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Kastalav

On a splintered, sickle-shaped peninsula in the north-east lies the nation of Kastalav, a kingdom of sinister reputation whose fog-choked lands play host to untold horrors of the night. Its people have garnered a reputation for being sorcerers, poisoners and necromancers, and legends abound of the worship of Outer Horrors in subterranean chapels. Clustered around Ostadt, Kastalav's gloomy capital, the nation's many counties have their own geographies and cultures, but none famous enough to dispel the enduring image of Kastalav as a land of mist and murk. The nomadic Kochevni people roam the lands in their caravans, bringing whispers of blood magic and fell omens with them, while the nation's Counts and Countesses travel far to pledge fealty to the Witch-King of Kastalav and his cabal of wizards, the Kaisraat.

Kastalav in General

Tropes about the nation of Kastalav as a whole:

Animal Motifs: Suitably as a symbol of death, ravens.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Kastalavic aristocracy is embroiled in a constant game of mutual vendetta, betrayal and assassination. It's so embedded in Kastalavic culture that they've given it a name: Ravnopakt.
Evil Sorcerer: Kastalav, particularly its upper echelon, is notorious for being a society of these.
The Magocracy: The Witch-King and his council of mages (the Kaisraat) hold absolute power over the nation.
Mordor: A blighted wilderness fringed by impassable mountains whose populace practice Blood Magic and are known to engage in the worship of demons (and worse).

Chronovault

A mysterious vault in the mountains that is in fact the final resting place of the Vigil.

The Grobovshik (Unmarked Spoilers)

A dangerous spirit of great arcane power, created to test the skill of entrants to the Vault.

Ambiguous Gender: Due to its smoky form and lack of speech, not to mention its seven shifting faces, its form is androgynous. That's if gender even applies to a construct of this kind.
Humanoid Abomination: It's a roughly humanoid cloud of green smoke with an endlessly billowing mass of faces in place of a head.
Final Boss: Serves as this for the whole Time Heist arc.
Threshold Guardians: Appears to have been designed to test the worth of adventurers seeking to access the tomb of the Vigil.
Time Master: As a creation of the Vigil, it has various powerful temporal abilities, such as slowing and prematurely ageing its enemies.
The Unintelligible: Doesn't appear to be able to speak in anything other than obscure, overlapping whispers.
Voice of the Legion: Speaks in seven whispering voices, one for each member of the Vigil.

The Observer (Unmarked Spoilers)

Referring to itself as 'The Collective Heart of the Vigil,' the Observer is the final guardian of the Vigil's tomb: a vast, eye-shaped sphere of brass that oversees the correct flow of time.

Badass Boast: To Salumax at the end of the arc:
The Observer: "These intruders will trouble you no longer. They know not of the magnitude that they behold. I am the witness of everything that has happened. Everything that will happen. Everything that could happen. And I see you."
Blue-and-Orange Morality: As the representative of the Vigil, a timeless cabal of chronomancers with near-godlike power, the Observer's motivations are inscrutable.
Deus est Machina: The amount of power it possesses is godlike, keeping oversight over time itself.
The Dragon: To the Vigil in their death, serving as the heavily-empowered guardian of their tomb and architect of the timeline.
Magitek: A sophisticated magical construct built by an ancient council of time mages.
Mechanical Abomination: A vast sphere of brass resembling an eye, the Observer speaks in a terrifying bass voice and is capable of dismantling a person across timelines.
Mouth of Sauron: The Vigil are dead, so the Observer speaks for them. It even refers to itself as 'The Collective Heart of the Vigil'.
Reality Warper: The Observer is responsible for managing the Vigil's 'circle of time,' and can send someone to any point in history that it wishes, as demonstrated with Salumax's fate.
- It is implied that every time it does this it's accessing or even creating alternative timelines.
Super-Intelligence: A hyperintelligent magical construct with enough intellect and reasoning power that it was entrusted to oversee the flow of time.
Theme Naming: A servant of the Vigil is named the Observer, and is shaped like a giant mechanical eye.

