Though most lutrai are friendly and easygoing, there are exceptions like Kuwai here. He’s a little barbarian, explosively-tempered, disrespectfully-blunt, and prone to aggressively-bad behavior of all kinds. His parents were exiled from Koau just after he was born, leaving him to be raised by his mad adventuring uncle and the other orphans of the island’s outcast cargo cult, also known as the 'Wavers'. This made him a very popular scapegoat, a role he embraced even as a child, uniting others as bullies often do, and giving his tribe its share of cautionary tales. Even his name speaks to this turbulence, a mangling of ‘Khu-Wai’, or ‘destroying wave’.

      Motivation: Kuwai is easily motivated, though not often in good ways. For years he was nothing but a bully and a troublemaker, and happy to live up to every bad expectation just for the attention. He changed for the better after Marteke saved his life, and learned to be a little kinder while recovering under her care. He's not quite there yet, and still likes to fight, but now he tells everyone he's fighting for good reasons and not just because he wants a free lunch. He's not quite in love with her but he likes her so much that he behaves himself whenever she's around, as if on some instinctive level. Aside from that, he can be motivated with food, sport, the hunt, and any chance to desecrate the Sacred Time.

      Anathema: More than anything, Kuwai despises Empty Face, the Sacred Time, and all its new rules. These include the exile of his parents, the banning of his favorite game, the burning of ceremonial boats, and even the eating the sacred lake's fish. This rejection of the island’s unique cultural phenomenon has only compounded his already-terrible reputation, and put him at odds with Marteke’s father in particular, who tries desperately to shield him from the Assembly's closer scrutiny. He doesn’t like birds very much either – he doesn’t trust them.

      Strengths: For all his social shortcomings, Kuwai is a phenomenal athlete and a skilled hunter. His unusual strength and quickness stem from a stronger inheritance of old wartime characteristics, something usually found in his northern cousins. He fights with the ferocity of a bear, and has a real talent for figuring out how to break things or hit people where it hurts the most. Marteke has always been his strongest positive influence and their circle of friends helped him develop a stubborn, exasperated loyalty and even the first hints of a better nature. Perhaps his greatest strength is in his sport - his slap-shots are so fast and accurate that he uses them to hunt, shooting down birds instead of fishing like the others.

      Flaws: Kuwai has little control of himself, or his temper. He’s still prone to pushing people around and settling things with his fists, at least when Marteke isn’t around, and can just explode in occasional barbaric fits of destruction. He has a sort of clever stupidity that makes his mischief easy to identify, a cunning that’s easily deconstructed, and a natural predictability that’s used against him by friends and adversaries alike. Worst of all, he tends to get other people in trouble, as his enthusiasm for mayhem is quite contagious and surprisingly fun to associate with.

      Details: Kuwai is shown here with an aktak stick, or aktaka, which is used to play aktak-ru. By an astonishing coincidence, it looks almost exactly like a hockey stick, and is used in much the same way, though it also doubles as a greatclub. His jawbreaker gauntlets are mostly used while hunting anything that bites, though they're also a component of the heel outfit he wears to games. What appears to be a regular fish knife on his chest harness is actually a disguised AM-M02 monumetal combat dagger from Captain From's emergency kit. He gave it a wooden handle and traditional leather sheath so nobody would notice. His slap-shot smashes regular sticks to pieces, so his aktak is made from warwood.

       Marteke is chief Whaal’s adopted daughter, another of those orphaned by the exile of the Waver cargo cult. Since she was too young to remember, she’s been raised to distance herself from the whole thing, but couldn’t escape her circle of more enthusiastic cult friends or the incredible music of the Out There. She’s got a warm, approachably-carefree attitude and a sensible sort of optimism that’s very influential. Behind those soft eyes and that sleepy smile there’s a sphynx-like poise which is hard to shake. Her stepfather insists that she’s going to be one of Cha’Huate’s sacred singers, an ayoka, and that the Assembly will finally forgive his village for the whole Waver business thereafter. Until then, she just wants to be a beach bum and wander the outer shores with Wau’s radio, listening for new music. The muse of the group, really.

      Motivation: Marteke has two strong influences pulling her in opposite directions. Her adoptive father believes she may be blessed by the island god, Cha'Huate, and encourages her to play into this miniature mythology whenever she performs. He wants the Assembly to notice her, but she'd rather explore the outer shores and play aktak-ru with her friends. What really motivates her is the music of the ancient world, the Out There, which to her people is practically a miracle. She’s been lured into Captain From’s influence by way of this music and its strange power, influencing others in turn.

