Individuals
Each portrait holds a memory, revealed by touch.
A Maharashtrian scholar, explorer, and merchant. Before leaving on his last expedition, his oldest daughter asks him to travel with her pet duck, Rihla, for good fortune. His distinct charm and generosity during this expedition earns him the affections of the world. After his passing, the Crown Prince of Asir personally returns the duck to Abbas' daughter.
An Asir General. He excels in all forms of battle and is particularly notable for his bravery. During the War of Seven Saints, he serves in Basilia and famously holds-together the faltering defensive line against a Scythian invasion across the Volga. At the end of the White Ribbons Rebellion, he is heralded as one of the Four Pillars of Heaven.
An Asir judge and legal scholar. After the White Ribbons Rebellion, he uses his father's legacy to claim himself King of Asir, then leads a conspiracy to usurp the Crown Prince's rule.
A Persian boatswain of the Wind's Servant. During the War of Seven Saints, he rescues Imara Amane from the aftermath of a naval battle and offers her a place aboard the ship. The two remain inseparable until the birth of their son, Darius.
First Matriarch of Tereshkova. Known throughout her homeland as Our Fire. When Trade-Princess Niculina of Sapphira plots to take Tereshkovian children as slaves, Matriarch Achroia leads the resistance against her. Her initial efforts yield no success, so she instead turns to the witchcraft of an ancient goddess, allowing her to utterly destroy the Sapphiran fleet.
A Tereshkovian ranger and Paragon of Matriarch Imara Amane. Named Adelina the Reckless upon taking her oath. Once, during her youth, Adelina seeks to escape from Tereshkova, unknowingly boarding the merchant vessel of an ambitious pirate lord. When the lord holds her for ransom, she poisons him and returns home aboard a separate pirate vessel.
A Tereshkovian governor who serves as the 25th Prime Minister of the Duma. By the time of her adulthood, she is already a maritime merchant and commands much of her family's massive whaling empire. During the War of Seven Saints, she convinces Matriarch Inessa to send rangers to support the coalition against Saint Morgan.
A Hellene, born in Great Siberia. Born to a wealthy merchant family in Mana, he returns there only once after childhood. During this visit, his mother passes away. Three days later, so does he.
A Tereshkovian ranger. From her earliest years, she seeks to become a playwright. Instead, she is conscripted into the Inanna after being accused of seeking an intimate companionship with another woman. She becomes a capable witch-hunter nonetheless, and is particularly noteworthy for her loyal guardian bear Mikula.
A Kangbe pirate. After his ship, the Happy Princess, is mistook for a Rajasthani war vessel and raided during the White Ribbons Rebellion, he is left for dead. His decision to then relieve the Coalition forces at Ramachandra proves to be a significant turning point in the war. At the end of the war, he is heralded as one of the Four Pillars of Heaven.
Empress of the Essenes. During her late childhood, her immediate family leaves Essene on a diplomatic mission to find assistance with the famine crippling the country. They are betrayed and killed by oath-breaking allies, who send their forces to march on Essene. Athaliah responds by ordering her army to throw Ivory Plague-infected potatoes at them.
Memories unavailable.
A Maharashtrian chef. After being accused of poisoning a high-ranking official in the House of Law, he offers to be a ship cook for the Dancing Dream to escape the state's executioners. Nevertheless, he is famous in Rajasthan and Siberia as being one of the region's most exquisite chefs.
A Tereshkovian dancer and portrait artist. During her adolescence, she is accused of profaning motherhood. Refusing conscription as a consequence, she flees to Castalia instead, where she is accepted by a school of the Sisters of the Secret Fire. She is twin to Benjamin Thomas.
A Tereshkovian pirate. Captain of the Dancing Dream. A Sapphiran Trade-Prince once offers a significant bounty for his capture, Benjamin responds by offering double the amount for the Trade-Prince's capture. After further back-and-forth, Benjamin tasks his own crew to "capture" himself, collect the tenfold bounty, then spring him free. He is twin to Beatrice Thomas.
A Nerubian princess. During her formative years, her family is overthrown from power, and is then hosted by the Rajasthani House of Law while in exile. She later joins the Dancing Dream as a steward for the ship's cook.
Memories unavailable.
A Bangla astronomer. She is one of the many Bangla refugees who are forced out of Shenzhou during the Great Reconstruction. She finds work in Persia, where many students gather to study her astute observations on the moving heavens. Evenstill, she is widely-considered to be completely insane.