Gorgarten

A crime-infested city couched in the Dolinoch Valley on the banks of the River Czern. The principal setting of the Time Heist arc.

Nobility

Count Anton Kahler

Race: Human

The unsmiling Count of Gorgarten. Brother of Lady Attaline Zeitrich.

Aloof Older Brother: To Attaline Zeitrich, much to her chagrin.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Played with. Though he does hire Sigmund the White to assassinate his sister's husband, such an act is generally considered fair game under the Ravnopakt, and the Zeitrichs were planning to do the same to him anyway.
The Chessmaster: Managed to outmanoeuvre the Zeitrichs big-time. This appears to run in the family, if Lady Attaline is any indication.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Though 'evil' is debatable, he hires Sigmund to assassinate Hans Zeitrich, yet stipulates that his sister be left alive.
The Ghost: Has yet to physically appear in the game or the lorebooks.
Perpetual Frowner: When Anton learns of his wife's pregnancy, Attaline writes that it's the first time she's seen him smile since they were children.

Alek Steppenfowl

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

Valerya Zeitrich's lover, twenty years her senior. A minor noble from Ostadt, he spends most of his time in Gorgarten making business deals and meeting Valerya.

Age-Gap Romance: Is in one with Valerya Zeitrich, a woman two decades younger than her.
Bound and Gagged: Courtesy of Sigmund.
Butt-Monkey: Is kidnapped, threatened, ridiculed and abandoned by the Rattlesnakes, and goes through it all perpetually terrified.
Humiliation Conga: Gets one courtesy of the Rattlesnakes. Firstly he is caught naked in bed with a woman half his age. Then he is forced under threat of death to hand himself over to a team of thieves, who promptly tie him up, interrogate him, knock him out and abandon him. According to Salumax's glimpse into the future, Lord Steppenfowl's attempt at escape only gets him lying face-down on the floor, still tied to a chair.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Isn't exactly ugly per se, but he has a noticeably weak chin, is easily frightened, and is courting Valerya Zeitrich, largely considered to be the most beautiful woman in Gorgarten.
The Woobie: Many of the Rattlesnakes ended up feeling quite bad for Lord Steppenfowl.

Zeitrich Estate

House Zeitrich

Tropes applying to the Zeitrich family as a whole.

Ambition Is Evil: All four of them are greedy megalomaniacs. They live lives of seduction, betrayal and murder all in the hopes of acquiring more power and wealth.
Animal Motifs: Dogs. Thanks to their family history, in which their ancestor was knighted after his dogs saved the Count from a basilisk, their house and belongings have countless paintings, carvings and sculptures of hounds.
Aristocrats Are Evil: There isn't a good egg among them.
Beauty Is Bad: Valerya Zeitrich is famous as 'the Emerald of Gorgarten,' and the Zeitrich parents are also good-looking. All three are ruthless Chessmasters. The Rattlesnakes get on the best with Nikolai, who is described as having 'brutish' features.
Big Bad: Collectively, of the whole Time Heist storyline, given that their hired assassins pursue Salumax and Sigmund even after their flight from the manor.
Charm Person: Both Hans and Attaline have this power, though neither got to use it against the Rattlesnakes.
Color-Coded Eyes: All four of them have green eyes, as befitting a family of extreme avarice.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: They at least care deeply for each other.
Faux Affably Evil: All of them, but Attaline in particular. Even Nikolai, who gets on well with the Rattlesnakes, conceals his thuggish nature beneath a congenial veneer.
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Both Zeitrich parents smoke. Hans in particular has an impressive collection of hookahs in the Smoking Room, where he conducts private meetings and plies his guests with imported marshweed.
Nouveau Riche: After his dogs saved the Count's life, Hans' great-grandfather was knighted. Only in Hans' generation did the family really make it rich.
Rule of Three: Invoked by their vault door in the basement, which requires three keys shaped like Cerberus heads to open.
Smug Snake: All of them, but particularly Lord Hans.
Unholy Matrimony: Lord and Lady Zeitrich are a happily-married couple who each wear half a locket bearing the other's portrait, and they gleefully plot the murder of Attaline's brother. Lady Attaline is also a devotee of an Eldritch Abomination.
Villain with Good Publicity: Downplayed. The family cultivates a generally respectable image: Attaline ks the Count's sister, Hans is a notable politician, and their daughter is considered the city's most beautiful woman. Their son, on the other hand, is a notorious hedonist, and rumours abound of the family's more sordid side.

