A Practical Guide to Evil | Character Index (Villains, Heroes, Morally Ambiguous Named)

open/close all folders

Named Characters

Lesser Gods and Ancient Beings (Spoilers Unmarked!)

The King of Winter

The King of Winter/The Prince of Bleak Solstice

Sovereign of the Winter Fae Court. In response to the Black Knight’s seemingly successful attempts at averting the Evil Is Sterile nature of Praes, the King of Winter attempts to take advantage of the cascading effects to avoid the Eternal Recurrence of Fae existence. This ends up leading him to declare war on Callow.

An Ice Person: As the leader of the Winter Fae, he has the ability to control ice on a broad scale.
Batman Gambit: The war that he masterminds is shown to be an attempt to forcibly mimic the alliance between Praes and Callow. In the process, the King hopes to be able to break out of the Winter Fae’s Forever War with the Summer Court. By using Cat as an Unwitting Pawn he succeeds.
Casting a Shadow: The King of Winter uses this ability on occasion. Cat naturally shows an affinity for it upon becoming Sovereign of Moonless Nights.
God Couple: The King of Winter’s alliance with the Queen of Summer is sealed with their marriage.
Immortal Ruler: Of the Winter Fae in the form of Resurrective Immortality.
Patron God: He becomes this to Cat once she takes the role of Duchess of Moonless Nights, granting her power over ice, illusion, and shadow.
Screw Destiny: The reason for his machinations is to piggyback off the Black Knight’s plans to break the eternal process of defeating and being defeated by the Summer Fae, all while being psychologically forced into Contractual Genre Blindness.
Strong Girl, Smart Guy: The Smart Guy to the Queen of Summer’s Strong Girl as a Manipulative Bastard and Master of Illusion who is never shown to fight directly.

The Queen of Summer

The Queen of Summer/The Princess of the Morning Star

Sovereign of the Summer Fae Court. Following the Winter Court’s invasion of Callow, she, as his counterpart, is forced to do the same.

Always a Bigger Fish: Despite the Ranger’s confidence in hunting her, the Queen of Summer turns out to be a bit more than the Calamity can handle. The next time Ranger is seen, she’s been afflicted with a few nasty burns while the Fae Sovereign is no worse for wear.
And Now You Must Marry Me: The climax of Book Three sees her essentially forced into marrying the King of Winter due to his schemes.
Green Thumb: Implied, as control over flora is the second most common Summer Fae ability.
Immortal Ruler: Of the Summer Fae in the form of Resurrective Immortality.
Little Miss Almighty: According to Cat, she looks like a fourteen-year-old, golden-haired farm girl despite being a Physical God and borderline Time Abyss.
Out-Gambitted: She is forced into the alliance with the Winter Fae due to her three duties as Summer Fae sovereign leaving no other option:
- Destroy the Winter Court: An alliance between the Winter and Summer Courts would destroy both and create a new Faerie Court in its wake.
- Protect the capital of the Summer Court (Aine): During the negotiation, the Winter Court is engaging in a siege on Aine and an alliance would prevent this.
- See the Sun victorious: Thanks to the Thief, Cat is in possession of the Sun and gives the Summer Sovereign an ultimatum – she agrees to the Winter King’s plan or Cat uses her Aspect to engage in some Star Killing.
The Power of the Sun: The Summer Fae’s manipulation of flame stems from the Sun, which is under her control.
Strong Girl, Smart Guy: She seems more overtly powerful than the King of Winter, having several high-level magical feats, including obliterating hundreds of soldiers in an instant, burning out Masego’s eyes, and defeating the Ranger.

Sve Noc

Sve Noc (Komena and Andronike)

Drow sisters who, in a plea to save their race from extinction, made a deal with the Gods Below that turned them into quasi-deities. After besting Catherine Foundling, the Sovereign of Moonless Nights, in a battle, they ingest the power of Winter, complete their apotheosis, and make a deal with the Black Queen to become her Patron God.

Always a Bigger Fish: Sve Noc ends up handing the Sovereign of Moonless Nights one of her most substantial defeats, despite the power of Winter making her a Physical God at that point.
Anarcho-Tyranny: Their pre-godhood rulership of the Drow has hints of this. As the Priestesses of Night, Sve Noc’s authority is absolute; however, their only mandate is to follow the Tenets of Night. These rules essentially boil down to The worthy take, the worthy rise. As a result, the Drow are complete Social Darwinists, and the only law is the will of the strong.
Artificial God: They started out as normal Drow with a standard lifespan and after gaining the power of Night and Winter, they became gods.
Creepy Crows: Sve Noc’s physical manifestation is of a pair of crows after assimilating the Winter godhead. However, they also tend to be a Supernatural Fear Inducer to most mortals who look directly at them for more than a second at a time.
Deal with the Devil: Sve Noc has been on both sides of this deal:
- Upon making a plea to the Gods to save the Drow from extinction, the Wandering Bard arrived giving them the ability to manipulate Night.
- After absorbing the Winter godhead, they enter into an agreement with Catherine, making her their prophet, the "First Under the Night," as well as their representative to the human nations, in exchange for power over Night. Later they begin offering power over Night to other non-Drow.
Domain Holder: The Drow homeland is surrounded by an invisible boundary making the tunnels to the Empire Everdark inaccessible to outsiders and leading intruders down dead ends. It’s implied that this boundary, termed "the Gloom," is their domain as even Named as strong as the Ranger can’t bypass it.
Eldritch Abomination: Looking into their feathers is enough for the Grey Pilgrim to hear distant screams and begin to smell blood, while Robber was given some of the most horrifying nightmares of his life just by being near them.
Modernized God: They invoke this in making Cat "First Under the Night"; regularly interacting with a (relatively) normal human is intended to keep them more tuned into the state of their society and less set in their ways.
Psychic Block Defense: They provide this for Catherine. The sisters can ward off the Choir of Mercy's attempt to peer into her and their connection to her makes it impossible for Agnes to see into her future directly. They can also, with greater effort, protect Catherine from The Hierarch's Indict.
Reasoning with God: The climax of Book Four has Cat not only convincing them not to kill her but getting them to make her their prophet.
Religion of Evil: Considering they tend to be informally referred to as the goddesses of theft and murder and their society is built on the tenets of forcibly taking all the power you can, it’s no surprise that Heroes aren’t huge fans of them.
The Sacred Darkness: After experiencing their second apotheosis, Sve Noc begins to move into this role while Night advances from being the clear inferior to Light and the quintessential Power at a Price (exclusive and essential to the Drow), to being Light’s equal and opposite and being the Shared Life Energy of all believers in Sve Noc (capable of use by anyone).
Sibling Yin-Yang: The siblings have a Red Oni, Blue Oni dynamic with Komena being an aggressive warrior and Andronike being a reserved priest.
Sword and Sorcerer: Andronike, a former Twilight Sage (Drow mage-priest) is the sorcerer to Komena, a former member of the Empire Everdark’s warrior caste.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: They aren’t exactly happy about watching the Drow devolve into a pack of squabbling sigils, wherein 90% of the population are actively subjugated; however, the alternative was total extinction, so they have no real choice.

Kreios

Kreios Maker-of-Riddles

The last living Titan and an ancestor of the Gigantes that live in what is currently called the Titanomachy.

All-Powerful Bystander: He mostly sits out the war against the Dead King despite Antigote’s requests.
The Archmage: Kreios is the greatest living practitioner of the Ligurian magic, the first school of magic on the continent.
Ethnic God: He is considered a god by the Giant race.
Great Offscreen War: He and the Titans won one such war millennia ago against an ancient race called the Drakoi, saving Calernia in the process.
My Greatest Failure: A ritual undergone by the eight remaining Titans led to an apocalyptic event that Kreios refers to as "the Fall." The event wiped several cities from existence and left Kreios the sole survivor of his race.
Neutral No Longer: He finally involves himself in the war against Keter late in book 7, arriving just in time to revert a lethal trap set against the Grand Alliance.
Parental Substitute: He adopts and names Antigone, The Witch of the Woods, when she comes upon his home (seemingly by divine providence).
Precursors: He’s the direct precursor of the Gigantes and predates most of the Calernian races.
The Right of a Superior Species: After defeating the Drakoi he, and all but one of the Titans, originally planned to bring the entirety of the continent under their dominion.
Self-Imposed Exile: He seems to have lived in near-complete isolation out of shame over his responsibility for "the Fall" up until meeting Antigone.
Time Abyss: He’s lived for millennia and is the oldest being on Calernia, even older than the Wandering Bard.
Time Master: This is suggested to be his specialty as the Warlock indicates that a spell of Antigone’s called the Riddle of Kreios is based on Time magic. Word of God implies that the destruction of the Titans resulted from an attempt by him to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.

The Forever King

The ruler of the Elves of Calernia, living in the Golden Bloom.

