The Inquisitors are a secret group of six persons with some magical powers, each wearing a robe and a cloak of a given color: Crimson, grey, black, indigo, viridian and white. At midnight on the first day of year 1000, they tried to summon demons in a tomb deep in the desert; they summoned the PCs instead. They had also bind us to them, giving them some control over our actions, and stopping us from doing anything to harm them.

They said they wanted to become rich beyond their wildest dreams, and offered us to work for them, for 50% of the loot and sharing of any source of information we found.

When we got to the Holy City, the Serpent Queen told us something evil was at work in the Empire, and we had to confront the Inquisitors about their actions. She sent us to Tenosia, saying they were stationed at the Sun Temple. When we got there, we just had time to see them being escorted to the docks by a group of Imperial Guards, board a ship and sail north (which is strange if you want to go to Kapital because it's on the opposite side of the continent from Tenosia; think going from New York to L.A., but without the Panama canal).

We heard from them next at the Zasev festival, after we had recover the Tome of Power from the Imperial Library in Kapital. They talked to us through one of their Priestesses. They revealed to us their goal was to create an immortal Empire.

We met them another time just after coming back with the Heart of Ice. They told us a bit about the last two artifacts. We learned from them that they had great difficulty translating the book in Imperial since it is written in an old and forgotten language. When we said we needed better weapons, they gave us the Swords of Su, which we discovered later were extremely dangerous to use. When we next talked to the Serpent Queen, she called the Inquisitors amateurs, a group of children playing with powers they didn't understand.

As we unmasked the dead bodies, we recognized the following people:

• Crimson Inquisitor (and leader): (ex-) Emperor Nicolai XIV (!).
• Grey Inquisitor: governor Otto Archelaus of Tenosia.
• Black Inquisitor : Ambassador Nerbudda Ramasi of Kali.
• Indigo Inquisitor : Oriental Fleet Prefect Sergei Isakov.
• Viridian Inquisitor : High Inquisitore Sixtus Quartus.
• White Inquisitor : Patriarch Apolatón of the Sun Temple.

Following their deaths, the curse on our head has now be lifted and we are free to act as we want. It didn't get rid of our Mark of Ages, however.

Update (2007/12/31)

We have received a lot of information about the Inquisitors lately, about their reason to summon us, and the way they did it. You can find out most of it in chapter 218. We also know that Ambassador Ramasi has been living for hundreds of years at least, using dark magic to steal the youth of his children to sustain him.

Leader of the oasis guards in the desert in the center of the Empire. Recruited the NPCs to go to the Demon City (the Holy City) to look for his wife who went there a while ago as a scout fpr an expedition. No member of this expedition ever returned. He promised to give us five horses if we find out what happened to her.

What we found out later is that the expedition had found the Demon City, but was killed by undead guardians and become undead guardians themselves. We defeated them just after entering the City. We never had the opportunity to collect our reward, however, because we were magically transported from the City to Tenosia by the Serpent Queen.

The Serpent Queen was alive one thousand years ago, when magic was still active in the world. She was not a ruler, but more the leader of an independent cult whose role was to deal with sorcerors who were endangering the world with their practices. One of her tool was a Master Assassin, of which Vinz ended up being the reincarnation.

We found her body in the tomb where the Inquisitors had summoned us. Recnam removed her head, and she became able to talk to him in a Dream world. We brought her head to the Holy City, and put in on her throne, thus liberating her. Following that, she bestowed Magery to Recnam and Vinz, gave the Scroll of Necros to Recnam, and became a spiritual advisor to Vlad and Recnam. She told us a great evil was active in the world, and it had nothing to do with Magic or Necromancy. The Inquisitors were probably implicated, and she wanted us to confront them as soon as possible.

Since then, she has proved an invaluable source of information for the entire group, especially when dealing with demonic entities, magical objects and weapons, and magical phenomena. She does seem troubled by the speed at which magical occurences seemed to happen, and has hinted that Ruinas could in fact be aligned with the Mad Things and want to provoke a new Age of Blood and Iron.

Update (2007/12/31)

We have learned that the Serpent Queen is actually a Harb.

