Hammurabi

From Familia Niveum

Revision as of 23:40, 19 December 2006

Hammurabi, King of Kings, Sovereign Ruler of the First Kingdom of Creation and Highest Tributary to his Imperial Majesty the August Personage of Jade

At the head of the hall, a man sits on a dais in a throne of gold and jade two meters wide and five meters high. He is massive, regal, and imposing; the very air in the hall is redolent in the dusky perfume of authority. He is dark in color, and evidently in temperament; his expression is set in stone. His head and face are shaven except for a long goatee. He is clad in elaborate robes of office and crowned in a ring of fire which sheds flickering light over the entire hall.

Beside him sits his queen, slender but no less regal, and a familiar sight: Elizabeth I. She wears a dress made of some beautiful opalescent material and sewn with diamonds and pearls. She is seated in a throne of pale jade; it is far slenderer than the one beside her, but seats her neither lower nor further from the front of the dais. Upon her head sits a fine and intricate tiara of ice.

Lords of the Heavenly Court

Personal Code

Imperial code

1. Reward the wise, the virtuous, and the cunning; punish the depraved, the disrespectful, and the uncivilized.
2. All must be offered hope of redress before the courts.
3. Know your place; give no less than your obligation and accept no less than your due.

Miraculous Abilities

• Aspect 1
  • 5 Permanent Miracle Points
• Domain 0
  • 5 Permanent Miracle Points
• Realm 4
  • 5 Permanent Miracle Points
• Spirit 2
  • 7 Permanent Miracle Points

Design

On a field of imperial purple; personal a spray of chestnut blossoms, for justice, in early bloom for striving; for estate hollyhock, for ambition and glory, from the same plant; on a third stem, a closed and anonymous bud.

Gifts

Universal Fealty

A gift of domain. 4 points- as per Glorious, *2 for affecting all living or crafted things

Supreme authority is chiseled into each Line of Hammurabi's aspect; it shines off of him; it sings in the ears, wafts in the air, dances on the tip of the tongue, and dances little shivery paths down the spine. All living things and all products of their hands must swear fealty to his awesome majesty. Mortals, faeries, and other thinking beings who lay eyes upon him grow so fiercely loyal they would lay down their lives; animals serve him without fail; bullets turn aside rather than harm their beloved master, locks and password systems humbly give him passage, and no thing which has the power to serve him well will ever fail. Nobles, of course, are immune to the miraculous aspect of this gift- but most still find every sensory impression of him evocative of immense respect.

Limits and Restrictions

Light Touch

A limit of Spirit (+2 SMP ); +1 SMP when it would be useful to use the Universal Fealty gift on an anchor. The people Hammurabi anchors have the strongest wills and most towering spirits of all the mortal world; though it would be beneath his notice as a Power to break them, he cannot bend them either by his natural radiance or by the anchor bond. He must ensure his anchors serve him willingly lest he render them useless.

Revelatory Trait

A general restriction ( +1 MP when appropriate ) No matter what guise Hammurabi may wear, he still exudes the dusky perfume of authority.

Bonds

• 5 The sanctity of his Estate
• 4 Elizabeth I
• 4 The Chancel
• 2 The Crowns of Fire and Ice
• 1 Elizabeth II
• 2 The royal regalia of the world
• 2 The royal palaces of the world

Personality

Hammurabi embodies an awesome degree of authority and certitude. He rules with an iron fist, but one he applies with utmost care toward the demands of wisdom and justice. It can never, ever be forgotten in dealings with him that he is the King. He is immensely status conscious; he will not accept slights from those who are beneath him, which is really almost everyone, including many nobles. On the other hand, he devotes himself entirely toward fulfilling the obligations that come with power.

History

Ancient History

Hammurabi's full history could fill a stack of tomes as imposing as he, but its abstract is a simple one. In the days of old, he was the ruler of the first unified and lasting Empire. He was great on the battlefield, destroying every military power which could threaten his empire. He was great in domestic affairs, overseeing a dramatic expansion in agriculture. Most of all, he was great in law. Hammurabi's Code, the world's first attempt at an immutable, codified system of law, is remembered to this day.