      Anathema: Marteke is resentful of her father’s pandering to the Assembly. She recognizes their power over him and that he’s a coward, and it infuriates her. She knows that if she’s chosen, it will be better for everyone, but can’t ever think of it as her own choice because she doesn't trust Empty Face or the Sacred Time. She also knows that the Assembly exiled her parents, and even if she was too young to remember them, she resents the fact. Her acts of rebellion are subtle but not unnoticed, though more by Empty Face than by her adopted father, who insists that she's well-behaved and not at all opposed to becoming one with the Sacred Time.

      Strengths: Fearless of spirit, calmly confident, and colourfully-creative, she's like an embodied muse. Marteke knows modern music in an ancient world, music of such craft and complexity that it can seem like magic. Her vocal range is amazing, and even when she doesn't understand the words she's singing, there is a power in them which changes people as they changed her. Marteke is all heart, and one of those rare people who really does live up to her ideals even at the cost of being rejected or facing certain death, and can be so persuasive that she's more likely to change the mind of anyone who tries to convince her to think otherwise. Her ability to rally the others cannot be overstated.

      Flaws: Marteke is somewhat disconnected from reality, and can be impractically whimsical from time to time, like a nymph or a dryad. She has a condition called ataraxia, a state of almost beatific calm in even terrible circumstances or mortal peril. This trait makes her difficult in some crisis situations and is easily mistaken for madness, but it’s really just an issue with her amygdala. She may seem unconcerned, and while never cold or distant, there’s a sense that she’ll not all on the same plane of existence. This can endear her to some but drives most people crazy, including her stepfather, who sees it as childish. She's also notoriously lazy when it comes to actual work.

      Details: You'll notice she's not wearing very effective clothes, which is her usual naturalist aesthetic (though she often wears less). This may be one of the reasons that people stop arguing when she's around. She's got more body paint instead of an outfit, and decorates her wrists and ankles with a combination of pearls, turquoise, and shells from the outer shore. Her markings phosphoresce in Tropos’ blue moonlight, and flow hypnotically when she dances. She’s got two violet aster flowers and two white feathers for her sign, and a pair of daggers, one of which is sponge-sheathed with wyvern poison. She also carries a Snicker.

      Wau has the mixed blessing of a very sharp mind, and a stumbling wit. He’s the youngest of the Wavers and their most dedicated leader, at least now that the rest are gone. Like the others, he never knew his parents and grew up hearing about the terrible things they did. Teased for his small size and funny words, he often isolates himself in his hood and visor, which show him fragments of the lost world from whence it came. His name is just a teasing of ‘What?’, owing to the fact that he talks about a lot of things people don’t understand. Those who know about his visor think it might have driven him crazy. He's learned to keep to himself and his small group of friends, and to hide all of his Waver-cult artifacts in very cunning ways.

      Motivation: Wau thinks he can fix Captain From’s aerodyne, an utterly insane proposition given what he has to work with. It’s entirely possible that the bombardier visor has been guiding this obsession, and granting him a broken understanding to which he’s become utterly addicted. He craves knowledge and gadgets, and uses several of them in imitation of magic. Even his knowledge alone seems magical, as he can mix different substances to create fire or explosions, or new materials with novel properties. He’s interested in very little else. Aside from Suma.

      Anathema: Unlike his friends, Wau doesn’t resent the Assembly. It’s Cha’Huate itself he despises, and this may be his own natural rejection of the ancient, dying god, or it may be that the visor has slowly re-imprinted combat conditioning along with its other gifts of knowledge. Or it could be that Captain From has told him what happened to his parents and why they were sent away. Either way, while he would never speak of it, he dreams of destroying the ancient god once and for all. He’s also got to deal with the mistrust of those who knew his parents, and has come to resent the way they all see him as the next potential problem after Kuwai.

      Strengths: Wau’s unnatural breadth of knowledge was provided by the bombardier visor. It imprints his mind with knowledge to fit any occasion, and a deeper understanding of any situation. His investigative skills are abnormally elevated, and he’s able to communicate messages to his friends sub-vocally to close-caption his analysis (welcome or not). A basic knowledge of mechanics, chemistry, and physics have equipped him to craft a variety of curious items and substances, potion-pills, and fireworks. On very rare occasions, he might even take the visor off and let someone else see what he sees.

      Flaws: Wau lacks confidence and fears failure, and while he has the tenacity to never give up, it can lead him into spirals of depression and the inability to relate to others. The knowledge imprinted by the visor has destroyed many of his illusions and given him the notion that the entire divinity of the Sacred Time is a sham. He has a spark of anger inside of him that he’s held in reserve for his one big moment, or so he thinks, when he’ll use Captain From’s aerodyne to drop a deadly payload directly into the center of the Kaihu’s blue hole, and put the dying island god out of its misery. These thoughts are not entirely his own.

