So like… does anyone recall the details if where the Exalted setting is at in current lore?
I vaguely recall that Mnemon and V'neef are two of the more powerful houses in the contest over the Blessed Isle, and I think maybe Mnemon is edging towards the most likely to become a new Empress?
Unfortunately we'll be alienating some of our closest friends no matter who we eventually side with.
It's hard to keep track of things personally because of all the names, places and people, involved, but my general take on the situation is that either Mnemon becomes Empress or she takes a large portion of the empire under her away and found a rival nation.
V'neef Is a decently strong candidate between her wealth and superior political ability but in terms of actual might to hold the realm she's a bit short I believe so to the ties she was establishing to Tepet meaning a lot of her nominal military allies have died, so if she manages to win it'll be by power broking with at least one more great house and several lesser ones.
Sesus is Sesus. For all their open actions it's the things implied but not proven that matter most in how that will turn out. In general they feel poised to be either maneuver themselves either onto the throne, behind it whispering into the ears of one of the realms other military houses besides Mnemon, or well situated in a V'neef run Empire with a good deal of political tension between them and V'neef. Unless Mnemon makes her play for the throne by crushing their public facing elements.
The realm's future feels largely like it spins on these three and what they do and don't do, with the other great house's lacking one element or another critically needed by a matriarch intending to hold the realm together without either Sesus or V'neef support, and unless some especially capable dragon blooded is waiting to emerge and lead their house to glory I don't see that changing.
So like… does anyone recall the details if where the Exalted setting is at in current lore?
I vaguely recall that Mnemon and V'neef are two of the more powerful houses in the contest over the Blessed Isle, and I think maybe Mnemon is edging towards the most likely to become a new Empress?
Unfortunately we'll be alienating some of our closest friends no matter who we eventually side with.
This is literally given its own chapter in "Heirs to the Shogunate".
As a rough overview, three are listed as strong claimants, with Sesus Raenyah, the Sesus matriarch, serving as the third strong option. Four other matriarchs are "waiting in the wings". Nine others are listed as "dark horses", with a sidebar on who else might also fit that and how to fit custom characters in—Ambraea kind of is in this tier, just lower than most, as she's relatively unestablished even compared to the likes of Berit and Ejava.
The chapter then gives several suggestions for how to arrange these various claimants, based on details the books don't explicitly make clear and various dominos that might fall. There's a few different ways you could count how the options are presented; my personal categorization makes about a dozen different options.
In short, this could go a lot of different ways, depending. I think that the most important element that hasn't been much discussed here is Houses Cathak and Sesus, along with Tepet, are the main "we keep Legions" Houses. With Tepet on the backfoot, Cathak and Sesus are eying each other up already, and probably if two front runners emerged, each of those two Houses would declare the opposite of the other one. That gives a lot of options for things to melt down in complicated ways.
As a rough overview, three are listed as strong claimants, with Sesus Raenyah, the Sesus matriarch, serving as the third strong option. Four other matriarchs are "waiting in the wings". Nine others are listed as "dark horses", with a sidebar on who else might also fit that and how to fit custom characters in—Ambraea kind of is in this tier, just lower than most, as she's relatively unestablished even compared to the likes of Berit and Ejava.
While unestablished I think Ambraea has things a bit better than that, in particular because she has equally balanced ties and acquaintances to friends in two of the top 3 Matriarch's houses
There is also Nazat status as a sitting consort with some authority and connections, which could be extended with the right bribes given to the right officials in the empresses absence. Afterall, if Nazat isn't coming back to Prasad, a fortune is a small price for his mother to pay for peace of mind in terms of his safety and a headstart on her nieces establishment within the realm.
"The situation has changed enough that I don't imagine the marriage talks you were in before mean much now?" you ask.
"They might," Nazat says. "It's true that the households I was speaking with expected you to be under your mother's protection for the foreseeable future, but you are still an Imperial Daughter. And your accomplishments over the past two years are nothing to sneer at. Few Dynasts can claim to have survived as much as you have before you have, let alone triumphed over it. Many will look at your position as an opportunity to secure your loyalty more completely than they otherwise would be able to."
"I can't appear as desperate as I am, though," you say.
"You cannot," he says. "With luck, you will be approached, rather than having to appear to go begging — you have made connections while at school, after all. You would do well to remember your precarity, but behave as though you have options, and commit yourself to nothing until you know what they are."
