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Akura Clan
Malice
Akura Malice, Monarch, Path of Eternal Night
"This is not the end of your freedom, Mercy. It is the beginning. Power is the ability to do as you wish. You will always be the toy of those who have more of it than you do. You have seen that."
Monarch of the Akura clan, and one of the most powerful people in the world. The Blackflame Empire is a small province in her domain.- Abusive Parents: When Mercy doesn't meet her expectations, she publicly humiliates Mercy.
- In Dreadgod she outright 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 she gives up all pretense of doing everything for her family when she decides that she would rather kill her own child and granddaughter than give up her position.
- Action Mom: Is the mother of Fury, Mercy, and Pride (along with hundreds of others) and when she fights mountains are leveled and cities are smashed.
- Hypocrite: Claims that her main motivation is the protection of her family, but treats even her favorite children like crap. She has had hundreds of children, but if they don't live up to her standards they aren't allowed the protection of being her children.
- Invisible Parents: Most of Malice's children are lucky to see their mother once per decade. Mercy is her heir, and she gets a five minute conversation every 12 months or so. If they don't prove themselves special enough, they don't even get to call themselves her children.
- Manipulative Bastard: Pretends to care about and actively lies to Mercy in order to manipulate her.
- Mother of a Thousand Young: 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.
- My Beloved Smother: Mercy loves her mother, but being the true heir of a Monarch is not easy. The reason for Mercy's exile was because she desperately wanted to live a life away from the family.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her name is Akura Malice.
- Really Gets Around: It's implied that she's somewhat... active. Mercy mentions that no one can complain about Monarchs spending time on romance ("Just ask my mother"), she has hundreds of direct children who were by all indications made the traditional way,
Word of God is that she has a harem, and in every scene with Lindon she flirts with him. - Really 700 Years Old: Her granddaughter is over 250 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.
- Revenge Before Reason: Subverted. She was raised by the Akura clan and named Malice so that she would get revenge on another clan for harming theirs. She realized as she grew older how hollow revenge is.
- Speak of the Devil: How people who don't want to anger her treat speaking her name.
- The Tease: 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 "devouring" her and waggles her eyebrows at him. he is unnerved.
- The Omniscient: 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. Monarchs always notice when someone says their name, no matter where they are on the planet.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Narration and internal monologue from characters regularly state that Malice's beauty is the thing of paintings and legends.
Fury
Akura Fury, Path of Midnight Sun
"What's wrong, everybody? You don't want to play anymore?"
The Sword of the Akura
Mercy's "uncle" and a Herald. He is first encountered in Uncrowned and is always on the lookout for a good fight, which most of his family finds annoying. Unfortunately, for a Herald worthy opponents are hard to come by.
- The Ace: He's a previous winner of the Uncrowned tournament, and a Herald. He later ascends to Monarch, which would be enough to fulfil this trope on its own.
- Action Dad: Is the father of several children including Akura Charity and known for bringing war to the Dragons all on his own.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Both Charity and Pride seem to regard Fury as this, combined with Eccentric Mentor. Charity and Pride try to project a serious, dignified demeanor at all times, but Fury is casual about almost everything.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Tends to wander off in the middle of conversations if they don't hold his interest, and refuses to do anything he finds boring - which is most things besides fighting.
- Blood Knight: Fury loves fighting. He loves it so much that he has apparently run off for months to fight. He also has problems holding back.
- His greatest regret is that when he advanced to Herald it became far more difficult for him to find an honest fight. Presumably this changes once he ascends and joins the Abidan, who are at war.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Laughs uproariously when he attacks his enemies, or when he sees a possible new opponent in action.
- Casting a Shadow: The basis for almost all of the Akura family's various paths.
- Expressive Hair: His hair is made of liquid shadow and seems to move in accordance with his emotions. It verges into spikey anime hair territory when he's excited.
