History Characters / AlexVerus

** It is deconstructed however, as it often means Alex consequently ends up strengthening the position of someone he hates as the winner benefits from the outcome, and in ''Forged'', [[spoiler: Morden warns him that his successfully pulling off that tactic to get rid of many of those enemies (while undoubtedly a miraculous outcome for him that is significantly better than dying) also means that there might now be a shortage of powerful players to pit against each others, even though the ones left are still dangerous]].

* DivideAndConquer: Alex is often a small fry compared to some (most) of his enemies. He often survives by exploiting the fact that those foes of his are also mortal enemies with each others. It is deconstructed however, as it often means Alex consequently ends up strengthening the position of someone he hates as the winner benefits from the outcome, and in ''Forged'', [[spoiler: Morden warns him that his successfully pulling off that tactic to get rid of many of those enemies, while undoubtedly a miraculous outcome for him, also means that there might be a shortage of powerful players to pit against each others, even though the ones left are still dangerous]].

The ruling body of the light side of the magic world. Composed of 7 voting members (who form the Senior Council), and 6 non-voting members (the Junior Council), it is the highest authority of the light side of the magic world. It has jurisdiction over all aspects of the light magic world, its official decisions are laws, and it is accountable to no one. While they like to present a veneer of legitimacy, this effectively means that the council can virtually pass and enforce any arbitrary decision at any time, provided enough of its members manage to agree on it. In ''Veiled'',[[spoiler: Morden's proposal finally goes through: not only do dark mages become eligible to a seat, they have one seat ''reserved'' for them. This position has been filled at several point by Morden (De Jure), and then Alex (De Facto).]]

->'''Morden''': The key to understanding the Council is to realise that the majority of its mages don’t believe in anything greater than themselves 

** TheBusCameBack: In 'Fallen', [[spoiler:Alex uses the dreamstone to call her again]]

* TheBusCameBack: In 'Fallen', Alex uses the dreamstone to call her again

* NiceGuy: Empathetic, quiet, fairly passive and nurturing, Anne is the nicest person in the series. Despite her massive Life magic abilities, she mostly focuses on their healing applications. Deconstructed however as she actively represses the aggressive and selfish parts of her personality and purposefully keeps away from the harmful applications of her magic. Her nice-girl personality is essentially an overcompensation, and she sometimes shows signs of being tired of everyone expecting her to behave in such a way. This has led most people to get very wary of her as they can sense it's (at least partially) fake (as a rule, you don't get close to untrustworthy life mages if you value your life).
* SplitPersonality: as a way to cope with the darker aspects of her personality and powers, Anne developped a Dark alter-ego that she keeps locked-up behind many mental walls. [[spoiler: It does not end well.]]

->'''Alignment:''' Light apprentice [[spoiler:-> Light mage]].

* HotBlooded: Variam is hardly patient, and can be prone to letting his emotions run wild. Something shared by most fire mages.

* UndyingLoyalty: Vari is fiercely loyal to his friends. Like Luna, he takes it in strides when Alex opens up about [[spoiler:what he did when he was Richard's apprentice. ''Unlike'' Luna, this was almost certainly completely news to him, as unlike her, he had not worked it out by himself to prepare.]]

The ruling body of the light side of the magic world. Composed of 7 voting members (who form the Senior Council), and 6 non-voting members (forming the Junior Council), it is the highest authority of the light side of the magic world. It has juridiction over all aspects of the light magic world, its official decisions are laws, and it is accountable to no one. While they like to present a veneer of legitimacy, this effectively means that the council can virtually pass and enforce any arbitrary decision at any time, provided enough of its members manage to agree on it. [[spoiler: After Morden's proposal finally goes through, not only are dark mages eligible to a seat, they have one seat reserved for them, occupied at several point by Morden (De Jure), and then Alex (De Facto).]]

!!Chalice

* DivideAndConquer: Alex is often a small fry compared to some (most) of his enemies. He often survives by exploiting the fact that those foes of his are also mortal enemies with each others. It is deconstructed however, as it often means Alex consequently ends up strengthening the position of someone he hates as the winner benefits from the outcome, and in ''Forged'', [[spoiler: Morden warns him that his successfully pulling off that tactic to get rid of many of those enemies, while undoubtedly a miraculous outcome for him, also means that there might be a shortage of powerful enemies to pit against each others, even though the ones left are still dangerous]].

* FightsLikeANormal: Richard often conceals his magic type, usually relying mostly on basic spells, focuses and weapons to fight (in fact, upon seeing him fight, Alex is slightly disturbed by how similar it is to his own fighting style).

** In ''Bound'', [[spoiler: Richard reveals he can call upon some weird and unindentified magic if needed. So far, it let him create gates from and to anywhere (ignoring usual interdiction fields), create shields, and create black lances which can pierce common elemental shields)]]

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: One of the big reasons that Alex is so terrified of Richard is that he knows that while he survived by outsmarting people, Richard can outsmart ''him'' while he had never managed to do the opposite.
** In ''Fallen''[[spoiler: Alex finally figures out Richard's magic type, and he almost despairs at the implications]] [[spoiler:i.e. as a master diviner himself, Richard can do everything Alex can do, counter everything, and even if that is not enough somehow, he can rely on a Jinn's power]]

* FightsLikeANormal: Richard usually fights relying mostly on basic spells, focuses and weapons. (in fact, upon seeing him figth Alex is slightly disturbed by how similar it is to his own fighting style). As a result, nobody is quite sure what is his magic type.
** [[spoiler: When needed, Richard can call upon some weird and unindentified magic. So far, it let him create gates from and to anywhere (ignoring usual interdiction fields), create shields, and create black lances which can pierce common elemental shields)]]
** [[spoiler: It is revealed in ''Fallen'' that most of those unusual abilites come from his having contracted a jinn.]]
* MightMakesRight: Believes quite strongly in the 'True Path', where only power (regardless of how it is obtained; intelligence, strength, influence, etc) matters, and right and wrong are only decided by a person's ability to enforce his values on others.