Hans Zeitrich

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

The patriarch of the family, a wealthy noble who made his fortune in the art trade. A politician of great repute, he is also a powerful spellcaster with vaulting ambition.

Assassin Outclassin': Hans is halfway through arranging the assassination of Anton Kahler when he is assassinated in turn by Sigmund, who had been sent by Kahler.
Asshole Victim: The Rattlesnakes didn't see much of him before his death, but he seems totally complicit in his wife's vile schemes.
Body in a Breadbox: Stuffed into a wardrobe after his assassination.
Corrupt Politician: A noble with his eyes on a position in the Magistraad, and also an unscrupulous art dealer who hires assassins to eliminate his rivals.
Coup de Grâce: After choking him into unconsciousness, Sigmund finishes Hans off with a cleanly cut throat.
Curb-Stomp Battle: He stands no chance against Sigmund's garrote wire, trying and failing to stab his assassin right up until he dies.
Evil Sorcerer: Wields spells and a number of magic items, not that he gets to use them.
Irony: Hans Zeitrich is planning the murder of his brother-in-law using an assassin name Sigmund the White. He doesn't know that his brother-in-law has already hired Sigmund to kill him.
Karmic Death: While planning the assassination of his brother-in-law, he is killed and replaced by an assassin sent by his target.

Attaline Zeitrich

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

Count Anton Kahler's estranged sister, entirely devoted to supplanting him in favour of her husband. While Hans has the more prominent role in Gorgarten society, Attaline is the brains behind the operation.

Alpha Bitch: The matriarch of a noble family, sister to the Count of Gorgarten, and also a scheming poisoner.
Animal Motifs: Butterflies. Attaline is an avid lepidopterologist and keeps several species in her butterfly garden, including lethal 'black maidens,' from which she harvests and stores poison.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Acts like a harmless butterfly-keeper, but secretly hoards poisons, plots assassinations, and worships an eldritch Outer Horror.
Cain and Abel: Entirely fixated on killing her brother, Anton Kahler.
The Chessmaster: The brains of House Zeitrich, although she gets Out-Gambitted by her brother.
Disproportionate Retribution: Hates her brother with a passion, and plans his assassination for apparently no reason other than a childhood vendetta.
Femme Fatale: An attractive, cunning and powerful schemer and witch.
Hot Witch: She's a dangerous spellcaster, and is also described as elegantly beautiful.
Lady Macbeth: She's the mastermind behind the assassination plot against her brother, despite Hans being the one making the deals. Judging from her interactions with Sigmund^notedisguised as Hans, she is used to having her husband wrapped around her little finger.
Lady of Black Magic: Lady Attaline is a proficient witch with, if her grimoire is anything to go by, an impressive repertoire of dangerous spells.
Manipulative Bitch: Easily slips into manipulation mode when Sigmund!Hans expresses doubts about their assassination plot.
Master Poisoner: Favours the 'maiden's shade' poison, which she harvests from her personal collection of black maiden butterflies. She keeps a stash of it in her study.
Moth Menace: Cultivates a garden of poisonous butterflies and hoards their toxic dust.
Widow Witch: After Hans' murder.

Valerya Zeitrich

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

The Zeitrichs' daughter, Valerya's beauty is so famous that she is known as the 'Emerald of Gorgarten.'

Brainless Beauty: Deliberately invoked. She presents the appearance of a lovestruck young girl to distract from the fact that she is just as conniving as her parents.
Color Motif: Wears green to match her eyes and necklace, which results in her nickname.
Femme Fatale: Takes after her mother.
Gold Digger: Subverted. She's not after Steppenfowl for personal reasons - instead, Attaline's diary implies that she's doing it for her family.
Really Gets Around: Has this reputation, but does so for pragmatic reasons (see Gold Digger above). Lord Steppenfowl is said to be the latest in a string of lovers.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: Many in Gorgarten see her as this.

