RPGnet - User contributions [en]

Storm Panthers

2019-06-15T06:07:05Z

Hippokrene: /* Ozenfre */

A play-by-post RPG using a very light variant of Dungeons and Dragon's 4th edition.

==Player Characters==
* [[Storm Panthers: Finn|Finn]], a halfling rogue with the ability to speak with iron and herbs
* [[Storm Panthers: Nerilee|Nerilee]], a half-elven weather witch
* [[Storm Panthers:Suli|Suli]], primal vampire from the frigid North (played by Cannonball)
* [[Storm Panthers: Tarn|Tarn]], a human fighter who grew up within a mercenary band
* [[Storm Panthers:Vol|Vol]], a person of many faces who serves a distant master

====Bonds====
*'''Vol:''' Suli reminds me of dangerous things I cannot allow myself to forget.

==Ozenfre==
Ozenfre was the westernmost Coalition city and now it's the easternmost Renegade city. The country side around it has been stripped by the red army. The Lords of Ozenfre waited for reinforcements from other Coalition members, but it's getting into fall now and none have appeared. They decided to surrender instead of trying to make it through winter. Losing Ozenfre is a major blow to the Coalition both in that it's a major trade city and because the reds took it without a single battle.

*Rattown Wharfs - the lowest part of the city and closest to the inner sea. Subject to seasonal flooding.
*Potter's Rim and the Dyer's Guild, both near the water at the bottom right corner of the map. Jointly a front for the City's Thief's Guild, too poor, smelly, and muddy to rate a proper patrol by the Watch.
*Vrreechau Charter House somewhere near the sea, the river, and one of the roads that crosses the river.
*St. Michael's Bazaar - one of the big grey boxes in the north section of the city but south of the river.
*The Iron Quarter and the Hammerwall - The dwarven district and the smithing district respectfully. The hammerwall borders one edge of the Iron Quarter, with dwarven smiths plying their trade along their side of the wall and other races smithing on the other side.
*The Cobbler's Son - house of ill repute in one of the more questionable and crowded quarters of the city. Finn is frienemies with Vladimir Shevyn the owner, a human dandy and duelist. The place is named after the first person Vlad purportedly killed in a duel.
*The Job pole - A single giant tusk stick out of the ground in the city's main square. It is the place where the (mostly unskilled and desperate) laborers and taskmasters meet.

===National Factions===
*Loyalist - Traditional empire. Whites (Lilies)
*Renegade - Same empire but under new leader(s). Reds (Manticore)
*Coalition - A group of provinces who used the war to break off and form their own state. Greens (Hydra)

Ozenfre was green. It declared independence from the Empire along with other members of the coalition. It just surrendered to the Manticore's army.

===Map===
[[File:Ozefre.png]]
 After the great, magical Chimeran Catastrophe that created the Inner Sea of the eastern provinces

==Religious Organizations==
The Empire of of Vyntia is home to a wide range of religious groups. The existence of gods, demons, the outer planes, and an immortal spirit are acknowledged by all people. However, the nature of the divine, the relationship of mortal races with deities, and how best to live and serve the gods is greatly debated.

===The Temple of the Rose===
The largest and most powerful religious organization within the Empire. It is entwined with Vyntia's politics, culture, and social stability and has been for over a thousand years. Its priesthood claims to serve all the 'just and righteous gods,' but most only have ongoing worship for a handful, offering sacrifices or prayers to the others on mandatory holy days or when appropriate.

The Temple has both a militant branch, the Templars, who form small, private army, and its own investigative branch, the Seekers. Due to its position, it often overshadows local banns in power over communities. The Emperor often used it as a check against the noble houses.

Its members often take it upon themselves to hunt down demonologists, cultists, necromancers, and heretic priests.

Storm Panthers

2019-06-12T13:24:32Z

Hippokrene: /* Player Characters */

Storm Panthers

2019-06-06T10:08:32Z

Hippokrene: create

A play-by-post RPG using a very light variant of Dungeons and Dragon's 4th edition.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-30T06:29:40Z

Hippokrene: /* Organizations of Note */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady'' aka ''Budding Endeavor''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His first sight of land was a vision of such beauty that it called a Beauteous Wasp into the world, which would come to submit itself to him upon witnessing his Exaltation. He currently sails under Captain Stormhawk's banner for the pay, the excitement, and the chance to test his might against people like his abusers.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Glass Bells Ringing, Agata. (An entirely descriptive name; when asked to identify itself, the demon makes an uncanny sound to that effect.)

===Zahir===

[[Zahir|Zahir]]

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

==Retired Characters==

===Raltis Nightmoor===

We hardly knew you, err we lost you.

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==

===Criminal Cartels===

There are three major cartels operating in Ashrapur: the Vardha, The Brotherhood of the Mountain, and Tiger Sena.

The '''Vardha''' were once a noble family whose name and fortune was squandered away; they still have connections to nobility and dominate the opium trade. The Vardha claim entire villages in more remote areas of Ashrapur, forcing kidnapped slaves to tend massive opium fields or toil in dangerous mines.

'''Tiger Sena''' is part criminal organization and part religious cult. It was founded by a mysterious prophet long ago, and members are initiated further into the cult's inner circle as they gain 'stripes.' The Sena often own quasi-legal establishments like gambling and opium dens or brothels, and are known to retaliate with vicious and bloody violence when other gangs attempt to enter their territory.

'''The Brotherhood of the Mountain''' was formed by soldiers from Ashrapur's last large scale war. They're a band of mercenaries who are as willing to work for criminal organizations as they are honest merchants and legitimate governments. As most nations in Ashrapur cannot afford a professional, standing army, they've fought more wars in the in the last century than any other group on the island.

===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

====Great Halls====
The Outer Palace of Maukai is a city within the city made up of 36 great halls. '''The Hall of Astute Learning''' is the Maukai’s secondary school. It has a library. '''The Hall of Excellent and Efficacious Works''' and '''the Hall of Harmonious and Profitable Works''' are the civic center of Maukai – geological records, ownership papers, tax records, licenses, public offices, etc.

====35-37 East====
A prominent gambling den near the docks. It hosts frequent pit fights. It also has live music, a small bar, and several games going on at all times.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-29T01:00:57Z

Hippokrene: /* Great Halls */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady'' aka ''Budding Endeavor''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His first sight of land was a vision of such beauty that it called a Beauteous Wasp into the world, which would come to submit itself to him upon witnessing his Exaltation. He currently sails under Captain Stormhawk's banner for the pay, the excitement, and the chance to test his might against people like his abusers.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Glass Bells Ringing, Agata. (An entirely descriptive name; when asked to identify itself, the demon makes an uncanny sound to that effect.)

===Zahir===

[[Zahir|Zahir]]

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

==Retired Characters==

===Raltis Nightmoor===

We hardly knew you, err we lost you.

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

====Great Halls====
The Outer Palace of Maukai is a city within the city made up of 36 great halls. '''The Hall of Astute Learning''' is the Maukai’s secondary school. It has a library. '''The Hall of Excellent and Efficacious Works''' and '''the Hall of Harmonious and Profitable Works''' are the civic center of Maukai – geological records, ownership papers, tax records, licenses, public offices, etc.

