Judge

The Judges, also known as totems, fixtures, assumptive forces,<ref name=":0">One woman, dressed in white furs. A man in a black suit. And off to the side, sitting atop the head of a centipede, an older teen or younger adult with long hair and flowing clothes in gold.

“In many places around the world,” Matthew explained, his voice low. Their group parted as the three Others made their way past them and deeper into the clearing. “There are totems, fixtures, or assumptive forces. In one part of Asia, I’m not learned enough to place it exactly, you might have the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger and the Black Tortoise. In some places, it’s only one. Often, their role is similar.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref> seats, etc. are powerful Others who serve, singly or in groups, over an unclaimed and/or unrepresented areas.<ref name=":1">“What are you, what is this?”

“When the practitioners of an area organize to a sufficient degree, they tend to put Lords in place. Others or Practitioners strong enough to oversee an area, mete out judgment, and deal with problems. But not all areas have these things,” the man in the black suit explained. “For other areas, there is a hierarchy. The Others self-organize, they handle threats, they keep things in balance,” the man in gold told them. “But sometimes, it’s not enough, or there’s nobody and nothing suitable to fill a role. If something needs to be laid to rest and there is no Death nearby…”
He indicated the man in the black suit, who said, “I might step in to handle duties.”

“You’re a higher authority?” Lucy asked.

The man in the black suit answered, “A court of appeals, a final stop, or very rarely, a first stop, when a problem needs handling, a specific individual may find their way to us for a first meeting. People on the most desperate of quests, those seeking answers, those seeking shelter, and people needing salvation… they often find their way to us when they’ve exhausted every last option. Each of us take on a different role and share of the duties.”- Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref> Each type of Judge is associated with a color.

Nature

Some consider them a type of spirit, but they also have some similarities to Incarnations (or Anima), and they don't naturally emerge the way spirits do.<ref name=":2">The Alabaster are spirits with a specific role in the spiritual cosmology. They associate with incarnations and will stand in when an incarnation isn’t available to, but primarily and by default will shepherd the vulnerable and serve as a mother/father authority for spirits. Because they are a representation of something and not an evolution or encapsulation of something, (again, tying back to their link to Incarnations), they don’t naturally emerge or evolve, but are simply there. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref> They are more than spirits, more than whatever they originally were, transfigured by their role.<ref name=":3">“Not a dumb question,” Edith said. “Its shape is variable. Many spirits are similar, though complex spirits like myself tend to be firmer, either because we’re too knit-together, or we can’t afford to change because we’re that weak.”

“It’s a spirit, then?”

“It’s more than a spirit. By taking on this role, it is elevated.”

“A god?” Verona asked. “Or a lesser god?”

“A role,” Matthew said. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref>

They preside over large areas, but only the parts where there is no clear hierarchy (i.e. no Lord), or when the existing hierarchy fails to cover a needed role.<ref name=":1" /> Some Practitioners see them as a placeholder for eventual Lords<ref>“Oh my god. Do you even understand what’s happening down there?” Verona asked. She scribbled on a bit of plastic left over from the roof’s ledge as best as she could. “Do you understand what the seat is?”

“A stopgap measure until a proper lord eventually gets set up in an area. - Excerpt from Summer Break 13.12</ref> even though the Seat system is older then Lordship.<ref>“It’s done. This sort of contest began before even the accords of Solomon. Those of us who administrate this competition are backed by thousands of years of precedent.” - Excerpt from Break 4</ref>

A judge's seat will pass on to a suitable candidate if they should die. Either someone can physically take their mantle from their corpse and wear it (e.g. skinning them of their fur and wearing it), a suitably confident candidate can step forward, or other judges can force the selection of a suitable candidate (practitioner, Other etc.) in the region.<ref>“We expect to force the decision about the Carmine seat at summer’s end,” the Sable Prince told her. “Let the Kennet Others know, please.”
[...]
It was now between John and whoever had the furs of the Carmine Beast.

If they couldn’t figure something out, then John would be asked to apply for the seat. He would probably cooperate. The lesser candidates who didn’t have a shot would probably come after him, in hopes of crab-bucketing their way into the position, and whoever had the furs would step in to deliver the master-stroke.

