Six Solar Exalts comprise the Bull’s circle. Two of them, the icewalkers Crimson Antler and Fear-Eater, stand watch on the empire’s Eastern territories, maintaining order in the conquered tribes and warding off hostilities from the Linowan. Two others, Raneth of Diamond Hearth and Nalla Bloodaxe, deal with specific problems within the Northern territories. Yurgen and Samea travel about the entire empire, reinforcing the icewalkers’ devotion and preparing for the next stage of their conquest.
S
AMPLEC
OMBATU
NIT: S
NOWB
LOSSOMM
USKO
XT
RIBEDescription: One of many icewalker tribes reformed
by the Bull, the Snow Blossom Musk Ox serve as medium infantry. All adults in the tribe possess tiger warrior training, making them among the Bull’s most elite units.
Commanding Officer: War Chief Salak Armor Color: Black with white and gold trim
Motto: “Victory for the
Musk Ox! Victory for the Unconquered Sun!”
General Makeup: 300
medium infantry in la- mellar armor, wool and furs; each carries a spear, target shield and longbow with broadhead arrows
Overall Quality: Elite Magnitude: 5
Drill: 5
Close Combat Attack: 4 Close Combat Damage: 3 Ranged Attack: 4 Ranged Damage: 2 Endurance: 6 Might: 1 Armor: 2 (-2 mobility) Morale: 4
Formation: The tribe con-
sists of four talons, each of which is subdivided into scales and fangs. War Chief Salak commands the first talon. A subchief hero leads each of the others and can split it off as a separate unit. Five relays
carry winding horns and musk-ox banners. Two of the tribe’s most gifted archers act as sorcerers. All but the commander, sub-chiefs and archers are extras. A blessing from the Musk Ox animal avatar provides supernatural Might.
S
TORYTELLINGIII: S
CALINGTHEC
IRCLEPlayers’ characters in the North and East may well come into contact with Yurgen and his circle at some point. Unlike the setting’s great powers—the Scarlet Empire, the Silver Pact, the Deathlords, the Yozis and such—the Bull’s dominion is active and aggressive. Players and Storytellers alike must factor its presence into their plans. As such, Storytellers can adjust the power level of the Bull and his circle to better match that of a given series.
Kaneko has had a decade to loot the ruins and treasure vaults of the North. To strengthen him, give him artifacts and hearthstones appropriate to his needs: orichalcum superheavy plate, a daiklave of conquest, a gem of adamant skin or even a royal warstrider. A few Charms, such as Tiger Warrior Training Technique, will greatly strengthen his armies. Any number of other young Solars might enter his service too. For pre-generated traits, see the sample Lawgivers in the
Exalted Storytellers Companion, pages. 124-125.
To weaken the Bull, instead of reducing his traits, undermine his support structure. This reduces his ability to affect the setting and adds new threads to the story. Perhaps Samea dies in the Battle of Futile Blood, or Crimson Antler and Fear-Eater defect to the service of the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears. Likewise, major reverses in the Northern or Eastern campaigns reduce his dominion’s Magnitude, stripping away manpower and tying up his entire circle indefinitely. he or !” 00 a- nd ar, ow s : 4 e: 3 ht: 1 ) con- ch of into Chief e first ro leads can split Fiverelays
The Empire of the Bull, a Magnitude 5 Dominion Military: 4 Government: 2 Culture: 2
Abilities: Awareness 2 (Icewalker Scouts +2), Bureaucracy 2 (Military Governors +1), Craft 2 (Fortification Effort +1,
Road-Building +2), Integrity 1 (Garrisons +2), Investigation 1, Occult 3 (Sorcery +2, Spirit Allies +1), Performance 2 (Stirring Oratory +1), Presence 4, Stealth 2, War 5 (First Age Tactics +1, Overwhelming Force +1)
Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 4, Temperance 2, Valor 4 Virtue Flaw: Valor Current Limit: 3
Willpower: 7
Bonus Points: 25 External Bonus Points: 0
Notes: Yurgen Kaneko is the empire’s legitimate sorcerer. His circlemates also function as sorcerers, while savants
could appear among the rulers of any conquered state or tribe in the empire. The Bull’s dominion teeters on the cusp of Magnitude 6. Conquest of a major power, such as Whitewall or Linowan, will push it over the edge. The dominion’s bonus points go towards its specialties and an additional dot each of Stealth and Conviction. Assembled by force and the threat of force, the empire has little else to keep it together. In Limit Break, its conquered states rebel against their occupiers.
