Citybound characters

Appears from the start

A newly Refined mage who reaches Alefast after training her iron abilities with Cazor. She intends to investigate work and further instruction with an Alefast contact, while an internal collaborator assists with research and correspondence.

Appears from the start

Tala's internal collaborator, sharing her mind and body while retaining enough independence to conduct inquiries and manage correspondence. Alat is already helping investigate the missing mage who became a fount when Tala arrives at Alefast.

First appears in chapter 5

Tala's flockmate and combat partner, explicitly not a pet or tamed creature. He can cross short distances by flicker-teleporting, and Alefast's defenders accept him as an accessory member of the unit that will take Tala.

First appears in chapter 10

The dimensional space that houses Petra, Simon, and their family while also supplying Tala's new unit with a meal. Kit is not soulbound, so people can enter without becoming magically tied to Tala, though its limits are still being measured.

Appears from the start

The person Tala plans to consult about opportunities after reaching Alefast.

First appears in chapter 3

A friend of Tala and a former apprentice of Alefast's leading Paragon. His prior place in that training lineage becomes relevant when the Paragon rejects another relative's demand for the same apprenticeship.

Appears from the start

Tala's recent partner in iron training. Their work together immediately precedes her departure for Alefast, and it informs the abilities she brings when seeking employment, service, and further instruction in the waning city.

First appears in chapter 7

One of the married co-leaders of Tala's six-person Alefast defender unit. This leader rapidly creates spell forms suited to immediate needs and can alter a mage's inscriptions through specialized threads.

First appears in chapter 7

One of the married co-leaders of Tala's six-person Alefast defender unit. This leader creates magical edges for fighting at close and middle range.

First appears in chapter 7

The wide-area specialist in Tala's six-person Alefast defender unit, using glass workings and broad awareness to control and protect large spaces.

First appears in chapter 7

The healer in Tala's six-person Alefast defender unit, with broad training in healing and the magical creation of useful materials.

First appears in chapter 7

The stone specialist in Tala's six-person Alefast defender unit, using refractive camouflage, quiet movement, and travel through the ground for stealth and reconnaissance.

First appears in chapter 10

Petra's husband and a technically minded member of the household living inside Kit. He is examining the space's dimensional limits, work that will determine whether Tala's full defender unit can safely use it as field shelter.

First appears in chapter 10

Tala's cook and household collaborator within Kit. She prepares the meal through which Tala welcomes her new unit into the dimensional home shared by Petra, Simon, and their family, revealing an established household behind Tala's field provisions.

First appears in chapter 45

Tala's returning friend in Banfast and the guardian of a developing mageling. She joins Tala and Rain for the journey to Alefast while reports and recordings of Tala's defensive battles are beginning to circulate.

First appears in chapter 45

The young mage under Lynn's care, now showing stronger inscriptions and a more developed understanding of magic. The mageling travels with Lynn, Tala, and Rain from Banfast to visit Alefast, where Tala's public defender role is becoming more visible.

First appears in chapter 48

A dormant, collared, bear-shaped artifact purchased by Lynn's mageling. Earlier examiners considered it sapient but not immediately dangerous, while its analyzed magic suggests that truthful exchange can awaken, befriend, and strengthen it.

First appears in chapter 49

The awakened identity of the bear artifact bonded by Lynn's mageling. It communicates through intricate concepts, identifies itself as a sapient being from the ordered void, and involuntarily creates reciprocal ties through truthful exchanges.

First appears in chapter 23

A nonhuman captive whose lingering conceptual effects undermine safety and patience near his cell. Investigators learn that he has nullified his own death and injury, and apparently his humanity, before Tala's unit opens the containment.

First appears in chapter 14

A male prisoner who gains conceptual power from stories about him. The warning at his cell says that killing him can transfer his life into the person most strongly connected to him and those stories.

First appears in chapter 6

Tala's morphic soulbound weapon. During a controlled spar it changes fluidly among knife, sword, glaive, and other shapes, giving Tala an adaptable reach that initially surprises a far more experienced Refined martial instructor.

First appears in chapter 27

A gateless acquaintance whom Tala considers employing for construction inside Kit. Because he has no gate, he and other gateless builders may be able to work in the dimensional space without creating the same pressures as ordinary mages.

First appears in chapter 28

A technically capable researcher brought into Kit with Brandon. He begins studying the isolated endingberry grove, and Simon quickly recognizes enough aptitude to ask that he remain as a research assistant.

First appears in chapter 28

A Paragon bonded to Alefast's city stone. Until the stone selects a successor, it can restore his body following his death. He explains its collective power and offers Tala a demonstration of the city's rapid movement system.

First appears in chapter 30

A mature automaton submerged in purple liquid within Kit. Brandon senses that Io may be dormant rather than inert, prompting the household to establish a watch while the true condition remains uncertain.

First appears in chapter 44

An exceptional inscriptionist whose workshop reveals complex dimensional shaping around her gate. She understands how such pockets alter which forms of magic can function, assesses Rain, and plans a later review of Tala.

First appears in chapter 33

A sleeping creature associated with dreams and confined within an ancient cell. It cannot wake or leave, but it projects adaptable nightmare creatures whose venom can permanently put sapient victims to sleep and control their bodies.

First appears in chapter 42

Tala's returning information liaison in Banfast. She arranges two Refined supervisors for Tala's guarded attempt to move through the magical dimension, ensuring that specialists and an emergency recovery method are present.