====35-37 East====
A prominent gambling den near the docks. It hosts frequent pit fights. It also has live music, a small bar, and several games going on at all times.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-25T07:06:56Z

Hippokrene: /* Maukai */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady'' aka ''Budding Endeavor''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His first sight of land was a vision of such beauty that it called a Beauteous Wasp into the world, which would come to submit itself to him upon witnessing his Exaltation. He currently sails under Captain Stormhawk's banner for the pay, the excitement, and the chance to test his might against people like his abusers.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Glass Bells Ringing, Agata. (An entirely descriptive name; when asked to identify itself, the demon makes an uncanny sound to that effect.)

===Zahir===

[[Zahir|Zahir]]

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

==Retired Characters==

===Raltis Nightmoor===

We hardly knew you, err we lost you.

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

====Great Halls====
The Outer Palace of Maukai is a city within the city made up of 36 great halls. '''The Hall of Astute Learning''' is the Maukai’s secondary school. It has a library. '''The Hall of Excellent and Efficacious Works''' and '''the Hall of Harmonious and Profitable Works''' are the civic center of Maukai – geological records, ownership papers, tax records, licenses, public offices, etc.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-23T16:04:39Z

Hippokrene:

A collection of minor NPCs in [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit|From the Pinnacle to the Pit]]

'''Mashwa''' - A refugee from Savanshan. She and her family attempted to escape raiders by sailing to a nearby island and lying low for a week. Instead, their small fleet of rafts were caught in a sudden storm and swept off course, and then a nest of storm maidens attacked them. Of the thirty or so people who set out, only six survived.

'''Manin Teliborm''' - A distant relative of the king and in charge of the royal spy network. He’s almost never seen outside of the palace grounds.

'''Scalelord Vyrkos''' - The officer of a cavalry unit. He was supposed to guard Manin but failed to protect him when a crane dropped on his head. He's asked Zahir to investigate.

'''Cama and Kimmarow''' - Two young patricians, 14 and 16 respectively. Cama is of house Cynis and Kimmarow house Peleps. They met at school and have been fast friends much of their life. Their families decided they made a good match and arranged a marriage between them. Though the two are not attracted to one another, but are trying to make the best of their engagement.

'''Rising Sparrow''' - A crack archer, fine horsewoman, Air aspect, and cheerful soul. She was born in the North of Creation. One of the Realms 'Lost Eggs,' her family was merely a house of potters and when she Exalted at age 17, an Immaculate Monk took her from her home. She ended up in the Legion and has since distinguished herself as an excellent scout.

'''Glass Peccary''' - The doctor who treated Manin Teliborm and Kimmarow at the Mauikai outer palace. She's in her mid-forties and wears a simple robe with a green sash hanging from her right shoulder. Born in southern Ashrapur, she came to the palace about twenty years ago to study medicine and is well-known among its inhabitants.

'''Trāilkanin''' - The god of Maukai. He takes the form of a large, rotund man with the head of a black bear, dressed in heavy, gold etched robes with thick rings on all of his fingers. While Maukai grew, he encouraged it to turn into the trading center it is today, and reaped the benefits until the coming of the Dragon-Blooded and the Immaculate order. Since then, he has lost most of the power and influence he once held in the city.

'''Soaring Jet''' - A young recruit of the Tiger Sena. He lost his life and his head after throwing a punch at a Solar.

'''Mantaltila Vah''' - A bandit turned merchant who made it big selling goods from the Cinder Coast in Ashrapur. He used his considerable wealth to buy his way into the Vah family and maintains an extensive network of contacts among the merchant class. In his late 30s, his eye-sight began to rapidly degenerate and now he is virtually blind. His children have taken over his business but are struggling to maintain it.

'''Bronze Fisher''' - Raider turned dockhand

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-23T15:39:21Z

Hippokrene:

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-17T12:29:12Z

Hippokrene: /* Player Characters */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady'' aka ''Budding Endeavor''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His first sight of land was a vision of such beauty that it called a Beauteous Wasp into the world, which would come to submit itself to him upon witnessing his Exaltation. He currently sails under Captain Stormhawk's banner for the pay, the excitement, and the chance to test his might against people like his abusers.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Glass Bells Ringing, Agata. (An entirely descriptive name; when asked to identify itself, the demon makes an uncanny sound to that effect.)

===Zahir===

[[Zahir|Zahir]]

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

==Retired Characters==

===Raltis Nightmoor===

We hardly knew you, err we lost you.

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-12T08:07:19Z

Hippokrene:

A collection of minor NPCs in [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit|From the Pinnacle to the Pit]]

'''Mashwa''' - A refugee from Savanshan. She and her family attempted to escape raiders by sailing to a nearby island and lying low for a week. Instead, their small fleet of rafts were caught in a sudden storm and swept off course, and then a nest of storm maidens attacked them. Of the thirty or so people who set out, only six survived.

'''Manin Teliborm''' - A distant relative of the king and in charge of the royal spy network. He’s almost never seen outside of the palace grounds.

'''Scalelord Vyrkos''' - The officer of a cavalry unit. He was supposed to guard Manin but failed to protect him when a crane dropped on his head. He's asked Zahir to investigate.

'''Cama and Kimmarow''' - Two young patricians, 14 and 16 respectively. Cama is of house Cynis and Kimmarow house Peleps. They met at school and have been fast friends much of their life. Their families decided they made a good match and arranged a marriage between them. Though the two are not attracted to one another, but are trying to make the best of their engagement.

'''Rising Sparrow''' - A crack archer, fine horsewoman, Air aspect, and cheerful soul. She was born in the North of Creation. One of the Realms 'Lost Eggs,' her family was merely a house of potters and when she Exalted at age 17, an Immaculate Monk took her from her home. She ended up in the Legion and has since distinguished herself as an excellent scout.

'''Glass Peccary''' - The doctor who treated Manin Teliborm and Kimmarow at the Mauikai outer palace. She's in her mid-forties and wears a simple robe with a green sash hanging from her right shoulder. Born in southern Ashrapur, she came to the palace about twenty years ago to study medicine and is well-known among its inhabitants.

'''Trāilkanin''' - The god of Maukai. He takes the form of a large, rotund man with the head of a black bear, dressed in heavy, gold etched robes with thick rings on all of his fingers. While Maukai grew, he encouraged it to turn into the trading center it is today, and reaped the benefits until the coming of the Dragon-Blooded and the Immaculate order. Since then, he has lost most of the power and influence he once held in the city.

'''Soaring Jet''' - A young recruit of the Tiger Sena, he lost his life and his head, after throwing a punch at a Solar.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-10T07:04:05Z

Hippokrene: /* Opal Saltwell */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady'' aka ''Budding Endeavor''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

[[Zahir|Zahir]]

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

===Raltis Nightmoor===

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-09T05:58:30Z

Hippokrene:

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-09T03:43:19Z

Hippokrene:

Opal Saltwell

2016-10-08T05:20:34Z

Hippokrene:

== Basic Information ==
 '''Name:''' Opal Saltwell aka Captain Stormhawk
 '''Player:''' GaoGaiGar
 '''Concept:''' Corsair of liberation!