      Details: Wau’s got a bunch of odd stuff on him. His AM-PE2 bombardier visor is the most notable of these, though he tends to hide it under a mask or hood. The visor connects to Captain From’s crashed aerodyne in some way, he just doesn’t know how. He’s the keeper of a cargo cult’s treasure trove, or what’s left of it, and so you might see him with a lighter, strange keys, or even a radio. This is his ‘wizardry’, just a bunch of old junk that can be worked up into unusual solutions. Unfortunately for him, it’s all contraband, and so he needs to keep it hidden or it’ll be confiscated or destroyed by elders who associate it with the Waver exiles and the trouble they caused. Chief among these is replica gun, an AM-P33 Autoshot.

      Suma, the mostly-innocent good girl and overly-compassionate priestess. She’s always trying to help the injured, or the sad, or anyone who isn’t busy. Suma (Summer) is energetically mom, or wants to be, with a heart of gold and head of air. Luckily for her, she has almost supernatural good fortune, or else has paid some vast karmic debt in advance and now seems to exist by divine grace. Some people claim that she died when she was a child and was sent back to worry about even more people. Suma is the group’s moral compass, and though she can be a little too compassionate, her heart is in the right place. So is she, apparently, having nearly been killed several times since she died. Supposedly.

      Motivation: Suma wants to be a shining beacon for the sun goddess Kij, or at least to offer the islanders an alternative to Cha'Huate. She doesn’t preach or wag her finger, but instead leads by example, and watches in horror as nobody follows suit. Suma has more goodwill than most people can bear, and on top of that, the more tangible ability to save lives. And she saves a lot of lives, mostly through medicine and the more mundane healing arts. She may be a bit of a goody no-shoes but her skills are real, and she’s strongly-motivated to deploy them with a cheerful sort of altruism that's hard to rebuke. She doesn’t just help, she organizes help and leads it. Unlike the others, she is trusted by just about everyone because people think she’s too naïve to be successfully dishonest, and too traditional to be a Waver.

      Anathema: Suma faces stiffening oposition from the Assembly, who do not want her worship of Kij to detract from their reverence of Cha'Huate. They would rather she come over to their way of thinking, and learn to appreciate the more direct nature of their miracles, not knowing that she keeps most of her own well-hidden. More often than not she's forced to pretend as if she has no power, demonstrating only natural remedies and keeping Kij's more overt blessings a secret. As the Sacred Time approaches, the Assembly intends to increase the pressure until she converts or her resistance costs her what remains of her influence within the community.

      Strengths: While seemingly too good for her own good, or hard to take seriously, Suma is an exceptional healer. She understands pain, both physical and emotional, and how to deal with it. She knows everyone’s difficulties like she’s memorized them, and displays a dizzying array of holistic and herbalistic cures when called upon. She has a whole hut full of medicine and things to shove down one’s throat, mostly health and safety advice woven into tapestries or painted on walls. Suma’s other strength? Common sense. She’s a rare example of wisdom and patience among her kind, who are often quite impulsive and lack extended concentration. Her practicality is often a stark contrast to Marteke's whimsy.

      Flaws: Suma may understand pain, but has no grasp of actual malevolence, and this makes her quite naive. She likes to say that she'd rather been uncompromisingly-good, but in truth she's just afraid of what she doesn't understand and hopes to overcome it by just setting a better example. She's even more fearful that understanding it will be the first step in her corruption, and that it's better not to know how it works or why, and never to listen to any of its clever, wicked justifications. She's also easy to manipulate emotionally, and relies a lot on Marteke's protection, and her shoulder to cry on. She can't keep a secret to save her life, or hide her feelings from those who know how to use them against her.

      Details: Suma’s outfit can easily be converted to bandages, splints, tourniquets, and gauze. Even the flowers have a number of curative applications. The focus she's holding is a piece of Kij's divine mineral, luminite, used to either split sunlight in colourful, hypnotic ways, or focus it to a fine point which can cauterize wounds or burn away infection. Her pearl-studded knife is white obsidian, and used more for surgical purposes than anything else. It is insanely sharp. Her weapon is a Foamthrower.

      Huntress, dancer, acrobat, and all-around ferocious tomboy, Sharu seems to be several people at once. This isn’t to say she’s got a split personality; she just loves to roleplay and act the part. She’s heard somewhere that this is what the actors of the ancient world did in order to really enjoy what they were doing, and pushes the philosophy on others like a drama teacher. As one of Morningside’s most obvious candidates for ayoka, she feels the weight of the community’s expectations and knows that she’s got no choice but to join her trio for the great ceremony ahead. She's a true believer in the Sacred Time, and she's willing to prove it any chance she gets.

      Motivation: Sharu is a strong believer in the Sacred Time and the most dedicated of the three ayoka-to-be. She’s often motivated to keep the others in line, being a bit more mature than Marteke or Nylani. She wants everything to work just as Empty Face promised it would, and has been asked by the Assembly to help influence her fellow ayoka into accepting their roles in the upcoming Sacred Time. She sees those who oppose it as lacking in greater purpose, or demonstrating their childishness, and often lambastes Kuwai in particular for his bad influence on Marteke and the others. She wants the Sacred Time to be everything that’s been promised, and has a zealous faith in Empty Face. Her current motivation involves prying Marteke away from the Wavers and finding out why their parents were exiled. She thinks they did something much worse than the Assembly is willing to admit.

