History Characters / CradleSeriesMonarchFactions

* TheTease: The first time Lindon sees her face to face, she gives him a flirtatious wink, and in their first real conversation she makes a joke about him "[[DoubleEntendre devouring]]" her and waggles her eyebrows at him. [[AbhorrentAdmirer he is unnerved]].

* FriendlessBackground: Like Mercy, he is isolated by is status within the family, and (unlike Mercy) by his [[Jerkass jerkass personality]]. He seems to regard Lindon as his OnlyFriend, despite their contentious relationship.

A human Herald on a lightening path, and Reigan Shen's strongest supporter for centuries. She hates her nickname. There are children's rhymes about her, and Eithan made one up about her himself.

* CreepyChild: Has the appearance of a 12-year old human child but is a hundreds of years old dragon.

%%* DrivenToVillainy: See DarkAndTroubledPast.

* SiblingTeam: Was this with his adoptive human brother/contractor before the man was executed.

** In ''Dreadgod'' she outright [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslights]] Mercy into [[spoiler:recording a message begging Lindon & Co to Ascend out of Cradle]] while showering her with praise and literally gifting her power that she had previously barred her from having.

* CastingAShadow: The basis for almost all of the Akura family's various paths.

* TheHighQueen: As the Monarch of the Akura Clan she fits this trope to a T.
* ManipulativeBastard: Pretends to care about and actively lies to Mercy in order to manipulate her.
* MotherOfAThousandYoung: She has hundreds direct children that we're aware of, comes with having a '''very long life''' and being dedicated to her family's continuity.

* Expy: Of [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]].

* ImprovisedWeapon: in the unusual instance when he does need to attack at range, he enforces and throws a stick.

* ArrangedMarriage: Charity tries to do this with her and Lindon, at Grace's suggestion.

* DrivenToVillainy: See DarkAndTroubledPast.

* WingedHumanoid: Flies with the help of a natural treasure in the form of wings made of lightening.

* TheAce: One of the strongest competitors in the Uncrowned tournament, she is described as having perfect senses, madra control, madra capacity, madra regeneration, physical control, spiritual control, and a number of special techniques designed to handle her few weaknesses. This, of course, is because she's a descended Monarch, and thus by definition a ''perfect'' Underlady.
* BigFancyCastle: Rules the Ninecloud Court from one of these, it's even rainbow colored.

* WarriorPrincess: All [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership rulers on Cradle]] are required to be RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething.

-->The second Northstrider left, Emriss turned to Larian. The archer of the Eight-Man Empire shed her persona almost immediately, leaping up and looking to Emriss with sharp eyes. "So," Larian said. "An opportunity."\\

* RedOniBlueOni: Blue Oni and TheLancer to Larien.

* ArcherArchetype: Has the Bow Icon.

* SiblingTeam: Because of how close in age he is with his sister, they've worked together a lot and when they are on the battlefield together they become BackToBackBadasses. GeniusBonus for noticing that their paths play off each other with his being all about [[BareFistedMonk melee combat]] and the majority of her skillset being around [[TheArcher ranged]].

* [[Characters/CradleSeriesAbidanAndVroshir Abidan and Vroshir]] [[note]] Abidan, Vroshir [[/note]]

* [[Characters/CradleSeriesMainCharacters Main Characters]] [[note]] Lindon, Yerin, Eithan, Orthos, Lil' Blue, Mercy, Dross [[/note]]

!!Ninecloud Court

[[folder:Sha Miara]]
!!Sha Miara, Path of Celestial Radiance

The daughter of Sha Leleila (the previous Monarch of Ninecloud) she inherited her mother's power at a tender age of ten after her mother was mortally wounded saving Ninecloud from a disaster.

!!Larian, Patron of the Long-Sight Warband

A Sage in the Eight-Man Empire, she was first shown in Unsouled. Born into a noble family, her parents would not allow her to play with other children until she was at least Lowgold, which she reached at age six.