Nikolai Zeitrich

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

The Zeitrichs' son, a spoiled hedonist with an aggressive streak.

The Alcoholic: Spends most of his time carousing and is drunk more often than not.
Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Gets very talkative when drunk, to the point of revealing incriminating information about his family. He also has no problem with taking a pair of strangers into a crime den, taking the drugs they give him, and allowing them to sit either side of him while he does so.
Big Fun: Tries to portray this, but his reputation speaks for itself.
Fantastic Racism: Describes Sabian as an 'exotic specimen' when he meets him, and is surprised that he can speak the Common tongue.
The Hedonist: Spends his life carousing in the high-class gambling dens and taverns of Gorgarten.
It's Personal: After the heist on Zeitrich Manse and the death of his father, Nikolai personally tails his killers with an entourage of city guards and a hired assassin.
Loose Lips: His mother laments in her diary that Nikolai has been telling people about his parents' meeting with the Caterpillar. She was right to fear, as that information made it back to the Rattlesnakes.
Revenge Before Reason: Nikolai is so enraged at his father's death that he tracks the killers into a treacherous mountain range and an unfamiliar and dangerous vault. It doesn't go well.
You Killed My Father: Shouts this verbatim at the wrong person: Salumax.

Drabscallow

Race: Human

The withered and menacing butler of Zeitrich Manse who doubles as the estate's head of security. His three rat familiars keep the house under constant surveillance.

Animal Eye Spy: Is able to do this with his rat familiars, all the better for keeping an eye on everything going on in Zeitrich Manse.
Animal Motifs: Rats. He uses three rats (actually disguised imps) as personal familiars, and also keeps several others on his person, some in contact with his actual body.
Battle Butler: The Zeitrich's ancient butler, who is still equipped with enough magic to do some serious damage.
Berserk Button: Intruders.
Card-Carrying Villain: Makes no effort to hide his obvious cruelty.
Co-Dragons: With Reema Adbach, the chief housekeeper, to the Zeitrich family.
Crusty Caretaker: Drabscallow is visibly very old, with long fingernails and a fish-eye stare, who haunts the Zeitrich Manse's corridors like a ghost.
Deal with the Devil: Is implied to have made one of these to get his three imp familiars.
The Determinator: The moment he realises there are intruders in the house, he tries to single-handedly hunt them down and destroy them.
The Dreaded: By everyone who comes into contact with him, save perhaps the Zeitrichs themselves. Drabscallow's intimidating appearance, affinity with rats, and creepy habit of silently floating everywhere he goes make him a terrifying enemy to face.
Evil Old Folks: Is very, very old, and also the most terrifying villain the Rattlesnakes face.
Familiar: Drabscallow has three rat familiars, which are actually revealed to be imps. A note in his desk drawer implies that he has made some kind of infernal pact to acquire them.
Mind Hive: Seems to have this dynamic with his rats, able to telepathically communicate with all three of them and even see through their eyes.
Jerkass: Doesn't appear to have a single redeeming quality. His whole existence consists of skulking around the manor, shouting orders at his underlings, and furiously seeking out any potential threats to the Zeitrichs.
The Jeeves: Of the brutal variety. Drabscallow is a devoted butler while also being a deeply unsettling individual.
Obviously Evil: A floating, withered old man with a horde of rats crawling all over his body.
Poke in the Third Eye: The Rattlesnakes kill two of his familiars when they find them. This ultimately causes problems when Drabscallow tries to check on them later and realises what's happened.
Sinister Surveillance: Uses his rat familiars to keep an eye on everything going on in Zeitrich Manse.

Reema Adbach

Race: Tiefling

Lady Attaline's personal maid and housekeeper of the manse. She's also a devotee of the Queen of Glass and serves as the family's torturer-in-chief.

