Jek Eikar, Mad Inventor

Background

Jek Eikar has The Knack. He’s not a Technologist, but he’s an inventor and a bit of a madman. He builds things that could not work, and yet do – lens arrays that see through metal, knives that cut flesh but not hair, vials that slowly fill themselves with oil. He does this constantly. He genuinely doesn’t know how or when to stop. Jek has no specific area of interest; he’ll build anything that pops into his mind.

Years ago Jek worked with Cynis Operations, in their gun-running days. He provided unusual weapons that they then sold to both sides in the war. In return, they provided him with unusual materials that he couldn’t get elsewhere. When they stopped taking that sort of work, Jek’s supplies dried up. He was furious. He didn’t care what he reason was. They stopped coming by after he threw a fit at them. He regretted it later, but he was never the sort to apologize.

His current abode in the Badlands has been his since the Behemoth died. It’s particularly effective for his work, and it took him years to finally understands why. This is a place poor in the alchemical elements, and rich in the Five Exiguous Compounds – earth, air, fire, water, and wood. They provide a resonance for his magical creations that is unique in all his experience. Moreover, the resonance has been increasing over time, and skyrocketed when the Weapon slew the gods. Jek long suspected that these elements were connected to the World Before.

Jek’s mind is filled with swirling thoughts of what might be and what must have been long ago. He seeks out information about the World Before, most of which ends up feeding his fireplace. (He has no patience for “unreliable drivel.”) He also conducts experiments to determine why the Five Exiguous Compounds are so different from the alchemical elements. If he hasn’t discovered them yet, he’s about to find out about shallow spots between the Splinter and Creation… and how to create them. He won’t be able to keep his mouth shut about this, which will probably bring Yushoto Koletta and the Karal family’s soldiers straight to his door. Luckily, Starsight is a step ahead of them.

Appearance

Wild-eyed and fast-moving with mussed hair. Jek is usually wearing a leather apron and a magnifying eyepiece, and occasionally gloves as well. His skin is a medium pink, but usually dirty, with a variety of scars and markings. His experiments end up burning off his beard before it gets too long.

Jek blew off his own legs in an explosion when he was younger. Luckily he had others around to save him. Since then he’s built himself a dozen different replacement legs, with varying looks and special features. Most work.

Demeanor

Erratic, arrogant, and distractable. Jek treats everyone as if they’re here specifically to hear his latest theory, see his greatest invention, and borrow his precious devices. He skips between those so often that he rarely finishes explaining, showing, or refusing to lend anything. He’s suspicious of everything people say, and insists on testing them. Once he trusts someone, though, he’ll listen to them carefully. It’s almost as if a switch gets turned, and he goes from belligerent professor to helpfully belligerent professor.

Intimacies: “I must create” (Defining), “I must investigate” (Major), “My dog” (Major, Positive) “Starsight” (Positive), “Cynis Operations” (Negative, but can’t remember why)

Capabilities

Jek has a wide variety of devices that he keeps scattered around his workshop… and his house… and his yard… and in his pockets. You need to cut bronze or drill a hole in steel? Third shelf behind you. You need a riveter? It’s the thing right in front of you. Looks like a screwdriver. You need a socket wrench extender with a 60-degree bend? Probably somewhere in the back yard, if the dog didn’t bury it. You need your tea heated up? Blowtorch in his front pocket, or the flamethrower in the basement. No one likes lukewarm tea.

The more unusual and exotic devices are typically “almost ready”, which means he needs to pull the parts from three or four other devices. Most of them aren’t intended as weapons. That’s just a side effect. The flashlight that you can turn up until it blisters skin. The compass that acts as the homing controls for the saw blade launcher. The self-heating teapot that you can seal and turn into a grenade. No one likes lukewarm tea.

Jek is undeniably brilliant. He’s creative, he grasps new concepts instantly, and he’s especially good at finding loopholes and exploiting them. He won’t notice something unless it’s staring him in the face, but as far as he’s concerned every scientific concept in the world is continuously staring him in the face. He can deal with people, he’d just rather not when there are other things in the world that are much more important and interesting. His specialties are geomancy, electrodynamics, and the transmutation of one element to another.

Fighting Jek is like trying to ambush an alchemy shop with a temper. Luckily for his opponents, he has little grasp of tactics, and he tires quickly. His mechanical legs take more energy from him than his original legs did.

Supporting Characters

• Nellens Ezola, his supplier for unusual materials before the Holocaust of the Gods. Fearless, talkative, profiteering.
• Serila of Upriver, his apprentice and chef. Bumbling, determined, friendly.
• Bakwit, who delivers food weekly in exchange for repair work. Fair, edgy,
• Rotor, his dog. Enthusiastic, digs a lot.

Questions

• How many people live in the area near Jek’s house, where grass still grows and the air isn’t filled with the scent of rust? How large is the area?
• How does Jek communicate with Starsight? Is it a way that might be intercepted or eavesdropped upon?

Yatna Modan, the Badlander

Background

Yatna Modan lived in the gutters and the wilderness even before the Weapon came. He may have been from a noble family, but it was far in his past. He hunted for food, scavenged and bartered for what he couldn’t make himself. It was a hermit’s life, but it was an honest one, and better than the one he had lived before.

After the gods died, his life changed in unexpected ways. For him, the roads had always been dangerous. The appearance of raiders was nothing new. Yatna Modan thus became one of the only people who traveled between the towns in the newly-christened Badlands. At first this didn’t mean much, but as Modan saw more families in trouble, more towns abandoned, it slowly dawned on him that these people needed help more than he did.

Modan turned his hunting skills against the raiders. He found caches left behind by the military as they withdrew. He scavenged supplies for innocent survivors – sometimes entire towns lived because of him. He was always too bashful to show his face. That’s when he heard of Starsight and her new settlement, Clearwater. He went to see it out of plain curiosity. When he saw that they might have a chance to survive, he started sending other people their way. Starsight recruited him not long afterward. He does more or less what he did before – hunting raiders, leaving supplies for villages – but now the people know of his deeds. Yatna Modan is a hero to Clearwater. The feeling has transformed his life.