* BlatantLies: [[spoiler:Lies to Reigan Shen's face that she fought an epic battle with Lindon and Yerin, but failed to prevent them from escaping. Shen notes that there is a conspicuous lack of damage to the city for such a battle]].

** In ''Dreadgod'' [[spoiler:she outright [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslights]] Mercy into recording a message begging Lindon & Co to Ascend out of Cradle while showering her with praise and literally gifting her power that she had previously barred her from having.]]
** In ''Waybound'' [[spoiler:she gives up all pretense of doing everything for her family when she decides that she would rather [[OffingTheOffspring kill her own child and granddaughter]] than give up her position and Mercy is forced to [[SelfMadeOrphan put her down for good]].]]
%%* TheAce: She's a Monarch.

** His greatest regret is that when he advanced to Herald it became far more difficult for him to find an honest fight. [[spoiler:Presumably this has changed now that he has ascended and joined the Abidan, who are at war.]]
* BoisterousBruiser: Laughs uproariously when he attacks Xorrus.

* ExpressiveHair: His hair seems to move in accordance with his emotions and never seems to be sitting still, verges into [[ShonenHair spikey anime hair]] territory when he's super excited about an upcoming fight.

* IAmNotLeftHanded: [[spoiler:Revealed in Wintersteel to have been able to advance from Herald to Monarch the entire time. Held back till after his mother, Akura Malice, was in the clear before advancing and destroying his longtime nemesis Xorrus.]]

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: His name is Akura '''''Fury'''''.

Mercy's "aunt" (actually her niece) and Sage of the Silver Heart. She becomes involved during ''Ghostwater'', when she sends Mercy's cousin Harmony to the facility.

* DisappointedInYou: Has this reaction when she finds out from Lindon that when given the option to come with him [[JerkAss Akura Harmony]] instead chose to use his family's name to threaten Lindon, [[RevengeByProxy his family, and everyone he ever loved]]. Considering she is normally an EmotionlessGirl, the fact she allows it to show on her face at all shows just how disappointed she was.

* GoodIsNotNice: Everything she does is for the greater good of her family. Including convincing two entire nations to compete with each other in order to speed their advancement. Her treatment of Lindon, in particular, stands out. She was annoyed that [[spoiler:he killed Harmony]], so she sent assassins after him to help him train. She knew he'd survive, but the whole thing was crueler than it needed to be.
* KingIncognito: Likes to dress in drab workman's robes, slightly alter her looks, and veil her spirit to be able to move among the common folk of Cradle. [[spoiler:This is how Lindon has met her first in Underlord, she was the "Highgold" that tried to stop him from [[AccidentalPervert walking in on a topless Yerin]], he still hasn't quite caught on to this by Wintersteel.]]
* TheMatchmaker: [[spoiler:In Wintersteel attempts to match Lindon with Akura Grace as a way to further tie him to the Akura Clan. When that doesn't work because he is only interested in Yerin she makes a point of telling him to secure his relationship with her as Yerin has just become one of Cradle's most eligible bachelorettes.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:In Wintersteel when she finds out that Sha Miara is a Monarch pretending to be an Underlady she is surprised, when she finds out that her father Akura Fury knew the entire time but did not tell her she drops him in a shadow portal that teleports him several hundred miles away and hundreds of feet in the air]]
** Happens twice in quick succession in ''Dreadgod'' [[spoiler:first even though she's over 150 years old when she finds out about the [[DarkSecret truth about Dreadgods]] she immediately goes to her grandmother for a [[CooldownHug hug]] and then after going back to her room briefly thinks about ascending simply so she could be with her father again.]]