We don't know too many things about Ruinas. We heard his name when the crest described by the dead bandit in Tenosia was identified as being his symbol. He is a retired Legion general, extremely wealthy and powerful. While in the Legion, he was famous for his campaign against the nation of Teclà in the South. He seems to be implicated in some power struggle with the Temple of Necros (and, according to the Patriarch, against all other Temples) to take the place of the Emperor.

After many squirmishes with his subordinates (in Tenosia, near Kapital, in the Temple of Necros and in the sewers), we finally met him at the Legion Headquarters. We made a truce with him for now, although we know it will be broken at the first convenient occasion.

Two days later, while Mushamee was out with his first cohort on Vasili's order, it was announced that the Legate for the 1st Kapital Legion, Titus Pilatus, had been assassinated, and that Ruinas was the new temporary Legate. He immediately moved 1,000 to 1,200 of his personal legionaires and support troops to add two new cohorts to the Legion, making the troops under his control more numerous than the High Imperial Guard. Because of Vasili's order, however, he does not control Mushamee's 1st cohort.

Ruinas' men took control of Kapital when Vasili and the High Imperial guard left Kapital the day after. He then declared himself the new Dictator of the Empire, with the support of other Legions of the regular army.

Otto is Ruinas' servant and right-hand man. He was the one who hired Romulus to kill the High Priest of Necros who was travelling with us from Tenosia. He is also the boss of the masked man waiting in the warehouse the night we stole the Great Tome from the Imperial Library.

We met him for the first time when we met Ruinas at the Legion H.Q. Two days later, he was brought as an aide to Ruinas in his new Legate role.

Update (chapter 91): killed by Recnam while Ruinas was performing the big Ritual.

Asid from his job of hiring gladiators, Romulus is also the leader of a small gang of thugs for hire. He was paid by Otto to take care of the High Priest of Necros coming from Tenosia, and selected Dmitri to do the deed.

The assassination failed, and we learned of Romulus from Dmitri's spirit. Vinz, disguised as a badly hurt Dmitri, went to see him at the Burnished Breastplate Inn and got all the evidence he needed. The day after, following the attack on the Temple of Necros, Romulus was unofficially arrested (after quite a melee) by us and the Night Guards and put in the Temple's dungeons. He was then interrogated by Rufus and spilled the beans about Otto being his employer.

Since then, he is still kept in the Temple dungeon and used as a guinea pig by Recnam to practice his new spells.

Dmitri was the leader of the gang who ambushed us as we were a day away from Kapital. Their mission was to kill the High Priest from Tenosia. They did wound him gravely, but Recnam foiled them by putting the priest in Suspended Animation (by pure Luck, it must be said). The ambushers were quickly taken care of, and Dmitri was killed by one of Vinz's bolts.

All we knew about Vasili is he seems to be the leader of the Mercenary's Guild in Kapital, running it like his personal toy, and he likes to disguise himself as a woman. He is extremely dangerous. He only had contact with Vinz, one time in Tenosia when Vinz was trying to follow the Imperial Guards, and another, also in Tenosia, when Vinz was looking for someone who would recognize the three-arrow crest described by the dead bandit leader who attacked us on our way to the Necropolis.

Two days after Mushamee had officially become the Primus Pilus of the 1st Kapital Legion, Vasili told him to move out to investigate a presumed insurrection happening not far in the east, otherwise the "curse of 30 days" would be invoked. The result of this order is that even if Ruinas is in control of the 1st Kapital Legion, he doesn't yet control Mushamee and his 1st cohort, which was the best of the lot.

The same night, he left Kapital with the High Imperial Guard and moved to Roma, the old Imperial capital. He left a message for Vinz at the Mercenary's Guild chapter in Kapital inviting him and his companions to join him in Roma to "clear the bad air" between them.

When we reached Kapital, we learned Vasili had now declared himself the new Emperor, in direct opposition to the Dictator Ruinas. When we met him, he confirmed he was the illegitimate son of the ex-Emperor Nicholai XIV. He allied himself with the Inquisitors to usher in a new golden era where Magic would be used to solve every problems and cure every illnesses. And could also be used to defeat Ruinas and his troops definitely.

