The Court of White Silk Fire
The members of the Court of White Silk Fire have something of a reputation amongst their fellows for being a bit... odd. Gods tend to be approving of mankind in general, so long as they keep to themselves and provide the occasional diversion when the divine find themselves bored. However, abstract approval does not necessarily lend itself to actual contact with mortals, and the majority of the Gods want nothing to do with mankind on a day-to-day basis. The members of the White Silk Fire tend to possess a rather different attitude; they often enjoy meeting and conversing with mortalkind and spend more time in their presence than their duties dictate. Among the other Gods there is a long standing joke that members of the Court of White Silk Fire have a tendency to "go local". Mortals can be cunning little beings and a God who isn’t wary can end up in a variety of embarrassing situations. Perhaps as a result of their regular contact with mankind the Court of White Silk Fire has something of a reputation for being full of sneaky tricksters and the overly curious. The Court is also notable for recruiting the highest number of New Gods of any court, it seems they tend to possess a better temperament for associating with mortal than their forebears.
The Estates of the court’s luminaries are interesting in their dissimilarity and there appears to be little in the way of an obvious central theme to the functions of the court, save that they all seem to involve pursuits shared by Gods and mortals. The position of God of the Dance is a highly coveted one, for the position of guardian of the Gods’ traditions is highly influential. Similarly the God of War commands respect throughout the courts and all heed his right to raise the banner of the Gods. On the other hand the Court’s Gods of Fire and Lovers are occasionally the subject of rather snide comments, and more than once a fight has broken out over suggestions that the luminaries are little more than servants to the mortal world. There has long existed a very erratic relationship between the God of Love of the Court of Barred Doors and the God of Lovers. At times they have been thick as thieves, working together on certain projects, at others they appear to display a rather vicious rivalry.
It is commonly accepted that there exists some tie of obligation between the Court of White Silk Fire and mankind, but the exact nature of this bond is not widely known. One common rumour has it that the original God of Fire, who was appointed by the Creator, grew discontent with being the only God whose duty was to serve mankind. He thus gathered about him a group of the most crafty and devious mortals and made them an offer; if they would show to him all their clever arts that he might grow more subtle than his peers, then he in turn would use those talents to trick more Gods into service to the mortal race. There are two accounts of what followed, though in both the God fulfilled his part of the bargain and tricked those Gods who would become the Court of White Silk Fire into service to mankind. One version holds that the God simply thanked the cunning men and went about seeing to his side of the bargain immediately; however the more popular variation has the God of Fire thanking each of the mortals and then setting them all ablaze, that they never reveal his bargain to the other Gods. This is held to be a fine example of mortal folly, as well as evidence that whilst Fire serves Mankind, it is not always the friend of individual men.
The God of the Dance holds regular festivities in the Room of the First Ball and although attendance varies dramatically, the court always gathers in its entirety on the longest day of each year.
Following their imprisonment during Iron Rule, many of the Court of White Silk Fire may be anxious to see how the mortal kingdoms have fared in their absence. Getting mankind back on its feet is likely to be a major priority for many members, though others will be more concerned with attempting to claim the more prestigious estates of the court.
It is the fashion for members of the Court to wear masks which mimic human fashions.