The Five Maidens are five Celestial Incarna who are second in power only to the Unconquered Sun, though Luna is rightly considered an equal. Their duty is the maintenance and administration of Fate in Creation. Each Maiden has a specific portfolio and administrative role within the Bureau of Destiny. While their original role was to specifically manage and weave fate on the Loom of Fate, they have largely delegated this task to the Pattern Spiders and their subordinates within the Bureau. The Maidens are inscrutable; they have issued arbitrary sealed orders in the past and they have heavily interdicted the development of the Sidereal Exalted for reasons that are not entirely clear (in particular, the Maidens created all existing Sidereal charms). At the same time, their administration is relatively lax, the Sidereals largely operate unsupervised, and have found various ways to cheat around their constraints.
The five maidens are:
- Mercury, Maiden of Journeys. Her color is yellow and her portfolio includes travel, roads and messages.
- Venus, Maiden of Serenity. Her color is light blue and her portfolio includes marriage, love, sexuality, joy and all other pleasures.
- Mars, Maiden of Battles. Her color is red. Her portfolio encompasses all of battle, ranging from technology to logistics to specific battles. She is generally considered an inferior warrior but superior strategist to the Unconquered Sun.
- Jupiter, Maiden of Secrets. Her color is green. Her portfolio is secrets, secretive and a secret.
- Saturn, Maiden of Endings. Her color is violet. Her portfolio covers change and endings, whether it be the death of an animal or the Usurpation.