** [[spoiler:In ''Dreadgod'' when she finds out about the [[DarkSecret connection between Monarchs and Dreadgods]] she is so shocked she nearly considered ascending right there simply to escape the nightmare that her [[EvilMatriarch grandmother's]] generation created, but she decides to stay for Mercy's sake.]]
* XanatosGambit: Her response to Akura Harmony's death. Sending dangerous enemies after Lindon serves to temper him, and [[spoiler:as she hints to Akura Mercy, she knows he's unlikely to die because Mercy can regain her power at any time.]] Because she was subtle about it, she can still claim Lindon is in her debt and demand a favor from him afterwards to settle the score, once he's become more powerful; on the off-chance that he dies (though she doesn't consider this remotely likely), she can just switch to the Seishen Kingdom group instead, since both are servents of her family and they will have proven themselves stronger. And regardless of the outcome she will have sent a message that the Akura family cannot be taken lightly, without sacrificing anything particularly important herself.

* DontYouDarePityMe: He was already murderous before, but what really sets him off into a murderous triade against Lindon is when Lindon offers to save him by helping him escape the collapsing pocket universe of Ghostwater after their fight.

* ArrangedMarriage: Charity tried to do this with her and Lindon.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: She's killed offscreen in the assassination attempt on Mercy.

** We do not know if these positions carry over past his advancement to Truegold but, but they are at least highly ranked.

* MadeASlave: [[spoiler:After the death of his body Reigan Shen turned his [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Remnant]] into an enslaved attack dog. [[ApologeticAttacker Tiberian is not happy about this]].]]

* ArtificialIntelligence: The entire point of his Ghostwater research facility, he was attempting to create a Presence such as the Abidan possess. When it apparently failed. he abandoned it to seek his answers elsewhere. [[spoiler:What he didn't know until the events of Uncrowned was that his facility had succeeded, all it took was throwing one of the [[InstantAIJustAddWater constructed spirits into the Dream Well for 50 years]] which allowed it to gain sapience.]]

* FakingTheDead: Most of the world thought him dead until recently.
* [[FutureMeScaresMe Future Me Disgusts Me]]: [[spoiler:In ''Waybound'' the method Lindon uses to '''finally''' get Northstrider to ascend and leave Cradle behind is by first showing him a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Hunger Echo]] of himself who hates what he's become which at first only [[IHatePastMe enrages Northstrider]], but after [[TransferableMemory consuming]] the Echo's memory he realizes how far [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he's drifted from his original purpose]] and he basically ascends on the spot after giving Lindon a to-do list and all of his passwords.]]
* GeniusBruiser: He's scruffy, wears old clothes and doesn't seem to do much in the way of grooming. From what is seen of his fighting style, it tens to lean towards [[BareFistedMonk Bare-Fisted Monk]]. Despite that, he managed to create a Presence and regularly conducts research on Hunger madra.

* MysteriousProtector: He is essentially this for all of humanity on Cradle. Very little is known about him and he stands directly opposed to the dragons, with his territory sitting literally between the dragons and the humans.

** Is hinted at being this. She has a deeper understanding of the world than the rest of the Monarchs and was the only one to immediately grasp just how close they were to The Wandering Titan waking up.

** [[spoiler:She plots with Lindon against the other Monarchs, and shields him so he can kill the Silent King]]

** [[spoiler:With the reveal that Monarchs themselves are responsible for the continued existence of the Dreadgods it becomes fairly clear why three Monarchs would make a point of murdering a Herald who'd made it her life's work to spread knowledge.]]
** [[spoiler:She encourages Lindon to kill the Silent King and further aids him in getting the secret of the Monarchs and Dreadgods out into the world]].

* WiseTree: She was born a tree and was the one who invented Dream Tablets (think highly detailed video recording devices). She also wanders the world educating people and making sure the language doesn't drift too much.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:Has this reaction when he realizes that he killed Ozriel's descendants and spent years taunting Ozriel directly while he was going under the alias Eithan. His next thoughts are that he has to make sure that Ozriel's students would ascend as quickly as possible]].

* PowerupLetdown: He goes to ''extreme'' lengths and risks to get Ozmanthus' soulforging inheritance. In the end, it mostly consists of [[spoiler:Eithan]] mocking him from inside his own head, and the one thing he makes with it isn't enough to save it.

* BigFancyCastle: Rules the Ninecloud Court from one of these, it's even rainbow colored.
* ActionGirl: Comes with territory of being a Monarch. She was able to destroy an entire fleet when she was around ten years old.

