Expedition Personnel Common Knowledge

Keros Xarandoros

Commander of the Expedition

A crony of Holay's governor, the Dara Happan officer Keros Xarandoros of Elz Ast left the Borderlands Native Cavalry to command the Engiziland expedition and pursue a frontier villa. The Odaylan Big Jan taught him barbarian tactics and customs, including bagpiping and snowshoeing. An Imperial Citizen and Yanafal Tarnils initiate, his lean frame, chiseled profile, and cold blue eyes show competence and determination. He knows logistics and mapping, and can swim, but lacks humor and spouts vacuous epigrams. He distrusts scholars and administrators, despite political skill and social climbing. Helping him are dream ancestors and the Ice Mountain Klanth.

Lady Talia of Carantes

Healer

Imagine! Lady Talia of Carantes spurned by a Darjiini Weeder for her handmaiden! Talia's bloodthirsty nature helped little, the Battle of the Baggage leaving her mind ravaged by the Darseni twins and her supple fingers stained with draconic blood. But now, wearing the embroidered wimple of Deezola with proselytizing pride, her blade turned to winkling out leeches, she seeks perfection as an Imperial Citizen, her nobility behind her. Assisted by Digger the puppet, Talia joyfully recounts tales of Sedenya through her stall, Gateway to the Moon, on occasion employing her Beastman mannequins.

Lady Sparrow

Backer

Lady Sparrow is an elderly Rinliddi noblewoman who arrives in Mirin's Cross about a season before the expedition is due to leave. She is apparently connected to the Teelo Norri cult for almost immediately on arrival she arranged for temporary repairs to the neglected poorhouse building.

Within days of her arrival she arranged to be introduced to just about everyone of importance in the town and then announced the Teelo Norri Benefit Banquet.

Since the expedition was still looking for sponsors she was approached at the banquet and agreed to look at the idea. She asked the organisers to provide a list of what's required to her maid Shani. The next day Shani brought an already-signed contract for the organisers to agree to. The clause stipulating that a representative of her nest should accompany the expedition was standard enough to attract no comment.

It is therefore a surprise when she turns up herself in her carriage and pair with a pile of luggage, her maid Shani, driver and two locally hired barbarians as her bodyguard. The two barbarians are riding rather better horses than might be expected and there's a third, even better, horse with a side saddle.

No one has met her before but those with knowledge of the politics of First Blessed (such as most Rinliddi) will know that up until a few years ago Lady Sparrow and her husband were leaders of a major nest at the court of the Satrap of First Blessed in Torang as they had been since the First Wane. She was married young but this still means she's about 70 years old. Then he was assassinated by White Moon heretics, Lady Sparrow's daughter and her husband took over and Lady Sparrow disappeared from court. The nests are notoriously secretive about internal affairs but rumours abound that the daughter (now also confusingly known as Lady Sparrow) had exiled her mother to the provinces. Certainly that fits the daughter's reputation as the first thing she did was to have her father's assassins and their entire nest executed.

The full title and name of a noble Rinliddi is a long and mostly untranslatable string of syllables which tell both who the individual is in relation to everyone else and how they are related to the gods. The titles are usually translated into Dara Happen and then abbreviated for normal use. So in Dara Happen Lady Sparrow has the full title "The Honourable Lady Ancestor of the Blue and Green Sparrow Nest" while her daughter is "The Honourable Lady Mother of the Blue and Green Sparrow Nest".

Hurotask Mingledon

Hurotask Mingledon is an Imperial Citizen from the Pelandan satrapy ("I am from Carantes, thank you"). This young scholar is on his very first service mission for the Empire. A novitiate of Irippi Ontor, he has a facility with language, with both precision and artistry. He is accompanying this expedition in the role of an interpreter. In a pinch, he can assist with any merchant activity (coming from the famous Mingledon merchant family), and he can fight to defend the expedition if necessary (being a graduate of the Imperial Magical University). He is very learned, but is quite obviously also very inexperienced.