Right now Modan is also sitting on the largest stock of old military hardware in the southeastern continent. It does him little good – most of it is designed for users with an awakened essence – but he knows a treasure when he sees one. He’s considering whether to bring these to Clearwater, or whether that would create a worse problem.

Appearance

Most people who see Modan only see a short, stocky figure with a complex sort of bow, a gas mask, full-body clothing, and a rucksack full of supplies. The majority never see him at all. Beneath the clothing is a grizzled man with bad teeth and a rough-cut beard. His eyes and skin are the same deep brown color. The beard is shot with grey streaks.

Demeanor

Modan rarely speaks when he’s “on a mission” (as he puts it). He grunts; he points; he gives a few terse words and warns people about coming danger. He doesn’t try to insult anyone, but he’ll call people stupid if they insist on staying in their homes when the world’s ending around them. When Starsight or someone else with authority talks to him, he generally stands still and listens, then nods and moves off. If he disagrees (and if he thinks that talking will make a difference) he’ll speak in a rough, stuttering voice.

Intimacies: “I will be the hero we need.” (Defining), “The people of Clearwater” (Major, Positive), “Starsight” (Positive), “The Yatna family” (Negative), “Find out what happened”

Capabilities

Having lived on his own in the woods for over a decade, Modan is more than capable of handling himself in the wilderness. This includes both the ordinary forests and plains that covered the Blessed Continent before the death of the gods, and the metallic hills and rust deserts that have spread since those times. He’s a good hunter and forager. Animals generally like him right away, and those that don’t will at least avoid him.

For someone over fifty years old, Modan is in peak physical condition. He’s lean and agile. He can swim in both water and the Continent’s massive oil rivers. He’s trained and well-practiced with a bow.

On the other side, he’s barely talked to anyone in ten years. He sings to himself once in a while, and has a surprisingly nice voice, but he has a lot of difficulty talking to people. This is amplified if there are several people talking to him at once. Beneath his badlander’s mask, his face and teeth show the effects of past malnutrition.

In a fight, Modan uses his scavenged bow and homemade arrows to perforate his enemies from a distance. If someone closes on him he’ll pull out a wicked pair of tungsten daggers, heavier than lead and sharper than steel. He prefers not to let people get close enough. If he sees raiders, he’ll injure one or two off from long range and frighten them off rather than trying to kill them all.

Supporting Characters

• Alrac, who fills his waterskins when he comes to Clearwater. Curious, graceful, quiet.
• Rewara, whom he rescued from the raiders a year ago. Outspoken, compassionate, grateful.
• Oklo, a raider whose sister he killed a few months ago. Angry, driven, vengeful.
• Vekilo, who was a hermit with Modan before he became a hero. Reclusive, cowardly, scattered.

Questions

• What was Yatna Modan doing before he was a hermit? Was he a criminal? Why did he need to leave his family?
• Would Modan join the No Memory if offered the chance, or would he stay here to protect Clearwater more directly?

Starsight, the Prophet

Background

Not every god on the Continent went to fight the Luminous Godkiller Weapon. Starsight was a goddess of the future – not prophecy, but the things that are to be. She saw her own death in this battle, and defied fate to avoid it. She pleaded with her brother Telar Thousand-Eyes not to go. He said that she was deserting her fellows when they needed her the most, and begged her to come. She stayed. He died.

Starsight lost a little of herself in the Holocaust of the Gods. She was one of a very few gods who didn’t go, and the only one in what would become the Badlands. When the rest of the gods died, people abandoned her as well. In addition, she had broken her own power by choosing the future rather than merely observing or announcing it. No longer an ephemeral being of essence and concept, she lives now in the physical world. She’s less in command of her powers, and more at their whims.

She saw all of this. Starsight chose this fate intentionally. She knew that her vision of the future was a true one – that the fight against the Luminous Godkiller Weapon was meaningless, and that her help would be needed to defeat the horrific thing once and for all.

Since her fall from grace, she has risen to lead a group of desperate peasants living in the Badlands. They have built a shelter around one of the few remaining springs. The people call it Clearwater. There, she has gathered to herself some of the powerful individuals who still live in the Badlands. She guides folk hero Yatna Modan to the things that will keep her people moving, keep them alive, for another week or another day. She sends message back and forth with the mad inventor Jek Eikar, discussing the secret of what is happening to this world. She has seen that No Memory is coming, and she eagerly awaits its arrival.

Appearance

Starsight wears dark, shimmering clothing and a variety of jewelry. Her skin is dusky, and she might easily be taken for a member of almost any family. She often wears a hat or other ornamentation over her eyes during the day. When seen at night, her eyes are a deep, star-filled purple with no whites.

Demeanor

Mysterious and intense. Being a living enigma is part of who Starsight is; she’s incapable of being less vague when leaving out information will achieve the same goals. She knows that her world is ending, but refuses to go quietly. When people ask her why they should keep struggling for another day, she replies that every life matters. She knows that her power is part of a greater plan, which she calls the Will of the Maker, and she tries to instill that belief in others. A tiny part feared that her decision to change her fate would break that plan, but her faith crushed that part and put it out of her mind.

Starsight will keep working to the end of her world to keep people alive and safe. Part of that is survivor’s guilt, and part of it is who she has always been.

The people whom Starsight leads sometimes feel manipulated by her. She treats them with respect, but sometimes refuses to tell them things about the future. It’s one thing when a newly fallen god leads your people to safe food and water; it’s another when she uses her position to have you build an airstrip for no discernable reason. The people follow her because they know that she’s brilliant and she won’t let them die, but they aren’t so certain sometimes.