** When she [[spoiler:loses to Eithan in the Uncrowned King tournament]] she almost breaks decorum by unleashing her Monarch power. Her Herald has to tackle her to the ground to prevent her from looking bad. In return she [[TantrumThrowing throws a piano at him]].
* WarriorPrincess: Comes with the territory of being a [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership ruler on Cradle]].

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:His reaction to Lindon appearing behind him.]]

* HealingFactor: Thanks to his path and Iron Body it is basically impossible for him to bleed out. He demonstrates this by stabbing himself in the throat and the most it inconveniences him is needing to cough up some blood.

* ArtificialIntelligence: The entire point of his Ghostwater research facility, he was attempting to create a Presence such as the Abidan possess. When it apparently failed he abandoned it to seek his answers elsewhere. [[spoiler:What he didn't know until the events of Uncrowned was that his facility had succeeded, all it took was throwing one of the [[InstantAIJustAddWater constructed spirits into the Dream Well for 50 years]] which allowed it to gain sapience.]]
* BarbarianLonghair: His his hair is described as being long and unkempt, matching the the rest of his scruffy look.

* SiblingTeam: Because of how close in age they are they've worked together a lot and when they are on the battlefield together they become BackToBackBadasses. GeniusBonus for noticing that their paths play off each other with his being all about [[BareFistedMonk melee combat]] and the majority of her skillset being around [[TheArcher ranged]].

* YinYangBomb: To become a Monarch, you have to be both a Sage and a Herald. The Eight-Man Empire couldn't manage that, so they found a way to combine the powers of multiple Sages and Heralds.

* AnimalLover: It's in his name, when was abandoned he befriended ancient sacred beasts and rose to the level of their King. He would rather spend time with them than anyone else.
* FantasticRacism: He '''''hates''''' dragons. We haven't been told why yet but he has waged a centuries long war on them with only Northstrider being more feared by them.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Certainly seen this way by the Dragons. He started his life as an abandoned crippled boy and rose to become one of their greatest enemies, with only Northstrider himself being worse.

* MysteriousProtector: Is essentially this for all of humanity on Cradle as very little is known about him and he stands directly opposed to the Dragons and his territory sits right on their border.
* ThePigPen: When Ziel describes him as not caring about grease from a meal sliding down into a ragged unkempt beard and dressed in a hodgepodge of furs.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Plays this in Ghostwater to save Yerin and Mercy, using the freshly escaped Ziel as his Witness to save them from the Dragon Underlady Sophara who is hellbent on their destruction. The Beast King knows he cannot fight them directly, but if an Underlord strikes down a Truegold while Witnessed by his follower he would be in the clear to strike at them directly. Sophara's supporters [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere literally tackle her]] to keep her from [[RevengeBeforeReason attacking Yerin and Mercy anyway]].

* SilverFox: When he advanced to Herald he could have changed his appearance, but deliberately left white hair on his temples and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes because he felt they lent him dignity.

* TheTease: The first time Lindon sees her face to face, she gives him a flirtatious wink, and in their first real conversation she makes a joke about him "[[DoubleEntendre devouring]]" her and waggles her eyebrows at him. [[ObliviousToLove He seems completely oblivious]].

Mercy's "uncle" and a Herald. He is first encountered in ''Underlord'' and is always on the lookout for a good fight, which most of his family finds annoying. Unfortunately, he is a Herald and worthy opponents are hard to come by.

* TheAce: He's the previous winner of the Uncrowned tournament, and a Herald. [[spoiler: He later ascends to Monarch, which would be enough to fulfil this trope on its own]].
* ActionDad: Is the father of Akura Charity and known for bringing war to the Dragons all on his own.

8 EvilMatriarch: Treats even her favored children like disposable pawns.

* TheMatchmaker: [[spoiler:In Wintersteel attempts to match Lindon with Akura Grace as a way to further tie him to the Akura Clan. When that doesn't work because of Lindon's infatuation with Yerin she makes a point of telling him to secure his relationship with her as Yerin has just become one of Cradle's most eligible bachelorettes.]]