- Fantastic Racism: Is known throughout the world of Cradle to be the third greatest enemy of the Dragons, only being topped by Northstrider and the Beast King. Fury hates all Dragons and believes in his core that all they want is the destruction of humankind and the desolation of the planet.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Revealed in Wintersteel to have been able to advance from Herald to Monarch the entire time. He holds back until just the right moment to kill as many enemies as possible.
- Like Father, Like Son: His half sister/surrogate daughter Mercy has adopted many of his mannerisms, most notably his friendly personality.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Has hundreds of siblings that we're aware of, only a few are named in the story.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name is Akura Fury, and his mother looked into fate when he was born to find the most appropriate name for him.
- Parental Substitute: To some of his half siblings, including Mercy and Pride.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Has this dynamic between him and his daughter Akura Charity. Seems to have the reverse dynamic with his mother Malice. We don't know what his father was like though.
Charity
Akura Charity, Sage of the Silver Heart
"Old powers stir. No one will remain untouched. Now, more than ever, we must make the balance of power clear, and raise up defenders from a new generation."
Mercy's "aunt" (actually her half-niece) and Sage of the Silver Heart. She becomes involved during Ghostwater, when she sends Mercy's cousin Harmony to the facility.- Casting a Shadow: The basis for almost all of the Akura family's various paths.
- Disappointed in You: Has this reaction when she finds out from Lindon that when given the option to come with him, Akura Harmony instead chose to use his family's name to threaten Lindon, his family, and everyone he ever loved. Considering she is normally an Emotionless Girl, the fact she allows it to show on her face at all shows just how disappointed she was.
- Emotionless Girl: Her default state. She exists halfway in a dreamlike state at all times thanks to her Path and it requires an ordered and logical mind to maintain appearances. She can be emotional but it takes a great amount of stress for it to happen.
- Exposition Beam: Has this due to the strong Dream properties of her path, is able to impart knowledge simply by touching someone's forehead.
- Good Is Not Nice: 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 is annoyed that he killed Harmony, so she sends assassins after him to help him train. She knows he will survive, but the whole thing is crueler than it needs to be.
- King Incognito: 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.
- The Matchmaker: 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.
- Not So Above It All: 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.
- Ominous Owl: Purple owls are her calling card. They appear to be striker techniques that she invests with her authority. She can see through their eyes and use madra through them.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She is relatively reasonable for a Sage; she can be a bit of a hardass at times, but her situation makes it necessary. In particular her response to Akura Harmony's death stands in stark contrast to Sopharanatoth, who ruins herself and her clan seeking revenge.
- Xanatos Gambit: Her response to Akura Harmony's death. Sending dangerous enemies after Lindon serves to temper him, and 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 servants 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.
Harmony
Akura Harmony
Mercy's cousin, onetime fiancé, and one of the family's great geniuses.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He considers himself utterly above everyone remotely close to his level and refuses to accept otherwise. He's so proud that when Mercy beats him in a fight, he flips out and cancels their engagement.
- Berserk Button: His is Akura Mercy, due to his arrogant nature he did not take losing to her well, and any mention of her causes him to lose his cool.
- Casting a Shadow: The basis for almost all of the Akura family's various paths.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Kills Renfei instantly and without warning when she disrupts his meditation by speaking. Later, he threatens to murder Lindon's entire family for offering to save his life after their fight.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He was already murderous before, but what really sets him off into a murderous tirade against Lindon is when Lindon offers to save him by helping him escape the collapsing pocket universe of Ghostwater after their fight.
- Evil Counterpart: To Lindon. He spends every free moment training and is obsessed with advancement, but is doing so only for himself and is a complete sociopath with no regard for others' lives.
- Ironic Name: He is one of the least harmonious characters in the entire series; Mercy notes this herself when thinking about him.
- Jerkass: Nobody likes him, even in his own family. When he dies, while Charity makes a perfunctory effort to punish Lindon to send the message that her family can't be taken lightly, she privately thinks to herself that Harmony's death was, given his personality, almost certainly his own fault.
