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Saypuri Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ashara Thivani / Ashara “Shara” Komayd
The protagonist of City of Stairs. An experienced Saypuri intelligence operative and expert in the Divine, Ashara (or “Shara” for short) takes it upon herself to investigate the murder of Efrem Pangyui, launching the events of the first book.
- Action Girl: Though not too brawny, Shara is the dynamo for most of the first book's events, and fights off supernatural creatures on multiple occasions.
- Badass Bookworm: Uses her extensive knowledge of the Divine to work miracles once thought dead and slay Divine creatures.
- Brains and Brawn: Forms a duo with Sigrud. (Hint: Shara is the brains.)
- The Chessmaster: Knows just how to manipulate others to act as she'd like. Also is literally skilled at Batlan and Tovos Va.
- Child Prodigy: Enters the Fadhuri Academy at the tender age of 16 and proceeds to school everyone in her class at Batlan.
- The Cynic: Believes in end-justifies-the-means ideology and that idealism is doomed to fail. Contrasts with Vohannes, The Idealist.
- The Exile: At the start of City of Stairs, Shara has been kept away from her home country for 16 of her 35 years.
- Experienced Protagonist: Shara is already an expert in tradecraft and the Divine by the start of the series.
- Famed In-Story: By City of Blades, is famed as the Prime Minister who also single-handedly killed a god. Despite later on being voted out of office and hotly opposed, by the end of the third book she is (posthumously) lauded as Mother of the Future.
- Heroic Lineage: A descendant of the Kaj, who led the Saypuri revolution over 80 years before the series starts.
- Hidden Depths: Shara's small and plain appearance, aided by the nondescript identity she adopts, hides the fact she is a seasoned covert operative.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Shara is a small woman, while Sigrud has been referred to as a giant.
- Kicked Upstairs: After Shara's cover is blown, Vinya punishes her by promoting her to chief diplomat. Such a public office would make any spy retch, including Shara.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Her boyish features and lack of curves are noted multiple times.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Is almost always calm and composed, but even the thought of interacting with her ex is enough to shake her up.
- Married to the Job: Appears to have little interest for anything outside her work, including relationships.
- Must Have Caffeine: Has a cup of tea at her side whenever possible.
- Older Than They Look: As per her adopted identity, other characters tend to assume she is around 20 years old, and many address her with condescending titles such as "my girl". She is actually 35.
- Semi-Divine: Played With. Shara is initially is taken aback by the idea of all her achievements in life being due to her being a descendant of the Kaj, who was Blessed, but she is then assured that she has not inherited enough of it for reality to warp itself around her.
- Secret Identity: Takes on the name of Ashara Thivani, a deceased cultural ambassador of little import.
- Smart People Play Chess: Or Tovos Va and Batlan, at least. The games are comparable to chess.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Self-explanatory.
Sigrud je Harkvaldsson
AKA The Dauvkind
Shara’s unorthodox “secretary” and the protagonist of City of Miracles. Sigrud is a Dreyling man of few words who acts as Shara’s assistant and bodyguard, tracking leads and brutally dispatching any threats they may encounter.
Shara’s unorthodox “secretary” and the protagonist of City of Miracles. Sigrud is a Dreyling man of few words who acts as Shara’s assistant and bodyguard, tracking leads and brutally dispatching any threats they may encounter.
- Anti-Hero: Played straight. Although Sigrud's actions are ultimately beneficial, there sure is a lot of killing, brooding, silence, apathy, and violence along the way.
- Badass Longcoat: His signature burgundy coat in City of Stairs.
- Barbarian Hero: As a Dreyling, Sigrud is referred to as a savage on multiple occasions.
- Brains and Brawn: Forms a duo with Shara. (Hint: Sigrud is the brawn.)
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Shows it in City of Blades when he is being protective towards Signe.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Sigrud thought he had buried his family during the Dreyling uprising, not knowing they were secreted away to safety, and set out on an outlaw life believing he had lost everything. He was then imprisoned and tortured, creating the character we meet in the series.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Sigrud has lost his home and his family several times over. After Shara's death in City of Miracles, he admits that she was the very last thing he had left; thus, it becomes increasingly hard for him to commit to anything and not simply give himself over to his Death Seeker tendencies.