Intimacies: “We will end the Weapon” (Defining), “I should have done more to save the gods” (Major), “My people” (Major, Positive) “Cathak Venkan” (Positive), “Karal Volan” (Negative)

Capabilities

Starsight is still new to the physical world. Her physical power is still building. At first she needed a wheelchair; then she needed crutches. She has only recently been able to walk without a cane. It’s also easy for her to be overwhelmed by sensory input – thus her tendency to cover her eyes. All this will become easier for her in time, but she knows she may not have the time to wait.

As a goddess of futures, Starsight once inspired others with her powers. She was a conduit for prophecy, and those she touched could see a vast array of possible futures spreading out before themselves. They would babble pieces of those futures, and others would be left to interpret them. Now that she is trapped in the physical world, Starsight sees those futures directly. Her brilliant mind interprets them and shows her the implications of each choice. She knows what she could do in order to make a particular future come to pass. She knows what sorts of things she cannot change. She can still choose – but sometimes her choices are more constrained than she would like. Worse, she knows that the more information she gives about the future, the less control she has over how things turn out. The choices that other people make matter as well. Whether she lets them make those choices will depend a lot on how much she trusts them.

On a more mundane level, Starsight is a learned and competent leader. She speaks the language of the Time Before and the Imperial tongue of the Splinter. She is passionate and compelling when speaking with individuals, but lacks the strength to project to a crowd. She lacks technical knowledge, but can often cover for that with her ability to see a few seconds into the future.

If pressed into a fight, Starsight will be almost impossible to strike. She’ll choose to take a hit only when it gives her an advantage. In her current state it’s difficult for her to strike back. She often brings an honor guard when meeting with newcomers – not because she knows they’ll attack, but because it sets a good precedent for others to be wary. She’s more likely to take small, strange actions around the battlefield than to strike others directly. Sometimes these set up her eventual victory. Sometimes they’re just to frighten her opponents into thinking that she’s setting up victory. Sometimes that’s enough. Starsight is well aware of the effectiveness of psychological warfare.

Supporting Characters

• Fenek, her physical assistant at Clearwater. Brutish, gentle, compassionate.
• Uhara, Clearwater’s construction foreman. Businesslike, loud, careful.
• Otilando, who leads Clearwater’s (mostly unsuccessful) hunters. Demanding, intrepid, worried.
• Mesha, who keeps an eye on the Straits of Silk in case River Island comes to finish them off. Observant, calm, bored.

Questions

• What does Starsight foresee when it comes to Creation?
• Can Starsight see the past?

The Ticking Mask, Parasitic God

Background

Cynis Operations has many valuables stashed in a vault near the Imperial Mountain. Most were left behind in case the Cynis family might be able to return. Some have been transferred to a safe on board the zeppelin No Memory in case the mission demands them. Others have been put to use. The Ticking Mask falls into the final category.

The Cynis family has had the mask show up again and again, like a bad penny. They throw it into the sea, it washes up at their citadel. They burn it to cinders, it appears in a storeroom. They have no idea why it’s attached to their bloodline in particular. Cynis Operations took it as part of a bargain a year or two back – a negative entry in the ledger.

When not worn, the mask asks to be worn. When worn, the mask ticks like a clock, constantly. It cannot be removed. Just when the wearer gets used to the ticking, it changes, or skips a beat. The sound and its changes converge to slowly drive the wearer mad. That’s when the ancient god trapped within the mask takes control.

Ordinarily this god seeks out forbidden knowledge. It’s not subtle. Sometimes it succeeds, but it always gets caught. Its bearer gets killed. The mask gets destroyed. It comes back and whispers for someone else to put it on. This time, things are different. Cynis Operations found a despicable prisoner to force the mask upon and made a deal with the god. It helps them save the world; they give it Yushoto Koletta‘s design journals. It agreed. Even such a god does not want to see the world end.

Right?

Appearance

The mask’s current bearer is a man of average height, with blue eyes, peach-colored skin, and curling brown hair. The mask itself has a golden base, with strange lenses, hoses, and gears on the outside that seem to serve no purpose. When the mask has no bearer, orange goat-like eyes look out from within.

Demeanor

The mask-god seems to have no long-term goals beyond a drive to gain information. It never uses the information, never seems to care who wears it, and doesn’t care what happens to them afterward. “Amoral” is the perfect word for it. Its style is efficient and creative, but it’ll drop that in an instant if being wasteful will get what it wants.

Intimacies: “Learn everything before the world ends” (Defining), “Get Yushoto Koletta’s journals” (Major), “People in my way” (Negative)

Capabilities

The wearer of the Mask becomes capable of Protocol use. While not a true Technologist and incapable of Alchemical Workings, the wearer can still gather essence from the Splinter to create powerful magical and alchemical effects.

Among these Protocols are: the control of mindless automata; crawling up walls and along ceilings with legs of pure lightning; becoming a thick cloud of smoke and traveling about a hundred meters; a blazing net of burning oil that harms only those who try to move through it; steam bursts from the ground that slow or trip up its opponents; opening doors with a beautiful crystalline key regardless of locks or bars; and taking on a body of pistons, gears, and chains that vastly enhance the user’s physical prowess. Its Protocols are primarily those that draw on the alchemical elements and use them in an advantageous manner, rather than directly attacking with them. It has proven capable of direct assaults, such as summoning great columns of hornet-like needles crackling with electricity, but it rarely does so.

The host’s original body provides the god with its native strength and grace (or lack thereof). In this case, the prisoner was strong and slow. The prisoner’s mind dominates early on, but this slowly changes. The Ticking Mask is both brilliant and short-sighted. It takes unnecessary risks without seeming to realize or care. At the same time, it uses Protocols in clever and creative ways. It’s audacious, but it’s only aggressive when cornered. When the Ticking Mask cannot avoid battle, it unleashes massive devastation and moves on quickly, often leaving survivors behind.

