Always the Blood (And Call for Mechanics)
It's in the blood. It always is.
And with Nectar (my favorite aspect) we finish with the major circle of nine Silk-minor Skills! (If you haven't noticed, the nine skills before form a chain that covers each of the Nine Wisdoms exactly twice.) I'll probably take a bit of a lore-break before starting with the four remaining Silk-major skills, which would hopefully reveal more of the story behind the Silk Principle, so I'll take this chance to ask you guys what new mechanics, recipes, cards, or items you'd want to see in a Silk-based mod! As always, if you use the appropriate ink, the Hours might listen...
SKILL: Circulations and Stabilizations (2 Nectar 1 Silk)
The cross was never the first change, nor was the moth the first longing.
Commit to The Bosk:
The flesh is a map, and Bosk knows the right way.
Gains Mettle
Commit to Illumination:
The blood is a congregation, and Illumination keeps the fragile balance.
Gains Health
Book: The Sea’s End (Mystery: Silk 4, Solar)
An unnumbered volume of the meditations of Abbot Thomas of the Abbey of the Black Dove.
I’m Reading:
In an uncharacteristic turn of pastoral vividity, Abbot Thomas speaks of the nights on the high seas. ‘Below us the waves quietly lap, while above the stars blanket down. We are but an egg between the sky and sea waiting to hatch, and times like these can quell even the ever restless Trygve…’
I’ve Read:
Abbot Thomas laments, and reminisces, and speculates. In a poetic epilogue, he comforts himself by comparing Brancrug to an egg, ‘for it, like us, can hatch the sun, the moon, the sky, the sea, the door.’ (Gained Lessons: Circulations and Stabilizations, Memory: Confounding Parable)
Book: Deg Wexxam N Wayur (Reel of Film, Mystery: Nectar 6, Dawn)
A reel of film, transcribed from a record, transcribed from an old play, transcribed from a manuscript, transcribed from scratchings on a cave long crumbled.
I’m Reading:
A blurry silhouette is set with its back against us, as an old, smooth voice recounts an older, smoother story. At what will become home to the Invisible Serapeum, they are known as Osiris and Iris, victim and restorer; at what will become home to the Grove, they are known as Fuxi and Nüwa, the shaper of mankind and the mender of our skies… Yet all retellings must not, must not get this wrong: That they are gods, that they are siblings, and they are lovers.
I’ve Read:
Slowly, slowly, the figure recounts the divine creation, divine love, and divine deaths of the sibling deities. They are long gone now – murdered by those who seek to become them – and yet their blood still dances inside us, even now. ‘The blood is a door,’ the figure finally cautions before blossoming, ‘but all doors open both ways, do they not?’ (Gained Lessons: Circulations and Stabilizations x2, Memory: Earth-Sign)
Book: Advice on Continuation (Unabridged) (Mystery: Nectar 8, Baronial)
Note: This book can only be obtained through gathering at the Crowcross Sands.
Journals of Ernestine Peterhans, the ‘Iron Seneschale’ of Hush House, at the end of her life. Recovered from the Crowcross Sands.
I'm Reading:
After the death of Giles and the birth of Walter, Peterhans became increasingly anxious over a supposed "pale-lost legacy", afraid it might anger a "dark-lost opponent" residing in the House, whom only she can keep in line. ‘Three flowers hath the tree,’ she writes, ‘but owneth not the tree the black, the white, the red.’
I've Read:
To appease ‘the black and the white’, Ernestine attempts to banish ‘the red that flowereth not’ by replacing her blood with seawater. The final entry, allegedly written ‘beneath the wave’, contains one simple sentence: ‘To die forever is a curse – yet so is to live.’ (Gained Lessons: Circulations & Stabilizations x2, Memory: Stolen Secret)
Book: I Ching (Mystery: Silk 10, Dawn)
The Book of Change. A philosophy, an annum, and a divination book, compiled by a prisoner-king in his years of solitude. To follow the divination methodologies outlined in this book requires fifty blades of yarrow grass.
I’m Reading:
‘First Hexagram, Sky upon Sky. The Glory: Primal, Resonant, Harmonious, Righteous… Twenty-first Hexagram, Fire upon Thunder. The Devourers: Resonant, Affinity to Retribution.’
I’ve Read:
‘Sixty-second Hexagram, Thunder upon Mountain. Small Excesses: When the Birds leave their cries of mourning, fly not above, but nest below. Great auspiciousness.’ (Gained Lesson: Circulations and Stabilizations x3, Memory: Pattern)