Moribund Characters

…But the eternal storm, that absent North from which no man has returned, surely challenges our notions of a loving world. God save the fool who sails to Basedt…

He/him ◆ Sauntiaq

No, you don’t have to dance around it. It’s a weird name. When I left Basedt, I’d try to talk to people and they’d look at me like I was speaking in tongues. Tried to explain to them that I was Basedti, that I was a prisoner of the storm. Turns out the word for ‘prisoner’ is the same in every dialect of Satik. It stuck.

Morgan is a warm man with a gentle heart. He grew up behind the holy walls of Basedt, where he was taught the arts of blacksmithing and archery–though, it seems, he would rather tell stories and sing songs than practice his craft, these days.

In truth, the storm has taken many things from him. It’s been nearly 20 years since he left Basedt behind, but grief still haunts him at every turn.

He/him ◆ White Ghost

Be patient. I haven’t gotten to that part of the story yet.

There are few things that the people of Basedt cannot find words for. Spending a hundred years locked in bloody combat with the storm has given them plenty of time to grapple with the realities of their world. But there is one face of the ash tundra that defies definition, and can only be described in hushed whispers and fearful glances: The White Ghost.

He is a wrathful spirit in one story, a mad watchman in the next, and sometimes even the great beast of all men himself. Few can say for certain where he came from or who he is. Even fewer have met him, and returned to tell the tale.

She/her ◆ Storm Bird

I was raised of two minds: to love her and to hate her. No matter how you feel about old Death-In-Her-Mouth, it’s lonely work, bringing the rain.

Old Mora is a monstrous bird that rides the wind before the storm. She is associated with death throughout the known world, where her arrivals are always followed by disaster.

…A recurve bow, with Balki and the southernmost shield making up the limbs, and the Forlorn, surrounded by inland sea, the brace…

She/her ◆ Deadeye

Yeah. She’s my sister. Yes, that Brun. No, we don’t talk. Look– are you gonna buy my EP or not?

Deadeye Brun founded the Condign Cartel on blood and thunder. Armed only with a rifle and a ‘useless, good-for-nothing skeleton crew’, she cut a deep scar through the high Asthaom desert in search of priceless condign dye. There was no woman more hated or feared this side of the desert, until she stepped back from leading the Cartel under mysterious circumstances.

These days, Brun lives under the thumb of her bigger, badder ex. Being snared in her web of treachery and blackmail has banished all thoughts of an early retirement from her mind… To speak nothing of the six-deep grave she’s dug for herself. Brun won’t be getting out of either any time soon.

She/her ◆ Captain of the Condign Cartel

Oh, god.

Darrow is Brun’s ex-girlfriend and the current captain of the Condign Cartel. She’s quick with her tongue and quicker on the draw, and gladly uses both to make people do what she wants them to.

Darrow doesn’t talk much about the particulars of Brun’s little ‘demotion’ or the nature of their relationship. What matters to her now is that the Cartel runs like a well-oiled machine.

He/him ◆ Mercasian Synthpop

You know what? I take it back. If you buy my EP, I’ll tell you everything.

Malakai is a musician based out of Mercasor. He comes off as quirky at best and bitingly cynical at worst, with a sense of humor that’s as barbed as it is self-effacing. He’s also Brun’s brother, a fact which he refuses to elaborate on because he cut off all contact with her years ago.

She/her

Sinuk. She's got strong, sharp features, a little bandaid on her aquiline nose, and cropped black hair.

…Who?

She/her

Sinuk. She's got strong, sharp features, a little bandaid on her aquiline nose, and cropped black hair.

…Who?

She/her

Sinuk. She's got strong, sharp features, a little bandaid on her aquiline nose, and and and and and and and.

…Who?

She/her

Sinuk. She's she's she's she is she's she she's

Who? Who are you talking about?

███████

Why do you keep asking? Why do you keep asking?

Please, I’m trying to understand. Why do you keep asking me this?

███████

null

…Mother Mountain casts long shadows, and it’s said that no people are more cursed than the Asthlander…

She/her ◆ Roaming River

The river Roan. What is there to say about her that hasn’t been said already? Did you know she once tried to burn the spines off a prickly pear tuna, and it stuck her full of needles? She could say she’ll lay Mother Mountain flat so that we might pass over it easier, and I would believe her wholeheartedly.

Roan is a hero of myth to high Asthaom. She authored its river, circumvented its only war, and birthed magic into the world. The Akiat diaspora considers her a fragment, aspect, or even a reincarnation of their late Saint Lex, though Roan is ambivalent at best about this. She has withdrawn from history many times, but inevitably returns when something must be done and she must be the one to do it.

