Sixteen years before the events of the main story (pre-timeskip), the Nidraa'chal were a small group that seemingly rose from nowhere and threatened the whole of Chel'el'Sussuloth. Though seemingly destroyed at the end of the Nidraa'chal War, the true plans of the Nidraa'chal were yet to be discovered... and their origins were not what they seemed...
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General
- Achilles' Heel: The Nidraa'chal are not an army. They must use surprise, lies and subterfuge to be truly effective. While Snadhya'rune did recruit some very powerful individuals with very rare skills, they are also very few of those in their ranks, and once those fall their effectiveness is severely reduced. Their main advantages during and after the Nidraa'chal war were that they appeared out of nowhere and so those who fought them knew very little about how to effectively counter them and that Snadhya'rune planned their power grab for literally many decades and had the means make them so effective. Once their true nature is known and people know they cannot be trusted at all they are considerably easier to combat.
- Arc Words: "We are the bastard daughters of Sharess...".
- Bastard Bastard: The Nidraa'chal seem fond of invoking this, since they refer to themselves a "The Bastard Daughters of Sharess" and while drow don't have marriage "bastard" seems to carry the connotation of "unrecognized" and "not able to inherit" that the word has had historically. There's also the fact that many note are tainted, which effectively makes them an abomination against drowkind, especially in the eyes of the Kyorl'solenurn. Plus their founder sees the Sharess religion as outdated in the first place.
- Big Bad: In-universe they are still seen as a very real threat, especially by the Kyorl'solenurn.
- Black Sheep: A trait shared by many of the members revealed so far, since many of them stood out from their native clans or families. It's also heavily implied that Snadhya'rune deliberately targeted this type for recruitment.
- Bystander Syndrome:
- Believing the entire affair only involved the Sharen, the other clans at Diva'ratrika's Council refused to intervene until the Nidraa'chal started attacking civilians and leaving entire districts devastated. As mentioned above, this only made the situation worse.
- Later on, given what's revealed about the origins of the Nidraa'chal, technically the other clans were right
- Cult: The Nidraa'chal are a secret society of Black Sheep who see the their leader's vision as the way forward for the world. Most of them religiously view the taint as a form of enlightenment and look up to their leader as a sort of savior.
- Deep Cover Agent: According to Sha'sana there are sleeper Nidraa'chal agents in EVERY major clan and most of the minor ones as well, and by implication that includes the Kyorl'solenurn, meaning that at least a few agents are untainted. This is backed up by the following characters; Yuh'le, the three Sullisin'rune empaths seen in Nuqrah'shareh and Verthandi of the Beldrobbaen clan, none of whom are tainted.
- Demonic Possession: Every member was "tainted" - both willingly and by force - and the reason why they were such a threat is that they were willing to forcibly taint everyone they came across whether civilians or nobles. note
- Dirty Coward: They love to hide behind war-taboos and then break them the moment it offers them an advantage. For example, they attack merchants, slaves, scholars, children, and all other forms of non-combatants because the latter can't fight back. Or pretending to be merchants, slaves, etc to avoid attack and then backstabbing their targets, thus making slaves, merchants, etc valid targets from that point on. It reaches its apparent zenith in chapter 51 when they use Snad's airship, hiding behind the flag of truce, to approach the fortress in Matchike, unmolested, and then blast the fortress to rubble when Ariel outright refuses to go along with a "deal" that is clearly an obvious trap.
- Divide and Conquer: Appears to be the main strategy of their plot. They are responsible for promoting the instability that set all of the clans of Chel'el'sussoloth at one another's throats, and it's heavily implied that their assassination of the Dutan'vir illharess was specifically designed to splinter what was left of the clan, and if so it worked perfectly. As of the timeskip, they are expanding the conflict even further by manipulating a three way civil war in the previously peaceful city of Nuqrah'shareh and pinning it on the Sarghress. Their goal is increasingly looking like an attempt to eliminate all other viable power structures and establish their own in the vacuum.
- The Dreaded: Sixteen years after they "fell" the memory of what they did to Chel is still a sore point for many, and during the War they were seen as dangerous enough to have the entire Sharen army go against them, something that had never happened before
. - Elite Army: Their leader, Snadhya'rune, has a major hobby of collecting people with unique abilities. Even though the Nidraa'chal only have access to a small army, it only takes a few of their agents to change the course of entire wars. During the Nidraa'chal war, only a few dozen of them were able to wipe out the Dutan'vir clan and half the Sharen army, despite the Sharen possessing the strongest army in Chel at the time.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Despite being unquestionable antagonists the Nidraa'chal don't seem to care much about the clans/cities of origin and/or races of their members, and have even been shown to have Light Elves in their employ and it's implied are willing to work with goblins and other "lesser" races.
- False Flag Operation: They set up an anti-val movement to set off civil war in Nuqrah'shareh with treacherous Sullisin'rune agents visible. During one of the Nidraa'chal's raids on Nuqrah'shareh's food supply, they leave a Sarghress sword behind. Since the Sarghress are strongly associated with the anti-val movement in general, the queen of Nuqrah'shareh is on friendly terms with Zala'ess, and she already dislikes the Sarghress, they fall for it hook line and sinker.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: Their main tactic during the Nidraa'chal war consisted of either hitting the Sharen and the other clans with pinpoint attacks and fading away or the mass use of demons (including turning masses of Chel’s people into zombified demon hosts). The latter was extremely effective against the traditional summons their opponents used at the time. They are unable to fight a conventional war since they are far too few, and so most rely on the element of surprise, agents in their enemies’ camps and access to some truly powerful individuals.
- The Horde: Unleashed an army of demons on Sil'lice and her family during the war.