Arch-Enemy: Ranger is implied to be his. Specifically, the half-elf Hye Su is the daughter of one of the few Elves to ever leave the fiercely isolationist Golden Bloom. The Forever King’s Half-Breed Discrimination has led him to repeatedly send the Emerald Swords to assassinate her for years without success.
Fantastic Racism: Like all Calernian Elves, he maintains that Humans Are Insects and has any non-Named human that even approaches the Elf homeland killed.
God-Emperor: Despite, or presumably because of, their traditional arrogance, the Elves treat the Forever King with a reverence that has religious undertones.
The Ghost: He has yet to directly appear and seems to exclusively operate through proxies like the Emerald Swords.
Immortal Ruler: He has ruled his people since before they arrived on Calernia and shows no signs of abdicating (especially given that his only heir is dead).
Karma Houdini: Despite the Forever King's countless atrocities, his refusal to get involved in the War on Keter means he survives the conflict with his power base intact. With the newfound power of the Spring Crown, he looks to be the greatest threat to Calernia during the Age of Order in lieu of the Dead King, transporting ratlings from the Chain of Hunger throughout the continent.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Repeatedly:
- First, when the Dread Empress Triumphant conquered the rest of Calernia, he chose to cut his losses and phase the Golden Bloom into Arcadia.
- When Akua Sahelian shows signs of taking the Name of Diabolist (the first person since Triumphant to take the role) the Forever King sends two Emerald Swords to kill her before History Repeats. The Wandering Bard intercepts them and gives them a message to pass on: screwing around with fate is her schtick and a second attempt by him will not be tolerated. He takes the hint.
- Apparently the reason for his wariness around the Intercessor is well-founded. When he last got on her bad side, she manipulated him into a war with the Dead King (ending with his son, the Spellblade being killed and turned into a Revenant Zombie by the latter). The Elf king makes the logical choice not to mess with either again.
The Older Immortal: All Elves are The Ageless, but the Forever King is suggested to be the oldest one alive on Calernia.
Reality Warper: The Elf species is described as adding "more weight to their presence in the Pattern the longer they live" to the extent that older Elves can ignore one rule of Creation and (according to Warlock) even become living domains. Since Elves become Stronger with Age and he is the oldest of the ones in the Golden Bloom, it’s safe to say he’s one of the most powerful magic practitioners on the continent.
Seers: He is alleged to have the ability to see the threads of fate but the Wandering Bard derides him as a rank amateur.

"The Other"

A being that is only accessible from the holy grounds of the Broken Antler Horde. The Calamities are informed that he guides Orcs to master the Red Rage, so they visit him in the hopes that Sabah can learn to control her abilities as the Cursed.

Animate Dead: To push Sabah to the point of exhaustion, he uses an army of Orc corpses as a continuous Zerg Rush.
Arrogant God vs. Raging Monster: He ends up the arrogant god to the Captain’s raging monster. It goes poorly for him.
Sabah: You’re going to need another god. I broke this one.
Death of the Old Gods: Given the subjugation of Orcs over centuries, first by Miezans, then by Praesi, this god is suggested to be a shadow of his former self.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Technically "Did you just punch out Cthulhu, rip open their chest cavity, and eat their tasty heart?" but close enough.
Ethnic God: He’s suggested to be a god of the Orc people, but it is unconfirmed if he is the sole god.
Patron God: Subverted, he makes the offer, implying he can give her the power needed to destroy Praes, lead an army of Named, and obtain eternal glory. Sabah refuses, as she only takes orders from one person.
Tame His Anger: His immediate purpose is to teach Orcs to control themselves in the Red Rage. Although he dies in the process, he also ends up teaching Sabah to control her beast state (and facilitating her gaining the Name Captain).
War God: In his own words:
I am war…I am blood and bronze and glory. I am the horde that was and will be.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies in the only interlude he appears in.

The Dread Empire of Praes

Nobles

The contentious and untrustworthy nobility of Praes, driven primarily by the goals of increasing the standing of their families and one day producing a Dread Emperor or Empress. Everything else, including the stability and wellbeing of Praes itself, is a very distant consideration for them, if it rates at all. They are led by the High Lords and Ladies that (in addition to the Dread Emperor that rules the capital of Ater) rule the largest cities of Praes: Wolof, Okoro, Aksum, Nok, Thalassina, and Kahtan.

Aristocrats Are Evil: They are the top dogs in an evil empire for a reason. They treat murder as an often practiced artform and make deals with demons and devils.
The Beautiful Elite: Nobles in the Wasteland breed for looks, as well as longevity, magic power, and intelligence. As a result, members of the old families such as the High Lords are often incredibly handsome/beautiful and can afford to dress accordingly.
Decadent Court: At the imperial court in Ater, nobles dress like peacocks, chairs are inlaid with gold and fist-sized rubies, murder is completely acceptable when done the right way, and all the wine and food is poisoned: definitively as deadly as decadent.

Barika Unonti

The heiress to a minor Praesi holding and one of Akua Sahelian's retinue, as well as a mediocre mage. Barika is valued by Akua more for loyalty than connections or competence.

Catherine murders Barika during the first battle of Liesse.

Butt-Monkey: Barika gets the shit kicked out of her quite a bit. On her first meeting with Catherine the Squire breaks her fingers just to make a point. Ultimately culminates in Catherine executing Barika with a crossbow after finally getting completely fed up with her bullshit.
Deader than Dead: After killing her Catherine goes the extra mile by having her buried in some nearby consecrated ground to make sure she won't be coming back.
Fin Gore: Catherine breaks one of her fingers the first time they meet.
Smug Snake: Contributes very little to Team Heiress besides smugness.
Villainous Friendship: Akua seems to have been closer with Barika than her other flunkies, though this didn't stop Akua from using her as a decoy in a manner that ultimately got her killed.

Rafiq Muraqib

A young noble of House Muraqib.

Adaptation Expansion: In the original WordPress version, he only shows up in Book 7 as a minor character, one of two possible candidates squabbling for control of Empress-Claimant Sephulcral's army after her death. In the Yonder rewrite, he appears in early Volume 2, acting as Cat's minder in Praes while Black investigates a string of political assassinations, later appearing at the Tower and joining Cat's mission into the sewers to find the (Praesi) Summoner.

The Legions of Terror

The Empire's standing army. Previously considered expendable cannon fodder by the Dread Emperors and their Noble peers, the Legions underwent major reforms overseen by The Black Knight after Malicia I gained the throne. The legions now incorporate non-humans as both regular troopers and officers rather than solely as auxiliaries and are now one of the highest-quality professional armies on Calernia, with a particular focus on magical support and siege warfare utilizing goblin alchemy. Their philosophy has changed as well organized around the Black Knight's Maxim of 'One Sin (Defeat), One Grace (victory)'.

Combat Pragmatist: One Sin, One Grace.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: Key to the philosophy of the reformed legions. All of the empire's species and cultures are represented among the Legion's officers and their upper ranks include even stranger creatures such as a Dragon and a Vampire as generals.
Magic Knight: Magical support is an area of particular focus for them. Magic is the only area where the modern legions emphasize quantity over quality however.

Marshal Grem One-Eye

One of the three marshals of Praes and commander of the First Legion, Invicta. The first Orc Chieftain to pledge his support to Empress Malicia's rebellion. He spends the first half of the series off-screen, commanding the Imperial armies defending the Procer/Callow border at the Red Flower Vales. He and the Legions-in-Exile join Black in his raids on southern Procer, but is forcibly brought back under Malicia's fold via mind control and spends much of the rest of the series under house arrest. Following the war against Keter, he becomes the commander of Cardinal's armies before retiring and being succeeded by Juniper.

General Jainaya Seket

The human commander of the Second Legion, Redshell. Commander of one of the Legions stationed in Praes, she makes a minor appearance in book 7 as one of the leaders of the rebel legions against Malicia. She's assassinated offscreen on Malicia's orders to insight discord among the rebels.

General Mok

The ogre commaner of the Third Legion, Kingmakers. Like Grem, he spends much of the first half of the series stationed at the Red Flower Vales, participates in the fight against the Tenth Crusade, and joins Black in raiding Procer. Upon being forced home to Praes, he joins Seket and Sacker in forming rebel legions against Malicia, and is assassinated on Malicia's orders in order to ferment disunity among the rebels.

Marshal Ranker

One of the three marshals of Praes and commander of the Fourth Legion, Blackhands. A goblin matron whose tribe supported Black and Malicia in the civil war. She spends the first part of the series supervising the Daoine, and assists Catherine in her struggles against the Summer Fae and Akua before taking part in the battle of the Red Flower Vales against the Tenth Crusade. Like Grem One-Eye, she joins Black in raiding southern Procer as part of his Legions-in-Exile, but is one of the many victims of the plague sparked by Tariq intended to isolate and capture Black.

General Orim

The orc commander of the Fifth Legion, Exterminatus. Stationed at Laure, he participates in Second Liesse, where he meets his end. Earned his Cognomen for executing 5000 Praesi prisoners during the civil war, which is why he was stationed away from Praes.