- The Sociopath: Kills Renfei because her entrance to Ghostwater disrupts his cycling, and tries to Kill Lindon and Orthos in order to find his Underlord revelation. He also broke off his arranged betrothal with Mercy because she beat him in a duel.
- Too Dumb to Live: 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 other than the assurance that fighting Lindon will reveal his Underlord revelation. Needless to say Lindon traps him there and he dies.
Pride
Akura Pride
Akura Mercy's younger brother.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Unlike most of Malice's children, Pride and Mercy are full siblings, but their father isn't even mentioned until Wintersteel and a full explanation for his absence doesn't appear until Waybound.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He does not take losing at anything well at all.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: His entire powerset relies upon enforcement techniques and he fights barehanded.
- Big Sister Worship: Part of the reason he is always at odds with Lindon is because he holds his sister in such high regard and mistakenly thinks they're an item.
- Casting a Shadow: Like the rest of his family, he uses shadow techniques.
- The Comically Serious: Is painfully formal most of the time, even compared to Lindon, and will kill lighthearted conversations by asking serious questions. At the same time, his outsized personality lets him easily flip to Comical Overreacting.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Has this dynamic with Mercy as he is very proper and Mercy is more of a Childish Older Sibling.
- Friendless Background: 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 Only Friend, despite their contentious relationship.
- Healing Factor: 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.
- Improvised Weapon: In the unusual instance when he does need to attack at range, he enforces and throws a stick.
- Meaningful Name: He is, of course, one of the proudest members of an already-proud family.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: He thinks that Lindon has designs on his sister Mercy and that's where the majority of his animosity for Lindon comes from.
- The Napoleon: Is extremely short, and extremely belligerent.
- Sibling Team: 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 Back-to-Back Badasses.
Genius Bonus for noticing that their paths play off each other with his being all about melee combat and the majority of her skillset being around ranged.
Grace
Akura Grace
A promising young Underlady that trains with Lindon for the Uncrowned tournament.
- Casting a Shadow: She practices a Sword and Shadow Path.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: She's killed offscreen in the assassination attempt on Mercy and Pride.
- Ship Tease: She has a few scenes with Lindon and of all the Akura family other than Mercy she's the only other one to treat him with respect. She was also the one to approach Charity with the Arranged Marriage proposal.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Multiple characters point out that she bares a striking resemblance to a younger Akura Malice.
Arelius Clan
Cassias
Naru Cassias Arelius, Path of Silver Grace
"You saw what happened at the border, I'm certain. And I have my own questions about what I saw from you."
An Arelius Highgold, he would have been the next Arelius Patriarch if not for Eithan's return. Married to one of the imperial family.- Abdicate the Throne: Technically the throne was taken from him, but he was still happy to give it up in order to marry for love.
- Always Second Best: Is comfortably in this position with his wife Naru Jing. She is the #1 Highgold and he is the #2.
- Battle Couple: He and his wife fight as a team in battle.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Though they aren't even close to siblings, he takes on the role of responsible brother with Eithan, having more reasonable expectations of reality.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: Fights with a sword, and his Silver Step technique lets him move near instantaneously from one point to another.
- Mark of the Supernatural: His goldsign is a silver bracer which he keeps polished.
- Not So Above It All: While he initially tries to take it easy on Lindon and Yerin in the Blackflame trials, before long his plan to make them quit turns into a desire to beat them. There's a reason why he's the second-best highgold in the empire.
- Papa Wolf: When he thinks his son might be in danger, he ignores absolutely everything else until Cassias is sure he is safe.
- Power Levels: He's the second highest-ranking Highgold in the Empire. His wife is the first. So when his wife is threatened, a lot of people are killed very quickly.
Tiberian Arelius
Tiberian Arelius, the Storm King, Path of Raging Sky
The former Patriarch of House Arelius, he used to rule over half of the Rosegold continent, before being killed by a rival during a battle with a Dreadgod. His death caused most of the Rosegold continent to fall to ruin and for House Arelius to scatter.