It would be next to impossible to really argue against the woman or the guy who actually wore the fur of the Carmine Beast, and whatever else. Then John would be obliterated. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref> There is a brief window after someone has claimed the role during which they can be defeated and replaced by a challenger.<ref name=":4">“She didn’t, but you could look at it as the vacating of a position. There’s a power in taking someone from that seat, and there’s a power in the seat. Right now, the seat is empty, and it must be filled. By filling it, one Other or Practitioner will take on the responsibility and the power that comes with it.”

“It’s like the supreme court, then?” Avery asked. “Once you’ve worked your way through all the lower courts, if the case is compelling, you end up here?”

“As you say.”

“And by taking the role, they get that final say. They get to make the laws, essentially?”

“More or less,” the woman in white furs said.

“Are there any limitations on the kind of person or Other?”

“They’d need to fit the role, to a certain degree. The role would then mold itself to them and they’d be molded in turn.”

“Has anyone applied?”

“Nobody has stepped forward. This isn’t surprising. If one declared themselves for the seat and the role as the next Carmine Beast, there would be a brief period they could be cut down or supplanted. It is easier, especially among the murderous and dangerous types that would take this role, to let someone else make the first move. We may be forced to select someone, which would make them vulnerable, force them to prove themselves.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref>

Powers

Judges serve as a final "court of appeal" in matters of karma and regulate (both passively and actively) which Others of a certain type are present in an area.<ref>“You guys are the… we’ve been calling you judges. You make some of the decisions on the broader stuff. Karma, deals, minor things about power, or which Others get to appear or start to appear.”
[...]
“Can I ask a favor?”

The boy leaned forward, the centipede lowering its head, until he was almost on a level with Avery. “You may. Karma is our currency, when judging you, your notions of fairness, and how well you cleave to the roles you assume. Would you spend yours? Or make demands on how it is directed?” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref><ref>Who: The carmine beast. One of four prominent judge-like Others that oversee Eastern Manitoba & a good chunk of Ontario, where Lords and other powers don’t already have sway.

Manages & influences violent & bloody Others. By just hanging around & holding the seat, influences the Others who appear & how they act.

Can be a final court of appeals for matters of Other and practitioner? - 2.1 Bonus Material: Interview Notes 1</ref> To be a Judge is to essentially "make the laws" for your domain.<ref name=":4" /> They also make certain that Others that manifest in their domain are bound by the Seal of Solomon and maintain Innocence or take responsibility for when it's lost<ref>“In seal, we can use our influence to force Others to be bound to the Seal as they manifest naturally. Sometimes this is formalized, other times it is implicit, and imprinted on them at the moment of their creation, as instinct and innate understanding. To secure innocence, not necessarily to keep innocents alive, but in accepting responsibility if innocence is lost. To keep to Truth in rule of discourse, holding to one’s word.” - Excerpt from Dash to Pieces - 11.3</ref>. They can step into associated roles as needed, such as filling in for an associated Incarnation.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

They also concern themselves with handling existential problems such as threats to the Seal of Solomon or breaches between worlds, they can also send people on quests to defeat the more dangerous Others<ref name=":14">“Again, what’s the point of them?” Lucy asked.

“I think they handle the stuff that’s really broken,” Verona said. “There wasn’t anything super relevant in the books, but there were figures that seemed judge-like who would set quests and point the right people in the right ways to handle anything that was really bad. In other places you get Lords and committees deciding what needs handling. The Others who are threatening the seal of Solomon, monsters too big for any one person to defeat, breaches between worlds, stuff.”

“Stuff,” Lucy said. “Not very helpful to us, that stuff.”

“We know they also hear appeals on forswearing. Our local forsworn ex-practitioner tried once or twice,” Avery said. - Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.1</ref>, one example of this would be the Primeval that Ted Heavens was forced to defeat.<ref>This was an arrangement of a court of judges in this region, who saw the danger and reached out to everyone in the area to ensure they had the power to set this into motion. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.a</ref> They also act as a final court of appeal for forswearing.<ref name=":14" />

They have power over certain types of people/Other, and can take them into service as minions or companions; against their will, with some expenditure of power.<ref name=":5">Avery nodded. “We also wanted to ask… we need to know who the Carmine Beast was. You said she didn’t have many friends. But the Alabaster has these people in white. Did the Carmine…?”

She took nobody in. Others like her in other areas do, taking in killers, monsters, heroes and villains.”

“She tried to recruit a Faerie in our town, allegedly. And a Dog of War, and a Goblin.”