      Anathema: Sharu’s current anathema is Kuwai and the rest of the Wavers. She’s convinced they’re still up to no good and that they’re intent on spoiling the Sacred Time, and she’s right. Her upcoming role has been built up so much that she feels threatened by anything that might disrupt it. This extends to all remnants of the old world such as Wau’s trinkets and tools, which she would happily confiscate for his own good if given the chance. She isn’t cruel in her rejection, though she scolds her friends and Marteke in particular for being short-sighted and not seeing their greater purpose.

      Strengths: Sharu has the same combination of degraded artificial brain structures which produces all ayoka – an uncontrolled Lyre and Link. She can send and receive messages without realizing it, and her voice shapes thought and emotion much like the others, though with greater precision. She’s had more time to practice her songs and the way they alter perception, not just in her fellow lutrai but anyone who hears them. She can create images and impressions directly within the mind, a muse-like ability easily mistaken for sacred, though really just an extraordinary manipulation of the amygdala and hippocampus. Her suggestions are powerful enough to make people see things. She’s brave, dedicated, and confident in all her words and deeds, and has an excellent reputation as a result. She's also a very talented painter.

      Flaws: Sharu’s confidence and certainty can easily devolve into zealousness if she’s provoked into defending the Sacred Time, or anything else, really. She’s not used to being on the defensive and it shows. She’s easily angered, and though not overly temperamental, her words cut to the bone. She isn’t shy about criticizing those who express their doubts, and has a hard time empathizing with those who aren’t team players. She lacks Marteke’s patience and Nylani’s passion, having let her new role erode many of her former friendships and confidants over the last year. She cries about it quietly, thinking it necessary, and she’d never dare question the necessity of the Sacred Time.

      Details: Sharu’s another naturalist, wearing little save for tokens, bracelets, and body paint, which is more elaborate than most. Her mop is twisted up in jata-style with copper rings, and she’s got a hunter’s claw medallion despite the fact that she doesn’t hunt anymore. Her fish knife is made from rainbow obsidian as opposed to the usual sort, with a handle carved in the shape of fossilized shells. Her way of moving is unique, a stalking grace that reminds most people of a feline. She's armed with a Combat Towel, usually deployed to whip Kuwai.

      Nylani is a performer and storyteller from Suhuate (Sue-Who-Ah-Tey), famous for her absurdly, captivating tall-tales of the Out There. Like Wau, she has access to a radio and regularly listens to 88.5 Ono Ono, the archipelago’s rogue lutrai station. She dreams of going there and putting her voice out on the air but of course the Sacred Time forbids her leaving. She’s Suhuate’s chosen Ayoka, a singer of the Sacred Time, and instrumental in the Assembly’s plans for their grand mysterious ceremony-to-come. Like Marteke, she has what the elders call the Very Special Voice, or Sings-Down-Nightmares. This strange harmonic can be heard when she speaks, a vocal uncanny-valley that’s more pronounced than those of the other Ayoka. It carries her overall enthusiasm like a wave.

      Motivation: Nylani wants everyone to hear her sing, and longs to reach the ancient radio temple of 88.5 so she broadcast her voice to the entire island chain. She’s the one who leads the whole community into spontaneous song, a habit which made her the most obvious choice for the Assembly’s Sacred Time ceremony. Her motivations are in flux, and she’s currently struggling between her sense of duty to her community and her dream of being a “radio star”, whatever that is. She is also easily motivated by sweets, especially cake, but also macaroons. She will trade her own songs for songs she hasn’t heard, and loves performing with others, especially other storytellers.

      Anathema: For all her energy and enthusiasm, Nylani is self-conscious and afraid she’ll never amount to anything other than a one-time ritual. She’s been told that it’s the most important thing she’ll ever do and she despises it because they haven’t even told her the details, only that she’ll be one of the three chosen to sing a very particular song during the Sacred Time. Her entire community has pressured her into accepting the honor and this has caused her to flee more and more often from the rising anticipation, congratulation, and adulation of the Suhuate community. She spends most of her time in Whitestone just to escape the social burden.

      Strengths: Nylani is very good at lifting the confidence of others. It’s almost a specialty of hers, the ability to study, single out, and expertly assess a person’s greatest strength, and to help them see it in new ways. This helps her quickly delegate tasks when she’s working with a team to get things done, but she’s even better and finding people who have had had their confidence destroyed, and helping them fix it. She’s excellent with flowers and flower arrangement of all kinds, and knows every edible species, though her flower salad is somewhat infamous and should be avoided by anyone who doesn’t want hallucinations.