Fourth Matriarch of Tereshkova. She is the only surviving daughter of Matriarch Thysania left in Tereshkova after the War of the Parish, by decree of the victors. She designs the construction of Matriarch Manor to serve as the permanent home to every future Matriarch.
Fifth Matriarch of Tereshkova. Last Witch-Queen to rule Tereshkova. During the Sapphiran Re-Conquest, she adopts an orphaned girl on a battlefield near Aisyt. Naming the child as her daughter-by-rights and only possible successor, Cydia sends her off with her Paragons in secret. During the next battle with the Sapphiran Slavers, Cydia is captured and executed.
A Tereshkovian Disciple of the Seven Saints. First son of Matriarch Imara Amane. Though initially reluctant to join the faith, he is persuaded to do so after coming across a stranger-in-need at an abandoned shrine.
A Tereshkovian whaler and Paragon of Matriarch Imara Amane. Named Daron the Afflicted after taking his oath. During his adolescence, Daron suffers from a mysterious pestilence that causes him to experience painful gray lesions all over his body. Though he recovers, the illness leaves him with many scars.
An Amaranthian engineer, metalworker, and machinist. At his 25th birthday celebration, due to his reputation as a technical mastermind, Enzo is invited to join the Natural Academy in Amaranthine. Instead, he flees the island and joins the Dancing Dream pirate ship, preferring to work irregular jobs wherever he finds them.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
A Celtic mercenary. During his time as an irregular in Basilia, he is captured by a Nordic tribe under the sway of a local cult leader. He challenges the leader to a duel for his freedom. The cult leader accepts the challenge, believing the great god Thor will protect him. Instead, Griff wins the duel after lightning strikes a nearby grove tree, causing a fire.
Memories unavailable.
A Hua Ren deserter. He joins the Dancing Dream as a deckhand and technician after being outcast from Shenzhou.
Memories unavailable.
Twelfth Matriarch of Tereshkova. During the War of Seven Saints, she and her unit disguise themselves with civilian clothing and ambush unsuspecting enemy insurgents in occupied towns. Upon encountering a band of war mammoths, she sets a drove of pigs afire and sends them toward the mammoths, causing the them to scatter.
Eleventh Matriarch of Tereshkova. At her coronation, she requires each person in attendance to confess their greatest wrong-doing. She tells them that her guardian bear, Lyra, can detect lies and has been trained to maul people who display dishonesty. For this, she is sometimes called the Confessor.
An Amaranthian missionary of Saint Hypatia. She develops an affinity for chemistry and botany at an early age. During the Firedancer's Rebellion, she serves as a medicinal chemist for the wounded.
A Tereshkovian ranger. Youngest son of Matriarch Imara Amane. In his late adolescence, Isaiah leaves Tereshkova to join his childhood friend Benjamin Thomas on the Dancing Dream on an expedition to find his father.
An Aztec priestess. At the start of the Indigo Inquisition, she is branded an apostate and commits herself to a heretical revolutionary cause.
A Tereshkovian ranger. First daughter of Matriarch Inessa.
Memories unavailable.
A Hellene socialite. She becomes the Mistress of Ceremonies of the Mozi Coast after the White Ribbons Rebellion. Known as 'Jester-Queen Jessamine'. Her hedonistic and cheerful nature are so well-known, even people on the other side of the Ecumene will invoke her name to label someone as being preposterously outlandish.
An ascetic monk of Jin. In the aftermath of the War of Seven Saints, he creates the White Ribbons secret society and later leads the White Ribbons Rebellion.
A Novgorodian captain.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
A Novgorodian vagabond. During the White Ribbons Rebellion, he claims to be a descendant of Matriarch Thysania and joins the rebels as a way to re-spread the influence of her violent teachings. Notable for his rabid practice of non-attachment. Often destroys others' possessions, claiming he is 'freeing' them of worldly attachment.
Memories unavailable.
Second Matriarch of Tereshkova. After the death of her mother, an expansive gathering of religious zealots follow her in campaigns across Siberia. She and her followers condemn those deemed heretics to die by lightning storms (or exposure) for retribution. This is sometimes called the Red Inquisition: the beginning of the War of the Parish.
Paragon of Matriarch Lymantria. Named Malem the Black after taking his oath. Blood-brother to Malus the Destroyer.
