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

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clever souls west toward Chiaroscuro—whether his help is
requested or not—in hopes of finding a way to finish the job
of smashing it into powder.
THE WEST
The West is Creation’s least populous direction, which
is one reason She Who Lives in Her Name is glad to oversee
Reclamation efforts there. For one thing, it is the direction
least likely to offer a strong resistance to the Yozis’ plans. In
fact, the two most powerful forces at work there are enemies
of Creation themselves. The more organized of those forces
belongs to the Deathlord known as the Silver Prince or the
Bodhisattva Anointed by Dark Waters, but it is isolated to
one shadowland. She Who Lives in Her Name has a team of
Infernal spies keeping an eye on the Silver Prince’s operation
and trying to find out everything it entails. If the Deathlord’s
plans prove detrimental to the Reclamation, those spies are
to turn into saboteurs and stop him.
The less organized of the two Western threats to Creation
is also the more widespread one: the Western raksha. The
various raksha houses and courts on and in Creation’s oceans
can be bargained with—if not exactly reasoned with—but
bargaining becomes much more difficult when the raksha
realize they’re dealing with agents of their ancient enemies.
For the most part, all the operatives working under She Who
Lives in Her Name can do is try to herd obstructive raksha
back into their freeholds and steer their agendas away from
those raksha who will not be moved.
She Who Lives in Her Name does not enjoy overseeing
the Reclamation in the West simply because there’s less opposition,
though. Working in that direction also offers more
opportunities that appeal to her than can be found elsewhere.
For one thing, population centers are more isolated, so Infernal
savants can build and test their hideous helltech in
greater safety than they can elsewhere. With a big enough
corrosive Essence cannon, for example, a single Defiler can
sicken the entire populace of a remote island nation before
anyone on the nearest islands know that anything is happening.
Many map-dot islands across the West are the sites
of fervent Yozi cults and well-fortified temples. They enjoy
reliable transportation from and the protection of Lintha
pirates while they work hard to build their own war fleets.
Fleets are not cheap or easy to assemble, however, so operatives
in the West must often raid boats in the shipping lanes
for goods or money or attack poorly defended islands to strip
them of raw material.
THE CENTER
Operations on the Blessed Isle must be carried out with
the utmost secrecy, subtlety and ingenuity, so this theater
of conflict is the purview of the Ebon Dragon. The might
of the Scarlet Empire is massing there, Immaculate priests
are everywhere on it, and it is the Creation-bound base of
operations of the Sidereal Exalted. It is the most heavily
fortified region in all of Creation, even discounting those
leftover First Age wonders all over it that hardly anyone
knows how to use anymore.
And yet, the denizens of the Blessed Isle are still ruled by
human desires. They can be greedy or ambitious or careless
or ruled by fear. Although they are militarily strong, their
spirits are weak. It is just that spiritual weakness that the
Ebon Dragon seeks to exploit. His strategies involve picking
apart the mechanisms of government—already undermined
by the Empress’ disappearance—by inflaming the personalities
of those who should be holding them together. He seeks to
ignite impressionable firebrands in the Deliberative so that
their passionate speechmaking and antics distract from the
hard work of actually getting anything done. He seeks to sow
chaos among the Imperial Service by replacing key ministers
with akuma and generally corrupting the flow of information
that oils the gears of governance. With flashy but meaningless
shows of force that imply an upwelling of Yozi cult activity,
he hopes to keep the All-Seeing Eye looking every which
way but the right one.
The Blessed Isle has only two or three Green Sun Princes
active upon it at any given time—all of whom must be adept
at hiding their Infernal nature. They keep in contact regularly
but work together rarely. Their primary responsibilities
include sowing class strife between the commoners, the patricians
and the Dragon-Blooded; recruiting new Yozi cultists;
capturing and re-purposing wonders from the ruins of First
Age glory and ancient heroes’ tombs throughout the Imperial
Mountain; undermining the law-enforcement agencies
that keep the peace; and ruining diplomatic relations with
allies, rivals and satrapies. They must also occasionally outwit
Sidereal spies, assassinate incorruptible Dragon-Blooded
do-gooders, commit senseless atrocities on defenseless
citizens in the name of the Immaculate Order and sabotage
the infrastructure of civic magitechnology just to keep the
citizenry uncomfortable and on edge.
DELAYED GRATIFICATION
Concerning the “special surprise” the Ebon
Dragon referred to when he convinced Malfeas to turn
his attention to the East rather than the Center…
Suffice it for now to say only that it involves certain
high-Essence Charms known to his betrothed and
the fact that she has many living blood relatives in
positions of authority throughout the Realm.
To say anything more about it now would quite
ruin the surprise.
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