Ironbound characters

Appears from the start

A returning human mage who reaches a human city with Terry while an iron Doskanok runs through her body. She removes Kit and leaves it outside a cleansing circle before entering an emergency teleportation procedure intended to separate her from the creature.

Appears from the start

An iron creature threaded through Tala's body when she reaches human territory. Its presence prompts an urgent cleansing teleport intended to separate it from her.

Appears from the start

Tala's intelligent terror-bird companion, capable of flicker-teleporting and changing his apparent size. He reunites with her outside a human city and accompanies her to the urgent cleansing procedure.

Also known as Tala's sanctum

Appears from the start

Tala's named dimensional storage and mobile refuge. Before she enters the cleansing circle, she removes Kit with her other non-soulbound possessions and leaves it outside the procedure.

Appears from the start

An unnamed paragon stationed at Aelfast Waning. When Tala arrives with an iron Doskanok throughout her body, he assumes charge of a teleportation-based attempt to purge it.

Also known as Tala's inner collaborator

First appears in chapter 2

A cooperative mental perspective sharing Tala's body. Alat falls silent when the cleansing teleport strips away Tala's inscriptions, then returns after Tala uses Kit to restore them.

First appears in chapter 3

Rain's older brother, an underpowered mage who depends on a draining dark-crystal staff for his magical development. He greets Tala and Terry with hostility before becoming formally polite.

First appears in chapter 4

A longtime human friend of Tala who joins the local paragon in sheltering her after her changed power unsettles nearby people.

First appears in chapter 8

A returning friend of Tala and her contact in the Caravan Guild who welcomes her return.

First appears in chapter 6

Tala's thirteen-year-old sibling and a second-year academy student. Her magical education emphasizes combat, and a birthday message brings confirmation that Tala survived.

Also known as Mistress Ingrit

First appears in chapter 6

An archivist and trusted information broker who reviews material sent by Tala. She verifies Tala's captivity, confirms that human authorities know of the situation, and arranges to support her arrival in Banfast.

Also known as Mistress Holly

First appears in chapter 8

A lead inscriptionist and refining specialist present at Tala's return briefing. Her first examination identifies Tala's condition as dangerously unstable and establishes the need for careful stabilization.

Also known as Master Grediv

First appears in chapter 8

A senior human mage and adviser who brings Tala and Rain into Banfast without public notice. He delivers them to the formal Archon briefing arranged around Tala's return.

First appears in chapter 8

A Constructionist Guild master whose own bodily deterioration resembles the regeneration damage threatening Tala. His condition is raised as a relevant comparison during the first assessment of her instability.

First appears in chapter 11

A concealed Reforged who supports controlled study of an inactive automaton because the Black Legion may be stirring. Tala detects him with void sight, and he indicates that they will speak later.

Also known as Master Boma

First appears in chapter 11

A Constructionist Guild master admitted to the restricted portion of Tala's return briefing. Boma is cleared to remain while the group examines sensitive arcane knowledge and recovered materials.

Also known as Master Q

First appears in chapter 11

A Constructionist Guild master admitted to Tala's restricted briefing. Q remains with the small group authorized to examine Kit and other sensitive discoveries brought back to Banfast.

First appears in chapter 11

An artificial personality organized around a fount but distinct from it. Rob asks to stop existing, while the associated fount makes a different choice, forcing Banfast's council to consider them separately.

First appears in chapter 13

Lynn's mageling, who manages work around Lynn's household. The mageling is part of Tala's renewed circle in Banfast but is introduced without a reliably established personal name.

First appears in chapter 14

The head of the Banfast Archon Council, who joins the assessment of Kit and uses a purpose-built diagnostic orb to examine its dimensional condition.

First appears in chapter 20

A senior Archon trained to treat psychological harm caused by magical unions and similar events. He meets Tala inside Kit, recognizes her habit of separating herself from others, and sets expectations for honest but voluntary discussion.

First appears in chapter 22

A mage hunter who tracks a thief through magical sensor nets, manipulates magnetic fields and iron, and disables the thief's keystone during the arrest.

First appears in chapter 23

Tala's elderly former overseer in the Caravan Guild. Nearing death, she has arranged for her fount to be released from Zeme and declines Tala's offer of continued existence as a mind bound to it.

First appears in chapter 25

An Archon whom Tala consults about creatures that reinforce reality, unstable regions beyond ordinary space, and advanced magic. He explains how such creatures stabilize Zeme and how the strongest can endanger anything within the area they affect.

Also known as Master Simon

First appears in chapter 29

A constructionist proposed as an assistant for Tala's mobile sanctum. Simon and his family are considering a household arrangement that would place his technical expertise inside Kit.

First appears in chapter 29

Simon's wife and a member of the family considering relocation into Kit with their three youngest children.

First appears in chapter 34

A senior Constructionist Guild specialist assigned to examine Tala's altered weapon. She finds that its new forms carry a power that changes who owns iron.

First appears in chapter 40

The constructionist who delivers the morphic sheath made for Tala's weapon. The fitted sheath changes with the weapon's forms and diffuses the force of its impacts.

First appears in chapter 43

A returning acquaintance from Tala's guard-training days. Their guarded reunion makes clear that her power and combat history have placed lasting distance between them, and both expect it may be their final meeting.

First appears in chapter 45

An unidentified elderly mage whom Tala finds alone in a stable, low-magic dell. He is unresponsive and irreversibly entering the fugue that precedes becoming a fount, so Tala remains to witness the transformation.

First appears in chapter 49

Tala's estranged parent and the proprietor of the family alchemist shop in Marleyweather. He waits outside Tala's childhood home when she finally arrives to face a difficult family reunion.

First appears in chapter 50

Tala's oldest sister, an alchemist studying magical theory under a healer-mage. She meets Tala during the siblings' reunion and discusses a possible path toward receiving a keystone and inscriptions.

First appears in chapter 50

An unnamed healer-mage who teaches magical theory to Tala's eldest sister and expects that she may eventually be ready for a keystone and basic inscriptions.

First appears in chapter 50

Two of Tala's younger siblings, both twelve and determined to attend the academy. They listen to her honest account of mage work and remain committed despite its dangers.

First appears in chapter 57

A magical predator newly occupying a mountain valley rich in founts. It attacks Tala, draws enormous strength from the terrain, and rapidly restores even severe physical damage.