The Nature of Flowers

A rich body of symbolism and myth ascribes meaning and magical properties to the flowers of the real world. The symbology of Nobilis draws heavily on this lore. In the setting, angels used flowers to shape the nature of Heaven and every other world. They are not things of transient beauty, but incarnations of the angels' power. To The Sight, they glow like fireworks, many-hued, lustrous, and full of incandescent strength. They are the foremost Symbols of the world.

Every symbol has some power in Nobilis. Some individual Nobles prefer to use Tarot cards, pictographs, music, gemstones, beasts, colors, or the personal possessions of famous dead people rather than Heaven's blooms. This does not necessarily hidner them but many claim that this choice impede spiritual progress towards greater wisdom or power.

Almost every Estate has a flower that represents it. Not necessarily an Earthly flower, but one of the uncountable varieties that grow in the Brightest Realm. This is dangerous. Such a flower can be used as a "bridge", a physical tie between two of the things associated with it. Achillea, the flower of War, might be used to connect an essentially harmless war game to a military Estate like Blades. Then, carefully, the Excrucians would arrange for the war game to go horribly wrong, killing several humans, and ruining the Excrucian's agents' lives; and the entire reality of Blades, past, present, and future would be pushed a little bit towards its own destruction. The Powers do not know what would happen to the Excrucians' own swords should Blades be wiped from existence; possibly nothing at all, possibly some unimagined calamity.

A Power's coat of arms, also called their Design, is similar in notion if not in detail to the heraldic shields. The Power interweaves the flower of their Estate with a symbol of their own against a stylized background. These are always presented to the universe together, with two positive effects. First, the Excrucians must invoke both flowers, build two intertwined bridges, to directly attack the Power's Estate. Second, the Power feels the desecration of its Estate as damage to their own flesh, and can get a very general idea of where and when, if not necessarily how. With luck, they will be able to reverse the Excrucian attack. This is a deep need for the concerned Power, an important goal for the Power's Familia, and a worthwhile activity for anyone who wants to steal the energy the Excrucians put into such a Breakthrough.

Links

• Language of Flowers is an excellent webpage covering the Victorian language of flowers and an easy source to derive the designs of Nobles.
• Flora and Fashion(approve sites)
• Roots of Japanese Flower Arrangement(approve sites) and Ikebana as Moving Meditation(approve sites)