- Made a Slave: There's a reason Snad doesn't use her method of Resurrective Immortality on herself, unless she has no choice. Any Nid agent who undergoes the ritual becomes enslaved by the summoner who can control their crystal, until the aura is destroyed. There is no escape. There are also other drawbacks that have yet to be fully explored.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Diva'ratrika is partly to blame for the rise of the Nidraa'chal, since her delay in acting against them led to them being able to wreak such havoc on the drow population, and civilians disproportionately suffered during the War, a direct violation of traditional clan warfare rules. This trope also applies to Sha'sana, who even says that the Nidraa'chal are the result of her actions.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Diva'ratrika states that before the Nidraa'chal, tainted summoners were seen mainly as objects of pity, since they were unable to control their summons and became subjugated by them, and any summoners incompetent enough to get possessed couldn't possibly be a threat to anyone else. Right? This idea backfired spectacularly when it tainting itself began to be used as a weapon.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Because the members are tainted though as seen under Deep Cover Agent, at least a few seem to be exceptions to this rule.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When some members use their empathy on people.
- The Reveal: The Wham Episode Chapter 25 reveals that Not only is Kalki the daughter of a Sharen noble, and worse, Diva'ratrika's own granddaughter, but said noble (Snadhya'rune) is also the clan's ill'haress and one of its original founders.
- Resurrective Immortality: The fruit of Snad's "summon" research results in trapping the aura of a Nid agent in a summoner stone and then placing said stone in a, presumably cloned, drow body. Killing this drow body alone does not kill the Nid. The stone must also be destroyed via mana arts, as Sil'ice demonstrates at the end of chapter 55, or the roaming aura within the stone eaten by a nether demon as demonstrated by Kiel, almost immediately after. Failure to do either will result in the Nid agent coming back for vengeance as Chrystel learns, to her horror, in chapter 56, while trying to extract Zala from a Morton's Fork where all roads lead to death while Snad sneaks away, again.
- Running Both Sides: The entire clan was a front for the coup three of the Sharen sisters pulled on their mother and Snadhya'rune is later revealed to be their Ill'haress.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Whenever a Nid agent is discovered, and faces an armed confrontation, she's far more likely to just stand there and rant at her enemy, insulting the latter's "lack of competence" in some way, than anything else. Now while this is Snad's entire MO, and it's likely that Snad's "perfected tainting" and indoctrination, may make them think this is a good idea, they all utterly fail to realize that Snad has the power and experience to back that up, and they don't, and even then Snad doesn't always get away unscathed after doing it.
- Staged Populist Uprising: They are responsible for one in Nuqrah'shareh.
- Unwitting Pawn: Played with. During the war between the Sharen and the Nidraa'chal they were the pawn for three of the Sharens' attempt to murder their mother, but Kalki was made aware of this all along so only the "pawn" part is true. However as is revealed in later chapters it looks like the Sharen are now the "unwitting pawns" of the Nidraa'chal and Snadhya'rune, who has her own plans which Sarv'swati even admits do not involve the Sharens (and even Sarv'swati may not know of Snadhya'rune's faulty seeds that affect 90% of the tainted population). Snadhya'rune's ultimate goal is to be empress and she intends to let the majority of Chel destroy itself to let this become reality, and she seems willing to let her own family die in order to accomplish this.
- Walking Spoiler: Even revealing the names of most known members of the Nidraa'chal are this, since it gives away how they have sleeper agents in almost every clan.
- You Monster!: Even clans who had been neutral about them began to see them this way after they began attacking civilians, something that the drow consider to be a big no-no, if only because it wastes valuable resources and clans would usually just absorb the slaves and goods captured rather than simply destroy them as the Nidraa'chal did.
The Nidraa'chal's leader
Snadhya'rune Vel'Sharen
See this character's entry under The Sharen Clan entry. Kalki
Kalki
The first named Nidraa'chal to appear, she appears in the Prologue to fight Sil'lice, and for a long time was one of the most mysterious and speculated-upon characters due to cryptic comments made by Sil'lice. She later appears in Chapter 17 as a "friend" of Snadhya'rune.- Affably Evil: It's almost possible to forget that she's a mass murdering terrorist.
- Alas, Poor Villain: after all the strife she's caused some readers still expressed this when Snadhya'rune coldly kills her with all the emotion of disposing of a wrecked toaster.
- An Arm and a Leg: Kalki receives some Laser-Guided Karma when Ariel eventually steals her arm to replace the arm Kalki cut off.
- Attention Whore: A lot of her more outrageous behavior seems to be calculated to get some sort of attention, possibly since Snadhya has apparently been a fairly hands off parent.
- Asshole Victim: Ariel stealing her arm is pretty gruesome and clearly extremely painful, but Kalki certainly had it coming
- Ax-Crazy: Her idea of "helping" Ariel get unstuck, and keep in mind the only reason she is stuck in the first place is because Kalki stabbed her hand to the table, is to chop off her arm.
- Bastard Bastard: She's actually referred to as Snadhya'rune's illegitimate daughter in the print copy of one of the books and Kiel calls her a "bastard princess" in a fourth wall breaking piece, and it appears that she's not legally recognized as a Sharen, which makes sense given that she's also half Sarghress and the result of Jaal'darya experimentation, two things that would most likely make her unable to inherit.
Word of God also confirms that she isn't legally Snadhya'rune's heir. - Berserk Button: Hurting her "pets", and demonstrated even after Khaless interferes to keep her from killing Sara she punches her in the face and likely would have continued had she not been stopped. Clearly she got one thing from Grandma Quain'tana.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to her half-sister Ariel's Abel, made explicit when she attempts to kill the latter in chapter 46, the first time they meet, no less.