THE ICE PLAINS
Between the White Sea and the Inland Sea, from the crags above Whitewall to the taiga that girds the marshy
banks of the River of Tears, stretch pale expanses of high- land tundra that burgeon with vibrant green grasses only in the brief Northern summer. The icewalkers call the Ice Plains home. Even those in service to the Bull still spend
their summers on the plains, following the great herds they hunt and worship.
Although they lack the fertility of warmer climes, the Ice Plains are no desert. Grasses sprout from the chill earth along with dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens. Below a few yards, though, the ground stays perpetually frozen. There is little precipitation, but the perpetual cold of the long winters prevents snow from melting, so even light flurries accumulate into snowdrifts. The summer thaw softens the land into one vast swamp dotted with lakes. These lakes freeze over when the cold returns, forming the expanses of ice that give the plains their name.
Frigid winds blow steadily across the plains throughout the long Northern winter. Gusts whip the drifts into snow devils and send travelers stumbling. Shrubs grow with their branches swept back in the direction of the wind.
Only a few animals endure the harsh conditions of the Ice Plains. Fish inhabit the few large lakes that don’t freeze solid in the depths of winter, while birds and insects migrate to the marshes in the summer. Squirrels and bears hibernate through the cold, emerging only when the weather warms. A few larger animals inhabit the plains throughout the year. Lemmings and hares provide prey for foxes and owls, while packs of wolves and snow hunters compete with icewalker tribes to hunt the great herds of mammoth, caribou, moose, musk oxen and elk.
THE MOTHER’S HEARTH
When Samea traveled to the heart of the Ice Plains in search of greater enlightenment, she found a demesne where the sun blazed upon the snow in pillars of golden light. When she settled there to meditate upon the Unconquered Sun, the Mammoth tribes followed, and when the herds moved on, many tribesmen remained to feed and protect her. After she emerged from her contemplation, the icewalkers marked the place as holy. Her followers raised a shrine to her upon her departure and took pilgrimages there to make offerings in her name. Others came to trade goods and stories with the pilgrims and with each other.
Both Yurgen and Samea saw the value of a central meeting place for the tribes. Once she had mastered Celestial Circle sorcery, the Zenith raised a Solar manse wherein visiting tribes could meet and dwell out of the plains’ bitter chill. Its rooms and halls slowly filled over the years as artisans, shamans and elders settled there on a permanent or semi- permanent basis. Now, almost a decade later, the place forms a small self-contained town amidst the ice, where Samea rules as priestess-queen.
T
HEM
ANSEThe great marble dome of the Mother’s Hearth rises amidst the Ice Plains, its snowy flanks blending in with the tundra landscape. Eight gold-peaked minarets rise from its sloping walls. Gates of yellow wood open in each of the four directions, and each gate leads into a broad, door-lined
passage leading to a great central courtyard. The manse’s magic fills it with sunlight and warmth even in the depths of winter. The common areas are richly furnished. In addition to their native furs and ivories, its residents cram its halls and common chambers with the booty of a dozen plundered city-states.
The Mother’s Hearth is a three-dot Solar manse with the powers Comfort Zone (1 pt.), Magical Conveniences (1 pt.), Well-Flavored Aspect (1 pt.) and Temple Manse (3 pts.). Both Samea and the Bull of the North have attuned to it, and Samea holds its hearthstone, a gem of sorcery (see The Books of Sorcery, Vol. III—Oadenol’s Codex, p. 107).
Roughly 100 people inhabit the Mother’s Hearth on a permanent basis, all of them icewalkers. A few foreign merchants have petitioned Samea for residency, but she has refused them all. Transient residents range widely in numbers. At quiet times, there might be no more than a dozen pilgrims, traders or foreign scholars present, while a large gathering of tribes swells the settlement’s population into the thousands. The manse itself has room for 100 guests to lodge in comfort, or up to 500 in cramped conditions. Another 1,000 can cram themselves into the domed central courtyard. Any additional visitors must pitch their tents outdoors.
