Character page for the webcomic Daughter of the Lilies. Beware spoilers!
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Orrig's Crew
Thistle
A kind-hearted mage with a love of plants, deep-seated self-esteem issues, and a face that she refuses to show. She joins Orrig's group because she needed the money, but finds more camaraderie than she expected.
- Ambiguously Brown: Thistle's skin is a shade of brown darker than Brent's and lighter than Margot's, with hair to match. The other two cave elves appeared grey, but so did Thistle when her face was revealed in the mine tunnel, so in their case that may have been an effect of the lighting. They did seem to still be gray when their bodies were brought out, so it might just be that Thistle's gotten more sun.
- Berserk Button: Even the mention of Drath gets her back up. Encountering one gets her to go all-out with offensive magic.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She likes using magic to make flowers and entertain children with illusions. When her friends are threatened, she breaks out the fireballs.
- Covered in Scars: Downplayed, but she has several scars on her face when we finally see it.
Word of God is that she has far more scars on her body. - Dark and Troubled Past: At the very least, it's known that she was an "unwanted daughter" and ran through quite a lot of aliases. Somewhere along the way she seems to have become a servant to one of the Gods, and was infected with a Drath echo in her head.
- Enemy Within: Picked one up from exposure to a Drath, and wasn't able to have it removed before it became a permanent part of her mind. Unfortunately for her, she has a lot of insecurities for it to draw on.
- The Faceless: An ever-present cowl and veil hide everything but her Icy Blue Eyes. She may be using magic to keep the shadows around her face extra-concealing. As of chapter 7, Thistle is no longer the Faceless to the reader, and might in fact count as a Cute Monster Girl.
- Femme Fatalons: It isn't obvious because of her gloves, but the distal phalanges of Thistle's fingers are unusually long because they end in long claws.
- Friend to All Children:
- Even when she's destitute and out of work, she takes the time to brighten some kids' day with a display of magic.
- She also successfully uses wizardly magic to heal a premature baby whose lungs were underdeveloped.
- She spends a chapter getting her teammates to autograph a wanted poster as a gift to a young orc boy thrilled to have met her.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: She has multiple facial scars and, per Word of God, plenty more elsewhere. They're implied to be at least partly the result of Torches and Pitchforks mobs that she refused to defend herself from.
- Green Thumb: Her favourite type of magic, and, if remarks by collegiate mages are anything to go by, something of a specialty. She's even able to weaponize it to an extent by making seeds instantly sprout entangling vines.
- Hates Being Touched: She reacts with panic
when people touch her, presumably because she's much more used to unfriendly contact. - Healing Hands: Between her magical and anatomical knowledge, she can do this quite well, although in the case of major trauma like a gaping bite wound, she has to help the lost tissue regenerate over time. She can also manage feats that conventional healing magic can't, like fixing a baby's underdeveloped lungs.
- In the Hood: Always, to hide her face. She substitutes with a shirt tied around her head when she's in a rough patch.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Those following Meg's DeviantArt page might have seen sketches and a few comic pages revealing that Thistle is a cave elf. They were removed with the start of the comic proper.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: An unfortunate side effect of being a cave elf, especially when she tries to smile.
- Mysterious Veil: An opaque veil that conceals everything but her eyes is a constant feature of her outfits, aside from an embarrassing experiment with a Cool Mask.
- Personality Powers:
- She uses nature magic extensively and is kind-hearted and nurturing.
- When she uses major spells, her magic glows Gold, as befits a morally upright person who literally follows the Golden Rule.
- The Red Mage: She seems to favor Green Thumb, sure, but she's also been seen using fire, air, light and healing magic.
- Shipper on Deck: She practically Squees when she learns that Lyra and Margot are a couple.
- Shrinking Violet: She has issues. She is humble and self-effacing to the point where she often doesn't stand up for herself when she should. Fortunately, her team-mates are good about sticking up for her.
- Squishy Wizard: She doesn't show much stamina and has fainted from overexertion more than once.
- Theme Naming: Likes flower-based aliases. Her latest doubles as a Line-of-Sight Name — and a sign that she wasn't feeling kindly towards herself at the time, since she named herself after a weed.
Orrig
A stoic, level-headed orc mercenary who hires Brent, Lyra, and Thistle to take on new, bigger contracts. He finds himself often slipping into the role of the father figure, or at least the beleaguered sane man of the group.
