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 Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2025 11:32 pm
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2025 6:47 pm
The World of Tempesti_________________ People: The people of Tempesti looked similar to Earth’s humans with the exception of flightless wings growing from their backs. These wings tended to be in shades of brown ranging from light, almost golden tan to nearly black. Though very long hair was generally considered fashionable for all genders, manual laborers tended to wear theirs shorter or tightly restrained. Tempestines also had bird-like scales on their hands, forearms, feet, and lower shins/calves in a wide range of colors.
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Government: Though there were many states on the planet of Tempesti, the dominant political power was the Tempestine Empire. Their government was a hereditary autocracy with power concentrated in the hands of the Basileia or Basileus. Many Basileis appointed councils to manage some of the smaller legal and political issues, but each council member served at the pleasure and discretion of the autocrat and could be removed for any reason. As in any empire, the Tempestine borders fluctuated throughout its history, encompassing most of the planet’s northern hemisphere at its height. The empire was divided into provinces administered by a governor appointed by the Basileis. Each province within the Empire was divided into dioikíseis, individual districts with borders depending upon population and land mass and overseen by an anaplirotís, a deputy who answered directly to the governor.
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Aesthetic:
Clothing - Art Nouveau meets Classical Greek meets broader fantasy style draped fabrics. Members of the upper classes often wore garments or accessories of glowing teruda silk.
Architecture - Light-colored FlamboyantGothic (lots of pointed arches, groin-vaulted ceilings, tracery, etc. etc.) with art nouveau accents on exterior and interiors of buildings.
Common Imagery – Because most of the major civil works date to the reign of Sotiria Tempestos, wings, feathers, and stylized harpies are very common motifs.
• Stylized botanical elements are also very common.
• Climbing vines with flowers resembling anemones, often sculpted around pillars. Modeled on a very popular plant kept by people on Tempesti. The color of the flower depended upon what the designer wanted to impart to the building.
• Stained glass was an important part of Tempestine culture for centuries and was one of the planet’s oldest and most widely practiced art forms. Most buildings had at least at least one stained glass window and some of the most prestigious had entire facades rendered in stained glass. The development of new glassworking techniques and pigments could be extremely lucrative.
- The stained glass ranged from pale hues to jewel tones depending upon the location and purpose.
- Though most imagery on stained glass drew upon stylized forms from the natural world, it was common for public buildings to feature stained glass scenes from Tempestine history and portraits of significant historical figures.
- One of the most celebrated accomplishments of the planet’s artisans was the creation of a method by which they could reinforce stained glass to allow their work to withstand much more potentially damaging forces and endure for longer periods of time.
- Stained glass jewelry, sculptures, and lamps were among the most common objects found in a Tempestine household.
• Highly decorated circular forms, most commonly applied to round mirrors hung on the front of homes where Tempestines believed they would reflect away ill intentions and draw in benevolent spirits. Wealthier individuals used stained glass applied to the edges of highly polished and decorated metal discs where most others used glass mirrors painted with charms and symbols associated with their families.
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Infrastructure – Tempesti had robust infrastructure, particularly in the cities. The bulk of them were established under Basilea Sotiria as a means of uniting the empire she built.
• Technology powered by crystals and alchemical reactions was a major innovation developed under Sotiria and served as the basis for most of Tempesti’s technological advancements.
• Well-maintained roads connecting the entirety of the Tempestos Empire and many of the states outside Imperial control.
• Aqueducts carrying fresh water from lakes and mountains to supply cities and agriculture.
• Sewers used natural water sources to carry waste into agricultural regions for purposes of irrigation.
• Sturdy bridges, maintained for centuries over crucial points on trade routes. Some sections remain standing.
• Cisterns to collect and store water carried by aqueducts.
• Levees and powered weirs for flood control along the major rivers.
• Powered ferries which carried passengers between set stops along rivers, canals, and coastlines.
• Large, powered carriages which carried passengers between set stops throughout city streets and regular carriage caravans between cities.
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Public Facilities
• Each neighborhood had at least one public bathhouse which served as an important place for socialization, even following the widespread installation of indoor plumbing in private residences.
• Keraunos boasted the largest public library on the planet. Though it allowed any member of the general public access to its books, literacy rates ensured that only members of the middle and upper classes would have any use for them.
• Fora, spaces for public discourse, while restricted in use to government officials, were accessible to any member of the public who wished to witness the activities of lawmakers. Initially fora were only closed to the public during discussion of sensitive political and military matters, but by the time of the final Basileus accessibility was rare.
• Most cities and towns had at least one theatre, and Keraunos had over a dozen.
- Depending on size, location, and prestige, theatres hosted spectacles staged by the Imperial government, individual patrons of the arts, and independent civilians.
