Adeimantus

Adeimantus
Custodian of Utopia

Background: Through the mine-streets of Gahana, dust-painted horsewomen ride down glittering serpents with hunting picks. In Fang,
wind-scarred urchins swing across the spire’s enamel, carrying parcels on frayed wires. Sewer-farmers hack mushrooms from the lower
labyrinth of Black Migao, racing to finish work before tiderise. All dream of something more. Something better.

This is how it starts.

Architects, revolutionaries, children — Adeimantus approaches such visionaries in dreams. The muse-king bestows the insight these
fantasists need, and all he asks in return is a shrine. Their ambition grows, infecting streets like a beautiful disease, and the
shrine swells with it. It becomes a temple, a forum, a palace. It becomes the foundation for Beimeni-Ta.

O Beimeni-Ta, jewel of a bygone age! Seat of philosophy for the Shogunate! Harmonious home to beauty and thought, where anarchy sat
chained in the dungeons! Such virtues were nothing before the Wyld, which swallowed the perfect city whole.

Lost beyond even the grip of the scavenger lords, the Wyld preserves Beimeni-Ta like a corpse in brine, ruled by Adeimantus, the
raksha king, and his devil’s senate. The people are puppets, Wyld figments who indulge in illusory pleasures. The culture is
Madness, a melange of koans and trends stewed over centuries. The towers are dust, held together by the mortar of memory.

Once he establishes his foothold in Creation, Adeimantus works to spread utopia. His surroundings adopt aspects of Beimeni-Ta —
veined marble, sweet air, distant music, rich simplicity — and his city shimmers like a congealing mirage over Wyld-slick rooftops.
King and courtiers cannot venture far beyond its limits, but these grow with every mortal enthralled and slum purged.

In time, the host city becomes Beimeni-Ta in truth. What beast would oppose the return of perfection? Adeimantus elevates idealists
to ambassadors, and his city creeps street by street into Creation, replacing structures and citizens like a cuckoo hurling ugly
siblings from the nest.

Image: a short and delicate lordling with soft, hairless features, clad in loose midnight robes, a silvery sash, and simple white
stone ornaments. Adeimantus has short crimson horns, trimmed claws, and chalk-blue skin tattooed with Beimeni-Ta’s history in
scrolling red letters.


Intimacies: Defining: Beimeni-Ta (Devotion); Major: Artists & Scholars (Covetousness); Minor: “Compassion is no substitute for
civility.”; “Violence is beneath me.”

Secrets: Beimeni-Ta was real, once. Its city father, Broad Cypress, fled the Wyld, and foreswore greater dreams to become the
kindly patron of a fishing village. He is a per-fect anchor for the perfect city. Permanently banishing Beimeni-Ta would be a
mystical act on the order of an Ambition 1 Solar working or other equivalent feat, with Broad Cypress’ sacrifice as an
irreplaceable component.

Equipment: Adeimantus bears a red-gold diadem of false sunlight, a scepter studded with the jewels of Beimeni- Ta’s desires, and a
black-emerald kris which hangs from his sash, forged from the dream-city’s absent sorrows.

Roleplaying Hints: Adeimantus is a condescending sophisticate who only wants the best for Beimeni-Ta, and regards other
civilizations as mere echoes. Creation’s inhabitants are all citizens-in-waiting, and he delights in meeting those of refinement —
such arts are jewels for Beimeni-Ta’s crown, so he obsessively courts sages, courtesans, and martial artists.

Adeimantus does not lower himself to fighting unless he must, appealing to reason when defied and expressing pity for those he
considers blind to the virtue of his cause. His death would banish Beimeni-Ta for a time — but his heir, chosen by quarreling
raksha senators, would be free to claim it for themselves. Beimeni-Ta was dangerous enough when it aspired to perfection; what form
might the parasitic dollhouse take when remade in a new devil’s image?



Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4; Cha-risma 7, Manipulation 6, Appearance 6; Perception 5, Intelligence 6, Wits 5
Essence: 5
Willpower: 8
Join Battle: 9 dice
Personal Motes: 50
Health Levels: −0x2/−1x2/−2x4/−4x1/Incap.
Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 4, Bureaucracy (Civic Leadership) 5, Craft (Artwork) 4, Dodge 4, Integrity (Condescension) 5,
Investigation 3, Linguistics 5, Lore 5, Martial Arts (Dreaming Pearl Courtesan) 2, Medicine 3, Occult 3, Performance 5, Presence
(Philosophical Justification) 5, Resistance 3, Socialize (Polite Dismissal) 5, War 3
Merits: Cult 0-5 (see “Wyldcraft”), Fae Nature (Exalted, p. 535), Retainers 4 (see “Escort”), Martial Artist, Unlettered Bane
(below)
Attack (Unarmed): 11 dice (Damage 11); Tags: Bashing, Brawl, Grappling, Natural
Attack (Grapple): 7 dice (6 to control)
Attack (Invocation): (Cult + 8) dice (Damage 15/2); see Prescient Nightmare Invocation
Combat: Soak 9, Hardness 4 (Midnight Robe: +5/4); Parry 4 (Martial Arts); Evasion 5; Rush 9 dice; Disengage 9 dice
Social: Resolve 5 (6 while condescending), Guile 6
Escort: Raksha senators equivalent to cataphracts and lorelei (Exalted, pp.  534-535) dwell within Beimeni-Ta. They visit Wyld-
tainted Creation as Adeimantus’ Retainers. Mortals who make up his Cult use monk/warrior priest traits (Exalted, p. 499).


