Flawless Dream of Vermilion Summer

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Welcome to my fantasy zone!

The Heavenly Garden of Earthly Delights, a 'tea house' famous, if not infamous, throughout the Blessed Isle and beyond for its utmost dedication to decadence. The Garden's flower-girls and flower-boys are widely considered as exceptionally elegant, carefully schooled in what our considered the most important refined arts in dynastic society: fan-dancing, singing, poetry, philosophy, even the proper service of tea and how to play a decent game of Gateway. To be attended by a single courtesan within the Garden is to spend a small fortune in jade before taking into account any of the various delicacies on offer (and the Garden offers many); if a patron wishes to purchase a more intimate encounter with their attendant, they can expect to pay double or triple, or more still if their tastes run to the unusual. To hold an accomplished flower-boy on retainer is an incredible extravagance but alluring nonetheless due to the social prestige suggested - for only the most well-connected are able to convince the rulers of that little universe to leave a precious asset in their care. Patrician families have been beggared due to the allure of the Heavenly Garden's excess, and so it is unfathomably wealthy.

But from the outside looking in, one must wonder exactly how what is, floating jade pavilions and extravagance aside, a large tea house which offers sex for dessert such a well-connected and powerful institution. Rumours abound as to what secrets the executives of the Garden possess and what influence they wield, and regardless of the truth of the matter it remains that even an 800 year old tea house which has received the patronage of the Scarlet Empress could never have amassed the power it has. Except for one factor: The Heavenly Garden of Earthly Delights employs Dragon-Blooded courtesans, if not uniquely within the Realm then certainly uniquely in its institutionalisation. These exceptional, partly-divine flower-girls and flower-boys (poetically referred to as dragon pearls, probably in reference to their almost universal tongue-piercings) trained in much the same way as any Dynast, represent oft-wandering creators of wealth. Some satrap's court will scrape every stray obol from its treasury to attract the attention of a Terrestrial courtesan for a few days, but it is not these mundane duties which produces the Garden's power: it is breeding.

It is common fact that blood is the defining influence on a Terrestrial Exaltation: the purer the blood, the greater the chance. The Garden prides itself on how thickly the blood of the Immaculate Dragons flows through the veins and arteries of its precious pearls. The Garden is constantly on the look-out for lost eggs of unlikely blood-purity to quietly insinuate into their circle and bring some new variation to a deeply incestuous organisation. While an element of this is to ensure the continued existence of its institution, the true wealth is in siring children on the wives and daughters of nobility - mortal or Dragon-Blood. Though an Exaltation can never be guaranteed, the Garden can at least significantly improve the chances that a given child will be chosen, and that is a service which is almost priceless.

Among these pearls there are a tiny handful which stand out amongst the rest, and one who stands ahead even among those: Flawless Dream of Vermilion Summer and Infinite Platinum Heavens. Though young, he has built his name from humble beginnings to become one of the most desirable boy-toys in all the Realm. in addition to his incredible physical beauty, his blood is immaculate. The blood of the Dragons runs so pure in his body that even other Terrestrial Exalts of high breeding are impressed: so pure that even the slowest of mortals can typically tell at a glance that Summer is an Exalt. Like all flower-boys he is a consummate entertainer, and will happily attend to either gender, though even relative to other sons and daughters of Hesiesh his passions run hot. Though the Heavenly Garden finds him difficult to control, he is a definite money maker: though not many of his many, many, many offspring have reached the right age, some have and they have been Exalting at an incredible rate. For that circle which manages the Garden, the boy who was once merely 'Dream of Summer' has been an auspicious addition.

However, some harbour misgivings. Even the minimal, shallow palmistry practiced as a hobby by bored flower-girls suggests some terrifying fate, though even professional astrologers are not able to unravel what that fate is. They recall how the boy arrived, swaddled and in the arms of some adamantine shadow which spoke as though she possessed the authority of Heaven and who commanded that the boy be schooled and for his name to never be uttered and never recorded but instead remembered until the appointed time. Further, the boy has become aware of the existence of this fate, which he refers to as his 'destiny'. Though he claims otherwise, it is plain that his wanderings in recent months have been less about plying the upper crust of the Threshold and more about finding his destiny, the 'genesis of my Trastrium', whatever that means.

Summer is a living investment for the Heavenly Garden, but some feel that he may rapidly become a liability and that perfumed harem is known for many things but none of them mercy.

Vital Statistics

Full Name// Flawless Dream of Vermilion Summer and Infinite Platinum Heavens

Preferred Shorthand// 'Summer'

Real Name// hi-mi-tsu~

Concept// Geisha Boy with a Destiny

Aspect// Fire

Essence// ●●●●

Age// Early 20s

Motivation// Conquer Creation and Heaven and construct the Trastrium, a utopia built upon the ideal of love

Image Song// Friend Crush by Friends

Intimacies// The Heavenly Garden of Earthly Delights (Increasing distaste), Childlike Virtue (Tsundere), The Five Elemental Dragons (Respect), Mikal Sebasis (Affection), Ahura Mithra (Affection), Pale Lily (Affection), Ramsus Godon (Respect), Lion (Affection)

Traits

MERITS/

//Legendary Breeding (3)

//Enchanting Features (4)

FLAWS/

//Beacon of Power (4)

//Dark Secret: True Name (3?)