- Curtains Match the Window: Originally, which makes sense since both of her parents also have purple hair and eyes
- Cute and Psycho: Even Snadhya'rune is put off by her stabbing Ariel in the hand, and then to "help" her get unstuck proceeds to chop off her arm.
- Deliberately Cute Child: Almost as soon as she reappeared fans started commenting that she acts just a little too cute. She notably drops this whenever things get serious.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Along with Attention Whore above, right before Snadhya'rune kills her she declares that everything she's done has been for her mother, suggesting that she only wanted some manner of positive attention from her.
- Dying Declaration of Hate: Her mother, Snadhya'rune, declares her to have always been a tool, deluding herself into believing herself more important to Snadhya than she is. Snadhya then leaves one of her summons to kill her, and Kalki screams that she hates her.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Word of God is that the woman standing next to Snadhya in this page from Chapter 11 is indeed Kalki, even though she looks different, presumably because her final design hadn't been decided on. Another possible reason is that she was in disguise at the time.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Is one of the most unambiguously antagonistic characters in the series, but her affection for her mother both of them and her girlfriend Sasi seem genuine, as does her her excitement at the idea of meeting half-sister Ariel not that it stops her from chopping off her arm when they finally met for real.
- Evil Gloating: Does a lot of this in her battle with Sil'lice, combined with I Shall Taunt You.
- Freudian Excuse: At least half of her more psychotic personality traits can be attributed to being raised by Snadhya'rune in addition to the rather potent genetics involved in her bloodline.
- Genki Girl: But as seen under Deliberately Cute Child, part of this seems to be an act.
- The Glomp: To Mel, twice, first after meeting her and then after calling her "Father".
- Godiva Hair: When she appears in chapter 17.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Implied to be the reasons for her actions against Ariel in chapter 46. Her response to Snadhya'rune's Get Out! is "You don't need her, you don't need them!" which suggests she's none too happy to have to share her mother's attention with anyone else. Later, after seeing Ariel take on her appearance she starts screaming about how the latter is "not taking my place" which suggests a very real fear on Kalki's part of being replaced, which suggests a motive for her early actions towards her half sister.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: She hits Zhor with the severed arm of his own daughter, Ariel.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Kalki seems quite fond of the sauce.
- Hate Sink: While Snadhya'rune, who could be considered the primary antagonist, is largely a schemer who keeps up a friendly veneer in public and works largely through passive manipulation Kalki is much more open with her madness and intentions, and consequently a lot easier for the audience to hate. Still, she manages to gain some audience sympathy when Snadhya'rune coldly offs her for no longer being of any use.
- Hero Killer: She has killed off several recurring cast members, including Yami'ni Vel'Sharen and Shala Val'Sharen and seems to particularly wind up killing members of her own family
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Just like her mother Snadhya'rune, a lot of the misfortune inflicted on her in chapter 46 could have been prevented had she not decided to sadistically play with Ariel and the Sarghress squad instead of killing them right off. Letting them live allows them to rally, take her down and steal her arm.
- Also, thanks to the aforementioned spoiled and erratic behavior, none of the staff bat an eyelid at Ariel-disguised-as-Kalki throwing a guard off a bridge and announcing that she's kicking all the guests out, allowing the Sarghress - and Kiel's crew - to escape.
- In the Back: Seems fond of doing this. She kills Kau'shala by setting a tainted dragon on him from behind, and hits Yami'ni from behind.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Surprisingly, her fear that Ariel will "replace" her turns out to be this since Snadhya'rune really does think so little of Kalki that she winds up killing her without batting an eye
- Just Toying with Them: While fighting a squad of Sarghress, even though she could easily catch up with and defeat them, she chooses to herd them into a tainting room for her amusement.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: It's implied she didn't get to finish screaming at Snadhya'rune before being torn apart by one of her summons.
- Luke, You Are My Father: More like Mel'arnach, You Are My Father. And by extension, Ariel, I Am Your Sister
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Let's just say not too many readers felt sorry for her when Ariel repays all the hurt and damage her half-sister inflicted on her and her friends by taking Kalki's arm to replace her own.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Oh, Kalki. You didn't think cutting off your half-sister Ariel's arm would make her steal and use your arm as a replacement, did you?
- Lonely Rich Kid: So far just implied, but given how Snadhya'rune says that she was given everything she could possibly need while apparently only getting occasional visits from one parent and not meeting the other until she was already an adult it's not hard to infer. It's also implied that growing up she wasn't around many kids her own age and was raised mainly by servants. This explains why she is so happy when she finally meets her sister Ariel...and her rather extreme response when said sister wants nothing to do with her or anything related to Snadhya'rune.
- Moral Myopia: Takes Sara's actions against her "pets" very personally, but only because they're hers and not out of any apparent concern about them as individuals. She seems completely unconcerned when Ariel uses Ydna as a human shield in a later confrontation and dares her to actually go through with her threat.
- Not Good with Rejection: Kalki's response to Ariel rejecting any familial connection and refusing to stay a moment longer? Stab her hand.
- Also implied in her relationship with her other parent, Mel'arnach and while the latter hasn't explicitly rejected Kalki Word of God confirms some uncertainty on her part that Kalki is even hers, given the circumstances of her birth and her lack of knowledge of her existence for close to half a century. If so it might help explain Kalki's extreme response to the above.
- Also implied in her relationship with her other parent, Mel'arnach and while the latter hasn't explicitly rejected Kalki
- Oh, Crap!: Suffers a MASSIVE one when Ariel attacks her from behind and proceeds to steal her arm in retaliation for Kalki cutting off her arm earlier. She freaks out even more when Ariel shapeshifts into Kalki's form, leading the already crazy and battered Kalki to believe Ariel is planning to Kill and Replace her.
