"And so we face the world together - kings, warriors, and madmen all - because where the common people may see one a champion and another a monster, we serious-minded men know the truth: only those who have seen the Labyrinth and survived can hope to hold back the darkness. Who kills the heretic, damns himself."
—Danar-Kel, Reflections
Ascelia
Executor Bulov: Harmad Bulov once spearheaded the Goddess Tower's so-called "Levantine Inquisition," charged with ferreting out heretics and terrorists, but lost his post when the Inquisition was disbanded for its undue racism toward the demihuman races. He now serves as a Guardian Executor, approving missions into Mourclesis for Ascelia's guilds. Bulov is disliked for his snide and condescending manner, but seems to have repented from his earlier ways, for he is also acknowledged as one of the most even-handed of his caste.
Chapter Two: Ward revealed to the Evening Star that he was made Patriarch over Bulov by a single vote - Bulov's own. After a bitter rivalry, the two decided to work together to restore justice to the Tower. In doing so, Bulov has made himself a target for Levanter assassins who want his blood for "selling out."
He seems to be one of the few high-ranking Executors who is truly in the Evening Star's corner. Despite this, they have little contact with him: he's kept busy by investigations into the Demon Lords and the Hands of the Goddess that the Grand Executor does his best to thwart.
Chapter Three: With the death of Irminric Ward and Grand Executor Eiridan's ascent to power, Bulov is acting Grand Executor of Ascelia, though he has received no official promotion. This new job seems to be making him even more weary than usual, although also more readily available to meet with the Evening Star.
Executor Castor: Narsius Castor is the Guardian Executor responsible for the maintenance and assignment of Ascelia's airship fleet. His predecessor, Executor Volmir, was retired for being wasteful; Castor constantly schemes to get the most out of the fewest resources. His "Fleet Reintroduction Project" sees to it that broken down airships that can be recovered from Mourclesis are repaired and put back into work.
Chapter Two: Executor Castor has been on a long vacation since before Iskander's doomed visit to Ascelia.
Not so much on the vacation: Castor was revealed to be one of the Three Lords of the Morning. He claims that Sargon has chosen him to be a god in the new world they will soon create together.
Chapter Three: After his betrayal of Ascelia and the Goddess Tower was revealed, Castor murdered Patriarch Ward in front of the horrified Ascelian masses.
Grand Executor Eiridan: Dio Eiridan is the man ultimately responsible for all guild activity in Ascelia and beyond. The other Guardian Executors can do their work only with his approval; even the Patriarch defers to the Grand Executor in guild matters. For all of his importance to Ascelia, Eiridan is something of a mysterious figure. As far as anyone can tell, he never takes off his armor; no one has ever seen his face. Eiridan is known for his booming voice more than anything: whatever he is underneath that helmet, he was born to command.
Chapter Two: Ward revealed to the Evening Star that not only is Eiridan an Eladrin and "Dio" an assumed first name. but that the Grand Executor uses the position he has held for decades to advance a hardline and authoritarian vision of the Goddess Tower. "He would ally with Arx and Maelthrazra because they too are powerful; lesser forces are to be exploited or swept aside."
He conceals his appearance in his famous armor in part because knowledge of his Eladrin nature might weaken his otherwise entrenched support among the more conservative Executors - though according to Dalavesta, his nature was no secret to her or some of the other Hands of the Goddess, since the Maelthrazra expatriate "prefers the intimate company of Elves."
Eiridan appeared to the Evening Star in the depths of the Goddess Tower and made them an offer: they would be handsomely rewarded for keeping silent about the dark truths they learned in the Ascelian Labyrinth. After a long and soul-searching debate, the guild ultimately refused the Grand Executor's deal. He calmly left them to their own devices.
Chapter Three: Eiridan assumed total control of the Goddess Tower and Ascelia upon Ward's death. Though still styling himself only the Grand Executor, he wields more power than the last several Patriarchs ever have. In the atmosphere of fear created by the Storm God's threat to the Three Cities, both the people of the Dreaming City and their Guardians have accepted the Eladrin Executor's absolute authority.
Hadrian: He has a title; no one's completely sure what it is. He holds some rank with the Goddess Tower; no one can say for sure how high, including the Executors. It is said that he retired from a life of adventure not because he was getting old, but because he was worried that if he kept going, soon there would be nothing left for future generations to do. He once punched out a dracolich while drinking a martini. He is Hadrian, and he is the man who approves all new guilds, as well as helps them get their start.