'''Caste:''' Zenith
 '''Supernal Skill:''' Presence
 '''Essence:''' 1

== Combat Details ==

'''Willpower:''' 8/8
 '''Personal Motes:''' 13/13
 '''Peripheral Motes:''' 27/39 (12 attuned)
 '''Health Levels''' (-0/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated)
 '''Stormblade:''' Accuracy 16 Damage 13 Overwhelming 3

 Soak: 3 + 5 = 8
 Parry 6
 Evasion 3 (2)
 Join Battle 6
 Disengage 5
 Rush 8
 Resolve 4
 Guile 3

== Attributes ==
 Strength 3
 Dexterity 5
 Stamina 3

 Charisma 5
 Manip. 1
 Appearance 3

 Perception 2
 Intelligence 2
 Wits 4

== Skills ==
'''Caste'''

 '''Presence''' 5 (Intimidation)
 '''War''' 3
 '''Performance''' 3
 '''Athletics''' 3
 '''Integrity''' 3

'''Favored'''

 '''Sail''' 5 (Pursuit)
 '''Melee''' 5 (swords)
 '''Resistance''' 1
 '''Socialize''' 3 (Unreadable)
 '''Awareness''' 2

'''Other'''

 '''Linguistics''' 1

== Merits ==
Languages (Seatongue – Flametongue native)
 Command (Crew of ''Freedom's Lady'') (2)
 Artifact: Stormblade - Orichalcum Waveclever Daiklave (3)
 Influence: Maikai (3)
 Resources (2)

== Charms ==
=== Melee ===
 Excellent Strike
 Fire and Stones Strike
 One Weapon, Two Blows
 Dipping Swallow Defense

=== Presence ===
 Harmonious Presence Meditation
 Tiger's Dread Symmetry
 Majestic Radiant Presence
 Authority-Radiating Stance
 Terrifying Apparition of Glory
 Blazing Glorious Icon

=== Resistance ===
 Ox-Body Technique

=== Sail ===
 Salty Dog Technique
 Immortal Mariner's Advantage
 Legendary Captain's Signature

=== War ===
 War God Descendant

=== Evocations ===
'''Lightning Strike'''
 '''Cost:''' 5m
 '''Type:''' Reflexive
 '''Mins:''' Essence 1
 '''Keywords:''' None
 Prerequisites: None

Essence lightning arcs along the Stormblade, empowering its strike with the speed and ferocity of striking lightning. The wielder may use this Evocation to take her action (Essence or 3, whichever is greater) ticks higher in the initiative order than her actual initiative would allow. If she uses her turn to make a decisive attack against an enemy who has not yet acted, the damage roll counts the bonus from this Evocation as actual Initiative and receives doubled 10s on its damage roll.

== Intimacies ==
'''Defining Principle:''' Slavery is an engine of misery that must be smashed to pieces.
 '''Major Tie:''' To her ship the Freedom's Lady & crew (Loyalty)
 '''Major Tie:''' Slavers & Raiders of all kinds (Hatred)
 '''Major Principle:''' The Sun granted me this power to defend those in need
 '''Minor Tie:''' Lost Love Li-Ting (Mourning)
 '''Minor Tie:''' The people of Ashrapur (Loyalty)

== Artifacts ==
'''Stormblade:'''
 Type: Light, Accuracy +5, Damage +10, Defense +0, Overwhelming 3, Attunement 5
 Tags: Lethal, Chopping, Melee

== Equipment ==
 Reinforced buff jacket
 Cog Freedom's Lady (as yacht)
 Two knives
 Several map cases.
 Bag of jade

==Background==

Opal Saltwell, the only daughter of a noble family of Maukai, one on the bottom of the top rung of society... never the closest to House Cynis's people or aims, perhaps that was why.

Opal was certainly not fond of them and had to practice a lot to hold her tongue, being direct and passionate by nature. She was far from a society maiden, sailing on the family's vessels to learn one of the ways they made money, overseeing their interests on trading voyages.

One such voyage brought her more than profit to the family... a lusty port affair soon became much more and she returned home with her lover, Li-Ting. Thoughts about noble marriages could wait, and she'd find a potential husband who would understand.

Someone else was less understanding... Vandar Cynis was an ambitious patrician whose family had sent him west before another relative took his head off. He had the classic beauty of a Dragon-Blooded and their raging passions, but none of their talent or common sense. He felt that he could impress his aunts by bringing the Saltwell family closer to their sphere of influence, and what woman could resist his charms?

Vandar arranged for Li-Ting to “vanish” into the hands of a slaver band, neatly paying off a debt he had to them and made his move on Opal at her townhouse, hinting that there was no longer anything coming between them now. He pressed himself on her over her verbal protests... She made a more forceful rejection after that, and once his hand was pinned to the table with a knife he confessed everything!

Opal ran for the docks... the ship he described was gone! She dashed onto one of her family's ships, rallied the crew and set out in pursuit! The longest week of her life later, they overtook the slave ship and she was the first one over the rail. The scuppers ran red with blood, not a single slaver survived. She cut her way into the hold, hundreds of slaves looking up at her... not one was her beloved Li-Ting. But in a way ALL of them were Li-Ting, all torn from family and lovers, made to suffer and die for greed. How could she turn her back on any of them?! Her heart was breaking as she declared “You are all free now... and someday, EVERY slave will be free.” The dark hold lit up with the light of the sun as the Zenith crest appeared on her forehead. “This power is to defend those in need” came a voice in her head, the voice of her father and favorite teacher and first captain, warm and understanding as the sun.

Adopting the alias “Captain Stormhawk,” Opal set out to become the scourge of slavers and raiders throughout the region, not just on Ashrapur... but the opium cartels there were a frequent target of her wrath. Her parents cover her extended absences as “spiritual retreats” and “trading voyages.” Captain Stormhawk is gaining her own influence on the island as a force for liberation and more direct action against the enemies of the state that can't be officially acted against, within and without... Few are able to make the connection between her two lives and those that do have no motivation to reveal it.

She has encountered others touched by the Sun in her voyages and they have banded together in a way that feels natural, as if they have done it before. One helped her discover an island that was shrouded in mist until their arrival. On the beach was a cairn marked with a golden sword, one that called to her across the ages, a mighty weapon from her past life.

Opal established a port there, a secret town to provide a home for those she has rescued who cannot go back to their old lives.

Opal is a lean young woman with deeply tan skin and deep blue hair, her eyes nearly as dark. As Captain Stormhawk, she wears a reinforced buff jacket and tall boots, her hair in a thick fighting braid. She maintains a frightful presence as the Captain, like a bared blade pointed at anyone who might do her harm. When ashore and acting as a Saltwell family member, she favors simple dresses or even pantaloons.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-07T12:56:37Z

Hippokrene:

Zahir

2016-10-07T12:05:43Z

Hippokrene: Created page with "=Character Sheet= ==Basics== Name: Zahir Player: Funkadelic Caste: Twilight Concept: Ex-vizier plotting revenge, and slowly becoming a decent human being. Anima: A coiled..."

=Character Sheet=

==Basics==
Name: Zahir

Player: Funkadelic

Caste: Twilight

Concept: Ex-vizier plotting revenge, and slowly becoming a decent human being.