- Dirty Business: His specialty within the Ministry and when working with Shara.
- Eyepatch of Power: Wears an eyepatch over his missing eye, which does a lot for his abilities of intimidation.
- The Exile: In City of Stairs the coup in the Dreyling territories has made it impossible for Sigrud to return, especially because Sigrud is the last of the line of kings that was overthrown.
- Zigzagged in City of Blades. Sigrud returned to his family and home country in the interim between books, but his killing spree at the end of the second book forces him to again go into hiding.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Has definite shades of this. Sigrud has fought many monsters, both literal and not, in his time and has become very jaded and withdrawn over it.
- The Hero Dies: He gains his wish at the very end of the third book.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Shara is a small woman, while Sigrud has been referred to as a giant.
- The Lancer: To Shara. Acts as her right-hand man, and is the silence and heavy-handedness to Shara's charisma and subtlety.
- Made of Iron: Earns a lot of injuries in all three books that by all means should have killed him. At the end of City of Stairs, a doctor predicts Sigrud's injuries should be fatal, but he makes a swift recovery. In City of Miracles, he survives traveling through a Divine Eldritch Location, which is deemed wholly impossible for a human.
- The Mentor: It gets mentioned that he has been a handler to quite a few assets during his career with the Ministry. In the third book, he teaches Tatyana how to shoot and take care of herself.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has this reaction after coming off his berserker rage at the end of the second book and realizing he has killed several completely innocent young soldiers.
- That Man Is Dead: Believes he is fundamentally different to the man he was before his Dark and Troubled Past. Because of this, he does not believe he can ever rejoin his family or be the king his country needs.
- Scars Are Forever: Well, scars caused by divine artifacts meant for punishment sure are. They also never heal.
- The Stoic: Extremely sparse with words and emotions. The most he will do to express his frustration is sigh. ... As long as you don't mess with his family.
Vinya Komayd
Head of the Saypuri Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Shara's aunt. Shara reports directly to her, though she is weary of being caught in her aunt's political machinations.
- Ambition Is Evil: Will do almost anything to reach her goals. Her means regularly include torture, abduction and assassination.
- The Chessmaster: Appears to have covert operations in action across the Commonwealth. Vinya is Shara's equal, if not superior, when it comes to skill with pulling the strings.
- Iron Lady: Like most Saypuris, Vinya has immense political ambition. She spares no sentiment with her niece when it comes to reaching her goals.
- Semi-Divine: Vinya Komayd turns out to be Blessed, meaning her entire political career was not exactly her own achievement. Her bitterness over that discovery is what kicks the plot of City of Stairs off by ordering the death of Dr. Efrem Pangyui, who made the discovery in the first place.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: That is if you don't want to straight out call her a villain. She's not above trying to use Divine children as weapons, imprisoning them and using torture to bend them to her will. Torture that lasts years.
Dr. Efrem Pangyui
A Saypuri diplomat sent to the Continent to study Continental history as a sign of goodwill. His murder before the start of City of Stairs sets in motion the events of the book.
- The Mentor: To Shara, off-screen. Whether directly or through his writings, it's implied she learned most of her knowledge of the Divine through him.
- Posthumous Character: As he dies at the beginning of the first book, his character is revealed through Shara's internal monologue and clues found in the murder investigation.
Pitry Suturashni
A worker at the Saypuri Embassy in Bulikov who seems to draw a lot of short straws in life.
- The Chew Toy: Always manages to be given the embassy's unwanted errands.
- Innocent Bystander: Is basically an audience to the building chaos that other characters must deal with in City of Stairs.
Captain First Class Kavitha Mishra
A Saypuri officer who clandestinely works with Nokov.
- Deal with the Devil: Has a deal with Nokov. She spies and handles the human side of his operations for him; he rewards her with money - lots of money - and, perhaps more importantly, gives her a purpose.
- The Dragon: She's the right hand to Nokov and is his most used and trusted operative, and she's the one he offers to make her his seneschall.
- Power-Upgrading Deformation: Nokov gives her a magic pill to take only in an absolute emergency, which will transform her into a Divine seneschall. When she does take it she is transformed into a powerful but very monstrous creature since Nokov accidentally put too much in it, completely overwriting her personality as well.
