Flame Soaring Ascendant over Desert Sands
Southern operations on behalf of the Daimyo at Chiaroscuro
by Sesus Ketek
Flame Soaring Ascendant over Desert Sands is no meteorological phenomenon, nor the title of an Exalted hero. Rather, the Flame Soaring Ascendant is an artifact, a jade-keeled landship which sailed upon the ground as if it were the ocean. Flame Soaring Ascendant seems an impressive vessel, sixty feet in length, equipped with a fire lance and three light implosion bows. It was nominally held in the armies of Chiaroscuro’s Diamyo, and crewed by his soldiers, but its mission saw it deployed in the deep South along Creation’s outer edge. While many rapid-reaction forces could be guided by the diligent reports of mortal astrologers, the monsters of the Wyld had proven able to maintain a dangerous degree of unpredictability, and so the ship was tasked with undertaking a long and constant patrol to locate any incursions. The patrol route undertaken by the vessel is mapped out by Ketek, following in the footsteps of the vessel. Starting from the station outside Hoshu (the Old-Realm term for Gem), the ship moved some distance southeastward to a garrison post known as ‘Tatsumiin’. The post was destroyed during the Great Contagion, and now lies within the devastated expanse known as the Glittering Desert. From there, the vessel moved on eastward to the garrison at Theredin, then southeast into the Bordermarches, eventually reaching an outpost known as ‘Agatsusan’. Here Ketek lost the trail somewhat, as that post now lies within the dangers of the Deep Wyld. From that point, the vessel sailed onward northeast to the garrison at Tsushikraal, a community which was abandoned to the desert after the Contagion. At each point, Flame Soaring Ascendant would halt for a few days of rest and resupply before continuing its journey. Every few years, it would return to Chiaroscuro for repairs and a new crew. It was on patrol when the Fair Folk launched their invasion following the Great Contagion, and is not mentioned in chronicles or reports after that point. Most likely, unsupported and faced with the endless armies of the Wyld, the vessel was destroyed.
Its author, Sesus Ketek, included a dedication at the beginning of the text: ‘Eternal gratitude for the patronage of Lord Roga and Lady Tegra, without whose significant assistance such historical explorations would have proven impossible. The study of Southern history has had no greater friends than these.’