Back to start

The Patriarch of the Temple of Necros is a wry old man who seemed to be as interested in politics as in saving souls. He said there was a power struggle to replace the Emperor in Kapital, and he would be interested in establishing a new theocratic Emperor, especially now that magic is reappearing in the world. He seems somewhat manipulative, alternating between promises of rewards and threats. He uses a crow to follow us and report any important information.

Lately, the Patriarch had revealed the existence of a prophecy concerning a conflict between three sons, i.e. the Son of the South (Ruinas, famous for his campaigns in the South), the Son of the Emperor (Vasili, who seems to really be the bastard son of the Emperor), and the Son of Necros (which, he says, is Recnam).

Update (Chapter 52): as Ruinas became more and more hostile toward the churches, the Patriarch decided to move his main Temple back in Roma and to ally himself with Vasili. Shortly after their departure, the Temple in Kapital was burned to the ground.

In the last year, the Patriarch's mental sanity seemed to be drifting away. Because of his contact with the Book of Prophecy (the Guardian), he is now convinced that Necros must rule this plane, and to do that, he is ready to take control of the empire and transform everyone of his inhabitants into an undead lich.

In Chapter 140, the Patriarch died when the Guardian, having finally revealed itself for what it is, decided it didn't need the old man anymore and broke him in millions of small pieces. Soon after, Recnam was named the new Patriarch.

Lucretia is the High Priestess in charge of the Temple of Necros in Tenosia. She helped us get to Kapital by setting up a caravan of pilgrims and asking us to serve as guards. It does seem, however, that the High Priest she sent with us had a pretty important message to deliver from her part to the Patriarch in Tenosia, given the trouble Ruinas went to assassinate him, so we have to wonder who really helped who.

Although we don't know his name, he is the High Priest who was the leader of the caravan from Tenosia to Kapital. We know he was carrying a message from Lucretia to the Patriarch. The prime target of Dmitri's assassination attempt, he was grieviously wounded by a bolt to the chest, saved by Leif, and put in Suspended Animation and stabilized by Recnam.

Now in the Temple of Necros, he was the target of another murder attempt by a Teclan assassin. Since the Temple was already on high alert because of Vinz (disguised as Dmitri) had received the order from Romulus to kill the Priest this very same night, Mushamee was able to find and kill the Teclan before he could accomplish his mission.

Katya Markova is the captain of the Night Guard, a group of information gatherers, spies, assassins and thiefs working for the Temple of Necros. Her official title is Night Captain. When the group reached the Temple of Necros in Kapital, Katya tested Vinz and invited him in her group to lead an independent cell. Vinz accepted.

Since then, Katya and her group have provided us with whatever resources we need in protecting Recnam.

Update (Chapter 52): Katya came to Roma with the Patriarch when the main temple was moved from Kapital to Roma. She lost most of her people in a bandit ambush just outside Kapital.

When it came time to arrest Romulus the Black, Katya sent five members of her organization to help us. They were:

• Renaldus (Big Ren), Katya's second in command, wielding a shortsword
• Irina, a shortsword-wielding woman
• Marius, a man carrying a kusari (weighted chain)
• Portia, a woman dual-wielding knives
• Publius, a man who prefered the quarterstaff

During the fight, Renaldus was seriously hurt by Romulus, but was brought back to the Temple of Necros to be treated.

Update (Chapter 52): Most if not all of them were killed in the ambush outside Kapital.

We don't know much about the Listener. He is a somewhat old man guarding the dungeons in the Temple of Necros. Although he has his mouth and eyes sowed shut, he can see and sense things happening around him. He gives the impression he is a pretty good fighter.

Update: it seems Listener designates not a particular person, but a group of persons ferociously devoted to the protection of the Church of Necros. It seems someone can be made a Listener against his/her will.

Centurion Salvatore is the second highest ranked officer in the first Cohort after Mushamee. When Mushamee has to leave for a mission, it is Salvatore who supervises the daily activities of the Cohort.

Horgo is a man from the steppes and the best scout of the 1st Cohort. He has been sent with Vinz to explore the mountain pass on the road from Kapital to Roma, and gave Vinz a necklace full of teeths.

