Voices of Rio
“Rio De Janeiro is where villainy and cruelty go to live its final days, surrounded by splendor and opulence under our watchful eye, the entire city a gilded cage to which we hold the key. The church better understands the nature of sin and vice by having such a vivid sample so close at hand.”
- Archbishop Sigmund Doural, Syncullia.
“There are two places in the all the Known Worlds where a man enter and stay for as long as he so chooses, where it is the leaving that is all but impossible. One is the hellish world-world of Stigmatta. For the right price, I can get you in or out, your choice. As to the other, well… I don’t take exits from Rio anymore.”
- Bashir al-Noor Maliki, Charioteer Free Trader.
“Rio? Yeah… I can get you in, no problemo. I can do it for all price ranges. If you want the very best, a flitter right in to Fools Island, no questions asked. For less, we can use a smokewagon and try and come over the hills, running the blockade where the walls are less observed. As to the cheap… do you mind the smell of raw sewage?”
- Hector Pallido, Scraver Smuggler specializing in Exiles.
“Carnival was simply droll last year, I do say. For all the splendor and frivolity of the Imperator’s court, I wasn’t held up or assaulted even once… banefully dreadful. Next year I’ve arranged to stay in Niteroi. I am to understand they are a lower strata of malfeasance.”
- Lady Sylvnia Justinian of Artemis.
“Blessed is the humble man, for he kneels when others stand. Blessed is the pious man for he bows in the sight of the Prophet. Blessed is the helpless man for he strikes none in pride. Blessed is the caged man, for he will know no sin.”
- From the writings of Saint Sebastian of Rio.
"We are not allowed, by Patriarchal decree, to raise armies, to levy troops in the classic sense to which we are due, and yet we are at our core, Lords of the Known Worlds. The Andragathía, the In-Laws, the Najm, these are not armies. These are administrative tools. Without them, there would be chaos. It is better that we control them, Alex, least they control us."
- Principis Douglas Michael Windsor-Hawkwood
"Do not mistake me, Lord Hawkwood, for the Pursuit is no game. The Pursuit is life, it is death, it determines who rules and who kneels. To be adept at it is to be respected while to be less than mediocre is to be mocked. Remember, above all, the Pursuit is entertainment. Master it, or be mastered."
- Imperator Nicodemus of Decados, Ruler of Rio de Janeiro
“The Principis? Don’t let the smiles fool you. From Li Halan to Bishop, each and everyone is a shark, a predator that has eaten everyone and everything smaller than they. Circling now, each eyes the others as potential prey in a constant game of tit for tat. Battles of wits spoken in salon become wars of blades bloodied in the streets. Make no mistake, they are far from genteel.”
- Sir Alexander Baker-Goebel of Hawkwood