[Exalted] The Last Daughter -- Dragon-Blooded Sorcery School Quest

You're one of the first off the ship, by sheer happenstance. You let out a sigh of open relief as you feel rock underfoot, your first steps onto the Isle of Voices rooting you once again in your own element.

A narrow road curves its way up the cliff face, in places hewn into the stone itself. Its beginning is marked by a set of carved statues to either side, each in the likeness of a grinning man. It's a little startling. You've seen statues of people or animals before, but only ever in private rooms belonging to Dragon-Blooded — your own father owns a fist-sized elephant carved of white jade, brought all the way from his homeland. You've never seen someone flout the Immaculate proscription of iconic artwork so flagrantly and openly before, though.

One of the other girls seems to agree, although she takes more active offence than you do, glaring up at the nearest statue with a look that actually smoulders. This lasts until the statue looks around with a stony grinding sound, and glares right back at her. More than a few of the others leap back in startlement — the girl who'd glared in the first place only tilts her head, her look taking on a more assessing quality as she examines the construct.

"Stay on the path," the instructor says, sweeping past you all. "Do not stray from the group, do not chase the lights, do not harass the statues, do not reply to the voices. The spirits can always scent new students. I'd like to get to the school while there's still a bit of daylight." His name is Nellens Ovo, a Water Aspect of indeterminate years. You don't think you've seen him smile once during the entire trip.

"What daylight?" someone mutters. Glancing up at the gloom overhead and the fog clinging to the island, you can see his point. The instructor ignores the comment, expecting you all to fall in behind him as he sets out. The senior students do immediately — whatever nerves they'd displayed on the voyage over have been completely replaced by a sense of eager anticipation.

You can't entirely say you feel the same. As you begin the climb to the top of the cliffs, shapes move in the gloom — flickering lights and shadowy, ethereal forms, crawling on the ground and swimming through the air like schooling jellyfish, sometimes darting across the road ahead, too indistinct to make out. Odd cries echo in the distance, monstrous or inhuman or a horrible mix of both.

"... I didn't think it would be this awful," someone mutters.

"Oh, really? I think it's a little beautiful," a distracted voice says.

An older Sesus boy laughs. "Honestly, Amiti," he says, with familiarity that's casual, but not quite affectionate, "I think you were born for this place."

The pale girl with the white hair hunches her shoulders in embarrassment at the scattered snickering, clutching her notebook to her chest.

The path widens as you get higher up on the cliffs, scraggly trees lining the road to either side, some of them moving unnaturally. Perhaps a little disorientated by the strange surroundings, a first year boy at the edge of the group loses his footing, tripping onto the gravelly dirt at the edge of the road. Immediately, several strange shadows seem to converge over him, taking on a humanoid shape that beckons toward him.

Nellens Ovo mutters whirls, hand raised to do something, but someone else beats him to it — swift as the breeze, a shape darts in from nearer the front of the group, hair streaming behind her as she draws the sword she wears at her side. She cuts the figure in half, and it vanishes with an almost melodramatic scream, dissolving into component shadows that scurry away into the fog.

"Are you alright?" the girl with the sword asks the fallen boy. She holds a gallant hand out to him, the other still bearing her weapon. In that pose, she unconsciously looks a great deal like a younger version of the heroine from a romance novel, about to sweep an unassuming young man off his feet.

"I... fine!" he says, clearly mortified. He accepts her hand, but lets go of it just as fast, frantically beating the dust out of his clothes. His face and neck turn a brilliant shade of crimson at the general amusement this display has caused.

"Garan, what did I tell you about staying on the road?" Ovo demands.

"... Sorry, uncle," the Nellens boy mutters, looking as if he'd like to vanish on the spot.

"And put the sword away, Tepet," Ovo adds. "If you encourage the spirits, they'll send something real at us."

The Tepet girl doesn't look particularly chagrined, but she still sheathes the sword as instructed. "Sorry, sir," she says. The power she drew on to carry her so fast still swirls around her in the form of a dust devil centred around her feet.

This proves to be the most exciting part of the trip. Once things have settled down again, a voice speaks beside you: "So, Keric bent your ear already, huh?" The girl to your left is speaking to you. Orange hair the colour of autumn leaves spills out from beneath a hood meant to ward off the chill, with eyes that match the shade precisely.

"We spoke," you say, levelly.

She giggles at that. "So serious! I'm V'neef L'nessa, by the way."

"Ambraea." Then before she can respond, you add: "Don't say 'I know'."