New Merit: Unlettered Bane
Unlike those fae who suffer iron’s bite, Adeimantus is vulnerable to enemies who neglect the history drawn upon his skin. Attackers
with Linguistics 0 deal aggravated damage to him.

Wyldcraft
Once per story, Adeimantus can use raksha witchcraft to mimic Silent Words of Dreams and Nightmares (Exalted, p. 475). Each Wyld
dream grants the recipient (Adeimantus’ Cult + 2) banked non-Charm successes, which she can add one or multiple at a time to
actions that work toward bringing Beimeni-Ta to reality; any left unused fade at the end of the story. If no player character is
involved, Storyteller characters who receive these dreams simply achieve their works more quickly and extravagantly than they
otherwise would.

Adeimantus needs no link to his target. Instead, she must possess some symbolic link to Beimeni-Ta, such as an ornament, a song,
or an ancestor. The Immaculate Order demolishes tainted buildings and purges poets wherever they banish Adeimantus, in an attempt
to prevent his return.

Once his dreamers have completed his shrine, the village, small town, or neighborhood surrounding it becomes Wyld bordermarches —
Beimeni-Ta’s foothold in Creation. Its mortal population becomes Adeimantus’ Cult. Only mortals with an Intimacy opposing Beimeni-
Ta can live within the foothold without reinforcing the parasite reality. Cultists act to spread Adeimantus’ gospel and pieces of
Beimeni-Ta’s culture to provide new links for him to expand his foothold with new shrines elsewhere; his Cult rating reflects the
total population of all tainted places, adjacent or not. If another new foothold is established after he achieves Cult 5, all foot
holds manifest as middlemarches. Left unchecked, these eventually transplant the actual city from its place in the deepmarches into
Creation.

Beimeni-Ta blesses tainted areas with magical conveniences beyond compare — fountains of healing water, street-cleaning automata,
weather divided by district — which grow in potency and wondrousness as Adeimantus’ Cult increases.

Charms
OFFENSIVE CHARMS

Footprints in Rhapsody (3m, 1i; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous, Psyche; Essence 2): The philoso-pher-king leads victims down distant,
idealized paths. Adeimantus activates this Charm at the end of his turn, choosing a single character he successfully disen-gaged
from or hit that turn. That character moves to close range with Adeimantus, which doesn’t count as her move action, and suffers a
−1 to her Resolve and Guile until the end of Adeimantus’ next turn. She treats this Charm as unacceptable influence if the movement
would be obviously fatal.

Prescient Nightmare Invocation (2m or 7m, 3i, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Withering-only; Essence 1): Adeimantus speaks to conjure half
solid visions, warnings of the sorrows facing Creation without Bei-meni-Ta. For two motes, he makes a withering in-vocation attack
at close or short range. The enemy’s maximum applicable soak against this attack is equal to her Resolve, if it’s lower, modified
by applicable Intimacies. Though Adeimantus prefers not to fight himself, his dire warnings galvanize his followers; he can instead
pay the increased cost to apply this attack to all enemies in contact with an allied battle group, adding its (Size + Might) to his
attack and damage rolls. He gains no Initiative from this attack. Instead, the battle group regains Magnitude equal to half the
Initiative the enemies collectively lost, up to its maximum.

Shun the Murk-Blind Host (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Decisive-only; Essence 2): Weeping, Adei-mantus shatters his emerald kris. The
shards make one decisive attack against each character within close range with 9 dice, which ignores Hardness and divides his
Initiative evenly among all targets. Each shard carries a poison (Damage 1wp/day, Duration 7 days, penalty −3), resisted with (Wits
+ Integrity). While suffering the poison’s effects, victims are con-sidered Hideous (Exalted, p. 162) by anyone with Linguistics
1+.

