Tai-Quin, the City in the Clouds
Manse 5
Flaws: Maintenance 4, Inferior Hearthstone 5
Powers: Floating 3, Extended Zone of Influence 4, Atelier-Manse (Gossamer) 4, Fortress 3, Sentient 5, Geomantic Nexus 1, Integrated Utility Artifacts 3
Artifacts: Bracers of Universal Crafting, Arms of Multiple Manipulation, Time Compressor 3
Hearthstone: A Silver Pennant
The Sky-People in the hidden cities of the north call it the Trading Post, for it is first amongst a tiny handful of places where they may do business, knowing that the existence of their race will be kept a close secret. The Raksha of the northern courts call it the Golden Dream, excited and wary of what may come of a union of Solar and Faerie. The nomads and primitive people of the northern steppe call it the City of Wonders, and some have erroneously decided it is Yu-Shan, or some aspect of the celestial realms. The people who live there do not call it any of these things. It is the City in the Clouds, that is what defines it, and it is the only title it would ever accept.
For centuries, starting during the Shogunate era, Quin was a faerie freehold, built in the far reaches of the north. Known as the Misted Peak, it was constructed on a demense of moderate power, taking the form of a mountain peak, surrounded by an icy mist and fog. It changed hands many times, and was once even briefly held by the Dragonblooded, but was never important enough to merit any real attention. During the Balorian Crusade, it should have been subsumed into the Wyld as Creation's edge crumbled, but the Raksha who ruled it was not quite ready to abandon existence yet, nor to see his valuable freehold crumble away. He conjured a great behemoth of the Wyld, a flying monster so large it darkened the sun, and named him Tai, the Lash of Unreality. The great prince commanded him to pick up the entire freehold and it's surrounding geomancy and fly it into Creation, a mobile fortress to march with the rest of the Crusade.
The behemoth was all that saved the Freehold from the Sword of Creation. Quin and it's bearer were close to the edge of the world, when the ultimate weapon struck. The beast shielded the freehold with it's body, and when that first blow slew it in an instant, it's form exploded into a vortex of wyld energy. Enough to hide the freehold from the Sword, as it plummeted from the sky, the beasts incinerated carcas falling behind it. It's geomancy damaged by the fall, and the Crusade it served broken, Quin fell into obscurity, one of many tiny freeholds to dot Creation, all that's left of the Great Crusade.
It was this weakness that initially drew the Lady Elara to it, when she and her Solar mate fled the Realm and it's order. She thought it a realm easily conquered by diplomacy and shaping charms, from which they could eventually move proper to Rakshastan proper. The first half of her plan was successful, as the pair easily conquered it -- but to her great frustration, her mate would not move from it to advance on more powerful realms. He insisted that there was great undeveloped potential in the freehold, and devoted his time, the freeholds resources, and his wifes sanity and patience to bringing it out. Gossamer, favored and artifacts that were supposed to be going into building a proper empire were used to hire help -- geomancers from Lookshy, surveyors from the League, workmen from the Realm -- he even paid the extensive bribes required to have a long exchange of letters with the Perfect, asking the ruler for his advice, given his history of brilliant urban geomancy. At first, the resource expenditure seemed limitless, and the benefits trivial, but gradually, power began to flow back into the demesne.
But the power did not flow as it once had. The realm had broken from it's base, been lifted through the skies, taken up arms against Creation, and been bathed in the blood of a creature so mighty it took the Sword of Creation to strike it down, it was no longer the Misted Mountain. The dreams of the workmen who labored within it and the Solar's own ambition mixed with the faerie memories left over, and the traces of Tai that still remained. The Sword had taken all the fight out of the Behemoth, broken it's will as well as it's body. But as the ghost of the monster began to awake again, power flowing anew through it's spirit, one memory stood clear out of the abuse, the labor, the struggling and the defeat. I made the city fly.
And fly it did.
The Misted Mountain and the Lash of Unreality are no more -- the freehold gone, the demense capped. The wild and destructive ghost of the behemoth was bound into the ordered structure of a proper manse, and by that, it's nature changed. Some old faerie's will still refer to Tai and Quin as separate entities, but the cities new, proper name is catching on, reflecting it's duel nature. Physically, the manse is a flying island just under 10 miles across on average, floating in the cloud layer, in the far reaches of the North, barely out of the Bordermarches and in Creation proper. The manse building itself floats above the surface of the island in turn, a great double-ring of light, gossamer, and steel. Around it, the city stretches, built in the same style as the manse itself, a small but growing berg inhabited by faerie's, mortals, and Wyld Mutants.
Although the city is growing, it still covers only a small fraction of the available space, most of the island still natural and bare -- with the underside of the island being mostly dedicated to the geomantic processes of the manse that keep the city flying. In theory, it is ruled by ruled by Prince Rivers -- he owns the Manse's hearthstone and all government business there is conducted in his name. But, the fact that his wife own's the supporting Manse's hearthstones reveals the truth of things. In practice, he spends little time in the city except to use it's resources to pursue whatever latest "grand idea" he's had, and it is the Lady Elara who rules the city, with his projects being conducted at her generosity. The one point he has insisted upon, to which she has reluctantly agreed, is that no faerie may enter the city without swearing an oath to obey it's laws for the duration of their stay, laws which (among other things) forbid feeding on mortals. So close to the Wyld, this is not as much of a problem as it might otherwise be, but it has still caused considerable upset among the cities Raksha population.