Ambraea has accomplishments fairly noteworthy. Her success against the Anathema are unquestionable and are sufficient for Ledall Shigora to seek a meeting despite having never exchanged a word and Ledall being far less ambitious than other matriarch with cause to have an interest in Ambraea. Her successes in sorcery speak for themselves, and she has ultimately been approached by the realms foremost claimant for the title of empress directly and approached more indirectly by the other two.
"Eight," he says. "I am looking at one of our largest-ever cohorts of seventh year graduates. And also, in several other ways, one of the most unusual."
She is also on incredibly good terms with half of an incredibly noteworthy graduating class of the realms premier school of sorcery's members and Hearthmates already with two of them including possibly Tepet's last living Hier.
There is also the boon of being so very unestablished that she lacks many enemies among the court that others have acquired. She has made enemies only of Peleps, and from an impersonal perspective, comes off as a mostly proper lady of the realm with a bright future ahead of her and the connections to come out of the turmoil to come successful. Compared to some of the established dark horses and their enemies and lack of attention from the big three, Ambraea looks a good deal better than she should. It depends on who follows Mnemon's example that isn't one of the other three she was contacted by, but in general just the appearance of significance might give Ambraea the regard to establish herself as a dark horse.
if the Scarlet Empress had returned, in the midst of the imperial legions being dissolved, what is the very first thing the more notable House Matriarchs would have done?
Right in the middle of that confrontation between the head of the treasury and the generals would be the absolute worst timing for the houses, and they would need to do some very fast talking and would collectively eat a lot of crow over it. Before that, and the damage to the Realm and her rule could be mitigated. Significantly later, and she'd have to deal with the houses having all the legions under their control and it would be messy even if she could just like, threaten them with the Defence Grid.
How much of the Realm actually knows the details of the Realm defences grid though? It's in othe he history books, but it's not been fired in 700 years and I doubt the Empress encourages curiosity on the subject - Mnennon and Ragara knows but their whole houses and the Realm at large? It's a mcguffin which is more for Exalted PCs than the Realm at large I feel.
The Defence Grid is not really obscure or a secret, it's a matter of established Realm history, and it's something it's in the Empress's best interests for people to know about because it's kind of a sword she's holding over the entire world, at need.
It has been fired at least several times nearer to the start of her rule, to differing degrees and, presumably, to correspondingly variable cost. I don't find it difficult to believe that it is understood that firing the Sword of Creation has a cost in terms of famine or earthquakes or whatever, and this is part of why she prefers to do things like send legions to crush her enemies instead of using it.
In addition to her scouring the Fair Folk invaders from the world and then destroying the armies of the the Seven Tigers, we've got these:
Article:
The growing crowd on the Empress' doorstep was a cauldron wherein rumor could brew into sedition. An opportunity to establish boundaries came with her first marriage proposal, an indecipherably ornate greeting from the coastal city of Arjuf. Demonstrating a heroic lack of tact, the message assured her that Araka Jeresh stood ready, as a devoted servant and admirer, to share the awful weight of the crown she now wore. It took a shower of emerald fire reducing Jeresh's manse to cinders to teach him humility, but his frantic backtracking so amused the Empress that he was recruited as a messenger, and then a lover.
Article:
n the glorious dawn of the First Age, the master geomancer Raveling Mystery raised an incomparable manse from a severed, still-living organ of one of the enemies of the gods. She anchored it to Creation's dragon lines and sealed it with sorcery, channeling its primeval Essence through the sublime design of her Living Manse. When the Usurpation scourged away the Solar Exalted from the world, the Living Manse lay fallow. The sorceries sustaining it unwound; its geomancy grew tainted and twisted; it blossomed like a cancer. Gajam-Un ripped itself free of the dragon lines and strode unfettered upon the world, razing cities and blighting nations.
An alliance of Exalted heroes banded together to subdue Gajam-Un, triumphing over the behemoth at enormous cost — but even their mightiest efforts could not kill it. The Living Manse fell into a centuries-long torpor instead. It began to stir once, early in the reign of the Scarlet Empress, but the Sidereal Exalted warned her and she deployed the almighty Realm Defense Grid against it before it could rise. It has slumbered ever since, and none know when next it will awaken.
That thing with Araka Jeresh is one of my favourite anecdotes about the Empress in all three editions, because it's such a hilarious combination of petty and effectual. And just like, her coming around on the guy a bit after she decides that the way he grovels is pretty hilarious.
