Book of Bone and Ebony

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COURTLY ESSENCE The courtiers that walk the halls of the Dual Monarchy’s palace manage to attain a measure of greatness merely from their association with the Dual Monarchs. Without knowing it, their presence serves a role in the vast and ongoing ritual of the Cult of the Dual Monarchy. Those who become most accepted in the court are those who become deeply attuned to this process and can tap into the intensity of the prayers in the Dual Monarchy’s palace, receiving the benefits of Underworld Cult •••. This requires a minimum of Socialize •• and at least a month of making friends and contacts within the court (which can be represented by either a Background of Contacts • or Influence • in relation to the court). This association is fickle, however, and the Storyteller has the final say over who is a member of this “inner clique” and who is not. Such members are notoriously arrogant, perfectly aware as they are of their greater status within the city. The Keeper of the Mandate, Master Amenti, knows every law, every precept, by heart. He is a frail spirit with thin, white hair and skeletal hands covered in the fine parchment of ancient, ghostly flesh. His face hides behind a bestial mask, and long, colorful robes adorn his body. He long ago forgot the mortal world, and all of his passions and enormous intellect now focus on the legal matters of Stygia. None understand the law as well as he. He is hopelessly corrupt, with his hands in every governmental pocket and bribes flowing from his many arrests. He is petty, filled with all the spite and rigidity of the dead, and he enjoys using his position to wreak havoc on his enemies. His rivals have come to despise the rustling whisper of his voice and the impeccable logic of his arguments. However, despite his shortcomings, his dedication to the status quo makes him the most stalwart ally the Dual Monarchy has, and he uses all of his considerable resources to aid it. Hidden in the Hall of Two Truths, behind his scrolls, legal summons and the massive Mandate, he reads in peace, occasionally reaching out with his influence to ensnare the foes of the Monarchy in bureaucratic red tape. The law serves Stygia in a myriad of ways. Foremost, it serves as a method to clean the streets. The police gather up useless rabble and either throw them into chains to serve as slave labor or pitch them from the city, exiling them into the wilds that surround Stygia. For the wealthy, it serves as a distraction, something to fuel their passions. Many powerful dead pay close attention to the drama of legal proceedings. A few police even hunt down dangerous elements within the city. Not every agent within Stygia is a corrupt thug, and often, the young ghosts of investigators and guards are 17 CHAPTER ONE • STYGIA driven to seek out nephwrack conspiracies and hostile criminal organizations, bringing safety to the city. When an arrest occurs, the officer generally arrives with a sizable contingent of armed guards, usually between five and ten. For wealthy detainees, the guard serves a sort of ceremonial function, and the more guards that attend, the greater the prestige associated with the arrest. For more reluctant suspects, the guards must be prepared to fight, for the dead are passionate and enjoy a final showdown. The charges are read from a long scroll, and the flowery detailing of the crimes can take several minutes. Charges come in varying degrees of severity, and the Storyteller should assign a level between one to five for them. Level-one charges are minor traffic infractions, violations of etiquette and various small peculiarities and technicalities that exist in the enormous legal codes of Stygia. Such charges are often dismissed outright after some legal wrangling and a few bribes. Level-two and -three charges are often assault and theft, with petty theft and assault against lesser, unimportant ghosts making up the level-two charges and greater theft and assault against more prominent dead making up the level three charges. Level-four and -five charges are reserved for murder, treachery and consorting with the minions of Oblivion, though this final charge is seldom leveled with any seriousness anymore and never leveled against any servant of a Deathlord. However, the complexity and obscurity of Stygian law ensures that arrests can be made for almost any reason. For example, insulting Lord Stalwart might result in some strange and ancient level-four charge being brought against the offender. Also, a torrid affair with a foreign princess might bring a level-two charge, just to keep things interesting. In practice, arrests are not made to serve justice. Rather, Stygians use them to further their tormented games of intrigue and politics. After receiving the charge, a ghost may attempt to construct a defense that will diminish the effectiveness of the charges made against him. This requires an Intelligence + Bureaucracy roll with a difficulty equal to the severity of the charges. If successful, the severity is lessened by one, and level-one charges are dismissed (meaning that only the most legally inept ghosts ever go to court over such minor infractions). Court proceedings can best be described as a circus. Because the verdict is always known before the trial even begins, the purpose of the trial is not to prove innocence or guilt, but rather, to provide a platform for melodramatic performances. Prosecutors grandstand, and witnesses burst out in wailing confession, and above it all, perched atop towering podiums, the skulls of the judges peer down from beneath their powdered wigs, their claw-like hands clicking hungrily against the wood of the bench. Indeed, the powerful ghosts of Stygia find it quite fashionable to be arrested and enjoy the hardships of the Stygian legal system, so long as the price of conviction isn’t too high.
EXALTED • THE BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY 18 DEFENDERS OF THE MANDATE The bulk of Stygia’s guards are poorly skilled militia, ghosts given perfunctory training and weaponry and then sent off to aid in arrests. To represent them, use the “Militia” statistics from Exalted, page 278, or more simply, treat them as extras with four dice. For particularly dangerous or prestigious arrests, Master Amenti unleashes his crack police forces, who are heavily armed and well trained and referred to as the Hounds of Amenti. Treat them as “War Ghosts” on page 301 of Exalted or as extras with six dice. Sometimes, packs of hungry ghosts or jade effigies accompany the Hounds of Amenti. The Stygian police often focus their Arcanoi on the Chains of the Ancient Monarchs art, found on pages 51-53, and usually have at least Soul Anchor and Essence Binding. Essence-Devouring Ghost Touch and Spirit-Catching Eye Technique, found in Exalted: The Abyssals, are also popular Arcanoi, and those ghostly police who use hungry ghosts often employ Relentless Hunter’s Mark. Standard guards often have no applicable Arcanoi, but a Hound of Amenti always has at least two. For truly difficult and dangerous targets, Master Amenti has access to elite cadres of mercenaries and bounty hunters. These ghosts are always heroic dead, usually travel in bands of three to five, and typically have signature techniques and Arcanoi that make them both intriguing and deadly. Storytellers should play up the baroque character of the legal system and give it roleplaying attention. Make the player of the accused ghost act out her character’s defense, bringing in his evidence, badgering his opponent’s witnesses and presenting thunderous arguments. When complete, make an opposed Manipulation + Performance roll for both the defendant and the prosecutor. Bonus dice are awarded based on the evidence and the effectiveness of testimony (usually one die per witness or piece of evidence, but these must be suitably persuasive or impressive to count). Effective use of evidence and witnesses requires skill in law, though, and no more bonus dice may be added in this manner than a character’s Bureaucracy. Stunting is always encouraged, and dice gained from stunting is cumulative with the dice gained from evidence and witnesses. Whoever wins the contest wins the trial. For those characters inept at legal matters, the services of a ghostly barrister can be purchased. Such a barrister has a Bureaucracy of at least 2, and his Manipulation + Performance dice pool is generally equal to (the Resource cost of hiring him + 3). For cases against the state
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