“She did not try very hard,” the Sable Prince said. “If she truly willed it, she could have made it happen. It would cost her power and position, but those things would recover over time. It was an effort for her to even broach the subject, because she was the type to weigh the options before her, and inevitably decide that she could do the job best if she did it herself. It kept her busy, and it kept her work consistent.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref>

Their appearance is variable able to take a variety of forms when necessary.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6">She had long legs, taller than the trees or the mountain. A two-toed hoof touched the clearest patch of ground, a narrow leg extending straight up to the Alabaster’s form, a great pale deer.

A second hoof touched down, but it was more diffuse. Both hooves were becoming transparent, bright.

Until they were like shafts of light with a solid core where they overlapped.

The light grew more and more diffused, flaking away like flower petals and dust motes. The solid core remained. A woman with white hair, draped in white furs with light grey freckles, and a few decorative antlers worn so the the points turned toward herself or were buried in the furs. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref> While they generally wear the color related to their position they can look however they want.<ref>Guilherme’s voice was smooth, soft, and carried despite the low volume. “With vast power, the ability to shape how you appear, to be giant or small, titan or mouse, you choose to be this unkempt? A fur coat with no shirt, hair and beard shaggy? Charles, you no longer have the excuse of being forsworn.”

“I’d say it’s because it’s been a long day, but it doesn’t matter. I frankly like the look and feel of it.”

He looked at Verona as he said it, like it was an in-joke or something. Slightly scruffy Verona. - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.7</ref>

Each judge has a domain, also called a throne, a little pocket dimension fitting their nature, generally (magically) requiring exactly a day's travel to reach.<ref name=":7">Wooden pieces of building were sunken into the surroundings, but the wood hadn’t gone soft. Dirt overlapped the edges, or moss grew into the sides, until they were part of the landscape. A burned out house with the burns covered up, or pieces of an old church that had collapsed in a storm, reclaimed by nature in a way that held them strong, the walls upright.

Avery ascended stairs, with white flowers on the rising slope to her right, and a brook noisily trickled in a dip to her left.
[...]
The trail took a sharp turn toward the interior of the mountain itself, but as Avery ducked through some of the branches, she found herself in a space open to the late afternoon air. The pieces of building that had been on the path here were omnipresent in this space, elaborate, stacked onto one another and glued together by moss and vegetation. The flowers were everywhere, as were fruit trees, vegetables and ferns.

Ten people were present. Young, old, male, female. Two of the men wore the thin white fabric as kilts, one short, one knee-length. An older man with long white hair wore it as a toga. Two of the girls were topless, but one of them was, like, six, so it didn’t really count. They lay down, sat on tree branches, and walked around the extensive space. Some had wreaths of flowers in their hair. Others laurels of leaves, like some old Roman thing.

“Who are they?”

“The most innocent. People with nowhere else to go. People who were hurt. People who were sick, or struggling with some form of madness. The cursed, the hunted, the unfortunate.”
“She collects them? You?”

“When she can. But the conditions have to be precise, so she can’t get many that way. More often, we ask. When we seek to escape it all for long enough, traveling for a day into uninhabited places, sometimes we end up at her feet. Then you have to ask for help. Sometimes you have to ask multiple times, depending. Then you must abide by the rules to stay.”

“I think I’ve been conditioned to think there’s a horrible catch or something,” Avery said.

“No. The only rules are to be kind, to be gentle, and to protect this space. Some leave and come back. Some stay for a while and then go. Many stay. Because the world hurt them enough, or because they have a relief here, from schizophrenia or addiction. Sometimes when you ask for help you get it. I think that’s what she represents.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref><ref name=":10">The Alabaster are a species that is rapidly growing extinct, and are simultaneously conserved by some and keenly sought after by others. They are becoming more spread out, and it is hard to say whether this is because of the aforementioned rule of ‘they are always at least a day’s travel away’ and the redefinition of that measure, or because they are being replaced or hunted at a faster rate than they are simply there. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref>In a way their physical domain is an inverted Knotted Place as they cover a section of the real world where anyone can meet with them after a day's travel.<ref>[busts of Sable, Alabaster, and Aurum]
Our judges have a territory that covers a lot of western Ontario + eastern Manitoba. This actually backwards from what we just established. Instead of getting powerful, having spirits move out of the way, and having rules start bending, there’s a kind of big, prearranged deal where the spirits and karma and everything will cooperate with anyone who takes the seat. So you don’t go from powerful to gradually becoming influential & having a demesne-ish space you carry with you, you take possession of the throne that’s the helm of this massive depression and you then get the power.

