The ancient aliens known as the Sovereign Ones have dominated most of the known universe, warring against each other for total domination through agents and proxy races of their creation, in a brutal cycle that persisted for hundreds of millions of years.
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General Tropes
- A God Am I: All Sovereigns have some form of god complex, each seeking to impose their will and vision upon the wider universe. Even T'Leth is no exception to this; his vision for the universe just happens to be practically unrelated with controlling it.
- Brown Note: Their language is a rather potent one, composed of glyphs imbued with active psionic power that imprint their meaning into weaker minds.
- Greater-Scope Villain: They are likely to be the next big threat after the war with the Collective ends, as T'Leth's sole goal is to end their eternal conflicts by killing them all. In addition, both the Synthesized and the Bringer are tied to them, with the former being created by an unknown Sovereign, and the latter being a massive psionic gestalt originated with three other Sovereigns.
- Ultimate Life Form: Sovereigns are basically the closest thing to this in the universe: they are incredibly intelligent, long-lived lifeforms, and extremely powerful psions, beyond even Ethereal Imperators.
T'Leth
T'Leth
T'Leth, the Warmaster
Glyph: Regicide
Submerged in the bottom of Earth's oceans for millions of years, the Sovereign One known as T'Leth would be fully reawakened in the course of the war against the Collective, acting through his few agents on Earth and forming an alliance with XCOM and ADVENT in the process.- Big Good: The closest thing a Sovereign can be to this, by virtue of his explicit intentions towards the remaining Sovereigns and the Synthesized, as well as his willingness to forge an actual alliance with XCOM and ADVENT.
- The Dreaded: Anyone who earns a reputation as a Sovereign-killer is this by default; Mosrimor certainly seems to be afraid of him.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: Even among Sovereigns, he's singularly focused on this; his stated goal to the Commander and Saudia is nothing more than simply ridding the universe of the Sovereign Ones and their wars for supremacy. Even his own personal glyph symbolizes this principle, standing as a declaration of war against all the other Sovereigns.
- Mythology Gag: He shares a name with the submerged alien colony ship in Terror From The Deep.
- Red Baron: He is known by many titles: Warmaster, Scourge of the Meek, Conqueror of the Nilassiah Galaxy, Ravager of Worlds, etc..
- The Unfettered: By Sovereign standards, he certainly qualifies; while the majority of Sovereigns are content to wage their cyclical wars through their proxies, T'Leth fights directly to kill Sovereigns from the get-go.
The Chronicler
Ansaldo Leonardo de Caramanica, Chronicler of the Cycles, Seraphim of Regicide
The seniormost human Agent, the Chronicler first made contact with T'Leth centuries ago after stumbling upon one of the alien's Orbs. Ever since then, he operated on the Sovereign's behalf, eventually finding himself in EXALT, as its Chronicler.- A Day in the Limelight: His origins are narrated in The Chronicle.
- Big Good: He is this to all of humanity.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is known only as Chronicler; until The Chronicle, his original name was literally unknown to the readers.
- Good Is Not Soft: He is an affable, if distant man whose ultimate goal is nothing more than the protection of humanity, but he can be remarkably ruthless if the situation calls for it.
Lincoln Harper
Lincoln Harper
Formerly a Field Marshal of the Australian Defense Force, Harper was recruited by the Chronicler into the ranks of the Agents, apparently second only to the Chronicler in rank. Fiona Dorren
Fiona Dorren
An Agent who specializes in swordfighting and teleportation. Her true name is Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, and she escaped to the Sphere of the Sovereign to flee the Aen Elle's Red Riders.- Dimensional Traveler: This is the full extent of her teleportation powers; she's crossed between Spheres to hide on Earth, alongside Crevan and ir Nara.
- Flash Step: A master teleporter, which she uses in conjunction with her sword. Considering who she really is, it could only come with the name.
- Walking Spoiler: It's literally impossible to discuss her true identity as Ciri without spoiling a major part of the universe.
Crevan Machas
Crevan Machas
A stoic Agent who has a hand in designing T'Leth's technology, and Fiona's mentor. He is a rogue Aen Elle, also known as Avallac'h.- Shock and Awe: As a nanokine, Crevan is capable of manipulating sub-atomic particle to essentially shoot lightning from his hands. He uses this ability to great effect when invading Nebulan's base in Argentina.
Lavallic ir Nara
Lavallic ir Nara
An abrasive Agent and self-described genealogist. She's a rogue Aen Elle, and Crevan/Avallac'h's paramour.- An Ice Person: In her fight against Patricia in chapter 57, she opens several portals to a massive blizzard, briefly giving her the upper hand.
- Ascended Extra: Her canon counterpart was none other than Avallac'h's nameless paramour in the "Child of the Elder Blood" quest. Obviously, she now has a name and backstory.
- Break the Haughty: After her showcase of Bullying a Dragon, T'Leth assaults her mind with memories of the countless wars and battles he participated in across the many previous cycles. She notably hasn't acted out ever since.
- Bullying a Dragon: She chastises T'Leth for his inaction against Patricia's Mosrimor-assisted attack on the Praesidium. T'Leth has none of it, as seen above under Break the Haughty.
Delorias Zho Orion
Delorias Zho Orion, Herald of the Armada
An alien Agent, in charge of T'Leth's Armada.- The Captain: Considering he is mentioned to oversee the Armada, he's assumed to qualify as this.
- The Ghost: He has only been mentioned in a message by the Chronicler, having only been recently awakened.