Anima: A coiled cobra, hood unfurled.

==Attributes==

Strength 2 Dexterity 3 Stamina 2
Charisma 3 Manipulation 4 Appearance 2
Perception 4 Intelligence 4 Wits 3

==Abilities==

Awareness 3
Bureaucracy 2
Dodge 2
Integrity 4
Linguistic 2
Lore 5
Melee 3
Occult 5
Performance 3
Presence 4
Socialize 4

Specialties: Linguistics (Forgery), Performance (Song), Socialize (Interacting with Upper Classes), Lore (South West Cultures)

==Merits==
Contacts (Maukai Bureaucracy), Influence (Known Sorcerer), Language (Seatongue, Old Realm, High Realm, Dragontongue), The Burning Name, Suzerain of Endless Flame, Thaumaturgust (From Sorcery)

==Charms==
===Sorcery===
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery (Pact with Ifrit Lord, Control: Flight of the Brilliant Raptor)
Summon Elemental
Death of Obsidian Butterflies
Mist of Eventide
Demon of the First Circle

===Bureaucracy===
Deft Official’s Way
Measuring Glance

===Integrity===
Stubborn Boar Defense

===Investigation===
Watchman’s Infallible Eye

===Linguistics===
Whirling Brush Method
Flawless Brush Discipline

===Lore===
Harmonious Academic Methodology

===Performance===
Masterful Performance Exercise

===Presence===
Listener-Swaying Argument

===Socialize===
Mastery of Small Manners

Willpower 7
Essence 1

Limit Trigger: The Solar is insulted, belittled, frustrated by another character.
Limit Break: Rampaging Avarice

==Intimacies==
Defining: House Cynis (Revenge)

Major: Maukai Nobility (Arrogant Contempt)

Major: “Music Is the Strongest Form of Magic”

Major: Luxurious Living (Desire)

Minor: “Being a hero is the path to power”

==Combat Stats==

Weapon:
Staff (Acc +2, Dmg +9, Def +1, Ovw 1, Melee, Bashing, Reaching) 8 dice

Natural Soak 2B/1L
Final Soak 2B/1L

Parry 4 Evasion 3
Resolve 4 Guile 4

Join Battle 6

=Background=

Zahir spent most of his life traveling with his family of musicians. While he and his family were at the mercy of the road, bandits and the fickleness of those that could afford entertainment, Zahir grew envious of the lifestyles of the rich and powerful as he sang for them. He couldn't live in the back of a wagon, tasting dirt from the road, and never knowing if they would find another patron or starve in the winter. He wanted a life of wealth and opulence, soft beds and beautiful servants, and of power and stability.

All he knew was of the various peoples and places he had seen in his travels, but there were those that would pay for his wisdom and insight. He snuck away from his family, to offer his wisdom and advice to those that often dealt with people from afar: wealthy merchants and nobles. Through his sounds advice (and blackmail and lies) he became a vizir in Maukai. At the seat of power, he embezzled money, blackmailed people in power and twist a bureaucracy to serve his wishes, all to increase his influence and enrich himself.

Things went well until House Cynis decided he had become more trouble than he was worth. He barely managed to escape the palace alive, swearing vengeance and already planning what he would do next.

Unable to match the power of a dragonblooded Zahir went in search of a sorcerers mentor. Finally discovering an Ifrit, who at first was reluctant to grant such power to one as selfish as him. It was a great debate, but the in the end the Ifrit decided the world might be better off without a mortal as selfish as this. Only a timely Exaltion as Zahir stood to face the angry Ifrit stayed the beings hand. Seeing the blessing bestowed on Zahir, the Ifrit relented hoping that along his quest to destroy House Cynis Zahir might learn something about heroism.

Zahir now travels, helping those hurt by House Cynis foul trade and ignored by their of leaders. His heroism is cynical, but oddly he has found himself sleeping better after freeing some slaves or saving a village from a monster.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-07T12:02:07Z

Hippokrene: /* Zahir */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

[[Zahir|Zahir]]

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

===Raltis Nightmoor===

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

Pale Lotus

2016-10-07T12:00:27Z

Hippokrene: Created page with "==Attributes== Strength 1 Charisma 5 Intelligence 3 Dexterity 5 Manipulation 1 Wits 3 Stamina 1 Appearance 3 Perception 5 ==Attributes== *Melee 5 (Staves) *Awareness 5 *O..."

==Attributes==

Strength 1 Charisma 5 Intelligence 3

Dexterity 5 Manipulation 1 Wits 3

Stamina 1 Appearance 3 Perception 5

==Attributes==

*Melee 5 (Staves)
*Awareness 5
*Occult 5
*Athletics 5
**Integrity 5 (Persuasion)
*Presence 5
*Resistance 5
*Investigation 2 (Spiritual matters)
*Survival 3 (Tracking)
*Lore 1
Linguistics 1

*Favored/Caste
**Supernal

==Merits==

Language (Old Realm)

Language (Dragontongue)

Artifact 4 (Pillar of Conviction, wrackstaff)

Pain Tolerance

Boundless Endurance

==Charms==

Occult:
Spirit Detecting Glance
Uncanny Perception Technique
Spirit-Cutting Attack
Ghost Eating Technique
Phantom-Seizing Strike*

Awareness:
Sensory Acuity Prana
Surprise Anticipation Method

Athletics:
Graceful Crane Stance
Monkey Leap Technique
Soaring Crane Leap

Melee:
Dipping Swallow Defense
Bulwark Stance
Excellent Strike

Integrity (Supernal)

Enduring Mental Toughness
Spirit-Maintaining Maneuver

==Intimacies==

Life is for the living, death is for the dead (Defining)

It is good and noble to endure hardship for a greater cause. (Major)

Leaders should serve as examples worthy of emulation (Major)

One day, I will return to safeguard my village (Minor)

A life in bondage is barely life at all (Minor)

Limit Trigger: Seeing innocents suffer and being unable to help them (Heart of Flint)

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-07T11:57:38Z

Hippokrene: /* Pale Lotus Unfurling */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

[[Pale_Lotus|Pale Lotus Unfurling]]

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

===Raltis Nightmoor===

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

Tempest Hawk

2016-10-07T11:54:00Z

Hippokrene: created

'''Name: Tempest Hawk'''
Caste: Dawn

++Essence++

Personal: 13
Peripheral 33

Willpower: 5
Health: 10

++Attributes++

Strength 2 Charisma 2 Intelligence 2
Dexterity 5 Manipulation 2 Wits 3
Stamina 4 Appearance 5 Perception 2

++Abilities++

**Melee 5 (Swords)
*Awareness 5 (Ambushes)
*Dodge 2
*Survival 1
*Resistance 3
*Athletics 5
*Presence 5 (Intimidation)
*Integrity 5 (Persuasion)
*Ride 5
*Socialize 5
Linguistics 1

*Favored/Caste
**Supernal

++Charms++

Dipping Swallow Defense
Bulwark Stance
Fivefold Bulwark Stance
Heavenly Guardian Defense
Solar Counterattack
Ready In Eight Directions
Excellent Strike
Perfect Strike Discipline
Graceful Crane Stance
Harmonious Presence Meditation
Listener-swaying Argument
Lightning Speed
Sensory Acuity Prana
Surprise Anticipation Method
Keen Sight Technique

++Intimacies++

Defining Intimacy: I will hone my skills against all formidable challenges.
Major: Martial strength is the root from which all power grows.
Major: Any who refuse to fight, deserve nothing.
Minor: Loyalty should not be casually discarded.

