Politics (Nexus)


 * Main

The Dogma
No taxes shall be raised, save by the council.

None shall obstruct trade.

None shall bring an army into Nexus.

No-one shall commit wanton violence.

None may falsely claim the council's name or sanction.

None shall harbour a fugitive from the council's wrath.

The Districts
These are areas you may take Backing from and have Influence in.

Black Dragon Fists
Crime Syndicate. Area is small, any purchase counts as +3.

Thousand Gods
Crime Syndicate. Area is small, any purchase counts as +2.

Sixheaded Dragon Society
Crime Syndicate. Area is small, any purchase counts as +2.

Tang-Zen Crime Syndicate
Area is medium-sized, any purchase counts as +1.

Azure Path
Crime syndicate? Area is medium-sized, any purchase counts as +1.

The Immaculate Order
The official church of the Realm.

The Five Elemental Dragons
The Eastern rival of the Immaculate Order. Believes in trying to embody the real dragons.

The Cults of Darkness
These cults live short, dangerous lives worshiping dark entities.

The Cult of the Illuminate
Adversaries of the Immaculate Order, the Dark cults and just plain annoying holy.

The Order and Temple of Mistress Yanaze
Fighting Order and holy church of the great river goddess.

The Queen of Knives
Secret cult, formed from mainly thieves and rogues from the East and Southeast. Rumored to practice human sacrifice.

Immaculate Temple
Its lawless status means that it is one of the only places that they don't already rule that Realm agents may freely operate (provided they can make it past the Lookshy patrols at the mouth of the Yanaze). There is an Immaculate Temple. The Legions moving through the city would be bad for business and thus the mercenary companies would be charged to act against it, but there is no such issue with the Wyld Hunt.

Cult of the Illuminated
The Cult of the Illuminated have a temple as well. They keep a low profile as the Inner Circle wants to avoid forcing a confrontation with Lookshy at this point, but do not actively hide & the 7th Legion is relatively comfortable ignoring one temple amongst the countless they don't share the faith of when defending and doing business with Nexus. The Wyld Hunt is less forgiving, but also knows better than to test the patience of the Merchant Princes by actively and openly attacking the temple. A base at the heart of the Scavenger Lands that is a hub of travel, commerce, and rumor for the farthest reaches of Creation is far too valuable for hunting actual Anathema to (openly) risk on heretical fools.

Vei Qi, the Steel Queen
Stealth, guile, treachery and assassination.

King Woo, Wing of the East
The Eastern God of Flight. Has branched out into anything which makes him stronger.

Gen
City Father of Nexus. Recluse.

The Iron Ring
BDS(Not M) cult. Submit! Has a lot of bordellos (Secretly). The Iron Mother, the Iron Father and other diverse minor gods exist in this pantheon of perversion.

Fakharu
Merchant cult.

Zondergaan, Zondergan, Zonderghan, Sondergan, Sonderghan
The High Transporter of Water in Nexus. Very little power today. Was in care of the Giant Water machines in the East.

Rizzo, The god of Ill-obtained goods
Lång spetsig näsa. Allierad med Rådskvinnan Ilarias. Olovligen förvärvade varor.

Ring of Red
The Chief of the Bloody Hands.

Silent Quill, God of Unseen Contracts
While most deals in Nexus are done on paper, verbal contracts are also common. They show trust uncommon to the residents of the city, but are often maintained as firmly as their inscribed counterparts. These unwritten arguments are overseen by a deity known as Silent Quill, who can often be found frequenting the bars and teahouses that the focus of his domain usually occurs in. He often appears as a young man in scribe's robes with oddly large ears, his head often tilted towards any nearby conversations of trade. His sanctum is tied to a small perpetually unused office in the Guild headquarters building.

Grandfather Iron, Forge God
Nighthammer houses the largest concentration of forges in any city in Creation since the fall of Three-Forge Mesa, and Grandfather Iron watches over them all. A burly god of large stature with skin the color of hot coals and eyes of liquid metal (the exact metal varying from hour to hour), he oversees the metalworkers and smiths that churn out the swords, armor and other tools that the city is known for. He is a boisterous fellow, often seen drinking and carrying on with the smiths at the Ringing Anvil, a tavern near the Nighthammer Docks. His sanctum is, as one would expect, in a large forge near the center of the district.

