ID: 5320378

Repeatable: False

Validate Conditions on Start: True

Auto Start: No

Auto Start Init: Unknown

Event On

• Rite Ends: The Look of Power

Activation Conditions

This event has no activation conditions.

Outcome Actions

• Options:

  You ponder which consort to speak of in detail.

  • op1: Zazie
  • op2: Sadani
  • op3: Ansuya
  • op4: Fadia and Slave Girls
• Case #1:
  • Card (Secret)
  • Prompt:

    Zazie was the most favored beauty of the moment. That was, of course, chiefly because of her dazzling looks, but you had always felt another key reason for her favor was... she was, at bottom, somewhat like the Sultan himself.
    
    She would sacrifice anyone to seize advantage; she knew exactly how to inflict pain and how to give pleasure; she had a rare instinct for power... If there was any difference between her and the Sultan, it lay perhaps in this: Zazie cared more about satisfying herself, and had far less interest in tormenting others.
    
    You described in detail the outfits Zazie usually wore. Though she had new jewels and new robes every day, she always wore the gold crown that the Sultan had commissioned especially for her—a crown that flagrantly exceeded all bounds. Never in imperial history had any woman of the harem borne so much gold upon her head... yet Zazie said her neck never tired—"It's light as air! I could wear more!"
    
    Malkina asked many questions about Zazie's makeup. Since you did not, in court, make a habit of staring at the Sultan's women's faces, you could only answer by feel. Even so, your answers pleased Malkina greatly.

• Case #2:
  • Card (Intuition)
  • Prompt:

    Sadani—once the most favored, the sovereign's choicest fruit—had then plunged into the hell of rivalry.
    
    You told Malkina that from Sadani you had learned what power looked like: when she was favored, she wore red and purple, setting off her most beautiful wine-violet hair; she wore rubies bigger than an ox's eye; the gold dust on her face ran down her neck. But once she fell from favor, her image shattered: the splendid jewels somehow no longer suited her; the heavy brocades always slipped from her shoulders... So what were these women of the harem truly fighting for? The sovereign's true heart—or that instant's whim that could be traded for power?
    
    Malkina nodded again and again; she said many of her clients were much the same.
    
    "When a man loved and doted on them, they dazzled; the moment that so-called love vanished, they withered like blades of grass robbed of sunlight!"
    
    She wrote everything down, then thanked you solemnly, saying she had learned a great deal.

• Case #3:
  • Card (Opportunity)
  • Prompt:

    Ah, Ansuya—the Princess of a Fallen Kingdom, a pallid lotus. She had once roused the Sultan's pride and desire—just as her now-ruined homeland had. But what had the Sultan truly enjoyed? Was it the country and the princess, or the moment he let her father and brothers believe they were safe, only to crush them utterly? Surely what he savored was the despair and madness in men's eyes.
    
    You told Malkina that, though you had never seen it yourself, the elders said Ansuya had entered the harem as a bride in a red robe studded with gems; as she stepped from the palanquin she found only a few maidservants to greet her, not her "husband". Then she was informed that every woman in this harem was the Sultan's slave; there was no mistress here, none above another, and the Sultan might sleep with whomever he pleased. Moreover, she was not allowed to conceive. It was said the proud princess laughed through her tears and tore her robe to shreds. Her dowry maids wept and tried to cover her body; their sobbing echoed long through the harem...
    
    Malkina recorded the tale in detail and said she would look into the exact style of the princess's magnificent robe—once a symbol of power and later a byword for humiliation.

• Case #4:
  • Card (Inside Information)
  • Prompt:

    You spoke of the enormous number of slave girls in the Sultan's harem, among them Fadia, one of the few the sovereign occasionally brought before the royal court.
    
    These slaves did not live in luxury: they emptied chamber pots, scrubbed floors, fetched and carried in the kitchens. Yet they seized every chance to cross the Sultan's path, baring their lovely bodies in hope of a moment's favor. Even those who were favored lived scarcely better lives, though they were allowed to own property, for the Sultan often tossed them rewards. Thus some plotted to save enough to buy their own freedom before they were too old to marry...
    
    "When they redeemed themselves," Malkina asked, "did the Sultan's women cost more?"
    
    You nodded. A slave who had been favored by the Sultan often had to pay one extra gold coin. Yes—she had been touched by the Sultan; perhaps he might wish to enjoy her again; therefore she must pay for such a phantom loss!
    
    The matter left Malkina speechless with a bitter little laugh. Afterward she asked many more questions about the slaves' dress, grooming, and makeup, then thanked you gravely.

References

Referenced in Effects

This event is used in effects for the following entities.

Rites