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Aeas, the Lady of the White, was widely regarded throughout Creation as one of the most enlightened and potent ladies among the Solar Exalted. Born to the peasantry of the Five Mountains District, she was Exalted during a breakthrough by several Fair Folk marauders following a thirteen month long drought that devastated trade in the Deep South. The legend of her holding off eight Cataphratoi with nothing but a grain hook was particularly popular among the peasants of the South, even finding its way into the Immaculate Texts with Sextes Jylis taking the place of the Solar Heroine in their version of the tale. The newly exalted Bronze Tiger was quickly taken away to the Blessed Isle to be trained and schooled in the city of Meru -- but she vowed that she would one day return to the land of her birth.
Over five centuries later, it was a promise that she fulfilled. The Lady of the White ruled over the Five Mountains district for some three thousand years, up until the time of the Usurpation. The history of her rule is a divided one, fill with numerous periods of protracted prosperity and also prolonged periods of strife, war, and suffering. Of particular note are the events leading to the Fall of Dala Varia, the Kinslayer War, and the Breaking of Hanusha. While never as corrupt as some of her compatriots became, Aeas was deeply affected by the chaos at the end of the Solar Deliberative and often swung into deep depressions that rendered her useless for weeks. This left her territory somewhat vulnerable to exploitation by other Solars, and even to events such as the catastrophe at Hanusha.
Notable Events
Notable Contacts
Guidelines and Magic
Aeas lived over a period of 3,700 years and was a Essence 8 Dawn Caste during the last years of her life prior to the Usurpation. A potent warrior, Aeas is perhaps best known for her mastery of some eleven different styles of Martial Arts. These included Snake, Tiger, and Mantis Style as well as several styles of her own devising. These included such styles as Ebon Wind Style (a brutal all-consuming attack style), Crane Style (a style built to aid in the invocation of Sorcery), and the Fivefold Battle Maiden Style (a highly specialized style focused on her favored combat style). She was also quite proficient in both Archery and Melee, where she had numerous charms aimed at enhancing the shifting-combat style favored by her Orichalcum Scepter, Calaran.
Aeas' favored abilities were Endurance, Presence, Craft, Occult, and Awareness. She was a master of Solar Circle Sorcery, with mastery of numerous spells, mostly with martial input. She had depth in both her Craft and Awareness charms, having several Essence 8 charms in both trees. She was particularly known for her "Volcanic" Craft-charms (that focused on using a volcano in place of a forge to great effect), and in her especially potent Awareness charms. It was widely rumored that she could, with a glance, spot anyone throughout the entire South. Aeas mastery of Endurance and Presence charms was not as complete, but she was none the less almost indestructable and spoke with a raw elemental fury that was impossible to deny.
Aeas also dabbled extensively in Survival, Medicine, Athletics, and Bureaucracy charms. She was known to be able to travel across Creation quickly and without supplies, to heal injuries left by the Fair Folk following breakthroughs, to be able to leap from mountain to mountain when travelling across her lands, and for her efficient and reactive bureaucracy. Especially toward the end of her reign, Aeas focused heavily on Bureacracy charms, trying to build a government that could run with as little influence from her as possible.
Aeas' Limit Break was "Heart of Tears".
Roleplaying Notes
Young Aeas (Exaltation to about 500 years)
Compassion 4, Conviction 3, Temperance 2, Valor 3.
Aeas prior to her assumption of Rule over the Five Montain district was heavily influenced by two main factors that made her who she was. The first was her early life as a peasant and farmer in the South, which gave her a keen insight into the plight of the common people of the Realm and a desire to do right by them. The second was her early training in Meru and the first few adventures that she embarked upon with her Circle. This taught Aeas the importance of her role as Solar and hardened her somewhat to making important decisions.
Aeas was largely unaffected by the Great Curse for most of this period, except for the occasional short-lived stretch of deep compassion that left her somewhat overbalanced.
Default Aeas (500 years to 2000 years)
Compassion 5, Conviction 4, Temperance 3, Valor 4
In many ways, Aeas matured over the course of her Rule over the Five Mountain district. She understood that she couldn't always focus on the small individual problems facing every individual person under her care, and learned some of the importance of "making decisions from on high" and "delegation to ones aides/servants". Aeas also truly began to dabble with Sorcery at this point, mastering the Celestial and Solar Circles, and this gave her an even greater sense of command, responcibility, and knowledge. While toward the beginning of her reign, she often spent time out among her people, she gradually retired more and more and began to take a more distant yet benevolent role as leader of her community.
The very end of this period saw the first faint manifestation of the Great Curse. There were several occasions when Aeas found herself able to do little more than cry, particularly during times of great crisis or when her people were suffering. She suspected, for most of this time period, that this was simply the responcibilities and worries of her position getting to her and distanced herself a little more than day-to-day interaction with others.
Old Aeas (2000 years to Death)
Compassion 5, Conviction 5, Temperance 4, Valor 5
The late-age Aeas was, perhaps, one of the most functional Solars during the time period of the Great Contagion. Slowly pushed away from all contact with the people she ruled over, she isolated herself totally from her people, dwelling within her Fortress-Manse of Dala Thule, within the heart of the Five Mountains district. A veritable paradise, only the most beautiful and wondrous things were allowed within Dala Thule and those servants and mortals that lived there were pampered and isolated to a great degree. All suffering and woe was kept from Aeas, and she tried her best to rule over the Five Mountains district while having as little contact as possible with the various hardships that her people faced. Now and again, Aeas would ride out from her Fortress and experience some of the suffering of her people. This inevitably drove her back to Dala Thule, where she would cry for the sufferings of her people for weeks at a time.
In the last years of her life, however, Aeas could be sent into a days-long period of self-pity upon witnessing quarrels between some of her servants or whenever her majo domo grew antsy at her for her isolation and the increased difficulties of his position. Finally convinced that there was something wrong, the old Solar began her first forays into investigation of the Curse. The Usurpation came far before she was able to discover anything, however, and she never even fually convinced herself that her emotional vulnerability was unnatural.
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