It is for these reasons that when His Imperial Majesty the August Personage of Jade, Emperor of Heaven faced attack from within and without creation, and was forced to take Nobles upon himself to help him bear the weight of worlds, he chose Hammurabi to be not just a king but the King of Kings. At the time of what the mortal world records as his death, he was made Noble and crowned with fire, to rule over the Estate of Monarchy for all ages to come. For millennia after he took part in events too numerous and momentous to enumerate, preserving his estate against Excrucian attack and worldly corruption.

Love

Elizabeth I of England was probably history's most beloved reigning queen. In part this is true because Hammurabi came to love her during her lifetime, and in part he came to love her because this was true, and in part neither fact would be less true without the other. Originally she was one of his anchors- he had recently taken to claiming English crown heads rather than French as the political landscape shifted- because he had cultivated, as was his practice, an uncle-like love for her during her childhood. Eventually, though, his love for her matured.

However, Elizabeth was famously called the Virgin Queen, and though this was a bit ahead of the truth, it had its good reasons. In order to preserve her realm, Elizabeth could not marry and yet must appear to keep open the chance of marriage. There was no room for Hammurabi to interfere- during her life. Nor could However, when she died her story was not over.

The moment Elizabeth's successor was crowned, and thus she was no longer the monarch, he brought her spirit to his palace and bound it into a new body made of chancel-stuff. Then, he set her free within the Palace of Abstraction, carefully walling off the place in their souls where the anchor bond resided. He courted her over many years, as she firmly rebuffed attempt after attempt. It was never in doubt that he would win her over, but neither was this a mere formality. It was a necessary part of growing a true mutual love which could stand the test of time. Hammurabi would be patient; he always was.

Eventually, the time came, and they were married in the grandest ceremony the First Kingdom of Creation had ever seen. The link between their souls was restored, and Elizabeth, nee Queen of England, became Queen-Consort to Hammurabi. A crown of ice was commissioned to match the crown of fire which was the ancient symbol of his office, a throne made for her to match his, and they have ruled together since.

Recent History

In recent centuries, the estate of Monarchy has been dealt a hundred shuddering blows. Due to his once supreme position amongst political estates, he has been subjected to many overt attacks from Nobility, Plutarchy, Democracy, Communism, Dictatorship, and Anarchy. These frustrate him, but do not make him lose sleep. Losing prominence in the world is a sad thing for any Noble, but does not necessarily damage his Estate's spiritual power; the loss of dynastic lines, the spirits of Monarchy, does, but can always be reversed in future victories.

Meanwhile, though, he has felt power draining away in ways that none of the overt attacks can quite account for. Strange flowers are discovered in palaces and the hurts inflicted by opposed nobles are always softly echoed in unlikely places. His estate is being whittled away at by Excrucians. He has plans, though, to fight back. At the same time as he attempts to root out the Excrucians attacking him, he works at more positive attempts to gain power for the estate.

A major triumph of recent years is the evolution of Saudi Arabia. Hammurabi managed to subvert a coup by Dictators, turning the house of Saud into a primitive monarchy. The country wobbled between the control of Theocracy, Democracy, and Anarchy for years, but in the decades since he has beat it more and more into his ideal for a monarchy. He still finds the house of Saud corrupt and distasteful, but it is an undeniable bastion of his estate's power. In another couple of successions hopes to have a true, proud monarchy in the world again.

Anchors

Elizabeth I

Queen-Consort Elizabeth, formerly of England, is Hammurabi's queen and his anchor in the chancel. Politically she has no power in his absence, but stands as regent whenever he is away from the First Kingdom. As an anchor, she ensures that the Kingdom is never without the guidance and power of its True King. In her own right she is a truly formidable woman, of iron will, sharp wits, and great wisdom. She understands the true nature of the world as well as any mortal can, a scientific understanding stripped of the religious prejudices of her upbringing.

Elizabeth is made of immortal chancel-stuff, a body prepared for her after her first died, and girt about with countless standing miracles of power and protection, both overt and covert; consequently, even when her husband is not working through her she is a force to be reckoned with and can easily deal with the intrigues of the gods and demons she rules. However, she cannot leave the grand Palace of Abstraction or she will die again. This is just as well, as it is well known that Hammurabi loves her openly, and the windflower law be damned; fortunately, it is Entropy's practice to ignore goings-on restricted to a single chancel.