There was also a House Jeresh later after the first Great Houses got founded, so he was obviously doing something right.
So like… does anyone recall the details if where the Exalted setting is at in current lore?
I vaguely recall that Mnemon and V'neef are two of the more powerful houses in the contest over the Blessed Isle, and I think maybe Mnemon is edging towards the most likely to become a new Empress?
Unfortunately we'll be alienating some of our closest friends no matter who we eventually side with.
This is literally given its own chapter in "Heirs to the Shogunate".
As a rough overview, three are listed as strong claimants, with Sesus Raenyah, the Sesus matriarch, serving as the third strong option. Four other matriarchs are "waiting in the wings".
Yeah, basically. So, bearing in mind that the official start date of the canon material is 768, three years from where The Last Daughter currently is:
The two main frontrunners are Mnemon, followed by V'neef -- they're the two living daughters of the Empress who are also Great House matriarchs. Mnemon is the clear frontrunner there, but V'neef makes a good rallying point for the people who definitely do not want Mnemon to end up as Empress, if she can manage to build a base of support. Sesus Raenyah is both one of Sesus's daughters, and is also married to Oban, one of the Empress's sons (yes, this does mean she is married to her mom's half-brother -- this appears to be pretty unusual by Dynastic standards, but everything gets weird the closer related you are to the empress), and is the matriarch of a great military house. Raenyah is by default more immediately interested in playing queenmaker, though.
Cathak Cainan is also the matriarch of a great military house, and is well respected as a skilled general and a brave, honourable, and pious man. As Heirs to the Shogunate puts it, Cainan is an old man — that's two strikes against him, which he both knows and accepts. Matriarch Peleps Lai commands the largest and most powerful navy in the world, but is old as fuck, and on principle does not want to make a move for the throne unless she's got actual proof that the Empress is dead. Peleps is also more likely to go take their fleet to try and carve out their own empire in the West, Prasad style, than they are make a run for the throne.
The other remaining matriarchs are also all viable, although there are reasons why they're not immediately the ones people are looking to, similarly to Cainan and Lai. Cynis Wisel, one of the Cynis Triumvirate, has a plan to try to make a run for it with her lover, Cynis Petalin, as a would-be Empress. After Mnemon sends her legions to crush an Anathema-led rebellion in Jiara in 767, Ledaal's leadership views her as the only matriarch willing to back up words with actions re: defending the Realm against Anathema and is most likely to back her for the throne. Matriarch Ragara Banoba's primary concern is to keep Mnemon from winning and to maintain House Ragara's power, rather than to try and go for the throne himself (he's also a man, which doesn't help). Ragara himself is absolutely ancient and is in retirement. Nellens and Tepet are not well positioned to do anything but try and attach themselves to stronger alliances.
I figured it was. their first open act of dissolving the primary threats to a great house gaining control of the realm being disrupted would sort of collectively flip the entire table on them.
Significantly later, and she'd have to deal with the houses having all the legions under their control and it would be messy even if she could just like, threaten them with the Defence Grid.
Yeah. I have to Imagine Peleps would at that point simply abscond to the west of the world with their stolen legion elements and what wealth they could gather, which both creates a power vacuum and leaves the realm open to retribution or subterfuge by it's enemies across creation while it's coast is vulnerable.
Yeah, basically. So, bearing in mind that the official start date of the canon material is 768, three years from where The Last Daughter currently is:
The two main frontrunners are Mnemon, followed by V'neef -- they're the two living daughters of the Empress who are also Great House matriarchs. Mnemon is the clear frontrunner there, but V'neef makes a good rallying point for the people who definitely do not want Mnemon to end up as Empress, if she can manage to build a base of support. Sesus Raenyah is both one of Sesus's daughters, and is also married to Oban, one of the Empress's sons (yes, this does mean she is married to her mom's half-brother -- this appears to be pretty unusual by Dynastic standards, but everything gets weird the closer related you are to the empress), and is the matriarch of a great military house. Raenyah is by default more immediately interested in playing queenmaker, though.
Cathak Cainan is also the matriarch of a great military house, and is well respected as a skilled general and a brave, honourable, and pious man. As Heirs to the Shogunate puts it, Cainan is an old man — that's two strikes against him, which he both knows and accepts. Matriarch Peleps Lai commands the largest and most powerful navy in the world, but is old as fuck, and on principle does not want to make a move for the throne unless she's got actual proof that the Empress is dead. Peleps is also more likely to go take their fleet to try and carve out their own empire in the West, Prasad style, than they are make a run for the throne.