Snorg, god of garbagemen
He protects his devotees from disesases, rat bites, and other occupational hazards of the trade. A lesser cousin of whomsoever it is you delegate as god(ess) of the home. Gods of Trade look down on Snorg as a necessary pest. Snorg is usually depicted as a man with a rat's nose, used to sniff out pestilence, meaning Gods of Medicine consider him a sometimes useful ally. On the other hand, Snorg is said to have a vicious and poisonous bite. Snorg is known to favor coins so old that you can not make out whatever is stamped on them, but no mortal knows why. Snorg is never lost in slums or alleys, and may well be that loner in the dark corner of the disreputable establishment you are in.

Sweet Marble, god of love notes
Works for a god of messengers in Yu-Shan, but spends most of his free time in Nexus chasing after good looking young God-Blooded and siring some of his own. He can give blessings that add dice to seduction and wooing attempts, and once per year can give a more powerful blessing that makes a single love attempt succeed automatically.

Silent Heron, god of back alley deals
His Sanctum is a dark series of narrow corridors arranged in a labyrinthine fashion. He may pause and listen to any secret agreements currently being made in out of the way places, such as alleys, basements, and abandoned buildings. This information is never used for blackmail, but Silent Heron has in the past used information to create the necessity of further secret meetings.

Mange
God of alleycats and nosy neighbours. A wiry, smelly man of uncanny dexterity who suffers from innumerable skin conditions, and can see through the eyes of all stray cats in the city, as well as any windows which someone is using to spy on their fellow citizens (lace curtains are optional). Holds the second portfolio due to a bureaucratic mixup following the accidental devouring of the late Pollifexen by Something Unpleasant that came from the Firewander district. Cullicken, god of Nexus's strays and ferals, consistently fails to prevent low level warfare between Mange and his chief rival Spore, god of stray canines, as much of her time is taken up by her trying to have beastmen that wander into the city added to her remit.

Shalrina, Daimyo of Faces
Source: Compass of Terrestrial Directions: The Scavenger Lands.

Mistress Yanaze, Queen of the Yellow River
Source: Stina Ubeda Edelfeldt, Oscar Ubeda Segmar.

Tybalt, Prince of Cats
Roguish Prince of Criminals and Cats. Can't be held responsible for anything. Does not swear himself to any cause. Carouses everything. Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Big Dog, King of Dogs
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Spirit Court for the Bloody Hands of Nexus
A court comprised of all Bloody Hands in Nexus. Fearsome gathering indeed. Sarayn the Apothecary is one of them. Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Vosis, Plotter of Yanaze's Peaks
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Horoa, the Gusts
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Axrane, Sleeping Ember
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Hemfast, Dancer of the Ascending Wood
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Otak, Mist's Tears
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Eurydoke, Dancer on the Razor's Edge
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Heteraia, The Madame of Nexus
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Katerina, Asp-Tongued Virgin
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Rufio, the Procurer of Gilded Dreams
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Sir Reynard, The Nimble Trickster, The Satirist
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

(Firefall, White Lady of the Long Road)
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Tedd Lazybones, the Tired Baron
Source: 101_Little_Gods.htm

Habena, Most Glorious Goddess of Cooking Implements Used as Weapons
She's a relatively minor goddess, but ambitious. She received a major power boost recently, due to the short but colorful career of the infamous Chopstick Assassin. Now, she's looking for other troublemakers she could surreptitiously arm with forks, razor-sharp tongs, or perhaps very heavy ladles and send off to draw attention to her portfolio.

She has a giant, green jade spoon with the stats of a direlance that she uses in combat, named Deliverer of Cold Dishes. She also has a permanent custom charm which allows her to count any sort of utensil use as being unarmed for the purposes of martial arts.

Her long-term plan is to absorb the role of her rival, the God of Cutlery in Nexus, possibly after disgracing him or having him bumped off. She's looking for allies to help achieve this.

Maiden Spear - Eastern god of Female Deflowerment
During his days of being a god in good standing in the Terrestrial Bureaucracy, Maiden Spear primarily observed the Eastern sex trade, and has an intriguing record of the sale prices for the first sexual intercourse of a number of Shogunate geisha. However, in these dark times, Maiden Spear has become more interested in revelling in his domain than observing it. He only notes down instances that particularly interest him, and no longer does he keep good record of every fumbling virgin's first time. His sanctum's entrance is fluid in exact location, as it opens only when a certain secret sign is performed before a virgin whore's door in Nexus. Inside, it is what you'd expect of such a carnal god's residence, filled with silken pillows and sweet incense. It is a very dangerous place to be for those who wish to protect their purity, also, as the incense he burns makes it harder to resist sexual advances from those who the subject has a carnal interest in, although it does not create such desire from nothing. Unlike most gods, he does not particularly lust for power, as women inevitably have sex, assuring his domain, and men inevitably offer up prayers in hope of getting with women, giving strength to his cult.

