Ryan Bailey (order #2639004) 173.14.196.1 - fap.if.usp.br

Ryan Bailey (order #2639004) 1CHAPTER ONE: LIFE IN THE HIGH FIRST AGETHE THOUSAND STRUGGLES ERA(YEARS 1722–2543)Over the next 12 years, the Solars of the Deliberativerealized, one by one, that they were not immortal. This realizationunraveled the polite fiction that had previously tiedthe Deliberative together (i.e., each Solar’s belief, howevertenuous, that she’d eventually have her turn at guidance ofthe Deliberative). With a time limit on the Solar life span,however, this couldn’t be.In the ensuing Thousand Struggles Era, Solars who’dcultivated alliances and nursed grudges moved against eachother. In Year 1734, Rose Petal Tea killed the TwilightCaste Solar named Bor Zan, not through assassination, butin a full-out military strike. Rose Petal Tea then seized BorZan’s territory. To this day, historians remain divided as towhether they should count the death of Facet Raven or BorZan as the Thousand Struggles Era’s beginning.Only a simplistic savant would argue that Facet Raven’sdeath was the sole triggering event for Rose PetalTea’s action, and only the samesimplistic savant would arguethat Rose Petal Tea’s action wasthe only trigger for the chaosthat followed. By the end of theShining Reflection Era, the Exaltedof Creation faced a crisis ofpurpose. Considering themselvesprepared for any challenge, theygrew restless when no challengeappeared. Rose Petal Tea grewparticularly distraught the morethat all the resources he expendedtoward becoming a paragon of hisown philosophy seemed wasted.The people of his prefecture andhis Dragon-Blooded Gens grewunhappy with their high tax rateand arduous military training, especiallyin comparison to Bor Zan’swealth and cultural developmentat the expense of military might.Rose Petal Tea moved against hisneighbor and former circlemate,out of an unreasoning fear of aninglorious death and forced by significantpressure from his peopleto live up to his boasts.Slightly less than half of theSolars in Deliberative attendancedid not act. More importantly, theyrefused to act, even when the votewent to the interventionists andMerela cast no veto. Some sworeto protect Rose Petal Tea and hisnew holdings, for they were plotting similar acts. Manyinterventionists quickly backed off, not wishing to triggera Creation-spanning war. Those who pursued their convictionsand upheld the Deliberative’s vote found themselvesdrawn into war with Rose Petal Tea’s supporters. ManySolars plotted to secure resources for use in the developmentof anagathics, suddenly the most important field ofresearch in Creation. Others simply wished to take actionagainst hated rivals whom they now desperately wanted tooutlive. Many used the confusion to justify long-fantasizedacts of conquest.Following the Calibration between Years 1826 and1827, the First Solar Deliberative was no more. A circle ofSolar strategists and veterans of the Aftershock War, theWhite Jade Feather Society, quietly staged attacks againsttheir rivals within Meru, heedless of the Eclipse oaths they’dsworn against violence within the White City and unafraidof the consequences of violating those oaths. Of the eightrivals the White Jade Feather Society attacked, only two16