- A Father to His Men: Makes a point of looking after the mercenaries under his employ. It's most evident with Brent, whom he coaches on managing his Hair-Trigger Temper and (per Word of God) invites to join his family on holidays, but he begins to show the same consideration for Thistle even before he's hired her.
- Benevolent Boss: Orrig is probably the nicest ax wielding orc you're ever going to see.[After Orrig makes sure Thistle gets a separate room at the inn so she won't have to show her face]
Thistle: You didn't have to do that.
Orrig: You my employee. Your job follow orders. My job take care of you ... Need smart, dependable people who keep heads in fights. Can trust to vatch back. That someone I like vorking vit. [Pats Thistle's shoulder] And I like vorking vit you. - Big Ol' Eyebrows: So huge they essentially form a crest on his forehead and fade into his sideburns.
- Carpet of Virility: One that's usually on full display in combat, no less.
- Eyes Always Shut: Hidden beneath his eyebrows and horn ridges. When he opens his eyes all the way, it's because he realizes a major crisis just began.
- Gratuitous Russian: Responds with "Nyet" to a question from Thistle.
- Happily Married: Not that he brings it up, but he's still head over heels for his wife Dotra, as shown on the author's DeviantArt page.
- Husky Russkie: He has a thick Russian accent and is very brawny.
- Large and in Charge: He's significantly larger than his employees and can bring any or all of them in line with a few words.
- Punch-Clock Hero: Slays monsters, defeats demons, delivers invoices. Justified since he has both a group of employees and an extended family to look after.
- Team Dad: A calm, collected disciplinarian who gives the team some support, reassurance, and extra attention when they need it. He's also got a family back home.
- The Leader: As a licensed mercenary, he's the others' boss.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Mentions being fond of knitting in a bonus comic.
- Stout Strength: Has a dad bod. Can carry a horse.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Even while on missions. As yet, only wears a shirt when interviewing prospective hires or filling out paperwork.
- You No Take Candle: He's intelligent and experienced, but language skills are not his forte.
Lyra
A brash, uncouth, confrontational elf who's a dab hand with a bow. Working for Orrig lets her indulge all of these traits, perhaps more often than he'd like.
- Amazon Chaser: Gets a remarkable Crush Blush when Margot, who's just been badly hurt facing a rampaging Drath in single combat, waves away medical aid and urges her to continue the fight. They end up in a relationship.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl: Even when she's set the martial arts aside in favour of archery. Especially likes to remind Brent that she could take him in a fight.
- Cultural Rebel: From the Characters Page:The Elves are famous for their propriety, elegance, and eloquence. Lyra is famous for none of these. Instead she likes to drink and yell at Brent and start fights (usually with Brent).
- Hot-Blooded: Easily offended and casually antagonistic, even mouthing off to their clients and once shouting down a Wizard for being disrespectful to Thistle.
- I Shall Taunt You: Crude mockery is one part of her Giant Monster Combat Tactics toolbox.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hard to tell if she's this or just a Jerkass, but she does have a few moments of kindness towards the others.
- The Lad-ette: Likes drinking, fighting, and making Brent angry. A dainty elf maiden she ain't.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: She gets more censor boxes than the rest of the characters combined.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Brent is briefly infected with a Drath echo, Lyra's snark immediately shuts down and she gently asks him to listen to Thistle's advice.
- Shipper on Deck: She coaches Brent on how to carry a conversation with Thistle without seeming overbearing, then skips out and leaves them alone together.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Much as she and Brent antagonize each other during their downtime, when it comes down to business, she's got his back and shows sincere concern when he's in danger.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: She wears her hair in a voluminous, waist-length ponytail, even when going into active combat.
Brent Donovan
A hotheaded young mercenary who caught Orrig's attention by punching him in the face. Now part of Orrig's squad, navigating the unfamiliar waters of niceness with Thistle.
- Berserk Button: Mentioning his late parents is a good way to crack his self-control.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Gets these when he's close to going berserk, courtesy of his orc blood.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Dead parents, a very hostile relationship with his extended family, and years spent pushing everyone else away from him, at the very least. He also brushes off the anti-orc racism of the T'Fa'Nii book since it's "tame" compared to his own experiences.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Has a pretty lively temper that sometimes edges into berserk rage. Part of him is ashamed of the isolation it's brought him and afraid that it will lead him to hurt someone.
- Heroic Willpower: He might come across as Dumb Muscle, but he has the strength of mind to No-Sell hundreds of Drath trying to possess him.
