The Dusk Court
For some Lost, all that keeps them going forward is the cherished (and perhaps futile) hope that today may be a little better than yesterday or that in the end all of their suffering, fear, and pain will be relieved. They see escape, driven by the same hope for freedom and release that pushed them back through the Thorns and into the human world once more. To them, the idea that one's existence is nothing but an inescapable path to destruction would take away all motivations. The burden of such knowledge would weigh them down until they could no longer function, let alone make an effort to accomplish anything. Not so for the Court of Dusk.
These intrepid changelings accept that their Fate is sealed, that slowly but surely danger is building to a cataclysmic level, and that nothing they can do will change that. But this belief also tells them that they have carte blanche to shine in the growing darkness. There are no happy endings, they believe, so all that matters is the epic story that is told along the way.
Inspired by their surety that the end is coming and that whatever lies ahead of them it is most certainly worse than today, Dusk Courtiers see no reason not to strive to do, be, and accomplish whatever they are inspired towards. They are not drawn to procrastination, because any endeavor put off until tomorrow will only be one day's more challenging to achieve. Nor do they tolerate laziness, weakness or cowardice. Night is falling, say those of the Dusk Court, and there will be time enough to rest, mope, or cry after it falls. Until then, make the most of what time you have left.
The Dusk Court waxes and wanes over the years, growing and ebbing in popularity. When things are going well and the Lost of any given generation become more optimistic, fewer are driven to find comfort and strength in the Umbral Court's fatalism. At times, the Dusk courtiers' numbers have grown so few that Lost society has all but forgotten that they existed at all.
But when things go badly (and eventually they always do), there are always those changelings who respond to the growing darkness not by being frightened or intimidated into inaction, but by rising up to meet the challenge. They laugh boldly in the face of adversity and set out to take the proverbial bull by the horns and make certain that their lives, no matter how short, have a great impact on the world around them.
This waxing and waning has led to a great deal of contradiction in the history of the Glacial Axe. After a particularly long waning period when things turn forth worse again, the Court often experiences a seemingly spontaneous revival as the core principles of Dusk once again become popular and pertinent. Sometimes these resurgences were, in truth, spontaneous -- the drive for some to stand strong despite the growing odds is one that Dusk Court claims and recruits into its numbers as much as it fosters and inspires it. But in some cases, these "new" incarnations of the Court were seeded by those who had heard of the Court in the past, or even belonged to it formerly, and knew the time was right to plant the seed of fatalism-spawned-defiance in a new generation.
Because of this, there is a great deal of controversy, even among Dusk courtiers, as to the origins of their group. Some believe it to have been started in countless eons past, when the first brave (or foolhardy) Lost stood his ground against a Keeper intent on taking him back across the Hedge. Those who credit this history claim that when his defiance proved futile but provided his motley time to escape the same Fate, their stories of his bravery inspired the creation of the first group of Dusk courtiers in his honor. Others claim the Court's history began at other points and locations: in Iceni during the first century of the Common Era, on the steppes of the Eurasian plain during the late 1100s, or on the Indian sub-continent in the early 16th century.
One group even claims the Court is, in its modern incarnation, a "copycat court" of an older now-lost group, whose true roots are less than a hundred years old, and that each resurgence of the Court is not actually a waxing of its numbers, but the advent of a new group, unrelated to those who used the name before. These "modernists" are, for the most part, ignored, however. Regardless of the true time and place of origin, or whether the Court is one seamless organization or a series of unique ones all sharing the same name, Dusk seems to do what Dusk has always done -- it perseveres and thrives, regardless of the challenges that seek to destroy it.
Mantle
The Mantle of a Dusk courtier represents the strength and self-determination he achieves from accepting that the cards are stacked against him and still rising forward to meet that Fate. Where other Mantles may manifest in a variety of every-stronger manifestations of the symbols of their Court, Dusk simply goes on, unaffected by its surroundings. Other Court Mantles may war for dominance when those of differing Courts are in proximity to one another, Winter's chill wind pushing at Summer's flames or Autumn's fading touch taking the bloom from Spring's blossoms. Dusk Mantle simply blanks out that of other courts, temporarily stifling music, stilling wind, or erasing visual effects of any other Court's Mantle of equal or lesser dots within a 5-foot radius of the Dusk Courtier. Thus a Spring Courtier with Mantle 3 standing next to a Dusk Courtier of Mantle 3 or higher might be disturbed to discover that her ever-present birdsong dwindles away to an awkward silence, and the flower petals that normally play in her Mantle's warm spring breeze fade away as long as she remains within 5 feet of him. A member of the Dusk Court with Mantle 1+ is able to call on this internal fortitude to lend him additional strength when exerting his will. He receives an additional die (four rather than three) when making a Heroic Effort. A character with Mantle 3+ is bolstered in his ability to endure hardship. He pays one-half the normal cost for the following Merits: Iron Stamina, Iron Stomach, Natural Immunity, Quick Healer, or Toxin Resistance. A character with Mantle 5 finds it easier to resist being influenced (physically, socially, or mentally) by outside forces. Once per day, the character's player may re-roll any failed roll using Resolve, Composure, or Stamina as a trait. He must keep the second roll.
Nicknames
The Glacial Axe, The Umbral Court, The Court of DoomsEmotion
FatalismColors
White, Black, Red, Dark Blue
Related Species
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