Saypuri Military Forces
General Turyin Mulaghesh
The polis governor of Bulikov in City of Stairs and the protagonist of City of Blades. A decorated Saypuri war veteran, Mulaghesh is tired of her administrative position, but still proves to be committed to good civic duty.
- Action Girl: Has seen maybe too much action in her military career.
- An Arm and a Leg: Loses her left forearm and hand in the Battle of Bulikov at the end of City of Stairs
- Artificial Limbs: Begins City of Blades with a clunky wooden prosthetic arm. Signe later builds her a much more advanced metal one.
- The Atoner: The older she gets, the more she regrets her less justifiable actions as a soldier. She tries making up for this by working as a sensible governor and later becomes a leading member of parliament. Before she retires from the military, she protects and looks after the young soldiers under her command.
- Brutal Honesty: Never lies or candy-coats.
- The Chains of Commanding: Clearly exasperated with the administrative work of being a polis governor in City of Stairs. Her command under Biswal exposed in City of Blades is something else entirely.
- Cigar Chomper: Always manages to have a cigarillo clenched in her teeth. Gender-inverted, as this trope is by and large a boys' club.
- The Conscience: In City of Stairs, repeatedly points out Shara's morally gray areas, and advocates the best of course of action for her country.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Participated in the atrocities committed in the Summer of Black Rivers at the age of 16. Her actions from this campaign continue to haunt her almost 40 years later.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Lived aimlessly for a time after her service in the Summer of Black Rivers, and found her only purpose was in serving in the military. Shara leverages this to coax her out of retirement in City of Blades
- Drowning My Sorrows: At the beginning of City of Blades, Mulaghesh's home is littered with empty wine bottles. The drinking does not stop there.
- A Father to His Men: Tends to treat younger soldiers as her kids, especially Pandey.Sigrud: You did not ever have any children, did you?Mulaghesh: Natural ones, no. Had about a few thousand adopted ones, though.
- Taken further when she fills Voortya's role and is hailed as Mother by the Divinity's otherworldly warriors.
- Field Promotion: Given by Biswal during the Summer of Black Rivers. Later nullified.
- Firing One-Handed: Picks up a one-handed revolver as her weapon of choice in the second book.
- Handicapped Badass: In City of Blades, still manages to kick as much tail after losing an arm.
- Hidden Depths: Her grisly military experiences and pervasive mental health issues highlighted throughout City of Blades are only hinted at in City of Stairs.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Is on the short side, but by Shara's judgement, is very muscular.
- Retired Badass: Briefly, in City of Blades.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Mulaghesh is still haunted by her actions in the Summer of Black Rivers. She also has recurring nightmares of the Battle of Bulikov.
- Sir Swearsalot: Is pretty liberal with the sentence enhancers.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Not long after Mulaghesh finally gets her tropical escape, Shara brings her back into the game one last time in City of Blades.
General Lalith Biswal
Led Mulaghesh and the rest of the Yellow Company on the notorious "Yellow March" during the Summer of Black Rivers. Commands the forces outside Voortyashtan during the events of City of Blades.
- Colonel Kilgore: Seems altogether too nostalgic for the Summer of Black Rivers.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Resents the fact that he and his contributions in the Yellow Company were systematically forgotten by the Saypuri government.
- He goes so far as to say he deserves a better death, when he unceremoniously meets his end.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Toward the end of City of Blades, Biswal offers to return a vital weapon to Mulaghesh, if she can best him in a grand swordfight. She just shoots him instead.
Shivaji Pandey
A Saypuri soldier who used to serve under Mulaghesh in Bulikov, but as of City of Blades is stationed near Voortyashan.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Drinks himself under the table after Signe's death, and instigates a fatal swordfight with Mulaghesh in his drunken rage, believing Biswal's claim that she is the killer.
The Divinities and other Divine beings
Kolkan
Also known as the Judge, Kolkan is the Divinity associated with law and judgement. While originally a fair judge, he slowly descended into madness. He went from perfectly reasonable laws (don’t murder, don’t steal) to insane arbitrary tyranny (no white stone floors, no eating bright fruits, no leaving fruit seeds in ditches) with increasingly cruel punishments to match. He vanished shortly after trying to make his insane rules the norm accross Bulikov, enraging the other Divinities. He has a special obsessive hatred of the flesh, and intimacy in general.