Merovius is the Primus Pilus of the reinforced Legion guarding the Western Mountain Pass connecting the old capital of Roma to the new capital of Kapital. Although solidly behind the new dictator Ruinas, he let Mushamee and his first Cohort go through after they passed themselves as Ruinas' troups charged with capturing a Tenosian spy wanting to go to Roma to establish an alliance with Emperor Vasili.

Back to start

Even better, he is in fact a vampire more than a thousand years old. He said he personnally knew the Serpent Queen before she died a long time ago.

Since the death of the Inquisitors, we have not heard from him.

At first ignorant about all the Magic stuff going around, he has now been made aware of it by Rufus and Mushamee when they met him in Roma.

Although Mushamee was the first one of the group to be with her, he didn't like the experience at all as he remembered practically nothing. However, Vinz, being effectively an eunuch, was attracted by the whole body experience thing, and went to her the next night. He liked it so much he spent every night of the next two weeks with her. She also helped him in learning how to pass for a Teclan man.

It was later revealed that Loclá is in fact some kind of spy for the Teclan Empire. As a formal treaty was worked out between the Empire and Teclá, she left her role of prostitute and became an official representative of Teclá to the Palace.

Assigned to the group by Lucius Gordianus, Captain Nikita acted as captain of our ship for our first trip to Teclá. He was killed by Teclan assassins after we stole the Holy Stone from the Teclan Temple.

Assigned to the group by Lucius Gordianus, Marco acted as ship navigator for our first trip to Teclá. He is the sole survivor of the sailors who accompanied us because he was away when the Teclan assassins stroke.

Update (Chapter 42): Killed on the Isle of Sorcery, he is brought back to life by Mushamee's wish.

Men from the 1st Cohort of 1st Kapital Legion, they were assigned by Salvatore to serve us as sailors for our first trip to Teclá. Anatoli was a drunk and notoriously unreliable; Brutus was competent but acted like a tough man; Cletus was mostly dumb. All three were killed by Teclan assassins after we stole the Holy Stone from the Teclan Temple.

Officius seems to be one of the more important civil servants in Roma. He is responsible for organizing the Emperor's audiences, and Vasili definitely seems to have great confidence in him as he is the one who was sent to wait for our return from Teclá.

Personnally, he acts like an arrogant asshole, although a highly efficient one. And who knows, maybe being an arrogant asshole is part of his job.

He helped us a lot in bringing Marcus "Porcinus" Altov to justice, thus ridding himself of a rival.

These four members of the High Imperial Guards have been assigned, at the request of Kaeso and the reluctant approbation of Mushamee, to accompany us on our trip to the Isle and the End of the World in chapter 39.

Update (Chapter 42): Killed on the Isle of Sorcery, they are brought back to life by Mushamee's wish, and are now loyal to the Legionnaire (i.e. Allies).

Leif's Father is the spiritual leader of the village, located on the island of South in the Northern Barbarian lands. He is some kind of shaman and may possess some kind of power. He desperately wants his son Leif to follow his' and his grandfather's footsteps in becoming a spiritual leader. He is one of the only persons that remembers the Age of Blood and Iron and desperately wants to prevent its return.

He is also one of the only people not related to the Inquisitors who knows about our bindings. When told of it by Leif, he told his son everything he knows about the Mark of the Ages and the Four Ages. He then gave Leif a belt having belonged to his father.

Leif's Grandfather was a poweful shaman in Leif's native village, used to dealing with demons and other supernatural creatures. What happened to him is somewhat unclear, but according to Leif, he eventually met something that rendered him limb from limb.

He did died on this day, but his spirit lingered on in this world. At first, he could only take possession of his grandson's body when Leif was asleep, but since then, he has learned to talk to him at will, and even materializes in the real world when needed.

Altov is a high civil servant in Roma and is the rival of Officius. Still considering Nicolai XIV to be the real Emperor, he is controlling many decurion in the Palace guards. He is possibly the one who organized the assassination attempts on Recnam in the Imperial Palace when we came back from the Isle at the End of the World.

Arrested during the festival of Smert for cannibalism and bestiality, he was led by us to the Temple of Necros where he was assassinated during the night, probably by some fanatic priest.