Paragon of Matriarch Lymantria. Named Malus the Destroyer after taking his oath. Blood-brother to Malem the Black.
An Aurelian inventor. During a Sapphiran raid on the town of Duillier, Marlyn is taken a slave and sold to an arms manufacturer. After inventing a medical device that mimics the effect of leeches on a wound, she is freed on conditions. She later becomes a Restoration Architect of Amaranthine's Academy of Natural Sciences.
A Rajasthani witch, sailor, and pirate. For the duration of her childhood, she is forced to remain within her family's home. During her adolescence, she is sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Amaranthine to study natural history. She later flees Rajasthan and joins the Dancing Dream, eventually becoming its sail-master.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
A Tereshkovian ranger. During the White Ribbons Rebellion, she serves as the lead logistics officer for the Grand Coalition, being fluent in several common languages.
A Tereshkovian ranger. Called the 'Tiger of Tereshkova'. During the War of Seven Saints, she gains notoriety for being the only soldier of Bangla descent willing to fight for the Hua Ren forces in the Defense of Tian Shan. For this, she is gifted the famed red-haired bison, Red Devil. At the end of the White Ribbons Rebellion, she is heralded as one of the Four Pillars of Heaven.
Memories unavailable.
A Silesian physician and medicinal chemist. While studying medicine in Osowiec, he gets into such a fierce argument with Enzo Lazzari that he is expelled.
Memories unavailable.
A Rajasthani mercenary, trained as an ascetic reaver by the Rajasthani House of War throughout childhood and adolescence. The eldest of three famous Ravaa sisters. For her role in the massacre at Shasu al-Suhuul, and her general devotion to violence, she is called 'Devil' Ravaa.
A Rajasthani scholar and official. The youngest of three famous Ravaa sisters.
Memories unavailable.
A Hellene songstress and dancer, particularly noteworthy for her ability to play the harp. During her youth, she is trained by Castalia's most well-regarded musicians.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.
A Gothic mercenary and poet.
A seamstress and shopkeeper from Tereroch. At the end of the War of Seven Saints, she moves to Rajasthan to marry the soldier who saved her life. She is mother to Regina, Melina, and Reina Ravaa.
A Novgorodian artist and noted con-man.
Third Matriarch of Tereshkova. Notable for her immense size and strength. Being born blind, she relies on a snow bear named Cecil the Faithful to guide her path. Despite this impairment, she succeeds in her mother's role during the War of the Parish, but is ultimately betrayed and slain in her sleep.
Memories unavailable.
A Sapphiran Trade-Prince. His mother sells him into slavery upon his birth to pay off her debt to a Sapphiran doctor. A decade later, his master is killed by an old rival, and he is left a 'free' orphan on the streets of Sapphire City. He is one of few former slaves in Sapphira's history to become part of the ruling Trade Cartel.
Memories unavailable.
A Scythian rebel.
Memories unavailable.
A sage of the Infinite Mother. While meditating in an isolated monastery, she is attacked by a mountain lion and loses her left arm. During the White Ribbons Rebellion, she uses mastery of an obscure martial art to disturb the rebels' plans. At the end of the Rebellion, she is heralded as one of the Four Pillars of Heaven.
An Inca explorer.
A Tereshkovian soldier. Paragon of Matriarch Imara Amane. Named Yelena the Half-Burned after taking her oath. After the War of Seven Saints, she prevents an assassin from reaching Imara by locking herself and the arsonist inside an inescapable room. She is severely burned in the effort.
Sixth Matriarch of Tereshkova. Known for her cunning strategies. Once, during the Sapphiran Re-Conquest, she convinces a Sapphiran regiment to not attack a recaptured city, by standing alone at the open gates and playing a flute. The Sapphirans retreat, believing it is a trap, but in truth, they outnumbered Yoshi's forces 6-to-1.
Eighth Matriarch of Tereshkova with her twin-sister Yuri. Believing she would never be Matriarch, she trains to be an assassin from a young age. She later joins the Sable Order of the Hidden Moon. By the end of her life, she claims more than forty children as her own, whether by blood or by rights.
Eighth Matriarch of Tereshkova with her twin-sister Yulia. She spends much of her early life studying history and calligraphy. By the end of her life, she claims eighteen children as her own, whether by blood or by rights.
Memories unavailable.
Memories unavailable.