- Open Secret: Apparently Kalki's existence was something like this to her aunts the Sharen daughters, since at least two (Sil'lice and Sarv'swati) knew about it, and Snadhya'rune hints that the others might've known too.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Revenge Before Reason: After suffering a very humiliating defeat at the hands of Ariel and co., Kalki is now very determined to make the Sarghress pay dearly, using a now badly damaged airship to try chase after her enemies as they flee from Felde, despite being badly injured and minus one arm. Snadhya'rune nips the idea in the bud and on the way out kills Kalki.
- Revenge Myopia: Her final act was a desperate attempt for revenge on Ariel due to the loss of several "pets" and her arm. Of couse, none of it would have happened if Kalki didn't go after Ariel and her squad first, for "fun" and forced Ariel to defend herself, depite Ariel repeatedly pointing out that she's an invited guest, and that Snadya'rune wouldn't like it.
- Sanity Slippage: While clearly never the most stable person, Kalki is much more open with her madness after the timeskip, possibly dropping her Mask of Sanity in the process.
- Shadow Archetype: Of Ariel, since both were born through unusual means to women with terrible relationships with their own mothers who desperately wanted to have a child, plus they're actually half-sisters through Mel'arnach.
- Irony: Ariel was neglected and abused pretty much since birth, while Kalki was stated to have been given everything she could have wanted and was raised in the lap of luxury that is Felde. Of the two of them Ariel seems to have come out more stable, likely due to her peer network giving her people who can rein in her more impulsive desires while Kalki seems to have limited contact with kids her own age growing up and has little to no self control. It's also pretty clear that Kalki's desire to be seen as valuable to Snadhya'rune is a warped version of Ariel's own feelings about wanting to be acknowledged by Quain'tana.
- Shrug of God: Originally, when asked if she was related to Snadhya, Word of God on the subject was that she was Snadhya's daughter, but Snadhya had never given birth. Later on Exact Words are invoked, since Snadhya went to the Jaal'darya and had the baby carried outside her womb, so technically she never has given birth.
- Slasher Smile: Gives one while jumping off to a golem platform attempting to single handedly dispatch an entire squad of Sarghress.
- A Sinister Clue: When she grabs Lulianne's katana she's notably holding it left-handed when she chops Ariel's arm off. She's also mainly shown using her left hand for nether summoning, implying she's either left handed or ambidextrous.
- Skewed Priorities: She decides to hunt down a squad of Sarghress visitors for fun. Even as her city falls under attack by actual invaders.)
- Spanner in the Works: In chapter 46 clearly shows her potential to be this for Snadhya'rune's plans for Ariel since her apparently impulsive act of stabbing Ariel's hand earns her a harsh rebuke and she proceeds to up the ante by chopping off Ariel's arm. Later, when Ariel expresses her belief that she is going against Snadhya'rune's wishes, Kalki claims that she's doing exactly what she wants and starts hinting at Snadhya'rune's insidious schemes, ensuring Ariel will never trust Snad. At the end of the chapter, Snadhya seems to have realized this and kills Kalki.
- Spoiled Brat: Several characters refer to her as this, and her behavior backs it up.
- Her mother also indirectly confirms this by wistfully thinking about Kalki's "childhood games" when Rann'dirk is attempting to kill her with earth sorcery.
- Shows up again later where she seems on the verge of a temper tantrum when she's told she has to release Sara and has to be restrained by Kharla's powers before she pummels her into the ground. Given who she was raised by combined with the genetics involved it's perhaps not surprising her personality was prone to warping.
- When Ariel refuses to stay, Kalki stabs her hand to make her stay. She really wants her little sister to be with her, and she's not taking "no" for an answer.
- It's also telling that no one so much as bats an eye when Ariel disguised as Kalki pushes a guard off the bridge into the water and announces she's kicking all the guests out, implying she pulls stuff like this regularly, and Word of God confirms that the staff at Felde are used to just putting up with her antics without question.
- Her mother also indirectly confirms this
- Strong Family Resemblance: Looks a lot like several of her female relatives. Disturbingly, her resemblance to half-sister Ariel crops up a few times, especially here where she's clapping giddily at the thought of Dycle and Jiaan; [the latter of whom she's spent a long time mind raping with her empaths], fighting each other to the death.
- Tangled Family Tree: Oh boy. Long story short, she's related to half of the main cast in some form or another. And even better, her two grandmothers are Quain'tana and Diva'ratrika!
- Terms of Endangerment: Shown to be a pattern, since she constantly calls Sil'lice "auntie" during their battle during the Nidraa'chal War and refers to Ariel repeatedly as "baby sister" or "Sis" despite, or more likely because, of the latter's rejection of any sort of family connection.
- Waif-Fu: From what's been seen when she fights she does a lot of jumping around and has a pretty small frame, and fans speculate that she uses air sorcery to help her along which makes sense, considering she's related to Ariel, who can do similar things.
- We Can Rule Together: To Sil'lice. It doesn't work. She offers the same thing to Ariel, who similarly rejects it.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Kalki wants her mother, Snadhya'rune's respect. She deludes herself into believing she has it, but deep down knows that her mother considers her nothing more than a tool. Jealous that Ariel is likely more important to Snadhya'rune than herself, she ends up lashing out at her sister. She ultimately never gets her mother's respect and dies screaming how she hates her.
- Wild Card: Word of God describes her as one, doing whatever she wants at great cost to anyone who gets in her way. This is pretty much the only reason Ariel disguised as her is able to get away with behavior that would be extremely suspicious for anyone else. Snadhya gets frustrated with this behavior at the end of chapter 46 and kills her.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
- Tries to use this to excuse her actions and persuade Snadhya'rune to get rid of Ariel. Snadhya'rune responds by threatening her with this in turn. She ultimately makes good on her threat.
