on Severus, these flowers are potently poisonous, but its fragrance is heady and intoxicating. The gloam is known for releasing a power- ful perfume that intoxicates all who inhale it, making them act with less and less inhibitions as the night progresses, attempts to resist advances of seduction and persuasion are severely hampered, receiving a –6 penalty to resist. The Hazat bear a flower called the blood wisp, famed for its blood red petals and barbed vines. It is customary for the Hazat to wear these flowers on their sleeves or even bared arms, with the coils of thorns wrapped around, the pricks visibly digging into their flesh. These flowers are famed for their sap, a thick red ichor that is the consistency of human blood. These flowers have a tendency to leak this sap gently when cut, this giving rise to the name. When exposed to their fragrance, humans find their passions inflamed, making them prone to anger and passion. In its presence, inciting passion is done with a +6 modifier and attempts to retain calm are tenuous at best.

House Li Halan strongly favors a light purple and white flower known as the chai long orchid. This flower, contrary to customary Li Halan décor, is quite ornate but retains the typical delicacy of the House. Unlike other House flowers, this flower only releases its more potent fragrance when a petal is broken. Until then, the flower exudes a delicate scent that is barely perceptible. Once broken, however, the flower releases a deep throbbing perfume that inflames certain parts of the brain associated with religious epiph- any. Once exposed, people feel a strange sense of connection with everything around them in a moment of Zen, some even receiving hallucinatory flashes of the Pancreator or the Disciples. Whilst in this state, all subjects gain a +4 modi- fier to Empathy checks.

House al-malik owns the first flower developed into a Gethsemane hybrid. The flower, the golden raja, belies its potent fragrance with its simple and small golden flowers. Its true beauty lies in its stem and leaves which have the luster, malleability, and resilience of gold. House al-Malik is fond of adorning themselves with these plants that can easily retain a molded shape of a laurel crown or wreathed armbands. Its scent is oblique to all who smell it; many different observers have likened it to many different scents depending on who is perceiving it. When inhaled, the fragrance produces a mild euphoric bliss. When augmented by the hybridization, the flower’s euphoric ability floods all who smell it with an over- powering ecstatic sensation, increasing nervous energy and compelling them to dance or participate in the revelries.

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This chapter details a number of items of technology that receive special attention by the Church, not for their depreciation of humanity’s integrity, but for their benefi- cial use. It is the less often cited fifth category of the bull under which Merciful Tech falls, including medical technol- ogy used to alleviate the suffering of peasants and Martyrs alike. However, even these technologies have their limita- tions and some suffer hot contestation of the correct ways to use them. Church authorities hold that these can only be used properly by clergy, a privilege that Sanctuary Aeon seeks to consistently secure.