Limit Trigger: The solar's allies suffer a setback or defeat due to a mistake he made.

++Merits++

Artifact 3 (Chain Shirt)
Artifact 4 (Soaring Ambition)
Retainer 2 (Agata)
Resources 2

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-10-07T11:53:23Z

Hippokrene: /* Tempest Hawk */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

[[Tempest Hawk|Tempest Hawk]]

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

===Raltis Nightmoor===

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-06T04:32:25Z

Hippokrene:

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-10-06T04:32:04Z

Hippokrene:

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T19:05:02Z

Hippokrene: /* Important NPCs */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

Sheet [[Opal Saltwell]]

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

===Raltis Nightmoor===

Sheet [[Raltis Nightmoor]]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Minor NPCs==
A handy list of NPCs the group has interacted with: [[From_The_Pinnacle_To_The_Pit:MinorNPCs| Minor NPCs]]

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit:MinorNPCs

2016-09-29T19:02:05Z

Hippokrene: created

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T07:21:02Z

Hippokrene: /* Player Characters */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Pale Lotus Unfurling===

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T07:19:48Z

Hippokrene: /* Zahir */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

'''Retainer''': Weeping Flame, summoned fire elemental

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T07:18:01Z

Hippokrene: /* Player Characters */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

'''Command:''' Crew of ''Freedom's Lady''.

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

===Zahir===

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T07:14:42Z

Hippokrene: /* Tempest Hawk */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

'''Retainer:''' Kai Mekal, Brother in Blood

'''Command:''' Tempest Hawk and Co. (Size 3 elite unit)

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T07:10:24Z

Hippokrene: /* Player Characters */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

===Opal Saltwell===

===Tempest Hawk===
Survivor of pirate raid, sold to the Guild, and later sold again. The last ship did not make it to its destination, and a young Hawk was left adrift on a chunk of debris. Washed ashore, the foreign child was taken as an ill-omen and largely avoided, though not outright attacked. His fierce spirit and will to survive did catch the eye of Saikal, War God of the West, who sent a challenger to meet him when the boy came of age. The duel with the godblood Kai Mekal lasted three days. Tempest Hawk exalted on the fourth, when he claimed both victory and a loyal ally.

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-29T07:02:08Z

Hippokrene: /* Player Characters */

''“Thou at the sight / Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, / While by thee raised I ruin all my foes, / Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave.”''

Strange days have come to Creation, and even its most distant corners feel a change sweep over them. Ashrapur sit in the southwestern seas, a verdant and gleaming gem for those who would pick it. On this lonely island, servants sharpen knives to cut their master's throats; war-drums echo though the jungle; great rulers turn to madness; and deep beneath the earth, a long-dreaming beast stirs and opens one horrible eye.

Within this tempest stands sun-crowned warriors, reborn from forgotten myths, to carve new legends for themselves, and change the face of Ashrapur -- if they survive.

''From the Pinnacle to the Pit'' is an Exalted 3rd Edition Solar game by hippokrene for the RPG.net forums.

==Player Characters==

===Legbreaker Ashra===

'''Leg-Breaker Ashra'''. She was once an enforcer and bounty-hunter for the smuggling syndicates that sneak opium, dyes, and jade past House Cynis/work for factions in House Cynis (it always shifts, of course, depending on whose bribes are paid up and who's betraying who today). Ashra, however, would never betray a contract, and would always extract the money her employers were owed or bring them their wayward people. Her employers, however, were not so honorable, and her last job was actually a setup, a trap set by a humiliated cartel underboss who she'd been sent to rein in before. The teahouse encounter was meant to be a simple execution - but when the bamboo walls came tumbling down, only she rose from the rubble, glowing like the sun.

Ashra was raised to more civilized ideals, the daughter of a Dynast naval officer and a local mother. When she was still young, however, her father's family received an offer of marriage to a Peleps Dragon-Blood, and she and her mother were left with nothing as her father moved on to the much more lucrative opportunity. On the streets of Maukai, the other children looked down on her for her 'high-born' heritage and the airs she still tried to put on, teasing escalated to bullying, and eventually Ashra had to learn to be the more vicious fighter or die - which eventually flowed into selling her fists to the highest bidder.

After assessing her life in the wake of Exalting, she's realized that the whole world is turned upside down, that the weak are cowed when they should be protected, and those in power have no honor.

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B78O1afv6CpJz_AJFiw1xyD6QjuKaeGGchrQuhp4l1c/edit?usp=sharing Legbreaker Ashra]

==Important NPCs==

===Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro===

The two sisters of Maukai, they came to power over a century ago when the southern region, led by Naranja, attempted to conquer the Maukai. Faced with enemies on two fronts, the current Kai decided being a Realm tributary was preferable to losing his crown (and his head) to Naranja's invading forces.

Nasito is a canny sorcerer and diplomat, but these days she spends most of her time indulging her vices. Caiyatro is a hard-nosed soldier known for her brutality. The two are lovers, though Caiyatro has married into one of Maukai's noble houses.

Ashrapur's distance from the Blessed Isle has given the two considerable independence, which they like, but also means they cannot readily count on support should they need it. As such, they maintain the polite fiction that they are not in charge of the city and try not to ruffle the feathers of the locals. Lately, House Cynis has begun to demand more tribute from the island due to the ongoing civil strife in the Realm, but has also lessened the number of troops available to the sisters. This has put them in a peculiar bind. One they haven't yet found an answer for.

====Cynis Ashara Vah====

Ashara is one of Caiyatro's exalted daughters. Born to Maukain nobility, she serves as the city's warden and spends much of her time protecting merchants and travelers from banditry on the seas. As Maukai is a city built on trade, she's well-regarded among the citizenry.

A serious-minded woman, Ashara has inherited her mother's dislike of politics, and shows little interest in bribes or in appealing to the cartels. This has led to attempts on her life, which the water aspect has easily survived.

===The Dancing Demon Leopard===
Little is known about the Anathema that haunts the jungles of the central wilds, but rumors abound. The creature can turn into mist, the creature caused all the inhabitants of a village to vanish, the creature steals children and sacrifices them for magical powers. Men found mauled in the jungle are said to have been killed by the Dancing Leopard. Women who become pregnant though still virgins say that the Leopard must have crept in their home at night.

Though much of what is attributed to the Dancing Leopard is fanciful, it has committed numerous, grisly killings, and attacked hunting bands and scouting parties that ventured too close to its territory. What reasons, if any, it has for its actions remain a mystery.

=== Kai Tavisharwa Nah===
Tavisharwa was only eleven when he ascended to the Floating Thone of Naranja two years ago. While his mother holds no official title or position, she still exercises a great deal of political power, and is generally accepted as true ruler of Naranja.

