The Perditarch

The Perditarch
"Tear it down, and leave it there. Our job is done."
Origin	Blood
Titles	The Failed Blacksmith
Names	The Ashen Lady
Aspects
Date of arrival	When mankind started to craft, and when it started to fail at it
Owner(s)	Ael

The Perditarch is the Hour of destruction, and the force against hypocrisy and sabotage, though the concept of justice is definitely its own. Whatever he tears down, he will not rebuild, but will let others use the remains if he deems them better than what went before. He wanders the Mansus, rarely the New Mansus, and is theorized to be connected to The Collision. Now, he is yet another Hour active in the Wake, though he does not directly enter it, unlike certain other Hours.

Description

History

Each time an artisan fails his work, each time a manufacture is destroyed, and each time an utopia collapses, the same influence is present, somewhere, though not in everyone. After only decades, a god-from-blood manifested out of these, and perhaps with a bit of additional bloodshed.

Participation in the Collision

It is not sure whether or not the Perditarch was somehow connected to the Collision. He could be the one who influenced The Navigator, but it is not sure why he should have done this. On the other hand, what would be a twin Glory for the god of destruction?

Appearance

Oftentimes, the Perditarch appears as an influence, generally the influence present when destruction occurs; however, on special occasions, he takes the shape of the first blacksmith, though the shape has probably altered by now. After all, being a Winter Hour, the Perditarch knows that no shape lasts forever. He is always cold, though he is warm with The Alchemist. He is wounded, and eventually, this will end him, too, though not all endings are close: Winter is west of the world, but the Perditarch shapes the world, too.

Principles

Just like nights, anything else must end. As a Winter Hour, the Perditarch is aware of that, though he is not a force that mourns about ends, but rather brings them forth. He kills Long, or plans intrigues against what seems against his cause. For the force he uses, and the change that comes with it, he represents Forge. For the endings he acknowledges and worships, he represents Winter.

Worship

Cult

The Perditarch is not worshipped, but rather feared, and protected against; however, one who knows his secret may be destroyed by him, so as to not be destroyed by anything else but the end.

Mark

1. Temptation: Destruction: There is a secret to a power of destruction artisans and utopists fear, and it has occured to me that I could use it.
2. Dedication: Destruction: When the remains of dust are split, fire remains.
3. Ascension: Destruction: I have whispered the secret to the Perditarch, and we have made a conclusion. This is the Third Mark.
4. Ascension: Destruction: For the first time now, I was split by the Perditarch. My wounds glow with the heat of embers, though that heat will quickly cease without pain. This is the Fourth Mark
5. Ascension: Destruction: The fragments of my soul have been broken to dust. My skin is always dry now, and I find it to be hard to walk, now. I know this to be the Fifth Mark.
6. Ascension: Destruction: The dust is now fire, and I burn inside, almost. But almost is not enough for a fire.
7. Split a thing, and you have fragments: For the last time, I am split now, yet I remain. My body is gone, Nowhere, but my soul which was split remains, as a fire. In the Mansus, I am a raging flame destroying the pitiful remains of the Collision, so as to build another Mansus out of the remains. In the Wake, I am nothing, still a body, but rather a flame, travelling where destruction is, and watching all fires.

The Ashen Lady

The Ashen Lady

"Come on, you can't tell me you don't like some flames!"

8

12

12

Summon one of the Name-emanations of the Perditarch

The Ashen Lady may only enter where the craving of Grail is present, a craving incorporated in her pyromaniacacy, and where the silence of Winter, for the remains she leaves, is present.

She strolls around my room, and looks out of the window. "Could be fun playing with what these people build, am I right?"

5

10

6

Locations

The Mansus

The Twin-Glory

Near the Twin-Glory, the Perditarch is most commonly seen, trying to reduce it to one Glory. Each Hour who sees him there knows what he is up to. They generally don't protest. What is there left to have from two Glories?

The New Mansus

The Perditarch HATES the New Mansus. He HATES the Demiurge, and all his servants, and he wishes to destroy it, and all its gates, though the Demiurge made sure that this can't happen for now.

The Histories

When Vienna was annihilated, he did not destroy the remains. He had plans for those. In general, he is suspicious about the work of the humans in the Wake, especially after the creation of new Hours, though as of now, he has not taken action.

Items

Tools

A Broken Hammer

A hammer which is broken does not shape, it will at least only destroy.

8

Books

An Account of Destruction

A rather ancient essay on all the destruction the Perditarch caused, and why, and how he did it.

Study an Account of Destruction

The author expresses in a fascinated manner of how the Perditarch destroyed all that opposed him, and how he is, in his eyes, the key to a better place:
'Chaos is the fire, and order is always the ash.'

Rather disenchanted, he concludes that the Perditarch rarely rebuilds what he tore down:
'After all, ash rarely takes a different colour on its own...'

->Winter 6 Lore, Forge 6 Lore.

Relationships

• The Unfettered: The Unfettered is one of the most relevant revolutionary Hours to him, as her ideals show some parallels; however, at one point, they won't anymore, and the Perditarch is aware of this.
• The Faustian Alchemist: The Perditarch has relations to this revolutionary Hour, and he generally builds stuff out of the remains the Perditarch produces, though he would have preferred an Hour turned to ash instead of a comrade.
• The Demiurge: The Perditarch HATES the Demiurge, with all his colours, and the New Mansus, which he considers a pile of ash out of the remains of the old Mansi.

Secrets

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