You don’t technically have to be strong to make a claim for the seat, but it’s hard to make a play for one of the fours seats if you aren’t.
[doodle of Cherrypop wearing a crown brimming with power]
Different types of power mean different types of influence in a depression. The Judges seem to have a lot of shallow influence over a wide area, and some major influence in terms of things they focus on: karma, deciding whether someone’s forsworn, the creation of new Others that they have affinity for, yadda yadda. A lot of this seems to be unconscious & automatic. The Carmine, for example, wasn’t with Charles & Edith when the Hungry Choir was made (or Yalda would have mentioned it) but she could still have influenced the outcome bcause of her reach over her territory.
[doodle of outline of something, with Charles saying oh no] - Excerpt from [12.7 spoilers] Knots and Depressiosn</ref>

Reputation

While part of a system older then the seal most practitioners won't know about them directly unless the family practice specifically touches on them.<ref>“Do many practitioners even know about the judges and non-Lord powers, as a basic thing?” America asked. “Because I didn’t until shit started going down.”

“I don’t think most do,” Sebastian said, putting his bag down. “I’m at least familiar with them and the ideas surrounding them. The Alabaster? Not the Carmine?”
[...]
Avery wondered if Verona was feeling more motivated after last night’s talk.

“For our analogy, I would say yes, you’re mostly right,” Sebastian said, “but it’s more accurate to say it’s not in a highly trafficked area. Not everyone knows it exists. But it’s discoverable. Many texts and resources point to it. I know families in our area that give their newly Awakened children their Essentials texts as introductions to practice, and the Alabaster and other judges is explicitly mentioned in there. I think Ann Wint even does.” - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.3</ref> It is in part a matter of culture.

Types

Alabaster

Alabasters are also known as Alabaster Spirits, Albino Kings/Queens, White Stags, and Innocent Lords.<ref name=":8">The Alabaster

Also Alabaster Spirits, Albino Kings/Queens, White Stags, Innocent Lords

Relevant Schools: Shamanism

Appearance: To the innocent eye, they appear as an animal, often a snow white prey animal and often as a stag, or some equivalent to their native area. To the Sight, they appear as men, women, boys and girls of white hair, white skin, and white clothing, often with decoration or partial body parts representing their other form. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref>

They represent the fact that there is always someone who cares, that there is always an answer to any problem. They are generally flexible enough to fill in for almost any Incarnation, although some specialize based on what's missing from their region.<ref name=":11">On a deeper cosmological front, they are stern and imperious enough to represent War if there is no incarnation or representative capable of standing in for war (admittedly rare), they are mysterious enough to represent Dream if there is no-one to stand in for Dream, and so on, filling the gaps and taking on a specific demeanor.
[...]
They may specialize to fill voids - an area without true warriors, heroes, or combat practitioners may have an Alabaster ready to supply the needed weapon to answer a threat. In an area where there aren’t great libraries or lore-based practitioners, the Alabaster spirit may act as a seer, offering visions and answers to riddles. Outside of this power, they only have the power to maintain their sanctuary, and a greater awareness of things in their broader area of influence - including potential lost. They enjoy the general benefits of being timeless and patient. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref> One might approach an Alabaster to ask for insight about matters relating to innocence and children.<ref name=":12">“Not especially,” Edith said. “But I made pilgrimages to the Alabaster, and to the Sable, and the Aurum came to me, at different points.”

“That’s a lot. Why?” Lucy asked.

“I think because I’m naturally fragile and unstable. This body stabilizes me. But I needed some answers that other Others couldn’t provide. The Alabaster for questions on innocents, and bringing a child into the world. The Sable to talk about death, and Matthew and my exits from the world. The Aurum came to audit.”

“Audit what?” Verona asked.

“I don’t know. But the centipede is said to be a spirit with ties to civilization. Primarily in the East, but… Canada absorbs cultures from all over. It’s not unusual that we drew that in.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.5</ref> She is also connected to ideas of the sanctuary, sanity and fine balance. <ref>The Alabaster oversees sanctuaries, sanity, the finer points of balance.- Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.8</ref> They are a creature of protected innocence and curses can occur if someone tries to kill him.<ref>Like John’s departed friend Yalda, the Alabaster was a protected sort of innocence. Those who harmed an Alabaster risked fate turning on them, but if they did it without taking the seat, they could gain the power, protection, and privilege without the responsibility. It would only come at a cost of fate turning on them, a karmic bankruptcy. Still, enough made the choice that the number of Alabasters effectively dwindled.