• The style, age, and composition of architecture depended heavily upon location; in larger cities, sweeping rebuilding programs resulted in the destruction of most of the oldest buildings in order to replace them with a more uniform Imperial style and reduce fire risk through the replacement of wooden housing with fire-resistant materials.
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Defensive Infrastructure
• Defensive chains to keep enemy ships out of harbors, with the chains attached to large towers from which soldiers could raise and lower them at will.
• Keraunos and other large cities were surrounded by enormous, sturdy walls built from gigantic blocks of stone. The walls of Keraunos were believed to be impenetrable due to the strength and number of the spirits inhabiting its stones.
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Spiritual Beliefs
Religion – The bulk of the planet’s residents did not worship anything most people would recognize as a god, instead revering an infinite number of spirits who infused every aspect of nature with their power.
• Planting seeds resulted in the birth of a new spirit or provided a new vessel for a displaced spirit.
• Building with stone or wood brought the spirits of the stones and trees into the building. In these cases, offerings were necessary to appease them in their displacement from the natural order.
• Each house had at least one shrine to make offerings to household spirits.
• Because of their almost universal presence around spirit shrines, ancient Tempestines regarded Teruda as emissaries of spirits and treated them with the respect that would accompany that belief.
• Offerings for household spirits generally included food items, small live plants, and vessels containing forest soil.
• Public buildings contained larger shrines and were maintained at the expense of local governments. Individuals could make offerings at these shrines in the hopes that their endeavors in those spaces will go in their favor.
• Each city and town had at least one central shrine at which all citizens made offerings on important days in their lives.
• Some neighborhoods of larger cities had their own shrines, most of which dated to a time before multiple towns grew into one another.
• There was no central doctrine, the priesthood consisted of people who tended the shrines, conducted rites throughout the year, and kept records of births, deaths, weddings, and similar information for the area surrounding their shrine.
• Oracles who claimed to speak to and for the spirits occupied the shrines’ sanctuaries, dispensing advice and prophecy to supplicants.
• Rites performed by priests varied widely by region, according to beliefs about the preferences of local spirits.
• A more recent development at the time of the collapse of the Tempestos Empire was the emergence of a sect which revered spirits claimed to protect and guide the Basileis and their families.
- The Imperial family took this belief even further, claiming that by protecting them these spirits protected the entire planet. As such, all within the Empire had a duty to make lavish offerings to the Imperial Spirits for the maintenance of the Imperial Family.
- This sect centered on an enormous, elaborate shrine within the Imperial Palace in Keraunos.
- After a few centuries and sharp economic and agricultural declines, the demanded offerings became unbearably burdensome and served as a major factor in the growth of rebellious factions within the Empire.
• Some regions on the far edges of the Empire practiced different religions entirely, venerating pantheons of ancient gods. These outliers received no persecution under Imperial rule provided that they did not interfere with the administration of the broader Empire.
Funerary Practices
• Following a death, family would lay the body out on a table or a designated slab, depending upon the family’s financial status.
- During this period, friends, family, and neighbors would attend to the immediate family of the deceased and the street would become a celebration of their life unless circumstances such as plague or other types of mass death interfered.
- These festivities could last for days, interrupted only by the transport of the body.
- The family would undress and wash the body before placing it on an elevated platform above a shrine outside of the population center or in a designated chamber within a catacomb where it would be allowed to decay. Wealthier families had permanent platforms and shrines dedicated to their dead, but smaller, temporary structures were the most commonly used.
- Specialized priests from the Order of Aether’s Embrace attended to the bodies of those without living family.
- Following the skeletonization of the body, family members would collect the bones and place them in an ossuary before taking the container to be interred in either a public necropolis, a private family columbarium, or to be kept at a family shrine in or near the home.
• Families were generally expected to maintain the shrines of their dead but in cases in which a lineage died out or allowed a shrine to fall to neglect, the Order of Aether’s Embrace tended to the lonely dead.
• Each major city had at least one public necropolis, generally consisting of an aboveground shrine standing watch over the entrance to the catacombs.
• Aether Guards, the more forceful arm of the Order of Aether’s Embrace protected the catacombs and their shrines to prevent looting of grave goods.
Primary Exports
Teruda Silk and Teruda Silk Clothing
Bioluminescent silk from teruda cocoons, farmed in bulk throughout Tempesti. Teruda farms grew countless flowers which fed the adult teruda with their nectar and the larvae with their leaves. After the larvae underwent metamorphosis, they used a combination of an enzyme that made the cocoon more pliable and small hook-like appendages to emerge as adults. After the teruda left behind their cocoons, skilled spinners painstakingly unwound and spun the delicate threads into a weavable fiber which they passed on to weavers.
