A swordswoman of Oshaar, who grew up among the cult of the Unspoken One at the House of Silence. After escaping her fate as the Chosen Bride, she trained as the right hand of the wizard Belthandros Sethennai, but left his service two years ago to find a new life with Shuthmili.
A renegade scholar-mage from the Empire of Qarsazh. Shuthmili was brought up in the School of Aptitude, and was ordered to surrender herself to one of the military hive-minds of the Imperial Quincuriate. Instead, she fled her homeland with Csorwe at her side.
Csorwe’s ex-colleague and rival, a young nobleman from the city of Tlaanthothe, where he is best known as a family disappointment and writer of unpleasant notes. He broke off a brief affair with Belthandros Sethennai two years ago, and truly believes he is over it.
The former librarian of the House of Silence. Once romantically involved with Belthandros Sethennai, now single-minded in religious fervour, she has abandoned the cult to follow her devotion to the Unspoken wherever it may lead. An unreliable friend to some and an inconstant enemy to most.
Chancellor of Tlaanthothe. Csorwe and Tal’s former employer. An immortal wizard of exceeding power and, as it turned out, a living incarnation of the serpent goddess Iriskavaal. He carved out his own heart and now keeps it in an ornate reliquary as part of his bargain with her.
A giant serpent who befriended Csorwe during their imprisonment by the warlord General Psamag. A scion of the fallen serpent empire of Echentyr.
goddess of things hidden and things decaying, the flame that devours
Shuthmili’s patron divinity, imprisoned in the void for millennia as punishment for ancient atrocities. It is said that she seeks a mortal vessel through whom she can return.
who knows all that is dead, and all that is dust, and all that is to come
Oranna’s patron divinity, sleeping within its shrine in the mountains above the House of Silence. Reputed to demand the sacrifice of a Chosen Bride every fourteen years.
sovereign of all space and time, she who withered Echentyr
Sethennai’s patron divinity, who once ruled over the serpent empire of Echentyr as God-Empress. Her being was splintered into many fragments when her own people rose against her. She laid waste to her entire territory, surviving the carnage through her incarnation as Belthandros Sethennai.
DR. ILVER TVELUJAN, a Historian
CHERENTHISSE, an officer of the Thousand Eyes
NIRANTHOS CHAROSSA, Tal’s older brother
NIRANTHE CHAROSSA, Tal’s mother
CWEREN, Prioress of the House of Silence
KELEIROS LENARAI, a secretary and intelligencer
TSEREG, a fugitive