Maiden Spear himself appears as a pretty, slender man of almost seven feet in height, with fair skin and dark brown hair the hue of mahogany. He drapes himself in fine robes and possesses an ornamental, short straight blade at his side. His green eyes have a certain undefinable sparkle of vitality that charms women to his side. On the rare occasions when he must defend himself, he shifts his grip on his weapon, running his fingers along it as it transforms into a long, thick spear of Eastern hardwood, with a broad, circular guard before the short, pointed blade.

Rumours persist of Maiden Spear originally having been a female deity who regained her virginity every lunar cycle only to lose it again. For whatever reason, Maiden Spear frowns on this subject and becomes extremely terse whenever it is brought up.

Goldheart Shade
Was once a member of the Many-Angled Division of Treachery and Loss, a divine bureau tasked with ensuring that crime occurred in Creation as it should. He lost his position -- rumor has it was over a love triangle -- and without a divine salary he was ejected from Yu-Shan.

Now he makes a living in Nexus as a private investigator, turning the same divine powers that once protected crime against it. Except for his third eye, he appears basically human. When he expends Essence and invokes his Charms, his third eye will open and he will see what crimes should happen, what crimes have happened, and what has interfered with the proper progress of crime. He wears a long coat woven of shadows, and can use it to hide from sight as long as there are shadows present.

He has no official cult in Nexus, but his cases are written up and published by many of Nexus's publishing houses, and the eagerness with which his readers read of his adventures funnels him some essence.

Dibbleity, the God of Street Vendors Who Sell Food
A thin, wiry, shifty-looking man, Dibbeity is one of the most active gods in Nexus. He can often been seen pushing his push barrow through the streets, stacked with... well, we'll call it food for the lack of a better descriptor. Sausages-in-a-bun which taste of almost nothing, suspicious dreams and emotions for the Rakasha, fish-which-just-happens-to-taste-like-chicken-honestly for Westerners. He makes a roaring trade from the tourists who visit Nexus, and lack the vital ability to recognise him, especially since his food always, always smells a lot nicer than it tastes. He runs his business as a franchise, and will give Endowments, for a cut of the profits of his "prophets", who spread into other districts, selling food which, although it may appear different, tastes exactly the same.

Jade Blade, god of mercenaries
Encourages warriors to sell their fighting prowess, and has been slowly attempting to garner a more powerful cult in Lookshy, so that he can properly seize on the worship of an entire nation of soldiers selling their blades to others in the Scavenger Lands. However, he favors Nexus as his personal domain, and oft schemes to introduce new civilities granting mercenaries additional rights within Nexus. Needless to say, he is favored by many of the mercenaries who house themselves there, and there is even one company named after him.

Jade Blade takes the form of a nondescript man wearing a green jade suit of armour with a white jade daiklave at his side. Upon the face of the daiklave is stamped the impression of the Realm's currency. Recently, however, he has begun wielding a silver sword at his side, stamped with the impression of Guild currency, and has been encountered answering to the name of "Silver Sword" as well. Rumours abound as to what this means.

The mercenary god operates under an unusual geas. He cannot act directly on anyone's behalf other than his own without agreeing to a price first. This doesn't interfere in his usual activities, as expanding his domain is on his own behalf, but it does complicate alliances with him, as he almost always demands a down payment first. When he agrees to a price, however, he may treat a contract it as a second Motivation.

Rotting Sweetness, the god of tainted produce
Taking the form of a young woman carrying a basket of rotted fruit, surrounded by the taint of decaying fruit Rotting Sweetness is a minor goddess who serves under Splendor Decayed the god of decay.

During her duties she travels to areas where fruit is being stored and moved and places one of her magically tainted fruits among the others where corruption then spreads to the entire shipment.

In order to increase her small cult, Rotting Sweetness has taken not only to accepting prayers to keep produce pure but also to accepting bribes by some of Nexus's merchant princes to keep their produce pure but also corrupt those of their rivals. Oddly, her sanctum has a collection of repaired cargo preservation spindles that failed or she was able to break in the course of her duties, lovingly restored to working condition by her own hands.

