It Belongs to a Museum

Vampire typology is a much-debated topic amongst those few who dare to engage with it, and the matter of the Blood Dragons are one of the many loci of disagreement. On paper it should be simple: each progenitor has a bloodline associated with them, Neferata with the so-called Lahmians, W'soran with the Necrarchs, and so on. In this way, Abhorash is associated with the Blood Dragons, the martially-skilled Vampires dedicated to perfecting the art of battle and testing themselves against ever-stronger foes, named after the northern religious order that was annexed its entirety into the bloodline. Straightforward so far.

But further examination reveals the cracks in this simplistic façade - that the Order of the Blood Dragons was not founded by Abhorash, but by Walak of the Harkoni, one among several of Abhorash's disciples. That they follow not the actual beliefs of Abhorash, but what they perceive those beliefs to be from second-hand accounts passed on by Walak and their own interpretations of Abhorash's rare and unpredictable appearances throughout history. That the original Order are long since reduced to a minority within the Blood Dragons, their original beliefs and doctrines overshadowed by the many and varied interpretations of the disparate warriors from around the world who have been granted the Blood Kiss in the centuries since. That the existence of the Depth Guard and the Undead Admiralty challenge the Blood Dragons for being the 'true' bloodline of Abhorash. That they're not even the only ones to do so.

Abhorash, as you know and so many of his so-called disciples don't, was a sensitive soul. Head of Lahmia's Palace Guard and obviously and desperately devoted to the Queen he had practically raised, he made a big display of his angst over her willing transformation into a Vampire and, later, his own reluctant acceptance of the same condition. But what was always clear to you was that he was much more bothered by Neferata's bond with Vashanesh, though you were never entirely sure whether it was the jealousy of a man for a woman who cares more for another, or the dissatisfaction of a father who sees his child entangled with one they see as unworthy. In any case, after the fall of Lahmia and the diaspora of the Vampires, Abhorash struck out on his own path, reappearing in the historical record only sporadically and briefly, and never with clear motives. This makes it easy to ascribe all sorts of martial philosophies to him, easy to project one's on beliefs onto. That's what makes the Blood Dragons so convinced they're the inheritors of Abhorash's legacy.

But since the time of living Nehekhara, Abhorash has granted the Blood Kiss to at least one other that you know of: the so-called Red Duke of Bretonnia. The Cataphract Kingdom of the Bretonni is a land where the horse nomads rule over the settlers from their stone redoubts, where a mysterious and immortal woman distributes empowering elixirs to the mightiest in exchange for oaths of eternal service. You'd spent a number of years in Antoch, Bretonnia's colony on the Gulf of Medes, trying to figure out if the land was one of Neferata's gambits. You never did managed to completely rule it out, but one thing you discovered is the dark myths of one of Antoch's founders, the man whose birth name has been erased but who was known in Araby as El Syf ash-Shml, the Sword of the North. El Syf was part of the northerner reprisal to Sultan Jaffar that joined the rebellion against him, and earned himself considerable glory with his skills with a sword and the wisdom with which he chose when to wield it, enough so that when he was struck down by the treachery of his own kin and lay dying in the sand, he was granted the Blood Kiss by Abhorash himself.

Since then he has engaged in multiple conflicts for rulerships over his native land, and as is the nature of such things, in failure he has been recorded as a unique and terrible horror. Most recently he was resurrected in Mousillon by Chaos cultists as part of some sort of conflict to suborn the faith of the land - apparently it included a pretender goddess distributing corrupted elixirs that enthralled the drinker, and your questioning gaze is once more turning in Neferata's direction. After they were defeated, he has lingered after that as the de facto Duke of that land in the absence of any more legitimate inheritor - the Red Duke of Mousillon.

To commemorate the unique circumstances of the Red Duke, and the ambiguity he sheds on the legitimacy of the Blood Dragons as the inheritors of Abhorash, you have dispatched the Tide of Skjold to the coast of Bretonnia to seek artefacts of undeath from that land. The distance in question means it will take longer to see results than their recent voyage to the Amaxon, but in the meantime you can turn your full attention to other matters.