The extent of the god’s knowledge is uncertain. It seems to at least know that which its host knew, but it occasionally shows flashes of insight about places that no human has entered for centuries. It speaks the language of the World Before as well as the language of its host.

The mask’s alchemical capabilities do not depend on whether the god of the mask has taken over. Whomever puts it on gains its powers immediately, along with full knowledge of how to use them.

Removing the mask kills the wearer.

Supporting Characters

• Peleps Yumi, the previous bearer. Adventurous, daring, foolish.
• Mnemon Entar, who studied the mask years ago before Peleps Yumi stole it. Meticulous, cautious, introspective.
• Cynis Riiks, who stopped Peleps Yumi and recovered the mask. Brave, powerful, slow.
• Cynis Ehnavo, the prisoner forced to wears the mask this time. Cruel, callous, vindictive.

Questions

• Is the god of the mask actually in charge yet, or is this still the prisoner slowly losing his mind?
• What happens to the mind and soul of the mask’s wearer? Are they consumed by the mask’s god, or do they live on, trapped inside?

Menmon Reshmi, the Sniper

Background

When Yushoto Koletta worked for the Empire, she built a dozen combat automata for the Mnemon family. They were put to excellent use in the early days of the war against River Island. Each was numbered. Each had Koletta’s face. One asked for a name. Mnemon Reshimi had developed sentience. She alone out of the twelve of them had something special happen in her artificial mind.

When Koletta left the Empire’s service, she took most of her automata with her. Reshmi, on the other hand, had learned to demand respect. Koletta left her on the dock as they sailed away.

Since then, Reshmi has fought for the Empire. She was stationed on zeppelins above the Straits of Silk, and shot down incoming pilots with a single bullet. She kneeled on the cliffs above the assault boats as they came across and picked off their crew. She saw the Luminous Godkiller Weapon walk across the water, and the Holocaust of the Gods begin. She never saw her sisters.

When the Empire fell, Reshmi was treated as a valuable asset by the Mnemon family. They insisted on taking her with them as they fell back to their holdings. She, having other plans, snuck away in the night. Cynis Operations had contacted her. They offered her an opportunity: a final mission against River Island. The chance to find her sisters, and perhaps to meet her creator.

Reshmi knows this may be the last mission of her life. She intends to make every bullet count.

Appearance

Reshmi’s face is an exact duplicate of Yushoto Koletta’s, rendered in self-healing ceramic. She is pale, soft-skinned, with brown hair. She wears the same sort of utilitarian garb, with the addition of a sniper rifle. However, where Koletta’s face is blank or disdainful, Reshmi’s is softer and more expressive. Koletta’s face is the more believable for an automaton.

Demeanor

Calm, clear-headed, and quiet. She’s not passionless, though. When she gained sentience, emotion slowly crept in as well. She learned the best of these from the soldiers that her family worked with: loyalty, bravery, camaraderie. Some of them taught her that humans are prone to other emotions as well – greed, vanity, cruelty – but she saw how those soldiers were shunned by the others. Above all, she learned to kill the enemy without regret.

All of her compatriots treated her with a great amount of deference thanks to her skill (and out of fear of Koletta, though she doesn’t know that). Therefore, Reshmi also values politeness. She is capable of the same sort of callous behavior that Koletta showed her, but she feels awful when she acts that way.

Intimacies: “Yushoto Koletta” (Defining, Negative), “My allies” (Major, Positive), “My sisters” (Major, Positive), “The forces of River Island” (Negative), “The Mnemon Family” (Negative)

Capabilities

Reshmi’s body was designed to typical human tolerances in most areas. She’s not supernaturally strong, or even any stronger than an average soldier. She’s not faster, and she’s not even much more durable. There are really just three things she can do better than most.

First, her sense of sight is excellent. She’s no Cathak Venkan, but her eyes are better than an eagle’s. Second, her manual dexterity is phenomenal. She has no pulse jitter, no muscular twitches, and can aim with micrometer precision. Third, she does not tire easily. She can hold a single position for hours, even days. All of these combine to make Mnemon Reshmi the greatest sniper who ever lived.

Beyond this, she was programmed with what Koletta considered “the basics” – the minimum that anyone who interacted with her should be expected to know, lest they be considered unbearably stupid. This is a tremendous breadth of academic knowledge, including the language of the World Before, basic alchemical principles, geography, geomancy, physics, aerodynamics, and more. She has no experience in applying these, but the core knowledge is there. She was also trained as a soldier, and can maintain her firearm and conduct herself with proper discipline.

In social situations, Reshmi tends to remain quiet, so as to avoid blunders. She speaks and moves gracefully, but her interactions with Koletta have convinced her that she is socially inept.

Supporting Characters

• Mnemon Songai, the guard who helped her escape. Kind, observant, conflicted.
• Mnemon Dhota, who recruited Reshmi when Koletta left her. Opportunistic, ambitious, disappointed.
• Miniadda, who takes care of the ammo locker on No Memory. Dour, unfriendly, secretly emotional.
• Number Three, one of her sisters who has gone missing. Non-sentient?

Questions

• Is Reshmi the first of Koletta’s creations to gain sentience? If not, where are the others?
• How are the Ragara brothers reacting to Reshmi, given that her face looks like one of the people who scares them the most?

Iselsi Daita and Rhai, the Cubs

Background

Daita and Rhai are fraternal twins, orphaned before they were a year old. An avalanche near the Imperial Mountain took their parents without warning. They, too, would have died of exposure, had not Kutoma the Shogun of Predators taken them in.

Kutoma lived in the mountains. She ate wild animals and drank rainwater. It surprised the spirit councils that she wished to become a mother, but no one gainsaid Kutoma – ever – and she raised the two as her own cubs. A few other gods took pity on them and taught them to speak the common tongue properly, and a touch of the outer world’s history, but they could only do so when Kutoma slept. When she was awake, it was time to learn other things: how to hunt, how to fight, how to kill. The two of them fought with one another as only siblings can, and curled up asleep in the warmth of their adoptive mother.

