Characters

Those who walk the story, from the unaligned farmer to the jaded mentor. Most names are still proposals.

The Protagonist

Player character

Player chooses male or female. Starts as an ordinary villager or farmer, unaligned with any side or faction, possibly an orphan with no attachments. Born with…

The Mentor

Mentor; Sallowbank ferry keeper

Trustworthy, but jaded. Once caught up in the endless conflict between the two sides. Was pushed to do something and/or realized the conflict was pointless and…

Tobin

Sallowbank eel-catcher

Forty years on the Sallow, and believes every story about it, the Drowned Choir's hum included.

Marra Hesk

Keeps the Sallowbank bakehouse

Feeds everyone whether they're hungry or not, and believes very little. Minds the protagonist's hens after the send-off.

Fenn

Marra's grandchild, about ten

Chalks door-marks on every fence and traces them, sure they must work if you push hard enough.

Tamsin Vale

Rival and friend

Sent to recruit the player; believes the rules completely until she reads what the Hour Stair hides.

Rook

Lanternfall guide; glyph smuggler

One-armed, yet casts, which the Evane call impossible. Gives glyphs to anyone who asks and won't look at what that has cost.

Prelate Ondine Ash

Speaker of the five factions; antagonist

Gave the Corran order, and will sacrifice Lanternfall to close the warps. Sincerely believes it saves more lives.

Iver Kest

Radical; antagonist

Un-taught as a boy; means to shatter the Heart Pane so no one can be un-taught again.

Mother Bramble

Faction head

Heals anything nature would heal and nothing it wouldn't, and turns the dying away.

Keeper Hale

Archivist of the Hour Stair

Knows what really caused the Breaking and keeps the records sealed.

Choirmistress Wen

Faction head

Speaks only in mirrored hand-signs; the one Evane leader who writes to the Facets.

Caravan-master Dace

Teaches Gale

Runs caravans for both sides, which the other four factions resent.

Lio

A child in Lanternfall

Given a glyph too early; her first cast hurt her family, and now she is afraid of her own hands.

The Stilled of Corran

A town frozen in glass

About 200 people standing mid-step for twenty years; the test at the heart of Act 3.

Jory

Character

"Waymakers carry. That's the whole of it."

Reeve Hollin Tace

Character

"Everybody's welcome. Nobody's welcome to cast."

Sef

Character

"Hands, please. Both of them."

Wren

Character

"No sigil? Nobody's ever given you anything, have they."

Bram Tolley

Character

"Last room. Mind the third stair, it's on nobody's side."

Hob

Character

"Boots that don't leak. You'd be amazed how few people ask."

Sister Orla

Character

"I mend what would mend. The rest isn't mine to touch."

Harl

Character

"I set silver. Glass is someone else's sin."

Quill

Character

"Everything's a shape that hasn't been cut yet."

Nell

Character

"The glyph's free. The tracing's up to you."

Ringmaster Ulla Stroud

Character

"In here you can hit anyone you like. Out there, try it and see."

Dorrit Mallow

Character

"The river stood up. Stood up!"

Pell

Character

"I gave it away first. Three copies before they caught me."

Brother Fallow

Character

"Corners are for people in a hurry to be right."

Novice Tull

Character

"Keeper Hale says you're early. Keeper Hale says everyone is."

Sister Ise

Character

(signs) "Come and be quiet with us."

Ness

Character

Dace's outrider; may be hurt at the pass

Garnet and Cass

Character

Garnet: "Nobody's to blame. That's the hard part."

Sorrel

Character

"A seal's only a knot. Knots have prices."

Rusk and Oda

Character

Rusk: "Fresh warp, fresh glyphs. Somebody has to get them before the Wardens glass it."

Sabe

Character

"Fresh cracks grow fresh glyphs. Somebody was going to dig them."

Brin

Character

"Give it to Mam. She'll know."

Hollis

Character

"I was halfway through a sentence. Let me finish it, then tell me what year it is."

Old Pim

Character

"One loop, one rope. The bell does the rest, later."

Mott

Character

"Nobody down here asks which side you were on. Up there, it's the only thing they ask."

Vey

Character

"Sealed, freed, stolen, found. A glyph's a glyph."

Culet cutters

Character

"One more cut and nobody's hands get sealed again."

Warden menders

Character

"Steady. Steady. Stay with the Prelate."

Protagonist

Mentor