The other remaining matriarchs are also all viable, although there are reasons why they're not immediately the ones people are looking to, similarly to Cainan and Lai. Cynis Wisel, one of the Cynis Triumvirate, has a plan to try to make a run for it with her lover, Cynis Petalin, as a would-be Empress. After Mnemon sends her legions to crush an Anathema-led rebellion in Jiara in 767, Ledaal's leadership views her as the only matriarch willing to back up words with actions re: defending the Realm against Anathema and is most likely to back her for the throne. Matriarch Ragara Banoba's primary concern is to keep Mnemon from winning and to maintain House Ragara's power, rather than to try and go for the throne himself (he's also a man, which doesn't help). Ragara himself is absolutely ancient and is in retirement. Nellens and Tepet are not well positioned to do anything but try and attach themselves to stronger alliances.
some interesting notes here.
one of the primary qualifiers that separates Mnemon and V'neef from other candidates is there status as Daughters of the Scarlet Empress. if one of the great houses held back by their lack of being the scarlet empresses child or by virtue of being a man, were marry Ambraea to a blood son or grandson of the Matriarch, that would serve as an avenue for a greater claim on the throne and open potential routes to power.
In particular house Cathak has the military might required, and no relationship in particular with her despite her bad relationship with one of their members. her ties to house Sesus and Tepet could be an issue, but they could also serve as incentive to spite Sesus as their only remaining military rival by courting Ambraea away from them.
Sesus Raenyah is looking to play kingmaker and Sesus is a patient house. if a stalemate over the rule of the realm lasted a while and Ambraea managed to establish herself strongly by marrying an Heir to one of the Matriarchs besides Mnemon, V'neef, and Cathak, she becomes someone worth backing, since as such a young and unestablished candidate, she would be more moldable and reliant on the advise and support of strong allies.
House Ledaal chooses Mnemon as there empress of choice after she sends her legions to fight Anathema, but that won't happen for another two years. Ambraea with minimal backing has directly killed two Anathema and arguably contributed to the deaths of two more, making her something of an already appealing option. were Ambraea to align with a great house and deal death to another notable anathema threat, particularly if she once again dealt the finishing blow, she could arguably gain their support. with the support of not one but two great house's, house Tepet and more minor houses could be gathered to make Ambraea a true contender for the title of Empress, even if the other great house wasn't Sesus or Cathak.
it's all very interesting and I look forward to seeing how Mnemon and the others play their cards.
(yes, this does mean she is married to her mom's half-brother -- this appears to be pretty unusual by Dynastic standards, but everything gets weird the closer related you are to the empress)
1) significant age disparities between the Imperial children
2) the lack of individuals who would be acceptable. She is the daughter of an Imperial daughter and given the comparatively lower status of men, her ideal partner status wise is a man of otherwise higher status which is a rather limited bunch.
were Ambraea to align with a great house and deal death to another notable anathema threat, particularly if she once again dealt the finishing blow, she could arguably gain their support. with the support of not one but two great house's, house Tepet and more minor houses could be gathered to make Ambraea a true contender for the title of Empress, even if the other great house wasn't Sesus or Cathak.
The issue is that Ambraea is capable of contending against Anathema individually but that is quite different from being a good candidate for commanding wild hunts realm wide which would be part of her job as Empress. Maybe in a few decades she would have the experience needed but currently lacks it. I could see Mnemon looking to her as an ally because she might think Ambraea would be willing to be subordinate if it kept her and those close to her safe.
In particular house Cathak has the military might required, and no relationship in particular with her despite her bad relationship with one of their members. her ties to house Sesus and Tepet could be an issue, but they could also serve as incentive to spite Sesus as their only remaining military rival by courting Ambraea away from them.
I could see Cathak backing Ambraea both to spite Sesus and because it serves to counterbalance Tepet and ensure (or at least help) prevent Tepet was gaining enough from her to supplant them. You also don't see to offer much which minimizes the risk of alienating other Houses.
2) the lack of individuals who would be acceptable. She is the daughter of an Imperial daughter and given the comparatively lower status of men, her ideal partner status wise is a man of otherwise higher status which is a rather limited bunch.
