The Three Sisters
The Law
Things Are Connected By Blood
The Constellation
The Three Sisters is probably the smallest constellation. A run of three bright stars just outside one edge of The Door they are comparatively close together and only appear above the horizon during the winter months through to mid spring.
There is some disagreement over the naming of the stars. In most of the Empire the stars that make up the Sisters are called Erigo, Riqueza, and Guerra by Imperial astronomers, although there is a great deal of disagreement as to which one is which. Older texts refer to them as Suspire, Lachryma and Tenebrae.
Following the Winter Solstice 386YE, however, Astronomancers across the Empire became aware of the names or more correctly titles of the individual stars that make up the Three Sisters. These names matched neither set of commonly accepted nomenclature, and one of the names - "Who Sees" - seemed particularly unexpected. Unlike other names uncovered with other constellations, the stars appear to have no given name and only a title. Astronomancers are divided on what this might mean, and it remains a matter of sometimes heated discussion.
It seems likely that this spread of awareness of the three names is a side effect of a coven performed a divinatory ritual during the Winter Solstice, just as with the names of constellations such as the Chain and the Fountain. Precisely where these names originate however, and what they mean for both the traditional naming schemes and the deeper understanding of astronomancy, is unclear.
Symbology
Sometimes known as the Three Sorrows, the Three Sisters stand for family and bloodline; kith and kin, belonging, being on the inside rather than the outside. Legend speaks of them being three sisters cursed to carry the sorrows of the world; each of them bearing a different part of the burden. Suspire, the youngest, carries the world’s sighs; Lachryma, the middle sister carries the world’s tears, and Tenebrae, the eldest, carries the darkness in the souls of people. Their aspect is not entirely negative however; they also celebrate the bonds that hold families together. Even then, these celebrations are tinged with the awareness that all good things end in tears, sighs, and darkness.
Knowing as they do all sorrows, it stands within their power in legend to grant surcease from sorrow by gifting it to another; though in the tale their gifts always carry a sting in the tale.
In Navarr, Wintermark and Varushka they are called the Three Mothers, rather than the Three Sisters.
Invoking the Three Sisters in Ritual
The Three Sisters stand for regret, for sorrow, and for consequences; they are a popular choice for cursing with, bringing down the sorrows of the three sisters on an opponent is seen as less inherently dangerous than invoking the Wanderer or the Drowned Man. They can also stand for the ties that bind families, clans and communities together; rituals to affect a specific bloodline or group may benefit from invoking their name.
Tulpas of the Three Sisters
Tulpas of the Sisters almost always take the form of one of the Three Sisters themselves; a veiled young woman sighing sorrowfully, a middle-aged woman weeping tears of blood or a night-veiled old woman silent and deadly. Beware Tenebrae.
In recent years, tulpa of the Three Sisters have been especially active in the Brass Coast. Freeborn astronomancers hesitantly theorise that this is due to the cavalcade of misfortune and sorrow that has swept across the nation, caught as it is between the Jotun, the Grendel, and even the Children of Wrecks. Others propose that the tulpa are drawn to the Brass Coast, and to a lesser degree to Varushka, in part due to the strong emphasis that these nations place on the idea of family. Obviously, astronomancers from other parts of the Empire contest this, pointing to their own familial traditions as proof. Regardless, the tulpas of Suspire, Lachryma, and Tenebrae - by whatever names - appear to be drawn to the Freeborn.
| # | Name |
| 1 | Who Weeps |
| 2 | Who Sees |
| 3 | Who Sighs |
Stars of the Three Sisters
Uspurprisingly, the constellation is made up of three stars. As of Winter 386YE, the names - or more properly titles - of these stars have become known to Imperial astronomancers. They might be evoked specifically during rituals that draw on the power of the constellation.
Alignment
Coming too closely into alignment with the Sisters brings with it an overwhelming sense of sorrow, woe, and regret. Bleak, black depression can fall on the ritualist and be hard to shift; others fall to weeping and woe. More rarely, a ritualist who comes into alignment with the constellation may be intimately reminded of the bonds with family, and those who are as close as family. There are also reports of a strong urge to weigh and judge those individuals, to speak candidly of their flaws and virtues, and to reward or punish as appropriate.
| The Chain (Things hold together) | The Chalice (Things heal; things apart come together) | The Claw (Things bleed) |
| The Door (Things move and change) | The Drowned Man (Things end) | The Fountain (Things live) |
| The Great Wyrm (Things change and transform) | The Key (Things are revealed) | The Lock (Things can be hidden) |
| The Mountain (Things are not easy) | The Oak (Things endure) | The Phoenix (Things learn) |
| The Spider (Things are watched by a hidden eye) | The Stallion (Things procreate) | The Stork (Things matter) |
| The Web (Things are connected) | The Three Sisters (Things are connected by blood) | The Wanderer (Things are not what you think or Things go awry) |