Publicly gracious, ceremonially generous, and fiercely protective of its legal privileges. The House presents the Bastion as a safeguard for ordinary families, yet quietly expects the Canon to preserve its control over sacred records, water judgments, and caravan arbitration.

Species: Brass Dragonborn Class & Level: Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) 15 / Cleric (Order Domain) 4 Appearance: A broad-shouldered, imposing brass dragonborn in his mid-fifties with rugged metallic scales, steady amber eyes, and a terrifying, scarred brass executioner's mask hanging loosely from his belt by a thick iron chain. He wears immaculate, heavy plate armor burnished to a warm copper sheen, etched with inquisitorial statutes, and carries a massive, rune-carved warhammer that serves as both a weapon and a judicial gavel. Personality: Deceptively soft-spoken, measured, and calm during routine hearings and minor disputes. However, the moment a legal ruling, petition, or merchant appeal threatens the absolute authority or financial oversight of the Brass Canon, he hardens instantly, becoming an immovable, unyielding wall of bureaucratic and martial fanaticism. His peculiar nickname stems from the persistent, tiny dust moths that stubbornly infest every archival hall and record shelf in the capital, clinging to his heavy cloak no matter how many generations of temple fumigation are attempted. Descriptive Summary: Operating from the formidable halls of the Sunburst Bastion, High Prefect Dor commands the day-to-day enforcement of the order's will. Working closely alongside High Canon Varis and Archivist Tressa, he ensures that the sacred oversight of foreign trade and the suppression of seditious revelry are carried out with brutal, unbending efficiency. His quiet demeanor in ordinary courtrooms only makes his sudden, unyielding crackdowns all the more terrifying to those who test the limits of the theocracy.

Species: Human Class & Level: Wizard (Abjuration / Divination) 14 / Rogue (Inquisitive) 4 Appearance: A sharp, focused human woman in her late forties with ink-dark fingertips, a shaved left temple bearing faint ritual scars, and keen, watchful hazel eyes. She wears a heavy, high-collared monastic robe of dark gray wool reinforced with banded leather strips, a massive ring of iron skeleton keys clinking at her belt, and carries an ivory-handled stylus designed for breaking heavy sealing wax. Personality: Exceptionally methodical, hyper-observant, and deeply eccentric. She possesses an uncanny habit of pausing before opening a sealed vault to taste the air—reading the ambient humidity, ozone, and dust to sense if a room has been recently disturbed. She holds a near-photographic memory for the precise physical location, index number, and complex legal history of nearly every hanging stone tablet and parchment roll within the Sunburst Bastion. Her unusual family hyphen reflects her lineage: the union of two fiercely rival local professions—master scribes and armed caravan guards—whose generations-long blood feud was forcibly ended by an arranged, highly reluctant marriage. Descriptive Summary: Operating from the labyrinthine, restricted vault levels deep beneath the Sunburst Bastion, Vespera guards the most dangerous historical records, suppressed trial transcripts, and classified trade restrictions in the capital. Working alongside High Canon Varis and Archivist Tressa, she controls access to the order's deepest secrets. Her intimate knowledge of every legal precedent and hidden archive makes her an indispensable, if slightly unnerving, pillar of the theocratic bureaucracy.

