Custodian of the Storm Vault

Overview

The Custodian of the Storm Vault is an Urizen Imperial title created following an announcement in Summer 379YE by the Crystal Architect of the Spires. Built in Proceris in the Urizen territory of Zenith, the Custodian oversees the Storm Vault as a sinecure, requiring minimal responsibility but offering a regular income of crystal mana.

After the Spring Equinox 380YE, a plague of crystal-eating vermin saw the Seante commission white granite wards to help protect the Vault, which had the unexpected outcome of adding additional production to the sinecure.

During the Druj invasion of Zenith that began in Summer 381YE, the Storm Vault was threatened by orc invaders but as of this writing (shortly before Winter 381YE), has remained in Imperial hands. It's position high in the mountains allowed it to avoid the devastating flood that reduced much of the farmlands of Proceris to a sodden marsh.

Responsibilities

The Custodian has no particular responsibilities; they simply receive a bounty of crystal mana from the Storm Vault in Zenith. If the Vault was to be threatened in any way, it would be the responsibility of the Custodian to deal with that threat.

Powers

Bounty of Mana

The Custodian of the Storm vault receives an income of 10 crystal mana each season.

Appointment

The Custodian of the Storm Vault is selected by unanimous decision of the Urizen senators. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title may be appointed by the Imperial Senate instead.

The title can be held by any Urizen citizen. The Custodian has tenure, and serves until they die or step down. They can be revoked by the General Assembly, the Urizen National Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.

The Storm Vault

Echostorm spire is named after two adjacent peaks. "Storm" is a real curiosity within Zenith - a region normally famed for it's clear skies for stargazing - in that it is regularly shrouded by cloud, rain and high winds. Quite why this might be is a matter of some debate, but current theories tend towards a magical origin.

Whatever the truth of it, the Storm Vault is built to harness the magical flows. It consists of a set of vanes looking rather like a large mithril flower set just about the level of the cloud line (which varies a little seasonally, but is typically below the peak of the spire), the vanes are adjusted and tuned to harness the energy of the prevailing conditions - both magical and meteorological.

Collected energy is channeled down through the mountain down a conduit, to the vault - which is a delicate mesh of mithril from which crystals are grown.Whilst only a few grow to maturity each season, the nascent crystals glow and shimmer as the storm energy is harnessed meaning that, this assembly looks rather like an extremely large cobweb chandelier.

The collector needs careful adjustment by civil servants, and bad weather on the side of a mountain makes it a rather unpleasant experience when it's necessary. The role of the custodian is to ensure that the adjustment and configuration of both the vault and the collector are carefully monitored.