Wyld-Gospel Gathering (10m; Simple; One scene; Essence 2): Once per scene, Adeimantus may rally citizens real and unreal, creating
a battle group with Size equal to his Cult, Might 1 when within Bei-meni-Ta or its foothold in Creation, average Drill, and the
traits of battle-ready troops (Exalted, p. 496). Enemies with Linguistics 0 treat the battle group as having Defense 0, and may
move through its space without paying Initiative. The group disperses when the Charm ends.


DEFENSIVE CHARMS

Infinity Mirror Bedevilment (4m, 2i; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous; Essence 2): Adeimantus may only use this Charm on his turn.
Briefly trapping foes in a web of endless rumination, he reflexively reads the in-tentions of every character at close range,
rerolling 5s and 6s until they fail to appear. If he beats the Guile of every opponent, he may immediately disengage.

Municipal Perfection Decree (8m, 1wp; Simple; One scene; Eclipse; Essence 3): The perfect city flows into forms both aesthetic and
defensible with a tap of its lord’s scepter. Adeimantus can reflexively take cover (Exalted, p. 198) on his turn, making dream
city features briefly real, and reduces the Defense bonus of all cover by one against his own attacks. He can use a miscellaneous
action to alter or create one urban feature at close range, such as carving a gateway or forming a beautiful bridge to escape;
doing so to harm or inconvenience an opponent requires a gambit with difficulty (6 − Cult). These changes revert when the round
ends. An Eclipse who learns this Charm can only use it within a city where she holds some position of authority; her gambit
difficulty is (6 − higher of Cult or Essence), minimum 1.

Steel-to-Silk Deferral (3m, 1i; Reflexive; Instant; Perilous, Uniform): Adeimantus politely drifts away from bloodshed, movements
veiled by illusory sy-cophants. He gains +1 Evasion against one attack, which does not increase his onslaught penalty. If his
attacker has an Intimacy that supports Beimeni-Ta, the Evasion bonus matches its intensity instead.

Vaunted Paradise Defense (4m, 1wp; Reflex-ive; Instant; Clash, Decisive-only, Psyche; Essence 2): Adeimantus demands justification
for violence with a reflexive (Charisma + Socialize) clash attack against an incoming decisive attack. Instead of inflicting
damage, the clash acts as an instill action, weakening any Intimacies which oppose Beimeni-Ta. Adeimantus can use this Charm once
per scene, unless it’s reset by a significant enemy’s surrender.


SOCIAL CHARMS

False Enlightenment Crucible (4m; Supplemen-tal; Instant; Essence 2): Enlightened reason prevails over absurd attachments.
Adeimantus rerolls 1s until 1s fail to appear on an inspire action. On success, he suppresses one Intimacy that opposed his
influence; characters with Linguistics 1+ who failed to resist con-sider the Intimacy a childish, petty concern, which cannot
modify their Resolve for the rest of the scene.

Wishful Temptation Appeal (3m; Simple or Re-flexive; Instant; Eclipse; Essence 3): Illusory tapestries display ills that utopia
might avert. Adeimantus uses Performance to persuade listeners to act on Beimeni-Ta’s behalf, ignoring the penalty for influencing
multiple characters. Choose a specific person or place; listeners with a Tie toward it treat it as a Tie toward Beimeni-Ta, and
treat its intensity as one step higher for purposes of modifying Resolve. Adeimantus can use this Charm reflexively upon crashing a
significant enemy with Prescient Nightmare Invocation, but must choose a Tie that modified his victim’s Resolve against the attack.

MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS
Dream-Wrought Ascendancy (2m; Supple-mental; Instant; Stackable; Essence 4): Adeimantus adds one success to any roll that supports
an Intimacy gained through Unborn Echo Ripple (below). He can use this Charm once per roll for each supporting Inti-macy, adding up
to (Cult) successes.

Smoke-and-Mirror Retreat (20m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 4): Adeimantus declares this land an unsuitable foundation for
perfection and fades away on his next turn, returning to the true Beimeni-Ta in the Wyld. As a shaping effect, the most tainted
structures are spirited away with him on the turn after that, as are any inhabitants with a positive Major or Defining Intimacy for
the city who fail a (Wits + Integrity) roll with a difficulty equal to Adeimantus’ Cult.

Unborn Echo Ripple (1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 5): Adeimantus opens the vault of dreams, choosing one character present who
must introduce a fact (Exalted, p. 237) about Beimeni-Ta that sup-ports one of her Intimacies, without a roll. The fact becomes
true, and Adeimantus gains an appropriate Minor Principle. For example, Ku Nenaveya’s con-tempt for bandits might turn Beimeni-Ta
into a fortress against crime, giving Adeimantus a Minor Principle of justice. These changes have a visible impact on the city, but
inhabitants retroactively accept them as if they were always present.