Continuing explorations of our upcoming release of Hyraeatan, City in Shadow. The demiplanar metropolis is ruled by a Council comprised of fourteen rival factions known as the Parities. The Parities espouse the titular balance of Light and Dark as such the claims seven of each. The Immortality obsessed “Eternals” of the House of Heights have long dominated the political strength of the Parities of Light….
Parity: Light
Nicknames: Crusts, Fakers, Grudges, Oldies
Beliefs: Exact arrival of the House of Heights is somewhat unclear as that the Parity claims to have had disciples among the apprentices of Aphos and that his journey to Immortality was as much their proof of concept as it was the triumph of vampiric ascension. Not surprisingly the contention was scoffed at by the Sanguine Sovereignty who claimed that all of Aphos’ disciples became his first clergy. Where ever the truth lies, the House of Heights claims Aphos among its first successes on the Path of the Immortal.
The Parity’s dedication to achieving Eternity. They believe that Immortality is both individual and reactive and often engineer environmental, arcane, or social circumstances around a member’s pending transformation only to abandon the effort after the success or, as often, failure of the attempt. The rumors of the City include far more than Aphos’ apotheosis as successes counting no less than a dozen ascendants from their ranks but also other things that the House has since distanced itself such as the Dancers in the Dark or the contagious persona of the Likeness.
When not actively engaged in the central effort to achieve various forms of immortality, the Parity is as actively engaged in the development of Hyraeatan as a City that can actively support the needs of a growing eternal population. The hold seminars on social reintegration, generational planning, and countless other subjects to explore the full ramification of there intentions toward forever. They also maintain and control the Annexi, a group of artifacts capable of expanding the city and repairing the Black Lattice.
Primary Facilities: The Tower of Ages is among the oldest places in Hyraeatan. The Parity also runs the Halls of Residence and is responsible to for maintaining the citizenship records and housing laws of the City in Shadow. Beyond this the Parity maintains a great number of spas and salons focused on more mundane means of extending beauty and health.
Allied and Enemy Parities: Among its allies in the Parities, the House of Heights partners with the Temple of Coin to supply its esoteric needs and often takes interest in the Steamwalkers experiments for findings that can be turned to the preservation of life. The Forseen have a relationship with the House of Heights that most often rears its head in sudden shifts toward the Houses’ initiatives. The Ashborn find the Parity’s obsession with maintaining life as a perpetuating Flaw. In the Dark, the Sanguine Sovereignty contends the House had nothing meaningful to due with Aphos’ ascension and the Thunderchildren claim true Eternity is an illusion before the Perfections of the Strike. They find themselves almost direct opposition the Blackblades.
Desired Membership: Recruits to the House are mostly sought out when strides toward to preservation, longevity, or other processes to maintain health and beauty. Long view Eternals in the Parity have been known to recruit broader skills sets as parts of much more complex and sweeping initiatives. The parity also maintains a larger body of skilled laborers and handymen to repair mundane housing needs.
Rewards: Foremost among the benefits of the House of Heights is discounted or free housing. They have controlling stakes in nearly any living space not directly owned by another Parity and hold sway over most tenements, apartments or inns. Obviously long term members are more likely to engage in the Parity’s signature pursuit gaining access to life extension magics or other lore about transitioning beyond a mortal state.
Denials: The House of Heights despises short term thinking and often requires members to invest a portion of their earnings in special l0ng-term accounts with the Parity to incentivize life-extension.
More info on Hyraeatan can be found in the Mythic Paths of the Lost Spheres appendix and the upcoming Book of Beyond WIP. Hyraeatan, City in Shadow will be available later this year. For our other products visit: d20pfsrd.com, drivethruRPG, paizo and RPGNow.
OGL Note: None of this entry is considered Open Content.
"Find the Hero Within" - Lost Spheres Publishing 