General Istrid Knightsbane

The orc commander of the Sixth Legion, Ironsides. The second Orc Chieftain to join Malicia's rebellion. Appears early in the series as the commander of one of the two legions stationed at Summerholm. Juniper is her daughter. Participates in Second Liesse, where she's assassinated via a poisoned dagger.

Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Embarrasses Juniper during official war gatherings.
Brains and Brawn: The brawn to Sacker's brain, below.
Stone Wall: Not her, necessarily, but her legion. They gained their name for their impenetrable shield wall that humbled the knights of Callow during the Conquest.

Marshal Nim

One of the three marshals of Praes and commander of the Seventh Legion, Hammerfall. As the only marshal stationed in Praes proper, she spends much of the series off-screen, only becoming important in book 7. For more information, see her entry on the Villains page.

General Wheeler

The goblin commander of the Eighth Legion, Trailblazers. Next to nothing is known about them or their legion.

General Sacker

The goblin commander of the Ninth Legion, Regicides. The other legion commander stationed at Summerholm at the start of the series, often serving as the brain to Istrid's brawn. She participates in the battle of Second Liesse and the defense of the Red Flower Vales against the Tenth Crusade, but ends up stuck on the eastern side of the ruined mountain pass and thus misses much of the rest of the war. She returns in book 7 as one of the three leaders of the rebel legions against Malicia.

Brains and Brawn: The brain to Istrid's brawn, above.
Hero Killer: Her legion got their name for killing the Shining Prince during the Conquest.

General Nekheb

The dragon commander of the Tenth Legion, Horribilis. Like Grem and Mok, it's stationed at the Red Flower Vales and participates in the battle against the Tenth Crusade. Afterward, it deserts to take a nap in the Brocelian forest and misses the entire rest of the series.

Awesome, but Impractical: It's a flying, fire-breathing dragon with all the advantages that entails, but it's also very hard to control, prone to days or even months-long naps without warning, and is exceptionally vulnerable to Heroes. Its legion is comprised mostly of undead and necromancers to limit the risk of friendly fire.

General Lucretia

The vampire commander of the Eleventh Legion, Tenebrous. She's stationed in the Praesi homeland and makes a rather limited appearance fighting under Marshal Nim's command against Catherine and the Army of Callow in book 7.

General Afolabi Magoro

The human commander of the Twelfth Legion, Holdfast. He's stationed at Summerholm after Istrid and Sacker are reassigned. He spends much of book 2 and 3 bristling against Catherine when forced to work alongside her, and ultimately dies at Second Liess.

General Jeremiah Holt

The human commander of the Thirteenth Legion, Auxilia. A former Callowan rebel against the Fairfax dynasty, he and his men defect to Praes during the Conquest. In Book 7 he fights against the Army of Callow under Marshal Nim, but is convinced to defect back to Callow by Vivienne, cementing her transition into the Princess.

The Fifteenth Legion

The newest of the Legions of Terror, formed just as the Liesse rebellion begins and drawn almost entirely from new recruits and war college graduates. Catherine wins the command over the legion in the melee at the end of book one, and leads it into battle in book two.

Mildly Military: Dating back to the academy, the former officers of Rat Company don't take very well to things like "military decorum," while Cat tends to undervalue advice from higher-ranked subordinates if they aren't her True Companions. She occasionally clashes with Juniper on both and later realizes the value of an explicit chain of command.
Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Much of the officer pool is drawn from Rat Company, which was the worst company at the war college with a years-long losing streak. Furthermore about half of the rank-and-file are Callowan, largely recruited from criminals. Fortunately the XO is the War College's most successful graduate in living memory, and she's eager to whip it into shape. Also, the Rat Company officers, for all their endearing flaws, are generally competent within their own areas of expertise as long as they are well-managed. Perhaps most importantly the Legion has a charismatic Callowan leader to bring them all together, and a small but growing group of Named to lead the charge.

Legate Juniper of the Red Shields

The leader of the most successful company at the Praesi war college. Catherine's company is pitted against her in Catherine's first battle, which Catherine barely manages to turn into a victory. After the wargame Catherine discovers that Juniper is the daughter of famous general Istrid Knightsbane, but determined to make a name for herself without special treatment. In the great melee ordered by Empress Malicia, Catherine and Juniper are pitted against each other a second time, but Catherine manages to bring Juniper to terms, agreeing to a draw in exchange for naming Juniper her Legate (Second-in-command) when she takes command of the Fifteenth Legion.

In recognition of her role in Catherine's victories at Three Hills, Marchford and Liesse, Juniper is made the youngest Praesi General since the reforms after the end of the Liesse Rebellion.

Blood Knight: A more subtle version of this than is typical for orcs: there's nothing Juniper loves more than war and crushing her enemies, albeit with superior tactics instead of bloody melee. She blames her her mother for it.
Climax Boss: She's the climactic enemy of book one.
Colonel Badass:
- The nearest approximation of her rank, a legate is supposed to command a roughly regiment-sized unit of 2000 troops. In the idiosyncratic organization of the Fifteenth she's effectively the Legion's Executive Officer with Catherine as CO.
- Later a Four-Star Badass.
Commander Contrarian: When she puts her foot down, there's no budging her without a lot of work.
Odd Friendship: She and Aisha rub along surprisingly well, given their respective species. The common denominator being "smart women who like things ship shape and Bristol fashion, yet are surrounded by chronically riotous mess pups".
Overranked Soldier: Appointed as Legate straight out of the War College (as part of a quid pro quo with Cat, who received a generalship straight out of the college for political and/or Named reasons). Gets promoted to General within a year as a reward for her extreme competence in the field.
The Straight Man: Has a regulation-approved stick up her ass.
The Strategist: Since the moment she was introduced as a student in the War College, Juniper has lost exactly once — to Catherine, who used a Name to scrape by with a technical win. She's been in two battles since she joined the Fifteenth, commanding a pure infantry force against an army that outnumbered it two to one (with cavalry) and a horrifying force of devils and corrupted mercenaries. Both were a Curb-Stomp Battle due to her superior tactics. Later battles continued this trend.

Commander Nauk of the Waxing Moons

A lieutenant in Rat company and the only officer besides Catherine to escape the rout at the beginning of the war games. Nauk is an aggressive and somewhat headstrong orc but he is not too proud to recognize Catherine's leadership when she directs the survivors to safety. With Hakram he becomes the first of her core of support within Rat Company and is rewarded with command of a Kabili in the newly-formed Fifteenth legion.

The Berserker: Noted specifically not to be this, as Berserker Orcs can at least somewhat control and direct it. He has the "Red Rage" and will attack anything, including allies, if he gets significant emotional or physical trauma.
Book Dumb: Relatively. He's hopeless with the paperwork, being far more an active and enthusiastic coal-face kind of people-person.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: By orc standards, Nauk is actually a big ol' softy, especially with his emotional reaction to Nilin's death.
Came Back Wrong: After a Summer Court fae burns over half his head, the healing mages were initially going to leave him to die, but Catherine refused. Eventually brought back by Warlock, but his perspective in the Battle of the Camps shows he now has severe anger issues, difficulty remembering things, and a profoundly warped view of the world. He's later killed for good offscreen at the hands of Levantine warrior priests. Catherine later regrets not letting him die the first time.
A Father to His Men: A gruff and liable to growl at them when his lads and lasses fluff it one, sure — but, he'll slog through the worst with them and defend them to the hilt if they're wronged.

Commander Hune

The ogre Commander of the Legion's second Kabili, Hune was the commander of a company at War College (though not one of the top five). Fairly introverted and a stickler for rules. She's killed late in book 6 by the Varlet, one of the Scourges.

Genius Bruiser
Punch-Clock Villain: She does her job, and she does it well. That doesn't mean she likes it.
The Quiet One

Staff Tribune Aisha Bishara

The Commander of one of the War College's top five companies, Aisha is a Taghreb noblewoman who has nevertheless completely assimilated into the culture of the Legions of Terror. Ratface's Ex-girlfriend and Juniper's best friend, Aisha nevertheless allies with Catherine during the melee, and subsequently betrays and is betrayed by her. When Catherine assumes command of the Fifteenth she brings Aisha into her general staff at Juniper's insistence, making Aisha the legion's only highborn senior officer.

A Day in the Limelight: Along with Ratface she gets a lot more than her usual amount of focus during the Conspiracy short story. Hakram and Robber too, but it's less noticeable since they already get more screentime.
Blue Blood: Her bloodline is one of the oldest and most powerful ones native to the Taghreb — for all it isn't one of the, currently, more important ones. She doesn't like to highlight this, even though she knows her way around Tower politics.
Good-Looking Privates: She's the Tarhgreb equivalent of a bombshell (think every last over-sensualised version of Sheherazade, ever). And, an Ice Queen.
Odd Friendship: She and Juniper, being often the calm voices of sweet reason, get along surprisingly well, considering their backgrounds.
Playing with Fire: Downplayed, as she's got no active flame-throwing magic to her. However, there is a djinn in her family tree. She never gets sunburnt, and good luck trying to burn her at the stake without assistance...
Spare to the Throne: She's the spare- third in line to a minor lordship.
The Spymaster: She gets assigned this role near the end of the Liesse campaign.