      Flaws: Nylani is a great singer and community motivator, but she’s also a terrible heartbreaker who has a very hard time with any sort of relationship - she's flighty and capricious, easily seduced, and distracted or even won over by shiny gifts of all kinds. She’s very focused on herself and can be short-sighted, vain, and overly-concerned with how people see her. Nylani is desperately afraid of people not liking her and will have occasional moments where this shows through the layers of her natural poise and restraint. Worse, she’s afraid that if people find out that she’s worried about what they think of her, they’ll think even less of her. Lastly, she’s not particularly brave and will often lose her nerve or her composure in dangerous situations.

      Details: Nylani's rather simple attire includes a small pouch on a cord around her neck, her knife tailbelt, some flowers, and body paint. She will occasionally challenge people to guess what's inside the pouch around her neck, and nobody has guessed correctly. Her knife is particularly fine, one of the eleven that have been gifted to her by the community of Suhuate.

      The spiritual leader of the Merito’a tribe of Lutrai. Anari stems from a long line of priestesses dedicated to the lore of Theke the Surfborne and worship of Tropos, the ocean moon of Rym. Born with albinism, her tribe believed her to be marked by the moon itself with her aversion to sunlight. Despite being idolized by her tribe, she grew into being a very humble and caring leader. Though she doesn't live on Koau, she has friends there whom she'll visit secretly from time to time in order to trade goods from the outer world. This includes kaufi, which her tribe cultivates in profusion.

      Motivation: Anari cares deeply for the wellbeing of Merito’a and has dedicated herself to improving the quality of life of the tribe. From maintaining the Healer’s Pool in the bay of Akipua (the only village on Merito’a), to overseeing the trade of Kaufi (Merito’a’s chief export) with the other tribes and the mainlanders. Anari is always willing to help in any way she can. She knows that the inhabitants of Koau have begun the process of cutting off the outside world in preparation for the Sacred Time, and is perhaps the only other leader amongst the island tribes of Cekus who maintains contact with traders in Morningside.

      Anathema: Greed. She cannot comprehend the accumulation of wealth for the sake of itself. Anari’s generosity is renowned until she discovers the recipient is hoarding. This makes trade with the Gorg tenuous at best and impossible at worst, much to the Gorgs’ dismay as Kaufi is seen as a luxury item on the mainland. Most lutrai tend to share this attitude regarding the accumulation of any permanent wealth, but Anari is particularly aware of the madness that seems to occur in the upper crust, and one of the few lutrai who can at least pretend to navigate it.

      Strengths: Anari is a natural born leader, charismatic and wise beyond her years. She is able to draw power from the healing well that sits in the bay of Akipua and infuse it into the Kaufi her tribe drinks every day, keeping them fit and well (if a little hyperactive). This gives her an additional aspect of influence because absolutely everyone wants Kaufi and she's one of the few who knows how to grow and prepare it properly in the ancient style of the barista (including that trick with the foam). She also tells amazing tales of the Out There, and can keep the attention of even the most caffinated cubs.

      Flaws: Being treated as a gift of Tropos all her life has left her with a fair amount of anxiety about being the best leader she can be and there are days where she feels she cannot do enough. She’s also really snippy until she’s had her evening cup of Kaufi. Anari will occasionally isolate herself in order to make important decisions or in order to deal with a crisis, and has a hard time reaching out to her friends when she needs them.

      Details: Anari doesn’t keep many personal possessions, as she’s prone to give them away to somebody who needs them more than she does. However, there are a few items she keeps that she cannot live without. She is never seen without her Kaufi cup, which has been said to refill of its own accord. Her sunveil cloak keeps the daylight off her skin when she needs to be up during daylight hours, complete with sunshades to keep her sensitive eyes keen.

      Most of the island’s koba population has deeply integrated with the local lutrai culture, adopting many of their customs and rituals, and Mud-Mason is a good example of this phenomenon. He’s worked with Wau for long enough to learn the lutraic language and basic geometry, and gets his name from his natural aptitude with clay and mud construction. He’s somewhat thick-wittedly earnest in his speech and how be blurts things out, but he’s a loyal and well-intentioned friend when he’s not overly-distracted by food and drink. He has an arrangement with Wau, cheerfully trading brawn for brains and helping his lutrai friend overcome his fear of being alone. He can usually be found hanging around with Wau, or sleeping near the old Waver caves where he keeps his stuff. He's big even for a koba, roughly the size of a draft horse.

      Motivation: Mud’s a simple fellow, he’s sort of a friendly vegetarian ogre who can easily be bribed with food, drink, or a belly-rub. He likes to build things and often assists others around Nauteka with construction tasks or the occasional demolition. He’s often guided by Wau or his friends and has learned to trust them despite being warned that they’d get him into trouble. His other, less-obvious motivation is his interest in Marteke’s ability to dance. He tries to imitate her lithe movements and it’s a usually a disaster, but getting to dance with her or have her guide him is something he can’t resist. He tries talking to Wau about it, but doesn’t have the vocabulary to really explain his desire to dance with her.