- Exact Words: Though he is forced to obey Reigan Shen, he uses malicious compliance whenever he can.
- Ghost Amnesia: Can mostly remember himself and those most important to him, but has trouble with details.
- The Good King:
- Was by all accounts a wise and benevolent ruler, leading his people into a new era of peace and prosperity.
- In fact, he was the only Monarch who actually wanted to do something about the Dreadgods, by killing them and then convincing all the other Monarchs to ascend. This would have eliminated the danger of Hunger madra and dreadbeasts once and for all, since Monarchs are the source of Hunger aura.
- Made a Slave: After the death of his body Reigan Shen turned his Remnant into an enslaved attack dog. Tiberian is not happy about this.
- Posthumous Character: He died before the story began.
- Shock and Awe: He was The Storm King, and his Path has a mix of Water, Wind, and Lightning madra.
Northstrider and Subordinates
Northstrider
Monarch Northstrider, Path of the Hungry Deep
The Monarch who usually represents the loose sacred artists of the world. Most of the world thought him dead, until he showed up at the Uncrowned tournament.
- Artificial Intelligence: 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. What he didn't know until the events of Uncrowned was that his facility had succeeded, all it took was throwing one of the constructed spirits into the Dream Well for 50 years which allowed it to gain sapience.
- Barbarian Longhair: His hair is described as being long and unkempt, matching the rest of his scruffy look.
- Faking the Dead: At the start of the series, most of the world thinks he is dead.
- Future Me Disgusts Me: In Waybound the method Lindon uses to finally get Northstrider to ascend and leave Cradle behind is to show him a Hunger Echo of himself who hates what he's become. At first this only enrages Northstrider, but after consuming the Echo's memory he realizes how far he's drifted from his original purpose.
- Genius Bruiser: 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 tends to lean toward Bare-Fisted Monk. Despite that, he manages to create a Presence and regularly conducts research on Hunger madra.
- Horror Hunger: It's in the name of his Path, which revolves around him using Blood and Hunger Madra to Consume his enemies. Or as he says to Lindon:Northstrider: This is called the Consume technique. If you can master it, you will no longer need advancement resources. Only enemies.
- The Quiet One: Rarely speaks, to the point of flat-out ignoring most people who speak to him.
- Really 700 Years Old: He is among the oldest Monarchs on Cradle, which puts him at several hundred years old at the low end.
- Sanity Strengthening: The Consume technique means he must contend with random thoughts and emotions of whatever he devours. Centuries of this has left him rather off.
- Supervillain Lair: Of the three of his research facilities that are shown, one is a series of spooky underwater domes, one is on the back of a giant flying lizard, and the third is a spooky underwater tower.
- The Un-Smile: He smiles very seldom, and it's always described as anything but a smile. The second time it happens Yerin thinks that looks like a crack in a cliff face.
The Beast King
The Beast King, Unknown Path
A Herald that is tentatively in the service of Northstrider. He started life as a crippled child abandoned by his family and rose up to become one of the most powerful people in all of Cradle.
- Animal Lover: It's in his name. When he 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.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates dragons. He has waged a centuries-long war on them, with only Northstrider being considered a greater enemy of dragonkind.
- Fell Off the Back of a Truck: In Waybound, Lindon mentions they stole an unspeakably valuable elixir from the Beast King. Dross clarifies that what actually happened was that a vulture (known to be an ally of the Beast King) dropped the elixir on top of them.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: 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.
- Min-Maxing: Per Word of God, he's actually kind of a terrible sacred artist, with his Path poorly optimized, and even his Iron body is barely functional. But his Dream madra lets him talk to very large sacred beasts, and he's good at making friends.
- Mysterious Protector: 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 on Ashwind.