- When Ariel tries to take her pet, Ydna, hostage in an effort to make Kalki leave her friends alone, she responds by slitting one of her friend's throats and sadistically dares her to go through with it.
Shodun
Shodun
A Nidraa'chal first seen during Sil'lice's flashback in chapter 19.- Bad Boss: She doesn't mind carelessly killing her underlings while pursuing her goals.
- Compelling Voice: It's heavily implied that during Snadhya'rune's Kneel Before Zod moment that Shodun is using her spellsong to induce it in the bystanders.
- Deep Cover Agent: As all Nidraa'chal are.
- Destination Defenestration: What she does to Sandaur.
- Even Evil Has Standards: It's implied that she really didn't want to kill Sandaur judging by her reaction to seeing him and what she says later to Kalki.
- Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in a pair of long bunches.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Quill'yate of the Sarghress Raiders pulls her into a lake and starts drowning her. Shodun uses her only breath for a burst of spellsong, causing her to drown even faster than she would have otherwise.
- Killed Off for Real: Killed in Chapter 52 when Quill'yate pulls her underwater and she drowns quicker by wasting her last breath on trying to use spellsong to defeat her enemy.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In an attempt to kill Quill'yate in one blow, she uses a powerful burst of spellsong on one of her own ships, hoping the collapsing debris would crush her or at least injure her enough to drown in the surrounding waters. This ends up killing a large number of her own subordinates, but she doesn't care at all since it was an easy victory. Fittingly, when Quill'yate pulls Shodun underwater, Shodun's surviving soldiers decide to just let her drown.
- Meaningful Background Event: She appears briefly in the foreground, and then shows up behind Sandaur several pages before making her move, and because she's out of focus most people didn't notice her there. Later chapters shows that his is exactly how the Nidraa'chal operate, staying unnoticed in the background until the right moment when they strike.
- Off with His Head!: What she does to Sil'lice's daughter, Sae'ryne.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The creators confirm that she abandons the Illhar'dro on the bridge after the end of Chapter 34 and joins up with Kalki and is now wanted by the Illhar'dro for her role in the coup.
- Tempting Fate: In Chapter 52, after knocking Quill'yate into the water with a burst of spellsong, she smugly states, "Another problem gone." Cue a hand shooting out of the water and grabbing her leg.
- Too Dumb to Live: Because using pressure sorcery that requires shouting while underwater is such a good idea...
- We Have Reserves: She's willing to sacrifice her own soldiers as collateral damage if it'll defeat the Nidraa'chal's enemies. This comes back to bite her massively, as the surviving soldiers decide to let her get drowned by Quill'yate.
Tanavya
Tanavya Val'Sullisin'rune
One of Snadhya'rune's proteges, reappears in chapter 46 as the leader of Snadhya's militia. Strongly implied to be a founding member.- All Love Is Unrequited: Gets both ends of this, as her feelings for Snadhya'rune were apparently never returned, and her friend Wa'luin was clearly in love with her but Tanavya never returned her feelings either.
- Alpha Bitch: Among the other proteges.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Didn't earn her position for nothing, as she demonstrates against both Mel and the Kavahini.
- Black Sheep: Among the other Sullisin'rune for idolizing their martial past.
- The Empath: Possesses some form of this that allows her to control her opponents' bodies like puppets, similar to Kharla'ggen of the Vloz'ress.
- Facial Markings: Has a single Sullisin style marking over her left eye.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Was incredibly jealous of Mel when she observed her growing relationship with Snadhya'rune, and went through several attempts to sabotage or embarrass the other girl, all of which failed.
- In the Hood: Wears a yellow and blue striped one.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: For the Sullisin's martial past, which most modern Sullisin distance themselves from due to their loss to the Sharen.
- The Worf Effect: Gets both ends of this, having effortlessly beaten Mel in the Daydream story after Mel had taken out several opponents, and getting unceremoniously knocked out by Chakri Kavankini coming at her from above.
Elham
Elham Illhar'dro
Another of Snadhya's proteges, Elham is the Head of Servants in Felde. She was also the closest thing Mel had to a friend among the proteges.- The Empath: Describes her abilities as making others feel what she wants them to feel, which Snadhya believes is a rare type of empathy.
- Token Minority: One of the few characters in the series who seems to be totally heterosexual, as she mentions in the Daydream story that she has a boyfriend in Sha'shi she rarely sees and especially among the students at Orthorbbae's Crescent to not be dating another girl is incredibly rare.
Sal'bara
Sal'bara Val'Chai'tioc
A former Val of the fallen Val'Chai'tioc Clan, Sal'bara was one of Snadhya'rune's proteges and implicitly took refuge with her former teacher after the destruction of her clan. Sal'bara is a genius golem engineer.
- Black Sheep (like most of Snadhya's proteges)
- Boyish Short Hair (Oddly, flashbacks show she had this even before the destruction of her clan and while it was still a Val clan, further suggesting she was a Black Sheep)
- Mad Scientist (Considered such for her golem designs, which are much smaller and she can operate from a distance as a sort of Surveillance Drone)
- Rich Bitch: She dismissed Mel as a commoner when they first met. Ironically despite Mel's issues with her family Mel is still technically a Val, while Sal'bara's family and by extension her nobility no longer exists.
- Wrench Wench: As mentioned before, she specializes in golem engineering.
Mae'rali, Bae'rali and Sae'rali
Mae, Bae and Sae
A trio of sisters and powerful empaths who first appear in Chapter 36 in Nuqrah'shareh, during Chrys'tel's sidestory exploits. They all seem to take pleasure in causing others pain with their empathy as much as possible.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Ash'waren was exactly right to be mistrustful of her own family, since the three empaths are heavily implied to be either her children or grandchildren. During the Nidraa'chal attack on Machike, Bae makes an active attempt to kill her and describes Ash'waren as a careless monster.