Given it's position, the city is only accessible by airship, and has significant docks and foundries to that effect. As one last personal touch on the design, reflecting both his reason for building the city and the cities unique tax structure, Rivers insisted on writing the signage himself. People arriving at the city are greeted by a broad message, posted over every airship dock: "Great nations are built on the dreams of their people."
Tai-Quin
Motivation: Discover her motivation
Manipulation 5, Charisma 5, Perception 5, Intelligence 5, Wits 5
Performance 2, Presence 2, Craft (Gossamer) 5, Craft (Genesis) 2, Lore 5, Occult 5, Beaurocracy 2, Linguistics 2 (Old Realm, Airtongue, Riverspeak)
Essence: 2
Compassion 5, Conviction 1, Temperance 5, Valor 3
Willpower: 10
Flaws: Nightmares 1
Merits: None
Backgrounds:Cult 1
Positive Intimacies: Nicholai Rivers (Friendship), Lady Elara (Respect), Clouds (Comfort), Freedom (Joy), Dreams (Hope), Mortals (Protective), Wyld Mutants (Encouragement/Pity), Temperate-Fae (Cautious Optimism), Her Cult (Responsibility), Manse Upgrades (Gleeful Anticipation)
Negative Intimacies: Violent Criminals (Disgust), Greed and Hate (Nausea), Non-Worker Fae (Mistrust), Pirates (Hostile Acceptance), Sky-Folk (Dislike), Other Exalted (Fear)
Tai-Quin isn't sure what she is. She remembers being the Lash of Unreality, but understands that she isn't that anymore. She remembers being the Misted Mountain, but nor is she a freehold any longer, with it's shifting stories and faerie nature. She is the City in the Clouds -- and the clouds are where she feels safe. She yerns to fly free like the griffins and airships that move across her can, and sail through the sky on the wings she once had. But her nature is more then that. The constructions that let her serve as a crafting node for Gossamer also give her a dull awareness of the dreams of those who live inside her, and her mood mirrors their own. When it rains, she feels the chill and the dampness without sensors. When there is a festival, she is overjoyed. When the masses discover a horrible and outraging crime, she rages with them. More often then that, though, the mortals who dwell inside her feel a sense of wonder -- they feel like they are living in a world of wonders where all of their dreams can come true, and so Tai-Quin feels that as well. She seeks to learn and grow and become more then she is, and to watch the city grow with her.
Although her mood often reflects that of the populace, Tai-Quin does have free will, a point that has caused her some frustration. It is easy for her to simply flow with the mood of her populace, but she feels she is a failure if she gives into that urge, that to become a great individual, she must make her mind uniquely hers. She had made some decisions all her own -- objecting to the presence of pirates in the city docks, even though the populace mostly welcomes them, but still has not decided who she wants to be. She discusses the topic at great length with Rivers whenever he visits the city, and in many ways, they are opposites. Rivers is totally intemperate, following the whim of the moment, but always acts with great passion and conviction, not letting any obstacle get in his way. Tai-Quin is as temperate and infinitely patient as a machine should be, but for all her passion, finds it hard to gain conviction in a particular direction. The two have actually struck up a friendship, beyond their Master/Construct relationship -- with Tai-Quin coming both to like her master, and to fear the consequences should her hearthstone ever fall into the hands of another.
Tai-Quin's primary functional role in the city is as an Atelier-Manse. Citizens pay their taxes by coming to her once a year and telling her their greatest stories, their deepest dreams, their wishes and hopes and desires. From these stories, units of gossamer are extracted, that Tai-Quin can spin into almost anything, ensuring the city is well supplied with all the goods it's populace needs to survive. Tai-Quin loves every part of this process -- she's fascinated by stories, and finds the process of creating a wonderful exercise in creativity. She has even begun constructing a Genesis lab and seeking an instructor in Magitech, eager to see what else she has the power to make. The faerie's see this arrangement as inefficient but not terribly objectionable, as it saves them the work of crafting -- but many of the mortals see it differently. The cities mortal population, particularly those from more primitive cultures, view Tai-Quin as a kind of benevolent goddess who gives great gifts to those who tell her interesting stories. They speak of her in such terms, invoke her name as good luck, and she's even developed a small cult. Tai-Quin has conflicted feelings about this, to say the least. She does not desire to be worshiped, and finds the sense of obligation and responsibility it inflicts to be more uncomfortable then anything. On the other hand, when she dreams of what she might be -- thinking of the great manse networks of the First Age and what power they wielded -- she has moments of gleeful anticipation of power, imagining herself in the role of the gods or the Most High.
Recently, as more new arrivals come into the city, there has been an upswing of violent crime. Although the city is still safe by Creation's standards, it means that more of the dreams, hopes, and fears Tai-Quin receives relate to such acts. She finds these dreams deeply disturbing -- although she did far worse as a Wyld Creature, she did so without malice, and the deep hate and cruelty a mortal can dream of unsettles her. As a result of her views and influence, the city has become far more harsh on violent criminals, and it is gradually becoming more socially acceptable to sell those found guilty to the Raksha. Even when an act is not nessicarily criminal, Tai-Quin may find it objectionable if the motivation is fundamentally malevolent, and many members of her cult have taken it upon themselves to act as a self-appointed vice squad. Tai-Quin does not like the direction this is taking things, and neither do many citizens, but the thought of the creatures that produced those dreams living inside her almost makes her physically ill, and she can rarely restrain the urge when such feelings come upon her.