In the Holocaust of the Gods, Daita and Rhai were left behind as Kutoma and her kin went to destroy the Weapon. The cubs howled themselves raw when Kutoma never returned. Eventually they came down the mountains toward the southeast. They saw many people like themselves, and yet unlike. They hid in the forests and watched woodcutters until the forests were no more. They stalked and observed villagers on the grasslands until the grasses died. They eventually spoke with travelers on the roads while the roads cracked into dust. There they were told of the war and General Karal Volan, who was responsible for the Weapon and its deeds.

Daita and Rhai swore vengeance on Volan – to rip him limb from limb and eat his heart. They asked everyone they met how they might find him, and were eventually directed to Cynis Operations. Not everyone on No Memory is happy to have them around, but no one can deny that they have the right to be here.

Appearance

Daita has black hair, blue eyes, and a short, straight nose. Rhai has white hair, dark eyes, and a slightly larger nose. Both of them have dark rings around their eyes, painted by their adoptive mother. Both of them are short (Daita’s a little taller), and scrawnier than someone of their strength should be. They wear utilitarian clothing and genuinely don’t realize that makeup exists. Cynis Remma’s changing face still confuses them.

Demeanor

Violent, emotional, and very intense. They get angry easily, and can’t contain themselves well. They’ll yell and threaten like wild beasts, pushing people over if they try to give them orders. Indoors, they pace like caged animals and are more easily agitated. They’re calmer on the ground and under an open sky. They can also be very patient when waiting for prey – but not when they’re just sitting around.

Rhai realizes that this group of heroes is their only hope at revenge, so she’s more likely to get Daita to give an apology if they storm off. Their temper tends to be short-lived, with one notable exception: the Weapon.

Intimacies: “Kill the Weapon and everyone involved with it” (Defining, Negative), “Our mother” (Major, Positive), “The hunt” (Major, Positive), “Don’t listen to prey, it’s only going to lie” (Major, Negative), “Freedom” (Positive), “These fools we’re with” (Positive)

Capabilities

Daita and Rhai are the fiercest warriors on the Continent. They were raised to be apex predators amongst the gods themselves. Daita knows how to hold on to a foe and never let go, wearing larger opponents down and bleeding them out. Rhai’s fists and feet are lightning-fast, never missing or faltering in her assault. Together they’ve taken out everyone who tried to give them trouble, from bandits to soldiers to wild animals.

Of the two, Daita has the quicker mind, and Rhai the sharper eye. Daita will be the first to vault a wall or chase down a foe. Rhai is more focused, more able to keep her head about her and hear the lie in a promise. As one might expect, neither one is exactly suave or cultured, nor do they have much respect for those who are. Such people usually just end up insulting the twins anyway. Their minds are fairly sharp, but utterly untrained. Beyond woods-lore and the names of the dead gods, they know very little of the world.

The blessing of their adoptive mother gives them license to interact with the spirit world. They can strike or wrestle the gods as well as they could human beings – which will surprise the hell out of most spirits. Beyond that, they have no supernatural capabilities.

Supporting Characters

• Kutoma the Shogun of Predators, who raised them. Silent, fierce, unstoppable. Deceased.
• Rhut the Tailor God, who clothed them. Smiling, flamboyant, speaks in puns. Deceased.
• Eshara of the Ancient Tongues, who taught them to speak. Calm, melodious, didactic. Deceased.
• Cynis Fina, a “traveler” who sent them toward Cynis Operations. Watchful, tight-lipped, concerned.

Questions

• Did Kutoma have any children of her own? Where are they now, and what would they think of the cubs?
• Did Starsight know the cubs as they were growing up? Did she see this future for them?

Ragara Van and Uto, the Smiths

Background

The Ragara family have a well-earned reputation as hard workers. Van and Uto were brought up to respect a strong work ethic and dedication to a job. As children they were fascinated by flying machines, and voraciously read everything they could get their hands on. When they were seven they were building paper gliders and little metal-and-rubber-band whirligigs. By the time they were twelve they were saving their money to buy parts for a powered glider. By fifteen, they had built it. It worked like a dream.

Van and Uto stayed together as they grew up, working as engineers. They were fine designers, but better mechanics. When their family joined the war effort, they were moved into the science corps. They pulled the occasional harmless prank, and took their punishment gladly. The troops’ morale was the better for it.

In the early years of the war they worked for a time with Yushoto Koletta. Both of them found her to be arrogant and dangerous. Their glider might have just killed its pilot if it failed; her inventions could kill thousands or millions. They breathed a sigh of relief when she was prevented from experimenting on the Behemoth – and then froze in terror when they heard she had defected to join River Island. They’re also familiar with the work of Jek Eikar, whom they find a bit unstable. His work isn’t really science, in their minds – it’s more like dangerous magic. They’ve never met him in person.

Their largest work to date is the airship named No Memory. (Uto wanted to name it I Can’t Recall; Van almost let him.) They call it a “vanishing zeppelin,” and in another age it might revolutionize warfare. They built the same technology into Miia‘s High Horizon, another masterwork of theirs. Right now it’s the only thing that could get them to River Island safely, and they’re the only people who can keep it working. They’re in this to stop Koletta and her inventions from destroying the world. Let other people go after General Karal; they know who the real threat is.

Appearance

Van and Uto could be mistaken for twins. They’re both umber-skinned, dark-haired men with dark eyes and soft wrinkles. Uto tends to have more of a beard, Van stays clean-shaven. They’re both fairly tall and svelte. Van doesn’t own much clothing beyond his work wear. Uto has a closet full of clothing for nights on the town, but all of that is back home. He brought just the basics on the No Memory for this flight. Both have broad smiles that they can hide instantly.

Demeanor

The brothers are serious men. Their work takes priority over relaxation or fun. They back each other up to the hilt – if you’ve asked one of them a question, you’ve asked them both. They wake up early, go to sleep early, and take great pride in their hard work and its tangible rewards.

