The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session VLIII – Testing Theories

Sadly, back in Yu-Shan – and despite Charles’s semi-automatic attempts to evade notice – the Celestial Lions had, of course, noted that he’d departed accompanied by three minor gods. Other watchers, however, had been monitoring where he’d started – and knew a good deal more. Peacefully leaving in the company of three gods who’d been [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session VLII – Deiphagy for the Connoisseur

While Charles had been probing, the deiphages had been gradually coming out of it… By the time that he concluded that whatever-it-was had (at least for the moment) withdrawn into Yu-Shans nigh-impenetrable maze of geomancy – in which it seemed utterly at home, like it had either been there for a VERY long time or [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session VLI – A Madness Divine

With some of his Guardian “Souls” busily transforming barren lumps of airless rock into fertile, burgeoning, planets filled with assorted species of plants and animals (many of them otherwise extinct), and secondary “souls” working on constructing artifacts, manse seeds, and the Starlight Paths manses which would link those worlds to Yu-Shan (and also pour additional [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session VL – I’m Going To Flurry Manse Construction! There’s No “Rate” Limit On That, Right?

Back in Yu-Shan – and out on the cosmic frontiers – several of Righteous Hala’s Lunar friends had deduced from the questions she’d been asking about Solars that she had at long last once again encountered her Solar Bondmate – and that he or she was probably a shaping expert and perhaps an artificer. That [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session XLIIII – Ceiling Cat Says “A pox upon your Sidereal ways!”

  In which we catch up with – or encounter – one of the other characters again. Ruki was used to waking up with a headache, no idea of where she’d been or what she’d been doing for the last few days, and with the place a bit trashed – but usually she felt a [...]

Verdan Arcanis – Starting Adventures

Since the characters have opted to start in England, here we have a selection of adventures – both short and long – for them to undertake. Dr Bennet Cooper, a scientist who was working on a theory of wireless telegraphy, reported considerable progress – greatly interesting Her Majesties Government – but recently broke off the [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session XLIII – A Few Quiet Moments

It was almost a week before Shenji drew attention away from Harold’s new armor… but there came a time when a few Deiphages had realized that there was a regular trip going back and forth right under their noses. The attack on the little convoy wasn’t all that sophisticated or large – but it was [...]

Exalted – Elzeard Lifeshaper, Aden’s Fourteenth Soul

Well, now that real life isn’t demanding all my time again, I can get back to posting things… Elzeard Lifeshaper, Treeherd, Lord of Totems, Guardian of the Survival Imperative, Apostle of Gaia, Fourteenth Soul of Aden. While Elzeard takes many forms – whether anthropomorphic beast or tangled mass of vines and leaves in the shape [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session XLII – Laity and Lion Dogs

Charles considered Harold for a moment… Poor kid! Either he was bait or his family was being really mean to him for some reason! Of course, Sidereals could get awfully weird about parenting after a few centuries. After four or five hundred years the often started parenting like gods. While it was quite true that [...]

Verdan Arcanis – English Economics I, Currency, Wages, and Status

The English Monetary System on Verdan is – of course – a hodgepodge mess of traditional coins minted across the centuries competing with several different “reform” efforts. Sadly, since the system fundamentally relies on silver and gold coinage valued by weight, with banknotes backed by stockpiles of precious metal, older – and exotic – coins [...]

Exalted – Gothmug, Aden’s Second Soul

Gothmug Pyroclast, Lord of the Baalgrogs, He Who Calls Stones to Weep, Second Soul of Aden. Gothmug, Lord of the Baalgrogs, is an object lesson in “why you should not shape reality while extremely fatigued”. You too might wind up with a bunch of Emo Goth Viking Balrogs wearing elegant black fur cloaks over quasi-Edwardian [...]

Verdan Incognita II – Places of Legend

Verdan has a long tradition of semi-mythical lands, from the drifting dream-realms of the Dreaming Thunder across the Ginnungagap to the endless underground chasms of Thule. The actual existence of most of these locations is subject to dispute… The Dreaming Thunder is popularly located “beyond the vault of heaven”, in a realm where Lux dominates [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice XLI – The Boy Scouts of Siderea

Since Adenic Thaumaturgy was working well, Charles promptly initiated his thaumaturgical students down in Atlanta. They could use the extra power and protections just as much (or more, given their lack of alternatives) as any god-blood, spirit, or exalt! Ixiah liked it too, and there were LOTS of his manse-guardians to initiate, even if most [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice Session XL – Small Gods and Sandwiches

In the back of his head Charles was STILL continuing to consider Small Gods and Sandwiches… It WAS a bad neighborhood, but they had to be pretty hungry to climb the mountain! They’d been fairly mundane sandwiches too… If small gods needed sandwiches, then something must be done! A Soup Kitchen perhaps! At the base [...]

Verdan Incognita I

On Verdan, the “Civilized World” mostly consists of Eurasia – and not all of that. Much of the southern reaches of Africa, and the North and Eastern reaches of Asia, remain partially unknown. Much of the vast, frigid reaches of Siberia’s subarctic forests and tundras remain the domain of an assortment of dangerous creatures and [...]

Verdan Arcanis – Technology and Magic II. The Biological Sciences

To continue with the state of the sciences on Verdan… On the biological side, the structure of the body is reasonably well understood, as are the nature of physically-based diseases (a few seem to be lux-based in nature). Even relatively modest spells can notably improve resistance to particular mundane diseases – making most of them [...]