Supply Tribune Ratface (Hasan Qara)

The Captain of Rat Company, to which Catherine is assigned when she arrives at War College. After suffering a twelfth humiliating defeat, barely redeemed by Catherine leading a small remnant of the company to victory, he graciously surrenders command of the Company to Catherine and continues to serve as one of her lieutenants.

The bastard son of a Taghreb noble, Ratface (real name Hasan Qara) fled from his father's holdings when his father attempted to have him murdered to tidy up the line of succession. He stole enough money on his way out to fund his first year at war college, then turned to smuggling arms and drugs into Ater in order to fund the remainder of his education.

Although his tactical skills leave something to be desired, Ratface's 'unusual' background makes him well suited to a role as Quartermaster and his underworld connections also come in useful for intelligence gathering on campaign. Catherine recruits him into the Fifteenth as Supply Tribune.

Archnemesis Dad: Let's just say their relationship is a little fraught and involves attempted murder on both sides...
Bastard Bastard: Sure, he's our bastard, but still. When he's having a great day, somebody else generally isn't.
Butt-Monkey: Oh yeah. He gets his ass handed to him in the first wargame, then gets abandoned to the enemy halfway through the second. Not to mention his continued, unrequited love for Aisha. He does get several chances to shine in Book Two and the Conspiracy short story.
Corrupt Quartermaster: He'll find a way to get anything. Just... don't ask questions you don't want answers to about how.
High-School Hustler: Was this... continues the hustle after he leaves.
Killed Offscreen: A knife to the back of the neck courtesy of Malacia's assassination campaign against the new Kingdom of Callow.
The Scrounger: Getting things is his thing.

Senior Mage Killian

The Lieutenant commanding Rat Company's mage line, Killian is captured early in the first war game, but is rescued halfway through and helps Catherine to pull off a win. A Duni from the Green Stretch, Killian's magical ability is handicapped by her Fey ancestry which causes her to lose consciousness if she draws too much power. It also doesn't help with the discrimination she already suffers for being Duni. Nevertheless Killian is a skilled mage, and her power proves critically important in the final battle of the second war game. After assuming command of the Fifteenth legion, Catherine names Killian to her general staff as Senior Mage.

Catherine starts to nurse a crush on the redheaded mage during the second war game and sexual tension builds during the march from Ater to Summerholm. After the confrontation with the Lone Swordsman there the two begin a relationship that becomes increasingly adorable even as the campaign gets more dark and brutal and Catherine's actions become increasingly ruthless. Killian also forms a friendship with Masego.

Ambiguously Bi: Like Catherine, there are hints that she swings predominantly girl-wards, though not exclusively so.
Demoted to Extra: She was one of Catherine's closest allies in book 1 and remains important to her through books 2 and 3, but the end of their relationship also sees Killian swiftly relegated to the background.
Evil Redhead: Technically. She is an officer in the Legions of Terror after all.
Fiery Redhead: Again, in the sense that she can literally set you on fire.
Half-Human Hybrid: She's quarter-Fae.
Healing Hands: One of her skills lies in having decent healing magic.
Playing with Fire: Although, she's a little better than throwing fireballs about.
Red Herring: Early in the series, it's implied she might be able to become fully one of the Fae and become much stronger as a mage, but nothing ever comes of it.
Romantic False Lead: She's Catherine's first romantic partner, but their relationship doesn't last.
Shock and Awe: Her Signature Move.
Understanding Boyfriend: To Catherine as of shortly into the second book.
Weak, but Skilled: Her Fey blood gives her increased control when using magic but if she tries to draw power above a certain threshold it tries to modify her body to reflect her Fey heritage (growing wings, etc.). It's speculated that if she could overcome this handicap she might be capable of high arcana.

Senior Sapper Pickler

The last of Rat company's lieutenants, in command of the Sapper line. Like the rest of Rat Company's officers Pickler has a quirk that prevents her from advancing above her rank, in her case she's obsessed with the technical aspect of her craft and has minimal competence and less skill in the tactical or strategic aspects of officer training. That said, as long as she has competent subordinates to manage her unit on the battlefield she is an ingenious siege engineer, capable of innovations that can turn entire battles around. Consequently she is recruited into the Fifteenth's General Staff as senior sapper.

Blue Blood: Well, technically her blood is black like most goblins but she is a matron's daughter.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Think a greener, smaller, madder and female Q...
Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: can utter colourful threats for mishandling her "lovelies", i. e. siege engines.
Dude Magnet: She's the object of affection of both Nauk and Robber, this has her somewhat bemused as Goblins generally only mate as part of a highly structured breeding program.
Skewed Priorities: Pickler may perversely enjoy the attention she's getting, but neither lad chasing her (although both have charms) meets her own, personal standards. Neither can build a trebuchet from scratch to save their lives. Still, mother would not approve: a trebuchet is not as good a sign of dependability as a sound dam or some other form of structural engineering. Pickler feels vaguely guilty for not finding things that aren't tactical or chemical engineering all that thrilling in a potential mate.

Senior Tribune Nilin

Nauk's sergeant in Rat Company, a mild-mannered Soninke boy with an interest in architecture. Drafted into the Fifteenth legion as second-in-command of Nauk's Kabili.

Nilin is killed fighting the Silver Spears at the Battle of Three Hills. Several weeks later, Ratface discovers by investigating his effects that he was a spy for the Truebloods since before he entered the War College.

Black Dude Dies First: Downplayed, as most of Praes, and the Fifteenth, are dark-skinned, but he's notable as the only prominent black male.
Nice Guy: Nilin is so universally liked that the revelation that he was a traitor does serious damage to morale even weeks after his death.
Punch-Clock Villain: It's implied it was working for Akua's house or never graduating the academy for him.

Tribune Robber

Best described as the sentient equivalent of a walking sack of razor blades, Robber is a Goblin's Goblin's Goblin. Irreverent, homicidal and so infuriatingly clever that a council of goblin matrons opted to let him join the Legions pretty much just to make him somebody else's problem. Catherine first enters the story of Tribune Robber when she stumbles into a last-minute appointment as a lieutenant in Rat Company on the eve of a war game against Juniper's First company. Ambushed and surrounded on the first night of the games, Callow and her desperate troopers are rescued from certain defeat by then-Sergeant Robber and his bold tenth of goblin scouts, who lead them to safety in the night. Robber later inadvertently provides Catherine with the idea for the Suicide Goats as well as leading the group that provides the necessary corpses. He is later appointed a Tribune in the newly formed 15th Legion under Senior Sapper Pickler. He is later given command of a detached goblin cohort dedicated to reconnaissance, sabotage, assassination, and all forms of irregular warfare.

Casual Danger Dialogue: Always has a witty remark even in the middle of a pitched fight.
Collector of the Strange: Repeated references are made to his jar of eyeballs, though it's never clearly stated whether this is an exaggeration or not.
Death Seeker: Goblin males usually live short lives, but as the series rolls on and Robber manages to survive deadly situation after deadly situation, he begins to feel his age and starts throwing himself into ever-greater peril searching for his Glorious Death.
"He was thirteen, now, going on fourteen. About time he started taking some serious risks."
Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Cat is eternally grateful he's pointed at her enemies rather than her.
Heroic Sacrifice: Infiltrates a giant necromantic construct known as a Crab to destroy it from the inside with Goblinfire.
Killed Off for Real: Salvaging the disaster that was the Battle of Hainaut.
Mad Bomber: Few things in life cheer him up quite like a large explosion.
Mildly Military: Has a 'unique' approach to military courtesy.
Not Afraid to Die: It's a goblin male thing.
"You know what they say, Captain – only cowards live to fifteen."
Pungeon Master: When he starts pun chains, the conversation runs downhill fast.

Abigail of Summerholm

A luckless Callowan soldier who joined the army to avoid working in the family business as a tanner. She only wants to finish her term of service and retire comfortably, but circumstances repeatedly force her into the most dangerous situations against her will, causing her to rise rapidly up the ranks. Despite being in near-constant terror of being killed (or perhaps because of this), she has a knack for strategy and tactics that makes her a capable commander.

Beneath the Mask: Is terrified on the inside, but everyone else sees her as a canny general.
Badass Unintentional: Really, really wants to just do her job and get out. Unfortunately, she's very good at her job, and Catherine notices this.
Big Damn Heroes: Gets to do this in the final battle against Keter, when she sniffs out a trap that would have crushed the Proceran army and brings reinforcements in the nick of time.
Cosmic Plaything: Fate seems determined to raise her up the ranks in the army. The Epilogue notes that she's been forced out of retirement nine times for various reasons.
Cowardly Lion: Despite her terror at the situations she's thrown into, she makes smart decisions that keep her and her troops alive.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Occasionally says parts of her internal monologue out loud, much to the confusion of legate Krolem.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: In an early battle, Abigail kills a fae and its blood gets in her mouth. This turns into a rumor that she drinks the blood of her enemies, which the orcs quite admire.
Rags to Royalty: Eventually gets granted a noble title - much to her dismay, as it means she's now permanently involved in noble politics.
Red Baron: Eventually becomes known as "the Fox."
Right Man in the Wrong Place: Abigail gets into bad situations by luck, but what gets her out of it is usually her own skill.
Skewed Priorities: Sure, in the Army she faces death on a daily basis, but if she went home, she'd have to become a tanner and marry her ugly cousin, and that's worse.
Springtime for Hitler: A few times, she intentionally tries to fail at her duties (hoping that she'll get drummed out of the army and be able to sit out the rest of the war). Instead, she ends up winning and improving her reputation.