Keshborvo of Mintinus

Broad of back and beard, Keshborvo is a wealthy and buccolic Pelandan: tall and strong but slowly driven to seed by the Joy of Bentus. As an adventurous merchant who writes of his many journeys to his friendly patron Kratikos, he is quick to make friends and enjoys foreign rites and pleasures, but is headstrong and sullen when opposed. He swears many oaths over the sacred idol of his god, KetTuros, and bears a magical addi wrought of elfbone. Keshborvo carries his wares on three great wagons drawn by bullocks, overseen by his trusted young Bisosae aide, Kalamango the Steerman

Lord Lavoro Duro Ebro of Dorkath, Upright Follower of Ulkamoon, Heaven's God of the Club

Agent of backers

I am Lord Lavoro Duro Ebro, noble scion of House Duro Ebro, the wealthy and trade savvy leaders of Darjiin's Green Apple League of Dara Happans. I represent them in the upraised Practice of Ulkamoon, patron of Dorkath's Great Sex Hunt. My graceful bearing, impeccable taste and Rune-carved Rod of the Rising Serpents display my importance and Imperial connections to all. Unconvinced? Then realize I am an Imperial Citizen and a Moon Stallion tradition spiritist. I need not explain how I lost my left hand, but I admit I survived the Dart Warrior Erlinti Shining once. Now Harveto Quicktime, my Gerendeto bodyguard keeps disgusting riffraff away while grooms tend my Moon Stallion Ray. The Assiday support our House's efforts in the south to find the legendary Waiting Bride with the Ensign of Vermilion Promise.

Samra and Karima

The Darseni twins both follow Erelia And Varelia, sharing a mystical bond and membership of the Rock Sisters Society. Samra is unnervingly energetic, her enthusiasm for anthropology undimmed y years of Imperial service, while taciturn Karima serves as her sister's fiercely protective bodyguard. Renowned for her gentle charisma and investigative intuition, Samra is an expert on the Storm Barbarians and enjoys immersing herself in their cultures, leading some to question her sympathies. An ardent pragmatist,
she tends to mother younger associates and disconcert opponents, fearlessly wielding the Teaching Stick bequeathed to her by Grandmother Madigan. Robust and travel-hardened from their journeys together, both sisters are excellent horsewomen.

Narrative:
As the expedition's long-awaited departure approaches, the Darseni twins become an increasingly familiar sight at the Engiziland encampment.

Samra bustles around the place taking a keen interest in all of the preparations and talking at length to anyone who will listen, from the lowliest of porters to the most exalted of luminaries. When her interest is warmly received, she is friendly, informal and even affectionate, sometimes to the point of over-familiarity. When the less-willing subjects of her curiosity make their discomfort or displeasure obvious, she responds with extravagant politeness, but she is rarely daunted by such coldness, which frequently melts away when Samra turns up the heat of her considerable charms.

The twins are naturally very much alike in appearance - tanned, spare of build and robustly handsome - and both favour simple and practical attire, eschewing jewellery and ornamentation. In temperament, however, they could not be more different. Where Samra is gregarious and openly curious, Karima stays close to her sister at all times, glaring at the people around her with suspicion or barely-disguised hostility. She speaks only rarely, and then mostly to Samra, who accepts her twin's taciturnity and hawkish attitude with patience and customary good grace.

The sisters both arrived at the encampment on horseback and evidently know how to handle their steeds. The horses themselves are sturdy and well groomed, but otherwise unremarkable. Karima is lightly armed, with a bow and a slender sword, and keeps her weapons and equipment in excellent condition.

Samra's saddle-bags, in addition to carrying a variety of practical objects (including needles, thread and other small tools and spare items for mending clothes, tack and harness), hold her only extravagances: a battered metal teapot and a set of small, leather-bound notebooks. Most of the latter are already filled with pages and pages of tiny, densely packed script and rough sketches from her previous assignments.

