Arianna (Exalted)

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Arianna from the front cover of the novel In Northern Twilight written by Jess Hartley and published by White Wolf Publishing.

Exalted is a role-playing game published by White Wolf Publishing. The game is classified as high fantasy. It is strongly influenced by Japanese anime and manga, the cultures of China and Rome, and a number of literary sources such as the writings of Michael Moorcock. Arianna is one of the signature characters of Exalted, a representative of the Solar Exalted Twilight Caste.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Pre-Exaltation

Arianna was a servant at the Library at Glassport, cleaning and helping to maintain a calm order in the library where scholars came to study. Of course, Arianna took time at night when the scholars were all off carousing or sleeping to study by candlelight. Despite the fact that she quickly outstripped the male scholars at the library, they were disdainful of her and would never admit that a mere woman might be able to match them for scholarship or excel them in lore. At the library, she wrapped scarves around her face and clothed herself in concealing robes so that none could accuse her of using her body to seduce the men who studied in the library and claim that she had gained a place there unjustly. In the end, the books in the library were all she had and every day was filled with bitterness as her learning was ignored.

[edit] Exaltation

Arianna was sitting beneath a window in the library, just before dawn, as was her custom, frowning over a translation of the poem, On The Fall Of The Silver City, by Bernlak, attempting to fix the poem in her memory and discern a hidden symbolism to some of the lines of the poem when a slow light began to spread around her. Lifting her hand, she saw it was surrounded by a dark-blue fire, the shade of lapis lazuli threaded through with gold. With her Exaltation, she remembered ancient words of power, forbidden diagrams of sorcery... For a moment, she remembered everything, and then it was gone, but she was conscious of the power that had descended down upon her and had granted her desires. She knew she was of the Twilight Caste.

[edit] Since her Exaltation

Although she enjoyed two relatively peaceful seasons after her Exaltation, the Wyld Hunt was already on her trail, the Immaculate Order having read the signs of her coming. A double handful of Dragon Blooded descended upon her, intent upon wiping her out of Creation. She gathered up her throwing knives, her notes and a few texts and fled from the Wyld Hunters. She invoked the spell, Invulnerable Skin of Bronze and jumped out a window to escape from the Wyld Hunt. Before she could escape, the cruel bite of a Wyld Hunter's blade marked her, giving her the scar across her face. She was able to escape by summoning a phantom steed and riding off into the night. She wasn't able to elude the Wyld Hunt, but was able to escape them with the help of her newly Exalted ally, Swan.

Since then, she has traveled Creation looking for ancient texts and repositories of lore, seeking to restore the glory of the Solars to their proper place in Creation and to uncover the lost secrets of the First Age. Arianna is a member of a Solar circle with Dace, Panther, Harmonious Jade, and Swan.

[edit] Stories involving Arianna

• In Jess Hartley's novel, "In Northern Twilight", Arianna's story is told as she Exalts, escapes from the Wyld Hunt, meets Swan and they travel to the camps of Yurgen Kaneko, the Bull of the North. Arianna and Swan eventually part ways as Swan completes his diplomatic mission and Arianna stays with Yurgen Kaneko, hoping to uncover secrets contained in the books he owns and in the Manses he controls. After completing his mission, Swan returns to try to find Arianna, his affection for her not having diminished in the slightest during their absence from each other, but must find her as she has travelled with the Bull of the North. During a clashing of forces between the Realm and the Bull of the North, Swan and Arianna must avert disaster and repay a debt to a forest spirit as one of the Bull's allies, an Exalted sorceress named Samea, unleashes a magma kraken in the forest to destroy their enemies, but the fires it generates are soon out of control and threaten to consume the entire forest.
• In the novel, "The Carnellian Flame", Arianna must join forces with a newly Exalted Zenith known as Grendis Lam to battle against a Deathknight sorcerer, the Sower of Decay and Distrust (formerly known as Belamis, failed usurper of the throne of Ortense), servant to the Deathlord Walker in Darkness, as he tries to plunge the kingdom of Ortense (one of the Hundred Kingdoms) into a shadowland using sorceries contained in a dark book stolen from the Deathlord The Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils. The Dowager, however, has sent her own assassin, the Shoat of the Mire, to recover the book and punish the Sower. This adds further challenge, as Arianna and Grendis Lam desire nothing more than to destroy the book and wipe its blight from Creation.

[edit] Other notes on Arianna

• She is a sorceress and a survivor by nature.
• She is able to summon and bind First Circle demons to her will.
• She is able to summon a Phantom Steed to carry her as she travels.
• She is able to cast spells of the Adamant Circle of the Sun, the most powerful circle of sorcerous spells in Creation.
• Her virtue flaw is the Deliberate Cruelty.

[edit] References

• Exalted (2001) - ISBN 1-56504-623-4, WW8800.
• Caste Book Twilight (2002) - ISBN 1-58846-661-2, WW8832.
• In Northern Twilight (2004) - ISBN 1-58846-861-5, WW10067.
• The Carnelian Flame (2005) - ISBN 1-58846-882-8, WW10070.
• Exalted: Second Edition (2006) - ISBN 1-58846-684-1, WW80000.

[edit] External Links

• JessHartley.com Official site for In Northern Twilight author, Jess Hartley