Bad Boss: Is responsible for all of the female servants in the house, and is deeply feared by all of them. She tortures her underling Ilsa to death after catching her listening at the Zeitrichs' door.
Co-Dragons: With Drabscallow to the Zeitrich family.
Creepy Housekeeper: The Zeitrich Estate's chief housekeeper, who is also a fanatical devotee of a forbidden goddess.
The Dreaded: Like Drabscallow, she is feared by the house's inhabitants and the Rattlesnakes themselves.
The Ghost: Never actually appeared in-game, though reports painted a deeply unsettling picture of her.
Religion of Evil: Worships the Queen of Glass, a mysterious deity whose worship is forbidden in Kastalav of all places. The white robe and glass mask that Sabian finds stashed in the linen cupboard is implied to be hers.
Torture Technician: Was responsible for the week-long torture of former servant Ilsa, as well as her ensuing Cruel and Unusual Death and sacrifice.

Leira

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

An eighteen-year-old maid in Zeitrich Manse who is secretly a whistleblower for the Konsortium.

Badass and Child Duo: The Child to Sabian's Badass.
The Mole: A young maid who feeds information on Zeitrich Manse to the Konsortium. This fact deeply frightens her.
Morality Pet: To Sabian, who diverts from the mission to help her escape the manor.
The Paranoiac: After betraying the Zeitrichs to the Konsortium, she is terrified that she will be discovered at any moment.
Trapped Undercover: She betrays the Zeitrichs after Ilsa's disappearance, but can't escape due to the estate's Sinister Surveillance, and the threat of what might happen to her if she is caught.

The Rival Gang

The Rattlesnakes' heist on the Zeitrich Manse faced a major complication: a second gang of criminals, hired by a third party to steal the compass first.

Morlov

Race: Human

The Archmage: Subverted. Formerly served on the Kaisraat, the Witch-King of Kastalav's personal cabal of wizards. However, he was loathed by his peers and quickly deposed, turning him to crime.
Bad Powers, Bad People: A demented, disgraced archmage-turned-criminal who wields grotesque flesh-moulding abilities.
Body Horror: This is his whole domain. He is a fleshwright - a type of mage characterised by building undead thralls out of discarded body parts - and uses skin-melting spells against his enemies.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Is disembowelled and decapitated by Sabian Hearthfire simultaneously.
Mad Scientist: An insane former mage obsessed with magic of the flesh, who experiments in the creation of flesh golems.

Oleg

Race: Flesh golem

A construct of stitched humanoid parts created by Morlov.

Body Horror: An amalgamation of various humanoid body parts all gruesomely stitched together and given a fascimile of life.
- When Morlov is killed, the magic powering Oleg fails and his stitches rapidly unravel.
Dumb Muscle: Even moreso than Stubby. Oleg is totally incapable of speech - the only thing he seems to be able to do is punch things and drool.
Flesh Golem: Literally.
Frankenstein's Monster: An undead creature composed of various human body parts, given life by a Mad Scientist.

The Dyavol Twins

Drusilla and Druigg Dyavol

Race: Tiefling

A pair of scarlet tiefling twins, cutpurses and cutthroats both.

Meaningful Name: Their surnames sound very similar to 'devil,' which is fitting given that they're both tieflings.
Your Head Asplode: What happens to Druigg, courtesy of Stubby's warhammer.

Lodd

Race: Goblin

A goblin contraptionist from the Iron Dominion, now a criminal-for-hire.

An Arm and a Leg: Is missing both legs and has replaced them with sophisticated mechanical prosthetics.
Arms Dealer: Sells improvised goblin weaponry on the Gorgarten black market.
Gadgeteer Genius: His main personality trait.
Mad Scientist: Builds experimental arms for the Gorgarten criminal underworld.
Perfect Poison: How he is dispatched. Stubby hurls a case of toxic black maiden butterflies at him, and Lodd's inhalation of the fumes knocks him out instantly.
Uncertain Doom: It's unclear if the black maiden toxins killed him or merely knocked him unconscious, but seeing as maiden's shade can kill in a matter of 24 hours, and Lodd is a criminal left to die in a hyper-secure vault, it's unlikely that he survived.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Doesn't even get a chance to act before Stubby unleashes a cluster of deadly black maidens onto him.