She, more than her fellow judges, reached into surrounding regions to make up for absences. She had lasted for longer. She represented something that was faltering.

The world might have been forgetting what mercy was.
[...]
Clint Marcum pointed a gun at her head. He hesitated before pulling the trigger.

“You sense it. The consequence of killing me unfairly. The curse would be too big for you to put it into your heart and wring it out. You’d meet a swift end and I would most likely find my feet again.”

“The Alabaster takes care of the sick, the wounded, the ailing and the cursed. Seems pretty good as Others go,” Avery Kelly said. “She’s kinda really good, I think?”
[...]
Avery Kelly had called her ‘good’, and that wasn’t true. She wasn’t. She gave mercy, she cared for the weak, she administered healing, and the Others she managed were often ones that were kinder to humans. The most violent, vicious, hungry, and ambitious were the province of the other thrones.

She hadn’t mentioned the bird that would matter in a critical moment later. Doing so would betray Ondvarg’s sacrifice. She hadn’t told them a specific location, and she hadn’t armed them as she might a hero who came to her.

She had told them just enough to make things fair. Enough that it was up to them. She wasn’t good, but she was that, at least. Fair.

That was the compromise she had to strike here, and one she’d had to strike for centuries now. She was a paradox in many ways, and this was one of those ways: she was meant to protect, to save, to ward off harm, like that which Charles Abrams represented. But she was also meant to administer this contest fairly. - Excerpt from Break 3</ref>

Fae often claim the Alabaster role. Humans who take on the role often find themselves inadvertently transmitting their human flaws to their subjects.<ref>Because those who wear Alabaster can take on the role, there is a notable trend in many areas (Europe being one) that Faerie overlap or are one and the same with the Alabaster. They may be more Fae and less Deific, but are often indistinguishable otherwise.

Humans in Alabaster are typically tragic figures in some way, a Fisher King effect transmitting their human flaws to their realms and subjects, while they are keenly aware and saddened by this fact.- Mile End: The Alabaster</ref>

An Alabaster's domain can be filled with white flowers, fruit trees, ruins reclaimed by nature, and white-clad innocents who have found their way there. People claimed by the Alabaster are offered relief from whatever afflicts them, such as mental illness, as long as they abide in peace.<ref name=":7" /> The ultimate fate of those who dwell with an Alabaster is often to willingly transform into raw material to fuel the domain (energy, plants, wildlife, etc.)<ref>The Alabaster, left to their own devices, will collect children with nowhere to go, those who have lost their minds to mental illness or grief, the old, and the ill without hospice. They provide peace and they provide sanctuary, with set rules. These rules will range from ‘you will live out the rest of your life in my sanctuary’ to ‘you must never strike one of the others in my sanctuary’ or ‘you will be my servant’ - most are happy to oblige. Those in the sanctuary enjoy release from what ailed them before, contentment, ample food (often limited to breads, fruits and vegetables), and easy company. They may age, and they may not, and the old may be young again. After set times, by choice, or by volunteering themselves as sacrifice to meet a schedule, oftentimes to make room for others, these servants are released and are turned to spiritual energy, often as special fruit, spirits in the forms of small wildlife, or seeds and acorns that can be planted to grow the sanctuary just a little bit larger. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref> If the Alabaster is slain, the innocents they protected may be twisted by their grief into dangerous Others.<ref>Alabaster sanctuaries may appear to be ruined, overgrown castles, forests, or strangely cozy caves.

Alabaster servants are generally innocent in every sense. They may be girls in white dresses with flowers in their hair, looking after the environs, or naked men and women who have become part spirit. They are not often good at fighting and may face the caveat that if they fight or kill in defense of the spirit they serve, that they are ejected from the sanctuary to the dismay of everyone, Alabaster included. In the absence of the spirit, the servants may be colder and less comfortable, and the sanctuary less welcoming.

If and when the Alabaster spirit is slain, the servants are devastated, to the extent that they may transform into other, often darker things in their grief. The sanctuary itself may be fractured. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref>

The Alabaster of Ontario was the oldest Judge in the region, the Alabaster Doe,<ref name=":9">“The Carmine Beast predated us,” the Aurum said. “But not the Alabaster Doe.”