Petrovius is a rich Kapital merchant known throughout the Empire. Although we have never met him, we know he gets rid of his adversaries by killing them and transforming their corpses into ham. He is an ally of Ruinas.

After Ruinas' death, Petrovius left for Tenosia with imperial papers making Tenosia an independent state and setting him as the new leader of the city. He also brought with him a soul-sucking machine and set it up in a secret cave beneath a chapel dedicated to Necros (which enraged Recnam to no end).

Just before the Amazons' invasion of the city, Ruinas transferred his soul to another gigantic soul-sucking device, and by sacrificing his soul, opened a gigantic portal between ours and the star-fish demons' dimension, leading to a big battle. We luckily prevailed, and Necros closed the gate.

Helena is the new wife of Rufus Gordianus Falco. She is the daughter of a Roman general and niece of Senator Lucius Gordianus, Rufus' patron. She is good-looking and seems quite intelligent. Her ambition is to visit all the Empire and write books about the different places she had been. She could also be a spy or a secret agent for Vasili.

Update for chapters 60 and later: she did ended up being an agent for Vasili. She also doesn't hesitate to overrule her husband when she thinks he is overly stubborn and/or doesn't make sense (which is much of the time).

Diandra is Helena's personnal maid and the only accompanying her in her trips. Liking big, strong men (and being beautiful with big boobs), she quickly shacked up with Leif.

Just after the Tenosian invasion, she learned she was pregnant with Leif's child, forcing the big barbarian to marry her.

Claudius, one of Helena's uncles, is a middle-aged man living in the kotanese city of Shag, where he owns a small domain protected by less than a dozen guards. He has been living in Kotan for many years now, and has only seen Helena once before our arrival in Shag, when she was really young.

Kobov is the Empire's spy and all around helper for the city of Shag. He is the leader of a small group of people charged with helping anyone who came seeking his help and knew the proper codes.

Maria is the abbess of the Temple of Necros in Shag, tasked with the everyday running of the small church. Until Recnam appeared, she was also in charge of the spirituality of the Temple members since friar Nebulus left Shag for Toshtanag a month ago for some important meetings.

Friar Nebulus is the person in charge of the souls of all members of the Temple of Necros in Shag. He left for Toshtanag one month before our arrival in Shag in Chapter 60, supposedly for important meetings with other members of the Necros clergy.

In Chapter 63, we discovered that the real Friar Nebulus was killed more than 50 years ago by a succubus, probably the famous Queen Hepshet the Serpent Queen mentionned to Recnam the day before. Since then, the succubus has impersonated the friar, maintaining its secret by killing any person who had participated in its hunt 50 years ago and cursing them so they cannot reach Necros.

Back to start

Mentionned by the Serpent Queen in Chapter 61, Queen Hepshet is a demonic succubus with many powers. According to the Serpent Queen, she clouds the minds of mens, screws them, and turns them into half-demons that are a bit like vampires, but not undead. Supposedly, she can turn invisible or into mist, change her shape, and all the other good stuff that mythic mind-controlling demons can do. The Queen thinks Hepshet is a demon princess on par with a lesser goddess in power, not just a monster for a warrior to kill with a sword.

As of Chapter 63, we have good reason to think she has killed Friar Nebulus more than 50 years ago and used her shape-shifting abilities to assume his identity.

She also reappeared in chapters 159 and 160, having taken control of Ashnog Potnag in Shag. After rescuing Potnag, we finally got rid of her by killing her in this dimension and in the Shadow Realm of Lost Souls, sending her back to her home demon dimension for many centuries.

This priest was actively working with Ruinas' recruiting forces in Shag. He possessed actual magical powers of the life-draining type. He also had some kind of device capable of creating a gate to another dimension and used it to get rid of Recnam's skull spirits in Chapter 63.

He was promptly killed by Mushamee in Chapter 64 when the general neatly removed his head from his shoulders at the end of the big fight. His spirit was immediately captured by Necros and sent to hell for interrogation and torture.

Sextus Phineus is the Legate of the XXXIIth Legion devoted to and cursed by Ruinas. His whereabout is unknown.

Marcus Nobilus is a Centurion, maybe even the Primus Pilus of the XXXIIth Legion. Stationed in Shag, he was the man who led the assault on our group in the Temple of Necros. He was part of the group who retreated when things went badly for the soldiers.