      Anathema: Though he’s relatively placid and doesn’t cause trouble or bear grudges, Mason has a hard time getting along with other koba. Most of them see him as overly-integrated into lutrai society and that he’s got nothing to offer as a bull. They’ve made it hard for any prospect he might have when it comes to finding his own partner, and exaggerate his dependence on his lutrai friends. Because of this, he’s frequently challenged by other bulls who want to prove their point, and he’s learned to let them lest his reputation get any worse among his kind.

      Strengths: Mud-Mason is as strong as an ox and not afraid of hard work. He’s earnest and honest to a fault, trusting in his lutrai friends more than most koba would, and wearing their clan symbols with pride. He likes giving them rides or tail-catapulting them into lagoons, and though he’s generally quite clumsy, he’s learned to maneuver among the smaller lutrai and their structures with a peculiar grace. He’s tough, too, able to take a lot of punishment or physical strain without breaking down or relenting. His sheer size allows him to trample or stomp in the way any big animal might, able to overpower many of the island’s natural predators.

      Flaws: Mason is as big as an ogre and just as dim-witted, easily confused or misled, lacking in etiquette, and stubborn in his ways. He tends to step on things or wallop them with his tail any time he’s maneuvering through smaller environments, being rather clumsy even for a koba. This extends to his disastrous dancing, which can destroy almost anything in his immediate area. For all his size and strength, however, he often lacks the confidence to act on his own. Spending so much time with lutrai companions has given him something of a dependence on them for his day-to-day plans and motivation. He tends to be a bit aimless otherwise, and often has to be chased away from food or fragile things around the village.

      Details: Mason wears a double saddle harness which allows him to carry a pair of lutrai riders, one facing forward and the other looking back. The harness is striped with phosphorescent accents for high visibility in the dark, and strapped with saddle bags equivalent to a pair of large backpacks for camping supplies, food, tools, etc. Most koba wear a harness of some kind, though this one was made by Wau and shows a lot of kind consideration for comfort and adjustability. He’s also been painted with lutraic clan markings, which is unusual for a koba. For his size, he's also got a very stable bipedal run, plowing over most light flora and other obstructions with ease. His crest-honk can be heard for well over a mile. He comes equipped with his own super-demolition aid, a Springram.

      L33 doesn’t remember much of who he was. An adventurer slain by an earlier proxy, of course, but there might have been someone desperate enough to practice magic, or protect someone who did. Did he sacrifice himself? There was someone else, wasn’t there? They were erased, and now all he has is a cold purpose and the unwavering faith brought by terrible loss. L33 wants only peace now, the end of all magic and the final release of death. Though he seems mindlessly loyal to Nigh and its terrible priesthood, this proxy will occasionally hesitate, trembling in his crystal flesh, and shriek glassine notes for a round or two instead of executing his target. It’s hard for even him to understand these atavistic fits, though it may have more to do with his victims. These lapses aside, L33 is a terrifying and extremely effective executioner.

      Motivation: As with all proxies, L33’s motivations are loaded into his dead mind during an activation drop. Like an assassin, he’s given images of his target, a list of their known abilities, and a location. He gets to think about this for the two minutes it takes for him to fall from Nigh, and by then he’s got a plan of action, the proper equipment, buffs, and weaponry. There is a more subtle motivation under this injected purpose, however. L33 wants to be destroyed. He can’t destroy himself, and he’s always matched against weaker targets, but someone might sense the moments where he makes himself unnecessarily vulnerable. Some find this more unsettling than the usual mechanical perfection of a proxy’s guided attack and defense pattern.

      Anathema: L33’s anathema is any magic-user, but clerics in particular. The clerics of any other deity are a priority target, and even the standard priority scale he’s given doesn’t dissuade him from always focusing on clerics first. His crystal flesh is dark-tuned to absorb radiation, but overloads and shatters on contact with radiant energy of all kinds. This form of crystal tuning is common with most executioners, allowing them to absorb energy at night instead of during the day. Most executions are scheduled at night, after all. L33 also gets a bit squirrelly around cheerful people, being as silently dour as befits someone who kills for a living. They get less merciful, non-enhanced beheadings.

      Strengths: L33 is really good at executing people, even as far as tailor-made executioners go. When activated and dropped, he gets right to business, finding the person who’s been marked for death very quickly without causing a major scene, and making it easy on them if they just relax. His domain’s Death Touch ability takes the form of a very quick, effective closure of the forearm scissor, instantly lopping off the head while the hand cradles it from the side. Apparently, it doesn’t hurt at all, he insists, and this is what makes him a good executioner. He wants death to be effective, efficient, and clean.