“She was an Animus, a walking intent,” the Alabaster said. “Much as your Dog of War is one.”
[...]
“Before she was the Carmine Beast, she reminded civilized men who had come here why their ancestors were so afraid of the deep night,” the Alabaster said. “Henhouses emptied, livestock slaughtered. Howling that shook hearts, and fangs that took the lives of people who were in the midst of discovering just how dark a forest can be without the torches, candles and lamps of a nearby city.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref> and later the Alabaster Assembly.<ref> - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.7</ref> She can manifest as a gigantic white doe or as a white-haired woman clad in furs and antlers.<ref name=":6" /> In China there is the White Tiger, said to appear when the emperor ruled with absolute virtue or if there was peace throughout the world.<ref name=":0" />

Natural Alabasters

They occur spontaneously,<ref name=":2" /> and often (although not always) resemble white deer (with a secondary human form that reflects this).<ref name=":8" />

Natural Alabasters have far-reaching cunning and the ability to steer and foresee events.<ref>The Alabaster, in associating with the outside world, seek to maintain balance and stave off disaster. To accomplish this, they may put events into motion or take actions with hope or intent of correcting things. They may welcome a person into the sanctuary knowing they aren’t a fit among the lost souls there, enduring the small imbalance and the conflict that results because it means that a sibling or someone who needs that individual will come calling and will agree to do a favor to have the individual back. Another approach may be to take on a role of the sage or seer, providing guidance, help, gifts, or answers to people as a matter of routine, with the intent of making the paths to their front door well trodden ones. If done properly, then in times of crisis, a hero or savior may find their way to them.
[...]
They do like their rules, and if those rules are broken, they can be terrifying. Breaches of trust and of the sanctuary’s rules can see one doomed - the Alabaster is aware enough of paths and the greater scheme of things that when ejecting someone from their presence, they can push them out and onto a life path more fraught with hazards. This is akin to negative karma (or may be negative karma) but may be a more custom-tailored doom, in which everything in life is just harder, and no amount of karma collected can fix that. The Alabaster may also doom those who harm them, as a final dying act - typically everything that the Alabaster was supporting and holding up is left to metaphorically crash down on their killer’s head. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref><ref name=":11" /> However, they lack direct combat ability.<ref>Weaknesses: The Alabaster are not fighters in their own right. If one is hunted, found, and fought, it will die. If one is hunted, found, and captured, it can be bound. The people it surrounds itself with are not typically warriors. By being simultaneously powerful, meaningful, solitary, and defenseless, they draw a great deal of negative attention their way.

Binding: Binding an Alabaster requires either a betrayal when trust has been extended (with a heavy karmic burden and the aforementioned doom) or active hunting. The active hunt is best described as a hunt of both a notable prey animal (a deer is most common) and an athletic human, whichever is most convenient to said prey in a given moment, through unfamiliar terrain, leading to the Sanctuary.

On being defeated, they can be trussed up. A successful binding requires working out a deal, and the Alabaster is both endlessly patient and aware enough of the paths by which things travel that they know if a savior is on the way. The process may be accelerated with torture or threatening the Alabaster’s wards, but doing harm in this way may harm oneself at the same time. This is not an easy process and requires some notable skill, research, tools, or otherwise requires that one hold out and maintain the Alabaster’s captivity until greater circumstances (such as an incoming calamity) forces them to concede. Through this last point and luck, it isn’t impossible for someone young to stumble into a success here. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref> Those who have claimed the role don't inherit this insight, but may have other powers of their own.<ref>Once caught and bound, the Alabaster can be butchered. Their hide is of great power and their antlers or crowns can be important as well. By wearing the crown and wrapping oneself in the hide, one can take on the role and a lion’s share of the power. This does not impart any special knowledge, commit one to any responsibility, or provide any special link to those in the Alabaster’s sanctuary, but it does give a person native access to the sanctuary and attune them to paths.

