The symbolism of Venus can be found marking the most sacred and profane aspects of Creation. On the lighter side, cerulean is the almost-universal color of weddings in Creation, and it is traditional in some regions for a newly married couple to spend its first night sleeping (assuming any sleeping is done) on blue sheets. Blue ribbons hanging from a house’s eaves symbolize the recent birth of a couple’s first child in much of the Threshold.
The wide-brimmed hats worn during mid-day rests throughout the hottest parts of the South are decorated with blue bands.
Blue is also the color of brothels and the primary hue in the attire of more expensive harlots. Most houses of ill repute that can afford to advertise discreetly do so by hanging out a blue paper lantern, and the pleasure barges of House Cynis often fly blue sails (when they care to be identified as such)
manuals of exalted power (Siderials)
THE CERULEAN LUTE OF HARMONY
(THE DIVISION OF SERENITY)
The Cerulean Lute of Harmony is a curiosity among Yu-Shan’s great buildings, for it is one of the few structures in Heaven deliberately designed to emulate a structure in Creation. Long before the Primordial War, indeed not long after the dawn of humanity itself, a group of mortals constructed the world’s first tavern and bordello, and they named their establishment “The Cerulean Lute.” Intrigued by these early mortals’creativity in building an actual house of pleasure, Venus commissioned the Cerulean Lute of Harmony to be the godly answer to the mortals’ innovation. Accordingly, from the outside, the offi ces of the Division of Serenity resemble the mortal Cerulean Lute… if that building had been 20 stories tall and constructed of blue jade.
The sounds of music and revelry constantly emanate from the Division of Serenity, baffl ing those outside who wonder how any work can ever possibly get done within. Indeed, the Cerulean Lute houses not only the administrative offi ces of the Division of Serenity but also serves as a house of pleasure for those gods who lack the resources to attend the Games of Divinity but still have something to offer the Chosen of the Maidens. While the use of divinely appointed offi ce space as a den of iniquity prompts some gods to call this division “Heaven’s Whorehouse,” such puritans would be surprised to learn just how much infl uence, information and wealth the gods and Sidereals of this division have acquired while working on the side as Heavenly geishas and panders. Of course, the Cerulean Lute has interests in everything that gives pleasure, and gods of this division can also supply such diversions as paintings so transcendently beautiful that they are addictive to see, architectural designs that bend the laws of time and space and even limericks so ribald that they can utterly destroy the reputations of their subjects. Everyone has a desire he wants satisfi ed, and the Division of Serenity oversees them all.
VENUS, THE MAIDEN OF SERENITY
Considered the most beautiful of the Maidens (and indeed, all the gods), Venus holds dominion over leisure, pleasure, health and happiness. She is the preeminent fertility god in Yu-Shan, and all other fertility deities owe fealty to her. The various regional gods of peace and harmony answer to her as well. Unfortunately, so does every god associated with addiction, carnality and sloth. Plentimon, the God of Gambling, is one of her most beloved courtiers, and there is a reason that lazy and shiftless people are referred to as “churls of Venus.”
In the First Age, Venus ensured the happiness and wellbeing of Creation’s populace to preserve the public peace. As the Solars descended into debauchery, the duties of her Sidereal servants seemed more focused on bringing satiety to the Princes of the Earth than serenity to their subjects. Misery abounded among more and more of the populace. Despite that, her many courtiers insist that Venus nearly opposed the Usurpation due to impassioned arguments by several of her subordinates (such as Uvanavu, the God of Health, and Yo-Ping, the God of Peace): many gods at the Cerulean Lute believed the death of the Solars would lead only to even greater unhappiness. In the Usurpation’s aftermath, these gods whispered that such assessments were clearly correct, but nothing could be done about it—the Solars were irrevocably gone, and nothing could reverse the spread of misery. And so, say the rumors, Venus simply gave up.
Today, Venus seems devoted utterly to her own pleasure. Her role in the day-to-day operation of the Cerulean Lute of Harmony consists almost entirely of propping up her former lover, Yaogin, as head of the division despite his own slothful nature. While all of the Incarnae are engrossed in the Games of Divinity, Venus alone seems so addicted that she cannot bear to leave the Jade Pleasure Dome or even distract herself for more than a moment to consult with her deputies. In fact, she remains so fi xated on the Games that she seems unaware even of the return of the Solar Exalted.
Venus invariably manifests as a buxom woman of unparalleled beauty. Her gowns are seductive and made of the fi nest materials, when she deigns to wear clothing at all. Her eyes and hair (just as any clothing she does wear) are sapphire blue, the traditional color of both bridal gowns and the banners that wave in front of bordellos. She typically seems mildly intoxicated, as if she had just consumed qat or had a momentous orgasm.