Other Criminals

The Caterpillar

Race: Human

A local crime lord independent of the Konsortium who runs a subterranean speakeasy called the Underpalace.

Adipose Rex: A rotund crime lord.
Alice Allusion: His name, stature and chainsmoking habits are a reference to the Alices Adventures In Wonderland character of the same name.
The Don: The most powerful crime lord in Gorgarten, and he doesn't even need the Konsortium to back him.
Fat Bastard: A cold, pot-bellied criminal who runs a number of shady gambling dens and brothels in the city.
King of Thieves: Most of the petty criminals in Gorgarten answer to him. Not to mention the nobles who have him on the payroll.
Know When to Fold 'Em: After witnessing Sigmund's efficient murder of Hans Zeitrich, the Caterpillar agrees that it's in his own best interests to keep quiet and leave.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Nobody seems to know his real name.
Right-Hand Attack Dog: Keeps a vicious, glaive-wielding lizardfolk as his personal bodyguard.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Makes the wise decision to leave after Sigmund kills Hans Zeitrich.

The Reaper of Gorgarten

Race: Fire genasi

Appearances: Time Heist

A dangerous and expensive assassin hired to pursue Salumax and Sigmund after the heist on Zeitrich Manse.

Anti-Climax Boss: After his imposing introduction burning down the Seekers' safehouse, he is easily dispatched by a well-placed banishment spell.
- Happens again upon their second meeting. After engaging Salumax in a scythe duel, his opponent promptly polymorphs into a tyrannosaurus rex and snaps the Reaper up in his jaws. Then the Observer wakes up and ages the Reaper into dust.
Cruel and Unusual Death: After being mauled by a tyrannosaurus rex, he is levitated by the Observer and subjected to a super-accelerated form of Rapid Aging, his skin dessiccating and sloughing away before his skeleton dissolves into dust.
Only Known by Their Nickname: He is referred to exclusively by his title.
Playing with Fire: Appears to be his thing. The first time he meets the Seekers, he burns down their safehouse, then utilises a number of fire-based spells while fighting them.
Professional Killer: Works as an assassin for the Gorgarten elite.
Rapid Aging: His manner of death.
Red Baron: Only known by his moniker, the Reaper of Gorgarten.
Sinister Scythe: Befitting his title, he wields one of these.

Syndic Roth

Roth

Race: Human

Appearances: Time Heist

A syndic of the Konsortium, Kastalav's biggest crime syndicate, based in Gorgarten.

The Face: Acts as this for the Konsortium when liasing with the Rattlesnakes.
The Handler: Of the Rattlesnakes, on behalf of the Konsortium.
Mouth of Sauron: Transmits orders from the Konsortium to the Rattlesnakes.
Mr. Exposition: Delivers the entirety of the mission brief to the Rattlesnakes at the start of the arc, then promptly disappears.
Non-Action Guy: He only acts as a middleman between the Konsortium and their hirelings, leaving all the dirty work to the Rattlesnakes.
Put on a Bus: After his initial meeting with the Rattlesnakes, he has not yet returned.
Young and in Charge: Roth acts as the Rattlesnakes' handler despite being only a young man in his 20s.

Characters / The Realms Within Kastalav

Kastalav

Chronovault

Gorgarten

Nobility

Zeitrich Estate

The Rival Gang

Oleg

Drusilla and Druigg Dyavol

Lodd

Other Criminals

The Caterpillar

The Reaper of Gorgarten

Roth

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Characters / The Realms Within Kastalav

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Kastalav

Chronovault

Gorgarten

Nobility

Zeitrich Estate

The Rival Gang

Oleg

Drusilla and Druigg Dyavol

Lodd

Other Criminals

The Caterpillar

The Reaper of Gorgarten

Roth

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