Legacy-Timeline

The Season of Wood: A season of planting and late-Spring-like weather, with Descending Wood beginning to warm up significantly. Some places that get warm early may have a first harvest by the end of this season.

The Season of Fire: The hottest season, a time of long light and growing, with Summer-like temperatures. Most places feature a first harvest by the end of this season, though some are already into a second harvest.

The Season of Earth: A time of warmth and ripening, without the stifling heat of the Season of Fire. Late Summer-like weather for most of the season, with early-Autumn-like weather and harvests happening at the end of Descending Earth.

The Season of Air: Starting off with colder early-Autumn-style weather featuring trees shedding leaves. Harvests of vines and trees tend to occur in Resplendent Air. Cools significantly by the end of Ascending Air and is very cold and winter-like through Descending Air.

The Season of Water: Very Winter-like in early Ascending Water, but beginning to warm up, with snows melting and an early Spring coming in Resplendent Water. Early planting begins then.

Calibration: The five days "outside of time" in Creation, when the veils between the world of spirits and the world of mortals drops, and the cracks between Creation and the Underworld, Malfeas and the Wyld widen enough to allow things to slip through. An uncanny time, one best spent in the company of others. Many settlements bar their gates and don't allow travelers in during the five days of Calibration. Essence regeneration increases by 50% during Calibration.

Pre-Chronicle

• Realm Year 748 to Realm Year 768
  • The most important events in recent years, both to the setting as a whole and to our heroes.

Prelude:Training of the Solars

• Realm Year 768: Resplendent Earth to Descending Air
  • In which our heroes find one another, and learn the wielding of Essence and their own legacy from both the Abbot of the Serpent Monastery, and the forgotten god he serves.

Book One: The Black Phalanx

Realm Year 768

Ascending Water

• 14: Nearly a month had passed since the destruction of Mahanaga and a variety of changes had befallen the company of travelers. Not long into the journey, Tobias and Whispering Bear had decided to take their leave for reasons of differing moralities than others in the company as well as personal reasons that beckoned them away. The other four Solars, the god Taruzake and Aapo's snake-charmed mortal ward Ginger continued the long, cold journey on horseback through cold & slushy mud to The Keldin Cliff-Cities, where Alabaster Mountain's family lived. The journey was made considerably more comfortable than it would have been otherwise through the magics of Crimson Slate who had summoned a fire butterfly, which also kept the horses in good health.
  • As they neared the city of Lionroar, Sapphire Veil convinced them to stop for the night at an outlying farmhouse. The farmers were awestruck that Prince Alabaster Mountain was in their presence and were most hospitable. Sapphire Veil & Alabaster Mountain sent a message with the farmers eldest son to the city ahead of them that he was returning.