- Light Is Not Good: He is associated with light gray colors and bright lights. He’s arguably the worst Divinity.
Olvos
The Divinity of Hope.
- All-Powerful Bystander: She reveals herself to and talks with Shara, but refrains from getting involved in her human problems.
- Not Quite Dead: She's still around and well, though choosing to remain anonymous among humans.
- What If God Was One of Us?
Jukov
The Divinity of pleasure, corruption, chaos, madness, rebellion and a few other things. Generally spent his time having endless parties and orgies in the forests with his followers, playing tricks on them, and having a good laugh about it all.
- Papa Wolf: It's him who saved the Divine children - even the ones that aren't his own - by shrouding them in complex miracles.
- Shapeshifting Trickster
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Very fond of changing himself and his loyal followers into animals, particularly birds.
Voortya
The Divinity of War and Death.
- Blood Knight: Voortya herself, and inspired and valued this in her followers.
- I Have Many Names: Maiden of Steel, Queen of Grief, Empress of Graves, Devourer of Children ...
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Usually manifested with four arms, the better to handle her weapons and be even more badass.
- Posthumous Character: Died nearly a century ago, the first of the Divinities to be killed by the Kaj.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: And she founded an entire civilisation of these.
Nokov
Nokov is the son of Jukov and the antagonist of City of Miracles. While the Divinities themselves used to have power over all reality, Nokov is only powerful within his own domain: the Night.
- The Assimilator: When he catches his Divine siblings he takes them into himself — read: into eternal night — and can then use their power for himself.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: How he's introduced to Sigrud (and thus the story).
- Captured Super-Entity: Was this, which forms a part of his Dark and Troubled Past.
- Driven to Villainy: Held in captivity and tortured by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until he snapped.
- Face Framed in Shadow: As master of the domain of Night, this is a given.
- Freudian Excuse: His childhood consisted of isolation, captivity and torture. Yeah he's got it.
- It's All About Me: Utterly focussed on his own ambitions and goals, with everybody else just there to aid him in reaching them or to be killed along the way.
- Logical Weakness: He rules the domain of Night, so he's susceptible to light, especially daylight.
- Looks Like Cesare: Tall and thin, pale, with black hair and completely black eyes and, of course, wearing black. In fact, he seems to look a lot like Dream of the Endless — particularly with his rippling black robes and distant stars in his eyes, not to mention being associated with the night — though he can't be called an Expy, as his personality, background and role in the story are all completely different.
- Mundane Utility: Uses the fact that he is linked to every darkness anywhere to access the insides of coffers, cupboards and safes and steal the money kept there ... lots of money. Which he then pays operatives and assassins with who do jobs for him in those places he can't go to himself (i. e. Saypur).
- No-Sell: Sigrud is the greatest (human) badass the trilogy has to offer. While Nokov effortlessly beats up Sigrud, none of Sigrud's attacks have any effect whatsoever on him, since Nokov resides in his own part of reality and simply remains intangible ... That is, until Sigrud discovers that the scar on his hand — the one that was caused by a divine artifact — makes it so that he can touch Nokov and wrestle him down.
- The Paranoiac: He believes that his Divine siblings and their allies are constantly out to get him, their strength being in numbers even though he individually is the most powerful of them.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Nokov's true age is centuries old and his mortal identity is at least 20 but yet he acts like an emotionally stunted teenager, constantly whining and throwing tantrums about how much he's suffered and how that justifies everything he does.
- Put Them All Out of My Misery: As he explains to Mishra, he believes that first the Divinities failed, then Saypur failed, and now he's taken it upon himself to end all the suffering by doing away with both.
- Speak of the Devil: When you speak his name, he will find you. Instantly. Thus, he is mostly just called "him" or "our enemy".
- Sympathy for the Devil: Upon finding out more about Nokov's tragic background, Sigrud feels some for him.
- There Can Be Only One: His ultimate goal is to become a true Divinity and the only Divinity by killing and assimilating all his siblings.
- Weakened by the Light: As his Logical Weakness, confronting him with bright lights hurts him badly. Used by Vinya Komayd and the Ministry as a means to torture him and break his will.
Malwina
A Divine child who helps Sigrud and explains the Secret War between the Divine children to him. Her domain is the Past.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She is noted as being pale by Sigrud and has wild dark hair. He is a bit creeped out by her, especially her equally pale eyes.