GODS OF THE CERULEAN LUTE OF HARMONY
Yaogin the Fair, God of Beautiful Dreams, carries a remarkable pedigree, if arguably an undeserved one. As the Bearer of the Lapis Ewer, Yaogin is unquestionably the most important god in Yu-Shan to have begun life as a mortal. According to the most common version of the tale, Yaogin was a simple shepherd of uncommon beauty. Venus saw the young man asleep in his fi eld. Enchanted by his looks, she spirited him to Yu-Shan to serve as her cupbearer and lover. Later, she elevated him to godhood and installed him in her division as a god of dreams within the Cerulean Lute. She eventually tired of him, however, and appointed him head of her division mainly to keep him too busy to bother her. Even then, Venus’s ennui began to overcome her judgment, and if any of her subordinates complained about the lackadaisical and unqualifi ed Yaogin’s elevation to such an important post, the Maiden of Serenity never deigned to acknowledge any complaints.
Yaogin typically appears as an incredibly handsome teenaged boy with dark hair and dreamy eyes, wrapped in robes of azure satin and silk. He bears the Lapis Ewer, whose waters grant illumination, peace of mind and indescribable pleasure as Yaogin desires. He frequently nips at his own Celestial drink. Despite the importance of his posting, Yaogin appears supremely disinterested in the Cerulean Lute’s role in the Bureau. He considers himself a craftsman of dreams fi rst and foremost, and an administrator a distant second. Yaogin devotes most of his time to dreamshaping and delegates most of his authority to his underlings, a fractious and bitterly divided trio of divinities.
Uvanavu, the God of Health, still fumes over the Usurpation after 1,500 years, and he blatantly abuses his position to harass Bronze Faction Sidereals. Less obviously, the Chrysanthemum Shogun also misappropriates divisional assets for his highly illegal side activities in Creation. (See the “Sidereals and Whitewall” sidebar on p. 77). Something of an overachiever, Uvanavu oversees Creation’s health on behalf of the Bureau of Destiny and the Bureau of Humanity; while the concept of health naturally connects to both Bureaus, Uvanavu illegally wangled a second appointment and salary. After the Contagion, Uvanavu saw the number of people who actually required his oversight reduced by 90%, and the considerable time freed up by the near extinction of the human race gave Uvanavu ample time and resources to fulfi ll both his godly duties and his private ambitions. Well-liked by his peers in both Bureaus and a favorite of the Maiden of Serenity, Uvanavu exercises enormous infl uence over the Division of Serenity far in excess of what his actual position would indicate, much to the
chagrin of Chejop Kejak.
Uvanavu’s chief rival is Livilla, Goddess of Prostitution, who does what she can to counter his support of the Gold Faction. In the First Age, prostitution was relatively rare—the Solars pursued policies that raised the living standards of mortals signifi cantly, and only the most wretched of men or women viewed prostitution as socially acceptable or their only means of survival. The Usurpation changed that perception, as the rampant lusts of the Dragon-Blooded created massive demand for high-class courtesans and dirty rent boys alike. The Contagion, ironically, improved Livilla’s status even further. Men and women who had nothing else to sell for food turned to selling themselves. From the Harlotry of Nexus to the professional orgiasts of House Cynis, Livilla’s worshipers have elevated her almost to the pinnacle of the Bureau.
Balancing Uvanavu and Livilla is Golden Reverie, the God of Euphoria. This patron of drunkards and addicts plays the other two gods against each other, even as he provides Yaogin with an endless supply of mind-altering drugs to sustain his dreamlike existence. Golden Reverie cares nothing for the Gold-Bronze debate, and focuses entirely on his personal vision of Creation: an entire world where every man, woman and child spends life in a warm, pleasant drug-induced haze. To that end, the God of Euphoria blunts every effort by Seers and gods to focus the division on anything other than the basest, most simplistic view of serenity. Golden Reverie regularly sabotages programs (Sidereal and otherwise) that might undermine the Guild’s drug trade, and he has illegally manipulated fate for centuries to prevent discovery of the Guild’s Beasts of Resplendent Liquid (see Wonders of the Lost Age, p. 127).
SIDEREALS OF THE DIVISION OF SERENITY
The Chosen of Venus, also known as Joybringers, promote such concepts as health, pleasure, job satisfaction, personal happiness and sexual expression across Creation. The Joybringers’ advocacy of peace tamps down factional infi ghting in the division; most Joybringers would rather compose a satiric song about an enemy than construct some elaborate plot against him. Still, spectacular exceptions do occur; there’s no fury like an addict denied his fix, and Joybringers have erupted in stunning rages. Afterward, they said it felt good.
Joybringers are assigned to missions in Creation that require tact, discretion and social graces, such as ensuring the signing of a peace treaty, that the two children of feuding households meet and fall in love or that a sick man dies outside a city’s gates before he can get inside and unleash a virulent plague. Unfortunately, Joybringer missions often become entangled in the political intrigues of the gods of this division. In particular, Golden Reverie pulls strings to get Joybringers allied with him assigned to any missions that involve the Guild. Similarly, Uvanavu does whatever he can to ensure that only Gold Faction Joybringers receive missions that might conceivably affect Whitewall, and he prefers to see the diplomatic Joybringers in charge of such missions over any other caste.