Effortless Oar, the Vulgar Boatman
Patron of river traffic in Nexus, which includes ferries across the river. His blessings speed journeys all the way to the sea, due to reciprocal allainces with other local river traffic gods, but stops upriver at Grand Forks. He also helps boatmen out at bankside establishments, in fights and otherwise. When hard pressed, Effortless Oar removes the earing dangle of an oar, which then becomes a black jade oar for faster sculling...or head cracking. Effortless Oar favors loud singing of scurrilous ditties, especially repetitive ones good for keeping rythym, hence his sobriquet. Gods of Music disdain him, of course, but he will go out of his way to get them to compose a new song for him/his followers and will reward boatmen who do the same.

Haentaro, God of Books
Haentaro is a member of the mystical and enigmatic group known as the "Ten Thousand Blind Deities" an occult secret society of spirits who focus their efforts on the acquisition of knowledge. All of them are petitioning to join the Bureau of Destiny, so that they may access Jupiter's massive libraries of secret and forbidden knowledge.

Haentaro is completely blind himself, but can read any written work just by touching it. His hearing is also tremendous and he liberally uses the charm "Measure the Wind" to gauge his worshipers. Haentaro is not just the god of books themselves, but of the entire book making process; he is served by several minor spirits of technology (due to his domain of printing presses), calligraphy (for those areas that still write by hand alone), and inspiration (authors pray to Haentaro to resolve writer's block).

Haentaro is one of the few gods to have mastered Celestial level sorcery due to his ability to read and perfectly comprehend any book. He has several books of sorcery in his personal collection, which is stored in his sanctum, which always appears as an immaculately organized library and printing press shop. It can currently be found in a back room at one of Nexus' many bookstores.

Hum, the God of Minor Forgetfullness
That is, he is the God of when you gorget to bring something or forget to do something and such. He mostly appears as an old man trying to remember something he forgot. He is actually a very powerful god, as everyone forgets something one day, but keeps forgetting his duties and his powers. He is far from stupid or useless, but he is eternally frustrated as he is always forgetting about one thing or another.

He can sometimes be seen with his brother Hing, the god of Forceful Remembrance (when you force yourself to remember somthing), as they get along a lot better than their portfolios would have you believe.

Areaesha, lady of Pain and goddess of ritualised battle
The patron of a number of mercenary groups in Nexus who make their living on the back of an Exalted champion who fights the ritualised duels common throughout the threshold, and of some of the more thoughtful Gladiators in the arena.

Areaesha is a tall, striking woman in form fitting red laquered armour. She has deep red hair which varies in style according to her whim when she manifests. Short tempered, she dislikes being summoned away from her sanctum without good reason, and is likely to demand a ritualised combat of some sort be performed to appease her In battle she is a terrifying foe, a match for all but the most potent combatants in a one on one duel. She wields a starmetal Direlance, Adjudicator.

The Silence of Nexus
Subgod to Wayang.

Merchant Associations
In Nexus, all traders are organized one way or another. These may or may not be Guild affiliated.

The Trade of Joy
Mostly located in Cinnabar.

The Spirit Courts of Nexus
How could the spirits ignore one hundredth of the people of the World?

The Silver Pact
Each of the eight directions is a separate area.

The Bureaus of Heaven
Each department is a single area of influence.

The Council
The Council votes on new Council members, but there is no set number of Council members, and any Council member may put forward a motion to invite a new Council member. The Council Tower can easily entertain several thousands of Council members. As of RY768, there are 463 Council members. The Council employs somewhere between 30,000 and 70,000 informants and spies, both paid and unpaid.

The Council Factions
These are the separate areas.

The Council Spy networks
Many diverse faction networks.

The Mercenary Companies
=The Laws= These are found in the Incuncabulum, in the Council Offices at Nexus District and at the Council Tower.

The Dogma
These are laws set by the High Council and policed by the dreaded Emissary: No taxes shall be raised, save by the Council. None shall obstruct trade. None shall bring an army into Nexus. No one shall commit wanton violence. None may falsely claim the High Council's name or sanction. None shall harbor a fugitive from the High Council's wrath.

The Civilities
These laws are individual decrees by Councilors, and voted for by the Council. The Civilities are only supported by the Council Mercenary Companies, and only some of the time. These Civilities are current as of RY768, Ascending Air 1. "Dock workers shall not be impeded in their business." "No uninvited guests shall attend any wedding party." "Corpses shall not be flung into the canal system." "Striking a harlot is akin to breaking an artisan's wares without purchasing them." "A child may not be sold after his third year of life." "All the First Age structures in Nexus are the property of the Council, and all residents of these buildings must pay rent."

Nexus Rules of Magic
1. Don't get seen. 2. Do not prey upon this city or attempt to overwhelm it with your magic. 10 more rules.