Claimants to the Name of Squire

When Black Knight chooses Catherine as his Squire there are already several candidates vying for the role. When Black and Catherine pass through Summerholm on the way to Praes she meets the other claimants and they compete for the Name by hunting the Lone Swordsman. Catherine is the only survivor.

Disc-One Final Boss: Along with William the Claimants are the main antagonists of the first arc of the story.
Five-Token Band: Between the three of them and Catherine, they have one of each of the empire's major human ethnic groups (Soninke, Taghreb, and Callowan, though no Duni or Deoraithe unless Catherine counts as a Twofer Token Minority) plus a goblin to represent the non-humans.
Quirky Miniboss Squad

Chider (The Squire)

The first goblin ever to claim the Name of Squire, Chider is the one to suggest the claimants form a truce and agree to settle their claims by competing to capture the Lone Swordsman. She takes a bribe from Heiress to kill Catherine, but fails and she is killed by the Lone Swordsman.

The Heiress reanimates Chider's corpse for later use as a weapon against Catherine. During the First Battle of Liesse Heiress is able to trap Catherine and strip her Name from her, causing the Name to revert to the Undead Chider. However Chider does not have time to develop her power as the Squire before she is destroyed permanently by Catherine.

As the Squire, Chider's first Aspect would have been Survive except that Catherine destroyed her before she could finish saying the word.

Death Is Cheap: Heiress uses necromancy to raise Chider from the dead at the end of book 1. Catherine makes sure to kill the goblin permanently during the climax of book 2.
The Dragon: Serves this role for Heiress in the climax of book 2.
Kill It with Fire: First character in the series to use Goblinfire.
Red Right Hand: She's entirely red, unlike most goblins who are generally green or yellow.
Shadow Archetype: She becomes this to Catherine after she takes up the mantle of Squire- Catherine has to defeat her without the use of her Name, and in doing so she heals the damage that the Demon of Corruption did to her Name.

Tamika

A Soninke girl who wears a white veil and fights with a spear. Also another Soninke girl who wears black and fights with a crossbow. It isn't clear whether they're sisters or duplicates or what, but it probably doesn't matter because both are killed in Summerholm- one by Catherine and the other by The Lone Swordsman. Oh well.

Fantastic Racism: Very racist. Even for a Soninke.
Me's a Crowd: In-universe, it's unclear why there were two of her but Name powers seemed to be involved somehow.
Sibling Team: Word of God is the two are twin sisters and that they would have shared the Name of Squire if they defeated all of the other claimants.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Unceremoniously so, too.

Rashid

A Taghreb boy who wears robes and a clay mask and fights with a scimitar.

Jerkass: Would it kill him to not speak Bigot for five minutes? Well, indirectly, it did kill him by alienating every last candidate, so there's that.
Malevolent Masked Man: He tries ever so hard. All the other candidates for the Name find it rather more annoying than the intended scary, however.
Smug Snake: It actually seems to have been one of his aspects- he became more powerful when he was taunting and tormenting a wounded Catherine.

The Kingdom of Callow

Rulers and Nobles

Elizabeth Talbot, The Countess of Marchford

The best commander among the surviving Callowan nobles. She becomes the de facto leader of the first Liesse Rebellion.

Marchford is betrayed by her peasant levies, who surrender her to Black Knight in exchange for mercy. She is executed along with the Marchioness of Vale after both refuse to serve the Empire.

Action Girl: Supposedly. She ends up being a Faux Action Girl due to Black manipulating the rebellion to make her an Anti-Climax Boss so that Catherine will have the narrative spotlight.
Anti-Climax Boss: Invoked. Black manipulates events so that the defeat of her main Rebel army becomes a total Anti-Climax, which means that the narrative weight shifts to Catherine's confrontation with the Lone Swordsman and Heiress in Liesse.
Face Death with Dignity: She's willing to hang rather than submit to Black and the Empress, Black lets her die painlessly from poison instead.
Lady of War: She's got the decorum to be one, though she never gets a chance to bare her teeth.
Supporting Leader: She leads the military side of the Liesse Rebellion, the Aragorn to the Lone Swordsman's Frodo.

Gaston Caen, Duke of Liesse

The exiled Duke of Liesse and the figurehead of the First Liesse Rebellion. A generally shiftless and incompetent leader, remarkable only for his foresight in fleeing Callow before Laure had fallen to the Empire in the Conquest.

The Duke is killed by Assassin outside Vale, precipitating the collapse of the Rebel army.

Know When to Fold 'Em: The reason why he's the only Callowan Duke outside of Daoine to survive the conquest.
Upper-Class Twit: He prioritizes many trivial affairs over actually winning the rebellion.

Anne Kendal, the Baroness Dormer

One of the mid-ranking nobles among the Liesse Rebels (and the only one to survive the war.), The Heiress invades Callow with her mercenaries and sacks Dormer early in the war, forcing the baroness to spend most of the war defending her own lands. When the Fifteenth reaches Liesse she is in command of the Callowans in the garrison.

After the Legion breaches her walls, Catherine offers terms to the Baroness (which she accepts), bringing the rebellion to its final conclusion. After the war, Catherine arranges for the Baroness' life to be spared and she is the first Callowan, after the Squire, to be offered a seat on the new Ruling Council of Callow.

Celeb Crush: Catherine's gotten over it, but a brief glimpse of the baroness as a child was what taught Catherine that she was into girls.
Know When to Fold 'Em: She surrenders to the Squire rather than condemn her men to death.
Laser-Guided Karma: She was the only major leader of the rebellion who wasn't in it for her own political gain, and ends up being the only one who gets the opportunity to surrender to the Squire and thereby survive the war.
Last of His Kind: She's the only Callowan noble in the rebellion to survive, as she has the grace to Know When to Fold 'Em.
Les Collaborateurs: She becomes one after the rebellion fails as a member of the Empire's ruling council.
Pragmatic Hero: Although not a Named, officially official "Hero", she's actually this. She always keeps a level head. As a result, although Good to her toenails, she bows her head to the reality of Evil being currently far too entrenched in Callow to defeat directly without destroying not just the sociopolitical entity that is Callow, but the people and countryside, too. Would that more official Heroes thought that way. She's working to mitigate the effects of Evil running things as much as possible, in the hope of Good prevailing down the line and Callow still being there to save.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: At least the most beautiful woman in Callow. Whenever Catherine has to formulate a list of the hottest women she's ever seen, Dormer is the first one she thinks of. However she admits that even the Baroness has nothing on the Empress.

The Duchy of Daoine

An ethnically distinct, autonomous region in the north of Callow, bordering the elven kingdom in the Golden Bloom. The Deoraithe (as its people are called) are the descendants of the original human inhabitants of the Golden Bloom, who were driven from their land centuries ago by the elves. They guard Callow's border with the orcs of the steppes while making plans to return to their homeland one day.

Badass Army: The Watch uses some unknown magical means to grant themselves superhuman abilities. In addition to ludicrous amounts of training.
- It's eventually revealed that the source of the Watch's power is a necromantic construct made from the spirits of all the Deoraithe that have died since the loss of the Golden Bloom to the elves.
Combat Pragmatist: The Deoraithe, and especially The Watch are known for a brutally efficient approach to war and politics.

Duchess Kegan

The ruler of Daoine since before the conquest. Kegan was able to negotiate a fair amount of autonomy in her relationship with the Praes and has so far been reluctant to compromise that by involving herself in any rebellion or other mischief.

Lady of War
Les Collaborateurs: In some ways. She fought against the empire (and lost) during the initial conquest but since then has been content to rule her Duchy with minimal interference from the tower.

The Principate of Procer

Rulers and Nobles

First Prince Cordelia Hasenbach

The ruler of the Principate of Procer, the ranking great power of Calernia and the most powerful nation aligned with the side of Good. The ruler of one of the Principate's Northern principalities, Hasenbach ascended to the throne of the Principate in the wake of a long and bloody civil war and has spent the time since engaged in a cold war against the Empress Malicia's agents across the continent.

The First Prince believes that the Praesi cannot be permitted to hold Callow, and is plotting to launch a tenth crusade in order to drive them back to the wasteland and unite the forces of Good behind herself.