The weavers used highly guarded techniques to produce countless yards of glowing silk in colors determined by the color of the teruda that spun the cocoon.
Teruda silk weavers were among some of the most highly valued workers in Tempestine society and the weavers’ guild was very powerful due to the revenue they brought the planet.
Alchemical Products
Though Tempestine alchemists were almost universally unwilling to publicize their techniques or formulae, they produced a significant amount of alchemical substances for export. The most common exports were compounds for use in the production of chemical weapons and rare colorants.
Precious Metals
Metal production was a major part of Tempesti’s economy, with many citizens finding dangerous but lucrative employment in the mines. Though mining of all manner of metals and gems was common, only precious metals were exported in any great quantity. Exports included raw ore, ingots, and finished objects. Mining was an extremely dangerous undertaking, with most technological advancements dedicated to increasing productivity and limited focus on worker safety. Silicosis was a major health hazard to miners and often led to premature death. Mining operations were also a significant threat to local ecosystems but industrial and government interests were unwilling to downscale the operations that were so important to the Tempestine economy and military.
Stained Glass
Stained glass was one of Tempesti’s most specialized industries and the planet was well-known for the high quality of its stained glass products. There were regional distinctions between styles and techniques, though Keraunos style was the most widely sought after.
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Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:53 pm
History & Past Lives The Tyrant – Sotiria Tempestos _________________ For countless centuries the awakening of a new Sailor Tempesti was a cause for celebration, seen as a rebirth for Tempesti itself. The people revered their senshi as the planet’s protectors. While some inevitably parlayed this reverence into wealth and political power, most made an effort to defend the planet honorably. Sotiria Tempestos was one of those who sought to serve the planet honorably, and in doing so created the most powerful empire Tempesti had ever seen. Her power and brutality marked her as the most significant Sailor Tempesti to awaken. Though Rowan will never directly experience the memories of this ancient incarnation, her legacy was a powerful defining force in the lives of every Sailor Tempesti who followed.
Hundreds of years before Elysia was born, Tempesti’s civilizations were in a profoundly weakened state following a series of disastrous wars, both among themselves and against extraplanetary invaders. Famine, disease, and violence were rampant throughout Tempesti as competing states emerged in the chaos. It was into this environment that a Sailor Tempesti by the name of Myrto arose in a small coastal village. Upon her awakening she took the name Sotiria, presenting herself as a savior returned to restore their declining civilization. Her message and power drew the devotion of the masses and with the special regard she paid to the military, she was able to raise an enormous army within a surprisingly short period of time.
Once she amassed her forces, she led a brutal offensive to unite the region’s fractured states under her rule, ultimately seizing the city of Keraunos as the capital of her new empire. She called the greatest minds of each new territory to Keraunos, drawing upon their knowledge with the intent of remaking Tempesti as one of the foremost powers of the Solar System. In addition to recruiting talent from her own planet, she created incentives to attract the attention of off planet luminaries in order to gain their insight and incorporate their knowledge into her expansion. Using resources plundered from conquered states she rebuilt Tempesti’s crumbling infrastructure, allowing for greater communication throughout the empire in addition to facilitating the movement of her armies. Being an inventor herself, she took full advantage of these opportunities to create new systems for the administration of a growing empire. Though she often attempted to get her hands on Mauvian technology, she never managed to get enough to study or reverse engineer effectively.
As Basileia of the Tempestine Empire, Sotiria offered outlying states the opportunity to submit to her rule, making it clear that they would feel the full force of the empire’s power should they refuse. While many states acquiesced, allowing their sovereign rulers to become provincial governors, some refused. In cases where the states were in less than stable condition she would use her influence to destabilize them further, most through sedition spread via her spy network, or covert support of political dissidents or more agreeable rival royal factions. More stable states received a more overtly brutal conquest. Sotiria made a vicious example of leaders who resisted, razing their palaces before bringing them to Keraunos for public display and execution. In order to win the support of their former subjects she used the rulers' liquidated wealth to bring their infrastructure and technology in line with the rest of the Empire. Subjects who failed to fall in line faced imprisonment and execution for treason and undermining the Imperial Peace. As her power grew, Sotiria’s identity became more enmeshed with the Empire itself and eventually she began to view herself as merely the instrument by which it achieved its destiny. As such, any threat to the Empire was a threat to her and vice versa.
Despite her grandiose plans for her Empire, Sotiria herself lived austerely, with rigid discipline and the expectation that her officials and other subordinates would do the same. When many of them opted not to do so, she became suspicious of their intentions in expanding the Tempestine Empire. The notion that they were more interested in enriching themselves than elevating the Empire to still greater heights filled her with a blind fury and she began to carry out extensive investigations of the entirety of the Empire’s leadership. The Basileia met every whisper of what she considered corruption with a swift and ruthless hand, making an example of all who drew her ire. An ambitious and popular general named Arete Spyros quietly stoked her fears, encouraging her to see treachery in every shadow.