Mosrimor
Mosrimor
Mosrimor
Glyph: Unbound
One of the younger Sovereign Ones active in the Milky Way, and the Ethereal Collective's Sovereign benefactor, communicating with the Ethereals through one of their own, who serves him as the Voice of the Sovereign.- Establishing Character Moment: His first physical appearance in Chapter 72 is one not only for him, but also for the Sovereign Ones themselves, as it is the first look readers will get at a fully awakened Sovereign; his mere presence is enough to nearly overwhelm Patricia, even with the Imperator's protection, and his telepathic assault on the Imperator (read: him "speaking" to the Ethereal as he would to a Sovereign) utterly overwhelms the Ethereal leader's mind. As if that weren't enough, he also reveals that he knows all about the Imperator and Patricia's plans to break the cycle, and proceeds to show him exactly how many tried before him, all while mocking him for his failures, before effectively taking control of the entire Collective by commanding the two of them to address and fix every single potential shatterpoint within it.
- The Ghost: Barring one brief moment where he spoke through Regisora, he has been conspicuously absent from the story. Chapter 72 finally subverts this, however, as he speaks in person to the Imperator and Patricia.
- Meat Puppet: His nanotech-augmented avatars are literally named this. Subverted, however: his Meat Puppets aren't made from pre-existing hosts, but rather from bodies explicitly grown for such purposes.
- Nanomachines: His main area of expertise, which he employs quite liberally: his Meat Puppets are controlled through nanites, the Voice is herself vastly augmented by nanites, his Sovereign Orb aboard Paradise is linked to a nanite swarm, and the planet of the Sanctum is surrounded in the damn things, not to mention all life on it has been modified to exist in symbiosis with the nanites, being augmented by them as well.
- His world of residence, the Flowing World, takes this up a notch - the entire surface is an ocean of black nanobots covering a planet-sized foundry, which is itself directed by organic nanites that act as living lines of code, shifting and changing to ferry Mosrimor's commands.
- The Paranoiac: According to the Chronicler, Mosrimor is this due to his constant control and oversight of the Meat Puppets, as well as his more lenient management of his proxy species - he only really involves himself when his life is at risk.
- Red Baron: He is named in the Chronicles of Paradise as the Artisan of Metal.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The sole mention of Mosrimor in the Chronicles of Salvation implies he does this to his proxy species once his life is endangered. Unreliable Narrator is likely in effect, since according to the Chronicler, any Sovereign who abandons their proxies before their complete and total destruction is doomed to die.
Regisora
Regisora, the Voice of Mosrimor
Formerly an Ethereal archeologist who focused on ancient precursor civilizations, the Ethereal Regisora eventually found her way into a sanctum world controlled by Mosrimor, where she would become the main emissary between him and the Imperator of the Ethereal Collective.Leviathan
Leviathan
The Leviathan
Glyph: Absolute
The most powerful of the Sovereign Ones residing in the Milky Way, and a personal enemy of T'Leth.- A God Am I: While this is a general rule as far as Sovereigns go, this appears to go up a notch when it comes to the Leviathan;
Word of God implies that he sees everything in the universe as his natural possession, and as an extension of his power. - The Dreaded: A throwaway line by T'Leth during his fight with Quisilia in Australia show he is clearly more apprehensive of the Leviathan's potential presence on Earth than he is of any other Sovereign, with good reason: while T'Leth was personally responsible for the deaths of several Sovereigns, fighting the Leviathan left him severely injured. As if that weren't enough, Word of God confirms that his mere presence in the Milky Way would lead the Bringer to flee the galaxy if his crossing ever succeeded, because it'd need time to build up its strength before it could fight him.
- The Ghost
- Greater-Scope Villain: Even within an entire species of them he stands out as this; he is the single most powerful Sovereign One in the Milky Way and a personal enemy of T'Leth ever since the Traveler's death. As if that weren't enough, the events of Worth Fighting For and The Chronicle heavily imply that he - or at least, his agents and thralls - have been involved in Earth's history long before the Collective laid its eyes on the planet.
- Chapter 72 solidifies this, as the Chronicler explicitly names him and his followers as humanity's future worst enemy. Among said followers is a species all but outright stated to be the Batarians.
Black Executor
The Black Executor
An alien agent under the Leviathan who was active on Earth during the 15th century.- Posthumous Character: By the time of the Collective war, he's long dead, courtesy of the Chronicler and the Venatores.
Other Sovereigns
Poisoner
The Poisoner
One of the psionically weaker Sovereigns, the Poisoner left her mark in the universe through the creation of an anti-psionic element.- The Ghost: She has yet to make a physical appearance in-story; however, the Element she created is very much present, as the source of the Andromedon Special Operators' biotic powers.
- Kryptonite Factor: She is responsible for creating the Element, which stifles and prevents psionic development and gifts similar powers.
Classemque
Classemque
A Sovereign notorious for his remarkable intellect.- The Dreaded: The Lord of the Throne World is clearly distressed upon hearing about the discovery of a Gateway by Classemque's proxy species, to the point that he sees it as a greater threat than the escaped Entity.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He is the most intelligent of all Sovereigns in the Milky Way; as a result, he fields the most advanced technologies out of any of them.
- The Ghost
Exspirant
Exspirant
A Sovereign operating in the Milky Way. Lacesseran
Lacesseran
A Sovereign presumably active in the Milky Way.- The Ghost: Literally the only mention of Lacesseran is a single, easy-to-miss namedrop by T'Leth.
Traveler
The Traveler
A reclusive Sovereign, the Traveler was known for her services (primarily information), which were a cover for her true plan: to conquer the entire Milky Way with her own proxy race, the Adherents. While successful in her conquest, she would later be killed by the Leviathan during a Synthesized invasion.- Knowledge Broker: What she was known for prior to unleashing the Adherents. In spite of the potential danger, many Sovereigns used her services, T'Leth among them.
- Posthumous Character: Killed by the Leviathan long before the events of the story.
Ethereal Sovereign (HEAVY SPOILERS)