The Empress has a lot of grandkids, and I don't think it's necessarily difficult to find them matches in the ordinary sense. I think it's just more like, a Great House matriarch being a very favourable match for an Imperial Son gaining power in the Dynasty through a more conventionally masculine role than Ragara, and her jumping on the opportunity to form an uncommonly well positioned political power couple.
It's worked out well, Raenyah is a very seasoned veteran military woman with a reputation for being kind of honest and forthright, which the more underhanded elements of her house use as a cover, and Oban is like... the Realm equivalent of a very active political wife in the traditional sense, I guess you'd say? He spends his time wining and dining people and throwing and attending parties and being an expert socialite and like, supporting his stolid, general wife and her house through soft power and backroom diplomacy.
The Empress has a lot of grandkids, and I don't think it's necessarily difficult to find them matches in the ordinary sense. I think it's just more like, a Great House matriarch being a very favourable match for an Imperial Son gaining power in the Dynasty through a more conventionally masculine role than Ragara, and her jumping on the opportunity to form an uncommonly well positioned political power couple.
It's worked out well, Raenyah is a very seasoned veteran military woman with a reputation for being kind of honest and forthright, which the more underhanded elements of her house use as a cover, and Oban is like... the Realm equivalent of a very active political wife in the traditional sense, I guess you'd say? He spends his time wining and dining people and throwing and attending parties and being an expert socialite and like, supporting his stolid, general wife and her house through soft power and backroom diplomacy.
Sesus is one of the Empress's earliest children (of those we know about, the only one earlier is Ragara though much of that is because he killed a number off) so assuming that Raenyah was born relatively early that places her relatively early timewise herself and given Ragara's record regarding his fellow Imperial children I can't imagine his family would have been popular marriage choices for Imperial grandchildren at an early stage. Given that Raenyah was almost certainly married prior to becoming Matriarch and Sesus seems to have died long enough ago that their death doesn't even seem to be referenced as anything other than background suggests that Raenyah has been matriarch for some time and thus married a good while ago too at which point she was less seasoned though perhaps with a similar reputation.
Sesus is one of the Empress's earliest children (of those we know about, the only one earlier is Ragara though much of that is because he killed a number off)
Sesus wasn't that early, she was born in ry399, roughly halfway through the Empress's rule. Peleps, Mnemon, and Rulinsei were all born before Sesus, in addition to Ragara and the multiple other siblings who Ragara killed.
Edit: It's implied that Jurul, Ledaal's mother, was also the Empress's biological daughter, and given that Ledaal outing her as having been suborned by a Lunar only happened 60 odd years after Sesus was born, I think we can infer that both Jurul and her house were likely considerably older than Sesus.
If we start looking at adopted daughters like Iselsi and Cathak, there are considerably more.
Sesus wasn't that early, she was born in ry399, roughly halfway through the Empress's rule. Peleps, Mnemon, and Rulinsei were all born before Sesus, in addition to Ragara and the multiple other siblings who Ragara killed.
My notes for Exalted 2e have Sesus being born well before then (early 200s) though since I don't have the primary source on hand atm I can't confirm. I know that they changed a lot about the houses/matriarchs in 3e so that might have been one of them. I haven't tried to run an Exalted game in years so my 3e lore experience is much more focused on what is relevant for stories and the like which is either post SE disappearance or pre-Ursurpation.
My notes for Exalted 2e have Sesus being born well before then (early 200s) though since I don't have the primary source on hand atm I can't confirm. I know that they changed a lot about the houses/matriarchs in 3e so that might have been one of them. I haven't tried to run an Exalted game in years so my 3e lore experience is much more focused on what is relevant for stories and the like which is either post SE disappearance or pre-Ursurpation.
So, the actual really funny/dumb part about this is that there is a big timeline on page 16-17 of The Realm, which is one of the main primary sources for this quest along with Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought and Heirs to the Shogunate. But I can never remember those pages numbers exactly or where they are in the book, so every single time I want to find that timeline, I ctrl+f and punch in the words "birth of Sesus", because it's just a phrase I know appears in that chart verbatim (The full line is "399 Nellens dies. Birth of Sesus."). So this is just coincidentally one of the historical characters who I have a very good sense of like, when she was around. There are some minor discrepancies with dates that you have to mess around with on that timeline and other sources to make them play nice together, but that's basically just the stuff that happened within, unfortunately, the span of years that this quest actually takes place in, the older stuff is pretty reliable and internally consistent. So I look at this thing a lot when I am writing this quest, sometimes multiple times daily.