Due to Tavisharwa's age, his ascension and continued rule is an uncertain one. The atmosphere at the palace is one of mild but constant paranoia that one of the Kai's Sajils might attempt to seize the throne for themselves. Tavisharwa seems to be an intelligent and considerate child, but has become superstitious. He has lately invited a number of soothsayers, alchemists, and other wise men to the palace.

===Kai Vashistic Om===
Vashistic Om was once the pride of Maukai. A handsome and outgoing prince, he charmed visitors to the palace and his exploits on the battlefield earned him renown with the common folk. This changed however, after a chariot race accident shattered his right leg and hip. Though Vashistic's body eventually mended, he became addicted to the powerful painkillers he took during the months of his recovery.

Over the years, he became more temperamental, beset with bouts of melancholy or irrational anger. When his mother died and he ascended to Kai at the age of 27, Vashistic quickly withdrew from public life, preferring to spend his days in the palace's ornate pleasure dome.

Vashistic Om is now nearing 50. He spends his days in an opium filled haze, oblivious to the world outside the palace walls and engaging in listless, fleeting pleasures. Maukai's nobility and Cynis patricians are happy to rule in his place, though a few of the older ones feel pity for the proud prince they once knew.

==Organizations of Note==
===The Sons of the Saki===

Numerous tribes have been conquered, enslaved, and assimilated in Ashrapur storied history. The ancestors of the Sons once dwelled in the fertile river basin now occupied by Naranja but were displaced to the rocky southern shores. There they encountered a great animal spirit who offered them protection in exchange for their veneration.

Now the Sons of Saki launch frequent sea raids against their neighbors. Only a few hundred strong, they’re wise enough to avoid the great barges of the Dragon-Blooded, the Guild, and the Lords of Ashrapur, but instead target small towns and villages along the coast.

==Ashrapur and its Environs==

===Khilate Hai===
One of Ashapur’s southwestern ports. Its bay provides sanctuary from the storms known to lash the western coast. The people are friendly but highly traditional and not fond of foreign customs or habits. The surrounding land is hosts no jade or beetles for dyes, but does produce an abundances of sweet potatoes, corn, and wine.

===Lok Damin===
The human inhabitants of Ashapur shun the Shadowlands, but not all who dwell on the island are completely human. Lok Damin plays host to an ancient race. These insectile people may be humans twisted long ago by the wyld, the experiments of a First Age sorcerer, or perhaps creations of the enemies of the gods. Most fear and avoid them, but some scholars visit Lok Damin to study in ancient, well-preserved libraries or speak with learned ghosts in the grave-hives.

===Maukai===
The second largest of Ashrapur's cities, Maukai is a bustling port city with a population of over twelve-thousand. Its people are some of the most diverse in the region with a wide-range of ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures on display.

Over a century ago, Maukai pledged itself to the Realm. It retained its rulers and laws, but the Immaculate Order became the state religion, its military was drastically curtailed, and it now pays tribute to the Realm in the form of silver and black jade.

It's allied with the cities of Anica and Tulkai, and their combined influence over the surrounding region forms Ashrapur's northern power bloc.

Maukai's current Kai is Vashistic Om.

===Naranja===
Naranja, the Floating City, sits in the Ashrapur's great basin and is the largest city on the island. It is the crossroads of the island's trade and controls some of the richest jade and iron mines. The city predates the Great Contagion and benefits from a number of artifacts and workings found nowhere else on the island.

It's allied with the cities of Matahja, Lotco, and Annik, forming the central power bloc. Its attempt to conquer the northern lands over a century ago caused Maukai to cede to the Realm, and it remains hostile to Cynis influence.

Naranja's current Kai Tavisharwa Nah, who is currently 12. The Nah line descends from the goddess Lahis, She of Ten Thousand Rivers, and the city has enjoyed her patronage since they ascended to power.

===Neighboring Islands===
Ashapur is one of several islands stretching from the Cinder Coast to the Caul. Here are a few in close proximity.

====Neya====
A hot and sandy island to the southeast of Ashrapur. Sparse vegetation means the natives are dependent on fishing and trade for food. Previously, Neya was viewed as little more than a stepping stone from the mainland to Ashrapur, but the recent discovery of firedust deposits has seen an increase of interest in the island.

====Saaya====
A small island located to the north of Ashrapur, hosting only a single port town. Rumors abound that the island is cursed or home to terrible monsters as all other settlements meet with calamity or, in one case, simply disappear.

==References==
'''Champa''' - A division of land tended by, typically, an extended kinship group. Champas are often farmlands that pay tribute to a sajil.

'''Kai''' - Typically the highest ranking lord in an area. Analogous to king.

'''Sajils''' - The Lords of Ashrapur. Sajil is a loose term, it may refer to anyone from the chief of a village of fifty to a wealthy noble ruling over a hundred champas to one of the heads the cartels.

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T12:46:06Z

Hippokrene: /* Ashrapur and its Environs */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T12:38:28Z

Hippokrene: /* Cynis Ashara Vah */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T12:37:24Z

Hippokrene: /* Cynis Ashara Vah */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T12:36:26Z

Hippokrene: /* Cynis Najalin Nasito and Cynis Najalin Caiyatro */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T11:05:39Z

Hippokrene: /* Important NPCs */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T10:38:48Z

Hippokrene: /* The Dancing Demon Leopard */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T10:34:34Z

Hippokrene: /* Kai Vashistic Om */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T10:32:12Z

Hippokrene: /* Important NPCs */ added three

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T01:15:06Z

Hippokrene: /* Organizations of Note */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T00:21:43Z

Hippokrene: added references

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T00:07:34Z

Hippokrene: /* Ashrapur and its Environs */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-27T00:06:26Z

Hippokrene: /* Ashrapur and its Environs */

From The Pinnacle To The Pit

2016-09-26T23:10:25Z

Hippokrene: created

Break On Through

2015-05-31T07:48:19Z

Hippokrene: /* The Tower */ added

This being the great and glorious wiki for '''Break On Through (To the Otherside)''', a game created in the year two-thousand fifteen of our Lord by hippokrene. Within it, noble heroes do battle with the forces of corruption, cruelty, ambition, and madness for the spirit of the world.

==Personas==

Debbie Bartell, tiefling sorcerer, played by Unka Josh 
Harisa Čorbadžić, human ranger, played by Alice Sara 
Matthias Drachwald, tiefling rogue/warlock, played by Xhaosdaemon 
Kelly Franks, human paladin, played by squidheadjax 
<s>Audrey Luthier, half-elven bard, played by Stormraven</s> - Taken into federal custody. 
Michael Mohan, human cleric, played by rbingham2000 
<s>Tobias Stone, human warlock, played by Caias Ward</s> - Taken into federal custody. 
Robert Stroud, dwarven fighter, played by Bira 

==History==

===The Devil===
After visiting a friend in hospital, '''Robert Stroud''' heads to Blueberry Hill restaurant and finds a partially eaten body by the dumpster. He contacts police but returns later that evening, investigating the area for signs of Otherworlder activity. Two officers notice his van and begin to search the abandoned buildings in the Blueberry Hill lot, only to come face to face with a shadowy horror.

Robert pries a steel bar lose with his bare hands and pummels the monster, killing it. He's sent home and the body is taken to the FBI's special lab in Las Vegas to be examined. It seems this creature has struck before.