Species: Brass Dragonborn Class & Level: Fighter (Battle Master) 13 / Paladin (Oath of Watchers) 4 Appearance: A severe, heavily muscled brass dragonborn in his late forties with scarred, burnished scales, unyielding amber eyes, and a distinctive left horn securely capped in a snug, polished iron sheath. He wears a dark, utilitarian chainmail hauberk beneath a heavy leather tabard stamped with the prison seals of the order, sturdy iron-shod boots, and a thick belt from which hangs a heavy ring of consecrated brass keys. Personality: Exceptionally stern, unyielding, and perpetually watchful. He treats the subterranean prison with absolute, clinical discipline, viewing every inmate through the lens of legal compliance and security risk. He never engages in idle conversation with prisoners and is entirely immune to threats or bribes. Inmates and guards alike refer to him behind his back as "Iron-Beetle"—after the stubborn, armored desert beetles that persistently crawl back into the Bastion’s warm drainage grates no matter how many times they are cleared away, mirroring his relentless presence in the cells. Descriptive Summary: Operating from the damp, heavily secured subterranean levels of the Sunburst Bastion, Warden Marrak commands the prison blocks, holding cells, and interrogation wards. Working alongside High Prefect Dor and Master of Records Vespera, he ensures that heretics, corrupt clerks, and political dissidents remain securely locked away beneath the courthouse. His unbreakable vigilance makes the Bastion's prison system an inescapable labyrinth for anyone foolish enough to cross the Brass Canon.

Species: Genasi Class & Level: Ranger (Monster Slayer) 12 / Rogue (Inquisitive) 6 Appearance: A sharp, resilient genasi investigator in her late forties with skin that resembles sun-baked clay webbed with faint, shimmering mineral veins, bright amber eyes, and wind-whipped hair the color of sun-bleached straw. She wears crisp, dust-resistant white linen robes layered beneath custom-fitted, polished brass breastplates and shoulder guards, sturdy riding boots, and a leather strap across her chest carrying her investigation seals and a collection of botanical sample tubes. Personality: Pragmatic, deeply perceptive, and professionally disarming. Hailing directly from the rugged outer caravan roads, she initially treats every trade dispute, heresy report, and contract discrepancy as a civil negotiation—listening calmly and offering compromise until hard, undeniable evidence proves that the negotiation has simply become another masked layer of systemic corruption. Her distinct byname, "Thorn-Root," commemorates the hardy, stubborn thornbushes that constantly sprout through the hairline cracks of the Bastion's basalt foundations, proving completely impossible for the temple groundskeepers to ever fully eradicate. Descriptive Summary: Operating from the bustling border checkpoints, trade inspection yards, and the Sunburst Bastion, Shana bridges the dangerous gap between the wild trade routes and the rigid courts of the theocracy. Working alongside High Prefect Dor and Master of Records Vespera, she tracks down fraudulent merchants, investigates smuggled foreign contraband, and uncovers underground trade conspiracies before they destabilize the capital. Her caravan-honed instincts and refusal to accept surface-level excuses make her one of the most effective—and feared—investigators in the Brass Canon.

Species: Brass Dragonborn Class & Level: Cleric (Order / Knowledge Domain) 15 / Fighter (Battle Master) 4 Appearance: An elderly, weathered brass dragonborn in his late sixties with deep-set amber eyes, heavily scarred metallic scales, and a gravelly, resonant voice that sounds precisely like stones pouring into a bronze bowl. He wears flowing judicial robes of deep crimson wool over polished brass scale armor, a heavy iron-linked chain of office set with an unpolished garnet, and carries a massive, stone-carved judicial gavel. Personality: Immovable, brutally honest, and profoundly experienced. Having survived decades of political shifts and internal purges, he possesses an unbreakable resilience. He has presided over countless grueling water rights disputes, dangerous foreign shrine challenges, high-stakes treason trials, and bizarre mystical cases involving suspected leyline contamination. His given name, "Wall-Gecko," was pinned on him by generations of court clerks because he clings to his judicial bench with stubborn tenacity, successfully surviving every political purge, tribunal restructuring, and attempt by ambitious nobles to drive him from office. Descriptive Summary: Operating from the chilling circular hearing chamber at the heart of the Sunburst Bastion—where the floor is permanently inlaid with hundreds of confiscated merchant seals—Justice Korvath serves as the ultimate judicial voice of the Brass Canon. Working alongside High Canon Varis, High Prefect Dor, and the tribunal investigators, he hears the most contentious and dangerous cases in the capital. His unyielding commitment to procedural law and his refusal to be intimidated by church or merchant makes him the most feared and respected judge on the basalt steppes.