Realm lore in general is a place where 2e sources are very unreliable in terms of like, what's canon in 3e -- the 3e lore pays a lot more attention to giving basic detail on who the house founders were and the general story of each house's founding. House Sesus is very different from its 2e version as well, with its focus on being a shadowy military intelligence focused house that used to be a rival to Iselsi. It differs a bit from the 1e version as well, although that's usually the direct point of adaptation for 3e material.
Because this is actually one of my favourite parts of the like, imperial family melodrama stuff that is part of what made me want to write this quest to begin with, I'll just break down the main thrust of the 3e version of these particular events:
In ry114, the Empress marries Rawar of Arjuf, her first full blown husband rather than consort, who she was said to be genuinely in love with.
In ry139, they have Ragara, who founds his own Great House in ry168, very, very young, and generally appears to have been his mother's favourite child, at the time. House Ragara becomes very rich and powerful under him.
By around the late 300s, at some point, Ragara becomes increasingly frustrated that the Empress has not yet named an heir -- by then, her lack of ordinary aging was apparent, but no one had realised that she was basically just not going to die on a normal Dragon-Blooded timespan at all. He decides that he's going to force the issue by starting to assassinate his siblings and other important ministers, using methods that always offer him plausible deniability. Whether because of her love for him or the importance of his house to the Realm's economy, or, likely, both, the Empress refrains from directly intervening.
Mnemon is born in ry369 to the Empress and Rawar of Arjuf, Rawar dies in ry370, Mnemon Exalts in ry383 at age 14.
By this point, Ragara's killing spree is apparently in full swing. He attempts to have Mnemon poisoned to death at a ceremony celebrating her Exaltation in front of an audience that includes their mother. This fails, Mnemon leaves for secondary school. Ragara's assassins continue to hound her, driving her away from the Versino, still a teenager, and forcing her to take refuge with the Immaculate Order while the Empress refrains from taking action against him.
Mnemon survives into adulthood, and founds her own household, apparently being strong enough to secure her own safety.
At some point during these years, Rulinsei, who is explicitly Mnemon's younger sister, would have had to have been born. This part is conjecture on my part, but given the way Dragon-Blooded usually space their kids in current lore, she was probably born at some point around 381, 382, somewhere around there. (Complete headcanon territory that nonetheless lines up with the timeline so I run with it for this quest: her father was Nellens, who was alive and an Imperial consort at this point). Rulinsei therefore probably Exalts, reasonably, somewhere in the mid 390s.
Rulinsei is targeted by Ragara's assassins, escapes with her life but loses an eye and a hand. She more or less throws herself onto Mnemon's doorstep as a maimed teenager, begging for her protection. Mnemon adopts Rulinsei into her household.
In ry399, Nellens dies and Sesus is born, in the same year. We know Nellens was Sesus's father. (Headcanon: Nellens begged the Empress to act to protect this daughter on his deathbed).
The Empress informs Ragara that, to safeguard his newborn sister from harm, he is responsible for defending her with his life, and if she dies for any reason, no matter how believable or plausible, Ragara will be executed. This is basically the very belated "I see you, fuck off" moment on his part, and it marks the end of his assassination spree. Mnemon was all of thirty years old. By my reckoning, Rulinsei was, at most, eighteen, maybe younger.
House Mnemon is founded in ry422, Mnemon Rulinsei being there right from Mnemon's ascension.
House Sesus is founded in ry440. Sesus was a famous general and war hero, and by the time she died on the battlefield, the Empress is sufficiently appeased and informed Ragara that he did not have to kill himself
Obviously I am getting into this sequence of events way more granularly than what you need for most games that aren't doing like, deep character work on Mnemon and Ragara, but I think this is... illustrative of many things about Mnemon.
Sounds like a good quest premise or three. "No SV, The Scarlet Empress Does expect you to kill yourself: Ragara's final week quest." "My baby sister can't keep not chewing her food properly: A Keep Sesus Alive quest." "You Have a Year to Fix This: Restore Sesus to life quest."
Tepet does have candiate in the Roseblack.* She does have chops to take the position and seem to have a good idea in taking over the Vermilion Legion. She is literally thinking to pull a Julius Ceasar altought she is one of those candiates that needs to take Imperial Manse and RDG in order to have a stable reign.
Still Roseblack Empress (Empress Roseblack?) is one of my favorite candiates.