Special agent Amanda Mulgin is handling the investigation, and contacts Robert to set up a meeting.

===The Pope===
'''Debie Bartell''', '''Michael Mohan''', and '''Kelly Franks''' are on the trial of a cult of Gruumsh and end up in an abandoned Las Vegas strip club. Within it, they find a portal to the Otherworld and a rave. They manage to throw off the powerful trance of the music, but Michael sees a powerful vision of a priest with bloody hands. He flares with burning righteousness and alerts the guards to the groups presence.

After a brief altercation with the bouncers, one of them whispers a code-word, "Havoc" into his microphone. As the guards flee, the dancers begin to scream and fall down. Soon small creatures burst from some of them. Micheal and Kelly tend to the dying dancers while Debbie discovers the source of the unholy power - the DJ's music - and takes her out.

Authorities are alerted and Micheal makes sure the dancers make it to ambulances outside.

The trio investigate the 'warehouse' the rave was in and discover it's a temple with shrines to several gods within. Under the dance floor, they come across an angel whose wings/harmonies have been taken. She tells them of the priest who performed the ritual: a orc with one smoking eye.

They untie her and decide to bring her to the real world.

===The Tower===
While merrily minding her own business, Harisa Čorbadžić was sucked into a disaster she does not yet recognize, but will hopefully live long enough to see bloom. The ranger followed two gnolls until she spotted dark smoke in the distance. At is source she found a small, burned out military base with a single, wounded soldier outside it.

Upon a nearby rocky outcropping sunbathed flying, reptilian beast about the size of an elephant.

Harisa snuck to the soldier, healing him, and inquiring as to events. He led her to the middle of the base and then downwards into a secure facility that has suffered a horrific outbreak of biological specimens. After fighting off a small but ravenous group of lurkers, they encountered survivors making fort in the communication center.

Not all was as it seemed though. The scientist who treated Harisa told her that there was something terribly wrong, another Otherlander had been murdered, and the soldiers were coordinating with the main base as they said. Harisa decided to take matters into her own hands and persuaded the captain to let her, the wounded solider, and a few scientists free.

Returning to the topside, Harisa now has the task of getting a group of non-Otherworlders to their base. But first, how to get by that dragon?

Break On Through

2015-05-31T07:31:20Z

Hippokrene: created

Alexus

2014-10-09T20:59:47Z

Hippokrene: created

'''Alexus Nerios''' AKA Deed AKA the Sovereign’s Shadow.

==Attributes==

*Str 9 (+0)
*Int 8 (-1)
*Wis 12 (+0)
*Con 15 (+1)
*Dex 16 (+2)
*Cha 13 (+1)

'''HP''' (6+Con) = 21 
'''Dmg''' = d8 
'''Race:''' Human - You are a professional. When you spout lore or discern realities about criminal activities, take +1. 
'''Alignment:''' Neutral – Avoid detection or infiltrate a location.

==Abilities and Equipment==

===Moves===
'''Trap Expert''' 
When you spend a moment to survey a dangerous area, roll+DEX. ✴On a 10+, hold 3. ✴On a 7–9, hold 1. Spend your hold as you walk through the area to ask these questions: 
• Is there a trap here and if so, what activates it? 
• What does the trap do when activated? 
• What else is hidden here? 

'''Tricks of the Trade''' 
When you pick locks or pockets or disable traps, roll+DEX. ✴On a 10+, you do it, no problem. ✴On a 7–9, you still do it, but the GM will offer you two options between suspicion, danger, or cost. 

'''Backstab''' 
When you attack a surprised or defenseless enemy with a melee weapon, you can choose to deal your damage or roll+DEX. ✴On a 10+ choose two. ✴On a 7–9 choose one. 
• You don’t get into melee with them 
• You deal your damage+1d6 
• You create an advantage, +1 forward to you or an ally acting on it 
• Reduce their armor by 1 until they repair it 

'''Flexible Morals'''
When someone tries to detect your alignment you can tell them any alignment you like.

'''Poisoner'''
You’ve mastered the care and use of a poison. Choose a poison from the list below; that poison is no longer dangerous for you to use. You also start with three uses of the poison you choose. Whenever you have time to gather materials and a safe place to brew you can make three uses of the poison you choose for free. Note that some poisons are applied, meaning you have to carefully apply it to the target or something they eat or drink. Touch poisons just need to touch the target, they can even be used on the blade of a weapon. 
• Oil of Tagit (applied): The target falls into a light sleep 
• Bloodweed (touch): The target deals -1d4 damage ongoing until cured 
• Goldenroot (applied): The target treats the next creature they see as a trusted ally, until proved otherwise 
• Serpent’s Tears (touch): Anyone dealing damage to the target rolls twice and takes the better result. 

''“No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.”'' —Vlad Taltos, “Jhereg”

===Gear===
Load – 18 
10 Coins 
Dungeon Rations (3 uses, 1 weight) 
Leather Armor (1 armor, 1 weight) 
Goldenroot (2 Uses) 
Dagger (hand, 1 weight) 
Short Sword (close, 1 weight) 
Throwing Daggers (Thrown, Near, 0 Wt) – 2 Count 
Adventurers Gear (1 Wt) 

==Looks==
Alexus cleans up nicely enough, at home in the crowd of wealthy statesmen of Kalogis or Lords and Ladies of Arcadia, the richest of Halkuon. So comfortable in fact that few of the pretentious fools would guess that Alexus would be just at home in the back alleys or gambling pits of the seediest parts of the cities or that he was once Deed, a simple name given to him by a mother of the streets after the act of him being conceived more than anything and that he spends his time working for the highest of royalty as the Sovereign’s Shadow.

Alexus generally wears black leather gloves, stylized- to hide the scars on his right hand earned during is misspent youth in shadier climes.

Alexus wears finery but his lithe body gives him a bit too much of the lean, practiced appearance sometimes making him out of place among softer nobles. His tendency to always sit with his back to a wall and watching a window or door also might seem strange in mixed company and he practices at controlling such habits.

The Shadow has been called on to investigate this land returned to fertility, measure its dangers, and most importantly decide what other lands are a threat to those he is an agent to. Of course, if he can make more profit selling the information to another rulership than that which hired him then all the better.

==Other==
Bond: 
Need infos

Current XP: 
Need infos

[[Category: The_Mysteries]] [[Category: Player_Character]]

Nikomedes

2014-10-09T20:42:55Z

Hippokrene: created

When he came of age, '''Nikomedes''' joined the army of Kalogis, just as his three older siblings had before him and his two younger would after him. Unlike them, however, Nik's talents ran toward magical rather than physical prowess. He found his mystical training dull, but got through it on pure natural talent. Afterwards, he found himself in a dormant army during peacetime, only able to dream of adventure and glory. Instead of continuing his training he secured the permission, if not exactly the blessings, of his superiors to go to Minatos to seek fame and excitement.

Looks: Sharp eyes, styled hair, stylish robes, thin body.

==Attributes==
*Strength: 13 (+1)
*Dexterity: 15 (+1)
*Constitution: 12 (+0)
*Intelligence: 16 (+2)
*Wisdom: 8 (-1)
*Charisma: 9 (+0)

'''HP:''' 16 
'''Base damage:''' 1d4 

'''Race:''' Human - Choose one cleric spell. You can cast it as if it was a wizard spell. Spell chosen: Cure light wounds. 
'''Alignment:''' Neutral - Discover something about a magical mystery.