- Innocently Insensitive: After cleaning out the infestation in the mines, he states, "They're just cave elves." to Thistle, not knowing she is one.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Manages to shove his foot in his mouth even when he's giving Thistle a sincere compliment.Brent: We like you. Why can't you like yourself?
- Little Bit Beastly: Brent has some pretty impressive fangs for someone who appears mostly human.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Immediately sets aside his dislike for Lyra during serious situations.
- Uneven Hybrid: One-quarter orc, three-quarters human.
- Unskilled, but Strong: More or less his current niche as a young fighter. He doesn't have Lyra's finesse or Orrig's tactical acumen, but he can slam-tackle a giant Greater Drath.
The Academy
Margot
"Ooh no. Not in my town."
An adept water mage from an Academy town. Margot first shows up to rescue a friend from a tight spot, then finds herself involved with Orrig's crew — some members more than others.
- Badass in Distress: Puts up a good solo fight against the Greater Drath, right up until she gets doused in acid from its pustules and is incapacitated by the pain. Fortunately for her, Thistle and Lyra are there to get her out of the line of fire, to her considerable confusion.
- Blemished Beauty: She is an Action Girl who got serious acid burns on one side of her body, including her face and eye, from a monster fight. In her next appearance, she's styled her hair to accent her scars and is dressed up for a date.
- The Cavalry: Arrives in the story just in time to rescue Ford from a Greater Drath attack.
- Elemental Personalities: She's cool and collected, even when facing a Greater Drath solo, and improvises with whatever's at hand — fitting for the comic's first water mage. On a date with Lyra, she's friendly and affectionate.
- Full-Contact Magic: She puts her whole body into the spells she casts against Brody, including symbolically throwing him to the ground.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Her battle against Brody leaves her with acid scars on her face, right arm, and eye. For her part, she gets her hair cut to accentuate the scars.
- Greater Need Than Mine: Even with severe acid burns to her face, arm, and back, she gives Lyra battlefield instructions and insists that the Healers tend to the more severely injured first."I'm not dying. I'll wait like everyone else."
- Lipstick Lesbian: Perhaps literally, since she wears lipstick and elegant gowns in both her appearances.
- Making a Splash: She shows proficiency with several different varieties of magic, but leans heavily towards manipulating water and ice. She wears a skirt of transmuted water to help with Elemental Baggage restrictions and can deliver water-based attacks that temporarily floor even a Greater Drath.
- Water Is Womanly: The one water mage shown in the comic, she's a coolheaded Action Girl who even incorporates an emergency reserve of transmuted water into her dress. She's introduced rescuing her friend, a Hot-Blooded male pyromancer.
Master Wu
A powerful Wizard at the Mages Academy, with even more powerful connections. Intimidating though he can be, he is implacable in protecting those in his charge.
- All-Loving Hero: Saves Fike from Drath possession rather than killing him, and tells Thistle, "All life is worth saving," when he reveals that he even saved the frog that was initially used for the Drath-summoning experiment.
- The Archmage: An extra describes wizards as the "gold standard" for magic. As an agent of the One Who Is Three, he has access to abilities well beyond those of a normal mage.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He's a Master in the Mages Academy and effortlessly Curb Stomps an ancient and powerful Drath in his first appearance, so it's safe to say.
- Breath Weapon: Searing light, as befits a dragon.
- The Cavalry: Though he doesn't show up until they've gained a decisive advantage, when he joins the heroes' battle against the Drath, he makes quite an impression.Orrig: Okay, ve are done.
- Gold-Colored Superiority: As a wizard, his magic is extraordinarily powerful, capable of feats that no other mage can manage, and pure gold in colour. Overlaps with Personality Powers since he's a morally upright character who literally follows the Golden Rule.
- Healing Hands: Wu is a master of healing magic, capable of restoring a crippled, half-blinded, heavily wounded Drath possession victim to perfect health with a wave of a hand.
- Living Distant Ancestor: Alt-text mentions that Hikaru, another employee at the Academy, is his distant descendant but doesn't know it.
- No One Gets Left Behind: He intercepts the magic arrow intended to Mercy Kill the Drath-possessed instructor, then pulls a Journey to the Center of the Mind to rescue the instructor from possession. He even saves the frog.
- Old Master: Centuries old, and what little time he's been in the comic has firmly established him as more than a couple notches above what anyone else in the comic is capable of.
- No-Sell: None of Brody the Drath's powers and attacks can affect him in the slightest.