- Mental Time Travel: She has power over the Past, and can transport herself or others back through time. Since this violates the rules of the universe, she cannot go back very far, and has to manually repair the damage done to the fabric of reality afterwards.
- Older Than They Look: This is true for all the Divine children. They were born during the time of the Divine Empire — i. e. 100 years ago at least — but due to Jukov's miracles protecting them, physically experienced their childhood over and over again, forgetting the lives they already lived everytime the cycle reset. It's only thanks to Nokov's doing that the children "woke up", now remembering who they are whilst still looking only like teens or at most very young adults.
- Troubled Child: Though the child part is relative, given how she's a century old or older, Jukov's miracles have forced her to relive a new and traumatic childhood over and over again. This is apparently true for all the Divine children.
Other Characters
Vohannes Votrov
Heir to an established family, and a large proponent of the progressive New Bulikov movement. He is poised to be Shara's window into Bulikov's politics, but their past history brings her plenty of frustration.
- Bury Your Gays: Is killed by a god himself specifically for his sexuality, among other transgressions.
- Cultural Rebel: Defies his ultra-convervative, Kolkashtani culture with his shameless decadence, willingness to work with Saypur, and sexuality.
- Ethical Slut: In comparison to his countrymen. Vohannes resents the destructive self-denial that the Kolkashtani religion mandates.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish sibling between him and Volka.
- The Idealist: Believes all his actions should be guided by the virtue of what is best for his city. Contrasts with Shara, The Cynic.
- Precision F-Strike:Vohannes: Well. I guess fuck you, Father Kolkan.
Signe Harkvaldsson
The mastermind behind the reconstruction of Voortyashtan's harbor and Sigrud's daughter, introduced in City of Blades.
- Action Girl: Though most of her time is spent on engineering, she is a ridiculously skilled sailor, and can be ruthless when called for.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Growing up near Voortyashtan with a single mother isn't easy. At one point, Signe volunteered to go through a harsh tribal coming-of-age ritual, during which she killed an older boy for making unwanted advances.
- Hidden Depths: There's a lot going on behind her placid mask. She hides a tribal tattoo under her scarves. She is also a veritable killer, which even Sigrud did not know.
- Must Have Nicotine: Is a notorious chain-smoker and constantly smells like cigarettes. It only gets worse when she's stressed.
- Parental Abandonment: Since Sigrud was imprisoned and thought his family dead, Signe and the rest had to live without him in the harsh mountains around Voortyashtan.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Self-explanatory.
Tatyana Komayd
A teenage Continental girl who was adopted by Shara Komayd. Over the course of City of Miracles it becomes apparent that she is a Seer, which constitutes one of the many mysteries that Sigrud has to solve.
- Bittersweet 17: Tatyana has led a very sheltered life. When she's 17 she loses her mother and has to realize that Shara has been involved in some extremely dangerous Divine matters which also affect Tatyana herself, making it clear that her life will never again be as safe and easy as it used to be.
- The Ingenue: To a certain degree, though she's quickly growing out of it.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Since her mother's death she has had to let go of her Ingenue ways and has become more cynical, leaving her sheltered world behind and learning about the threats to her own life. Sigrud quickly takes note that she's actually Sour Outside, Sad Inside, which coincides quite well with his own condition at the time.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Thought that she was this for the longest time, being the daughter of the unmarried (ex-) Prime Minister. Of course, City of Miracles clarifies that Shara might have had her reasons to keep Tatyana isolated, reasons that have less to do with her being priviledged and more with her possibly being Divine.
- Naïve Newcomer: To protect her, Shara never taught her about the Divine, despite being the world's foremost expert on it. In City of Miracles it becomes clear that Tatyana will have to learn a lot very quickly, if she wants to survive.
- Seers: Has traumatic visions of things to come.
Ivanya Restroyka
Vohannes Votrov's former fiancée and the richest woman on the Continent.
- The Confidant: To Shara, later in life. She aids Shara with her charities and looks after Shara's daughter when Shara is indisposed.
- Incompatible Orientation: Her fiancé is gay. She knows this and likes him anyway - or so she says.
- Love Interest: Hooks up with Sigrud.