- Art Evolution: They look very different from when they first appeared in Chapter 36. Except for Mae, Sae and Bae kept their initial designs in Chapter 44, only for them to be redesigned in Chapter 46. For example, compare Sae's first appearance here (she's in the second top panel to the left), to her redesign here.
- Bad Samaritan: In Chapter 49 they reappear to help Anahid Kyorl'solenurn and her supporters stop the executions of Dutan'vir-blooded drow and Kyo'varde. At first it seems like an act of pure goodwill on their part, but it's later revealed that Snadhya'rune sent them so she can gain Anahid's gratitude and loyalty in a bid to steal and use the Kyorl Seers for her own benefit.
- Bald of Evil: Bae has no hair unlike Sae and Mae, and is an openly sadistic Nidraa'chal empath.
- Color-Coded Characters: Mae wears all white, to contrast Sae, who wears all black.
- Death by Irony: The one who orders Shinae to "throw the body off a balcony" gets thrown off a balcony, and the other who says Shinae should "just smile and obey" has Shinae beat her to death while shouting "see, I'm smiling, I'M SMILING! in a glorious slasher smile.
- Did Not See That Coming: During their attack on the Sarghress, they somehow failed to notice Sil'lice approaching, fully intent on delivering some well deserved vengeance upon them, despite being able to immobilize an entire army minus those who have shielding from other empaths. Fans are wildly speculating on why this is so, not that it makes Sil'lice and Nish'inty taking them down any less satisfying.
- Driven to Suicide: They tried to kill Chrys'tel in Chapter 50 by empathically torturing her and goading her to jump off a high balcony to end it all. They failed when Shinae intervened, with Sae dying ironically when she is thrown off the balcony instead.
- The Empath: Their main shtick. All of them are powerful on their own, but as a team, they can easily ward off other empathy attacks like Faen's "outbursts" (which has taken out quite a few characters in the past) and reopen old wounds like they did to torture a Sarghress captain into revealing the location of the missing cure vials for for Snadhya's engineered flower plague. They even manage to rout an entire invading army on their own. The only empath powerful than them is Ash'waren, who might be their mother or grandmother.
- Emotion Bomb: When a group of Kavahini drow from Mimaneid attempt to steal the airship, Mae, Sae, and Bae arrive and overload their emotions with so much fear that it makes the invaders flee out of terror.
- Facial Markings: Has the tell-tale Sullisin'rune tattoos, which Chrys'tel immediately recognizes.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Bae's outfit pre-Chapter 50 is splashed with blues and greens on her right side, while her left [as well as her hood and most of her outfit] is colored yellow.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Whenever they use their empathy like Faen and other Sullisin'rune.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the final chapter, Bae ends up betraying the Nidraa'chal and aiding the Sarghress against them of her own free will.
- Hypocrite: While going on her Motive Rant about how much she hates Ash'waren, Bae, among other things, describes Ash'waren as egotistical and sadistic, two things that could easily describe Bae herself, not to mention paranoid, even as Bae is in the middle of proving Ash'waren to be Properly Paranoid.
- In the Hood: Both Sae and Mae wear long head veils, while Bae wears an actual hood. By Chapter 49, they all wear head veils while visiting the Kyorl'solenurn clan district, and by Chapter 50, Bae seems to keep the head veil while sticking to her original colors for consistency among them.
- Killed Off for Real: Mae and Sae, as of Chapter 50. Shinae killed them both, first by throwing Sae off a balcony after she tried goading Chrys'tel into jumping off, then gives Mae a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with a combination of her fists and pressure sorcery.
- Like Father, Like Son: As much as Bae refuses to believe it, she's exactly like Ash'warren, even slapping around the slave who came to her aid, the same slave Ash slapped around, no less. A slave to whom she promised freedom for stabbing Ash, only to promise "silencing" when she makes the offer to Faen in the very next update.
- Living Lie Detector: While they seem to detect a guilty conscious more than anything, Snadhya'rune gives them permission to search "in depth" for the missing vials and while they manage to track down Sara'hilana and realize she's hiding something, but at that point she'd already covertly passed them to Chrys'tel so their search turns up nothing. It's also implied that this is how they caught An'jin despite him apparently managing to maintain his cover the entire time.
- Mind Rape: What they inflict on Chrys'tel and company. They also do this to Jiaan over what's implied to be weeks in order to break him into being Snaydha'rune's boytoy.
- Mystical White Hair: Save for Bae, who is bald, Sae and Mae are drowlath and have the white hair associated with their race, but they also have powerful empathic abilities.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Sae is more stoic and quiet than her sister, Bae, who is openly sadistic.
- Revenge: They flat out refer to their attack on Chrys'tel's party as payback for their clan's actions in the Sharen/Sullisin War. Whether they are still following this goal or forgot it and worked for Snadhya'rune out of genuine loyalty is still unknown, since Snadhya'rune is a Sharen and therefore one of their enemies.
- Sadist: Of the trio, Bae is openly sadistic and delights in causing others pain with her empathy.
- Same-Sex Triplets: It's not confirmed yet if they actually are triplets, but the Theme Twin Naming, their identical outfits and facial tattoos suggests they may be. In their first appearance in Chapter 36, Bae flat out refers to Sae and Mae as her "sisters". Since then, every subsequent appearance always have them together.
- Slasher Smile: Bae sports a terrifying one after she traps Nishi'kanta Vel'Sharen in an empathy-created illusion.
- Tattooed Crook: They all work for the Nidraa'chal have blue Facial Markings which allows Chrys'tel to identify them as Sullisin'rune. It's also implied that they are either Ash'waren's children or grandchildren
- Tears of Fear: Word of God says that even losing her sisters didn't cause Bae to cry, but when Faen Mind Rapes her with her own past traumas, Bae breaks down in tears.