She laughs again — it might be nerves, given your surroundings. Or maybe she's just naturally cheerful. "Sorry, sorry!" she says. You refuse to be charmed — her approaching you so soon after a scion of a House bitterly opposed to her own isn't a coincidence, particularly given your own position.

"Did your mother ask you to get to know me?" you ask, not in any mood to be subtle.

L'nessa blinks. "Well, yes," she says. "But, the same with Keric too, I assume. You know how that is."

You do, admittedly. And you don't even have any particular ill will toward her mother. V'neef herself had been entirely pleasant to you, the one time you'd met her — she'd congratulated you on your Exaltation with all seeming sincerity, which is more than you usually expect from your half-siblings. But, perhaps naively, you'd thought the politicking would wait at least until you'd gotten to the school itself.

You remain stoic for an uncomfortable moment — you've found you can get away with that, as an Earth Aspect — when the school itself rescues you from having to immediately continue this conversation.

At the top of the cliffs, the fog parts just enough to reveal your destination above: seven towers loom high above the island, connected by walls that form the shape of the school's namesake. It hits you finally, that you're really here. You've imagined this day for two years, ever since Pasiap Chose you, when you first began to imagine yourself living up to your mother's high expectations.

Cresting the top of the cliffs, you find yourselves standing in front of the gates to the Heptagram.

An old man stands there, leaning on a staff, his eyes flinty, bundled up in layers of warm robes. Nellens Ovo pulls you all up to a stop, and silence falls. With a snap of the old man's fingers, even the strange sounds of the Isle of Voices itself seem to quiet. "I bid you welcome, young seekers of knowledge," he says, his voice still clear and strong. "Those of you returning to us, and to this year's fresh faces as well. May you all learn more than you care to know." You can't entirely suppress a shudder at this, but at least you're not alone in that. He carries on. "For those of you newly arrived, I am Ragara Bhagwei, and this is my school. Not all of you will graduate — the mysteries of Pure Essence are many and treacherous. Some will lack the aptitude, but more will lack the will."

There is silence then, for a long moment, as he spears each of you with his eyes in turn. You feel your shoulders straighten under his gaze, desiring powerfully to make something of a good impression. Are you just imagining it when he seems to look at you a half second longer than the others? He continues on: "But do not be too quick to despair, or to resort to desperate measures — few here unlock the secrets of the Emerald Circle in their first year. Each of you will progress at your own rate, or not at all. While you will need the support of your fellow students to excel here, you will ultimately fail or succeed by your own talent and perseverance." This, clearly, is what many among you are afraid of.

There's another moment of uncomfortable silence, before the dominie turns to the gates, waving them open with just a gesture. "But first, a proper meal, after your long journey."

The quiet continues as you follow instructor Ovo into the building's entranceway, through a narrow passage to the ground floor of one of the towers, which contains the kitchens and the dining hall. A relatively small space with room for one hundred, if you really crammed them in — there are far less people than that here, however. As you all find your places at one of the tables, you once again do a rough count. There are around forty students, give or take, and nearly half as many instructors, seemingly all clustered around their own table.

The space has a sort of scholarly humility about it, having little in the way of decoration or obvious comforts — simple, by Dynastic standards, without descending to what you'd expect at the secondary schools that truly embrace the character-building effects of hard living. Regardless, the scent from the kitchens is heavenly after the last leg of your long, multi-stage journey by two different ships.

Having grown up in the Imperial Palace, you think of yourself as inured to displays of supernatural power. Still, though, you can't help but jerk back in surprise as the food is borne out of the kitchen by invisible servants, which silently set bowls and cups in front of you all, before filling them both. You're aware that the older students are enjoying your and the other first years' shock. You have to admit that, come next year, you might be doing the same.

Once you get over your startlement, you dig in quite cheerfully. It's local food, of course. With the climate of the neighbouring prefectures of the Northern Blessed Isle, that means a hearty soup, some bread, and a glass of red wine. You expect you'll miss the Imperial chefs' cooking soon enough if everything is this heavy and... rustic day in, day out. For now, though, it's precisely what you need when you're tired and hungry and cold.

By the time you've eaten, washed up, and then are shown to your dormitory, you're so tired that you only dimly notice that your luggage has been brought up already, and just barely register the identities of your two roommates for the next seven years. You can deal with both of those things tomorrow.

As you drift off, though, part of Ragara Bhagwei's speech comes back into your head, the bit about it being normal not to achieve sorcerous initiation within your first year at the Heptagram. Your mother had mentioned this as well, in a light, consoling tone that had left you without a shadow of a doubt that she expects you to be better than merely average. But you'd always known that, didn't you? Most students might be able to afford to take several years to become a true sorcerer, but most students aren't the youngest Exalted daughter of the Scarlet Empress. You will have a busy year.