*Tepet Ejava But that she hase a name like Roseblack which mirrors Scarlet Empress means writers are defnitely thinking her as one of the stronger possibilites, I think.
Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack (Dragon-Blooded, p. 357), is a skilled general, devoted to military honor and defense of the Realm. She may seek the throne to prevent the Blessed Isle from devolving into chaos as unworthy claimants lay waste to her homeland — or to prevent her own execution should an enemy of her house become the new Empress. However, she commands but the single Vermilion Legion — theoretically in service to House Tepet, but fiercely loyal to her alone. Such a force could rule a Threshold kingdom, but on the Isle, a single legion scarcely compares to the armies of other claimants.
House Tepet might support Ejava, but in its diminished state, the house's leadership might see an alliance with another claimant as a safer bid for its own survival — and even if her house did support her, its forces aren't what they were. Ejava's best shot is to seize the capital in a quick coup, or wait out the bloodshed to even the odds. But with her legion currently on campaign in the Southwest, even reaching the Blessed Isle would be a victory.
She feels like a very remote possibility that's basically in the territory of "what if PCs or a storyteller do something to make Tepet have a miraculous comeback". I feel like she gets as much attention as she does here because 2e sort of just decided that she should be a candidate for the throne because she was like, popular and so the 3e content is acknowledging it as a possibility still. Like, her legion is literally the only one Tepet has.
She does have one imperial legion, it's the only legion Tepet has at the moment. The remnants who made it back to the Blessed Isle of the four they lost at Futile Blood were not sufficient to rebuild an entire legion, and they're not really in a position to recruit, train, and equip that many soldiers under the current circumstances.
Article:
The Battle of Futile Blood left House Tepet only half a legion's worth of rank and file soldiers, and fewer officers. When the Great Houses partitioned the legions, they salted the wound by burdening Tepet with the Vermilion (or "Red-Piss") Legion, an army of bandits, criminals, and drunkards. Only House Cathak objected, respecting the prowess of Tepet's leaders enough to recognize the threat posed by even a single legion.
She does have one imperial legion, it's the only legion Tepet has at the moment. The remnants who made it back to the Blessed Isle of the four they lost at Futile Blood were not sufficient to rebuild an entire legion, and they're not really in a position to recruit, train, and equip that many soldiers under the current circumstances.
I see, I thought that 5-7 years is long enough to rebuild at least one legion. It wouldn't be especially good one but they should have a combination of recalled retires and new blood and adoptions to rebuild dragonblooded officers and rest is just mortal troops. 5k man is pretty big ask but they have a lot of land and people to draw from.
They must be lacking in money then but even there they should have getting satrapy money somewhat, slow and less than it should be or not. For Suns sake just sell couple of palaces.
I see, I thought that 5-7 years is long enough to rebuild at least one legion. It wouldn't be especially good one but they should have a combination of recalled retires and new blood and adoptions to rebuild dragonblooded officers and rest is just mortal troops. 5k man is pretty big ask but they have a lot of land and people to draw from.
They must be lacking in money then but even there they should have getting satrapy money somewhat, slow and less than it should be or not. For Suns sake just sell couple of palaces.
After the fall of their legions, Tepet is lacking the means to enforce tribute from its satraps. The other great houses are also taking advantage of the situation. House Sesus has stepped in to provide "protection" for Tepet's satrapies, taking most of the tribute for themselves. House Ragara, seeing that there might not be a House Tepet much longer, is calling in all of House Tepet's debts.
After the fall of their legions, Tepet is lacking the means to enforce tribute from its satraps. The other great houses are also taking advantage of the situation. House Sesus has stepped in to provide "protection" for Tepet's satrapies, taking most of the tribute for themselves. House Ragara, seeing that there might not be a House Tepet much longer, is calling in all of House Tepet's debts.
Tsk, Playing as Tepet would be fun just from reading this.
Like convincing Ragara that Tepet has no money is easy, then sell them legal deeds to satrapies that Sesus is squating on in liou of the debts. That should pit them eachother nicely. Or Ragara could sell it to Sesus for a markup, who knows. Doesn't matter. What matters is keeping other Satrapies on hand, and rebuilding atleast one legion to tour the satrapies.
Offer one of the satrapies 50/100 years of no tax in return for a 5k fighting man army. Deploy your own officers and as many of soldiers as you can to ensure you have atleast some control. Deploy to other satrapies and ensure you get remaning tax and start rebuilding.
