Wine, Waves and War

Wine, Waves & War

Theme Song: Tomorrow Never Comes, by VNV Nation

Heaven help us, we've lost control.

This should be our finest hour.

But we're racing toward the end of days.

House V'neef: The youngest of the Dynastic Houses of the Blessed Isle.

V'neef herself is a Dragon-Blooded of exceptional bloodline, a Wood-aspected matriarch at the tender age of sixty. Her house, made up of six Exalted children, their spouses and the few grandchildren sired so far, is tiny but influential. V'neef had the favor of the Scarlet Empress, and was clearly being groomed for something major before the Empress disappeared without a trace.

But V'neef has no illusions: the Scarlet Throne is beyond her grasp. She simply wishes to make sure that she rides the tide well, and maintains the prosperity of her growing house, a sure thing considering its interests. V'neef owns the only vineyards in the Blessed Isle, and the vintage they craft is in high demand. They also have managed to hold on to their Satrapies in the South, and their coffers continue to fill from those endeavors.

But the biggest point of power for the V'neef is also the biggest source of contention among the Great Houses. In effort to shake up the status quo a bit, the Scarlet Empress granted House V'neef control over the Imperial Merchant Navy, a massive trading fleet that oversees the huge majority of commerce between the Blessed Isle and the Threshold. As a result, V'neef coffers overflow dramatically...and the jealousy of the other Great Houses burns brightly.

The characters will begin on the Threshold, tending to the needs of the Satrapies and the Merchant Fleet.

Player Characters

There will be three factors to character creation: Age, Aspect and Relationships.

• Dynast characters begin with Attributes 7/6/4; Abilities 35 (5 Aspect, 3 Favored); Backgrounds 12; Charms 7 (4 must be Aspect or Favored; Immaculate martial artists begin with 5 Charms); Virtues 5; Bonus Points 15
  • Dynast characters must have at least Archery 1, Lore 2, Martial Arts 1, Melee 1, Performance 1, Presence 1, Ride 1, Socialize 2, War 1. V'neef-born Dynasts must also have 3 dots in the Breeding Background. All characters associated with House V'neef also gain 2 dots of Resources for free.
  • Dynast characters who want to have graduated from one of the four Secondary Academies of the Empire (or one of the two schools for incorrigible Dynasts) must fulfill the following requirements in addition to the above:
    • The Cloister of Wisdom: The religious academy intended to teach Dynasts self-control, respect for their status and piety. Must have Martial Arts 3, Integrity 2, Medicine 2, Resistance 2. Gain a free Martial Arts Specialty.
    • The House of Bells: The martial academy that teaches its students the arts of war, both personal and on the battlefield. Must have War 3, Presence 3. Gain a free dot in Command.
    • The Heptagram: The foremost school of occult lore, thaumaturgy and sorcery in the Blessed Isle. Must have Occult 3, Lore 3, Linguistics 1 (Old Realm). Gain a free Occult specialty.
    • The Spiral Academy: An academy dedicated to teaching its students to be bureaucrats, ministers, magistrates and governors. Must have Bureaucracy 3, Investigation 1, Linguistics 3. Gain a free dot in Resources.
    • The House of Ancient Stone: An agricultural academy that is more akin to a work camp than a school. Must have Bureaucracy 2, Lore 2, Occult 1.
    • The Palace of the Tamed Storm: A place of casual cruelty and harsh punishment whose students learn that the only way to survive is to learn cunning and charm both, hiding their schemes behind smiles and polite facades. Must have Larceny 3, Socialize 2.
  • Dynast characters have access to the following Backgrounds: Allies, Arsenal, Artifact (improved), Backing, Breeding (improved), Command, Connections, Familiar, Henchmen, Manse (improved), Mentor, Reputation, Resources, Retainers
  • Dynasts may not take the following Backgrounds: Contacts (use Connections), Cult, Followers (use Command, Henchmen or Retainers), Influence (use Connections)
• Outcaste characters begin with Attributes 7/6/4; Abilities 25 (5 Aspect, 3 Favored); Backgrounds 7; Charms 7 (4 must be Aspect or Favored; Immaculate martial artists begin with 5 Charms); Virtues 5; Bonus Points 15. All characters associated with House V'neef also gain 2 dots of Resources for free.
  • Outcaste characters have access to the following Backgrounds: Allies, Artifact, Backing, Breeding, Contacts, Cult (rare), Familiar, Followers, Influence, Manse, Mentor, Resources.
• Age: Half of the PCs will be young Exalts of starting player character age, reflecting the younger children and grandchildren of V'neef.
  • Older characters begin with more Experience, reflecting the older children of V'neef and their spouses. These characters have been Exalts for roughly 20 years, granting them:
    • 80 xp for use in buying Charms and Combos
    • 60 xp for purchasing Abilities, Specialties and Backgrounds
    • 40 xp for purchasing Attributes and Virtues
    • 20 xp for purchasing Essence and Willpower.
• Aspect: Half of the PCs will be direct descendants of V'neef (and as such, Wood-aspected). The other half can be spouses or grandchildren with different Aspects.
• Relationships: Relationships between the PCs should be established, as well. Siblings, spouses, nieces and nephews, children - these are all potential roles that PCs can play relative to one another.

Why You're Here

Your character may be in any of the settlements of the Great Southern Hills, as detailed below. Here are some typical reasons why this might be so.

• Satrap: An Exalt of sufficient influence may occupy the position of Satrap of the Varang City-States. (Requires ratings in Backing, Command, Connections and Resources)
• Merchant Fleetsman: Others may be tied to the V'neef Merchant Fleet. (Requires ratings in Backing, Command, Connections and Resources)
• Vintner: Yet others of the House may be in the Threshold overseeing one of the many vast wineries owned by House V'neef. (Requires ratings in Backing and Connections)
• Vacation: Whether enjoying a honeymoon, a safari-style hunting trip, a well-deserved vacation from the Blessed Isle's intrigues, an extended healing rest or a tour through the Threshold just after graduation from one of the major academies of the Dragon-Blooded, the PC is here to enjoy him or herself.
• Banishment: Scandal sometimes builds up a little too much on the Blessed Isle, where everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Times like those call for a bit of a retreat from society, and the Threshold is perfect for that.
• Official Business: Exalts tied to certain organizations in the Empire may be in the Threshold tending to their duties in that capacity, whether as spies and operatives, missionaries or factotums.

Setting

The South (Threshold)

The game begins in the Threshold, in the area south of Chiaroscuro known as the Great Southern Hills. Some of the settlements and civilizations of this region include:

• The city of Asherta, a city-states whose main industry is war. Asherta's prosperity is based on its ability to supply and provide armies, with great forges and mercenary companies based out of it.
• Alom Vilag, a tiny nation well and truly under the thumb of the Guild, though technically ruled by a royal house and its council of god-blooded mandarin-eunuchs.
• The Varang City-States, one of the V'neef Satrapies. A strange civilization noted for its love of clockwork mechanisms, and its rigid caste system based on astrological horoscopes cast at birth.
• The Mattahuk Alliance, a small collection of allied city-states allied by a court of small gods. Currently a focus of the Immaculate Order, who seek to lessen the influence of the gods on the city-states and possibly establish a new satrapy for the Realm here.
• The Tamas City-States, a collection of independent cities that flank the Tamas River.
• Tribes of the Great Southern Hills, including a handful of Delzahn clans and the Djala panda-folk.

The Blessed Isle

• The Vineyards, in the Qishi Prefecture, the closest thing the V'neef have to a home province.
• V'neef Wing of the Imperial Palace, Imperial City