As Sotiria grew more brutal and unstable, her military and popular support began to erode, creating even greater paranoia in the Basileia who increasingly turned her wrath upon subordinates she suspected of conspiring against her. She eliminated entire noble houses to prevent retaliation and discourage sedition. Ultimately it was Arete who assassinated her in her bed, ending Sotiria’s reign of terror and assuming the throne herself as a national hero. Her descendants inherited the crown and the Spyros Dynasty ruled until the collapse of Tempesti. Though widely considered an improvement over Sotiria, the Spyros were far from immune to the mundane corruption that accompanied wealth and power. Through carefully arranged marriages and cultivation of wealth the plunder of less powerful and well-regarded states, the Spyros Dynasty maintained a grip on their authority for centuries. Despite the fact that the Spyros Dynasty regarded Sotiria’s legacy as a curse on their planet, her sword remained a potent symbol of their power; what was once a representation of the first Basileia’s authority became emblematic of the Spyros' defeat of the legendary tyrant.
As the reincarnations of the most brutal dictator in the planet’s history, each Sailor Tempesti was a source of fear to the Tempestines and the Spyros Basileis publicly declared it their sacred mission to ensure that none of their planet’s senshi would ever attain the status Sotiria did.
To prevent another Sailor Tempesti from gaining the same power and brutality as Sotiria, the government of Tempesti spent centuries executing them upon their awakening. It took another extraplanetary invasion to convince the people that the presence of Sailor Tempesti was a necessary danger. In an effort to minimize their opportunities to seize power, the Tempestines built a tall, highly secure tower on an island off the coast of Keraunos to house the senshi.
Though the Tower of the Winds was beautiful, displaying the best of the Empire’s architecture and craftsmanship, it was a gilded cage intended to house a very dangerous animal. Once a new Sailor Tempesti awakened, the Tempestine army immediately spirited them away to the Tower, officially stripping them of their family name and legal status. No guard could remain in the Tower for more than a year, to ensure that they developed no personal attachment to the senshi.
Past Life - Elysia of Tempesti
Elysia was fourteen years old when she awakened as Sailor Tempesti, horrifying her family. Though they attempted to conceal their daughter’s abilities in the hopes of preserving her freedom and keeping her with them, a spontaneous outburst of power exposed their deception and the army removed her, forbidding her to say goodbye. Life in the Tower was lonely by legal decree, permitting her only solitary activities and denying her nearly all personal or social relationships despite the luxury in which they allowed her to live. The Basileis of Tempesti were among the only people permitted to maintain personal relationships with the senshi as a means of developing a degree of loyalty to the Crown. The Tempestine government allowed her to receive foreign dignitaries within the Tower to a limited extent while under supervision and to wander the upper floors of the Tower at her leisure. She was able to maintain monitored correspondence with a few select individuals, but anything that could be interpreted as seditious resulted in severance of communication with the individuals in question. Though they were equipped with facilities to enable her to remain relatively physically healthy, she suffered significant psychological damage from the severity of her isolation and struggled to regulate her emotions, a condition only exacerbated by countless reminders that her confinement was a mercy to herself and the planet, lest she succumb to the temptations that created Sotiria's inhumanity. The Tower was the greatest defense against the rise of another tyrant and to claim otherwise was to threaten the entirety of Tempesti and its people. Sailor Tempesti was to remain within the Tower of the Winds for the entirety of her life leaving only as was necessary to defend the planet and its civilizations. Left to her own devices Elysia cultivated what skills she could, with a strong focus on music and art, mastering several instruments and producing a sizable body of musical compositions and paintings during her short life. She was a voracious reader, spending a great deal of time in the Tower’s library and using the books as a means of escaping her reality.
When an economic downturn following a series of natural disasters exposed the weakness of the Spyros Dynasty, several outlying provinces initiated rebellions against imperial rule, the unrest spreading throughout the Empire until denizens of the capital itself took to the streets in protest. When the young Basileus Archelaus imposed martial law in the city, the protests erupted into violence as outraged citizens and disillusioned soldiers laid siege to the imperial palace. Desperate, the Basileus ordered his remaining forces to bring Sailor Tempesti to help quell the rebellions.