- The Pig-Pen: He has a ragged, unkempt beard, and his clothes are clearly little better than rags. When speaking with Ziel, he doesn't seem to notice grease from his meal getting all over him.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Plays this in Ghostwater to save Yerin and Mercy. Using Ziel as his witness, he forces the dragon Underlady Sophara to retreat, despite Sophara being hellbent on revenge against Lindon's allies. The Beast King knows he can't fight the dragons directly, but if an Underlord strikes down a Truegold while witnessed by his follower, he would be in the clear to strike back. Sophara's supporters literally tackle her to keep her from attacking Yerin and Mercy anyway.
Emriss Silentborn and Subordinates
Emriss Silentborn
Emriss Silentborn, the Remnant Monarch, Path of Ten Thousand Dreams
"If you can fight, fight. If you cannot, then help the people flee. This is an unprecedented emergency. Rally your Golds, put aside petty grievances, and work to save us all."
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 spread knowledge and cooperation, and to make sure that the language in isolated sects doesn't drift too far from the standard.- Back from the Dead: She was killed centuries ago, but due to her leaves being remnants in their own right she managed to essentially resurrect herself.
- Big Good:
- Is as close as Cradle has to having one. Even the other Monarchs treat her as a benevolent force with some of them, like Northstrider, taking turns protecting her lands when she's off spreading language around the world.
- She is also the only one in recorded history to successfully and non-violently contain a Dreadgod by using the roots of her tree to surround The Silent King with a truly massive sealing formation. At least until Reigan Shen kills the original Subject One, empowering the Dreadgod enough for it to break free.
- In Dreadgod, we learn that she is the only Monarch who is actively trying to force the Monarchs to ascend, allowing the Dreadgods to be destroyed for good.
- The Chessmaster:
- 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.
- The way she spreads a Common Tongue around the world is dismissed as a meaningless kindness by the other Monarchs. It's actually a very important move in her game, as the ability to communicate is often more dangerous than just giving knowledge outright.
- She plots with Lindon against the other Monarchs, and shields him so he can kill the Silent King
- Gadgeteer Genius: Is the Magitek version of this. She created the dream tablets which allow people to share memories directly, created The Dreamway which was essentially the fantasy version of a digital bookstore/movie sharing service, and before she was killed in her first life she was beginning the process of setting up a massive global portal system so that the whole world would be interconnected.
- He Knows Too Much:
- Killed in her first life when she was just a Herald by three Monarchs to prevent exactly this. Emriss wanted to share all knowledge, and to people that hoard secrets, that made her dangerous.
- 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.
- Magic Staff: In human form she wields a staff topped by a glowing blooming diamond.
- The Mentor: She wanders the world for the sole purpose of teaching people in order to foster cooperation.
- Plant Person: She can shift freely between her original form - a giant tree - and that of a woman with bark-like skin and vines for hair.
- Underestimating Badassery: She cultivates a reputation as nothing but a wise and benevolent ruler who just wants to best for everyone. Which is all true... but is also a cover for the fact that she is waiting for an opportunity to get rid of both the Monarchs and the Dreadgods for the good of the world.
- Wise Tree: She was born a tree and was the one who invented Dream Tablets (think highly detailed memory recording devices). She also wanders the world educating people and making sure the language doesn't drift too much.
Seshethkunaaz and Subordinates
Seshethkunaaz
Seshethkunaaz, King of Dragons and Monarch of the eastern Ashwind continent, Path of the Wasteland
The oldest and most powerful living Gold Dragon, leader of all of the dragon factions, enemy of humanity on Cradle.- Creepy Child: He has the appearance of a 12-year old human child but is a centuries old dragon.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Was a young exiled golden dragon who was adopted by a band of human nomads. He came to love his new family and even formed a bonded contract with one of their children. That child was executed for accidentally killing another child, and since then Sesh has despised human civilization and the systems of laws it creates.
- Dishing Out Dirt: The defining trait of his Path of the Wasteland.