As one might expect, an individual cloaking themselves in the mantle of ‘there is always an answer’ and ‘there is always someone who cares’ can vastly, dramatically alter surrounding regions, depending on who that person is. The lord of a council wearing a coat trimmed with Alabaster fur may be the answer- the final say, or the last person left to turn to if they are Other or Practitioner. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref>

Draoidhe may draw on their power if they're friendly with an Alabaster and serve their goals, gifted regular small gifts and occasional dramatic workings to maintain peace.<ref>In a lighter way, a Draoidhe who has associated with the Alabaster may call without binding. The Alabaster may regularly grant small gifts and give goodwill for use of those gifts in maintaining balance and addressing problems, and this goodwill can be spent in a dramatic, ethereal claiming of a territory by way of vines and flowers, the installation of a forcible peace where all weapons are trapped, time is stopped, or everything is stilled, or the forcible creation of a safe path. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref> Alabasters will never willingly serve as familiars, but bound ones may be forced into the role, granting gifts and status to their master.<ref>Alabaster as familiars are regal and powerful, naturally imparting status and power just by the linked association, and will regularly give their gifts to their master, and to the master only. They are also, as a general rule, pretty pissed off, because they will never willingly become familiars. The tone of the relationship might be of an abused spouse, or someone trapped in an arranged marriage. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref> Bound Alabasters tend to be greatly weakened, but still potent.<ref>Once bound, the Alabaster is greatly weakened (if released with the binding hanging over its head) or loses all power (if kept contained in an item or place) until those binding them are defeated or the means of binding is destroyed - typically the terms of the binding prevent them from mentioning this item or means or asking others to deal with them. Given an opportunity, however, they can nudge.
[...]
The bound Alabaster can be called on for gifts - at which point they will travel from their sanctuary (if they were released bound) if necessary. The closest equivalent or simplest explanation for this practical kind of summoning could be having a greater spirit, lesser god, or nature-themed genie on call. Depending on their role at the time of binding, the lesser ‘wishes’ they grant can be answers or material gifts. As with any deific power, calling too many times in quick succession may result in smaller, weaker gifts or more fragile ones. Making the gift requests routine may make this stronger.

As an alternative course, one can tap the Alabaster and tie them to an area or place. Having an Alabaster bound to that place can make it a true sanctuary - a place that cannot be trespassed without some immense power. The Alabaster may be visible but silent on the grounds, or appear as a motif and nothing more. - Mile End: The Alabaster</ref>

As a species, the Alabasters seem to be trending toward extinction, despite some preservation efforts. Some theorize that they are simply less numerous because "one day away" covers more ground with modern technology, however.<ref name=":10" /> While Alabaster can be judges, not all of them are.<ref>Wildbow on Discord</ref>

Carmine

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

The Carmine Exile, Judge of War and Violence

A Carmine handles monsters and those who kill monsters; justice in its most brutal form.<ref>“She handled monsters and those who kill monsters,” the woman in white said. “She handled matters of war and murder, carnage, blood, and execution. Justice, in its bloodiest form.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref>

The domain of a Carmine is reached by traveling for a day and then following an animal seen on the edge of the road.<ref>“This is it,” Matthew spoke through the open window, as he turned off the engine. “The cue we’re supposed to follow.”
[...]
Matthew explained, “The only people liable to follow a random animal are those with nowhere to go, or people who know what the animal is about and want to find the Carmine Beast. Essentially, the only people the Carmine beast wants at its doorstep in the first place.”

“What kind of people does it want?”

“Hunters and the hunted,” Charles said.
[...]
“It says a lot that the animal we’re following is injured,” Matthew observed. “Our witness described following a giant canine, it was howling in pain and mourning, and it was injured.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref> It might appear as a blood-soaked clearing filled with predators, with plants appearing white by contrast with the blood, with a throne of bones.<ref>Following the animal wasn’t easy, but it was bleeding, and the blood trail helped.

Until it didn’t.

There were more places here where blood had stained the ground or painted green leaves, grass, weeds, and moss with crimson. Blood in the traces of snow that spring hadn’t yet erased. Blood in soil, in sand, in what might have been peat.

Until there was more bloody ground than ground without blood.
[...]
Past those branches was a bit of a cliff, and then a clearing.

In that clearing, the ground was so blood-soaked, so much more red than anything Avery had seen, that the leaves couldn’t hold color, and were whiter than snow. Trees were cast in blacks and greys, and moisture, where it appeared, beaded crimson and thick.

Bones had been dragged to a central location, and the bones had formed an arrangement, crushed or pushed into place by a weight and framing that Avery instinctively knew.

That something belonged here, in that nest of bones, and it was absent. There were animals here, all carnivores, but they were listless, bowed. Lacking. Again, they were missing something. She could feel the absence like a weight on her chest.