- Terrible Trio: They all work for Snadhya'rune, who isn't really a morally upstanding character herself. As of Chapter 50, due to Shinae killing off Mae and Sae, only Bae is the only survivor.
- We Can Rule Together: Upon recognizing Faen's strength, Bae urges Faen to change sides so they can reform the Sullisin'rune clan together.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Mae and Sae have white hair and are both sadistic empaths.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Invoked. In chapter 50, they're shown with the ability to generate all-senses hallucinations in their victims. Said victims see, hear, and, most importantly, feel themselves falling. Even those purportedly trained to resist empaths are completely unable to resist, unless a nearby friendly empath helps to counter the effect.
Verthandi*
Verthandi Val'Beldrobbaen*
See this character's entry under the Beldrobbaen clan entry. Yuh'le
Yuh'le
One of Snadhya'rune's "Proteges" back when she was a teacher at Orthobbae, Yuh'le later became a member of the Nidraa'chal. She was formerly a member of the Kyorl'solenurn but was exiled because she killed someone. (More information and concept art about Yuh'le can be found here.)- Bad People Abuse Animals: She has a habit of targeting small animals like fish or birds with her powers and making them explode.
- Bad Samaritan: The Kyorl clan has "Seers" who are rumored to be able to predict the future, but actually possess a rare form of The Empath that can use Mind Reading. Snadhya'rune, who has a habit of collecting people with rare gifts, shows a strong interest in their own. They very conveniently fall out of favor with the Kyorl's new leadership after a Nidraa'chal-manipulated coup and end up imprisoned. Yuh'le then shows up offering them refuge in Snadhya'rune's city. It almost works. But unlike Yuh'le, Chirinide remembers their first meeting and therefore sees through it. When the seers refuse to come along, Yuh'le proceeds to attempt killing them.
- Blood Magic: Her specialty. Usually results in Blood from Every Orifice on the victims.
- Came Back Strong: It's not certain if she actually died in the Felde incident, but her actions in chapter 49 are of a whole different magnitude than what was shown in chapter 47. In Chapter 47, she could only target one person at a time, and it took some time. In Chapter 49, she single-handedly wiped out an entire room only using her powers before anyone could react.
- Canon Immigrant: Originally appeared in a Daydream story about Mel'arnach and Snadhya'rune's first meeting, but was then sponsored by a reader to come back.
- Cloud Cuckoo Landers Minder: Drags Niph off from where she's taunting the captured Sarghress squad. Word of God is somewhat ambiguous on what their exact relationship is, though it's suggested she might be Niph's mother.
- Curbstomp Battle: Is on the receiving end of a literal one at the feet of Ariel. Her head even goes "Crunch!"
- Death by Falling Over: Combined with Kill It with Fire, this is how she ultimately dies — while running in panic from being set on fire by Chirinide, she ends up falling from a bannister a couple of stories high which severely weakens her and lets her be burned alive.
- Emotionless Girl: Always seen with a utterly blank and deadpan expression except in Chapter 49 when she's seen smirking while trying to kill the Kyorl seers with her empathy.
- The Empath: While incapable of literal empathy, the mystical version is one of her abilities. Normally, Fae cannot blow up other Fae using blood affinity, but thanks to a form of High Sorcery, using empathy in combination with blood affinity, she can.
- The Exile: Her family exiled her from the Kyorl'solenurn for a murder. She then fell back on her old teacher, Snadhya'rune. In chapter 49 after The Coup against Shimi'lande however, she is brought back in disguise to the Kyorl as an Inquisitor.
- Facial Markings: A hollow diamond on her forehead. Since Word of God states this marking is reserved for attendants to the Holy Mother, Wild Mass Guessing ensued.
- Glass Cannon: Her powers mean that she can disable almost anyone from a distance, but she's shown to have difficulty fighting back as soon as anyone gets close enough to actually touch her.
- Kill It with Fire: She is set alight when Chirinide uses the fires from the execution pyres outside to burn her, while the other Seers restrain her to prevent her from escaping. Using her empathy, she manages to break free anyway, but in her panic, she falls over a bannister and is severely weakened, allowing Chirinide's fires to burn her alive.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- In Chapter 46, after trying to Your Head Asplode on both Chirinde and Shan for no reason, only failing because of Ariel's Big Damn Heroes moment, she ignores Ariel's warning to stay down and promptly gets kicked in the head hard enough to make it go "Crunch!"
- She later receives a bigger dose of karma in Chapter 49, when the Kyorl seers team up to help Chirinide gain control of fire used for a public execution by breaking a window overlooking it, and then restraining Yuh'le to prevent escape. Yuh'le subsequently gets set alight and then falls over a bannister to her death.
- Noodle Incident: The exact details of the murder that got her thrown out of her clan. There are some hints that the person she killed was none other than the Holy Mother Ky'ovarde served, but nothing definitive has been said.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The Kyorl Seers are incredibly unsettled when she arrives and they realize they can't feel anything from her at all.
- Not Quite Dead: She reappears in chapter 49. Whether she somehow miraculously managed to survive what looks like her head being crushed like an eggshell, based on the fact that she's bleeding out the back while her face is on the ground, or has simply been turned into a summon like what happened to Faen's teacher who was confirmed dead by Chrystel is still in doubt.
- Obliviously Evil: She genuinely doesn't understand why anyone would get upset at her trying to kill them. Word of God says she cannot tell right from wrong and just does as told by the Nidraa'chal's leader.
- Pink Means Feminine: Subverted, since while she has a primarily pink outfit and pink eyes she's cold, calculating and remorseless.