All of that is on the surface. Underneath, they’re both pranksters at heart. Oh, they’re still hard workers, and still proud of their work – but they’re not beyond playing a joke or two on people, or on each other. Cans of water balanced on top of a door, pens that leak oil, hollowed-out spare maintenance manuals filled with ball bearings, fake technical acronyms that spell out dirty words, all of it fills their workroom with laughter (and the occasional swear). Luckily, they understand the difference between a harmless joke to lighten the mood and a serious malfunction that could cost someone’s life. Both of them take safety seriously.

Intimacies: “Leave things better than you found them” (Defining), “Each other” (Defining, Positive), “Don’t take yourself too seriously” (Major), “Don’t reveal our power” (Major), “River Island” (Major, Negative), “A long project is its own reward” (Van), “Life is more than books” (Uto)

Capabilities

Van and Uto are phenomenal engineers and repairmen. They don’t often invent new things on their own – the “vanishing” technology in No Memory and High Horizon is their pride and joy – but they are very, very good at taking something that someone else made and improving on it. They boast that they’ll fix anything made out of metal, and if it’s not metal, they’ll paint it silver and fix it.

Years ago, just after the death of the Terrible Crystalline Behemoth, Van and Uto were selected by the Indomitable Metal Ox to become Amalgams of their genius and its power. They hid this power carefully, knowing that the people they worked with would have exploited them if their status became known. Because of their caution they haven’t had the opportunity to explore their capabilities very much. Van knows that he can shape metal with his hands alone, and cannot be hurt by a hot stove or a sharp knife. Uto is much heavier than he looks – his bones have been strengthened with living metal. He can also be stubborn and unbending; he thinks of this as his “Iron Will,” and because of it he is usually the one to negotiate with outsiders. Both of them can identify a metal on sight, even a new alloy, or tell that a lead crown is plated with gold.

Beyond their careers and Amalgam status, the brothers have very different hobbies. Van enjoys painting and reading, and knows a few snippets of Old Realm from his adventure novels. He’s better at staying calm and being attentive. Uto prefers spending a night out with friends (not that any of them stayed after the gods died), and is more social and outgoing.

Both of the brothers also have the quiet feet and fine motor control needed to pull off a good prank.

Supporting Characters

• Ragara Dar, the third brother, who died when they were young. Audacious, precocious, funny.
• Ragara Malkea, their mother, who taught them the family trade. Tolerant, perceptive, encouraging.
• Tinsheet, a fellow Amalgam who visited them a few years back. Secretive, urgent, disappointed.
• Nellens Fenda, who supplied the brothers with parts even after the war ended. Huge, intimidating, soft-hearted.

Questions

• Van and Uto aren’t great inventors. Did someone else invent the vanishing technology? If so, who? If not, what gave them the inspiration?
• How might the brother’s Amalgam powers be used if they had more practice?

Ledaal Miia, the Pilot

Background

Miia’s family lived in a cave. They were the poorest of the poor, living by hunting and stealing from their more agrarian neighbors. They barely knew there was an empire, let alone that they were at war – or that their cave was going to be used to store powered gliders.

The Ledaal family soldiers hiding the gliders were surprised as well, but compassionate. They brought the family food and tools. When a Technologist came to investigate, she raised a house for them of metal and crystal. The soldiers were especially kind to teenaged Miia, who was fascinated by their strange devices.

Miia wanted to fly one of the gliders. A pilot took her up and she was hooked. The commander, after a stern reprimand to her and the soldier, told Miia that she would need to enlist if she ever wanted to wide the winds on her own. She tried to sign up on the spot.

Five years later, Miia was a pilot. Her family had been moved to a city far from the fighting, and all of them had been officially adopted by the Ledaals.

Then the gods died, and everything went to hell.

The Ledaal family abandoned the war early. Miia couldn’t stand the thought of never being in the air again. She stole a glider – the base was nearly evacuated by then – and convinced the Ragara brothers to keep it in good repair for her. She flew a few missions of mercy, looking for ships stranded at sea with the winds and waves calmed. She took messages from one end of the continent to the other. She knew she was easing lives here and there, but she wanted to do more.

Cynis Operations approached her and gave her that chance. Her glider is strapped in alongside the zeppelin No Memory. She’s eager to do something good with it.

Appearance

Miia’s white skin is tanned from years of life outside. Her eyes are a rare light brown, almost golden color. She wears no makeup. She’s most often found in pilot’s leathers and wide clear goggles, with her curly brown hair tucked back out of her face. She’s tall and thin.

Demeanor

She was raised in the dirt. Now she literally soars through the sky. Is it any wonder Miia sees the best in those around her? She’s seen a lot of tough things happen in the past few years, but she’s also seen people pull together in a time of great crisis, from ship captains rescuing castaways to the Ragara brothers helping her out when she needed it most. Miia is daunted by the task set before her by Cynis Operations, but only because of its magnitude, not because she doubts her allies.

Amongst her companions, Miia is most concerned about Cathak Venkan. She sees a man blinded by retribution, and she’s seen that go badly before, during her time in the military. She’s worried that he might sacrifice anything or anyone to achieve his goals, and she doesn’t want to see him destroy himself that way. Daita and Rhai worry her too, but she knows that other folks look up to Venkan, and that makes his decision all the more important.

Intimacies: “Everyone has good in them” (Defining), “Flying” (Defining), “My parents” (Major, Positive), “River Island went too far” (Major, Negative), “My teammates” (Positive)

Capabilities

Miia puts every bit of time she can spare into flying. She’s probably the best pilot still alive on either side of the war. She knows the rudiments of handling any vessel of any size, but is especially good with the small powered gliders that let her feel like a bird. If she isn’t better with a hang-glider, it’s only because the Imperial military insisted she fly something with guns.

