The Affair of the Jade Lamp
Religious fervor has spread throughout Ecatepac. At its center lies a newly-ordained priest bearing a lantern said to dole out blessings and banes for his enraptured congregation.
Aspects
- Relevance: Lantern
- Relevance: Nectar
- Incident
Visitors: Lantern
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Audrey Leigh Howard | ’I’ve come back over to consult on plans. This priest has made powerful friends, and those friends want Sovereign Metals involved in the construction of a new Basilica.' | 'Templo de San Ehécatl el Mayor, they’re callling it. I need a little more on that sort of thing so I know what kinds of extra services we ought to bill for.' | 'Seems like Sovereign Metals finds itself contracted by an interesting client indeed. I’ll encourage our architects to divert from the conservative plan: a tetraconch instead of a chancel, and amber instead of stained glass.‘ | Lady Audrey consulted the Haustorium’s collection to inform architectural designs for a church for the priest, which diverged sharply from typical models. |
| Dr Shams Mohammad | ’Lamps are potent symbol. Dare I hope these are the beginnings of the Chandler’s work in Mexico?' | 'What is the fuel? Put otherwise, whence the flame?' | 'Not the flame I hoped, but we who know the Chandler know never to be unsatisfied by a surprise. The Egg Unhatching is near to our aims, and I only celebrate the re-emergence of its church. Farewell, Librarian.‘ | Dr Mohammad discerned that, while not a Chandler-cult, this new movement followed the Egg Unhatching and still served the Chandler’s aims. |
| Dr Delilah Molotla | ’I heard that this priest read from one of my books during a homily… he’s a student of some of the same traditions as me. I hope he did it justice.' | 'I’m considering a study of Ecatepec and its old associations with the confluence of the winds. I hear this priest has an interesting approach to the Sacrament… an old approach, perhaps?' | 'The Sun and Blood, again and again. When I started graduate work I never thought that so much of my field work would be so… visceral. I’ll clarify some finer details of the Low Sun Epoch to this priest, and maybe get a monograph started in the process.‘ | Dr Molotla saw shared interests between herself and the priest of Ecatepec and went to provide him with more accurate details of the Low Sun Epoch. |
Visitors: Nectar
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sr Jesus Choqne | ’Ecatepec was so very important to me, once, but I left questions there unanswered. I have to move on, at some point. No matter what.' | 'I must know just this, though I wil suffer the consequences for asking. Was there life in those roots beneath the old temple? Did I succeed where I thought I’d quit halfway through?' | 'So the recurrence emerges… I have already dwelt on this too long. But oh how I wish I could go back and see what yet may come! I will try to keep away. I will suffer either way. Thank you, friend.‘ | Acting against his judgment, Jesus found clarity that a work he began in Ecatepec long ago is coming to fruition. |
| Sra Maruja Mallo | ’A dear friend and colleague has joined this cult of the Jade Lamp. She insists that I familiarize myself with its iconography.' | 'I work in colors. Why jade?' | 'Jade is not the color of any flame, but it is the color of blood. If that confuses you, I suggest you find a darkroom and draw just a little of your blood. Things look different under a red light.‘ | Maruja revealed the lamp’s color was the same as the color of blood under a red sun. |
| Dr Yukie Chiri | ’I’m planning to interview this priest! I think he must be much more than he seems.' | 'I should prepare some good questions about these prophecies of weal and woe.' | 'I think I’ll keep my questions focused around the relationship between mercy and knowledge, rather than dwelling on the blessings and banes. I suspect that it’s an old Name calling the shots here, not your everyday Watchman-Adept.‘ | Dr Chiri suspected that the priest was a vessel of an old Name and focused her interview with him on the relationship between mercy and knowledge. |
Faculty Consultations
| Faculty | Start | Finish | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Lacombe | ’Have you ever held an egg to the light? You can faintly see the Thing within, but only just barely. Bear with me… I’m making a point.' | 'In the days when the Sun was Red, there were no books to burn nor secrets to keep! We were all of us ignorant, and all of us happier for it, to be honest. That’s why they say the Egg Unhatching was gentle, but the Watchman is merciless. It is kinder to only see mysteries dimly.‘ | Lesson: Watchman’s Paradoxes |
| Isidoro Dahlmann | ’San Ehécatl of the Four Winds, denizen of the lower skies, bearer of that old lost music. Would you like to hear one of his songs?' | 'Outside the Savage Door, I met a man who said he gave his blood for Ehécatl, and in so dying learned the first song of the sun. It is a crooning, cracking thing that speaks of maternal protection and paternal wisdom. It is the kind of song that the Carapace Cross chittered over their brood as they warned them of the dangers without. If I were to sing it to you, librarian, I fear you’d succumb to something older than fascination.‘ | Lesson: Strings & Songs |
| I Who Did-Still-Will Continue | ’A lamp of jade… lit in the shadows of a temple long shattered… found among broken shells and crumpled corpses… ‘ | …a church of the Old Sun… come once again to light… blood will be taken… much will be given… the Wake will know less… mortals will welcome this mercy… so it was before… so it will be again.‘ | Lesson: Edicts Inviolable |
| Robigo | ’What wondrous work this priest is doing! My favorite part is the faith healing. My second favorite part is the bloodletting.' | 'There are many sacraments under many names, but I have always loved the less-regarded uses of the Sacrament Malachite. The Malachite loves her honey, but her favorite food has always been blood. Eggshells are a wonderful fertilizer. I predict this priest has provoked her wrath.‘ | Lesson: Rites of the Roots |
| The Feathered Woman | ’Once, the Heavens were full of bold voices and mighty powers. Now, those same powers must cling to roots and hide in burrows, hoping for a reawakening.' | 'When the Sun was red, there was comfort in knowing mortals would not grasp all they saw. With the opening of the prism, there were too many ways to be seen and known. Darkness became the only safety.‘ | Lesson: Hill & Hollow |