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Main Characters
Raffael Morel
Raffi is a scholar in the Order and Galen's apprentice. He was apprenticed at age 8 and has never known a world in which the Order has not been persecuted.- The Apprentice: To Galen. And the Margrave.
- Break the Believer: Subjected to it by the Margrave, but he's not quite as breakable as it thought.
- Cowardly Lion: Justified in that he and Galen really will be tortured to death if the Watch ever catches them.
Galen Harn
Relic Master of the Order and downright zealot. Since the Order fell he has been on the run from the Watch, and he sees it as his sacred duty to guard the relics and preach to the people.- Death Seeker: Starts the series like this thanks to being depowered. He gets better.
- Knight in Sour Armour: He has basically no empathy for anyone and secretly fears that his gods have abandoned him and the Order will be completely wiped out, but continues with his obligations as a keeper anyway.
- Martyr Without a Cause: If the Order weren't persecuted, rest assured he'd find some other way to get himself martyred.
- The Oath-Breaker: Swears a revenge oath in Coronet, but ends up breaking it in Margrave due to Thou Shalt Not Kill.
- The Chosen One: The Crow chooses him to live in, and ultimately to mend the world.
Carys Arrin
An ex-Watchspy who was originally sent to capture Galen, but defected after befriending him and Raffi.- Badass Normal: She has none of the Order's powers, but is the most effective out of the main group.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Spends a long time figuring out whose side she's actually on, and works with whoever suits her best in the meantime.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Really hates wasps.
The Sekoi
A member of the enigmatic cat-like Sekoi race, it starts the story as an itinerant storyteller and thief whom Galen and Raffi are sent to find, but chooses to join and follow them on their adventures once it realizes their quest is religious in nature.- Blue Blood: Is apparently of high standing among the Sekoi.
- Card Sharp: Possibly cheats, possibly is just that good.
- Fantastic Racism: It hates Mix-and-Match Critters.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: In an interesting case, the characters use "he", but the narrative uses "it", possibly to emphasize that it's still an alien after all.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Is weirdly friendly with the humans for a Sekoi, and even betrays their second-most-significant cultural ideal by taking the humans to the Hoard.
Other Characters
Tallis
A keeper in the Order. She is the guardian and caretaker of the island of Sarres.- Dual Age Modes: Has three possible ages: child, young woman, and old lady.
- The Hecate Sisters: With her child self as maiden, young self as mother, and elderly self as crone.
Solon Karner
Relic Master in the Order and the latest Archkeeper. He is a kindly old man.- Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: Is certainly traumatized from what the Watch did while they had him captive. And from getting possessed by the Margrave.
- Scars Are Forever: Has scars on his hands from Watch torture.
- Survivor's Guilt: "I escaped. Sometimes that too is hard to forgive.”
The Margrave
- The Ageless: All evidence points to it being biologically immortal.
- Big Bad: Functions as such from Heiress to Margrave.
- Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: Abnormally and permanently sensitive to light.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Partly human, partly Sekoi, partly some other stuff.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Probably the reason it's only ever called "it", considering that it probably does have a sex like the Sekoi do.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Margrave is a title, and it doesn't seem to have another name.
- Was Once a Man: "[Kest's] last experiment, they say, was on a man." Just because they say it doesn't make it true; it was a Sekoi instead.
Quist
- Converting for Love: Inverted. He leaves his faith for love.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The only reason he stays in the Watch is because he's head-over-heels for Scala.
- Faith–Heel Turn: Used to be in the Order before joining up.
- Fights Like a Normal: Barely touches his powers, preferring to rely on Watch tactics.
Felnia
Granddaughter to the last Emperor and the titular lost heiress.- Child Soldiers: She was trained as one by the Watch.
- Single Line of Descent: Is the Emperor's only living descendant. Justified in that the Watch would have hunted down any others.
- Spoiled Brat: Develops into one on Sarres.
The Makers
The beings the Order worships, and whom they believe created the world and everything in it. They play a role somewhere between gods and apostles in Order theology.
- For Science!: Some of their work seems to have had a legitimate use. Some absolutely does not.
- Gender-Blender Name: Tamar is feminine in Hebrew, and Soren is masculine in Danish.
- God Guise: A quite-well-organized religion has sprung up around their worship.
- Mad Scientist: All six of them, though Kest gets scapegoated.
- Motherly Scientist: The Margrave considers Kest its father.
- Only One Name: We never find out any of their last names, and it's likely the Order has forgotten them.
- Professor Guinea Pig: Implied by the Margrave, without details.
- Suicide by Cop: Kest thinks he'll die fighting the Dragon, and he does.
- The Scapegoat: Kest. Which continues into the main characters' time, despite the fact that he's been dead for 300+ years by then.