* ArtificialIntelligence: The entire point of his Ghostwater research facility, he was attempting to create a Presence such as the Abidan possess. When it apparently failed he abandoned it to seek his answers elsewhere. [[spoiler:What he didn't know until the events of Uncrowned was that his facility had succeeded, all it took was throwing one of the [[InstantAIJustAddWater constructed spirits into the Dream Well for 50 years]] which allowed it to gain sentience.]]

* SanityStrengthening: The Consume technique means he must contend with random thoughts and emotions of whatever he devours. Centuries of this has left him rather ''off''. However, over the course of ''Wintersteel'' [[spoiler:he perfects his Presence with the help of Dross]], and he slowly sorts through all those alien influences and stabilizes. By the end of the tournament, he's wearing normal clothing and has combed his hair.
* TheUnSmile: He has smiled twice in the story so far and both times it's described as anything but a smile. The second time it happens Yerin thinks that looks like a crack in a cliff face.

A sacred tree who reached Herald, was murdered, recollected her memories as a Remnant and then ascended to become a Monarch. She wanders the world to gather knowledge, and to make sure that the language in isolated sects doesn't drift too far from the standard.

** [[spoiler:She is plotting with Lindon against the other Monarchs, and shielded him so he can kill the Silent King]]

* TheDreaded: Of the named Monarchs he is the one most feared by our character, for good reason. It takes a force of loosely allied Monarchs, Heralds, Sages, and their perspective sects and clans to keep him and his Dragons at bay.

A sacred lion who has advanced to become a Monarch. He began his life as a proud lion cub and believed himself to be without equal until he witnessed the last Dreadgod war and the fall of the previous generation of Monarchs. After winning the very first Uncrowned King tournament, he went on to become one of the oldest and most powerful Monarchs of his generation.

* LittleBitBeastly: His appearance is that of a human male with male lion characteristics such as fangs, a golden mane, and claws.

Miara's "uncle" who has served as Herald for the previous Monarch.

* CorporateSamurai: While they mainly seem to be OnlyInItForTheMoney, they also are dissatisfied with the status quo of Cradle. [[spoiler:They side with Reigan Shen]] in ''Reaper'' both because he pays them a mountain of treasure and because doing so will shake things up. It remains to be seen whom they'll support as the conflict continues.

* TooDumbToLive: After Lindon beats him, he's in a pocket universe that is steadily falling apart around him; Lindon, who controls the only way out, offers to take him with them when they flee. Harmony responds by swearing to murder Lindon's entire extended family. Worse, he didn't even have a ''reason'' to fight Lindon outside of wanting to steal Dross and being pissed that he couldn't. Needless to say Lindon traps him there and he dies.

* Really700YearsOld: Her granddaughter is over 150 years old and she has hundreds of sons and daughters. We don't know how old she actually is, only that she's younger than Northstrider and The Dragon King.

* TheOmniscient: When Eithan claims that Malice endorsed his plan, Mercy waits for a moment, then says he's telling the truth. How does she know? If he was lying, Malice would have killed him. ''From a thousand miles away''.

Mercy's "uncle" and a Herald. He is first encountered in ''Underlord'' and is always on the lookout for a good fight, which most of his family finds annoying. Unfortunately, he is a Herald and they are hard to come by.

* OminousOwl: Purple owls are her calling card. It's unclear if they are constructs, bound Remnants, or illusions, but she can definitely see through their eyes and use madra through them.

* WarriorPrincess: Comes with the territory of being a [[AssKickingEqualsAuthority ruler on Cradle]].

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Reigan Shen is unnerved by the way her personality and mannerisms resemble Eithan's... and he has good reason to
--->The second Northstrider left, Emriss turned to Larian. The archer of the Eight-Man Empire shed her persona almost immediately, leaping up and looking to Emriss with sharp eyes. “So,” Larian said. “An opportunity.”\\