Abdicate the Throne: As part of a compromise to Catherine and the rest of the Highest Assembly, Cordelia abdicates the position of First Prince to Rozala Malanza.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When faced with the impossible task of turning back the undead armies of the Dead King, Cordelia gets on her knees and begs Catherine, the same woman whose country she declared a Crusade on and had routinely underestimated and talked down to, for help in saving Procer from annihilation. It works.
Arch-Nemesis: To Empress Malicia.
Badass Normal: Cordelia might not be a Named or even a competent warrior in her own right, but she's still a ruthless and capable politician who can play Xanatos Speed Chess with the best of them.
Good is Not Nice: Governing Procer is a balancing act, and she's definitely not afraid to chop bits of it off or up to stabilise it.
Living Emotional Crutch: To Agnes Hasenbach, who similarly treasures her dearly.
Mirror Character: Cordelia and Malicia are really very similar, both being political pragmatists in similar political situations. Her dedication to her country is also comparable to Catherine's.
Moral Myopia: Swears vengeance against Black for invading Iserre and bloodying and starving Procer. But conveniently forgets that this atrocity wasn't committed in a vacuum, but rather as a direct response to Procer invading first. And as Catherine puts it, got into a fight with a monster then is surprised when he behaved monstrously.
My Country, Right or Wrong: While she has no appetite for power or conquest herself, and is by no means religiously-motivated, she understands that unless something is done about the massive amounts of soldiers and mercenary companies in Procer left destitute by the end of the Civil War, and unless the many Princes whose feathers she ruffled assuming power are allowed to expand into Callow, giving her time to consolidate her own power, the days of Procer as a political entity are numbered. What's more she perceives a resurgent, highly-militarized Dread Empire with Callow as its bread basket as an existential threat to not only Procer, but all of Calernia. All these reasons combined lead her to bankrolling the Tenth Crusade. That innocent Callowans must bleed for this is inconsequential.
Odd Friendship: Cordelia is a refined noblewoman who favors diplomacy and good grace. Catherine is a blunt, common-born warlord queen who prefers just telling people what she's going to make them do. They become friends following the end of the Salia arc in Book 7 and even develop something of a romantic relationship in Epilogue II, though the details are left vague.
Refusal of the Call: In Book 5 Interlude: And Yet We Stand, Cordelia refuses the opportunity to gain a heroic Name, and refuses a villainous one as well mere moments later.
Cordelia: "This land will know no queen, no empress, no pale-clad warden to stand above all others."
She Is the King: That's First Prince to you, peasant.
Tough Leader Façade: Inverted. She's a ruthless and determined political operator pretending to be a demure High Queen.

Prince Klaus Papenheim

The Prince of Hannoven and Cordelia Hasenbach's main general. Prince Klaus grew up defending the Lycaonese Principalities from the Ratmen and the Kingdom of the Dead, then went on to lead his niece, Cordelia's forces to victory in the Proceran Civil War.

With the inauguration of the 10th Crusade, Klaus is placed in command of the Proceran forces sent into the Red Flower Vales.

Heroic Sacrifice: In trying to extricate the Alliance army from the disastrous battle of Hainaut.
Odd Friendship: With Catherine of all people, being both hardened soldiers and leaders.
The Strategist: One of the finest military commanders in Calernia, decisively winning the Proceran civil war starting from a position of weakness, with the smallest force of all contenders to boot.
Warrior Prince: He leaves the political niceties to his niece and focuses on the military side of things

Prince Amadis Millenan

The Prince of Iserre. He kept his principality largely out of the Civil War and became the main leader of the opposition after Cordelia Hasenbach rose to power. Amadis supports an expansionist policy for the Principate, against the directives of the First Prince.

Prince Amadis is placed in command of the Proceran army that invades Callow by way of the Staircase at the start of the 10th crusade.

Princess Rozala Malanza

The princess of the principality of Aequitan. In the Highest Assembly, she belongs to the opposition against Cordelia Hasenbach because the First Prince had her mother, the former princess of Aequitan, commit suicide. Malanza stems from a long line of military commanders and is one of the finest generals in Procer. She is the field commander of the army that invades Callow in the 10th crusade. After Cordelia abdicates from the position of First Prince, Rozala succeeds her as First Princess.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: she is an accomplished general.
Warrior Princess: She grew up during the civil war in Procer and leads her mother's armies. As a result she is one of the finest generals of the country, but less adept than other princes(ses) at the "Ebb and Flow."
Worthy Opponent: As a general for for Catherine and Juniper. She is the only royal in the invading army that takes the Callowan army seriously, and she implements smart measures to counter their strengths, like their field engines and mages.

Prince Otto ‘Redcrown’ Reitzenburg

The prince of the principality of Bremen. In fact third in line of succession behind his two sisters. He loses them both and his father on the same day, repelling the Dead King’s forces at the Twilight’s Pass, earning him the moniker ‘Redcrown’. Ever since, he leads a fierce, desperate defense of the passes with his friend Frederic Goethal.

Badass Normal: Always found wherever the battle is fiercest. There is a reason his men will follow him anywhere.
Fire-Forged Friends: With flamboyant, sunny Frederic of Brus.
Reluctant Ruler: The day his crown is passed to him is also the day his father and sisters die defending the Twilight's Pass. To say he feels unworthy and unequal to the task is an understatement. Though he does grow into his role, becoming a capable commander and beacon of hope to his people.
You Shall Not Pass!: His people's epic resistance against the tide of undead is the only reason there is a Procer left to save.
Last Stand: Offers to hold the Twilight's Pass with a few thousand men, while Frederic evacuates everyone else further south. Frederic is insulted at the prospect of abandoning his friend, saying it'll come to swords between them should he suggest that again.

Species

Drow

The Empire Ever Dark

Ambiguous Gender: Drow consider the powerful ("The Mighty") to be above such concepts as gender. Referring to powerful Drow with anything other than a gender-neutral term is seen as an insult.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: When you gain another Drow's life force/magical energy/knowledge by killing them and harvesting the "Night" from their corpse, and your society is based around Asskicking Leads to Leadership, the concept of loyalty or swearing oaths seems rather odd.
Combat by Champion: Their society emphasizes the powerful tribal chief (Sigil-Holders), lieutenants (Rylleh), and other "Mighty" in the hierarchy over the "cattle" of the rest of the citizens and soldiers in a Sigil. As a result, if the Sigil-Holder and Lieutenants are killed, the majority of a Sigil will surrender.
Fantastic Rank System: The Drow under the leadership of Sve Noc and ideal of Asskicking Leads to Leadership roughly follow this. As such, in a given Sigil (~tribe), the ranks from least to most Night are:
- Nisi: The lowest class of drow, meaning "meat" in the language of Crepuscular. This refers to a drow that has had most-to-all of their Night taken. They can be killed for roughly any reason and often leave the Everdark to avoid this fate. Their lifespan is around 60 years.
- Dzulu: "Person" in Crepusucular, generally denoting they have the same amount of Night they had at birth.
- Ipse: The lowest class of Mighty, drow warriors. They have a handful of interesting tricks but none of the dangerous Secrets. Roughly as dangerous in a fight as the average fae soldier.
- Pravnat: Drow that hold one or two dangerous Secrets; essentially, ipse that show promise.
- Jawor: The middle ranks of Mighty with the most variance in ability. Pretty much the "officer" tier of a Sigil.
- Rylleh: A sigil-holder's most powerful subordinates and their inner circle. Must have twelve Secrets to their name and kill an existing rylleh to advance here. They also tend to pull a starscream at some point to take over the Sigil. As a result, they have a very high turnover rate.
- Sigil-holder: The chief of their own independent Sigil whose word is law. They can live for thousands of years.
Klingon Promotion: Drow can only gain status by harvesting the Night from the bodies of others. The more powerful, the more Night a Drow has. This makes it very tempting to take out one's leader and absorb his power.
Shadow Walker: One of the more common tricks for drow to use Night is to turn into/slink into a puddle of darkness and re-emerge later — for example to dodge an attack. Some drow, like the Longstrider-Cabal, take this one step further and use the Night for long-distance travel.
Soldier vs. Warrior: Firmly on the "Warrior" side, much to their detriment when the organized, better equipped "Soldier" Dwarves invade.
Vestigial Empire: They live in the ruins of the massive Underground Cities carved with ancient poetry and the defaced art of their once-great civilization.

Mighty Rumena

Time Abyss: The last remaining general of the Empire Ever Dark's armies before Night existed, and thus one of the oldest drow in existence.
The Snark Knight: The only person in all the continent to consistently get the better of Catherine via mockery.