• 15: Refreshed from their stay with the kind farmers, the companions set forth for Lion Roar and arrived early in the morning. Upon arrival they saw a docked Guild barge with livestock being loaded. Immediately they recognized a very familiar mule possessing a bent ear; Toshi was alive. Sapphire Veil & Crimson Slate approached the ship and spoke with the man present & learned that the mule had been purchased from a Guildsman was was currently preparing the slave auction in the market square that very moment. Sapphire Veil immediately started making her way towards the market. Crimson Slate quickly negotiated using her amazing powers of haggling the purchase of Toshi and came back with a mount for Ginger to ride. Everyone else followed Sapphire Veil, who for a moment had forgotten to walk steps behind Alabaster Mountain, her mind keenly focused on something far more important to her than she would ever admit to.
  • The companions arrived at the market and easily found the Guild slave auction being constructed and prepared for operation later in the morning. They also saw & immediately recognized the Guildsman who was running the operation: Prosperous Standard. In addition to Grace being amongst the slaves, there were a number of other Mahanaga survivors as well as a plethora of Riverlin slaves. Alabaster Mountain, with use of his noble title, convinced Prosperous Standard to allow him first pick of the slaves.
  • While Sapphire Veil kept a close eye on Alabaster Mountain and Prosperous Standard, Crimson Slate & Aapo with Ginger & Taruzake began to visit a few inns & taverns in the area, giving out free samples of Taruzake's rice wine as well as the recipe to those who were interested.
  • Upon having first arrived at Lion Roar, Alabaster Mountain had noted the dubious purple flags of mourning displayed in the upper city, though their full meaning had not been known to him, save that someone important had died. While he was negotiating the purchase of the Mahanaga slaves the noble banner followed by a small procession of nobles & palace guards made their way to him. He was quickly briefed that his brother had been murdered and that he was needed to return to the palace immediately. Alabaster Mountain explained to the Majordomo about the slaves he wished to purchase & his other companions that should be sent up to his apartments when found, then he & Sapphire Veil left with the guards to the palace.
  • The annoyed, impatient & confused Majordomo approached the Guild auction and found a very helpful young river woman, obviously one of Alabaster Mountain's companions. She was kind enough to point out the slaves that he had wished to purchase...all of the river folk. The Majordomo sighed and summoned a Guildsman and stated he wished to purchase the river folk. The confused Guildsman inquired if they were in addition to those Alabaster Mountain had already selected. Eyebrow twitching in irritation & impatience as he glanced up at the purple flags ahead, he sighed and agreed to purchase all of them. A quick transaction numbers & seals and the Majordomo snatched up Alabaster Mountains rather bewildered companion, who felt it necessary to point out that she could easily find her own way at a later time if only he'd - no, no - she was going with him now. So he stomped off towards the palace with her in tow looking as if she was contemplating whether she'd left the iron on in her previous life.
  • Crimson Slate & Aapo were quickly informed by the rumor mongering commoners of what had happened and decided to head up to the palace and find their companions. Upon leaving a tavern, the barkeep now the proud owner of a copy of Taruzake's wine recipe, they saw the mass of Mahanaga & river folk slaves being led up towards the palace and followed.
  • Alabaster Mountain and Sapphire Veil were given their rooms. As Sapphire Veil was entertaining herself with a constant string of delightful findings in her room, Alabaster Mountain was informed that one of his female companions had arrived and was given a room. Assuming it was Crimson Slate & wishing to speak to her, he went to the room and knocked.
  • Still somewhat stunned by the circumstances, the river girl the Majordomo had delivered into these quarters, hid herself behind the closed doors of the bath room. Alabaster entered the chambers and heard her while she was making frantic bathing noises on the other side of the door. While Alabaster Mountain was calling her name, the realm Crimson Slate and Aapo were just approaching the rooms following a servant & heard him calling her name. They poked their head into the room to ask what Alabaster Mountain was going on about, just as the door to the bath room was opened from within and the river girl stepped out.
  • ...to immediately have Alabaster Mountains grinning metal face at the end of his tetsubo suddenly inches from her nose.
  • Sapphire Veil joined the throng in the interrogation of the river girl, Lynn (her simple name meeting with much approval from Aapo). It was quickly determined that she knew who and WHAT they were, which immediately gained her a great deal of threats and drawn weapons from those around her. But she quickly amended this knowledge with the fact that she too was a Solar, and proved it by revealing her Twilight caste mark. While the flow of information was largely one way, the companions wishing to share very little of their own pasts, but demanding that she provide them with all the answers to their questions, the meeting went overall well. Weapons were eventually put away, she was not hurled through a wall, nor sentenced to a life imprisonment in a bath room. The guards that the servant who witnessed Alabaster Mountain draw his weapon had summoned were dismissed and the Solars talked. Lynn's agenda had been rather simple, she only wished to see that her people found a good home. This quest having been completed successfully, she had intended to return to her ship. But two things had happened. First she had overheard Prosperous Standard's ominous words to his assistant, identifying them as anathema and that if they caused any trouble he would reveal their nature and second she'd been essentially kidnapped by the Majordomo in a case of mistaken identity. But rather than seek to immediately return to her ship, she was intrigued by these other Solars, and there is strength & safety in numbers. Perhaps it was fate that they had met? So she had remained, though not entirely sure how to go about meeting them that wouldn't be...awkward.
  • It was decided that for now, she would be one of them.
  • Ginger, having grown bored with grown up/Solar talk, wanted to visit her friend Thorn, one of the rescued Mahanaga slaves. Aapo sent Kanji with her and the Majordomo to escort them. Alabaster Mountain explained the situation of the Mahanaga refugees to him as well and that they were to be given accommodations and that the river folk slaves would be kept on as palace slaves. Sapphire Veil also requested that Grace be sent to her immediately. Grace was soon reunited with her master, who received her with a loving SLAP and was sent to their room.
  • That night there was a large informal dinner and matters of state aside, the topic of discussion amongst the nobles at the table with the Solars was the murder investigation. The prince had been murdered in his room, his two guards outside the door poisoned. Following the removal of the bodies, no one had been allowed admittance save for those investigating.
  • The Solars were quick to volunteer their various skills to the cause, save for Aapo who had dedicated his attention to a large stack of steaks he's gathered onto his plate & sneaking bits of baked fish to Kanji who was hiding under the table in his lap.

• 16: Lynn worked with the alchemist to deduce the nature of the poison that had been used while Alabaster Mountain & Sapphire Veil viewed the body. Crimson Slate summoned forth a serpent & egg, an earth elemental and bid it to use its skills of investigation to aid her in checking out the crime scene. While the others investigated the murder, Aapo took more of Taruzake's samples and the recipe with him to the palace head chef and presented them as a gift.
  • The companions reconvened with the other nobles involved in the investigation and shared what they had learned. The poison used was a rare poison used by the Momus of the Bayou, an individual that was well known for promoting & benefiting from a long ongoing war between the regions of Rana and Bourbon, supplying both sides with mercenaries, weapons and other tools of war. The prince himself had been murdered using Crashing Wave Style martial arts, while his guards were murdered with Ill Lily Style, both signature styles used by the Momus' elite assassins, the Harbingers of the Final Breath.
  • It was also learned that the use of the earth elemental that Crimson Slate in the manner that she had been using it (having allowed it to swallow & move about with it's egg in it's throat) was considered dire ill fortune for the place where it did so. The snake, smirking if that was possible, spit it's egg back up & coiled around it. Crimson Slate looked rather put out by this tid bit of information.
  • So things seemed to be pointing in the direction of someone having hired the Momus' assassins to kill the prince. Sapphire Veil was going to slum it into town in order to gather information while the others attended to a variety of plans. Alabaster Mountain unable to sleep went out for a night stroll and Crimson Slate busied herself with her sorcery. Aapo slept like a log.

• Sapphire Veil hit the town garbed in Grace's finest peasant clothes. The right question here, the perfect comment dropped there and very soon she found herself face to face with a member of the very criminal element she was trying to find. Sapphire Veil easily saw straight through the drunken charade of the woman Violet almost as soon as she and her nameless companion stumbled into the seedy tea house where she sat. The act quickly put aside they relocated to the docks where they could talk with less ears about them. Violet was a messenger of the Guild of the Ever Shifting Breeze, one of the Five Shades Association that specialized in burglary, conniving and spying (and identify themselves with the shuriken sigil).
  • While Sapphire Veil and Violet discussed a variety of issues and potential future alliances, Crimson Slate was engaged in yet another sorcerous conjuration. After hours of grueling ritual, she found herself face to face with a rather aloof, confused, annoyed & snooty cloud person, who did not relish her surroundings in the least. Bribing her attention with a lovely blue gemstone donated to Crimson Slate by a rather hesitant Alabaster Mountain, Crimson Slate was able to converse with the elemental. After a rather short battle of her own morality she bound the elemental for a year and a day and socketed her crystal into Mecha-Horse, granting it the power of flight.

• 17: The following morning Alabaster Mountain gathered up his companions in order to welcome his family that were just arriving. With all the political intrigue and suspicion going on, Lyn felt that it would be wisest of her to submit to voluntary house arrest. Upon request she would remain in the palace library, watched by Taruzake until matters could be further sorted out.
  • The Solars are present as Alabaster Mountain and the Lionroar nobles welcome his rather large and confusing family...with their far more confusing names and rather complex emotional states, relations & reactions.
  • Alabaster Mountain and Sapphire Veil visit his mother, the Queen, sisters and maids in her chamber. Sapphire Veil quickly makes a splendid impression upon them all and it is revealed to Alabaster Mountain that his younger brother had left to find him shortly after he had vanished. They discussed other family matters while Sapphire Veil continued to assess the usefulness of the royal daughters, particularly the eldest.
  • Meanwhile, while Aapo and Crimson Slate spent some time in the courtyard, Aapo coaching Ginger and Thorn in combat maneuvers and Crimson resting from her long grueling night of conjuration, they were approached by Alabaster Mountain's aunt and bodyguard (cousin?). They wished to know what he had been up to since he had gone missing & how they had met. Crimson Slate spun the tale of them being scavenger lords and that Alabaster Mountain had been called to the lifestyle as many a bored noble has been and informed them of the roles of each of the party. Aapo retained enough sense in his head to keep his mouth shut for the most part and not blabbing out that they were Solars destined to put the world right once again. So...he just smiled stupidly at them. They had also made mention of an anathema (Exalted you stupid humans) in the North who had led an army victoriously against <CITY>. Content with their answers, they departed and allowed the children to resume sparring.