Article:

The identity of your roommates are an important element to this quest, and will be major characters for the next seven years. Allies and connections to others will be vital both to managing the Heptagram's brutal self-directed workload, as well as providing valuable contacts in Dynastic life after graduation.

Sorcerers are indispensable within the Scarlet Dynasty. At the same time, they are also held at arm's length, and viewed with a degree of fearful suspicion by society at large unless they're simply too politically powerful to do so, like your mother, or your eldest half-sister, Mnemon. There will never again be a time in your life when making connections with your peers will be as easy as it will be within the Heptagram's unique scholarly environment. This is particularly important to you, having no House to rely on, and no ties to any of the Great Houses through your father. You are currently wholly dependent on your mother for support and protection.

Your roommates will not utterly define your social circle, or completely preclude plotlines with other characters, but they will become major fixtures of this quest moving forward. It's not necessary to worry overly much about balancing out Aspects — I am perfectly confident in my ability to make two different Dragon-Blooded of the same Aspect feel distinct and different. Try to think about what group dynamic will be the most fun.

Pick one name from each list. These votes will be counted together as a set, so please format them accordingly without a line break between them.

For example:

[ ] Name A
[ ] Name B

List A

One of your roommates will be someone at a serious social disadvantage of some kind, who will likely come to rely on you to make up for this. This will present inconveniences for you at times, and complicate your relationships with certain other characters. However, she will also have unique skills and talents that may not be immediately apparent, but will be extremely useful to you going forward.

[ ] Erona Maia (Water Aspect)

Spoiler: Maia Bio

You're not surprised that there is a patrician girl in your year, but you are surprised that she ended up as your roommate. The Realm's patrician class are above the peasantry but below Dynasts, made up primarily of mercantile and bureaucratic families, as well as peasant-born Dragon-Blooded who have completed their term of service in the Imperial Legions. Patrician families have few Exalted members, and lack both the connections and capacity to bear the sheer financial burden necessary to send a scion to a school as prestigious as the Heptagram.

Maia stands out among her Dynastic classmates. She knows absolutely none of them, is their social inferior on the outside world, and on top of this all, she's painfully shy. She would greatly benefit from having a more confident, better placed friend, but cannot immediately reciprocate the gesture in any meaningful way, for all that she would very much like to.

However, there is more to the Erona than an unassuming family of Thousand Scales bureaucrats, and Maia possesses skills and knowledge that would shock any of her classmates were their existence to be revealed. Should you grow close enough, she will not hesitate to quietly use them on your behalf... whether or not you ask her to.

[ ] Sesus Amiti (Air Aspect)

Spoiler: Amiti Bio

Dragon-Blooded, as the Chosen of the Elemental Dragons, are deeply in tune with the essence of Creation, and those with the talent find little difficulty wielding Emerald Circle sorcery. Another, darker form of magic, aligned to the essence of the Underworld, is primarily the province of powerful ghosts, the Anathema, and rarer Exalts that are still viewed with a strong degree of suspicion. Still, there are a small minority of Dragon-Blooded born with a different talent than their peers, presenting a rare and almost unique asset within Dynastic society, if one that would be viewed with even more fear and mistrust than sorcery already is.

Sesus Amiti was always a scatterbrained, distractible girl. Being Chosen as an Air Aspect less than a year ago has not helped with these tendencies. Amiti is both intelligent and deeply enthused about intellectual pursuits in general, but she's often found with her head in the clouds, losing track of where she is and what she's doing. Her interests also trend toward the offputting and morbid, and her guileless excitement when discussing these things is both powerfully off-putting and betrays the worrisome "moral flexibility" that her House is known for.

Amiti's personality problems and apparent lack of sorcerous aptitude will be a serious detriment to her early years at the Heptagram, despite coming from a respectable household within one of the three great military Houses of the realm. She has difficulty making friends, and as time goes on her talents and predilections will tend to alienate those with strong moral and religious leanings, but she nonetheless possesses a dogged loyalty toward those who treat her well. This could be to your benefit.

[ ] Simendor Deiza (Earth Aspect)

Spoiler: Deiza Bio

The Threshold is home to many lesser Dynastic Houses ruling land and people outright in the name of the Realm, including your father's own Clan Burano. House Simendor is a particularly old and infamous Cadet House from the Southern satrapy of Chalan, its roots stretching back at least to the early Shogunate , if not longer. The Simendor are renowned sorcerer princes of immoral disposition and shocking decadence, prizing sorcerous aptitude even above Exaltation. They typically train their own scions in their own strange sorcerous initiations, but their current matriarch is nothing if not extravagant, and has now sent her favourite niece to study at the Blessed Isle's most prestigious sorcery academy.

