Flint-and-Steel

Flint-and-Steel
"Who is the fuel, and who is the flame?"
Origin	Flesh and Stone
Titles	Flint-and-Steel The Pyre-Spark
Names	FNORD
Aspects
Date of arrival	c. 480 B.C.E.
Owner(s)	Will, A Poor Lunatic

Flint-and-Steel (The Pyre-Spark) is the nineteenth Hour of the Second Fansus, represented by the Sun. Once a Name of a long-forgotten Hour, it is the Hour of obsessions that consume, of mad genius, and of self-destruction. Its aspects are Forge, Moth, and Lantern.

History

Before the Collapse, there was an Hour of Forge. Flint-and-Steel was one of its Names then, and in due time it consumed its erstwhile master from within, using its essence to fuel its own ascension. When the Other Place fell, Flint-and-Steel almost perished. It survived in a comatose state, surviving on the dimmest sparks of Glory until, one day, the Mother Bear reignited the Glory and the Pyre-Spark awoke.

Flint-and-Steel was especially active in Persia, inspiring Ahura Mazda and patronising the Achaemenids and especially the Arsacids during the War of the Ancients. Its influence brought technological advancement to the Parthians - superior metallurgy, automatons, steam power... But much was lost to the war and the influence of the Rotted Ox.

Appearance

FNORD

Principles

It is known to the adepts of Forge that for an artisan to achieve their greatest work they must destroy their most precious tool. Flint-and-Steel embodies this, its touch burning away tool and craftsman alike to bring forth works of unmatched genius. Its obsession and madness invokes Moth, which yearns for the hint of the Glory's Lantern-light that is the Pyre-Spark. It drives men to madness, and so is both revered and feared in equal measure by adepts.

Worship

Cult

The main cult of the Flint-and-Steel in the Histories is The Order of the Eternal Flame, centered in Persia. The Order is a Zoroastrian-influenced society made up of scientists, artisans, engineers, and artists, all of whom have dedicated themselves to finding the boundaries of their talent and going beyond.

Mark

"I am the strike and the spark. The world is my kindling, and we shall reforge it in fire." These are the Marks of Refinement. To obtain them one must devote themselves to their craft to the expense of all else.

1. Notion: Genius - I could create such wonders...
2. Dedication: Genius - I have dedicated myself to achieving the pinnacle of the artisan's craft.
3. Ascension: Genius - The Pyre-Spark has settled in my mind and it burns with new ideas. I know this to be the Third Mark.
4. Ascension: Genius - The Fourth Mark is the fire in my words and in my eyes, and my skin is fever-hot like a furnace.
5. Ascension: Genius - My flesh has begun to burn away, and it is replaced with something so much more than what it was. I have turned my attention to the world as something to be shaped. This is the Fifth Mark.
6. Ascension: Genius - The Sixth Mark is when I have no use for tools and blazing furnaces. The strength of my will and my hands is enough to reforge the world.
7. The Phoenix's Pyre - I have passed near to the blazing heights of the Glory, and there the last of my old self was set aflame. I have risen from my own ashes, and now I am a thing of fire fueled by what I was. My touch burns away the old and leaves only the new. I will walk the world and the House, and my works will bring both closer to the Glory. I will not grow old. I will change and change and change until, one day, maybe one day soon, I become something wonderous.

Names

FNORD

Long

The Flint-and-Steel's Long are often called Phoenixes. They appear as blazing infernos with a person at their heart, and they are reputed to be peerless craftsmen with no fixed abode, wandering and learning and creating. They are alchemists, smiths, and artists all.

Locations

FNORD

Relationships

• The Storm-Tossed:
• The Spirarch:
• The Perennial:
• The Red Lady:
• The Hunter:
• The Masquerade:
• The Bright Tapestry:
• The Die-Cutter:
• The Mother Bear:
• The Maw Consuming:
• The Succulent Glow:
• The Knife's Edge:
• FNORD
• The Warrior Maid:
• The Ferric Brand:
• FNORD
• The Monument:
• The Cub:
• The Seraph:
• Our Lady Betrayed:
• FNORD
• The Worm Funktastic:
• FNORD
• The Rotted Ox:
• FNORD
• Our Lady's Resolve:
• The More-Opened:
• The Unending Worm:
• The Clavier:
• FNORD