• The day passed and later in the evening they were all escorted to the great dining hall where dinner was prepared and served to the nobility and friends, including Alabaster Mountains' companions who were placed "beyond the salt". A great deal of conversation passed, some small talk, some serious talk and then suddenly the family erupted into an argument. The Queen excused herself from the table and the magpie of a Dowager began to accuse the King of how poorly he ran his family. The middle daughter spat out how cruel the magpie was and fled after her mother. Everyone continued on in silence while the King and his mother continued to glare at each other from across the table. Sapphire Veil was then invited to entertain them all with a song. She strung her instrument with the magics of the Exalted Sun and thus pulled as the heart strings of all those around her as if they were the instrument in her hands. By the end of the song, everyone present wept. The Dowager had let down her veil and was still. The King and his family wept freely for their hardships & loss. Aapo cried under the enchantment of the song, glaring at the lute-wielding witch the entire time. Why did Crimson Slate cry? Perhaps she missed a horse she had as a child?
• Following dinner, Sapphire Veil and <NAME> went for a walk and ran into the magpie Dowager. She rudely warned him from making a spectacle of himself and drove icy lances from her eyes into Sapphire Veil's brain while inquiring if she or Crimson Slate had any intimate relations with Alabaster Mountain. Sapphire Veil denied her own involvement, but hesitated and stated that Crimson Slate did not, "that she knew of". while meeting the magpie's eyes it with a cool, unshaken gaze. Sapphire Veil dismissed the man and his advances and retired to her room.
• Following an invitation to join Alabaster Mountain and <NAME> in post-dinner fornication, Aapo quickly shuffled Ginger & Thorn into a bewildered Crimson Slate's room, quickly followed by an irritated fennec flung through the doorway after them. Crimson Slate took this as an opportunity to teach the children their letters and encouraged them with a game of educational violence.

• 18: The Funeral. The companions were all seized by servants and garbed in white and lavender mourning attire for the funeral and marched off to join the royal family and nobles. Following specific orders on how they should proceed, they followed the family in the procession. While they moved slowly to where the ceremony would be conducted, Aapo noticed a woman at a gate attempting to force her way past the guards. He smoothly loosed himself from the procession...in his mind...while nearly knocking over a column holding flowers, stepped on Crimson Slate's toes, got his foot tangled up in a folding chair, all the while swearing loudly about all this crap strewn in his path - and asked what was happening at the gate. Aapo asked the woman, who he noticed was pregnant, and the guards what was happening. She claimed to be the deceased prince's mistress and simply wished to be part of the ceremony - to see him one last time, to say goodbye.

While trying to calm her down and negotiate an alternative, not his strong points, Aapo took no notice that half the royal family & his companions had stopped the procession and were all gathered up behind him until a terrified guard cleared his throat while gesturing behind him. All but the King, Queen, Alabaster Mountain, Dowager and girl (and Crimson Slate, Sapphire Veil & Kanji who had all hidden around them) were sent away. To those listening, it was quickly obvious that the King knew the girl and just as quickly noticeable that the Queen saw she was pregnant. It was quickly revealed that the King knew of her and had paid her handsomely to vanish. The Queen, who had no knowledge of this, seeing the woman who now carried her grandchild inside of her, was furious with the deceit of her husband. The procession and ceremony was called back into order, and the Queen insisted that the late Prince's mistress be included and treated as a member of the royal family. The funerary ceremony was conducted by a Dragonblood and two members of the Morticians' Guild of Sijan.

• Just following the funeral, Alabaster Mountain was seized by a strange sensation that seemed to be calling him to the top tier of the city, to the bridge that arced over the great waterfall. He gathered up his companions and they traveled up to the great height where he found a secret chamber. His caste mark flashed, thankfully with no witnesses about and the hidden portal opened itself to him. The Solars entered and the door closed behind him as the circular chamber floor illuminated and they began a speedy descent deep down into the depths of the mountain to where a massive chamber was revealed to them. In the center of the room was a large statue of the Exalted Sun holding a shining golden hearthstone. They all stood silent, taken over by the awe of this majestic sight...

Descending Water