      Flaws: Aside from the fact that he’s a single-minded, cold, bloodless killing machine, L33 has some serious issues with his past life. Unlike most reincarnated crystalline horrors, he still has some of his memories. Every now and then, they surge up and halt his action, and there’s a 1 in 4 chance that his forearm head scissor will seize up at the mainspring when he performs his Death Touch. When this happens, the Machine will literally crack a smile in a horrid corvid way and then ‘spare’ the victim with a warning issued in a voice that’s different from his regular metallic hiss. Entire crowds have gasped in disbelief at these unexpected mercies, and as a result L33 has the unfortunate nickname of ‘Lee the Merciful’.

      Details: L33 appears to move in jaunty stop-motion, about 24 FPS. This gives even his simple maneuvers an unsettling quality, like a statue shifting from one position to another as opposed to an ambulatory construct. His forearm scissor is the way in which he performs executions, with lesser scissors for smaller necks. These all glow blue when energized, an extra-heavy dose of dark radiation (necrotic) which results in a clean decapitation every time. The Machine’s dark crystal element covers the remains of what he was, and every now and then if the light is bright enough, one might see the suggestion of a skeleton inside. This is who he was. L33’s voice is a low, dull susurrus, and rarely heard unless he’s having one of his shrieking episodes. He has a sort of air scort to help track targets and to chase or kill their familiars, a model Interceptor.

      Often paired with L33, proxy W21 is dispatched by the War Domain to handle more complicated targets. If, for instance, said target has friends, allies, other party members, etc. As a devotee of War, it’s his pleasure to think up all sorts of deadly combined tactics that turn an ordinary killing into a strategic masterpiece. He also acts as backup, since a single target against a whole party tends to get overwhelmed. W21 works well with most members of Nigh’s Death Domain, acting as the mouthpiece in any circumstances where negotiation might convince a party to hand over the offending member for execution as a preferable outcome to everyone dying in messy combat. Unlike the executioners, strategists tend to be more reasonable, and may even be convinced to good-cop the situation if proper atonement is shown. This is rare, as most are bound by a very strict military code, but most strategists have some discretionary wiggle room as well.

      Motivation: When not looking for his lemmings, W21 is part of Nigh’s brain. In the form of a crystal egg, he helps plot target approach angles and only drops when there’s a low to medium-level cleric spotted by the big bird itself. His motivation is to destroy the target, of course, but more importantly to learn about it and study its weaknesses. This is then added to the lexicon of the War Domain for future proxies to inherit. Because of this, strategists like W21 tend to know what a person’s resistances and weaknesses are, and prepares accordingly. He always wants to do battle with new things, especially visitors from other worlds or creatures not seen since the Bygone. He also collects ties, specifically the high quality retractable ties which serve has his holy symbol. He’s wearing the white tie right now because he’s in a formal ‘mood’.

      Anathema: W21 and the War Domain in general take a dim view of illegal organizations. Bad enough that people misbehave and consort with the enemy individually, but he’s more concerned with how there are entire parties of these people forming, and venturing out into perfect dead, perfectly predictable territory to do unpredictable things. With this in mind, W21 is on the lookout for anyone with a high charisma, enemy leaders especially, and bards. He absolutely despises musicians unless, of course, they’re performing war tunes or military marches. Any of that other nonsense gets shot behind the chemical shed. That also goes for fae, which he (in particular) detests due to his war-like owl nature.

      Strengths: Wise as an owl in the ways of war, W21 always has four plans of action (A – D). If there’s something he doesn’t have a plan for, he’ll make four, and though one of them is always absurd, the other three are almost always terrifying in their depth of knowledge and tactics. This was an ancient mind, perhaps a colonel of the Automatic War, and what’s left is still capable of incredible strategy. He’s especially effective at coordinating these strategies with other proxies, though he’s quite effective even on his own. He also has a third arm which isn’t always obvious, perhaps hidden under a table or beside the sleeve of a regular 2-arm jacket. His head can spin 270 degrees when he’s drawing a bead, fast enough to take the scenic rotational route before firing. He may be a cleric, but he’s dipping into gunslinger.

      Flaws: W21 overcomplicates things. Where a simple shot would do, he’s got to probe, to test, and record what he sees for historical posterity. This can backfire on him spectacularly from time to time, laying all his carefully-laid plans to ruin as if by divine ordinance. He is also breathtakingly arrogant, not so much in word but in deed, silently telegraphing his superiority at every turn. Though he doesn’t often underestimate his enemies or make foolish calculations, he can be thwarted by the sheer audacity of the chaotic, who aren’t bound by the same sorts of conduct rules. In other words, he’s more easily outmaneuvered by people who don’t name their maneuvers. Lastly, he’s always wearing white and tends to stand out in any crowd, or in any dark place.