---

As prominent a part of your own personal history as the infamous figures that pushed the boundaries of Arabyan dark magic have been, you have had many students who were neither blights upon the living nor scapegoats dispatched to an early grave by the ignorant and unforgiving. Some of your more disappointing wards have merely been decent students that advanced their fields a moderate amount by sane means. And though the influence they have had upon the world has undeniably fallen short of the potential they once showed, the influence they have had upon Arabyan academia has been considerable. Among that is a widespread understanding that there exists a living relic from ancient Nehekhara wandering the world, a perhaps eccentric but unquestionably knowledgeable font of ancient insight and forgotten lore. You've never spent that long leaning on the hospitality of academia in a single stretch, finding the limitations of acceptability and their hesitance towards the more interesting subjects grating over the long term, but even a few months here and a couple of years there adds up to quite a legacy in the long run.

"I see that you are, as ever, the very picture of health, Mister Penguin," says the current administrator of the Sorcerers Islands. You're aware that the name they use for you can also translate as 'one who leads', but you've never been able to not hear the other meaning. You try to distract yourself by remembering why his face is vaguely familiar, to little success.

"A museum to the ghoul-pirates of the Dragon Continent," the administrator says after you explain yourself further, with forced neutrality.

"Originally, perhaps," you say airily, "but currently it is as much a research-colony of the Citadel of Dusk. I've a long history of favouring neutrality, as I'm sure the Sorcerers Islands can appreciate." After Jaffar, no city-state of Araby will tolerate any of the others having a monopoly on magic, and suffered for it on the occasions when it failed to properly juggle that obligation.

"Barely better," the administrator says. You smother a sigh. According to legend the tradition of training magicians on the Sorcerers Islands was begun by Aklan'd after he evicted the Elves from it, and to honour this legacy they keep alive a grudge that was old when you were young.

"Do you personally approve of every deed ever committed by any of the city-states that patronize your institution? Money has no smell, and neither does knowledge." The administrator considers this, and as he does, you feel a stirring of anger at one that would attempt to bar the gates of knowledge. "I am not asking permission, administrator. When word spreads, the wise and the learned will come, and will grow more so for it. The fearful and the credulous will let the opportunity pass them by, and will fall behind for having done so. I am here as a politeness, to give you the opportunity to properly organize these journeys to minimize disruptions to your purpose here."

He returns your gaze, and there is a long silence as he calculates. The he nods.

From there, it is simply a matter of letters, carefully penned and dispatched across the waves to every learned man and woman you'd crossed paths with in the last century, informing them of the existence of the museum, telling of the smattering of ancient relics and magical artefacts you've already gathered and gesturing in the direction of the possibility of expansion. No doubt some would have succumbed to age since you last saw them, but the letters might reach their children, or students, or disciples, or Medjay pursuers, any of which might also have their interest piqued by your museum.

The first indication of success is when the Sorcerers Islands send over one of their Exvigilators to glare suspiciously at all of your exhibits, and a couple of months later a gaggle of young would-be scholars to investigate the artefacts further and take home copious notes, only most of which wouldn't exist without you patiently herding them towards enlightenment. It isn't a huge flood of attention, but that anyone at all is coming all the way from Araby is proof that you're accomplishing something, and the trickle will grow as you gather more items that appeal to your new audience.



Arabyan Academics

Araby has a long history of academia, with many institutions dating back to ancient libraries that sought to preserve written materials from the eviction of the Asur colonies and the fall of Nehekhara. Their history sandwiched between ancient empires has given them an appreciation for the antique, and the relative lack of magic in their lands, buffered as they are by distance and ocean and desert, means they have an open fascination with magic, very different from the wariness of more northern scholars.

Affinity: Age, Magic, Nehekhara

---

The next avenue of your expansion of the relics within your museum is from the island that is now your partner in being an Asur research colony, the Isle of Lost Souls, one of the archipelago of the Citadel of Dusk. Telsomar Greendale does not fully trust you, but in the hierarchy of what she prioritizes in people, trustworthiness matters much less than supplying new research materials and alleviating her storage crunch, a self-inflicted woe caused by every new outbuilding she manages to wheedle out of Aelsabrim quickly becoming filled with new plants instead of the seeds and samples that it was intended to store. That doesn't just mean that she's willing to allow you to take a lot of it off her hands, but also that it's already crated up and ready to be loaded onto the next ship bold enough to anchor off the Isle of Lost Souls.

