Old Tarnished

Old Tarnished
Origin	Flesh
Titles	Old Tarnished El Rey Dorado The Golden King
Names	none
Aspects
Date of arrival	c. 1500 C.E.
Owner(s)	Edward

Old Tarnished (El Rey Dorado, The Golden King) is the Fourteenth Hour of the Fansus, created by Edward. He is a God-From-Flesh, ascending to Hourhood from the Third History. His aspects are Moth and Edge in decreasing order of importance.

Hernan Cortes was a explorer and conquistador that explored the New World, suppressing the worship of the Nowheres and the Keys, the chaotic Hours of the Mansus. When he decided to grab power for himself and declare himself the Golden King of the New World, his former homeland and the Hours of the Doors brought their might to bear against him to strike him down. His power was bolstered at the last moment by the very Hours he’d dedicated himself to supressing, and they entered into an alliance that saw the Doors and Spain banished from Cortes’ new empire. When Cortez decided to invade the Mansus, however, the Door Hours tricked him into entering “The Golden City” created by the Tower of Treasure. The power of the city made him immortal and turned him into an Hour of the Edge, but came at the price of tethering him to the Golden City and the surrounding area. He now wages constant war on the Hours, interrupting their wars and usurping their plans for the mortal world, while he searches for a way to be free of the Golden City and take the entire Mansus for his own.

His tarot card is Death.

Appearance

The Golden King takes the form of a resplendent monarch in the golden armor of a Conquistador, riding on a warhorse. As his power begins to wane, he takes on certain traits. His golden armor begins to become dull and become tarnished, he becomes emaciated and gaunt, and he is often seen as hunched or slumped over in his saddle. In this form, his enemies have given him the moniker “Old Tarnished”.

Principles

The power of Old Tarnished brings conquest and violent endings, but also leaves room for rebirth. When he rides out from his golden city, all that he and his Golden Army touch becomes gleaming gold, and all enemies are felled before them. But when Cortez ascended, such incredible power came at a great price. Not long after he completes his conquest, his Golden Empire begins to tarnish, flake, and crumble to dust. Cortez and his men must retreat to the Golden City, the only place in the Mansus where his power is a constant. When he leaves, empty rooms are left behind, letting the other Hours repossess them, now a little bit wiser from antagonizing him.

Locations

The Fansus

• The Golden City: The Golden City is the Golden King’s center of power in the Mansus, where he sits his throne and guides his mortal followers in their actions against the rest of the Hours. The Apple of the Eye did her job well, for the city is truly a paradise of unparalleled beauty and luxury. It’s citizens enjoy eternal life within its borders, and are provided for enough that most are truly content.

King Cortez and his soldiers, however, are not. When word reaches the Golden City of another Hour trying to take power in the Mansus, they ride out with great haste to put down this potential threat to Cortez’s prospective rule, before returning again. Many citizens of the Golden City arrived after Cortez was bound to the place, and they’ve trickled in over the years. Either seeking to join in the conquest or just wanting a better life, these pilgrims bring offerings of powerful relics and the secrets of the other Hours to the Golden King in exchange for sanctuary and immortality in his service. Those that offer insufficient tribute or try to deceive the Golden King either by attempting to sneak in or cheat him however are either killed or enslaved forever to fuel the eternal war effort.

• The Province of Dust: The Province of Dust is the name that has come to describe the ever-growing expanse of dust that has come to denote the border of the Golden King’s domain in the Mansus. Whenever the King retreats to the Golden City, the gold that covered his fleeting domain crumbles to dust, dust that comes to accumulate around the Golden City. This desert of desolation has come to serve both as a marker of territory and a warning to the Hours, that this is where the King holds domain, and the price of challenging him.

The Province is home only to pilgrims that pass through on the way to the Golden City, and the “Dustmen”, Dead and Mortals that were unfortunate enough to be caught outside the Golden City when the Golden King came riding out, and were reduced to dust. More than a few of them were pilgrims that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They now scrounge out a miserable existence with bodies of dust, digging fruitlessly through the dunes or ambushing caravans of pilgrims seeking an item that would give them either the ability to restore themselves or finally gain citizenship in the city.

Items

Books

• The Gospel of Saint Francisco (2, 12): All religion is banned in the Golden Empire, all except for the worship of the Golden King, of course. Here is a handwritten excerpt from one of his holy books.

Relationships

• The Architeuthian:
• The Anaconda: The Anaconda feels great responsibility for the existence and predicament of this Hour, and can often be found in the Golden City because of this. It has been rumored that the Anaconda has occasionally even deferred to this Hours advice about human affairs, as it has been inhuman for centuries, if it even ever was such a thing.
• Snake Tail with Appendages:
• The Engine of Cycles:
• The Peacock: In cooperation with other Keys, the Peacock influenced the Third History in the guise of the "Great Feathered Wyrm". Following Cortes' emancipation from Spain, he was among the first Hours to suggest aiding the fledgling nation, sensing the potential for a powerful ally in the upstart conqueror. However, after the Cuckoo convinced the Golden King the Peacock was the one behind his imprisonment in the Golden City, their relationship is currently one of hostility as both parties fight for control of the corner of the Mansus behind the Gilded Gate.
• The Spark:
• The Cuckoo:
• The Silver Owl:
• The Watcher in the Window:
• The Elder Sister:
• The Apple-of-the-Eye: The Apple was El Dorado before it was the Glorious Lie. It wants that part of itself back, and the human who stole it dead like scorched bone in sunlight.
• SWOUP:
• The Archivist:
• The Bright-Delver:
• The Harvester:
• [    ]:
• The Insidious:
• The Snow-Stained:
• The Fanged Bramble:
• The Aged Bones:
• The Mendicant Without:
• The Anvil:
• The Maker:
• The Deceiver:
• The Huntsman:
• The Great Serpent: