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[ww80105] Manual of Exalted Power - Infernals.pdf - Vakermit.com

[ww80105] Manual of Exalted Power - Infernals.pdf - Vakermit.com

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40<br />

serf tenements and lower-class citizen neighborhoods. When<br />

the need for a gathering place became apparent, Malfeas<br />

absorbed and crushed the previous structures (and their<br />

inhabitants) and raised an enormous tumor <strong>of</strong> verdigriscovered<br />

brass from where they had been. The tumor took<br />

the shape <strong>of</strong> a city-sized stupa surrounded by a wall <strong>of</strong> jagged,<br />

interlocking black bones. A torii <strong>of</strong> petrified flesh frames the<br />

only doorway into the structure, and a hideously writhing<br />

nerve ending as large as a baobab tree sprouts from the top,<br />

collecting Ligier’s green light.<br />

Of all the denizens <strong>of</strong> the Demon City, only the Green<br />

Sun Princes and the humaniform jouten <strong>of</strong> the architects <strong>of</strong><br />

the Reclamation are allowed free access to the Conventicle<br />

Malfeasant. No stranger, citizen, serf or sacrifice may enter<br />

without the permission <strong>of</strong> a Yozi or Infernal Exalt. Whenever<br />

someone tries to enter without permission, the petrified flesh<br />

<strong>of</strong> the threshold torii flows shut behind them like the closing <strong>of</strong><br />

a living orifice. When the torii folds open again, the would-be<br />

intruder is nowhere to be found. Something similar happens<br />

when Third Circle demons or jouten <strong>of</strong> other, non-aligned Yozis<br />

try to enter the Conventicle without permission. The torii<br />

closes and opens again instantly, at which point the wouldbe<br />

interloper emerges. From the intruder’s point <strong>of</strong> view, the<br />

transition is instantaneous. He steps through the archway only<br />

to find himself outside facing the opposite direction.<br />

Within, the Conventicle is vast—possibly even larger<br />

than it is on the outside. Its interior<br />

appears to be a hollow dome inside<br />

which a small city has been constructed. The nerve ending<br />

that stands out from the center <strong>of</strong> the ro<strong>of</strong> runs down into<br />

the walls and the floors <strong>of</strong> every interior structure, casting<br />

Ligier’s light so that everyone inside can see. Around the<br />

perimeter <strong>of</strong> the interior <strong>of</strong> the dome are 50 lavish, fully<br />

furnished townhouses, one for each <strong>of</strong> the Infernal <strong>Exalted</strong>.<br />

Each townhouse has a private door that allows egress from<br />

the stupa, but no matter which door a visitor uses to exit the<br />

stupa, he emerges from the same lone portal on the structure’s<br />

exterior. Inside the ring <strong>of</strong> townhouses, closer to the center,<br />

is a band <strong>of</strong> brothels, gaming parlors, theaters, restaurants and<br />

other social amenities designed to cater to the tastes <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Green Sun Princes. These establishments are run by demons<br />

specifically brought in or excreted by Malfeas directly for that<br />

purpose. Particularly popular gathering places include the<br />

temples to each <strong>of</strong> the architects <strong>of</strong> the Reclamation—spaced<br />

equidistantly around the circumference <strong>of</strong> that inner circle—<br />

the one internal glass library <strong>of</strong> Orabilis, the Menagerie <strong>of</strong><br />

Servile Failures, Theatre Outré, the baths and a pavilion<br />

containing several gates <strong>of</strong> inauspicious passage.<br />

At the center <strong>of</strong> the Conventicle Malfeasant is the<br />

gathering place <strong>of</strong> the Infernal Thing. It constitutes a modest<br />

amphitheater with risers <strong>of</strong> Malfean bone, a canopy lattice<br />

<strong>of</strong> tarnished brass filaments and a floor <strong>of</strong> greenish sand. It<br />

is easily large enough to ac<strong>com</strong>modate all the Green Sun<br />

Princes, all the humaniform jouten <strong>of</strong> the architects <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Reclamation, all the human-sized bodies <strong>of</strong> their primary Third<br />

Circle souls and a sizeable retinue <strong>of</strong> lesser demons, akuma or<br />

2

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