## Statistics Galactic Age: ~161,000 Subjective Age: ~18,000 Homeworld: [[Rina's Holdfast]] Home Sector: [[The Sectors#Sundered Harmony (6)|Sundered Harmony]] Affinity Groups - [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Spiritualists]] - Get Wine Drunk & Scream (Religion) - "The Voidfaith is stupid and humans should all worship tribal gods." - What's the Point? - "To keep things interesting." - [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Agents]] - Gossip & Scandals You are a Nuncio, a political artist. Like the traveling bards of old, you wander from place to place displaying your art and reshaping the places you touch in your own image. Where most Nuncios through history have been painters, sculptors, singers, or other "traditional" artists, you've struck out on your own path. You are first, unprecedented. You have elevated the parochial art of gossip to its rightful place as a master's craft. Like the humble violin before it, gossip is currently treated as no more than a peasant's distraction or a noble's frivolity. In the eyes of the galaxy, there is no value, no worth in knowing just how to coax a recalcitrant source, the precise words needed to turn love to hate, and pity to scorn. If only they had any idea how many people you've killed with an idle rumor, perhaps the chest-thumpers and blood-drinkers of the [[Voidstalker Corps]] would take you seriously. As it is, you accept yourself for the unappreciated genius you are and make the best of it as you can. You aren't especially fond of Rina's Holdfast. However, given that its main exports seem to be conspiracies and secret handshakes, you've never found a good reason to leave. You've learned more doing drugs in a Rinan slum than being held in state in most palaces, and that was before the hallucinogens kicked in. Your art has been in service to that Holding for more than a hundred thousand galactic years. You've laid low enemies with a single word in the right ear, and broken alliances with a gesture. You may be unappreciated, but you've never lacked for work. You want to enjoy yourself and ply your craft. You've never attended a Myriadic Council before, and you don't know if you'll ever get the chance again. You know the broad strokes; anyone can pitch an idea, all Governors present get a single vote. If the idea passes, it's galactic law. If not, it's a joke. Entire Great Houses have been created and destroyed by word of Myriadic Councils, the [[Voidstalker Corps]] is unflinching in enforcing their dictates. For you, someone who has made a wonder of spreading rumors, this is akin to a soldier being given keys to the galaxy's largest mech suit. In this place and time more than any other, you have the ability to reshape the [[Celestial Empire]] simply by swaying the right people. Even if you don't have a particular objective in mind, you can't pass up that kind of opportunity. You've come to the [[Plague Council]] to prove the value of your craft. You're also, whether or not you admit it to yourself, insatiably curious. The number of powerful, mysterious figures gathered, along with the galaxy-sized egos that come attached? This will be an event to tell stories about until long after your home star has imploded. ## Goals 1. Gather and spread as many delicious rumors as you can. 2. Serve the interests of Rina's Holdfast, so long as those interests are interesting. 3. Convince the Myriadic Council to do something outlandish, just to prove you can muster the votes. ## Character Notes - Polybdia is a tremendously dangerous figure in many ways. Not only are they known far and wide as a gossip, they're also right in the sweet spot for most powerful figures to consider them useful, but not threatening. At the same time, they're just starting to think of themself as a serious player. Will they keep their comfortable place in the shadows, or make a play for real power? - Polybdia has access to several of the oldest characters in play. While age doesn't directly correlate with power, it does tend to come with connections. Unfortunately, those who survive to antique age in a galaxy this dangerous tend to be the canniest, most vicious of the old guard. How will Polybdia balance the value of using this access with the risks it carries? - Rina's Holdfast is a hotbed of rebellion and conspiracy. Unknown by most of the galaxy, its name comes from its origin. Once upon a time, Rina's Holdfast was the final stronghold of the [[Wend]] now known by the galaxy as the [[Wyrdsmith]], contemporary and friend to the father of the [[Sapient Plagues]]. When [[Celestial Empress|Her Majesty]] broke the Wyrdsmith's power and bent them to Her service, the survival of Rina's Holdfast was the one boon the rebel Smith begged. It was granted, though records evincing this were almost entirely purged. Will Polybdia reawaken the Holding's latent glory, or leave the past behind in search of a new future? ## Connections 1. [[Historian Sibilia]] 1. "The best person ever if you want to talk shit about people who lived a million and a half years ago... which I obviously do." 2. Sibilia can call themself "Historian" all they want, you know a fellow gossip when you see one. They've just figured out (brilliantly) that if you mainly gossip about people who are either dead or walking the void, then you can paint it as scholarship and everyone will call you an objective observer of the past. Given your passion for uncovering scandals among the galaxy's great and good, you've often found yourself at the same event as Sibilia and, over the long years, you've struck up a friendship. True, they're less useful as an information resource than some of your other contacts, but unlike those people, Sibilia shares your love of storytelling. Gossip isn't just about revealing secrets (though it absolutely is about that), it's also about forging a bond. After all, you don't gossip with strangers and, if you do, they don't stay strangers for long. For more than a hundred thousand galactic years (around 12K subjective years), you've made a point to meet up with them from time to time, swap stories, and generally shoot the breeze. Now, though, you and Sibilia are showing up to the same momentous event. Will your easy camaraderie survive, or will you find yourself with a rival gossip, one who has spent far longer learning how to play the game? 2. [[Patron Duobi]] 1. "Gotta be running from something. Maybe their clones? Gotta be something." 