As valuable a research resource as all this is, apart from a few of the prettier pressings, it's not really the sort of thing that captures the attention of all but the botanically inclined, so you and Aenureir pay a visit to the Island to take notes and hopefully find a way to draw more interest to the plants in question. You arrive on a feeding day which proves to spur the Prince's imagination, leading to him - and it is a him now, some internal voyage having apparently concluded - filling page after page of lovingly and gruesomely detailed illustrations that manage to accurately capture the identifying features of the plant as well as their means of predation, whether that be spikes, vines, enveloping leaves and gourds, or clouds of spores launched hard enough to tattoo skin. You watch over his shoulder for day after day, patience that has walked across deserts only slightly tested, as you pull the life out of the occasional root or creeper trying to make its way over to where he is sitting, as Telsomar is unwilling or unable to make guarantees for his safety anywhere near any of the more interesting plants.

You go through the product on your way back home, nodding in satisfaction at time well spent. From another hand it would have the makings of quite a herbal codex, but instead of binding this in leather, you separate it out and place it alongside the containers holding the samples from those plants. Awakening's glazier is going to have to take on more staff. You're not particularly bothered about anyone managing to do themselves an unkindness by meddling with those samples whose capacity for harm has not entirely faded, but it would be a shame to see any damage done to the work of your latest student.



Carnivorous Plants of Lustria - Collection, Level 4 - Lustria, Alchemy, Botany
Partial understanding (requires: Lustria, Botany/Jade Magic)

Sourced from the Asur research colony on the Isle of Lost Souls off the Anurell Peninsula, this is a vast collection of seeds, spore prints, and pressed leaves and flowers of the many carnivorous plants of Lustria, gathered from expeditions in and around the Turtle and Serpent Islands, the Amaxon, the Blood Swamps, and the Anurell Peninsula. Each is accompanied by its name, a short description, and a detailed, colourful depiction of the fully-grown plant, often midway through preying on an unfortunate explorer.

---

You have three actions to undertake this year.



Spend Goodwill (Current Goodwill: 1)

[ ] New Acquisitionist
An Acquisitionist is someone you send out with instructions to acquire a specific type of relic. You will be given a selection of Acquisitionist to choose from based on your existing Patrons and Contacts.

[ ] New Contact (specify a Patron or Contact)
A Contact is someone you can acquire specific types of goods from. You will be given a selection of Contacts to choose from based on who it is that you're asking to introduce you to one of their Contacts.

[ ] New Museum Staff
Museum staff have knowledge that can add valuable context to your relics, and sometimes unlock entirely new capabilities for your museum. You will be given a selection of Staff to choose from based on your existing Patrons and Contacts.

[ ] Develop Affiliate (specify who)
Develop one of your Acquisitionists, Contacts, or Staff. Acquisitionists may get new capabilities or specialities, Contacts may increase the range or amount of product they are willing to supply to you, Staff may gain new knowledge or capabilities. Developments might also be in more esoteric ways. You will be given a selection of ways for the Affiliate to Develop, and at least one of them will be benign.

[ ] New Relics (specify a Patron)
You will be given a selection of rare, valuable, difficult to acquire, or otherwise significant Relics to choose from.

[ ] Cultivate Audience (specify who and what)
Sometimes you must make the iron hot by striking it. Convince a specific audience to take an interest in something that's plausibly aligned with their interests and place in the world, but currently isn't driving them to visit museums. This will be more flexible if you have something suitably impressive to spark interest.



Develop Museum

[ ] Create Exhibit (specify what)
An exhibit consists of at least one centrepiece and any number of relics, combined by some sort of theme. For example, combining Luthor Harkon's original flagship with a number of Lustrian skeletons could create an exhibit centered around the Conquests of the Pirate King, describing Luthor Harkon's early history in Lustria and his conquest of Huatl. Exhibits can be altered, added to, or dismantled later.

[ ] Adjust Exhibits (specify what)
Add, remove, and move any number of relics to and from existing exhibits. You can also use this to dismantle an exhibit completely, moving its relics either to other exhibits or to storage. This cannot be used to create new exhibits.

[ ] Research Relic (specify which)
There is a great deal of difference between a display that is just a sword and one that tells you what type of sword it is, which people made it and used it, what was special about it, and what it developed from and into. Items that you or your staff already have requisite knowledge of will have that understanding automatically applied, but you can also personally research a specific item to seek out that specific set of answers yourself.

[ ] Acquire Relic (specify what or where)
Pahtsekhen can seek to acquire something specific personally, or can venture somewhere and see what he finds. While this will usually get worse results than using a Contact, it can be useful if there's something very specific you want, or if you've got surplus actions you don't know what else to do with. Keep in mind that though he is hardier than the average gentleman of his apparent age and a skilled Death Mage, he is not immune to consequences. Think less 'daring heists' and more 'let's go antiquing'.