- The Dreaded: 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. Even his own descendants don't dare look at him directly.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The reason Seshethkunaaz, the ruthless King of Gold Dragons, takes the form of a twelve year old child. When he was very young, he was exiled by other dragons and left to die in the wasteland, but rescued by a family of humans. He was raised alongside their human son, formed a contract with the boy, and changed his shape so that the two of them looked like twins. His human brother was an Underlord and one day accidentally killed another child in a fight. Unlike most of the nations of Cradle, the law of the nation they lived in prohibited any murder, regardless of rank, and Sesh's brother was executed.To this day, the King of Dragons walks the desert in the form of a human boy, hair dark and skin tanned by the sun, wrapped in a cloak against the harsh wind. He admires humans, but hates human civilization, that collection of unnatural rules under which the weak are favored above the strong. If power and survival were the only laws, he believes all would benefit. Even humans.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from a young exiled gold dragon who fell in with a band of humans to becoming the greatest non-Dreadgod enemy of humanity in the series.
- Powers Do the Fighting: His Path of the Wasteland gives him direct control over rocks, stone, and sand. With this he can form miles long dragons and hurricane-sized dust storms.
- Sibling Team: Was this with his adoptive human brother/contractor before the boy was executed.
- Social Darwinist: His ideology. His dream is to tear down human civilization and build a world where the law does not protect the weak from the strong.
- Villainous Breakdown: Suffers one when Yerin receives Abidan weapon Penance, Akura Fury advances to Monarch, and he knows that he's lost on all fronts.
- The Worf Effect: Is stated to be one of, if not the most powerful Monarch on Cradle, but Penance kills him with little to no fanfare.
Xorrus
Xorrus is Sesh's right hand Herald, and the Grandmother of Sophara. She hates Fury and the Akura clan and would see them wiped from the continent
- The Dragon: A literal dragon who serves as The Dragon to Sesh. She is introduced when she destroys one of the Akura vassal sects and attacks the Winter Sage offscreen.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Is cruel to her enemies, but cares deeply about her granddaughter.
- Oh, Crap!: Her reaction to Fury advancing to Monarch and shattering her with a punch.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Can freely shift between the form of a beautiful human woman and that of a giant dragon.
Reigan Shen and Subordinates
Reigan Shen
Reigan Shen, the Lion Monarch, Path of the King's Key
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 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.
- All Your Powers Combined: His King's Key contains thousands of Divine Treasures collected over his life, many of which can outright destroy a city.
- Arc Villain: Shares this role with Seshethkunaaz during the Uncrowned King tournament, as they stand diametrically opposed to our main characters.
- The Collector: He is this by the nature of his Path. When he sees the Abidan weapon Penance, he only thinks of it as the pinnacle of his collection.
- Expy: His Path of the King's Key is very similar to Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon from the Nasuverse.
- Hero Killer: Before the events of the series, he was responsible for killing Tiberian Arelius, the Arelius Monarch.
- Just Think of the Potential!: He believes that he has the key to controlling the Dreadgods, but he needs to get to the Labyrinth inside of Sacred Valley to do it.
- Little Bit Beastly: His appearance is that of a human male with male lion characteristics such as fangs, a white mane, and claws.
- Manipulative Bastard: One of the most apparent in a world that seems to be filled with them. He was able to bring the Dreadgod cults under his sway, something no one has succeeded at before, and he is using them to his own benefit.
- The Oath-Breaker: Somehow is able to break soul oaths (and in one case, allow a subordinate to do so), which should cause his spirit to collapse and possibly kill him.
- In Waybound it turns out that he has figured out a way to shunt the consequences of violating a soul oath onto others, in his case he did it to Tiberian Arelius. The consequences are not pretty, but as Shen is a Monarch he can just undo the damage with a word.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction when he realizes that he killed Ozriel's descendants and spent years taunting Ozriel directly while he was in disguise. His next thoughts are that he has to make sure that Ozriel's students will ascend as quickly as possible.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Is this by default just by being a Monarch, but he also possesses many Divine Treasures in his vault that are capable of mass destruction on their own.
