Last Antaean Initiate

"The vendor is an old man in a beaded skullcap, with deeply seamed cheeks, a whitening stubbled beard, and dark, sorrowful eyes. We shake hands to solemnise the purchase, and he takes my hand in both of his and examines my face. 'Yes,' he says. 'You are hers. She used to come here, you know. I hoped you would, too, some day.'"

- Purchasing property in Tripoli

The is a Local Contact who can be met by purchasing property in Tripoli. He will explain a great deal about the player character's family history.

Arrange an Initial Meeting
"‘Your mother was an initiate of the Antaeum. Not many women are, but her barakah - let us say her light - was very great. At first your father hoped to purchase her light. But he came to love her... while she came to recognize him for what he was. That is why, when your birth drew near, she fled him, and why he pursued her.’"

Communicate with him to add the Associate Aspect and get Antaeum. "‘She would rather have taken her own life - and yours - than let him raise you. But at the Antaeum, when they learnt your father was a Son of Earth, they convinced her to bear you - there in the sanctuary, beneath the sign of the shattered sword. Come. I'll take you to her.’"

Visiting the Shrine
"The sanctuary is quiet, cool, though barred with sandstone sun. ‘I am the last,’ the old man says quietly. ‘And so I am the last who knows she was laid to rest - here - beneath the great stone of the altar. A Child of Earth is a difficult birth for ordinary flesh, you see; and so her heart burst. Then your father took you anyway...’"

can be used to visit Antaeum even when Tranquillity is on the board or if you are consecrated to the Colonel. This produces Kirqa-Caul and Grief.

"I remain in the sanctuary after the old man has gone, until the stars wink outside the unglazed windows and the air is bitter with night. He pressed a gift into my hand before he left - a scrap of flesh I wore as I came into the world. ‘You were born beneath the shattered sword,’ he said, ‘and so we always hoped you would choose to rebel. After rebellion, of course, there comes the more difficult choice.’"

- End description, if not consecrated or consecrated to the Lionsmith

"I remain in the sanctuary after the old man has gone, until the stars wink outside the unglazed windows and the air is bitter with night. He pressed a gift into my hand before he left - a scrap of flesh I wore as I came into the world. ‘You were born beneath the shattered sword,’ he said, ‘and so we always hoped you would choose to rebel. We had never thought you would rebel against the Lionsmith. But choice is freedom's shadow.’"

- End description, if consecrated to the Colonel

"There's no sign of the old man today."

- If attempting to visit the Shrine with the Last Antaean Initiate a second time

Lessons
"‘Shall I speak of her?’"

Speaking with him again will produce Grief and Rage. "The old man has a certain amount to say about her beauty and her wisdom and her barakah, but I begin to realise he barely remembers her, except as a cause or a story. My attention drifts as I look out over the city's flickerings, and I remember how my Foe taught me how to play chess, and to cheat at cards, and to take life, and about what I will teach him."