Her only other notable possession is the short stave that she calls her Teaching Stick, which is reputedly an heirloom of some sort, recently inherited from her mother. A straight length of dark-stained hardwood with a heavy knob at one end, it is carved with a number of runes or obscure symbols, which have been worn almost completely smooth by years of use. Samra always seems to have the stick close by and rarely lets it out of her grasp, often running her long-fingered hands over it unconsciously while she is talking.

Samra's apparently boundless energy and garrulous enthusiasm can be infectious, but prolonged exposure to the full force of her curiosity is a wearying experience. She also has a pronounced tendency to mother those younger (or at least not significantly older) than herself, which some of the soldiers, in particular, find rather disconcerting. These and several other members of the expedition breathe a collective sigh of relief when Vrimarch Kasdeck assigns Samra as a diplomatic detail for the advance party, but her new colleagues greet the news with a certain amount of trepidation...

Eseseku

Expedition Scout Commander

EsesekuVant 'Sees-All' is a Darjiini Weeder and former Reed Forest Suvru manimat-ensivru. Grim and bitter from his treatment after The Battle of the Baggage, he left the Suvru and worked for various Holayan mercantile associations, and used his contacts to get appointed as Scout-Commander. Accompanied by old comrades living and dead, the band tenaciously seeks vengeance.

He's a practioner and part-time spirit-talker of Kotor Black Death Snake. The winged snake spirit Mistfang is his ally residing in the various tattoos adorning his body. Darkly handsome, his aura of danger proves irresistible to women. A lucky man, he wears the Heron Feather-Cloak and carries the Tri-Bladed Spear.

Narrative:
EsesekuVant is a typical Darjiini: he is lithe and darkly handsome. Like most Darjiini, he rarely bothers with any more clothing than a kilt, cloak and sandals - it takes a really formal event for him to wear more. He has various tattoos over his body - runes, herons, snakes, fish and the like. He also has a grey cloak woven in a feather self-weave which is trimmed with heron feathers, and a spear with an unusual triple-edged blade.

He is accompanied by a group of 10 men - Darjiini scouts like himself. Their train includes a couple of female camp followers who also act as handlers for the ex-army mules the group has to carry their supplies and bulky belongings. Atypically for Darjiini, all - including Eseseku himself - are positively taciturn and grim. When they sing, it is not the cheerful songs most expect from Darjiini; the songs are more haunting and plaintive, if not dirge-like. Most of their work is accomplished in silence - this may be due to their usual function as scouts where silence is required.

Zaytarios of Sedenya

Expedition Preceptor

Zaytarios is the wealthy charmismatic son of a merchant of Mirin's Cross, and zealous new convert to the Lunar Way of The Conquering Daughter. After participating in the bridge building miracle, Hwarin Dalthippa instructed him to go on pilgrimage to Glamour, the Seven Phase Temples, and Blessed Torang. He has taken vows, and now is a Hierarch Preceptor of Sedenya. He now travels the lands bringing the Word of the Goddess and the Rule of the Moonson. He cunningly imbues his crafts with the power of the Young Elementals. He dreams of building a road to Kero Fin.

Telnar

Tall, lean, muscled, and heavily tattooed, Telnar is a veteran scimitar-wielding Sylilan warrior and a Natha devotee. He leads an elite team of three Nathic warriors that use goddess-given and mundane methods to protect the expedition against barbaric threats (both of this world and of others). Though he is arrogant and elitist at times, Telnar is devoted to the Lunar Way and will die to defend it. He has been trained in wilderness survival and tracking. His tattoos provide mystical and physical protection and his enchanted silver scimitar provides additional strength against enemy spirits, essences, and daimones.

Havork the Cattleman

In between cattle runs, Havork serves The Standfast Regiment as a scout. His Godparent is Bull-King Lenshi. Both he and Mirant, his mount, attend weekly rites of both Galdano The Golden and Pei-kos Byl. A daredevil struck with wanderlust who doesn't mind if Mirant is his only friend. His dread locks are the product of poor personal hygene, but surprisingly he keeps Mirant well groomed. The small man is well known for his feats of horsemenship and understanding of most known herd aniamls.