- The Patriarch: He's a 700-year-old wizard and a diligent protector to a city that contains some of his distant descendants. A giant Greater Drath doesn't stand a chance against him.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Alt-text describes him as literally being 700 years old, thanks to the longevity granted to wizards.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Initially launches into a What the Hell, Hero? against Thistle for her decision that a Mercy Kill was the only solution to dealing with Brody. When he realizes she's under Orrig's employ, he immediately retracts his criticism, claiming that he mistook her for one of his students, apologizes, and thanks them all for their help.
- Additionally, the whole thing where students used Drath as learning materials? Not his idea. Once the debacle is over he has some very stern (offscreen) words with the professors and administrators responsible.
- The Soulsaver: As a Wizard and Emissary from the Divine, Master Wu can save people who've been possessed by Drath. His powers let him reach into the Black Bug Room where the victim's soul is trapped, but the soul has to choose to leave the Drath's influence, and all he can do is talk them through it.
- Weredragon: He can assume the "sacred shape" of a gigantic gold dragon at will.
Other Characters
"Brody"
An ancient, cunning drath summoned into the body of a toad during the flashback to when Thistle joined the team. After the mage who summoned him loses control and gets eaten, he grows to giant size and attempts to open a giant portal to hell. ("Brody" is a more-or-less official nickname from the author; his name in-universe is unknown.)
- Big "NO!": When his plans for a Hellgate are thwarted, he makes his displeasure very clear. Also his last words when Master Wu rescues the soul of his host body and banishes him.
- Eye Scream: He gets a double dose: first Thistle uses a magical flash of light in the face to blind him, then when he recovers and chases after her, he gets an arrow in the eye courtesy of Lyra.
- Faux Affably Evil: He can talk a big game of being a Toad of Wealth and Taste who's only trying to be come to a reasonable arrangement. That arrangement involves him devouring you alive or opening up a portal to hell in the middle of your city.
- Hannibal Lecture: Oh, he's good at this. He manages to unbalance the experienced professor who is fully expecting his antics. He also delivers a steady stream of this to the professor's captive soul.
- No Name Given: He doesn't offer his name, if he has one, and nobody asks. "Brody" is a nickname given by readers.
- The Spiny: He turns out to be this in a way he didn't know about. When Margot pierces the pustules on his back with spikes of ice, they disgorge acid all over her.Brody: I didn't know I could do that! Did you?! [Flicks some more acid onto Margot]
- Villainous Breakdown: He goes from witty banter to incoherent rage very quickly once the team starts tearing apart his summoning circle.
Professor Gwendolyn Patricia von Caedhin
An arrogant mage and inventor (or rediscoverer) of Drath summoning techniques, who is somehow connected to Thistle.
- A Man of Wealth and Taste: She makes her debut at a high-society dinner in a gorgeous wardrobe, and is the go-to authority on drath summoning.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: She may not actually have a title, but she has the attitude, and the "Von" in her name makes it likely.
- Ax-Crazy: She thinks that it's hilarious to unleash her Drath at a party to destroy one belonging to a professor that annoyed her.
- Bad Boss: Thistle was apparently her servant, and is terrified of her, so again this is likely.
- Big Bad: She invented drath summoning and Thistle fears her, making it a likely assumption.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: She's very amused by loosing her Drath on a drunken, presumptuous guest who insults her, pretending to forgive him, and ordering it to rip out his tongue once he thinks he's escaped.
- Evil Laugh: She gets a hearty chuckle out of watching her drath terrorize a boorish guest.
- Hate Sink: Thus far Gwen has only proven to have made Thistle's old life a living hell, and has shown no redeeming features whatsoever
- Moustache de Plume: Her academic works are published under "G. P. von Caedhin", causing some to assume that the esteemed Professor is a man.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: She's quite noisily amused when a presumptuous summoner tries to talk down to her, right before she teaches him a harsh lesson in humility. The trope gets called out in The Rant for the page.
- The Von Trope Family: Her surname is "von Caedhin" and she's addressed as "Lady".
- Wicked Cultured: Impeccably dressed, incredibly smart, and very, very evil.
T'Fa'Nii the Clanless
A buxom warrior woman starring in a popular series of "kinda racist" fantasy books published in-universe.
- Barbarian Hero: Right down to the big sword and chainmail bikini.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Unusually for a (supposedly) heroic character, T'Fa'Nii's eyes are occasionally drawn as black shadows.
