The Emperor
Outlining the fifth major arcana card.
Keith Hiscox
12/30/20252 min read
Once again failed miserably to schedule this blog post for its intended date, I'm clearly not at one with the order and structure of this blog's topic card. This is an interesting card which is, at the time of writing, still only in a draft form. There will be changes made before the deck goes into production, designed to more closely align the imagery with the Sabrian ideal. We may revisit this card's blog once the final design is ready, or (more likely) we'll forget all about it and you'll only get to see the final card when you buy your own deck after release.
Card Meaning
The Emperor signifies authority, stability, leadership and structure. His work ethic and self control have brought about a stable environment in which all of your endeavours can flourish.
In a yes/no reading this card usually means yes. It particularly strongly means yes when the query relates to themes of the card, such as organisation or decision making.
Setting Specific Design
This draft card design features more heavily accented mountains and lakes in the background than is standard for the Emperor. This links directly to the card as a representation of the ruler of Sabria, those of you familiar with Berg's work should appreciate the importance of the mountains to the Sabrian Monarch. We also made him a younger warrior king than is usual to further align him with the depiction of the war leader as shown in the Collegia Magica novels.
The artist has picked up on the French style of Sabria as a kingdom and replaced the ankh sceptre with the fleur de lis. This will be further altered in the final version of the card and become the golden tree of Sabria - representing life and power like the original ankh, but in a more tailored Sabrian manner.
Mechanical Impact
The Emperor represents the character roles of male nobility or father figures. When drawing during character generation the player should consider whether they are feeling paternal or merely authoritative.
During main gameplay the card, like most major arcana, is found within magic user's decks and only turns up in mundane characters decks if they have specifically bought it as an exchanged card during character creation.
The card has the usual wildcard/magic triggering effects depending on whether the character using it is a mundane or magic using character. When played the card doubles the face value of all other cards played alongside it, but only when it is being used in self defence.
We better stop there lest we become "patronising". Next time we'll continue with the established sequence by revealing the nature of the Hierophant.