Reza Light of the Full Moon

Reza Light of the Full Moon's father was a Lunarized Carmanian with a Syllilan plantation, Mooncrest, given by Hwarin Dalthippa; his mother was the daughter of a local chief. He attended the Irrippi Ontor Imperial University of Torang, where he came to dislike orthodoxy; this led him to the Flowing Hand Scholar Grimoires and study of the Empire of Wyrms Friends. After his parents died, he returned home, joined the Daughters Imperial Geographic Society, and built the Dragons Eye Lens. He corresponds with scholars, who know him as a brilliant but difficult young expert of the EWF and Auld Wyrmish. He occasionally visits EWF ruins, dragonewt cities, and other draconic mysteries, accompanied by his Syllilan bodyguard Gwaeridas and his Buseri assistant Labgatha.

Adrelna Fherinjorrsa

Originally from Jonrit in Karasal, Adrelna Fherinjorrsa ('Drel' to his friends) currently resides in Torang where he went to university and now undertakes research into the detection and classifaction of magic.

When he heard about the expedition he was immediately struck with the possibility of doing a magical survey of that area was vital to the future of the Empire, both in terms of locating magical sources to be utilised and in the identifying resources to be denied to potential enemies. Also he is interested to see what magical features have vanished since the days of the EWF and, more significantly, what ones have appeared.

So with the blessing of his university house he has attached himself to the caravan with only Grimm his dwarf assistant, a guard, and a drover for the few pack animals needed to hold his gear.

Rasidor Kasdeck

Vrimarch Rasidor Kasdeck is a skirmisher commander from Induppa in Rinliddi. He has heroquested for Vimskay, a battle trained vrok he rides. He is a skilled archer and can shoot while flying. He carries the Feather Glide Wings. Calm in battle, he is confused by politicians and scholars. He dreams of Engiziland, so he volunteered for the expedition. Kasdeck commands the Glorious Golden Falcon vexilla of skirmishers and archers. He is a devote of Tholm the Descender Hawk. His wife, Avimya, and their young son, Evidor, are with him. Also with Kasdeck is Dravdul, his scribe. Kasdeck skilled at assessing the quality of soldiers.

The Man Who Would be Hongo

There dwelt in Votankiland a king named Bearded-Aodghan, glorious and wise, and he had a son, Hongo, whom he loved. It came about that this Prince was tempted to depart from the paths of tradition. The young man was guileless and simple of heart. A moonman surrounded him with treasures and he did sware unto that moonman that he would obey him in all things. He was showed unto the host, and when they had looked on the youth they saw that he was goodly of visage and of limb, and they shouted for very joy, and Hongo laughed.

Abis SaluDolom

Though a Sankenite orphan raised in a Teelo Norri Poorhouse, Abis SaluDolom rose rapidly through the ranks to become centurion in the Third Albescent Radiance Signifex. He is an intelligent and perceptive novitiate of Yanafal Tarnils, of a calm and assured manner despite his low birth. Being illuminated in the mysteries of the lunagraph Abis bears an ul-metal scimitar and dagger and rides a jillaran steed. He has a well-made countenance of perfect Iphigian proportions, with a fashionable beard, but his irises are disturbingly near-absent.

Mar Alom

Disgraced and expelled from the Raibanth Lodrili Priesthood for disgraceful conduct, Mar Alom has bitterly wandered the empire as a diviner of hidden riches through his erstwhile relationship with Deep Lodril.. Although successful, he lost his entire wealth in an elaborate scam involving the Salt-Diamond.. The only remnant of his lost fortunes is a never empty gin flask, which he uses constantly to ease his shame. Close to penury and hounded by creditors, Mar Alom seeks King Khordavu's Mines as financial salvation and a measure of personal redemption. His only companion is his silent but faithful bodyguard, Mong, whom he unusually treats with respect.