P
EOPLEOFTHEH
EARTHThe Hearth’s handful of permanent inhabitants tends toward the aged and sedentary. Some spend their days engaged in handicrafts—painting leather, sewing furs, carving bone and the like—while others devote themselves to prayer. All spend a great deal of time sharing stories, for this is both a pastime and a responsibility among the icewalker tribes, and the folk of the Hearth come from many different tribes, each with their own tales and histories. Music also fills the manse. Drums beat, hands clap, and many voices rise together in song, their words echoing through the glittering halls.
Small gods throng to the Mother’s Hearth, though few stay long or manifest themselves to its residents. A notable exception is Tianlang, a lion dog (see The Books of Sorcery, Vol. IV—The Roll of Glorious Divinity I, pp. 45–46).
Unemployed by Heaven for centuries, Tianlang lorded it over the farmers of a poor Northern village until Samea lectured him into submission. His sense of honor restored by her words, he guards the manse as a favor to its mistress.
S
PIRITG
UESTSThe Hearth’s eight towers are off limits to most of its residents. Each contains a luxurious bedchamber and other amenities. Samea resides in one. She reserves the others for her circlemates and visiting gods. The towers generally stand empty in her absence, but when she is present, powerful Terrestrial gods often seek audience with her. Some wish to bargain with her on their own behalf or on behalf of their worshipers. Others are curious to meet the reborn Solars and learn their motivations.
Samea’s most persistent guests are the animal avatars. The Bull has transformed icewalker society, and the avatars
have yet to come to terms with the effects of these changes on their rivalries and relationships. Emissaries from the North’s many national and tribal gods likewise gather here to discuss the growth of the places under their protection. More than once, Autumn Frost (see p. XX) has visited surreptitiously. Whether she comes as a representative of the Haslanti pan- theon or on her own behalf is not yet known.
A
UTHORITYANDG
OVERNANCESamea’s word is law among the icewalkers, and doubly so at the Hearth. She has never claimed any title among her people. Nonetheless, they call her the Mother of All Tribes and worship her as a living goddess. In addition to obeying her instructions, they do their best to guess at her unspoken desires, often gathering outside her presence to discuss the interpretation of a mood, a turn of phrase or a gesture.
The Mother often travels abroad. She finds many de- mands on her time, from the Bull’s wars to incursions by the walking dead and the Fair Folk. When she is absent or when she is too engrossed in her sorcerous studies or her meditations to deal with her people, her priestesses minister to them in her stead. Samea has chosen five so far, selecting from the visiting tribes those who seem quick-witted, generous of spirit and without strong attachments to individuals or families. Though she insists there is no seniority among the priestesses
of the Unconquered Sun (save, of course, for herself), she most often employs her Underling-Promoting Touch upon Adare, a former elder of her own Blackwater Mammoth tribe whom she remembers fondly from her childhood.
Visitors who behave courteously have little to fear in the Hearth. Simple rules bind residents and outsiders alike: Do no harm to others; offer aid to those in need; respect the customs of hospitality. Those who cannot abide by these restrictions suffer whatever penalty Samea or her priestesses choose to mete out, ranging from asking for an apology to exile from the Hearth.
Exile is a surprisingly potent punishment. Samea’s presence so affects those around her that her absence aches like a phantom limb. Exile also serves to protect. Not only can the banished do no more harm to the community, but if a mortal’s actions move Samea to violence, how could he survive her anger?
Of the few that have left the Hearth in exile, most were banished in Samea’s absence or when she was calm. Two, however, she expelled in the heat of anger, and the super- natural power of her wrath forever branded their souls. For good or ill, they seek to shape the world to match the marks she left upon them, wandering across the North to preach subservience—or opposition—to the Solar Exalted.
The Mother’s Hearth, a Magnitude 2 Dominion Military: 1 Government: 2 Culture: 2
Abilities: Awareness 1 (Pilgrims +2), Craft 1 (Foreign Merchants +1), Integrity 2 (Religious Edict +1, Tight-Knit
Culture +1), Investigation 1, Occult 2 (Animal Avatars +2), Performance 2 (Icewalkers +3), Presence 1 (Icewalk- ers +3)
Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 3, Valor 1 Virtue Flaw: Compassion Current Limit: 1
Willpower: 6
Bonus Points: 10 External Bonus Points: 3
Notes: The Hearth’s Magnitude, unusually high for its size, stems from its centrality, its large transient population
and its significance to the Bull’s icewalker tribes. Samea is the dominion’s legitimate sorcerer, while her priestesses act as savants. The dominion’s bonus points are tied up in its specialties, as are the external bonus points it gains from foreign traders and influence over the icewalker tribes. The folk of the Mother’s Hearth pride themselves on their devotion and spirituality. When the settlement enters Limit Break, its people refuse to accept culpability for its ills. Instead, they blame everything on a scapegoat and exile him or her from the community.