Shit writing it like this it sounds almost easy but I can see that it would be frought with problems. Still would make a great quest.
Hell if Ambrea were to marry in to Tepet we might just play that.
The Battle of Futile Blood left House Tepet only half a legion's worth of rank and file soldiers, and fewer officers. When the Great Houses partitioned the legions, they salted the wound by burdening Tepet with the Vermilion (or "Red-Piss") Legion, an army of bandits, criminals, and drunkards. Only House Cathak objected, respecting the prowess of Tepet's leaders enough to recognize the threat posed by even a single legion.
I like this. If he's not going to dismiss a single tepet darkhorse with only a legion and no real claim to speak of he's not going dismiss an imperial daughter with two slane anathema to her name, hearth bonded to a daughter of Tepet Usala, and personally approached by Mnemon. Even if Ambraea is inexperienced and unproven that just works in his favor as she'll be in need of sound military advice.
@Gazetteer could you tell us Nazat's take on the Mnemon meeting and venue? Feels like the sort of thing Ambraea would immediately seek.
After the fall of their legions, Tepet is lacking the means to enforce tribute from its satraps. The other great houses are also taking advantage of the situation. House Sesus has stepped in to provide "protection" for Tepet's satrapies, taking most of the tribute for themselves. House Ragara, seeing that there might not be a House Tepet much longer, is calling in all of House Tepet's debts.
I feel like Ragara should be reasonably not in a position to enforce those depts given attempting to send a military force to collect them would leave them open to Mnemon, either by leaving a satrap or three vulnerable or by giving Mnemon a chance to step in and stop them.
In my opinion there seriously being stupid greedy bankers in a time that calls for them to be shrewd politicians. I know Ragara is retired but he really needs to pull himself out of his manse and go smack his house's current Matriarch over the head, before telling him that he should be giving them loans to recover and consolidating House Tepet as insurance against a Mnemon victory.
that ship seems to have very pointedly sailed, even before the fall of Tepet, when no Tepet candidates made Nazat's (and tacitly, Big Red's) shortlist, despite Ambraea's clearly cordial connection with Tepet house members and a Tepet-allied House like V'neef
Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack (Dragon-Blooded, p. 357), is a skilled general, devoted to military honor and defense of the Realm. She may seek the throne to prevent the Blessed Isle from devolving into chaos as unworthy claimants lay waste to her homeland — or to prevent her own execution should an enemy of her house become the new Empress. However, she commands but the single Vermilion Legion — theoretically in service to House Tepet, but fiercely loyal to her alone. Such a force could rule a Threshold kingdom, but on the Isle, a single legion scarcely compares to the armies of other claimants.
House Tepet might support Ejava, but in its diminished state, the house's leadership might see an alliance with another claimant as a safer bid for its own survival — and even if her house did support her, its forces aren't what they were. Ejava's best shot is to seize the capital in a quick coup, or wait out the bloodshed to even the odds. But with her legion currently on campaign in the Southwest, even reaching the Blessed Isle would be a victory.
She feels like a very remote possibility that's basically in the territory of "what if PCs or a storyteller do something to make Tepet have a miraculous comeback". I feel like she gets as much attention as she does here because 2e sort of just decided that she should be a candidate for the throne because she was like, popular and so the 3e content is acknowledging it as a possibility still. Like, her legion is literally the only one Tepet has.
I think it is also because of the amount of positive fan feedback to the character makes her a good fit for dark horse Empress. I also liked the one whose view came down to "whoever has the RDG and can activate it becomes Empress so I will focus on that".
that ship seems to have very pointedly sailed, even before the fall of Tepet, when no Tepet candidates made Nazat's (and tacitly, Big Red's) shortlist, despite Ambraea's clearly cordial connection with Tepet house members and a Tepet-allied House like V'neef
There is the theory that the Empress was a major contributor to early Tepet issues as a means of weakening a too powerful house and this would be part of it. Of course, she then vanished before being able to raise them back up but more dependent on her.
The better option is to Marry into Ragara or Cynis who can finance a tepet recovery either through loans or mercantile wealth and give Tepet generals command of their legions to make Ambraea a strong Alliance for Nellens to align to. Demonstrate to Ledaal that Ambraea will take the defense of the realm seriously and grow into her role with their and Tepet's help before Mnemon has a chance to win them over herself, and Ambraea has the backing of four great houses.