Her custom-built glider is the High Horizon, named for the line between the clouds below and the clockwork sky above. It has a range of four hundred kilometers; twice that if it’s a one-way trip. It can hold a hundred or so kilos of cargo in its bomb bay, or two extra people if they’re small, very friendly with one another, and not too sensitive to cold and wind. It can land on smooth ground or a calm sea. The Ragara brothers Van and Uto built it for her, and the same “vanishing” technology they built into the No Memory is in the High Horizon as well, letting it almost disappear from sight. It has guns, but Miia is nearly out of ammunition for them, and scavenging more from the Imperial army is unlikely. (The Island’s ammunition is of a different sort.) High Horizon refuels from the side of No Memory in about one hour per hundred kilometers of flight. In the hands of a skilled sorcerer or Technologist it might be refueled directly from the essence of the Chosen, but Miia doesn’t realize that yet.

Outside of the plane, Miia has gone through the military’s usual training. She’s in excellent physical shape. She can use a musket, recognize signals from both sides of the war, operate an etheric transmitter, and scout a region from the air or the ground. Her parents taught her how to catch fish and forage for plants.

Supporting Characters

• Tenbira, who handles maintenance for High Horizon while it’s on board No Memory. Friendly, busy, obliging.
• Loka, a young boy she saved from the wreckage of a burning ship. Hopeful, starry-eyed, wistful.
• Ledaal Severn, trying to find her after she went AWOL. Businesslike, dedicated, merciless.
• Ledaal Venta, her old flight instructor. Cheerful, serious, fair.

Questions

• Why was the Ledaal family so eager to adopt Miia’s parents?
• Miia has seen revenge turn out badly before – what happened? How was she affected?

Cynis Operations, the Smugglers

Background

The Cynis family had a bad reputation. They were involved in politics, shipping, investment and insurance. They had their fingers in every form of vice from drugs to gambling. They didn’t get involved in the war beyond monetary support, and everyone sneered at them for it.

Now the gods are dead. Suddenly, no one cares about a family’s reputation. Everyone needs help, and the Cynis family is in a position to provide it. Normally they wouldn’t lift a finger to help an outsider… but they’re willing to take you into the family and protect you, provided that you do a few things for them.

Cynis Trahka, Cynis Remma, and Cynis Vetho worked as smugglers. They ran weapons for both sides in the war, pretending to be letter-carriers. Eventually, after Karal Volan came to power, they refused to support River Island. “Cynis Operations” turned to even more lucrative work smuggling entire families out of the war zone. It’s amazing how much someone will pay to keep their husband and children safe. The three of them continued their work even after the Holocaust of the Gods. They know the Badlands well. Starsight and Jek Eikar have both done business with them, though they and Jek aren’t on speaking terms right now.

Things are bleak, though. When Cynis Operations heard about Cathak Venkan and his plan, they had a serious talk about the future. They agreed on one thing: the Weapon was bad for business. Maybe more than just business. They called in a few favors, hired a few extra hands, and found themselves some heroes looking to do the right thing. From the Ragara brothers Van and Uto they bought the vanishing zeppelin No Memory. If anything can save the world from the Weapon, it’s their ragtag band of… ugh. Don’t even say it. They’re doomed.

They’re pretty sure this isn’t going to work, but they can’t afford to do nothing. Monetarily, of course.

Appearance

Trahka is a dark-haired, dark-lipped woman with dark eyes. Her skin has an olive cast to it. She wears a variety of necklaces, and a ring on her right hand.

Remma is red-haired and fair-skinned. Her clothing is brightly colored and often striped. She enjoys hats. Each morning she puts a few striking touches of makeup on her face to distract others.

Vetho has dark eyes and brown skin, with reddish lips. He only shaves every week or so – both face and head. His cheeks often shows stubble. He dresses like an aviator, though the goggles and scarf are hardly necessary at the helm of No Memory.

Demeanor

Trahka often acts meek and uncertain. She acts like a new recruit, or like someone who never quite grew into their shoes. Underneath that, she’s the strong core of Cynis Operations. It’s her support that makes people think Vetho is in charge, and makes them think that they might be able to set the group against one another by winning over her or Remma.

Remma is a planner. Everything has to be detailed, everything needs to be scoped out before it’s safe to act. As one might guess, she’s often nervous, especially on this particular operation. She plans to survive this mission, and is watching out for the risks and the advantages that could let them eke out victory.

Vetho acts as the group’s point man. He has a huge smile that he’s quick to share. He remembers everyone’s name, and he’ll make good use of that as well. Vetho is at his best in chaotic surroundings, and get a bit stir-crazy when things are quiet for too long. He’ll brood and fuss. When it’s time to be busy again, he’ll light up the grin.

Intimacies: “The thrill of the con”, (Trahka, Defining), “Hope”, (Remma, Defining), “My family” (Vetho, Defining), “No world, no fortune” (Major), “Each other” (Major, Positive), “Teamwork” (Major), “Karal Volan” (Negative), “What’s left of the Empire”

Capabilities

Trahka, Remma, and Vetho are all highly-skilled thieves with many years of experience as smugglers and con artists. They’ve each learned how to fly airships and give orders to their crews. Beyond that, each of them also has their own specialized talents.

Trahka is an excellent actor and infiltrator. She can fake any emotion convincingly and never loses track of a con. She’s also great at estimating risks and weighing rewards, a skill from her old job in the family as an actuary. When Cynis Operations needs an executive decision made, she’s the one who makes it. In a fight she’ll circle an opponent and trade a few probing blows with her sword – before switching to the concealed pistol built into the hilt.

Remma is a trained observer, having been sent to apprentice with a detective when she was young. Little escapes her notice, from secret doors and compartments to emotional “tells” to exploit. She can read social situations, noticing ties between people and minor annoyances that might be exploited or suppressed for the sake of a mission. She’s not good at hiding her own emotions the way Trahka is, but she’ll be able to tell if a client is becoming suspicious or if Vetho has pushed things too far. When the team ends up in a scrap she’ll be the one standing back with a long pistol, drawing a bead on the target and looking out for additional trouble.

