The Great are one of the Three Powers—the other two being the God Emperor and the Wise. All who are of at least blood-rank one are of the Great. This status not only confers political power, but also allows a House to partake of the division of the flesh tithe. The Great constitute one fifth of all the Chosen
Though the Chosen refer to themselves as ‘the Chosen’, throughout the Commonwealth, and particularly to a speaker of Vulgate, they are referred to as ‘the Masters’
Though the Chosen refer to themselves as ‘the Chosen’, throughout the Commonwealth, and particularly to a speaker of Vulgate, they are referred to as ‘the Masters’
The Lesser Chosen constitute four fifths of the Chosen: all who are below blood-rank 1—that is, those whose blood-taint has no zero in the first position
Ranga shoes are used to maintain purity but also demonstrate rank. There are two kinds of ranga: those used in the outer world and court ranga.
Court robes are worn by the Chosen and the Wise at the court of the God Emperor. Architectural constructions as much as costume, a court robe consists of a skin woven from precious metals and stones hung over a framework of bones.
Among the Chosen, crowns and other headgear carry an immense symbolic charge
The beginnings of how I came to see how the Chosen ‘looked’…
The centrality of costume in Chosen politics
Osrakum is a theatre in which the Chosen play out their rituals of power. Display and grandeur are at the heart of these rituals and yet, except at the ceremony of the Rebirth that is held annually in the Plain of Thrones, these are rarely witnessed by their subjects. Their households bear constant witness to this pomp, but it is not they whom the Chosen have in mind as being their primary audience.
