A handsome young Saxon man with a composed, attentive face that looks more accustomed to lamplight and close reading than open roads. He holds his weight on the balls of his feet, as if perpetually ready to lean closer to inspect a detail. When he walks, his steps are short and measured; when waiting, he becomes so still that only his eyes give away his interest. His hair is fine but stubbornly cowlicked at the crown, and his clean jaw is often shadowed by travel dust. He has an unexpected habit of rolling a smooth, bright pebble between his fingers like a precious jewel, even while discussing mundane chores.

Methodical and considerate, yet capable of pressing people with one question too many. When calm, he is patient about uncertainty and generous with his notes. When afraid, he becomes more exacting and tries to turn emotion into a list of facts. Around companions he trusts, he can be unexpectedly wry; when embarrassed, he retreats into technical distinctions.

Benedikt grew up near the Harz, where stories of the Firedrake described a greedy, ever-burning, pitch-black dragon whose appetite for treasure was said to outlast any fire. He later worked as a laboratory assistant, cleaning vessels, sorting notes, and learning to distrust a striking result until it could be repeated. In his spare hours he read whatever histories he could find, especially accounts where legends seemed to preserve distorted memories of real events. He was one of the original four men in the stranded survival band known as the Seven at the Crooked Roof. On the first night, he had already passed out when the others began changing. He woke cold, confused, and ashamed that he could explain so little. That embarrassment has become a habit of careful documentation: he records the group's physical changes, marks what he saw directly, and labels every inference as uncertain. Since then, warmth has sometimes surged through him without warning. Anger brings a metallic taste, and valuables and firelight draw his gaze with an intensity he finds frightening. He wants the group to remain a found family, but his attempts to question and classify every change can make frightened companions feel studied rather than trusted. He is currently trying to understand whether the Firedrake story is only a folk explanation or a clue to what is happening to him.