The Affair of the Pale Sovereign
The oracle-painter Rita Vernyhora has befuddled the invisible world with her unveiling of ‘The Pale Sovereign’ in Kyiv. Many agree it depicts an Hour; few agree on which; all are concerned that she dubbed it a funerary portrait.
Aspects
- Relevance: Scale
- Relevance: Grail
- Incident
Visitors: Scale
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ms Emilia Muñoz | I know what I hope to see there. But hope alone cannot make it true, not down here.‘ | Whatever Hour is shown there, I doubt it could be the King Below. Still, I’d like to know who it could be, to prepare for what I may find.‘ | The gods-from-stone wore no crowns, not as we know them, but they nonetheless ruled. They are dead enough to earn such a portrait, though when one ruler truly dies, another shall succeed them, no? Perhaps I’ll witness their coronation.‘ | Emilia came to believe the portrait was one of the gods-from-stone, who once ruled the world, and mused on whether their successor might be coronated. |
| Ato Petros | I must understand what has happened. I must understand what will happen.‘ | The Histories are layered like strata, like oil over canvas. I must know what lies at the bottom. When the past is known, so too is the future.‘ | I saw the traitor-gods, what they took from the Coils. The Colonel stole their past. The Mother drank their future. Soon, very soon, the blood of the traitor-gods will soak into the earth to parch the thirsting Histories.‘ | Petros saw an image of the traitor-gods who slew the Seven-Coils, and anticipated that their blood would soon spill and parch ‘the thirsting Histories.‘ |
| Dr Shams Mohammad | An image of an Hour no one can agree on, but nonetheless exists. Rather familiar language to me through my mentor.‘ | I do not believe it is her, of course. What does not yet exist cannot be killed, anymore than ideas can. But I’d like to know what may soon depart us.‘ | The world always changes, yet never in the same way. Whoever this portrait is for, it tells me the world will soon be set to the flame. Perhaps I’ll see you again once it’s extinguished.‘ | Dr Mohammad portended a drastic shift in the world to come, remarking that it would ‘be set to the flame.‘ |
Visitors: Grail
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Delilah Molotla | There quite a few prophecies of the Sun-in-Splendour’s end. People weren’t willing to listen back then. Now that he’s divided, I’m eager to see what they make of this.‘ | The passions of the Hours are said to stir the movements of the world, and those stirrings reveal glimpses of the future to the perceptive. I’m almost certain Vernyhora has snatched one and committed it to canvas. I just want to know what passions may have inspired it.‘ | For so long, the Hours have constrained their hatred to avoid war in the House of the Sun. I thought the Wolf-Divided could bear their hatred for them, but perhaps even he cannot express its depths… Much to think about, now, and much to prepare for.‘ | Dr Molotla thought Rita Vernyhora painted a vision of the future - one where the Hours’ hatred incites a war in the House of the Sun. |
| Sra. Maruja Mallo | Oh Rita, my dear, what have you brought into the world this time?‘ | If only I could lay eyes on the original myself… well, no use mourning the impossible. I’m much more interested in seeing how far we can spread her work. If copies can produce the same effect, I have no reason to mourn.‘ | Thank you. I have some letters to write, some friends to contact. I’ll be sure to mention you, of course. Hopefully she’ll get a hold of this before the Duties can.‘ | Maruja researched ways for Rita Vernyhora’s painting to be reproduced with utmost expression, hoping to share her friend’s work. |
| Prof. Ji Yuan | Ms Vernyhora is truly talented. Have one of her landscapes in my office. But whatever’s going on here is on another echelon entirely.‘ | The colors were striking, eccentric, and rather… pale. Too pale to persist beneath the Sun. If she used rare pigments, I’d like to know which, and if she didn’t… I’d like to know how.‘ | Not ground-up witchworms, but something close. She couldn’t have possibly used actual Worms? Seems I have an interview to conduct and some sources to discover. Farewell, Librarian.‘ | Prof. Yuan concluded that Rits Vernyhora utilized Worm-adjacent pigments in her work and took off to Kyiv to interview her - as well as to find out where she sourced them from. |
Faculty Consultations
| Faculty | Start | Finish | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robigo | We are quite an avid patron of the arts, and Ms Vernyhora has certainly not left us disappointed. | Ms Vernyhora is looked upon fondly by our master and his compatriots. If she weren’t committed to their cause already, perhaps we would’ve asked her to join us. But the work of the Contentum is done best beyond the Watchman’s Tree. | Lesson: Edicts Hospitable |
| Shura the Pythian | There are many ways for an Hour to die, and many who have witnessed their deaths. But there’s one we have not seen… not yet. | The alukites are counted amongst the Dead, counted Dead in the eyes of the Law, but the force of their appetites sustain them. If an Hour were to turn alukite, it too would die to the Law… but as an Hour, an embodiment of Law, it would yet live to uphold it, or redefine it. Exceptions are born as such, you understand, and more than you can ever comprehend. | Lesson: Resurgences & Emergences |
| Socorro Valenzuela | I haven’t seen any photos, nor do I wish to see it myself. Yet I have no doubt it depicts something true, whether it will be true, or was true once. | I do not believe the Terrible Ones nor that their Tyrant truly existed, but I do see the bones of a truth in that story, clad in clay as it is. Another skeleton is assembling in a similar shape, and I have no doubt that something powerful shall enter the earth. Best keep an eye on where its burial site, then. | Lesson: Fangs & Fossils |
| The Feathered Woman | Always a ruler, up in the Heavens and down on the Earth. But they aren’t always Hours… not entirely. | The Monarch-at-the-Crossroads, he ruled the Lower Skies, you understand? And he was many as the Thritige-kind, awoken when they recognized him in themselves, staring back from within their eyes. He was not any one of them, yet acted through each of them. So when the Hours act and rule, who is it that dwells within them? | Lesson: Stone Stories |