Book of Bone and Ebony

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13 BANKS OF ESSENCE While the banks of Stygia were originally formed to house surplus Essence generated by the worship of Stygia and the Dual Monarchy, over time, they became the financial backbone of the necropolis. Heaps of thousands of soulfire crystals lie within their vaults, accumulated during the long history of Stygia, and the clerics constantly seek new types of Essence storage technology. Whenever a ghost needs great sums of Essence for some project or undertaking, the banks can offer loans and investments, whether in the form of soulfire crystals or Essence directly infused into the ghost. Nations from all over the Underworld come to Stygia to trade for Essence, offering material goods in exchange for crates of soulfire crystals. Indeed, this is one of Stygia’s greatest sources of revenue, and over the passing centuries, the banks have acquired vast treasures of material wealth and grave goods. This allows them to aid Stygians financially, and a ghost can seek monetary loans as well as loans of Essence or seek to exchange one for the other. The exchange rate between Essence and Resources is roughly comparable to the ratio for sacrificial Essence, as found on page 33 of Exalted: The Abyssals. For example, 10 motes would cost a ghost Resources •••. However, because draining motes is less efficient than offering them, unless the ghost depositing the Essence has an appropriate Charm, a ghost must offer twice as much Essence as the equivalent Resources is worth. For example, a ghost would lose 20 motes to gain a single Resources ••• purchase. In addition to exchanges, ghosts can take loans in either Essence or wealth, and the system is the same for both. For each dot of temporary Resources gained, or its equivalent in motes, the ghost gains a point of the Debt Flaw, as found on pages 38-39 of the Exalted Players Guide, for which the ghost gains no experience. Exchanges and loans both require a great deal of paperwork. Gaining approval requires a Manipulation + Bureaucracy roll at a difficulty of the Resource value of the transaction (thus, a ghost offering Resources ••• for 10 motes rolls at a difficulty of 3). Processing the application takes several days for most transactions, and can take weeks for transactions involving Resources •••• or higher. This time is reduced by additional successes at a rate of one day per success, but the time involved can never take less than a day. CHAPTER ONE • STYGIA
EXALTED • THE BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY The clerics oversee many aspects of Stygia’s bureaucracies, and the color of a cleric’s jade mask indicates his responsibilities. Those with red-jade masks govern the Cult of the Dual Monarchy, serving as its priests. The Scarlet-Masked Clerics of lesser rank oversee worship ceremonies and preach to the dead, while those of greater rank govern the workings of the cult itself, such as where its abundant resources are allocated or dictating aspects of the cult’s theology. The bearers of the green-jade masks serve as diplomats and representatives of Stygia and the Dual Monarchy to the nations of the Underworld. Present in nearly every kingdom of the land of the dead, the Emerald-Masked Clerics serve the roles of the other four departments in their absence and are accustomed to a great deal of autonomy. Those who wear the blue-jade masks are often seen as the least exciting of the clerics, for they serve as bank tellers and money counters. Still, the task of the Azure-Masked Clerics is an important one, and their financial acumen is impressive indeed. The black-masked clerics are the auditors and the inquisitors of Stygia. Whenever a deal defaults or a heretic against the Cult of the Dual Monarchy arises, an Ebon-Masked Cleric is dispatched to investigate and, if necessary, punish. These clerics are also tasked with the investigation of their colleagues, for while the clerics are bound by a strict code of conduct, corruption certainly exists in their ranks. Finally, those whose masks are crafted of white jade govern the clerics themselves. The Ivory-Masked Clerics are the commanding officers of the Stygian bureaucracies, ensuring that the other four departments remain carefully on task and never falter in their duties to the Dual Monarchy. Any ghost who presents himself to the Offices of the Ivory Mask and proves his bureaucratic acumen and his loyalty to the Dual Monarchy can become a cleric. This requires a minimum Bureaucracy and Lore of ••, and while Socialize and Occult are highly valued, they are not prerequisites. Further, the ghost must know at least Aura- Reading Technique. Assuming he meets these requirements, the ghost can become an initiate cleric with Backing(Stygian Cleric) •, and one of the five departments recruits him based on the scores of his test. Should he learn Blending the Streams of Essence or Earnest Creditor Technique, he may be promoted to adept cleric (with Backing ••). Clerics also consider Filling the Precious Vial and Careful Debtor Stance to be exceptionally useful Arcanoi, and the Ebon-Masked Clerics often make use of Feeding the Lamprey’s Appetite. Beyond the rank of adept, promotion becomes competitive, and a ghost who wishes to gain in rank must both wait for one in a higher rank to gain a promotion or pass into Lethe and then prove himself a better candidate than his colleagues. A cleric’s Backing (and, by extension, his rank) may never exceed his Bureaucracy or his Lore. The number of bars upon a cleric’s sash denotes his rank, with one bar indicating an 14 initiate, two indicating an adept, etc. The fifth and final rank is reserved for a single ghost per department, and they are referred to as secretaries. The Ivory-Masked Secretary is the master of all clerics, and he is properly titled the Grand Secretary of the Gathered Masks. GEOGRAPHY Flatlands of dark, rich loam encircle the Grand Necropolis. Fed by the unpleasant and strange waters of the River Styx, this land is unusually fertile and home to many farms. A rustic shanty town surrounds the Dark Jewel of the Underworld, filled with both the dead content to work the land and provide some food for the city and those ghosts who, for whatever reason, cannot make a living within Stygia itself. While vulnerable to attack or to the sudden marauding of monsters, the effigies of the Dual Monarchy stand in silent vigil, providing comfort and security to the quiet community. Though it lacks the reverent aura of Stygia itself, the local farms are close enough to feed off the castoff prayers of the necropolis, and long-time residents gain an additional mote per hour, as though they benefited from a Underworld Cult rating of •. Stygia and its surrounding flatlands are nestled into the valleys of seven hills. Some say the tossing of a fitfully slumbering Malfean formed the hills, but what matters most to Stygians is the wealth their mines and quarries provide. These slopes are rich in ores and stone (primarily basalt, granite and marble) and provide much of the material for construction projects and industries. The centuries of mining and quarrying have cut grooves out of some of the slopes — tiers that some sections of the city currently reside on — and have riddled others with longforgotten shafts and nephwrack-haunted tunnels that lead into the Labyrinth. Beyond the hills of Stygia, vast and overgrown wilds surround the Dark Jewel of the Underworld. Thorny and impassable undergrowth fills tangled forests of twisted, leafless trees, which creak hungrily in the presence of the dead. Towering, broken crags rise up from the land like monstrous, black teeth, impassable to all but the most skilled ghosts. Marshes filled with moist, hungry earth eagerly await the chance to swallow up unwary travelers. Monsters from the Labyrinth roam these lands freely, and their thundering roars or eerie, humanesque screams shatter the silence of these unpleasant lands. Once, long ago, the island teemed with ghosts, echoing the majesty of the Old Realm. In this current Age, however, the lack of worship and the absence of shadowlands forced the dead of the Isle of Shadows to move on to more profitable locations, and those with the means fled to Stygia. Those that remained behind withered as their cities were reclaimed by the wilds. Now, all that is left of these ancient necropoli are crumbled ruins and a few haggard, barbaric ghosts who have grown used to
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Book of Bone and Ebony

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