Dwarves

The Kingdom Under

Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: They make the best weaponry, and siege engines known in this world. They definitely do not sell those to surface-dwellers though. Instead, they sell cheaper, less-powerful models, and keep the good stuff for their own armies. This is the main reason the Praesans value Gobinsteel and Goblin-made siege engines so much.
- They also have a habit of stealing magical artifacts, and then selling them back to surface-dwellers as "miracles of dwarven blacksmithing" a couple of decades later.
Dug Too Deep: Usually the cause of this. They claim rights to anything below a certain depth. A mine belonging to another species going too deep is seen as theft, and isn't taken well.
Fantastic Racism: They generally view their short-lived, technologically-backwards upstairs neighbors as inherently inferior, in an Innocently Insensitive way. They don't consider humans sentient enough to actually hold property, and are visibly bemused when Catherine claims someone is her subordinate. To them, all humans are so primitive that the idea of them having a hierarchy within themselves is amusing.
Guilt-Free Extermination War: Against the Drow, who occupy the underground territories of the North-East. They hold no real ill-will towards the Drow, but want the territory and view Drow as nothing more than pests.
Higher-Tech Species: Much more advanced in this aspect than any known society, except of course the mysterious Gnomes.
The Need for Mead: They consider it poor form to drink liquor while negotiating... because it's too light. They have harder stuff to drink over business.
One-Gender Race: Implied to be this, as no one is really sure how they reproduce. There are rumors that they can swallow a stone and spit up a dwarven baby a few months later though.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Slightly below average human height, rock-like skin, ambiguously long lifespans, rather secretive, and sporting beards.
Sticky Fingers: Since other species can't own property in their eyes, anything on the surface is free game. Since resisting can be met with entire cities being sunk into the ground and the survivors slaughtered, surface-dwellers allow it.
- One notable example is a Human Nobleman almost becoming completely bankrupt after having to buy back his own family jewels from a Dwarf.

Elves

The Golden Bloom

Absolute Xenophobe: Elves on other continents actually live alongside other species and semi-often interbreed. The Golden Bloom Elves are an extremely racist splinter group.
Ambiguous Gender: Their marble-like skin, slim physiques, and generally inhuman appearance make them appear rather androgynous.
Childless Dystopia: No elf has been born on the Calernia since they arrived.
Fantastic Racism: They view all non-elves, and non-Heroes as vermin, and will kill any who approach The Golden Bloom.
Genocide Backfire: When they arrived on Calernia, they slaughtered all of the previous inhabitants of their forest. This earned the absolute hatred of the surviving Deoraithe, and accidentally cursed the land into a Childless Dystopia.
Good is Not Nice: Technically are considered Good-aligned, but definitely not friendly.
Half-Human Hybrid: These are rare, with the only known one being Ranger. The Elves of The Golden Bloom view them as an insult to their Master Race and try to kill them.
Our Elves Are Different: They are relatively immortal, impossibly fast and strong, and better at magic than any other race.
Sacred Language: If they have to interact with non-Elves for some reason, they use supernatural body language or mental projections of concepts. Using "inferior" tongues is seen as degrading. The idea of a Human speaking the Elvish Tongue, however, is seen as absolutely horrifying blasphemy.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Their reaction to Dread Empress Triumphant's Conquest and the Tenth Crusade was to phase The Golden Bloom out of Creation so they wouldn't have to get involved.

Fae

Seasonal Courts

Blue-and-Orange Morality: They run on tropes, not morals. Unless a very specific trope they have as their embodiment lets them, of course. In a highly specific way that must be tailored by the story being played out.
Born-Again Immortality: Fae are reborn when their Seasonal Court is reformed in an ever-repeating cycle.
Cold Iron: Iron weaponry causes them immense, often debilitating pain.
The Fair Folk: Boy, howdy. They're rather more ideas and themes than they are actual personalities. Very powerful, very extreme ideas.
Physical God: The more powerful Fae nobles are more or less this. Especially true of the King and Queen.
Seasonal Baggage: The two Courts of Fae present at any one time always represent two opposing seasons in a continuous cycle. The Summer Court Fae generally have fire or nature powers, while the Winter Court Fae often have darkness, ice, or wind powers. They really don't like each other.

The Wild Hunt

Carnival of Killers: They are sociopaths who will watch happily as one of their own is tortured and humiliated in front of them. They have no stake in mortal conflicts or moral codes. They just really like to kill.
Doom Troops: For Catherine. They'd been sadistically hunting humans and other creatures in the Waning Woods for millennia. Humanity's recent wars are just an opportunity to hunt more entertaining game.
Mook Lieutenant: Larat, a former Prince of the Winter Court, is their current leader. He holds no love for the others, but keeps them in line to avoid punishment on himself. Catherine actually refers to him as her "Treacherous Lieutenant".
Mounted Combat / Lightning Bruiser: Their specialty due to their surprisingly vicious Unicorns and ability to use portals between dimensions.
Seasonal Baggage: Seemingly Inverted. They are made up of Fae from both the Summer and Winter Court, and show no internal division along these lines. Masego wants to dissect some to figure out just what it is that sets them apart from other Fae.

Giants

The Titanomachy

Body Language: Giants are implied to have a complex and meaningful system of nonverbal communication. The White Knight and The Witch of the Woods, two Heroes trained by Giants, can use it to communicate.
Great Offscreen War: Procer apparently attacked the Titanomachy in a particularly brutal or unexpected way a few generations ago. Whatever happened, The First Prince was not at all surprised when the Giants did not show up to join the Proceran-centered Tenth Crusade.
Magic Music: The Witch of the Woods is a spellsinger taught by the Giants. This form of magic can become so powerful that a practitioner once created a large lake (now named The Titan's Pond) as collateral damage from a battle.
The Nose Knows: When The White Knight was ship-wrecked on the shores of the Titanomachy, the first Giant to find him could immediately smell the lingering scent of the Seraphim on him.
Only Friend: The Dominion of Levant is the only country they tend to interact with. Others, they tend to attack on sight.

Gnomes

Unknown

Adapted Out: The Yonder rewrite of Book 1 removes the one scene gnomes are mentioned in. Instead, halflings are discussed.
Bungling Inventor: Heavily Inverted. They are scarily competent.
The Dreaded: Their location, territory, and government are all entirely unknown. They are apparently watching everything everyone is doing, including underground, secluded Goblin researchers. They are the ones responsible for utterly destroying this world's version of Atlantis in one day. No one wants to cross them.
- The Black Knight immediately hurried off to destroy the Goblin Tribe responsible for earning a red letter to Praes, only to find out upon arriving that the tribe had already killed all of their researchers and destroyed the findings.
Higher-Tech Species: They have flying machines and civilization-eradicating weaponry, while all other species are still mastering siege weaponry and medieval warfare.
Medieval Stasis / Enforced Technology Levels: Their sole apparent reason to interact with other species is to prevent any civilization from getting too technologically advanced.
Rule of Three: They send a red letter of warning the first time a country is progressing too much in a given field of technology. The second time, they send a more strongly-worded red letter. The third time? They Leave No Survivors.
Shrouded in Myth: Most of the population thinks that they are a make-believe race of tinkerers. Those in power know nothing about them except the danger they pose.
We Hardly Knew Ye: They are mentioned in one scene of the WordPress version as a Hand Wave for Calernia's Medieval Stasis, providing an excuse for Black to leave the War College arc of Book 1 for a while, and do not show up otherwise.

Goblins

The Tribes

Boisterous Weakling: As a rule, they are smaller and weaker than humans or orcs, but make up for it with agility, tenacity, and generally over-the-top personalities.
Comedic Sociopathy: Their culture holds secrecy, ruthlessness and opportunism as core virtues, and generally do not fit into Human concepts of morality.
Fantastic Racism: Humans outside of Praes often believe them to be corrupted Dwarves and therefore inherently Evil abominations.
Humans Are Ugly: Due to their blunt teeth, odd morals, and apparently gangly appearance, humans are considered unattractive by Goblins.
Matriarchy: Goblin Tribes are led by Matrons. Females are given "important" duties such as leadership, and raising children, while hard labor and warfare are reserved for the subservient males.
The Migration: An unspecifically long time ago, the Goblins were evicted from their subterranean homeland and forced to their current, shallower homes and mines. The dwarves saw the act of not killing all the Goblins before taking their land to be very generous.
Pyromaniac: Their alchemy-manufactured explosives make them very valuable to The Empire of Praes. They come in four main kinds: poisonous gas, general explosives, flash grenades, and Goblinfire: a supernatural green fire that burns for seven days and will consume anything, including magic, in a kind of combination between Hellfire and Anti-Magic.
Sacred Language: Goblins refuse to share their language "stone-tongue" with outsiders. Any Goblin who speaks it where outsiders can hear is killed, and the compromised words are soon changed to prevent any attempts at translation.
- The Matrons have their own, even more secret dialect that uses the same words, but draws slightly different meanings from them.
The Sneaky Guy: Due to their small size, night-vision, and generally cunning nature, they are the Praes' go-to troops for scouting, harassment of enemy forces, and infiltrating enemy strongholds.
We Are as Mayflies: Goblins have shorter natural lifespans than most other species. Living into one's thirties is seen as ancient, and some Goblins are sent to the War College at the fairly mature age of ten.
- Partly Inverted by the Matrons and their immediate descendants, who are somehow usually larger and live longer than the average Goblin (through means apparently only known to the matrons). Marshal Ranker takes this further by living into her sixties through some unknown alchemical procedures.
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Played with. Goblins have a different view of romance than most sentient species. Physical affection is alien to their culture, and two Goblins can be considered "together" romantically while breeding with others and never breeding with each other. One's fangs are considered a prominent sign of beauty to them.

