Rufio

Rufio, Procurer of Gilded Dreams, is the god of Unattainable Dreams within the Bureau of Destiny.

Once upon a time, Rufio was one of the many dream deities serving in the Division of Serenity, responsible for dreams of the unattainable, of what the dreamer cannot have. In this, he worked closely with many gods... Balsaraf was a particular ally, for love unreturned serves as ample fuel for dreams. Rufio was not a particularly potent god, but certainly far from weak, holding a comfortable position in the Celestial Bureaucracy... until disaster struck.

The Great Contagion and the Balorian Crusade did not hurt Rufio, in fact quite the opposite: across Creation mortal dreams were filled with nightmares mingled with longing for relief, for a cure which did not exist. Rufio’s importance amongst dream gods rose significantly, and as reports flooded in the god found strange satisfaction, pleasure, in the fruitless desires of Contagion-afflicted mortals for whom salvation was an impossible dream, an epiphanous experience which twisted him to his core.

And then the Scarlet Empress drove the Fair Folk back from Creation and the Great Contagion ceased. The mortal dreams of Creation filled themselves with heroes who did exist, and dreams of achievable rebuilding. Rufio’s position shrank back from its brief height, and the flood of reports slowed. But Rufio’s appetites did not lessen.

Though never dismissed from his post in the Bureau of Destiny, Rufio began to spend more and more time in Creation, in constant search for dreams which would taste as sweet as those Contagion-afflicted longing for a cure. Today, paperwork begins to build upon his desk as work remains untended while he wanders the Scavenger Lands. His divine powers allow him to afflict mortals with the dreams for which he is responsible, and he feasts upon the minds of those afflicted to sate his own hunger.

In his true form, Rufio is a short, rotund man of dusky complexion, whose sparkling eyes and neatly-trimmed golden goatee give him a somewhat mischievous appearance. In this guise, he invariably appears bedecked in outrageously flamboyant garb -- feathered caps, fur overcoats, brightly-colored silk trousers, and enough gold jewelry to bankrupt a small nation-state all figure into his unmistakable look. Although he frequently carries ornately decorated weapons, Rufio is a coward who flees from any enemy not obviously his inferior.

Rufio travels alone, roving restlessly across the land. He favors cities and towns, simply because there are more people there, but it is quality rather than quantity he desires. If a solitary pilgrim harbors a secret desire which Rufio finds pleasing, he will pursue her just as avidly as he would any city-dweller. He is not formally worshipped, and his salary remains unused for long stretches before his brief returns to Heaven, but it is his base hunger not longing for prayer or purview which drives the god forward now.

When he comes across a person who lusts after the unattainable, Rufio enters her dreams and sends her beautifully-crafted visions of finally grasping that which she covets. Lust for power, riches, knowledge, sex, it matters not: all serve to sate Rufio.

Although Rufio's dreams are carefully calculated to stoke, rather than slake, the victim's desire, there invariably comes a point where the victim is either driven to actually attempt to get what she wants, or else to shut out reality and spend all her time in Rufio's fantasy world. The first provides closure, while the second betokens a perverse type of contentment. Both render Rufio unable to draw sustenance from his victim, and so he will quickly abandon her.

Rufio himself is trapped within his purview, none of the anguished dreams he seek truly sating his hunger, keeping him searching eternally for a flavour as exquisite as that of Contagion dreams. He becomes envious and spiteful when he finds people who have found the contentment denied him, and will expend great efforts to make such people unhappy with their lot, typically by sending them dreams designed to provoke envy, lust and greed. Fortunately for the victims, such attacks never last very long in the face of a strong will; unless Rufio can inspire desire for the unattainable in a person, his strength is soon expended and he must depart to find sustenance elsewhere.

Rufio is known to the Immaculate Order, who deem him a malicious troublemaker. Although he would like nothing better than to tempt the monks, who doubtlessly harbor oceans of pent-up desire, Rufio is generally too much of a coward to get close enough to them. He gives Immaculates, even mortals and those who are unaware of his presence, as wide a berth as possible. The same principle keeps him from fraternizing with most of his fellow gods, who tend to share the Immaculates' assessment of him.

Rufio worries that he can never be satisfied, that the taste he longs for was that of the first perfect dream tasted, something which can never be replicated. But, after centuries afflicted by his desires, another line of thinking slowly builds within his mind, another thing which made those dreams different from all those he now tastes. Perhaps there might be a way to regain that sublime flavor after all...

Source: Adapted from Ikselam on the unofficial Exalted Wiki… additions and revisions in some areas, but some paragraphs lifted wholesale.