Vetho has a charming smile and knows exactly when to break it out. His charisma is what hooks most of Cynis Operations’ clients. He also has a good mind for numbers and faces, but an ambition that wouldn’t let him settle for his old job in a restaurant. He tried a few different professions before becoming a smuggler, and being a jack-of-all-trades is part of what lets him relate to so many people. It also lets him improvise well, though Remma and Trahka often take him to task afterward for deviating from the plan. When things get rough, he closes with his opponent, using knives and his scarf to distract a foe long enough for his allies to strike.

Supporting Characters

• Zekkalo, who flies the airship most of the time. Calm, courteous, drunk.
• Four-eyes, who runs the maintenance crew. Impatient, unconfident, demanding.
• Vok, a bruiser that no one remembers who hired. Silent, imposing, mercenary.
• Hona, the navigator, with a room full of maps and charts. Frantic, calculating, exhausted.

Questions

• Will Cynis Operations continue to act together during this mission, or will the stress and the stakes break up their team? If it does, who will end up where?
• Does the rest of the Cynis family support this operation? Would they act against Cynis Operations?

Cathak Venkan, the Lookout

Background

Telar Thousand-Eyes was the god of sight. His son, Cathak Venkan, inherited his father’s gifts. Therefore, Venkan alone, among all surviving beings, saw the Holocaust of the Gods and the victory of the Luminous Godkiller Weapon.

At the time, Venkan was on River Island. He was part of an elite force that had invaded the island, hoping to take advantage of any weakness while the Weapon was away. They had climbed high into the southern mountains to circle around on the island’s capital. Their mission had been effective so far, mapping essence conduits and troop deployments. They might have succeeded in assassinating General Karal Volan if not for the explosion. When the Weapon killed the gods, it was visible halfway across the world. Venkan, of course, saw what happened all the clearer. His commander called a return to the Blessed Continent, and in the chaos of the Empire’s loss and the Island’s celebration they actually made it back.

Venkan had loved his father and was loved in return. When he returned, he and his mother cried helplessly in the Cathak citadel. When he recovered, somewhat, Venkan went looking for those who might help him avenge Telar’s death. He had difficulty finding anyone who believed that River Island was vulnerable. Between the death of the gods, the dissolution of the Empire, and the defeat of its armies, his best choices were perhaps not the best.

Cynis Operations helped him find who he needed. Venkan offered them what money he had; they laughed at it. He still doesn’t quite know why they’re helping him, but he can tell that they’re scared of what happened and willing to risk their lives. That’s good enough for him. He flies with them now on the zeppelin named No Memory, and points them all toward the enemy. All they need to do is get there in one piece… and then do the impossible.

Appearance

Venkan’s eyes are a captivating color, a light green with just a hint of blue. They show no changes when he uses his supernatural vision – or, rather, he is always using it, and they are the badge of what he is. His skin is a medium brown with a hint of red. He often wears a pair of goggles, more to protect his eyes than to enhance them. He has a short-trimmed close beard and moustache.

Demeanor

Venkan used to be businesslike, but friendly. He wasn’t light-hearted, exactly, but he appreciated having people around and seeing them laugh. These days he is cold, calculating, and lonely. He spends most of his days brooding, looking toward River Island, considering the strategy for the No Memory’s approach and what he will do when he reaches Karal Volan.

He hasn’t told the rest of the group that he hired Cynis Operations. He’s ok with them taking a leadership role. It means he doesn’t have to reach out to his teammates at a time when emotional contact is painful for him.

Intimacies: “The Weapon must be defeated” (Defining, Negative), “Karal Volan must die” (Defining, Negative), “My family” (Major, Positive), “My teammates” (Positive)

Capabilities

Venkan is a true son of both his father and his mother. From his mother’s side he was trained as a Cathak warrior prince, skilled in sword and musket. He knows how to survive in the wilderness, how to find safe food and clean water, where to shelter in a storm. He can swim, climb, and run great distances. He can hold up under torture for a few hours, which is all one can ask in such situations. He also knows how to be suave and composed, how to make someone look like a fool or feel like a champ. He’s a little out of his depth in political maneuvering, but he’s very charismatic one-on-one.

From his father, he inherited sight beyond the dreams of the finest scouts. He can take in an entire scene at once, as if having studied a painting of it for hours. He can see fine detail, like brush strokes on a painting, for as far as he has a clear line of sight. With a little effort, he can see without needing line of sight at all, looking through walls and people with equal ease, for hundreds of kilometers. Sometimes this sight will even activate without his intent, warning him of dangers. The only things that block his vision are the Five Exiguous Compounds. Air, he can see through; the other four, not so much.

Since his father died, he’s also been experiencing some flashes of unexpected insight, such as being able to see flows of essence or the emotional states of those around him. He’s not sure what’s going on here, or how to control this new power. At the moment he’s kept it a secret.

For all his distant vision, Venkan can’t see the future. That talent belongs to his aunt, the prophet Starsight.

Supporting Characters

• Cathak Rhitra, his commander in the group that raided River Island. Bold, wise, scarred.
• Cathak Ea, his cousin and friend, one of the few who knows where he’s gone. Sarcastic, outgoing, defeated.
• Cathak Nora, his mother, who recruits warriors to defend her remaining family. Clever, imposing, insightful.
• Mnemon Bandala, a childhood friend who lives at his aunt Starsight’s enclave. Hard-working, enthusiastic, shrewd.

Questions

• Did Venkan receive some of his father’s essence – or perhaps even his job as a god – when Telar died? What does that mean for Venkan if he survives in the long run? Are other god-bloods feeling the same changes?
• Does Venkan know about Yushoto Koletta at all? If not, has something kept him from seeing her?