He was probably among our victims when we invaded the garrison the next day.

Tiger is the leader of the kotanese resistance in Shag. Contacted by Kobov at Vinz's request, he anb his men helped us in the attack of the garrison, after a promise that Vasili would let Kotan be independent at the end of the war.

Plumbas is one of the two Tribune of the city of Shag. Still loyal to Vasili, he helped us to get rid of Tribune Cadmus. He then decided to go meet the XVIIth Legion with us to convince them not to attack Shag. He is also responsible for Cadmus' trial.

A man under the control of Ruinas, Tribune Cadmus is a mage of some power. After poisoning Mushamee, Helena and Rufus, he fled Shag, leaving a burning house behind.

He then sent the rest of his troops to intercept us on our way to the XVIIth Legion. After we killed them, we followed their steps back to Cadmus' camp, where we killed his last four swordsmen and his two demonic bodyguards. We finally captured him when Vinz knocked him out with the flat of his sword.

Unluckily for us, he was able to escape Plumbas' cell the night before his trial.

A kotanese-born war veteran, Potnag is the Legate of the XVIIth Legion stationed in Kotan. Until we met him, he and his Legion have been left to their own means, incurring large debts and being seriously under-equipped. When Mushamee offered him the equivalent of 785,000 coppers, he accepted to join Vasili's side.

The XVIIth Legion is presently stationned at the kotanese town of Shag, where it will protect the city and be used as a pool for remunerated manual work.

Anastasia is the last of Helena Falco's family still living in Kapital after Ruinas' conquest. Although slightly mad, she hates Ruinas with a passion and is ready to participate in any conspiracy against him. She is somewhat old, and is quite callous toward her servants.

Heraldus is Anastasia' dead husband. After his death, Anastasia had him summarily entombed in her domain's basement, thus trapping his spirit in the material world. Luckily, Recnam found him and sent him to the afterlife.

After the death of Ruinas and the destruction of its pyramid, Anastasia returned to her family estate in Roma.

Back to start

Brother Caspar is one of the few, if not the only, priest of Kapital's Temple of the Sun who has not been corrupted by Ruinas. Why this is so is unknown to us, but we do know he is directly connected to his God, since he was able to kill at least one star-fish creature and send it directly to his God.

He was imprisoned following his conversation with Vinz in chapter 83, and rescued by our group in chapters 83 to 86. He also accompanied us in our invasion of Ruinas' stronghold starting on chapter 87, where he sacrificed himself to destroy Ruinas' soul-sucking machine.

Kherim Khan is a djinn, a powerful air elemental. He was trapped into a bottle thousands of years ago, and kept into servitude in the Temple of Evil. Once we freed him, he gave us three favors, to use when needed ; we only have to call his name three times, and he will come. Of course they all have to deal with air.

Kherim was obviously a powerful and well known entity in his time, but now, after being gone for thousands of years, he has to rebuild his strength and circle of influence. He is now holdind the Vortex of Thunder and will trade it to his Air Elemental brothers for the Heart of Ice (and a possible promise to help).

Queen Hyppolite is the leader of the Amazons, a group of half-divine women who lived with no fear without dying in a dimension cut from our own for thousands of yeards. She possesses some amulet that allows her to speak to directly to the minds of those around her, and to communicate instantaneously with any of her sisters, wherever she his.

Her and her troops have now returned to our world and took control of the city of Tenosia following its invasion by the star-fish demons. Her alliance with Vasili has been definitely sealed by taking Mushamee Potemkin as her husband.

An old friend of Rufus Metrius is a retired gladiator we met in Tenosia when getting rid of Petrovius. He is a bona-fide Weaponmaster, and always carries a big bag full of normal and exotic weapons with him.

Julianov Czesko is the Primus Pilus of the Imperial Legion stationed in Tenosia who became the leader of the Tenosian guards when Petrovius took control of the city. He is also an old comrade who Mushamee, having stationed with him in Kotan.

When made aware of Petrovius' treason, he joined us in the defense of Tenosia against the star-fish demon invasion.