THE RIVEROF TEARS
The Wyld overflows with prodigies. In the Bordermarches, some rivers run uphill or out of the sea. Deep inside Creation, the River of Tears does both. It is a vast and extravagant relic of the Old Realm. A hundred brilliant cities once sparkled along its length, but it now lies far from the heart of civiliza- tion, and what few cities remain are shabby and old. Even the magic that once kept its waters pure is failing.
The River of Tears is two miles wide even at its source, where Malice Bay’s waters flow between the towering gran-
ite promontories called the Pillars of Futility, and narrows somewhat as it travels south. Sandy beaches and salt marshes spread outward from its banks.
That river’s broad, shallow valley is as fecund as any marsh or seashore. Insects buzz and hum thickly, especially at sunset. Gulls and river ducks dive into tidal pools to feed on fish and crabs, while hares, moose and deer graze amidst the sedge. Few of the native wolves and lynx remain to compete with hunters and trappers. The largest predators one is likely to encounter are otters and foxes.
Travel in the region has its perils, though. Many native elementals and lesser gods remain irritable about the salt in- fusing their lands, and Immaculate monks capable of keeping them in line have been in short supply since the Empress’s disappearance. Mortals who encounter ill-tempered paludal spirits are advised to make offerings of pure water, pumice and silver—or failing that, to run very fast.
HISTORYOFTHE RIVEROF TEARS
During the High First Age, the River of Tears chan- neled water from Frost Lake uphill to the Yanaze. The immense Spidersilk Dam, which controlled the flow of water from the Great Western Ocean into Frost Lake, turned the water fresh and pure. The White Valley between the dam and the River of Tears blossomed into one of the breadbaskets of the Old Realm, and shining cities grew along its riverbanks.
A Solar Exalt demolished Spidersilk Dam in the Usur- pation, sweeping away the army raised against him. The resulting deluge also flooded the White Valley and drowned millions of innocent people. The surge pressed its way up the River of Tears, smashing city after city until it faded just short of Sijan. The magics sustaining the river’s flow remained unbroken. Its waters settled into their original course, flowing past seaweed-draped ruins and fields choked with salt.
The Shogunate worked to mend the broken region. Dragon-Blooded engineers raised the Saltspires, five desali- nation manses on artificial islands along the river’s upper reaches, to extract the salt from its waters so that it might run fresh and pure again. They seeded the shores with plants such as saltberry and forsake-me-never that drew impurities from the soil. Civilization slowly returned. Cities grew again, farms spread across flood-carved marshes and cargo vessels sailed up and down between the White Sea and the Yanaze. The region nonetheless remained a backwater where civiliza- tion clung to the riverbanks without making deep inroads into the hinterlands.
When the Great Contagion struck, the River of Tears suffered less than some parts of the Threshold. Mortals died by the millions, and the Fair Folk harried the survivors, but the Saltspires held mountains of extracted salt with which to ward off hungry ghosts and salt the shadowlands that sprang up in the Contagion’s wake. When the Contagion ended, the survivors settled around the Saltspires and built new cities on their islands and the surrounding riverbanks to harvest the salt churned out by the manses.
The Saltspire cities grew rich and powerful, but they turned against each other instead of confederating, squander- ing their wealth in incessant petty wars. Their manses fell into disrepair, leaving the river brackish down to the Yanaze. Only the manse at Plenilune, the southernmost Saltspire city, remained intact. The other cities finally leagued against Plenilune as it gained the economic upper hand. Matters remained so until the Bull came. Plenilune surrendered to his armies and now lives under his protection.
PLENILUNE
The city of Plenilune has long overflowed its original island onto both banks of the River of Tears. A tangle of city walls from various expansions and imperial periods partition the eastern and western sprawls into districts. A hereditary baron rules each district and exacts a toll from all who pass through the district’s gates. In the sprawls, low buildings of wood and stone totter over winding streets and press together around plazas, bazaars and webs of shadowy