Nephera Vallikan: I told you I had the matter in hand, my dears.
Janara: A dangerous game, Nephy...
Nephera: The best kind, Janny.
Janara: A dangerous game, Nephy...
Nephera: The best kind, Janny.
—Spoken after Nephera casually outwits and kills two traitors, Reign in Hell
In the dark world of Neverkind, some manage to distinguish themselves through manipulation and their charisma.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
The Kindness of Devils:
- Lucifer Morningstar himself, formerly Samael, was one of God's most powerful and brilliant children, before falling from grace as he became disillusioned with his Father's silence and resolved to give all beings the choice to define their own destinies free from the divine plan. Lucifer wins over innumerable angels not through deceit or trickery but by genuinely encouraging them to embrace their best traits and staged a successful attack on Heaven's own gates, barging into the throne room of Heaven itself and deriding his equally powerful brother, Michael, for only being able to "obey." Lucifer deliberately forfeits his battle with Michael when he realizes it's risking all creation. After being cast out of Heaven and into Hell, he meets Nephara Valkian, who allows Lucifer and his fellow sins to stay them in her home. He is able to leverage the rules of the Council of Kings to get a voice in, and is able to convince Azazel Baal to let them stay, but Azazel makes them swear loyalty to him and to never harm a demon. When Azazel then reveals the Court of The Broken, Lucifer finds multiple methods to get around his vows, such as helping Nephara rally several Houses against Azazel, empowering his soldiers with magic, and finally renouncing his status as an angel to declare himself a devil. Lucifer takes advantage of Azazel's desire to break him and make him part of the Court, to gain an opportunity to incinerate him with fire as all of Hell cheers Lucifer's name. He forever immortalizes himself as the charismatic and steadfast Lord of Hell shortly after.
- Satannus, the Sin of Wrath, is Hell's most distinguished and powerful warrior and one of the most loyal, capable assets Lucifer could ask for. Having turned to Hell in disgust for Heaven using her and her own soldiers as disposable chess pieces, Satannus' magnificence comes to shine in The Kiss of Wrath where she takes her nephew Daemon (the future Hardestadt Delac) as her apprentice, putting him through hellish training that eventually serves to refine him into a warrior as capable as Satannus herself. Satannus, also ostensibly working in a conspiracy in Hell led by Karadas Baal, demonstrates her own skill in Hell's "Grand Dance" by spending years derailing the entire conspiracy from the inside-out, tricking their own followers into slaughtering themselves and only revealing her betrayal when the conspiracy itself has already been completely dismantled.
- Aleviel, Hardestadt's mother, graduates to this status in Give Us Forever, alongside her compatriot Malachor Archayus. Together, the two orchestrate a complex gambit to utterly remake the Teraverse, setting up Baba Yaga and Koschei's schemes to begin with to test Hardestadt's resolve, and continuing to ruthlessly manipulate him and his friends. Aleviel even orders Hardestadt to "see the ones he loves dies"—only for it to be revealed as a case of Exact Words Malachor pulls off through an illusion of Erin dying. With all her manipulations for the purpose of breaking the seals on Hardestadt's power, Aleviel finally reveals her goal was to save the Teraverse, not destroy it, using his power to save the life of his sister Alineia when she forces Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the primordial embodiment of nothingness, out of the Teraverse.
- Nephera Vallikan, the Crimson Empress of Annihilation, is one of the keenest minds in a race of demons that pride themselves on complex scheming as an everyday way of life. Introduced outwitting and slaying two traitors to her House, Nephera allies with Lucifer when he pledges to steal the throne of Hell and constructs a series of daring gambits to wrest power from the charismatic Azazel Baal. Nephera charms and bargains with many of the Houses to get them to ally with her cause while disguising her true cunning under the facade of a flirty, clueless socialite. Even when her father betrays her, Nephera banks on his compassion to infiltrate his House and derails Azazel's schemes through the use of a Memory Gambit she employed with her friend Maray. Nephera is forced to put down her father to earn the throne of Vallikan, but wins his total respect in doing so and graduates soon after to one of Hell's greatest, most daring nobles.
- Mammon, the Sin of Greed, is a ruthless but affable devil who covets everything precious and worth protecting. As good a manipulator as any of her comrades or Lucifer himself, Mammon caretakes after the rare and endangered in the Teraverse while simultaneously always plotting for self-gain. Mammon shows her true cunning by engaging and outsmarting Azazel's own chief evil genius Shax Focalor, playing Azazel's Houses against each other before finally defeating Shax by making him think she's targeting the children he protects—a deed she'd never truly stoop to, resolving to protect Shax's children even after finishing off Shax himself.
- Sebastian Hawkins, aka Henry Avery, is a former pirate longing to control the seas. After uncovering an artifact known as the Leash, Hawkins gained control over a sea monster known as the Cthonis. Using the beast's power, Hawkins sank Captain Samuel Bellamy's ship, killing everyone onboard. Upon learning that he needs two other pieces of the Leash to fully control the Cthonis, Hawkins teamed up with Benjamin Hornigold and the British Royal Navy, using his allies to seek out the pirates who also had one of the Leash components. After tracking down Hardestadt Delac's crew and allies, Hawkins repeatedly attacked them using the Cthonis, undead pirates, and members of the Royal Navy, kidnapping or killing various pirates in the process. When Hawkins fails to convince Hardestadt to join him, he resumes hunting down the pirates, trapping them whilst in Panama and acquiring the second piece of the Leash from them. Armed with both pieces of the Leash, Hawkins has Alijah Marsh conjure up the Deep Ones to help him finish off the pirates and acquire the final piece of the Leash.
