Saturnal Court

The Saturnal Court dwells the Platinal Palace, and it is from the ranks of these corrupt remnants of the world’s gentry that the Saturnal Conclave draws its delegates. During the height of its power, the Court encompassed the wealthiest inhabitants of Askellon, a status that led to struggles for dominance as the planet’s wealth began to wane. Such conflicts often ended violently, and each family is rumoured to have had a sizeable cadre of bodyguards, combat and snifter servitors, assassins, spies, and others skilled in the deadly arts at its disposal.

However, following the notorious Dinner of the Poisoned Blades, when fully one in five of the members of the noble households were messily murdered during a three-day banquet, the then planetary governor Viceroy Nadrathor decided to take drastic measures. "He decreed that even the consideration of such dishonourable and underhanded tactics was unworthy of a true servant of the Emperor, and would henceforth result in the severest of punishments for any so accused. It is rumoured that the resulting opposition within the Saturnal Conclave was formidable, though Imperial records are vague as to which of the delegates survived the subsequent debates and which merely resigned in protest."

The effects of his actions were two-fold. First, the level of deception in Saturnal politics escalated, as the countless plots became an even more twisted morass of deceptions, false rumours, and covert assassinations. Second, it prompted an immediate deluge of charges brought before the High Juriducial Courts, as the noble houses sought reparations from their rivals for every real and imagined offence ever inflicted on them and their ancestors. The ensuing litigation resulted in an impasse that has persisted to this day; by the time a case finally comes before a magistrate, laws have changed, evidence is lost or fabricated, or one of the principal parties has died of old age, thereby opening up countless avenues of objections which force the case back to square one.

This rampant atmosphere of collusion and deceit has bred all manner of secret societies that continue to thrive, even as Snope’s World slips further downwards. It is widely believed that nearly every member of the Saturnal Court is a member of a secret order of some sort. Many are merely social affairs, their members seeking a clandestine way to advance their respective agendas or indulge their private vices away from the constant scrutiny of courtly life. Others are more insidious, their existence serving only to entrap fellow nobles or gain exploitable knowledge. There are even some whose sole purpose is to supplant or exterminate any rivals, acts that constitute treason if detected.

Yet scattered amongst this impenetrable web of deceit are other, more diabolical cabals dedicated to any number of forbidden pursuits and heretical practices. A great many of these began as simple pleasure cults or harmless acts of rebellion that inevitably serve as fertile breeding grounds for darkness and corruption. Others have instead become tools for devious recidivists, dangerous radicals, and other heretics who use their newfound wealth and inluence to advance their hideous designs. Such cults represent the "single greatest threat to Imperial rule on Snope’s World", and despite countless investigations and repressive actions, the true perpetrators often manage to melt into the shadows, only to reappear elsewhere and continue their activities anew.

Life within the Saturnal Court is an increasingly fragile pageantry of which every participant is painfully aware, yet no one is willing to shatter. Instead, the lords and ladies cloak their every action in elaborate veils of serenity and luxury, even as their social hierarchy continues to fracture. Many have even become so self-deluded that they are easily disconnected from reality, their minds retreating into the opulent fantasy of Saturnal society’s relentless succession of balls, dinners, grand coronations, and other frivolous formalities. Status is everything among the elite here, and any Court member who successfully garbs himself in the trappings of authority can quickly become a formidable opponent. As a result, the nobility of Snope’s World go to great lengths to outdo each other with incredible displays of affluence and status. Though such spectacles are not uncommon amongst the unfathomably wealthy of the Imperium, "here such demonstrations are elaborate in the extreme, including grand parades of press-ganged marchers and pampered aristocrats whose ostentatious titles take hours to recite."

In order to survive in such a society, one must not only appear powerful but also perfectly calm and composed, for even the slightest hint of uncertainty can betray weakness to a potential adversary. For this reason, the nobles of Snope’s World are masters of the art of dissembling, with many further augmenting their abilities with neural implants and delicate servo-muscular modulators designed to hide their emotions behind veneers of tranquillity. Others instead choose to conceal their face entirely, through the use of rictus masks of flawless vat-grown flesh, or intricate carvings of delicate porcelain or pearlescent silicate. In light of such rampant duplicity, reliably untainted information is a rarity, and its acquisition and exchange has become a lucrative profession for those who conduct business among the elite of Snope’s World. Such returns come at a high price, however, as witnesses to even the most circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing or weakness are often subject to assassination, torture, and other unspeakable atrocities in order to protect the image of the individual in question. Personal servants and fellow conspirators are often highly suspect in this cutthroat world of information dealing, and "it is now customary for noble houses to entomb senior or favoured servants alive with their deceased lord in order to ensure his secrets die with him. These servants go willingly, in the belief it is a true honour for themselves and their families to accompany their masters on these final journeys."

Environments as adapted to deception as this are ripe breeding grounds for heresy and recidivism, and the Court is no exception. Here, among the power hungry nobility, the promises of Chaos—of power, wealth, endless pleasures, freedom from mortality, or the blood of a hated enemy—are tempting offers for aristocrats so desperate to regain their former glory. Among such individuals, the countless secrets of the Court shield their dark ambitions from discovery, thus allowing their malevolent intentions to grow and fester among the shadows and furtive whispers. This influence is usually subtle at first, often taking years to manifest within the blighted souls of its victims; they plot and scheme against their rivals in an attempt to sow seeds of corruption among their fellow citizens. By their very nature, any such individuals must always keep their affiliations a closely guarded secret, meaning that, by virtue of their upbringing, the heretics of Snope’s World are amongst the most devious in all the Askellon Sector.

Behind the Masks

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