Saynn: Gustav Saynn is the guildmaster of the eponymous Saynn's Riders, the most famous and probably the most successful of Ascelia's guilds. Affectionately called "Sane Saynn" by his men, he's known to be cautious and calculating, traits that have seen 90% of his Riders' founding members still alive after eleven years of diving into Mourclesis - better odds than any other guild. Saynn is always suspicious that new guilds will burn themselves out quickly, or failing that, perish in the mists. It will be a challenge to prove him wrong.
Chapter Two: Saynn has been in seclusion since Iskander's death, and the Riders haven't taken on a single new mission, leaving the Evening Star and other prominent guilds to pick up the slack.
Sidathe: Most so-called Untouchables retire to solitary lives, avoiding being seen in public with the dark tattoos that mark them as failed Hands of the Goddess, women who can be deadly to get too close to. Not so for Sidathe. She did not found the Azure Blades, but when its first leader, Padan Iskander, disappeared, she took control of the guild. She has been guildmistress of the Azure Blades for two years now, and is known by all of Ascelia as a fierce and noble warrior.
Chapter Two: Sidathe and the other Azure Blades regained their deep respect for Padan Iskander when they learned the truth behind his death. They mourn the loss of the man they still call "the Commander" and are out for vengeance against his killers.
Though reluctant to agree to the Evening Star's choice to spare Tessia Zselat and make her one of their own, she ultimately relented. After an officially successful though privately difficult joint mission, it seems likely that the Azure Blades and Evening Star will remain allies.
Dorotea: As they explored the so-called "Ascelian Labyrinth" exposed when Raythe blasted a crater around the Goddess Tower, the Evening Star had several encounters with a beautiful but cold-hearted woman who called herself only "Dorotea." Recording devices throughout the Labyrinth revealed her sordid history as the leader of the order responsible for creating Ascelia's Untouchables. In her final encounter with the Evening Star, she revealed that she was Alicia's mother. Her last attempt to kill them was interrupted when Raythe became the lachesdaemir Allender the Despoiler, and she fought alongside the guild in an alliance of convenience.
In the aftermath of Allender's destruction, she became the Evening Star's hostage thanks to Tessia Zselat's magic.
Chapter Three: Dorotea revealed to Alicia that her father is Serges Volmir, and also that her order of genetic engineers was founded by Tessia's father, with whom she had a relationship before he was exiled from Ascelia.
Arx
Danar-Kel: The fortress city of Arx is ruled by its generals and shamans. The shamans prefer to remain nameless; the generals have singled out Danar-Kel as their representative to the world. A powerful Half-Orc who stands over eight feet tall with muscle to match, Danar-Kel is considered the face of Arx. Under his leadership, the Brakenrock Tribe has strengthened its relationship with Ascelia, and pared-down its cold war with Maelthrazra. More Beastmen than ever before are in guilds due to Danar-Kel's friendship with the Goddess Tower. He and Grand Executor Eiridan once had a shouting contest, just for fun; no one is sure who won.
Chapter Three: Danar-Kel is greatly in favor of the Three Cities Alliance that Patriarch Ward worked to forge before his death, and that Eiridan has now taken over. To this end, he has made Rugen Arx's ambassador to Ascelia - and also charged the monk with protecting his daughter, who will be staying in the Dreaming City as a student.
Maelthrazra
Khasis: Banner-General Khasis is the face - metaphorically speaking only, given his horned greathelm - of the Cursedblood Legion, Half-Elves bred by Maelthrazra to punish the Elves who warred with them ages ago, and to serve as their vanguard in war. While the Banner-General's appearance alone, almost always adorned in his black and scarlet platemail, provokes fear, he has an uneasy friendship with Danar-Kel and Grand Executor Eiridan. As such, he is one of the few Maelthrazrans that Ascelians and Arxians have ever seen in person. Practical-minded where Half-Elves are supposed to be insane, he is a cautiously well-regarded commander of the most feared army on earth.
Chapter Three: Khasis is Maelthrazra's ambassador to Ascelia as part of the Three Cities Alliance. He was also directed to give Inanna a document legally freeing her from Maelthrazra's control and offering her the Eladrin Queen's official apology; Inanna declined to sign it.
