Zaephon is a towering, broad-shouldered Qumon whose presence seems to arrive a step before he does. His skin has the dull, close-grained texture of old basalt, crossed at the shoulders by fine gold seams that glimmer when he strains. The shattered remnants of his halo rise from his brow in uneven, backward-curving horns, like a crown broken and forced to grow around the breaks. His long spaded tail drags a shallow groove in dust when he is tired, but lifts in a precise counterbalance when he turns. He plants his weight heavily on his heels while waiting, occupying doorways without seeming to notice; when he remembers to make room, he folds himself awkwardly to one side. Unexpectedly, he carries a tiny, brightly painted wooden bird tucked into his belt, its cheerful little beak at odds with his martial bearing.

Zaephon is blunt about danger but cautious about judgment. In a crisis he takes command with an old officer's certainty; in quiet company he is unexpectedly patient, especially with children and people who are afraid. He can be stubbornly protective, yet hates being thanked as if sacrifice were a virtue in itself. When angry, he becomes physically more direct and stops using metaphor. When ashamed, he grows practical, offering repairs, food, or watch duty instead of an apology.

Zaephon was one of the eight figures named in the Radiant Chorus's account of its founding during the Great Schism, when the authority of Lioris and the Original Edict were fiercely contested. He believed the heavens needed law, but came to see that a law no one could question was only another weapon. During the conflict he and Myrakel were recorded as leading a rebellion against Lioris. Zaephon's halo shattered in that struggle, and he was said to have been slain beside Myrakel. That death is known only through Zherath's account, and the Chorus's records are suspect: Zherath later admitted to erasing half of a god-mind's root-memory. Before the battle, Zaephon had been the one who gathered the Chorus's furious voices into something like an argument instead of a war. His formative break came when a celestial command ordered him to seal a mortal refuge to preserve a heavenly boundary. He disobeyed, held the passage open, and watched the refuge survive while his halo cracked under the punishment. He has since carried the wooden bird made by a child from that refuge. In the present, he is an echo, remnant, or returned survivor, depending on which witness is telling the story. He searches for Myrakel, for a trustworthy record of the battle, and for a way to learn whether his old comrades chose to abandon him or simply failed to find him.