Although using the disguise of a book of prophecy (the one used by the Patriarch of Necros), the Guardian is in fact an entity dating before the universe was created and holds all its rules. It is binding to every thing existing in the universe, even the gods.

For a reason still unknown, the Guardian have manipulated the Patriarch of Necros to bring us into this world, so that we could be used in a ceremony that would change the way the universe works. We successfully stopped this ritual when Kaeso plunged the six Swords of Su into the Guardian (with Su's help), apparently destroying it. But we still to this day ignore what made it take the action it has taken, and what was it really wanted. Or even if it was really sapient or not.

Update: it seems the Guardian was given to our Gods by the Dark Gods of the Mad Things dimension to remake the rules of our universes when they created the time loop after the Age of Blood and Iron. It proved to be some kind of trap, as it removed most of the Gods' power of intervention in our world - which in turn made us vulnerable to the invasion of the starfish men.

We had heard of Su a long time ago, when we first received its six swords from the Inquisitors. We had also found some of his other artifacts here and there around the world. But it is only during the episodes with the Guardian that we finally met him face to face, when Recnam summoned him to help us fight the book.

Su is god-like entity nine to ten feet tall, of human shape except for his six arms and black eyes with sparkling lights. He is a legendary Demon Hunter, originally from Mahash but now residing in some alternate dimensions where he is still fighting demons. He is an extremely powerful creature, able to kill powerful demons with his bare hand.

During our trip in Kali, we actually visited his Temple in an alternate dimension. One of the function of this temple is to find magical items and to work on them for a thousand years to make them more powerful, so that they can be handed down to the heroes of the next millenium.

When someone successfully circumvent all obstacles leading to the Temple, he is offered to trade in some or all the magical objects he is willing to; in exchange, he will receive an equivalent number of artefacts of Su that have been made more powerful during the last 1,000 years. This is a one-time event only, unless someone manages to live for 1,000 years.

Faizul is a minor war leader in Mahash. Sent by his leader the Ashok to fetch us because of the mysterious opening of an old Temple in Mahash, he has accompanied us all through our adventures in Kali, serving as guide, interpret, and comrade in arms.

Ali is the personal servant of Faizul, and flew with him to Roma to fetch us. He has fled Mahash with Faizul's wives just before the invasion of the city by the star-fish creatures.

These three women are Faizul's wives. Living in Mahash until recently, they left the city just before the invasion of the star-fish creatures.

The Ashok is the title given to the political and spiritual leader of Kali, with his palace in the capital of Mahash.

The current Ashok is an old man seemingly more interested in philosophy and art than in managing in country, and is now in the gravest situation of his life following the invasion of his city by the star-fish creatures. He does however possess some supernatural abilities and has the knowledge of some old rituals that can be of used against them.

For an old, pacifist man, he is strangely attracted to weird things and has a tendency to get into trouble on his own. He is, however, very versed in Diplomacy and knows a lot of languages.

Repa is one of the most respected schoolmaster in Kali. He is primarily a teacher of Horse Archery and has a school in the Kali mountains at the Indistani frontier. Although he usually restrains from participating in Kali's public life, he is actively participating in the reconquest of his country.

Brunehilde is Granddad's wife and Leif's grandmother; she also happens to be a 9' tall Ogre of great strenght who can take a human form when needed.

She has a half-brother, who is half-Ogre, half-Demon, and incredibly jalous. When she married a human, her half-brother was so mad that he eventually sealed her into a jar which he then hid into the frozen dimension in Frigidia. We recuperated the jar after killing the death god of this dimension, then freed her once back in Tenosia. Since then, she helped us whenever she can, and proved particularly useful in the fight against the Dark God in Mahash.

Korg was the general of all the armies of the new independent kingdom of Kotan. Sent with part of his army to fight the Starfish invasion in Mahash, he died in the deciding fight of the campaign.

King Hathig is the King of the newly reformed kingdom of Kotan. He is a cackling and grumpy old man, but in return to getting his kingdom back, he has agreed to help us with the defense of our world against the starfish creatures, and especially with the liberation of Kali.

Kromm is a very old man, and is arguably the best alchemist in the world (although he doesn't have the capacity of wipping out potions like Kaeso does with his Gizmos and Quick Gadgeteering). He works for Hathig, the new king of Kotan.