2. Duobi is famous for their expeditions. They've charted nebulae and mapped event horizons. They've seen the [[Celestial Palace]] and looked upon the [[Hero Twins]] with their own eyes, stood before the great lens of the [[The Sectors#Golden Edge (10)|Golden Edge]], and glimpsed the tenth heartbeat of time. No one is sure exactly how old the Patron really is, but everyone agrees Duobi must be absolutely ancient. Even accounting for the finest near-light-speed engines in the galaxy, some of those voyages would've taken perceptual *millennia*. It is entirely possible that the only things older than Duobi are the [[Sapient Plagues]], the [[Wend]], and [[Celestial Empress|Her Majesty]]. You're pretty old yourself, as some people reckon these things, but your entire (subjective) lifespan could fit in a single one of Duobi's well-worn old stories. You've known them for most of your life, seventeen thousand subjective years, give-or-take. Through all of that time, they've mostly been a curiosity. Your insatiable hunger for information and their love of telling stories mesh well together, but little more than that. For the first time, however, you're *in* one of Duobi's stories. Do you look to the aged patron for guidance, or are you suspicious of someone who has survived so many cutthroat situations? 3. [[Holy Reflection]] 1. "Nobody's that religious all the time. They're definitely into something wild. Gotta find out what." 2. Why do so many ancient weirdos take an interest in your life? Admittedly, it might be blasphemous to call the Holy Reflection an "ancient weirdo," but you've been a good lay 'singer for your entire life and you figure you're owed one or two freebies. You believe in the song of the cosmos just like most of the galaxy, even if you've never heard a note. What you're *not* sure you believe in, however, is the idea of any human being living for tens of millions of years and not absolutely losing their shit. Sure, you've known the Holy Reflection for thousands of years now, and they've never done anything to suggest they're any less than the paragon of religious virtue they seem to be. Even so, your instincts tell you otherwise. There's just no way someone gets that much power without burying absolutely massive skeletons. Unfortunately, this first and chiefest of skeleton-buriers seems to have taken a genuine liking to you. You're not sure what it is, or whether you should be worried about it, but there's something about you that the holiest human being alive finds fascinating. Whenever you're in the same place, you find them waxing eloquent about random topics, often with what appear to be cryptic hints embedded in the rambling. At this point, your fingers are itching to pry open the Reflection's secrets. Will you parlay that connection into a useful ally, or does it belie a deeper, more sinister purpose? 4. [[Spy Morir]] 1. "A real pro. The kind of person who considers being two-faced an embarrassingly transparent display of vulnerability. Scares the living shit out of me. Morir's awesome." 2. You've known Morir since the first time you ever sold a secret. In fact, Morir was the person who bought it, nearly a hundred and fifty thousand galactic years ago. You don't know exactly how their whole network thing functions, but you know it's the finest intelligence apparatus in all of [[Sundered Harmony]]. You know that, because you're a part of it. Any time you get a really juicy secret, you drop a line to Morir. Sure, you use the secret yourself, spread it, all that good stuff. But before you do, you send it to them. Partially, you do that because they reward you handsomely. Partially, you do it because you don't want to find out what it's like to have that network turned against you. Lately, though, you've started wondering what it might be like to have a network of your own, one to rival Morir's. Will you continue with the relationship that has worked for so long, or will you supplant the master? ## Mechanics **Asset:** [[Give 'em Something to Talk About]] Your specialty is in creating conversations. You make art which makes people talk. Whenever you want to steer an enemy toward collapse, or an ally toward salvation, you know just the tune to hum. When you participate in an [[Endeavor]], any person who views or engages with the result gains one advantage for use in their next [[Combat]] or [[Negotiation]]. **Lien:** [[Bound to the Brush]] You cannot help but create. It's more than what you do, it's what you are. You are constantly doodling, humming, jotting down scraps of poetry or jokes. Whatever the form it takes, you must always be creating. If you go more than a few minutes without expressing yourself creatively, you become irritable and begin to steer conversations toward chaos and conflict.