Ogres

Non-Specified Settlements

The Juggernaut: Much larger than Orcs (though presumably smaller than the Giants) at over ten feet tall, soldiers from this species always act as Heavies. While very hard to put down, they are vulnerable to being overrun by superior numbers, so are usually used as shock troops.
Punch-Clock Villain: Due to their small population and foreign origin, it is implied that they generally have no real stake in Praes. Still, they have a quota of soldiers to send to the Legions of Terror, and they do their job well.
Slave Race: They were one of these for The Miezan Empire. A small number were brought over to Calernia after The War of Chains, where they were absorbed into The Empire of Praes after the occupier's empire collapsed.

Orcs

The Tribes

Always Chaotic Evil: Played with. They are a human-eating race that glorifies war, but also possess human-level intelligence, often have a Noble Demon nature, and are usually quite friendly to comrades-in-arms, regardless of species.
The Berserker: Some orcs are prone to entering a state of euphoric fury in battle. Those with the condition of "Blood Rage" have similar symptoms, only so uncontrollably triggered by taking enough physical damage or a great enough emotional shock. An Orc in a Blood Rage is unable to distinguish friend from foe, and is almost impossible to put down non-lethally.
A Father to His Men: Orcs as a whole hold The Black Knight Amadeus in very high regard for his military reforms which prevented Orc soldiers from being used as Cannon Fodder, allowed all races into the War College, and led them to great victories.
Fantastic Racism: Usually viewed as illiterate brutes by the Praesan nobility, and as outright monsters by the rest of the continent.
Humans Are Ugly: Orcs see sharp and large fangs as attractive, and are generally put-off by humanity's comparatively frail bodies and "cow teeth".
Hungry Menace: Long ago, The Empire of Praes learned exactly the amount of meat that needs to be given to Orc troops to prevent starvation, but enough for them to be too bloodthirsty to question how they were being used as cannon-fodder and meat-shields for the rest of the army.
I'm a Humanitarian: Orcs are largely carnivorous and usually prefer their meat raw. They also instinctively view any living thing as a possible meal, including Humans, Goblins, and other Orcs. Since the Reforms by The Black Knight, they're only allowed to eat enemy corpses to supplement their rations.
Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair: The Orc warbands used to Rape, Pillage, and Burn across the Steppes and surrounding areas, with all of their human neighbors living in terror and subjugation. When the Mezian Empire invaded in The War of Chains, many peoples were subjugated, but none hit harder than the Orcs. Their population was decimated, their warbands destroyed, their warrior-priest Shamans wiped out to the point that magical ability was almost entirely removed from the gene pool, and they became a slave/warrior race.
- Things weren't much better under The Empire of Praes. For millennia, they didn't even develop Named due to their decimated culture.
Soldier vs. Warrior: Before the Military Reforms of The Black Knight, Orcs were "warriors" wielding broadswords and battle-axes. After The Black Knight's Reforms, they immediately started adopting "soldier" tactics, with a corresponding dramatic increase in life-span and effectiveness.

Ratlings

The Chain of Hunger

Always Chaotic Evil: They have no concept of morality, society, or mercy: only hunger.
Evolution Power-Up: Ratlings grow throughout their entire lives due to their unique biology. The bipedal Ratlings who last long enough grow into larger quadrupedal Ancient Ones. Ancient Ones who last long enough turn into the near-mythical Horned Lords: bipedal rats that are over sixty feet tall and capable of human speech.
Horde of Alien Locusts: Are sentient, but have no concept of anything except feeding their hunger.
Horror Hunger: Their characterizing trait is always being on the verge of starvation due to their unique biology. They'll eat literally anything, often leading to Monstrous Cannibalism, and Humans being Devoured by the Horde.
Hufflepuff House: The Ratlings don't have any significant impact on the events of the book.
Large and in Charge: The bigger a Ratling, the older they are, and smarter.
Leave No Survivors: They have no concept of giving or receiving surrender. Dread Empress Triumphant famously killed over ninety percent of their population, and they would still not stop attacking.
Monster Lord: The last known stage of Ratling growth is the mysterious Horned Lords. They have human-equivalent intelligence, the capability for human speech, and are over sixty feet tall. The scariest part about them though? They can become Named.
Poisoned Weapons: They often coat their primitive, barbed weaponry in poison.
Rat Men: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Ratlings are a savage, bipedal, semi-intelligent species of rodent-like humanoids.
Rodents of Unusual Size: The average Ratling is already larger than any rodent found on earth, but those who survive long enough evolve into Ancient Ones, which are large enough to act as siege engines.
The Swarm: Constantly on the verge of starvation, these semi-intelligent beings often surge southwards on a murderous search for food. Because of this, they're often referred to as "The Ratling Plague".
Zerg Rush: Their main tactic. Considering their attacks are due to chronic overpopulation and comparative lack of food, the huge death toll that this usually results in only helps matters.

Halflings (Yonder-exclusive)

Callow, currently extinct

An extinct people that once lived in Callow mentioned during the Yonder-exclusive Peren Woods arc.

Adaptation Deviation: Halflings as a concept are exclusive to the Yonder rewrite, replacing gnomes as a discussed people that don't actually show up in the series. Instead of the scene in the War College arc where Black runs off to handle a gnomish red letter, they're discussed by Hopps in the Foxtails' hideout as having been the extinct people who built the hideout, along with their ruins being present throughout Callow's southeast.
Arboreal Abode: It's suggested they were responsible for building the giant tree hollow that serves as the Foxtails' base.
Contrasting Replacement Character: While the gnomes were The Dreaded and implied to live on another continent, the halflings are an extinct people who once lived in Callow who are implied to have been suicidal pacifists. Additionally, while the red letter scene involved enforcing the gnomes' restrictions on advanced technology, the Peren Woods arc is mostly set in a magically-hidden, abandoned halfling settlement.
Discussed Trope: Unlike the gnomes, which in the WordPress version were a threat Black needed to take action on immediately, halflings are only discussed.
Hidden Elf Village: It's implied that they specialized in making these when they were extant, including the Foxtail hideout—apparently, it's why there are so many hiding places in the Peren Woods. The Foxtail hideout tree is still hidden, accessible only to those who know the path there—or, if you burn the tree so the smoke shows at its location, or if you put a tracking spell on someone who enters beforehand.
Hobbits: Like their inspiration, they apparently built burrows and were pacifists.
Shrouded in Myth: Cat thinks that halflings are just a story, rumors of little skeletons found in the Marchford hills. Hopps, the bartender at the Foxtail hideout, disagrees: apparently they left burrows all over Callow's southeast, with Peren Woods having had many living there once.
Suicidal Pacifism: Discussed as the likely reason the halflings went extinct, killed off by Callowans long ago—Dormer was apparently built on top of one of their cities.
Hopps: "Creation's not always kind to those who don't fight."
We Hardly Knew Ye: Halflings get even less direct mention than gnomes did in the original, though it's plausible their ruins or hideouts could show up again in the rewrite's version of WordPress Book 2 or Book 3.

Characters / A Practical Guide to Evil

Edit Locked

Named Characters

Lesser Gods and Ancient Beings (Spoilers Unmarked!)

The King of Winter/The Prince of Bleak Solstice

The Queen of Summer/The Princess of the Morning Star

Sve Noc (Komena and Andronike)

Kreios Maker-of-Riddles

The Forever King

"The Other"

The Dread Empire of Praes

Barika Unonti

Rafiq Muraqib

The Legions of Terror

Marshal Grem One-Eye

General Jainaya Seket

General Mok

Marshal Ranker

General Orim

General Istrid Knightsbane

Marshal Nim

General Wheeler

General Sacker

General Nekheb

General Lucretia

General Afolabi Magoro

General Jeremiah Holt

The Fifteenth Legion

Legate Juniper of the Red Shields

Commander Nauk of the Waxing Moons

Commander Hune

Staff Tribune Aisha Bishara

Supply Tribune Ratface (Hasan Qara)

Senior Mage Killian

Senior Sapper Pickler

Senior Tribune Nilin

Tribune Robber

Abigail of Summerholm

Claimants to the Name of Squire

Chider (The Squire)

Tamika

Rashid

The Kingdom of Callow

Elizabeth Talbot, The Countess of Marchford

Gaston Caen, Duke of Liesse

Anne Kendal, the Baroness Dormer

The Duchy of Daoine

Duchess Kegan

The Principate of Procer

First Prince Cordelia Hasenbach

Prince Klaus Papenheim

Prince Amadis Millenan

Princess Rozala Malanza

Prince Otto ‘Redcrown’ Reitzenburg

Species

The Empire Ever Dark

Mighty Rumena

The Kingdom Under

The Golden Bloom

Seasonal Courts

The Wild Hunt

The Titanomachy

Unknown

The Tribes

Non-Specified Settlements

The Tribes

The Chain of Hunger

Callow, currently extinct

Previous

Index

Next