The smell of smoke had already traveled to the Tower of the Winds by the time the imperial ship arrived to collect Elysia. Outfitted in her combat attire for the first time, she trembled violently as the trireme docked. When confronted with the sight of the citizens fighting imperial soldiers, a profound horror overtook her and she rushed to their aid in defiance of her orders. With Sailor Tempesti’s aid, the rebels managed to push through the imperial barricades and take the palace as Basileus Archelaus escaped through the palace’s hidden tunnels. The rebels had spent months fighting in the streets to clear out the last imperial loyalists when Archelaus returned to lay siege to the city at the head of a newly rallied army, ranks swollen with extraplanetary mercenaries. Though the Basileus’ army outmatched the rebels in size, Tempesti and her companions managed to hold the city, even as her mental state continued to decline with every day of battle. In the night she found herself hearing disembodied whispers from the shadows, taunting reminders of the crimes her forebears, reminders that she was one slip away from becoming the heir to Sotiria’s cruelty.
Realizing that with the blockades Keraunos’ limited supplies would not hold out and driven by her fearful delusions Tempesti decided on a desperate course of action, ordering a surprise nighttime sortie to destroy several of the siege weapons threatening the city’s walls and swarming the night watchers. While the besiegers were distracted a disguised Tempesti ran for the command tents, summoning the most powerful storm she could muster. Refusing to relent, she expended the entirety of her life force to eliminate the attackers’ leadership. Without Archelaus’ direction and funding the imperial army fell into disarray and the mercenaries dispersed, leaving the city’s defenders in a position to destroy the remaining troops.
Though Keraunos survived the siege, without a clear successor to the Basileus the empire descended once more into years of civil war and eventually collapsed, leaving the planet vulnerable to its final fall to Chaos.
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Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 9:40 pm
Tempestine Restoration: Flora & Fauna Flora and Fauna
Plants
Windflowers - Large flowers with delicate looking petals that grow on climbing vines. They come in a wide variety of colors depending upon genetic and environmental factors. Their name comes from their unusual resilience in storm winds.
Insects
Teruda – Large, bioluminescent butterfly-like insects that come in a rainbow of colors. They resemble large clouded Apollo butterflies with long wing tails and can almost appear to be made of stained glass in certain lights. For reasons unknown, spirit shrines hold a strong attraction for them. They build cocoons of glowing silk strands used to make a cloth highly prized in ancient Tempesti.
Melithrix - Very small, colorful, bee-like insects that are one of the most important species of pollinators on Tempesti. They are charmingly round and fuzzy.
Spirits’ Candles (Daechnos) – Large, flying crepuscular insects resembling fireflies. Their light shifts in a range of colors resembling a sunset in pink, yellow, purple, and orange. They typically appear near natural water sources, resting in aquatic foliage during the day. Tempestine tradition saw shifts in their light as signs or messages from local spirits, though by the time of the planet’s fall few considered this more than a folktale.
Daksko – Fat, long, aquatic leeches. Their translucent bodies make it particularly easy for daksko who haven’t fed recently to camouflage themselves in water until they can latch onto their prey. Despite general revulsion regarding the leeches themselves, they served as symbols of guile and physicians used chemicals found in their saliva as an anesthetic and anticoagulant.
Poragdos – Dragonfly like insects with sharp, hooked tails and pointed wings that reflect the light in shades of green and purple. They appear most often around water but will venture to other areas in search of prey.
Anthno - An insect resembling an orchid mantis with large, flower petal like wings. They hide within large blossoms both to avoid predators and to snatch any prey that might come to pollinate their hiding place. Ancient Tempestines valued them due to their appetite for more dangerous and irritating insects.
Bigger Critters
Auryx - Flying reptiles resembling plump leopard geckos with metallic scales and feathery wings. They were popular pets in ancient Tempesti for both their charming demeanor and their appetite for household pests.
Selapeth - Horse-sized birds of prey capable of snatching smaller livestock and smaller humans. They resemble gigantic eagles with gleaming white feathers that have an iridescent sheen. When hunting or fighting, they emit a high-pitched call that affects the inner ear of nearby prey and briefly disorients them.
Like bald eagles, the females of the species are larger than their male counterparts. Due to their strength and intelligence they were popular as hunting birds, though their size and appetite made housing them very expensive and limited ownership to the elite. They were found on the heraldry of many of Tempesti’s noble houses
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:01 am
Tempestine Restoration: Built Environment The Tower of the WindsIslandThe Isle of Turning is a small, rocky island in the bay bordering Keraunos. It hosted little natural life even before the arrival of Chaos. The plants present were limited to small, scrubby growths and most animal life consisted of nesting coastal birds. The Basileis of Tempesti chose this site for its limited capacity to support humanoid without support from the mainland.
The Tower of the Winds is situated near the center of the island, on a low hill with a clear view of the entirety of the island itself. On all but the foggiest days, the city of Keraunos is visible from the island.
Exterior
The Tower of the Winds is a tall spire in an elaborate Flamboyant Gothic style, though its shape is similar to the tower of the Brussels City Hall. Atop the spire is an enormous crystal which served as a beacon to ships at sea. An elegant, golden cage similar to this one encloses the crystal.