Quang is one of the Viziers of Kotan. While we were there to establish an alliance with Kotan, he got kidnapped and replaced by a starfish creature using some kind of illusion. Vinz freed him later, after the creature fled back to its dimension.

Andromache is the daughter of Leif and Diandra. She was born on Pyat 7, 1002. Andromache is a typical Amazonian name.

Captain Fish (real name unknown) was the leader of the undead army that accompanied the fleet in the liberation of Kali. In return for his cooperation, he and his undead army, formed of all the seamen that have drowned while at sea, has been allowed to go to Necros to enter their afterlife.

Spirit Anaconda is a powerful Tecl´n priest we met in Indistan when dealing with the last Enduring troops from the Kali invasion. He was there with his own army and supernatural allies to destroy the Enduring, and we helped him.

In return for their bravery, he made Leif an honorary member of the Stone Jaguar order, and Vinz an honorary citizen of Teclá (thus allowing him to marry Locl´).

Koch is the mayor / administrator of Frigidia. He seems to be in some kind of power struggle with Siegfried.

Although we never met him, we know that Siegfried was the King of Fnordia before he suddenly disappeared with some of his men to go to Death Shadow. We followed him there, but never found any trace of him.

The fact that he had seemed to completely change personality and become a Warlord with dreams of world conquest just before disappearing suggests that he could have become Black Adolf, although the two men don't resemble each other.

Heck was (and could probably still be) the Grand Vizier of Frigidia. He is the person who took care of Frigidia in the time interval between the disappearance of Siegfried and the appearance of Black Adolf. When Black Adolf appeared, he decided to follow him.

Black Adolf is a legendary warrior from Frigidia, more precisely from Death Shadow. He is the High Priest of the god Wutan, and is supposedly destined to conquer the world. He also has a group of Valkyries that is able to sustain his considerable army. Although he is a man and could be an ally against the starfish men, we are all of the opinion that in the long run, he could prove as destructive to man as they are.

Following the discussion with the duplicate Inquisitor Sixtus Quartus in chapter 218, it seems that the appearance of Black Adolph was caused by the destruction of the Guardian, which, although necessary, caused a lessening of the protection around our reality and allowed him to come back.

Princess Jasmina is the daugther of the Shahim of Indistan. She was captured by some bandits in chapter 189 and brought to Repa's old fortress in the Kali mountains where we rescued her. We then brought her back to her father, who in return gave us the Amulet of Kherim Khan.

The Shahim is the leader of the country of Indistan. He usually prefers to remain neutral, but has promised help in the fight against the starfish invaders in return for having destroyed the Enduring troops in chapter 172.

Has also gave us the Amulet of Kherim Khan, in gratitude for having returned his daughter safe and sound.

Samar is a merchant, smuggler and all around war profiteer from Indistan. He is actually doing the starfish men's dirty job of selling drugs to our human troops, althoug we don't know if he knows he's working with them.

Has enlisted Mushamee's help to deliver drugs to Toshtanag in chapter 192. Mushamee betrayed him by killing all the members of his smuggling circle in Toshtanag.

This eight-year-old little girl is more than meets the eye. While her body was possessed by a Death goddess, her soul spent a thousand years in hell dealing with demons. Because of her possession, her body will never grow older. She has magical powers of Necromancy, and is both Reawakened and intuitive magical knowledge, like Vinz. She has a knack for reading people's minds, and hates demons with a passion.

Since her parents and family are almost all dead, we decided to keep her with us for now.

She was seemingly killed in chapter 221 by one of the demons of the Roman Hell.

Called this way because we don't know its real name, this creature shaped like a scarab is one of the harbs that have survived the remaking of the world and wants the world to return to its former state.

It seemingly let himself be captured by Ramasi in return for worship by the Inquisitors. Now that they are dead, it wants us to worship it, and wants to give us enormous powers in exchange for our souls. It says the only way to kill it is for us to kill ourselves.

For now, the Harb is the guest of the Ashok in his palace. We convinced it of leaving Ramasi's house by making it realize the starfish men knew where he was, and could certainly sacrifice it to open a permanent gate to their world.