[ ] Investigate (specify what)
Research a specific person, place, event, or people to discover Leads: clues that might be followed to discover and possibly acquire particularly impressive or meaningful relics of the past.

[ ] Pursue Lead (specify which, and optionally with who)
Pursue a matter of interest or significance that your investigations have uncovered. You can bring one of your Staff or Acquisitionists, or you may invite a Contact if the matter is relevant to them. Current leads: Nakai the Wanderer, New Huatl.



Broaden Horizons

[ ] Learn (specify what)
Surface can be learned as long as you have somewhere it can be reasonably learned from. Detailed requires either a very cooperative expert or a contact with influence over a centre of formal learning. Minutiae and higher are not currently available to be learned.



Acquire Relics - via the Tide of Skjold

[-] Excursion - Tide of Skjold (specify where and for what)
The Tide of Skjold primarily specializes in hunting sea creatures, but are also capable of piracy, coastal raids, riverine raids, sea floor salvaging, and trading with minor settlements (who lack the standing military to say no when heavily armed skeletons want to barter). In general, a ship will return in one turn from an Excursion to Lustria, western Southlands, Araby, or Ulthuan, two turns for Naggaroth, the Old World, and eastern Southlands, and three turns for Ind, Cathay, and Nippon.
On Expedition to Mousillon



Acquire Relics - via Princess Aelsabrim Fallenstar

[ ] Critters
Lustria is home to various kinds of fascinating and unique forms of wildlife, the smaller and more manageable examples of which are in demand as pets and exhibits in Ulthuan and the Old World. You might decide that they're also in demand on Fire Serpent Island. Depending on what exactly you get you might not have the skills to keep them alive here, in which case you will kill and preserve them as lifelike display.

[ ] Beasts
Lustria's more impressive beasts are rarer, more dangerous, and even more sought after, both by Elven hunters and by the native Lizardmen that use them as mounts and as living siege engines, but one can be diverted from the trickle flowing through the Citadel to go towards your island. You do not have the skills to keep them alive here, so you will kill and preserve them as lifelike display.

[ ] Skeletons (choose one: small, rare, large)
Most places would consider the skeletons you have to be very large indeed, but in Lustria, they're strictly medium-sized. They're also only the more common specimens. You could have the expeditions also start crating up the smaller skeletons, less individually impressive but greater in quantity, or have them seek out the remains of rarer and more impressive beasts, or gathering portions of larger, older, and less complete skeletons they encounter in the hopes of being able to eventually piece them together into a future centerpiece.

[ ] Arms and Armour (optional: specify what sort, eg: bows, spears, siege weapons)
With Ithisar established as equal to the Citadel of Dusk in the Anurell Peninsula colony, Aelsabrim has the right to raise and equip her own Sea Guard. Some of her acquisitions to this end can be redirected for display in your museum.

[ ] Gems
Honestly, there's not much historical value in freshly-mined jewels, but they are extremely pretty. Uh, they were mined on Fuming Serpent Island, so they are tangentially related to the Vampire Coast. And Elven faceting techniques are some of the most advanced in the world. You could come up with some excuse to indulge in corvid instincts.

[ ] Magical Relics
It might be seen as in the best interest of the Asur if certain magical relics inadvertently unearthed from Fuming Serpent Island were quietly removed to a secure yet deniable location for further study.



- There will be a twenty hour moratorium. Voting will be in plan format.
- WFB and WFRP have the Red Duke as having fled into the Forest of Chalons after his attempted coup failed, and maybe still being in there somewhere, completely unrelated to the many woes of Mousillon. But Total Warhammer made him the Vampire Count leader of Mousillon, and I figure it would make perfect sense for Hubris Georg, perpetrator of the False Grail drama, to have gotten it into his noggin that it'd be a great idea to resurrect Vampire El Cid, and for him to be lurking around the very Vampire-friendly modern Mousillon ever since.
- The 'Mister Penguin' name comes from Paht having gone by 'Patrick' after some time spent in Sudenburg, and this being interpreted in Arabyan as 'batriq', meaning either 'the one who leads' or 'penguin'. He didn't like the latter, but the name stuck anyway.
- The plant collection is a Collection - a collection of related items that aren't individually relics, but become worthy of attention from how thoroughly they circumscribe a particular topic. They're worth an amount of Interest equal to their level, which can go up if the collection is meaningfully added to, and will get a bonus if it is 'completed'.
- On Year 10 there'll be a vote to come up with an official name for the museum, if you want to start brainstorming for that ahead of time.