>A note on hero cults of the imperial cult -- we've speculated that the
>ancestral shrines to Moonson Imperator maintained by various Sultans'
>households are (of course) shrines to the particular Mask which was their
>Ancestor, and perhaps this shapes the powers and outlooks of those Sultans
>and Nobles. (E.g. descendents of Ignifer may get zippy war or command
>magics, unavailable nowadays through worship of Argenteus). One for the mix?
Yeah, I tried to sell this one to Greg after our discussion and was Gregged. Basically the Emperor is not quite as I percieved (or anyone else percieved). I've been writing up his stats for SGU so have had to deal with this.
Here is how he works (in brief)
He is a demigod. He is not affected by the Lunar cycle due to his oneness with Sedenya and many other powers. Due to his demigod status, he is not worshipped on a widespread level. He is not a god in the god plane sense and has the equivalent of a small cult of hero and ancestor worshippers, mostly from his family. unlike true deities or heroes, he is able to grow in skill (note he his not a mystic, theist, sorcerer etc, he is an entity and his powers do not work as if taught by a tradition, he _is_ those powers and traditions(with a couple of minor exceptions))
He has never been a human and is not an avatar (though he does contain parts of Yelm). When he dies, he is reborn in the Empire whole. The Egi act as a kind of recharge and reform system, a holding pattern that brings the Emperors various soul parts back together and energises the mix. The length of time this takes depends on the damage he took. When the Egi were clobbered by Sheng, it changed the way he was reformed, so that his Mask was different every time, which was more Lunar and suited his purposes and is part of his transformation powers.
The Egi have no control over _where_ he manifests or how. Sometimes he is not believed but he is the Emperor and has the power to chase out those who would deny him. In many ways this has been a blessing for often traitors are exposed. One of the Emperors secrets is that he dies deliberately simply to see what crawls ouf ot the woodwork.
The Emperor is not human, his motivations are otherworldy at times and illogical from a human context. He also has diverse influences on him that affect him. He is of course, fallible.
His personal secret power is one of transformation. He literally mutates through different forms to meet the threat of his Empire. Should his Empire need a military leader, then he mutates to become one through several lives. Should he need a reorganiser, this also happens. There is often a drag effect with this and it could take years or even decades for the correct Mask to manifest to gain victory.
He can also create Proxies. This is done through his cult. His small devotee group are given part of his power. There are many Proxies possible. Argenteus has a Golden Proxy to deal with the Raibanth crowd. He also has a war Proxy called the Iron Proxy to deal with warfare and all that other nasty stuff. Note, that when he gives Proxy status to someone he _loses_ those skills until the Proxy is revoked in a ritual or through death. This can cause trouble. Too many Proxies also weakens the Emperor seriously.
Martin Laurie
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