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

Ryan Bailey (order #2639004) 1CHAPTER ONE: LIFE IN THE HIGH FIRST AGESavants are divided as to what caused the time of cascadingyears. Many theorize that some untested weapon was responsible.Some suspect that the history cascade was the result ofsome process or experiment intended to grant every Exalt inCreation profound insight into the nature of Essence, a radicalattempt to advance motic science by gathering 700 Celestialepiphanies—and, presumably, end the Thousand StrugglesEra. By a strict analysis, whatever happened did succeed atthat final task. None of the surviving Exalted recall causingthe cascade, however. Common wisdom, then, holds that itsinstigators must have been among the 73 Celestial Exaltedwho died, their Exaltations reincarnating with no memoriesof the event the moment the history cascade ended.The least popular theory holds that the Incarnae themselvessomehow set off the temporal cascade as a way to stop theThousand Struggles Era before it escalated beyond Creation’scapacity to contain. Leading savants lend little credence tothis theory, as the Incarnae have explicitly denied credit.They appeared to be telling the truth, even under the gazesof Solar inquisitors using powerful lie-detection magic.THE SECOND DELIBERATIVE ERA(YEARS 2544–3203)The end of the Cascading Years ushered in the Periodof Long Silence, which lasted for more than 80 years. Fewmartial conflicts occurred between Celestial Exalts duringthis time, and not much research either. The Exalted ofthe world were weary of fighting and longed for peace oncemore. Creation was thrown into disarray as vast segmentsof mortal population disappeared or gained multiple copies,and different areas and territories from separate tangentscame to exist beside each other. It took until the end of theLong Silence period to fully reestablish worldwide lines ofcommunication and the Order Conferring Trade Pattern,during which time significant Wyld incursions further damagedCreation’s edges.An idealistic Zenith Caste Exalt during the ThousandStruggles Era, backed by a circle consisting primarily of PrimordialWar veterans, re-founded the Deliberative and tookthe title of Most Supreme Hierophant—a title once held byUr-Dai-Ken, the foremost Zenith of the First DeliberativeEra. The new Deliberative assigned no special power to theQueen, and none to the Hierophant either. As the latter leda near-intact circle of Golden Hero Vassals and used powerfulsocial Charms to compel deference from others at all times,however, he quickly became the Deliberative’s leader in allmatters in which he took an interest.Slowly, achingly, the Exalted linked the world togetheragain, and resumed research and scholarship. This time, thespeed of advancement in fields such as sorcery and magitechwas very slow, as no sane Exalt wished to trigger anothertime of cascading years.THE ERA OF DREAMS(YEARS 3204-PRESENT)And now is the Era of Dreams. With the establishmentof I AM and the consequent efficiency of communicationacross Creation, progress accelerates once more.OPERATION WYLDHANDTwenty five years ago, the Deliberative approved an expansive war game in the Northeastern Greenland(see p. 148). The Deliberative failed to inform the Greenland’s mortal population before the operation’sstart and made no evacuation attempts. Armed forces carried out Operation Wyldhand 23 years ago andconcluded it 16 months later. Official reports describe it as “a triumphant success.”Most of the Celestial Exalted agree. In terms of excitement and challenge, few of Creation’s eldestleaders have fought so hard or so well since the dawn of the Thousand Struggles Era. Stories and boastingabound. The mop-up operations against Wyld-born monstrosities will easily take another decade.Still others, particularly among the Terrestrial Exalted, hold a less exuberant view. The operationconsisted of unleashing unprecedented amounts of Wyld energy into a stable area of Creation, mutatingthe landscape and bringing into existence terrible Fair Folk and behemoth armies—all for the sake ofstress-testing the Deliberative’s army and the latest classified prototype war automatons. Entire swathsof landscape were swept from Creation and more than 40 million mortals died. Following the operation,efforts to Wyld-shape the Greenland back into its pre-Wyldhand configuration were complicated by theshapers’ attempts to “improve” upon its original layout.On the 14th day of Ascending Fire during Operation Wyldhand, many thaumaturges, sorcerers andSidereals felt many of the flows of Essence on the Loom of Fate twang like a snapping bowstring. CertainSidereals, most of whom had tried to dissuade the Deliberative from approving the operation, now harborserious concerns regarding the Deliberative’s decision-making process. None have shared their concernswith the Solars.18