Basic Info

Essence// 37/53

Willpower// ●●●/●●●●●

Attributes

Charisma//●●●●●

Manipulation//●●

Appearance//●●●●● (●●) (lol)

Perception//●●●

Intelligence//●●●●●

Wits//●●●

Strength//●●

Dexterity//●●●●

Stamina//●●

Abilities

AIR/

Lore// ●●● (Favoured)

Occult// ●●●

FIRE/

Athletics// ●●●

Dodge// ●●●●

Melee// ●

Presence// ●●●●● (On Fire +3)

Socialise// ●●●●●

WOOD/

Archery// ●

Performance// ●●●●● (On Fire +3) (Favoured)

Ride// ●

EARTH/

War// ●

WATER/

Investigation// ●●●

Martial Arts// ●●●●● (On Fire 1) (Favoured)

Charms

First Socialise Excellency

First Performance Excellency

Soul-Stirring Performance Method

Cost/ 6m, 1wp

Through a performance of some kind, invoke a strong emotion or minor compulsion in a crowd, or in a portion of a crowd. Can trigger riots, cause people to only purchase from certain vendors etc. There is no persistent control over the crowd. Mortals have no ability to resist. Heroic mortals can resist. Exalts and other spirits are immune.

First Presence Excellency

First Martial Arts Excellency

First Lore Excellency

Elemental Concentration Trance

Cost/ 6m, 1wp

By meditating in the pyre from burning books, Summer can absorb a week's worth of research in a single day.

Panoply

People

Mentor// ●●●

//Childlike Virtue is the Sideral Exalt who found Summer when he was newly born, and she was the one who delivered him to the Heavenly Garden. Over the years she has been variously vague, arbitrary and a real tease, but there have definitely been moments in Summer's life where he knew he owed his success to her intervention. More recently she's been willing to give him tips and tricks which are actually useful - something Summer is very quietly grateful for, because as far as he can tell the Chosen of Serenity is thirty or forty times his age and roughly ten million times more experienced in pretty much everything.

Retainers// ●●

//Like most dragon-pearls, Summer has a small staff which attends to his various material needs. They are collectively referred to as 'the Vermilion Circle', and Summer will proudly refer to them as 'the foundation of the Trastrium' (not that they really know what that means). They include his ridiculously impeccable valet Sebasis, his long-suffering accountant Mithra, his demure maid/apprentice (mostly the former) Pale Lily, his gourmet but rough-around-the-edges chef Godon and his bodyguard who is totally a female Guts, the wandering Lion.

Metaphysics

Destiny// ●●●●●

//At his first fortune reading, Summer gave the astrologist a heart attack. More expensive astrologists have managed only stunned silence. The one time he asked Childlike Virtue about it, she tried to construct a metaphor involving a weaver's loom, but said it didn't really convey the scale.

Breeding// ●●●●●

//Kwisatz Haderach. Catches fire at pretty much the slightest provocation.

Phat Loot

Resources// ●●●●●

//One of Summer's retainers is an accountant for a reason.

Manse// ●●●●

//The Heavenly Garden of Earthly Delights isn't just a tea house full of magic prostitutes, it's actually a magic tea house, too. Strictly speaking the Manse actually personally belongs to the Scarlet Empress and has been 'on loan' for several centuries. Since her disappearance it has been held on trust by Regent Fokuf, which is worrying one day (because Fokuf is useless and could be convinced to take it back) and pleasing the next (because so far no one has been stupid enough to start messing with Empress' personal possessions). Most of its geomantic structure is tied up in the literal garden, but also in the placement of the various floating pavilions, and the geometries of the central building. Its hearthstone is the Pearl of Transcendent Grace (as Stone of Inhuman Beauty), a seemingly flawless, iridescent black pearl which is more valuable than all the cosmetics in Creation and most coveted prize for servants of the Garden. As Summer is the Garden's most accomplished and beautiful flower-boy, he was been entrusted with it.

Summer has also been granted a pair of lesser hearthstones belonging to a pair of particularly infatuated Dynasts: the Gem of Seduction and the Prism of Focused Passion.

Artefact// ●●

//Summer has a bunch of Jade jewelery for setting his hearthstones in: his Jade tongue piercing for setting the Pearl of Transcendent Grace, a Jade dragon circling his throat for setting the Gem of Seduction and a pair of Jade dragons around his wrists (hearthstone bracers) for setting the Prism of Focused Passion.

Experience Record

Session 1// 18 (18)

Session 2// 20 (38)

Session 3// 16 (44)

Session 4// 16 (60)

Session 5// 8 (68)

Session 6// 16 (84)

Session 7// 16 (100)

Session 8// 16 (116)

Unsealed! Essence 3 (-20)

Unsealed! Essence 4 (-30)

Unsealed! Martial Arts 5 (-13)

Unsealed! Flash-Fire Technique (-12)

Unsealed! Flame-Flicker Stance (-12)

Unsealed! Flame Dragon Form (-12)

Unsealed! Fiery Hand Attack (-12)

Session 9// 20 (25)

Unsealed! Breath of the Fire Dragon (-12)

Unsealed! Essence-Igniting Nerve Strike (-12)

Session 10// 16 (17)

Unsealed! Consuming Might of the Fire Dragon (-12)

Session 11// 16 (21)

Session 12// 18 (39)

Session 13// Not present

Session 14// 8 (47)

Session 15// 8 (55)

Session 16// 8 (63)

Session 17// 8 (71)

Session 18// Not present

Session 19// 10 (81)

Unsealed! Charisma 5 (-28)

Unsealed! Perception 3 (-8)

Unsealed! Wits 3 (-8)

Unsealed! Dexterity 4 (-12)

Unsealed! Dodge 4 (-6)

Unsealed! Presence 5 (-8)

Unsealed! Presence Specialty (-3)

Unsealed! Performance Specialty (-3)

Unsealed! Martial Arts Specialty (-3)

Session 20// 12 (14)

//SEASON BREAK//

Wishlist

Emerald Circle Sorcery (flying cloud, elemental summoning, that flaming sword from the Garden of Eden)