A throne without its Queen. Servants without a master. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref>

A Carmine might take on killers, monsters, heroes, and villains.<ref name=":5" />

The Carmine of Ontario was the Carmine Beast, formerly an Anima representing dangerous predators,<ref name=":9" /> she took over the position after the previous judge retired.<ref>A man covered in wounds sat naked on the throne. He stared at her, his gaze level.

He was retiring, she knew. Partially out of expectations. Partially because he was done. He was tired, and it was clear in the gaze and the way he sat, even though he was strong, blood-slick, deep brown skin stretched over taut muscle.- Excerpt from Summer Break 13.1</ref> The Chinese equivalent may be the Vermillion Bird, associated with fire but distinct from a Phoenix.<ref name=":0" />

Aurum

The Aurum of Ontario was the Aurum Coil; associated with centipedes (probably due to their link with civilization in some Asian cultures),<ref name=":12" /> he generally manifested as a gold-clad male riding a giant golden centipede.<ref>There was a rasping sound, as centipede leg and segments rasped against trees and wood. There was a young teen, about Avery’s age, atop its head, wearing what could have been a silk bathrobe from the way it hung on him, in glittering gold. His hair was straight, fine, and black, his eyes peering through the curtain, his thin-lipped smile wide on the one side. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref> He is connected with commerce and civilization and manages new rules of discourse like music, drama and modern forms of communication.<ref>As the Judge most concerned with commerce and civilization, the Aurum Coil manages new rules of discourse, such as music, drama, or technological modes of communication. - Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.3</ref> He took over the position from the Aurum Dame, who took it from the Gold-Furred Mouse.<ref name=":15" /> The Chinese equivalent is presumably the Yellow Dragon, associated with earth, said to have given humanity writing and served as the first Emperor.

The Aurum's seat has one of the highest turnovers.<ref>“The golden seat is one with high turnover,” the Carcass in Sable told Lucy.- Excerpt from Summer Break 13.2</ref>

Sable

A Sable might fill in for Death if something important needed to die while Death was unavailable.<ref name=":1" /> One might approach a Sable to ask questions about death and one's afterlife.<ref name=":12" /> Thus they are connected to gates,<ref>“We could do Sable again, but… I didn’t get the impression he’s super on top of the Fae thing. He deals with death and gates.” - Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.8</ref> both between realms and dreams which is part of the reason that an Other like Alpeana fell under the jurisdiction of the Sable.<ref>Alpanea
[...]
Associates more with the Sable Judge, who was a peer of the Carmine Beast. Could he ask her and use his position if she lied? - 3.1 Bonus Content: Interview Notes 2</ref><ref name=":13">“No. We saw each other once, fifty years back, but tha’s all. Tha Sable Prince was tha one I worked with most.”

“Prince?” Avery asked.

“The titles suggest who they were before,” Miss explained. “Were John Stiles to take the seat, he would be the Carmine Dog. The Choir would become the Carmine Choir. The Sable Prince was once a higher spirit. Prince was the easiest title to give him.” - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.6</ref>

The Sable of Ontario was the Sable Prince, formerly a powerful Spirit,<ref name=":13" /> he took over from the previous Carcass in Sable.<ref name=":15">The Alabaster Doe, the Carcass in Sable, and the Gold-Furred Mouse.- Excerpt from Summer Break 13.1</ref> He appears as a man in a black suit.<ref>The Sable Prince’s footsteps were unnaturally loud and heavy, as he made his approach. They felt out of place in this sanctuary. The eerie man in the black suit, black dress shirt with no tie or buttons, hair and beard black and barely tamed. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.1</ref> The Chinese equivalent is presumably the Black Tortoise, associated with winter and tombs.<ref name=":0" />

Azure

The Four Symbols of Chinese mythology are said to be the sort of Judges one might find there, or similar equivalents. The Azure/Green Dragon is one of the Four Symbols, associated with spring and the element of wood.<ref name=":0" /> Western equivalents do exist;<ref>“Case one, manipulation of facts leading to forswearing. Manipulation was proven, people went to the local Lord, all well and good, and a Judge- Azure in that case, closest to the one responsible, stepped in, made sure it all was kosher, especially because the Lord was acquaintances with the person who did the forswearing.”

“Where?” the Alabaster asked.

“Down in the States,” Avery said. “Connecticut. Roughly ten years ago.” - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.6</ref> an Azure Lady took over territory for the Aurum Coil possibly hinting at overlapping duties.<ref>In Absentia 21.14</ref>

Gray

Unknown<ref> - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.6</ref>

References

<references/>