** [[spoiler: Upon finally figuring out Richard's magic type, Alex almost despairs at the implications]] [[spoiler:i.e. as a master diviner himself, Richard can do everything Alex can do, counter everything, and even if that was not enough, he could rely on a Jinn's power]]

->I decide how I live. Not the Council, not any other mages. Just me. I can do whatever I like, and [[ColdBloodedTorture this]] is what I like. 

[[/folder]]
[[folder:[[spoiler: Variam Sinkh]]]]
See Alex Verus allies above
[[/folder]]

* OfficerAndAGentleman: A high ranking Keeper. And though eccentric, sometimes prone to endless ramblings, Landis is always a gentleman. Even when he is about to start a duel with ''freaking Vihaela'', he is courteous enough to let her go first.

-> The largest and most well known is [...] the Order of the Star. The Order of the Star police magical society; if a crime is committed that breaks the peace of the Concord or the national laws of the Council, they’re the ones who are supposed to deal with it.

-> Once the biggest of the orders, their name’s a hint at their original function: they were battle-mages, meant to protect the population from magical predators. But as magical creatures declined, so did they, and nowadays they’re the Council’s military reserve, called in when a situation is violent or expected to get that way. Ninety-nine percent of their time is spent sitting around doing nothing or guarding against threats that never show up. The last one percent involves getting sent into the most horrendously dangerous situations imaginable.  

-> The ones responsible for preserving the secrecy of the magical world. They work with (and on) the mundane authorities, dealing with normals and sensitives, and they’re much less high-profile.

* BigBadDuumvirate: Is in a partnership with Drakh, though the details and reasons are unclear. He's the one dealing with the light council on the political scene, whereas Drakh is the ones leading the dark cabal in the shadows. [[spoiler: it comes to an end in Fallen though, as Morden's losing his seat and being forced to leave the political scene made it more difficult for them to work together. It was easy enough for them to collaborate when they were operating in different spheres, but the new situation meant they apparently were slowly but surely heading on a collision path. Rather than take on Richard though, Morden instead decides to retire safely, especially since a powerful Jinn unexpectedly on the loose is threatening to destroy UK at the moment.]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: Is in a partnership with Drakh, though the details and reasons are unclear. He's the public face of dark mages dealing with the light council on the political scene, whereas Drakh is the ones working more clandestinely in the shadows. [[spoiler: it comes to an end in Fallen though, as Morden's losing his seat and being forced to leave the political scene made it more difficult for them to work together. It was easy enough for them to collaborate when they were operating in different spheres, but the new situation meant they apparently were slowly but surely heading on a collision path. Rather than take on Richard though, Morden instead decides to retire safely, especially since a powerful Jinn unexpectedly on the loose is threatening to destroy UK at the moment.]]

* Big Bad Duumvirate: Is in a partnership with Drakh, though the details and reasons are unclear. He's the public face of dark mages dealing with the light council on the political scene, whereas Drakh is the ones working more clandestinely in the shadows. [[spoiler: it comes to an end in Fallen though, as Morden's losing his seat and being forced to leave the political scene made it more difficult for them to work together. It was easy enough for them to collaborate when they were operating in different spheres, but the new situation meant they apparently were slowly but surely heading on a collision path. Rather than take on Richard though, Morden instead decides to retire safely, especially since a powerful Jinn unexpectedly on the loose is threatening to destroy UK at the moment.]]

* [[spoiler:KnowWhenToFoldEm: He decides to make himself scarce and take some vacations somewhere else when the Jinn possessing Anne subverts her will and starts to act on its own agenda. The fact that this probably means Morden will get to walk away scot-free is rather distressing to Alex.]]

* RedShirtArmy: As normals, they have no hope of even slowing down meaningfully a dark mage. Usually, the council uses them as expendable pawns, to test defenses, or as a nasty sort of alarm system (i.e. they are fully expected to die while raising the alarm). Alex muses that they are paid very well, but that the casualty rate is through the roof, especially now that Drakh and the council are in a state of open warfare.

* [[spoiler:CorruptTheCutie: Sonder starts as a plucky new mage full of idealism. It's even the reason he grew distant with Alex as he struggled to accept his old friend's greyer actions. However, as the short story focused on him shows, Sonder has definitely been adopting the light Mages's corrupt way of thinking more and more. It seems to be mostly subsconscious, and he doesn't even seem to be fully aware of how far he fell, but eventually, he becomes the sort of person who thinks nothing of emotionally manipulating a friend to do him a favour (reasoning that he helped her earlier and as such is fully within his right to get something in return), use his powers to spy on people (when he used to avoid doing it out of decency) and more generally, comes off as much more self-serving and entitled than he used to. He's of course far from being as bad as some of the monsters seen in the series, but it's clear that associating so much with a corrupt organisation has stained him considerably.]]

** Alex realizes, to his amazement, that Levistus ''truly'' wants to make a better place. It is just that he believes that putting himself in power is the best way to make the world better. He also believes that ''everyone'' (including ''himself'') is expendable and as such has zero hesitations to kill.

* NiceGuy: Empathetic, quiet, fairly passive and nurturing, Anne is the nicest person in the series. Despite her massive Life magic abilities, she mostly focuses on their healing applications. Deconstructed however as she actively represses the aggressive and selfish parts of her personality and purposefully keeps away from the harmful applications of her magic.