- Power-Up Letdown: He goes to extreme lengths and risks to get Ozmanthus' soulsmith inheritance. In the end, it mostly consists of Ozmanthus mocking him from inside his own head, and the one thing he makes with it isn't enough to save him.
- Thinking Up Portals: A common trait among many Sages and Monarchs, but due to the spatial affinities of his Path, he is better at it than any of the rest.
Yushi
Yushi, the Thunder Fairy
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.
- The Perfectionist: Feels the need to outperform on every task given to her, or else try so hard that no one can blame her for failing.
- Pragmatic Villainy: When she sees that battle is turning against her side, she offers to withdraw.
- Shock and Awe: Uses storm madra.
- Winged Humanoid: Flies with the help of a natural treasure in the form of wings made of lightning.
Ninecloud Court
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.
- The Ace: 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.
- Action Girl: Comes with territory of being a Monarch. She was able to destroy an entire fleet when she was around ten years old.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: The ruler of Ninecloud since she was ten years old.
- Ghost Memory: She inherited her powers from her mother, along with some of her memories and instincts, as well as those of every previous Ninecloud monarch before her.
- Royal Brat: Certainly acts this way to her advisors, and considering that she inherited the power of a Monarch her tantrums can be legendary.
- When she loses to Eithan in the Uncrowned King tournament she almost breaks decorum by unleashing her Monarch power. Her Herald uncle has to tackle her to the ground to prevent her from looking bad. When he teases her after she regains her composure, she throws a piano at him.
Sha Reliar
Sha Reliar, Herald
Miara's uncle who served as Herald for the previous Monarch.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When he is confronted with a Sage and Herald who are both abnormally strong, he immediately surrenders.
- Parental Substitute: To Sha Miara, whose mother died when she was a child.
- Silver Fox: 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.
The Eight-Man Empire
The Eight-Man Empire as a Whole
The Eight-Man Empire, Path of the Eightfold Spear
"Performance guaranteed or your money back. We don't want the world turned upside-down any more than you do. But Shen? Watch your mouth. There's more of me than there are of you."
— Larian, Patron of the Long-Sight Warband
A pseudo-Monarch made up of Heralds and Sages with special armor that lets them share their power.
- Corporate Samurai: While they mainly seem to be Only in It for the Money, they also are dissatisfied with the status quo of Cradle. They side with Reigan Shen in Reaper both because he pays them a mountain of treasure and because doing so will shake things up. In Dreadgod they collude with Emriss Silentborn to help Lindon and his team kill the Dreadgods.
- Powered Armor: Their armor somehow lets them share power; if one of their number is killed, they give the armor to someone else. Abidan reports imply they had help from an ascendant being to make it.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: To become a Monarch, you have to be both a Sage and a Herald. The Eight-Man Empire couldn't manage that (or learned the consequences and refused), so they found a way to combine the powers of multiple Sages and Heralds.
Larian
Larian, Patron of the Long-Sight Warband, Path of Whispering Wind, Bow Sage
A Sage in the Eight-Man Empire, she was first shown in Unsouled. Born into a noble family, her father would not allow her to play with other children until she was at least Lowgold, which she reached at age six.
- Blatant Lies: 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.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Speaks in a casual, joking manner most of the time, only slipping into a serious tone on rare occasions.
- Child Prodigy: Reached Lowgold at age 6.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Reigan Shen is unnerved by the way her personality and mannerisms resemble Eithan's. Turns out, he had good reason to be worried.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."
Del'rek
Del'rek of the Shann, Path of Singing Bones, Mountain Sage
A Sacred Elephant who retains his tusks in (very tall) human form. He won the Uncrowned King tournament as an Underlord.
- The Big Guy: As a Sacred Elephant, his human form is still very big and tall.
- Hypocritical Humor: Scolds Larien for tossing her old bow to the ground when she gets a new, better one, but then drops it himself when he is given a new weapon himself.