Gracefully curving golden metallic elements in botanical motifs accent the Tower while leaving the intricacy of the architecture visible.
There is a small, finely made stone dock in an inlet near the base of the tower to accommodate the ferry which brought staff, visitors, and supplies to the island.
Crypt
The crypt is the oldest part of the Tower, predating the construction of the Tower itself, which replaced its upper sanctuary. It houses the remains of nearly every Sailor Tempesti since the death of Sotiria and utilizes interior architecture much heavier and thicker than the rest of the Tower.
Sotiria is interred in the Crypt’s lowest reaches, the oldest built structure on the island. Unlike the other Sailor Tempesti in the Crypt, Sotiria is buried directly within the foundation. Her grave lies beneath a shrine to the spirits believed to protect and empower the Imperial Family and intended to subdue her spirit and shackle her will to that of the Spyros Dynasty. The shrine consists of two semi-circular altars on either side of a gilded marble statue. At the base of the statue is an inscription in gilded letters. Each altar is inscribed with incantations of protection and binding, written in the belief that any Sailor Tempesti brought into the Tower and put through rituals at the shrine would fall under a Geis compelling them to act only in the interest of Tempesti, as determined by the Spyros Dynasty.
The statue depicts a mythologized image of the moment when Arete Spyros killed Sotiria, depicting it as a slaying in combat. Spyros stands with her boot atop Sotiria’s stomach as she triumphantly drives a blade into her heart.
“So died the Mad Tyrant for her crimes, slain by Golden Basileia Arete Spyros for the glory and people of Tempesti. May the Basileian Spirits forever bind her madness to this sacred stone and her soul to the will of Spyros.”
While the first Tempestis brought into the shrine served the planet as sacrifices on the altars, later senshi shed smaller amounts of blood during annual rituals conducted under the supervision of the Basileis. During this ritual, the senshi would cut open her arms with the Blade of Sotiria, allowing each to bleed on each altar, in the belief that doing so would renew the pacts with the spirits and strengthen the binding. Though it was rare for the ritual to prove fatal, it was not unheard of. When a senshi died as the result of performing the ceremony it was taken as a sign that she was corrupt and seditious, rejected by the spirits protecting the planet.
Following the bloodletting, the Basileis would bind the senshi’s wounds to represent their role as a benevolent figure protecting both the planet and the senshi.
The Crypt consists of three levels:
The Sublevel which contains the tomb of Sotiria and the shrine to the Basileian Spirits.
The First Level, containing the Crypt’s oldest tombs after Sotiria house the Sailor Tempesti executed upon their awakening, nine in total spanning the course of about 600 years. The youngest was a girl of seven and the oldest was a girl of nineteen. The glass images for these figures were created decades after the most recent execution and are not intended to be accurate portraits.
The Second Level which contains the tombs of the Tempestis who inhabited the Tower of the Winds, fourteen in total spanning about 800 years. The glass images accompanying these tombs are generally accurate representations of their dead. The lifetimes of these Sailor Tempesti ranged from a senshi who died at the age of twelve to one who died at the age of eighty-three.
Each level is connected by a spiral staircase that runs along the outer edges of the structure, with a single door leading to the burial chambers of each level.
The layout of the first and second levels is identical, each consisting of a central chamber containing a shrine to the spirits of the stone. From this central chamber radiated a number of hallways which housed the sarcophagi.
Each Sailor Tempesti rests in a stone sarcophagus carved directly into the stone and sealed with an enormous stone slab. Each sarcophagus is inscribed with the name and date associated with that incarnation. Additions made during the construction of the Tower include small stained glass panels depicting each Sailor Tempesti hung above each sarcophagus and shrines for the spirits of the crypt’s stone. There is no shrine for the crypt’s dead due the fact that they share a single soul that always returns to its world.
Most burials occurred with very little ceremony beyond rituals to appease spirits that might be disturbed by each interment.
While a Sailor Tempesti occupies the Tower, she is responsible for performing the rites of appeasement of the spirits of the stone, otherwise the role falls to priests assigned by the Basileis.
Elysia, the most recent Sailor Tempesti, is the only one since the death of Sotiria to be interred outside of the island.
Tower Proper
Ground Floor
Security
Reception
Great Shrine
Second Story
Security
Guards’ Quarters
Servants’ Quarters
Third Story
Sailor Tempesti was only permitted below this level once a year for the Rite of Purgation.
Recreation
A wide room consisting of a small exercise area and a heated swimming pool.
