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THE STRATAGEM

The Stratagem is the heart of the Perpetual Society in 1st Edition Immortal.  Here the Prides, acting like teams, practice their own unique version of field exercises.  Simulating a war of cunning and guile, the members of the Perpetual Society practice against one another, attempting to expose weaknesses in one another so that all may find their weak spots and strengthen them for the upcoming Rapture.

However, as of late, the Stratagem has once again began to fall apart, just as it did several centuries before.  Where once, no personal vendetta was allowed for the counting of coup, there are those that use this test of cunning and cleverness to their own advantage.  They have forgotten the true purpose behind the Stratagem, and now use it simply to advance their own personal power of the other Immortals.

But have faith my friends, here we present the Stratagem as it should be.  What it was meant to be in 1st Edition.  Here we present the rules of the Stratagem, which, when combined with the convictions of the Perptual Society, makes up bulk of the intrigue within the Immortal's world.  Here we will present the known basic laws of the Stratagem, how to count coup, and and overview of the Callings.  Please note that only the Emissary Calling was done fully by Precedence.  The other Calling templates are designed based on ideas handed down by Precedence.  And of course, everything here is merely a set of guidelines, feel free to do with them as you wish.

THE PANDECTS OF THE STRATAGEM:

  • Vengeance is for the Droves.  Never take personal affontry against one who has counted coup upon you.
    (It is forbidden to take vengeance against a member of the Society that has counted coup on you)

  • Visage is only granted for those deeds which are more cunning, and more clever than those before.  To do the same over and over may grant you some coup, but never visage.
    (Counting coup does not mean you gain visage automatically, though usually it does.  However, in order to gain your next point of visage, the deed must be grander than the last one that gained you visage.  It can be the same kind of deed, but must reveal more cunning and guile on your part.)

  • Except under sanctioned duel, it is forbidden to kill another member of the Perpetual Society.  Save death for the minions of the Sanguinary.
    (It is against the law to kill another member of the Society except during sanctioned duels or the Great Hunt each summer.  We may be on separate teams, but we are all part of the same army.)

  • The black tiers serve all, not just their Pride.   Do not suffer them to tasks which take them from their duty to the Society as a whole.
    (For those that reach these levels within the Callings, they now serve the Society as whole, seeing to help everyone with the power of their Calling.   They have already proven themselves to be full of guile and cunning by reaching this level.  There are also very few who are higher level than they, that they can go after to gain more visage.  Though allegiance to Paragon is still high, their allegiance to the Pride as a whole is put aside slightly to see to the needs and the working together of the Society as whole.  Note that as of late, much of this law has been looked over . . . . )

  • The Quiet Cultures are not the domain of Rooks.   A Rook shall not lead a Quiet Culture, except under the direction of a member of the Callings.  The Callings can demand of the Quiet Cultures when they need to as long as they do not conflict with that Culture's current leader.
    (A Rook, by their nature, has no power of Quiet Cultures.   Members of the Callings, can go to any of their Pride's Quiet Cultures, and receive food, shelter, assistance, etc.  They also can make use of the resources of that Quiet Culture at will, so long as the current Immortal leader of that Quiet Culture does not already have those resources in use for something else.  And yes, visage will play a role in just how much that person can get)

  • The word of your Paradigm is law, but the word of your Paragon is higher law, unless that Paragon's word goes against the Stratagem.
    (In cases where a Paradigm and Paragon have given conflicting orders, the Paragon actually wins out.  However, this is actually rare.  Since their is only one Paradigm for each Calling (one Slayer Paradigm, not one for each Pride), they carry a lot of power and most Paragons are not willing to risk that)

  • Above and beyond the tenents of your Calling, there you will find coup and visage.  Those who do not rise above the station of their Calling in the pursuit of coup, do not deserve their title.
    (Doing the day to day job of a Juggler [hiding Immortal Society from twilight eyes] does not gain one coup.  You must go above and beyond, to the limits of what your Calling does, in order to gain coup.  For example, since killing is forbidden, except for hunting powerful Droves, a Slayer would not gain visage for the most part, if he did not go beyond the bounds of his Calling)

  • The Silence is law.  Do not attempt that which will unwittingly bring the notice of the Sanguinary upon us.
    (In short, don't play serenades that you stand a risk of failing.  Pride Nimrod, which brought the Silence into being, has the right to act as Scourges against anyone that causes a ripple and breaks the Silence.)

PARAGONS

The Paragons lead the Prides in their day to day life.   Like an oversized adopted family, or super-Pantheon of Gods, the Paragon serves as the spiritual leader of his or her Pride.  In rare cases (such as the Anopheles) there can be more than one Paragon, but again, this is extremely rare.  The Paragon continually must watch for challenges from amongst the Black Tier Callings within his or her Pride.  The Paragon's words are the highest law in the Perpetual Society, and they meet together to set policy for the Society in their most powerful of Conclaves.   Though these are rumoured to take place in the Midwest of the United States each summer, many say this is just a smokescreen for their true clandestine meetings.  We have the list of some of the Paragons below:

  • Anopheles - Cadre Raga

  • Arachne - ??? - But the Drone seems to be their main guide

  • Banjax - Ra

  • Dracul - ??? - But Sharakai still seems to guide them from the Blue Air

  • Eremites - ???

  • Magdalen - Zeus

  • Morrigan - Odin

  • Nimrod - Semiramis, the former Queen of the Horned Lord

  • Peri - Palin (of the house of the same name) we believe

  • Phoenix - A representative of the 50 Warlords (Immortal Scions of the Horned Lord) is chosen to represent them at Conclaves.

  • Roane - ???

  • Tautha - ??? - But guided by those they take care of, the Sunedrion

  • Terat - Ammut

PARADIGMS

The Paradigms are the leaders of the Callings, who have left their Pride Affiliation and do not concern themselves with the day to day political machinations of the Perpetual Society.  There is one Paradigm for each Calling.   Within each Pride there does exist a lesser Paradigm of each Calling.  So all the lesser Paradigms of the Slayer (one for each Pride) all report to the one true Paradigm (who may be of any Pride, but again has left his or her Pride Affiliation behind).  We have not list of Paradigms, that is wholly left to the Narrator.

 

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OTHER INFORMATION

COUNTING COUP - A beautiful article from Ran Ackels, reprinted here, describing all you need to know about how to get visage

EMISSARIES - This is the only true template created by Precedence.  The others are made using this and other notes and conceptual ideas as a guideline.  As we get that information in, we will make up something of a set of templates to help you out with those as well.

SLAYERS

JUGGLERS

KEEPERS

SLEEPERS

HIGHBINDERS

PROBES

SCOURGES

ROOKS - Not a Calling, but some description of them here, and what it means to be one.

 

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