Chapter Text
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Before the first chapter of “The Fall”, we take a brief look at five characters who have already appeared in the previous parts, are now playing a role again and did not get an entry in the Dramatis Personae yet.
The dark elf Dilae Tor'ana hails from Svartalfheim, the realm of the goddess Eilistraee on Nidavellir, the third layer of Ysgard. The bard and priestess of the Dark Maiden later moved to Sigil and joined the Free League. Dilae is one of the Chosen of the Ring Prophecy, namely the Dancer. She has the ability to hear the cosmic melody of the planes associated with certain places and to create illusions through her dance, making them come to life for a certain time span. Her group of Chosen includes the air genasi wizard Yelmalis, the half-orcish amazon Garush, the tiefling psion Tarik and the yuan-ti Sekhemkare.
Dilae is petite even for an elf and about 5' 3'' tall. She has charcoal gray skin, long, silver-white hair, and turquoise-blue eyes. When traveling or when at the Great Bazaar, she often wears practical, purple-colored clothing. In her role as a priestess of Eilistraee, though, she sometimes also dresses in silvery and white robes that reveal much of her beautiful body. She wears silver jewelry with moonstones and always displays the holy symbol of her goddess.
In general, Dilae makes a friendly, cheerful and often happy impression. Despite her remarkable appearance, she apparently does not particularly like being the center of attention and prefers to leave the leading role to others. The only exception is dancing. This seems to be the only situation in which she enjoys the attention of others. What really upsets her are injustice and the restriction of personal freedoms. Overall, she seems to be quite free-spirited and individualistic.
The tiefling Tarik comes from the Outlands, namely from the vedic realm of Tharpura. There he joined the Sign of One and later moved to Sigil, where he now works as a secretary for Factol Darius. He is a psion with a focus on precognition and object reading. Tarik is one of the Chosen of the Ring Prophecy, namely the Dreamer. He has the ability to enter the dreams of others or to send them messages via dreams. He can also contact the little-explored Plane of Dreams and even go there and influence it. His group of Chosen includes the air genasi wizard Yelmalis, the half-orcish amazon Garush, the dark elven Eilistraee cleric Dilae and the yuan-ti Sekhemkare.
The attractive young man is of medium height and has dark skin and jet-black hair. The only feature that outwardly indicates his tiefling heritage are his red eyes, which glow slightly in the dark. He is usually dressed in light robes made of either white-beige or colorful fabrics that match the vedic style of his homeland of Tharpura.
Tarik usually behaves calmly and quietly, almost inconspicuously. He comes across as very open-minded, friendly and helpful. Nevertheless, there is always that vague feeling in his presence that one always has around tieflings, no matter what their intentions are: a hunch that there is more, a fiery heritage that could surface at some point, and even if not in a destructive, so at least in an impulsive way.
Sekhemkare is a yuan-ti and hails from Sigil, but his ancestors lived in Smaragd, the realm of the yuan-ti god Merrshaulk in the Abyss. The warlock is a member of the Fated and one of the Chosen of the Ring Prophecy, namely the Caller. He has the ability to call soul shreds of powerful, ancient beings that did not reach their predestined destinations in the planes, but have been wandering aimlessly through the multiverse for centuries or millennia. He can temporarily connect to these shreds, allowing him to gain some of their knowledge, but also special abilities, such as teleportation or seeing through walls. His group of Chosen includes the air genasi wizard Yelmalis, the half-orcish amazon Garush, the dark elven Eilistraee cleric Dilae and the tiefling psion Tarik.
Sekhemkare is a so-called halfblood yuan-ti, which means he is of humanoid shape but also possesses many snake-like features: he has a snake's head with a long neck, green scales and, in addition to two arms and two legs, a snake tail. In yuan-ti society, this puts him above the almost human-like purebloods, but below the almost exclusively snake-like abominations, the highest caste. He is usually elegantly dressed, either in a suit with a green and gold waistcoat or in black, red and green robes.
Like many members of reptilian races, Sekhemkare is difficult to read for humanoids. Not only his completely different facial features and alien facial expressions contribute to this, but also the fact that yuan-ti differ from humanoids as much in their emotional life as in their appearance. Often, reptilians therefore appear either aggressive or haughty and dismissive to warm-blooded creatures. To what extent this really applies to Sekhemkare or is just a common misunderstanding can perhaps only be judged by the other members of his group.
Mallin is the current factol of the Mercykillers. The aasimar hails from Acheron, where he was born during a fight on the battlefield. His mother died when he was still a child, so he was on his own at an early age. As a youth, he was found by a group of Mercykiller paladins and accepted into the faction. Shortly thereafter, he became a paladin of Hoar. In Sigil, he quickly rose through the ranks of the Red Death and succeeded Factol Votohm after her passing. Mallin seems to be almost one with his armor. He is only seen without it on the Day of Pain or during his rare visits to the Great Gymnasium.
For an aasimar of human descent, Mallin is very tall. At 6' 6'', he towers over most humans. In addition to his height, he has very broad shoulders, enhanced even by his black armor, making him an impressive - and intimidating - sight. The only sign of his celestial heritage is the golden gleam of his eyes, a noticeable contrast to his overall appearance and the scars that run through his face. His hair is black with only a few gray strands, although he is well past fifty – or the comparable age for an aasimar. His true age is unknown, though.
Mallin is very direct, often brusque and harsh in tone and behavior. He runs his faction as well as the Prison in Sigil with an iron fist, but he is considered very correct and fair. Under his leadership, there was no illegal torture in the Prison - unlike under previous Mercykiller factols - nor did prisoners disappear from their cells under suspicious circumstances. Mallin is unyielding and often stubborn, but never arbitrary and he seems sincere in his pursuit of justice. He supports both Arwyl Swan's Son, an ambitious paladin of Torm, and the young Alisohn Nilesia.
Hashkar has been factol of the Fraternity of Order for 126 years, and since he fulfills his duties very competently, he could preside over the faction for quite a while due to the longevity of the dwarves. For some time now, a remarkable rumor about Hashkar has been circulating in Sigil: Supposedly, he is a petitioner, that is the manifested soul of someone who has already died and is now spending their afterlife in the Outer Planes. There is no proof of this, but there are some indications. For one thing, Hashkar is extremely fixated on a particular thing, in this case his research, much more so than even the most obsessed scholars and professors usually are. This is often a characteristic of petitioners, who focus on a very specific aspect of their plane in order to ultimately merge with it. On the other hand, Hashkar never leaves the city of Sigil. Petitioners also never leave their home plane, since death outside of it would lead to the destruction and loss of their soul. It is not known that Hashkar has ever left Sigil; he does not even visit the headquarters of the Guvners on Mechanus, which is extremely unusual for a factol. However, this theory is contradicted by the fact that Sigil actually has no petitioners. The Lady forbids Her worship, and neutral souls go to the Outlands, not to Sigil. So if Hashkar is indeed a petitioner of Sigil, he would possibly be the first one.
Hashkar is relatively small for a dwarf, his hair and long beard are snow-white. He is usually dressed in fine robes, preferably in shades of blue. He often seems absent-minded and preoccupied and those who do not know him may well mistake him for an ordinary scribe.
While Hashkar's appearance is rather unremarkable, his intellect is all the more exceptional. He seems to sponge up information, and his extraordinary knowledge in a wide range of disciplines has allowed him to quickly rise through the ranks of the faction. Hashkar spends almost all of his time either reading or teaching. He often gives lectures and readings, both to members of the faction and to the general public. However, even in private conversation, the old dwarf tends to give very long-winded responses. It seems to be difficult for Hashkar to understand that some people are looking for short and simple answers.
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