- Thomas Nero is a sorcerer driven to the brink of despair following the deaths of his family by the Great Old One, Cthulhu. Believing humanity destined to suffer under it lest he allow it to destroy them, Nero moves to link the monster to its daughter Maggie Isla to usher in the apocalypse. Employing numerous gambits to throw Hardestadt and his companions off his trail, Nero shows time and again, what a worthy adversary he is. Even when mortally wounded and his plans stopped, Nero happily accepts there being a way for mankind to live on without destruction and gracefully passes into the afterlife to reunite with his beloved wife and daughter.
- Krampus himself, seeking the destruction of Christmas to renew the fear in the season, sets up a scheme to have several children kidnapped, having the child-eating ogre the Gryla and her sons kidnap a dozen misbehaving children who misbehaved to unsettle the treaties. In actuality, Krampus' true scheme revolves around the more well-behaved children he secretly kidnapped, having intended Hardestadt to walk away thinking the job done after defeating the Gryla as he used the children in a ritual to destroy Christmas and instate Krampusnacht in its place. Even with his scheme foiled, Krampus cheerfully points out there's not a thing Hardestadt can do to him otherwise and that because of the night's events, his name is more widespread than ever before.
- Apophis is the king of all serpents and a manipulative mastermind who has turned almost all of serpentkind to his agenda through charm, blackmail and bribery alike. Creating his "conspiracy" over the course of centuries under the noses of Heaven and Hell alike, Apophis amps his own power up by tricking entire planets into ingesting his venom and devouring their souls, all to prepare himself to devour his old friend Ra. When his plans are revealed, Apophis massacres angels and devils by luring them into traps, lays siege to Hell to distract its forces, and personally infects Hardestadt Delac with a lethal poison, before successfully consuming Ra. In awe of the Teraverse's beauty yet disillusioned with its corruptions, Apophis plans to reconcile this with his nature as a predator by replacing the afterlife with himself, preserving the Teraverse and promoting peace, yet devouring the souls of all who die and sending them into true oblivion, and very nearly succeeds. Apophis spends his final moments in regret for his many crimes, having one last conversation with Ra and embracing him as they face death together.
- Koschei the Deathless, Hardestadt's nigh-immortal old companion, and the ancient entity Baba Yaga decide to put Hardestadt through a grueling test to see if he is truly worth being a hero after his past as the monstrous Dragon. Baba Yaga and Koschei push Hardestadt to his utmost limit through a series of tests, putting innocents in danger and forcing Hardestadt to push himself to ensure not one soul is harmed—before revealing nobody but Hardestadt himself were ever truly in danger in the tests. Baba Yaga and Koschei's final test for Hardestadt is the revelation of his younger sister Alineia, whom they save from certain death, having Hardestadt demonstrate he truly is noble by refusing to kill Alineia even when her existence threatens the Teraverse itself. Satisfied, Koschei gives his own life to plug the hole endangering the Teraverse, happy to die having proven his old companion a hero once again, as Baba Yaga returns to her woods with everything having gone to her exact design.
Crossovers:
The Unquiet Grave- Mircalla von Karnstein, better known as Carmilla, is the jovial, cultured vampire niece of Silas Ruthven, and though appearing to be completely under his control, Carmilla is revealed to be far more sly than first appearances imply. Abused and mistreated by Ruthven for years, Carmilla grows in independence and cunning, and concocts a scheme to take down her uncle for good. Carmilla locates and lures the powerful couple of Hardestadt Delac and Eliza Cortly to London, leaving them a bread trail of clues and pointers on Ruthven's evil schemes, all while seducing Hardestadt's daughter Grete. Even when her manipulations are exposed, Carmilla continues to trick Hardestadt and Eliza into dancing to her tune, ultimately using them as pawns to arrange Ruthven's death and save London at the cost of her own life before spending her final moments of life revealing that she has truly fallen in love with Grete, and wishes her the best in life while apologizing for how she used the girl's family.
- Priest Akhenaten, cursed to become a mummy after he tampered with the forces of death in an attempt to resurrect a loved one, maintains a polite, respectful attitude towards all even in his undead state. Forced to feed on the life force of others to sustain his own, Akhenaten solely targets those he believes are deserving of death for their immoral ways, having a deep respect and care for anyone innocent in the world, even going out of his way to save the life of a child bystander during an intense fight. Though seeming to loyally serve Silas Ruthven in his plan to destroy London, Akhenaten truthfully allies with the brilliant Carmilla, scheming alongside her to thwart her uncle's mad plan at the cost of their own lives, a plan that goes off without a hitch. Powerful enough to trade both physical and verbal blows with Eliza Cortly and noble enough to earn the respect of Hardestadt Delac, Akhenaten successfully orchestrates the breaking of his mummy curse, even as he expressed a willingness to be damned for eternity if it resulted in the saving of lives.
- Fantomas is a dark, mysterious criminal mastermind who plagues the streets of Paris with his brilliant murders. Evading capture despite having Hardestadt Delac and Eliza Cortly on his trail for weeks, Fantomas uses a disguise as the humble servant to the Belthams to further keep suspicion from himself. Fantomas plans to sacrifice hundreds of Parisians in a spell that will grant his sickly daughter Helene life everlasting, using backup plans upon backup plans every time he's nearly beaten. Ultimately beaten, Fantomas nonetheless fakes his own demise and continues to keep watch over Helene, wanting nothing more than for her to have a fulfilling, healthy life.