      Details: Like most proxies, W21 is sternly avian and unnerving to watch in motion. However, he’s also very well-dressed, well-spoken, well-mannered, and obviously wealthy. Unlike the other Domains he’s got access to the War Chest, which means he has money for bribery and fashion if necessary. He’s always wearing expensive military-style parade outfits that would look right at home on a preening medal-stunned junta. His eyes are his most striking feature, shifting between multiple modes to see through darkness or even structures. As with all of the crystalline-fleshed proxies, his movement is segmented into countless tiny facet-adjustments, causing him to sparkle dimly even in low light. His third arm is usually concealed with a Cancelflash.

      Vexi was an interceptor pilot and wing-drop assassin during the Automatic War. She’s long gone, but presented here as a historical example of deployed cepn units. She flew an AM-14B Arrowhead, a rocket-assisted wedge-wing aircraft meant to protect larger bombers like the AM-9B Dusk Heavy. She was cunning, professional, and knew exactly what she was doing until the moment her plane rammed into a giant’s head and killed them both. Interceptor pilots didn’t always die, but the Arrowhead was packed with a 1600kg bomb and required pinpoint guidance due to its monstrous speed and limited wing surfaces. Little is known of Vexi save for the poetry she left behind, etched in nicrete on a hangar wall by a single adamantine claw. Evidentially, she wanted to be something more. Nobody alive has seen her face, so she's depicted here with a standard Aerocon helmet.

      Motivation: Like most of the Bygone cepn, Vexi was part of air wing, and kept a secret until late in the Automatic War. She was mentally programmed to despise large flying creatures, though this irrational motivation sticks out like a sore amidst her more peaceful nature. She was remarkably calm, almost cold, but extraordinarily loyal to her Septune unit. She took orders without question and though she lost who were close to her (they all did), she never allowed revenge to cloud her judgement. She believed in what they were all told to believe in – a world without gods. Like all fruit-eating cepn, she really enjoyed a good mango, or maybe papaya. Bananas only on occasion. That’s all we know about her, though it’s possible that her records were kept in greater detail somewhere else.

      Anathema: Vexi was quite literally made to kill, her internal target list hardened into her mind like a natural feature. This includes a repertoire of fighting tactics and killing maneuvers, many of which are so severe as to involve self-sacrifice. She may have resented this sort of instinct, even fought against it, but when activated by the Guide language she had no choice but to fight, and flow with the motion of the kill. Like a deadly puppet, she would occasionally seem to take exaggerated steps or sweeping gestures to prolong her attacks, yet it would seem this only made her strikes more unpredictable and difficult to counter. Her ultimate enemy was the giant she killed with her interceptor, and in death she was completely obliterated, no body, no soul, no trace. This was the fate of all nilkind, at least back then.

      Strengths: Graceful, poised, and professional beyond expectation, Vexi carried out seven missions before her death, a nearly unheard-of return rate. Before the development of the Septune Wing she was dropped from high altitude stealth zeppelins, infiltrating enemy territory by wingsuit and executing high value targets with adamantine wire or poisonous smoke. She was an extraordinary aerobat and gymnast, a proficient hand-to-hand fighter, and a crack shot with a maser. According to her performance reviews, she was also an exceptional writer and left a lot of little blurbs etched into some of the world’s hard-to-reach places. She did this with an adamantine writing claw, which was the style back in those days. Even her final kill was marked as a W+, since it not only destroyed the Nex giant, but inflicted such a horrifying explosive decapitation that the Creator State put it on a stamp.

      Flaws: They say she was subversive, but who knows when it comes to poetry. Did she really believe in the war? Not really, she was made to believe in it. Most cepn fit into this role easily enough, but she was perhaps a little too intelligent within the brackets of conformity. This was more of a flaw in situ, but it led to other problems – she was despondent, detached, and often deeply fatalistic. She couldn’t or wouldn’t get attached to anyone, not due to any specific traumatic loss but in cold theory. They left notes saying that she would probably be a bad influence on her Septune as its other members were younger and somewhat dazzled by the reputation which preceded her, and confused as to why she was still flying a suicide interceptor.

      Details: Vexi is wearing an AM-HAFS, a wingsuit made to enhance her natural wing-gliding ability and provide oxygen at high altitude (Bottle of Air). She’s also equipped with the AM-94 jet mantle (Wings of Flying), a BA-HRB Rescue Balloon (Ring of Featherfall), and AM-J96 Jump Thrusters (Ring of Jumping). Combined, this outfit allowed cepn assassins to drive from incredible altitude. The outfit also contains a special acid charge which will detonate both the suit and its wearer’s body if they’re searched after death, destroying all loot and typically mutilating the looter in the process. The suit can be zipped up with implanted fasteners, also acting as a bed when sleep-hanging.