He/him ◆ First Exarc

Your favourite song. Sunlight dappled off the face of the river. Rainwater dusting a creosote bush. Is he sentimental? Yes. But there are few men who have known such grief, and fewer still who could so deftly bring you to your knees in laughter and in tears.

What did you expect…? He’s my ex.

Dai Hei was once Motu’s most esteemed Lexarc, and was the first and last to leave the god’s service. His departure struck a decisive blow in the frenetic devotion of his colleagues, but came at such great personal cost it could not be called a willing one. He has since retired to a quiet life of music, badly tempered by his hand in the war.

He/him ◆ Beast Out of the East

You’d do well to remember that, despite our best efforts, the world embellishes our… Ah… Competencies. But not Len’s. I can tell you now that whatever you’ve heard about him is true. Even the part about eating god.

Especially the part about eating god.

Len is the highly esteemed (and highly de-facto) Chief Tribune of the Sentinels. He led the resistance when the tyrant-god Motu marched on Scaiuq. He and his Sentinels share a common history as reformed criminals and survivors of Asthaom’s only war, which has given them the grim optimism to chase a better tomorrow. Though he has since left office, Len continues to spend much of his time advising the Sentinels as a reconciliatory organization.

He/him ◆ Blood-Water Poet

I’m a poet. Nobody in particular.

Sadren is a folk hero to high Asthaom, celebrated for his hand in authoring its river and preventing Motu’s war. Once a devoted Lexarc, he betrayed the cause to warn Scaiuq of Motu’s imminent campaign, and was made a martyr by the god for his sins. He is at present a prolific poet and songwriter, and a deeply respected figure throughout Asthaom and beyond the ocean black.

She/her ◆ Mourning Mother

Our mother in arms and in alms. The Stormbreak Quarter. The Wall. For all the raven’s blood that comes down from the sky, she has never once failed us. But isn’t that something? She need only balk once.

Koda is chief among the hero-gods of the Akiat diaspora. She was their first guide through the high Asthaom desert, and settled there to grieve the loss of her champion navigators, Lex and Sentin. For many years, she fed the holy city Merike with her blood, and sheltered it from the ocean black’s cruelty– but in her divine fatigue was powerless to stop Motu’s coup. Only after the river is authored does the desert reconcile with Koda, and Koda with the desert.

She/her, They/them, He/him ◆ Exiled God

You’ll know her best by her city, Sond. Merike may pardon you, but Sond will redeem you. What a pity we call it Lex’s bleeding heart– and sark, you must know that I love her deeply, but Koda’s mercy is not limitless either. Walk with Sentin and she’ll love you always, always.

Most of high Asthaom agreed: Sentin was swallowed up by the ocean black as punishment for her crimes against its people. But it wasn’t until she crawled out of the sea many years later, clutching the bleeding heart of a dead god, that the truth began to surface. Sentin fled West and hid herself deep beneath the Scauiq mountain range, taking both the truth and the heart down with her.

Motu would wage for this heart, the heart of his late daughter. But whether he or high Asthaom could ever fully reckon with the truth is a question debated by scholars still today.

He/him ◆ Grieving Father

No, I’m sorry. I can’t tell that story. Not here. Not now. Another time, perhaps.

Once the beloved father-god of the Akiat diaspora, Motu safeguarded his people against all threats that haunted the desert. But the sudden loss of his daughter, Saint Lex, devastated him beyond recovery. He carried this grief in his heart for many long years–grief that would eventually fester into hatred and xenophobia. In one silent coup, Motu stole high Asthaom from itself and launched a bloody campaign against the traitor-of-his-own-design, Sentin.

…The throat of the Devil himself…

She/her ◆ Inquisitor

My name is Redmond Faraday. I am an Inquisitor of the Church, and I am marked by the Devil.

At the end of my life I will go to hell. Of this there is no question; I have made my peace…

Redmond Faraday is an inquisitor of the Church with a capital C. She is a cold-hearted, ruthless enemy of those who would make themselves enemies of god. One might argue she is a cold-hearted, ruthless enemy of most people in general.

In truth, Redmond’s cruel streak is rooted in deep personal wounds– ones which drove her to seek repentance with the Church as young woman…

She/her, any pronouns ◆ Reverend

… But until then, I am going to drag every last god-forsaken enemy of the Church with me on my way down.

Jesse Cauldwell (who is not the Devil) formally serves the town of Sam Hill as its reverend. Informally, she’s the town’s resident solver-of-all-conceivable-human-problems. She likes folk music, tea, and broad-rimmed hats that cast ominous shadows.