- Chainmail Bikini: T'Fa'Nii's "armor" is literally a skimpy chainmail bikini, which is lampshaded by Lyra when she angrily points out how such armor would be useless.
- Expy: Of Marvel Comics character Red Sonja.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: In the story Thistle reads, T'Fa'Nii is intent on wiping out a slathering band of orcs. note
- Punctuation Shaker: To the point that it's hard to tell her name is supposed to be pronounced Tiffany.
- Purple Prose: The narration of her story is florid, longwinded and pompously overdramatic.
- So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, Lyra, Brent and Thitle mostly read the books to mock how bad it is. And for Lyra, a Guilty Pleasure because she finds T'Fa'Nii sexy.
- Values Dissonance: In-Universe, as shown by Thistle and the rest of the team's reaction to her stories. Her stories make heavy use of in-universe racist tropes, particularly in regard to the urban elves' disdain for other races.
Races
Cave Elves
Tribal cannibals who live underground, cave elves are widely feared and hated.
- Bat People: Cave elves have a distinctively bat-like appearance (upturned noses, large eyes, fin-like ears, sharp teeth), developed from living in the dark underground.
- Cypher Language: The cave elf language is a simple substitution cypher, making it fairly easy to translate. For example: "Sorry it's nothing personal" & "You killed my comrade!".
- Fantastic Racism: Nobody likes cave elves. Considering that they happily chow down on other sapient species and aren't too picky about said species being dead first, it's not hard to see why.
- Innate Night Vision: Cave elves can see in complete darkness.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Zig-zagged. They're classified as non-sapient by other species and are referred to as "it" by most of Orrig's crew; Thistle, who knows about cave elf culture and secretly is one herself, uses "him" and has many more reservations about the job.
- Matriarchy: Cave elves are savages who inhabit caverns and mines, live in a tribal and matriarchal society, and happily prey on and eat other sapient beings. Other races hate and fear them in equal measure and view them as dangerous vermin to be exterminated. However, it's hinted that they may have more going on, as the main character, Thistle, is a civilized cave elf living in disguise.
- Pointy Ears: Exaggerated — cave elves have very large batlike ears extending from the sides of their heads.
- To Serve Man: Cave elves eat other humanoid species, even taking bites of flesh off living victims, and can see in pitch darkness.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Cave elves are written off as non-sapient monsters even though they have a language and an internal society. On the other hand, they're fine with eating people alive. As a cave elf herself, Thistle has a lot of anxiety over being a "monster".
City Elves
A sophisticated, learned, and deeply arrogant people, the city elves view themselves as the apex of civilization.
- Fantastic Racism: It's mentioned that more old-fashioned elves look down on orcs, not least because the orcs defeated them quite handily in war. Thistle is enraged to realize that the fantasy book she bought is clearly racist towards orcs, presenting them as evil and savage. Orrig dismisses the author as "an angry little man making a fit".
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The city elves are based on monarchic to Napoleonic France, with the associated fashions and snootiness and a capital named St. Trivium sur Bourge.
- Our Elves Are Different: City elves are urban, civilized, and arrogant; their society is largely based on that of the French Ancien Régime, down to using Francophone names, and they place great value on protocol, elegance and learning. Physically, they resemble humans with long, pointed ears and slimmer frames. They're also known for looking down on others, and have a long-standing feud with the orcs that started when the city elves tried to conquer the orc homelands and failed disastrously.
- Pointy Ears: They have extra-long pointed ears that extend past their heads
Orcs
A race of muscular barbarians from the highlands.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The orcs speak with Russian accents, and Orrig tends to insert Russian phrases into his speech such as "nyet" for "no" and the occasional swear. There was also a notable historic incident where the Napoleonic-styled elves tried to invade them and failed miserably.
- Our Orcs Are Different: Green, muscular, horned, occasionally axe-wielding and inexplicably Russian-accented, but besides that, they're just another sapient species, and just as capable of reasonable and civilized behavior as everybody else. They do have a history of warfare with elves, but note that the elves started it.
- Screw You, Elves!: Historically, the orcs dealt a large-scale one when the elves thought their lands would be an easy target for invasion. Traditionalist elves are still sore about it.Orrig: Tink ve too stupid to beat them. Ve show them the vay of tings real qvick.
Supernatural Beings
Drath
A greater drath crawling over a horde of lesser drath.
Demonic spirits called by unscrupulous mages as familiars and servants, the drath wish to one day overwhelm and rule the world of the living.