==Abilities and Equipment==

'''Moves:''' 
Spellbook :: Telepathy, Invisiblity, Magic Missile 
Prepare Spells 
Cast a Spell 
Spell Defense 
Ritual 

'''Gear:'''
Spell book (1 weight) 
dungeon rations (5 uses, 1 weight) 
Leather armor (1 armor, 1 weight) 
Dagger (hand, 1 weight) 
Healing potion (0 weight) 
Rope (1 weight) 
Spyglass 

==Other==

'''Bonds:''' 
Info needed 

'''Current XP:''' 
Info needed 

[[Category: The_Mysteries]] [[Category: Player_Characters]]

Mint

2014-10-09T15:16:23Z

Hippokrene: /* Abilities and Equipment */

'''Mint''', a druid from Halkuon who has joined the group in order to explore the world and all its tasty foods.

Looks: Wild eyes, braided hair, weathered hides.

==Attributes==

*Wisdom: 16 (+2)
*Strength: 16 (+2)
*Dexterity: 13 (+1)
*Constitution: 12 (+0)
*Intellect: 9 (-1)
*Charisma: 8 (-1)

'''HP:''' 18 
'''Base damage:''' 1d6

'''Race:''' Elf - The Great Forest is always considered your land. 
'''Alignment:''' Good - Help something or someone grow.

==Abilities and Equipment==

'''Moves:''' 
Born of the Soul – River Delta 
By Nature Sustained – Does not need food or drink 
Spirit Tongue 
Shapeshifting 
Studied Essence 
Balance - When you deal damage, gain 1 balance. Spend a balance to heal 1d4 damage.

'''Tell/Token:''' A flower that sprouts from the top of her head. It changes color based on her mood.

'''Gear:''' (Load 3/7) 
Hide armor (1 armor, 1 wt) 
Spear (close, thrown, near, 1wt) 
Adventuring gear (1 wt) 
Harpy egg

'''Bonds:''' 

[[Alexandra]] is too stiff. She needs to loosen up and enjoy a good meal, not keep talking about this god thing that Mint has never tasted or smelled. Mint will find something that Alexandra likes to eat.

[[Alexus]] always seems like he is talking to someone. Does he have an Opalescent Lily to talk to as well? Mint wants to find out who Alexus is talking to.

[[Myrrine]] spends an awful lot of time using a feather to scratch little things like papers. Mint wonders what the scratching is useful for.

'''Current XP:''' 
12

==History==
Mint can't remember much about her childhood. Her earliest memory is awakening to a herd of hippos demolishing a riverboat that she had presumably been a passenger on. For some strange reason, however, when it came time to eat her, the mighty river beasts relented and instead took her in. She grew up wild, free, and hungry with the river horses, eternally seeking her next meal. One day, she came across a strange looking thing - a small, glowing plant pod. Thinking nothing of it, she ate it like she tried to do with everything.

The next morning, she felt strange - her mind had expanded, and she felt an odd growth atop her head. She found herself able to speak in a more delicate tongue than her traditional grunts and groans. She sought out the strange two-legged creatures that were occasionally tasty, and learned that it was a rare bloom known as the Opalescent Lily, a plant unique to her specific region that would bloom only once every hundred years. The seed pod she had eaten awakened the latent spiritual energies that flowed through her, and she found the ability to take on the shape of not only her hungry hungry parents, but of all sorts of creatures. In addition, the lily speaks to her.

At some point, Mint met [[Alexandra]] and attempted to eat her. They fought for a bit, before the lily managed to convince Mint that the Paladin may be worth eating *with*, rather than simply eating. That, and her armor was too difficult to chew through.

With the expansion of her mind and opening of her heart thanks to the lily, Mint was awakened to a new quest and purpose for her life - to go forth and eat the most delicious things the world had to offer.

[[Category: The_Mysteries]] [[Category: Player_Character]]

Mint

2014-10-09T13:02:46Z

Hippokrene: /* History */

'''Mint''', a druid from Halkuon who has joined the group in order to explore the world and all its tasty foods.

Looks: Wild eyes, braided hair, weathered hides.

==Attributes==

*Wisdom: 16 (+2)
*Strength: 16 (+2)
*Dexterity: 13 (+1)
*Constitution: 12 (+0)
*Intellect: 9 (-1)
*Charisma: 8 (-1)

'''HP:''' 18 
'''Base damage:''' 1d6

'''Race:''' Elf - The Great Forest is always considered your land. 
'''Alignment:''' Good - Help something or someone grow.

==Abilities and Equipment==

'''Moves:''' 
Born of the Soul – River Delta 
By Nature Sustained – Does not need food or drink 
Spirit Tongue 
Shapeshifting 
Studied Essence 
Balance - When you deal damage, heal 1d4 damage to an ally.

'''Tell/Token:''' A flower that sprouts from the top of her head. It changes color based on her mood.

'''Gear:''' (Load 3/7) 
Hide armor (1 armor, 1 wt) 
Spear (close, thrown, near, 1wt) 
Adventuring gear (1 wt) 
Harpy egg

'''Bonds:''' 

[[Alexandra]] is too stiff. She needs to loosen up and enjoy a good meal, not keep talking about this god thing that Mint has never tasted or smelled. Mint will find something that Alexandra likes to eat.

[[Alexus]] always seems like he is talking to someone. Does he have an Opalescent Lily to talk to as well? Mint wants to find out who Alexus is talking to.

[[Myrrine]] spends an awful lot of time using a feather to scratch little things like papers. Mint wonders what the scratching is useful for.

'''Current XP:''' 
12

==History==
Mint can't remember much about her childhood. Her earliest memory is awakening to a herd of hippos demolishing a riverboat that she had presumably been a passenger on. For some strange reason, however, when it came time to eat her, the mighty river beasts relented and instead took her in. She grew up wild, free, and hungry with the river horses, eternally seeking her next meal. One day, she came across a strange looking thing - a small, glowing plant pod. Thinking nothing of it, she ate it like she tried to do with everything.

The next morning, she felt strange - her mind had expanded, and she felt an odd growth atop her head. She found herself able to speak in a more delicate tongue than her traditional grunts and groans. She sought out the strange two-legged creatures that were occasionally tasty, and learned that it was a rare bloom known as the Opalescent Lily, a plant unique to her specific region that would bloom only once every hundred years. The seed pod she had eaten awakened the latent spiritual energies that flowed through her, and she found the ability to take on the shape of not only her hungry hungry parents, but of all sorts of creatures. In addition, the lily speaks to her.

At some point, Mint met [[Alexandra]] and attempted to eat her. They fought for a bit, before the lily managed to convince Mint that the Paladin may be worth eating *with*, rather than simply eating. That, and her armor was too difficult to chew through.

With the expansion of her mind and opening of her heart thanks to the lily, Mint was awakened to a new quest and purpose for her life - to go forth and eat the most delicious things the world had to offer.

[[Category: The_Mysteries]] [[Category: Player_Character]]