Manasseh: The Eladrin are known as a cruel, depraved race. God-General Manasseh, so-called because he has led victorious campaigns against Mourclesis that "a mere man" couldn't possibly have achieved, is the cruelest and most depraved of the Eladrin. Khasis is seen, but he is the one who is whispered about. It is said that he has a taste for blood - that he was married to one of the daughters of the Eladrin Queen, but that she bled to death on their wedding night because he devoured too much of her face. But Manasseh has free reign in Maelthrazra, because he is too powerful and too useful to be punished. Those few Eladrin who leave the black ziggurat for the wider world speak his name with revulsion and lingering terror. Thus has a single madman become almost as infamous as his dark realm.
Chapter Two: Manasseh continues to enthrall the people of Ascelia as he leads a bold advance through the heart of Mourclesis as they watch, live, through the scrying pools provided throughout the city. Enthusiasm for the God-General's war remains as high as ever even though the massive crowds gathered at the pools ensured there were many more casualties than there might have been when Sargon's betrayal of Iskander was revealed and Agreas the Devourer appeared.
For the time being, the deaths of some of his men at the Evening Star's hands don't seem to have provoked his ire…
…Rather, especially after witnessing their victory over the Grand Executor's Marilith, the Winter King seems to almost admire the Evening Star. And they have more in common than just being among the most beloved heroes of their time: Manasseh has been revealed as the second artifact-collector mentioned by Cain. What's more, he has been to the Nightmare, and briefly interrogated the Evening Star to learn what they knew about its shadowy master.
Mourclesis
Agrivain: A mysterious, wandering swordsman who travels Mourclesis, carrying a blade he never unsheathes. He has been encountered by more than one of Ascelia's guilds at different places in the Labyrinth, sometimes only in moving past them, sometimes to offer advice. He is something of a legend at this point, and is is considered a good omen for a guild to run across him in their missions. Still, no one is sure just who or what he is.
Sargon: Once called the Lord of the Morning, he has taken the title "Storm God" in its place. His true identity remains unknown: he speaks a language no one else can speak, with a strange yet clearly Human accent. Eight feet tall and clad from toe to throat in imposing alien armor, he's masked in pale steel, revealing only bloodred eyes. Whether he truly is the Sargon of conflicting legends or someone exploiting that identity for his own ends, it's clear that he is the Evening Star's enemy, even as his followers have been ordered to spare their lives.
Chapter Three: Appearing to all of the people of the entire world in a terrifying psychic vision, Sargon has claimed command over all of Mourclesis. Anyone who leaves the Three Cities without his permission will be killed - and he has given such permission only to the Evening Star, the Azure Blades, Saynn's Riders, and General Manasseh. It also seems that he will be testing the Evening Star with higher stakes involved than ever before.
The Storm God's first test: three Xuruthite Hives have been sent toward Ascelia, gaining size and power as they approach.
Asulian: A madwoman who founded a cult of personality years ago when she proclaimed that rather than a mere Hand of the Goddess hierodule, she was the Goddess herself, made flesh. Now she serves Sargon as one of the apparent "Three Lords of the Morning," who have taken the title now that the second phase of their master's plans have begun. Though under orders to leave the Evening Star alive, she did her damnedest to kill them, proving that she remains unreliable and essentially insane.
Volmir: In the ruins of Dorotea's laboratory, the third Lord of the Morning revealed his identity: Serges Volmir, thought to have been killed once and for all by Iskander. Brought back into the world as a powerful wraith, his once featureless form now includes the Skull of Kethra as a gift from his master for successfully manipulating Raythe into becoming the second Lachesdaemir. Though he left the laboratory ruins to avoid an encounter with Grand Executor Eiridan, there's little doubt that the Evening Star will be seeing him again all too soon.
Dream
Cain: In the bewildering nightmare world where they learned that Iaoth and Ayperos were one and the same, the Evening Star's trial against a malevolent Angel Shard came at the hands of a shadowy figure who identified himself only as "Cain." Dressed in an old-fashioned trenchcoat and otherwise covered in clinging, liquid darkness, he seemed as surprised to see them as vice versa. Asked if he was their friend or their enemy, he responded cryptically, "Moral relativism has claimed more lives than every War and Plague combined." He pledged to kill them the next time they came to the Dream.
Before dismissing the Evening Star from the Nightmare at their second meeting, Cain said "My existence is not something that 'begins' or 'ends' like some mere mortal's." He also revealed that a second force is collecting artifacts, and that at some point, all of the weapons must be used together - suggesting that conflict with this other collector is inevitable.