- Psycho Supporter: For Snadhya'rune Vel'Sharen of the Nidraa'chal, even though she may not look it outwardly.
- The Quiet One: Tends not to say much as evidenced in both the Daydream story she was introduced in and her appearance in Chapter 44.
- The Sociopath: Referred to as such in her concept art. Also provides an interesting contrast to another character strongly suspect of being a sociopath, Snadhya again but as a low-functioning one opposed to the latter's high functioning. Her sociopathy is also implied to be the reason the Kyorl Seers are unable to sense any murderous intent from her and feel her comingnote .
- Token Minority: Was the only Drowussu member of Snadhya's proteges and is one of the few untainted Nidraa'chal seen thus far.
- Your Head Asplode: One practical application of her powers.
Wiam
Wi'am Val'Jaal'darya
See this character's entry on the the Val'Jaal'darya character sheet. Mel'arnach
Mel'arnach Val'Sarghress
See this character's entry under the Sarghress clan entry. Erusa'kel*
Erusa'kel Nal'Sarkoth
See this character's entry under the Nal'sarkoth clan entry. Aba'della*
Aba'della*
See this character's entry under the Nal'sarkoth clan entry. Ash'mita*
Ash'mita Val'Sullisin'rune*
See this character's entry under the Sullisin'rune clan entry. Cy'ril*
Cy'ril Illhar'dro*
See this character's entry under the Illhardro clan entry. Ydna*
Ydna*note
A sadistic ex-Kyorl with zero self-control, first seen at the Snad's gathering in Felde. She was exilted for unknown reasons and has ended up as a pet for Kalki. Appears in Chapters 44 and 46. Her concept art can be found here
◊.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: She is so excited by the prospect of getting to fly that Sara'hilana is able to blow her off the roof whilst she is distracted and avoid being captured.
- Author Appeal: An in-universe example, since her clothes were likely chosen by Kalki to reflect her tastes.
- Bouncer: Her job is to keep away intruders at the Felde gathering in Chapter 44. Not that she's the best person for the job.
- Butt-Monkey: So far every appearance she's had involves her being beaten up and/or humiliated in some way, first by getting thrown off the roof by Sara'hilana, later being spooked by the same person with a simple "boo", coming face to face with Chakri Kavahini, getting beaten up by Kau Val'Sharen and having Ariel drag her out By the Hair and get hit with friendly fire when Ariel uses her as a human shield. Given she's Kalki's "Pet" Professional Butt Monkey may well be her job description.
- Cute and Psycho: Heavily hinted to be the case in her introduction on panel.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her second outfit is a black dress that gives this impression.
- Human Shield: Ariel uses her as this to avoid a few of Kalki's attacks.
- The Load: Appears to be this for Yuh'le, who doesn't even bother to help Ydna after she is blown off the roof.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Just as crazy as her owner. According to her creator, her current personality is the toned down version.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: She has tainted eyes and is utterly bat-shit.
- Stripperiffic: Her preferred mode of dress; this being pretty much just a revealing swimsuit and black boots. A few readers commented that they almost didn't recognize her when she showed up again in Chapter 46 wearing actual clothes.
- Terrible Trio: Gleefully tags along with Kalki and Sasi as they go to hunt Sarghress.
- Token Minority: Being a drowussu in a clan comprised mostly of drowolath.
- Wolverine Claws: Has blades attached to both of her hands.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Ariel uses her to deflect a nether demon attack, Kalki decides that she doesn't like her anymore.
Velyndria*
Velyndria "Grey" Mysyrn*note
An exceptionally pale light elf first seen at the Felde meeting in Chapter 46. Her concept art can be found here
◊.- Artificial Limbs: Her left arm is a golem prosthetic.
- Blood Upgrade: Smirks when Sabryn lands a low to her mouth, then quickly ends the fight in her favour.
- Oh, Crap!: Her expression screams this when she realizes what Sara is aiming at her.
- Pardon My Klingon: Swears in Vanir.
- Teeth Flying: Sabryn gets a solid blow against her that clearly knocks out a tooth.
Niphrendil*
Niphrendil*note
A Nidraa'chal child first seen at the meeting in Felde during Chapter 46. She has some sort of relationship to Yuh'le and calls her mother. Her concept art can be found here
◊.- Creepy Child: Despite being a very young child, she demonstrates some disturbingly psychotic behaviour, excitedly and sadistically cheering the impending execution of a Sarghress squad that angered the Nidraa'chal.
- Different as Night and Day: Assuming Yuh'le is her biological mother, she's just about as far from Yuh'le's cold demeanor as possible while being just about as psychotic.
- Sidekick Creature Nuisance: Taunts the captured Sarghress squad, who threaten to bite her head off, and Word of God says she's based off a real life ferret.
- Sticky Fingers: She's described as a klepto, and in her concept art Kiel's mask is among the thing she's nicked.
Sasi'rael*
Sasi'rael*note
Kalki's girlfriend, first seen at the meeting in Felde during Chapter 46. Her concept art can be found here
◊.- Blow You Away: Like Kalki, she has an air affinity.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her affection for Kalki seems to be genuine. The feeling seems to be mutual.
- In the Hood: She wears a cloak like most Feldians, though her creator states that she is actually of Nuqrah'sharian heritage by way of Val'Raveran.
- Lookalike Lovers: She styles herself very similarly to Kalki, even adopting a similar skunk stripe to her lover's hair color scheme, but inverted.
- Mask Power: She wears a white Vloz'ress style mask for most of her first appearance on panel.
- Unholy Matrimony: She's described as enjoying destroying stuff with Kalki for no reason.
- White Mask of Doom: Which resembles a colored inversion of the Vloz'ress' usual garb.
Kyo'nne