Greenhouse
The greenhouse was a recent addition, converted from a solarium during Elysia’s lifetime to allow her to pursue her interest in horticulture. While all plants were carefully vetted to ensure that any dangerous applications were extremely limited, Elysia cultivated species from across the galaxy, many of which were gifts from visiting diplomats. She enjoyed crossbreeding and magically enhancing plants to create new strains and meticulously documented her research.
Fourth Story
Library
An enormous collection of interplanetary literature and non-fiction that lines the walls of a large, circular library. Plush couches and low tables dot the room, though most go unused. Each section has a tall sliding ladder to access higher shelves. On constant display were collections of texts on the danger posed by the awakening of any Sailor Tempesti and cautionary tales about unchecked power as illustrated by Sotiria. A large, elegant mechanical orrery contained within a mechanical armillary sphere, both rendered in golden metal and colorful crystals sat in the center of the library. It is currently corroded and unusable, but when operational it shows Tempesti’s position in relation to the major worlds of the solar system.
Fifth Story
Private Quarters
The senshi’s private quarters occupied an ovoid area on the topmost occupied floor of the tower and consisted of a spacious bedchamber with a large four-poster bed with cream colored curtains, an adjoining chamber for the storage of Tempesti’s wardrobe, a small study, a small parlor, and a washroom. Elysia had her quarters decorated in pale shades of gold, cream, lilac, pink, and green with countless plants occupying as much of the space as she could manage. The blossoms of an enormous, wisteria-like plant hung from the ceiling and cascaded softly along the edges of the doors supported by pale golden trellises. Colorful stained glass lanterns hung from the ceilings and flower-shaped lamps in pale, colored glass sat on small stands throughout. The northeastern curve of the bedchamber was occupied by reinforced windows with delicate golden tracery in floral and botanical patterns along the upper edges of the panes. Two long, low windows seats upholstered in shimmering pale green fabric ran along the window. A small table occupied by a plant pot overflowing with pale yellow blossoms sat between the two benches and Elysia kept a variety of musical instruments carefully displayed near the benches. In the southeastern corner, Elysia set up a small area in which she could paint. The contents of these quarters are currently in a state of deterioration
A narrow servants’ passage consisting of a single stairwell goes from the library to the parlor. The entrance was magically sealed and impossible to open from the upper level. Opening the passage required a servant on the lower level to insert a crystal into the small slot by the lower entrance, raising the stairway which connects the two doors. The stairway collapsed after just under a minute, sealing both doors. The passage was intended for use solely during the periods in which the senshi was not within her chambers.
In the absence of a senshi, the Tower’s staff sealed off these quarters until a new one awakened. The only people who remained during these periods were a squad of guards, two priests to tend to the shrines, a librarian, and a small staff for cooking, cleaning, and maintenance.
Guard Post
Directly outside of the main entrance to the senshi’s quarters was a heavily fortified guard post intended to be the first line of defense against a rebellious or violent senshi. An ornate metal door in reminiscent of the door of a heavy vault serves as the chamber’s outer seal. The chamber’s inner seal is a similarly heavy door sealed with both crystal-powered and intricate mechanical locks.
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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 8:46 pm
Crypt of the Harpies
Sublevel
Sotiria, 37 BRS – 1 RS
The “Mad Tyrant,” interred directly within the Crypt’s foundation as an anchor for the binding rituals credited for keeping Tempesti bound to the island.
Level One
Charis, 25 RS – 40 RS
The first Sailor Tempesti to emerge after the death of Sotiria. Charis awakened in a small village at the age of fifteen. When the local authorities got wind of the awakening of another Sailor Tempesti, they immediately took the girl into custody and alerted Basileia Arete, by now an old woman. The Basileia and her forces immediately swarmed the village, declaring the teenager an enemy of the Empire before transporting her to Keraunos for a ceremonial public trial. When compelled to demonstrate her power before the crowd, the Basileia confirmed her as the reincarnation of Sotiria. With her guilt proven, Arete, her soldiers, and a trio of priests escorted Charis to the Isles of Turning and the Crypt of the Harpies. When Charis realized that they intended to lead her into a vault for the dead, she became hysterical to the point that the soldiers had to carry the screaming girl into the depths before binding her and forcing her to her knees beside the western altar. Drawing the Blade of Sotiria, Arete slit the girl’s throat. The priests sang the Canticle of Purgation as she bled onto the stone and the Basileia dragged the dying senshi to the eastern altar where her blood stained its mensa before throwing her to the floor at the statue’s feet. When her final choking gasps fell silent, the priests reconsecrated the space with her blood before placing her within the first of the prepared sarcophagi on the floor above. Satisfied that her she had dispatched her enemy once more, Arete decreed that any future Sailor Tempesti would meet the same fate for the good of the Empire.