Elizabeth II

As the queen of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the other realms of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II is theoretically the most powerful head of state on Earth. In truth, of course, she exists in a merely ceremonial capacity, but theoretical power may yet prove enough for some of Hammurabi's grand designs. Elizabeth is kept only vaguely aware of theValde Bellum , mostly out of mercy, but trusts Hammurabi enough to do as he asks without much question. Hammurabi has known her since childhood and loves her as a niece; he finds her a bit bumbling but forgives her failings in the face of the odds she must confront.

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud

Abdullah, king of Saudi Arabia, is by far the most powerful monarch left on earth. He commands wealth, military and covert might, and (as guardian of the two holy Muslim cities within Saudi Arabia) religious loyalty. Hammurabi severely dislikes the man for his personality and his religious leanings (he has never much liked monotheists); he also feels the house ofSaud is a corrupt image of kingship. He works to reform the dynasty through tough love; among other things, Abdullah's eyes have been ruthlessly opened to the realities of Creation. Abdullah is controlled through a carrot-and-stick arrangement; cooperation carries with it occasional miraculous favors, usually bartered for with fraters caelestia more powerful without the chancel than within. Non-cooperation carries with it the natural and irrevocable consequence of becoming useless as an anchor.

Notable friends and Enemies

Marianne, Lady Liberty, Wild Power of Democracy

Marianne, the famous Lady Liberty of French revolutionary imagery, safeguards the Estate of Democracy. This is natural and sufficient cause for her to be an enemy of Monarchy, but personally there is no grudge between them; they are, in many ways, "best enemies," full of mutual respect and even a sense of play. They carry out their battles as a rivalry, not a vendetta, with the caveat that each will be as nasty as necessary if it is required for victory.

However, Hammurabi has a dark suspicion about her. This stems from two things. First, an age ago there was a line of Powers of Democracy, the First Citizens of Athens. The last to hold that title was killed in 458 B.C.E., and none was seen again until Marianne was born from thin air in the early 18th century. Second, Marianne's style of democracy puts vastly less of a premium on integrity and wisdom than its predecessor; it falls into mob rule, corruption, and finally dictatorship at the drop of a hat. Hammurabi fears in his heart that his friendly enemy may in truth serve Hell, or even theExcrucians.

Rhadamanthys, power of Judgement

Rhadamanthys the Rigorous is the power of Judgement. He is always correct in determining guilt, yet it should be noted above all that his epithet is not "The Just;" he is never false in his judgement, but in his sentences he is extreme.Rhadamanthys and Hammurabi are old friends, but in later years their relationship soured as Hammurabi came to doubt the justice in Rhadamanthys' draconian judgements. If the subject is not raised, they are friends; when it is, their debates are long and rancorous.

Wilhelm Herzog von Reine, Lord of Lords, Power of Nobility

((Nobility here is used in the mortal sense, of course.)) The affairs of Monarchy and Nobility have always been intricately intertwined. Over the years Hammurabi has had to deal with hundreds of Nobles of nobles, as none has ever lived more than a mortal span and many have lived far less. He has been friends to many and mortal, vicious enemy to others as the dictates of self-interest change between the two estates. With the latest, he has forged a close working relationship in the name of raising both Estates out of their current debased status.

Goals and Motivations

Hammurabi will not go quietly into that good night. Faced with the slow destruction of his estate by Excrucian and Created alike, Hammurabi has hatched a number of plans to reverse the damage. For one, he has begun an inroad into the Estates of his attackers, the other political Nobles. With Democracy and Dictatorship now ascendant, he has gathered allies against them as they did when Monarchs ruled all nations; together they see to it that countries under these forms of governments collapse into Anarchy and are salvaged by Monarchs, or ossify into Plutocracies whose rulers find salvation in the higher ideals of Nobility.

Elsewhere, he has begun restoring power to his estate by encouraging expressions outside the traditional. It has made a powerful resurgence in fiction, a small source of power but one which has kept many an estate alive during crisis; ceremonial monarchy, as distasteful as Hammurabi finds it, is also better than no monarchy, and it has increased significantly in recent decadse with the creation of the Commonwealth; the number of people who are kings in all but name or only in name has also begun to grow. All of these hold some power for the estate, enough that Hammurabi hopes to piece them together in the future into a full resurgence.