- Black Bug Room: When a person is possessed by a drath, their mind is trapped with the drath's spirit in a black void where it delivers an unending Hannibal Lecture of their deepest insecurities.
- Body Horror:
- Drath hosts mutate hideously when initially possessed. When the fusion dance aspect of possession comes into play, it gets even worse, and apparently corpses are really icky when possessed.
- The drath themselves have their heads twisted backwards.
- Dark Is Evil: Hell is pitch-black with drath wandering around complaining and begging, and huge centauroid statues/guards off in the distance. In the physical world, drath without hosts manifest as Living Shadows.
- Deal with the Devil: Many of the older or more intelligent drath do this in order to possess you. The teacher of the Magical University that holds drath summoning courses notes that the drath are able to sense and latch onto peoples' insecurities, although no one is sure how.
- Demonic Possession:
- The drath can invade living and dead bodies with a touch, mutating and taking control of them while the host spirit is trapped in a Black Bug Room. The results can be horrifying.
- Even without possessing them, Greater Drath can infect a victim with a touch, leaving an Enemy Within "echo" behind that constantly brings up their insecurities. The echo can be removed if discovered quickly enough by someone with the power to do it, but the window of opportunity is brief and the people who are able to remove it are rare.
- The drath can invade living and dead bodies with a touch, mutating and taking control of them while the host spirit is trapped in a Black Bug Room. The results
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: Drath are divided into lesser and greater variants. The greater ones (like Brody) are the really dangerous ones that can leave pieces of themselves inside you.
- Enemy Within: When drath latch on to a sapient host, they also dig into the hosts' minds by constantly bringing up their failings and insecurities. This makes it that much harder for the hosts to break free. Even if the host is freed, the drath will leave an "echo" behind that continues to torment the host. This echo can be removed if discovered quickly enough by someone powerful enough to remove them, but those people are rare and the window of opportunity to remove it is short.
- Familiar: "Familiars" are drath spirits bound into living or dead animal hosts, to generally gruesome effect. They're intelligent and can serve as protectors, aides, or "supplements" to spellcasting, so long as one doesn't mind a shadowy companion that intuitively knows one's deepest insecurities and most painful secrets.
- Fusion Dance: Drath hosts can absorb other creatures into themselves by simple touch. If they do so with a person, they return to full sapience.
- The Legions of Hell: They yearn to enter and overrun the physical world and will take advantage of any breach that allows them through to come boiling out into corporeal existence.
- Many Spirits Inside of One: When drath possess a herd of animals, they mash the herd together into a very loosely humanoid form with hundreds of drath voices speaking in sync from its mouths.
- Necromancy: Drath are damned souls summoned at random from the netherworld and placed in the body of another creature. It's illegal to use people for it (because that makes them dangerously powerful), and if a corpse is used it's even more disgusting than usual.
- Our Demons Are Different: "Drath" or "drackthmal" is an umbrella term that comprises both damned souls and more powerful demons that can be summoned from The Underworld and possess living beings and dead bodies.
- Possessing a Dead Body: Drath can possess almost any body after being summoned, generally causing a grotesque Transformation of the Possessed. When a dead body is used as a host, the results are even grosser.
- Summon Magic: Drath-summoning overlaps with Necromancy, since it calls damned souls into a host through a ritual circle.
- Transformation of the Possessed: A corpse or living being possessed by the drath is quickly twisted and warped into unnatural shapes. The first example seen is of a white mouse that turns gray and has its head twisted upside down while its mouth grows to cover most of its neck; later examples include cyclopean or many-eyed creatures, a three-headed bird, and a cat with human hands.
The "Anti-Drath" — UNMARKED SPOILERS
Mysterious entities who oppose the drath and appear to have some association with wizards.
- God's Hands Are Tied: They're extremely powerful, enough so that one is able to turn back a drath horde through its presence alone. They cannot simply take over, fight back the drath and stop their summoning, however. Thistle speculates that there's something special about mortals' ability to make their own choices, even when these choices are wrong, and that these beings cannot or will not force their will on mortals.
- Our Angels Are Different: They're supernatural entities opposed to the demonic drath, and manifest as glowing beings with multiple arms, wings of flame, and halo-like horns studded with eyes. They claim to be servants of "the One Who Is Three", and the first one seen introduces itself with the classic "FEAR NOT".
- Unusual Halo: They have eye-studded, horn-like halos growing out of their heads.