Eirene, 105 RS – 122 RS
Eirene was a weaver living in the outskirts of Keraunos with her husband and infant daughter. Her awakening came as a terrifying shock for her family and though they initially attempted to conceal her power, her uncle became overwhelmed with guilt and fear over the belief that they were harboring someone who could become a monster at any moment. Despite his reservations, he reported his niece to the Palace, resulting in her death in the Crypt of the Harpies and the execution of the other family members who failed to disclose their knowledge of her identity. Despite the stigma, Eirene’s daughter was adopted by another family within the weavers’ guild.
Herais, 204 RS – 211 RS
Herais was the youngest daughter of a Tempestine noble family and the youngest person interred within the Crypt. Very little is known about her before her sacrifice in the Crypt of the Harpies. There is no record of how the Basileus got word of her awakening so quickly, but her execution was followed almost immediately by her older sister’s betrothal to the Basileus’ son.
Euphemia, 289 RS – 303 RS
A ribbon seller in Adonia, one of Tempesti’s major urban centers on the western edge of the continent. Euphemia was a carefree young girl until the day she awakened in a crowded market. Though she fled before anybody could report her, it was only a matter of time until soldiers from the local garrison tracked her down. Desperate to evade the certain death she knew she faced, the girl used her newfound abilities in an attempt to escape her pursuers. When one of the soldiers died of a heart attack after being struck by her powers, a furious mob seized the young senshi and burned her alive in the public square. When the Imperial guards came to retrieve her they found only her charred remains, which they carried to the Crypt. For interfering with the performance of the Rite of Purgation, the mob’s ringleaders were hanged on the orders of the Basileia. The soldier who died in pursuit of Euphemia received a hero’s funeral, recognized as a martyr and honored among the city’s hallowed dead.
Pelagia, 348 RS – 365 RS
Born on one of the islands off the coast of Keraunos, Pelagia spent her early years working alongside her family to sell the fish her parents and older siblings caught. Upon the girl’s awakening, her family immediately alerted the Imperial Guard in a superstitious panic. Sharing their beliefs and horrified by her own power, Pelagia willingly surrendered to what she believed was the only way to protect the planet.
Athanasia, 408 RS – 427 RS
Kleonike, 486 RS – 498 RS
Isidora, 557 RS – 573 RS
Galene, 642 RS – 656 RS
Level Two
Koralia, 703 RS – 725 RS
The first living Tempesti to occupy the Tower of the Winds, Koralia awakened during the first interplanetary war since before Sotiria’s awakening. As something built during wartime, the first iteration of the Tower of the Winds was much smaller than the one that currently exists. The Basileia who ordered its construction hoped to use the next rebirth of Sailor Tempesti to gain an advantage in the war which by that point had lasted decades.
On the orders of the Basileia, Koralia was subject to the first non-lethal Rite of Purgation, establishing a long-standing practice that would last until the fall of the Tempestine Empire. Her place at the Basileia’s side as her magic turned the tide served both to enhance the reputation of the Crown and create room for a degree of tolerance in a society that had become almost entirely unwilling to consider allowing its senshi to live.
Koralia ultimately died by expending all of her magical energy to destroy the enemy general’s flagship, ending a decisive battle that led to the end of the war and earning her recognition as one of the “good” Tempestis.
Aglaia, 804 RS – 887 RS
Died during the Rite of Purgation
Kleio, 932 RS – 981 RS
Deidamia, 1034 RS – 1053 RS
Stole the key to the tower’s lantern room and threw herself from an opening in the stonework.
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2025 11:47 am
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2025 11:50 am
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2025 12:31 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2025 7:22 pm
Keraunos Harbor Tower of AniketosThe oldest of Keraunos' existing fortifications, predating much of the city itself. The Tower of Aniketos is a citadel which sits at the mouth of the River Naiara where it empties into the harbor. The heaviness of its architecture distinguishes it from most of the buildings in the rest of the city. It dates to a few centuries after the city’s founding, built by Zelyne Aniketos, one of the warlords who sought to expand Keraunos from a mere city-state into a kingdom. The name of the Tower is somewhat misleading in that the fortress itself is a tower surrounded by military buildings within heavily reinforced walls.
Aniketos was also responsible for the construction of the monumental walls surrounding the city core. Unlike most of the rest of the city’s buildings, the Tower of Aniketos and the associated walls were constructed of limestone quarried far to the north at what many believed to be a particularly powerful convergence of the planet’s ley lines. Whether or not this truly imbued them with stronger spirits than the stone found at closer quarries the notion had significant propaganda value, which was a major reason that Sotiria’s much later reinforcement of the fortifications utilized the same sources while leaving most of the structure intact.
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2025 11:38 am
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2025 9:28 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2025 11:33 am
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2025 7:19 pm
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