Deiza wastes no time in living up to every bit of her family's reputation, from their sorcerous skill to their dark and worrisome pursuits to their shocking disregard for certain Dynastic social and religious norms. She rubs people the wrong way almost as a point of pride, and seems to take pleasure in making enemies of those too inflexible or stiff-necked to tolerate her behaviour.

At the same time, Deiza is a rarity indeed — at fifteen years old, she has already arrived at the Heptagram initiated into Emerald Circle sorcery, having studied the subject intensely since age eleven. This is far younger than most families would ever consider safe, even taking into account her early Exaltation. Still, her help would be invaluable so early on to anyone who can earn her friendship and tolerate her eccentricities. Every year, she will return to the Heptagram with a little more of her family's rare and forbidden sorcerous practices.

List B

One of your roommates is a well-connected, well-liked Great House scion who will obviously be helpful to have around in most situations. However, as the years go on, unexpected complications will crop up that will affect both of you.

[ ] Ledaal Anay Idelle (Fire Aspect)

Spoiler: Idelle Bio

Alone of all the Great Houses, House Ledaal is known for its single mindedly pragmatic dedication to defending the Realm from the forces of darkness arrayed against it: rogue ghosts and demons, the fair folk, and in particular, the Anathema. Their "Shadow Crusade" is carried out as a grim duty, and they paint themselves as the Realm's first and last line of defence.

The Heptagram was not Idelle's first choice. She wanted to attend the Cloister of Wisdom in order to train as an Immaculate monk like her two elder siblings before her. Her mother and House matriarch, however, worked together to prevail on her that the House's need is greater than the Order's, and her knack for detecting spirits and strange forms of magic will instead be honed to a lethal point as a trained sorcerer.

Idelle is intelligent, curious, and a steadfastly loyal ally who would walk into Hell itself for a friend. Her parents are both famed shikari, who were involved in the confirmed destruction of no less than three Lunar Anathema. Their legacy still leaves many curious and positively inclined toward her. Her religiosity and commitment to the Shadow Crusade can leave her a little inflexible on certain issues, however, in a way that would prove inconvenient for you in the future, at times.

[ ] Tepet Usala Sola (Air Aspect)

Spoiler: Sola Bio

House Tepet stands ascendant at the height of its power, the greatest military House of the Realm by anyone's measure. Its varied warrior traditions are far older than the Dynasty, maintained through the years with the renowned Tepet dedication to excellence. All Tepet scions are expected to excel somehow, whether in soldiering or some other field.

Sola, daughter of the renowned war hero, Matriarch Tepet Usala herself, intends to join the Tepet House Legions and rise through the ranks to become a great sorcerer-general. She aspires to be as lethal with spells and tactics as she is with a blade. It was a surprise to many that she chose the Heptagram over the House of Bells, but she refuses to do anything in half measures — sorcery comes less naturally to her than more traditionally martial pursuits, and so it must be her primary focus until it can be truly mastered. Sola is friendly and sociable, and it would be hard to find anyone more skilled and valiant to have at your back in a fight, among all your classmates.

The one catch with the phrase "at the height of its power", however, is that things can only go downhill from there.

[ ] V'neef L'nessa (Wood Aspect)

Spoiler: L'nessa Bio

House V'neef is the newest of the Realm's Great Houses, headed by its young and popular founder, V'neef herself. Energetic, dynamic, and gifted control over the Realm's vast Merchant Fleet by the Scarlet Empress, the House is wasting no time in expanding the Realm's holdings in the Western Threshold, arranging advantageous marriages to develop its fledgling bloodline, and putting down roots so as to be able to stand on its own without your mother's direct support in the future.

L'nessa is one of V'neef's few blood children, and reportedly her mother's favourite. She has inherited V'neef's famed social graces and air of easy likability, and finds it very easy to make friends wherever she goes. Her interest in getting to know you is genuine even if it was also at her mother's request, and she will make a loyal and dedicated friend both during your time at school and after.

The favour heaped on House V'neef by the Empress has drawn the ire of certain old and powerful Great Houses, however, in particular Houses Mnemon and Peleps. Growing too close to the daughter of its founder will unavoidably be taken as a sign of your own leanings, and may colour how certain other characters see you or limit your options when dealing with them. Despite being two months older than you, she is also literally your niece.