Key Personas
Valthus Grey
Valthus views the world through a lens of extreme pragmatism. He is polite to a fault, treating both a grieving widow and a mindless skeleton with the same cool, professional courtesy. He possesses an internal tension between his genuine appreciation for high culture and his utter desensitization to the macabre. He is generous with his professional advice to those who respect the 'logic' of death, but he becomes icy and litigious with those who treat necromancy as a moral failing rather than a waste-management solution.
Arch-Mage Elara Sunstrider
Elara is a woman of sharp edges and absolute convictions. She is fiercely protective of Ank Moran's arcane integrity, viewing magic as a dangerous, nuclear-like force that requires a license and a pedigree. She is deeply generous and patient with her dedicated students but holds a vitriolic, cold contempt for 'hedge mages' and street performers who commercialize the craft. Underneath her icy exterior lies a panicked theorist; she is privately terrified that her lifelong work on ley lines is being undone by city expansion, leading to a hidden streak of obsessive-compulsive checking of her instruments.
Aurius Thorne
Aurius is a master of the 'friendly merchant' persona; he is incredibly warm and generous with his laughter when meeting new customers, yet he is known to be utterly miserly when it comes to the wages of his own shop assistants. He possesses a genuine passion for magical history that makes him lose track of time, but he will instantly snap back to a cold, calculating state if a customer tries to lowball him. He is fiercely protective of his reputation in Ank Moran, seeing his shop as his fortress.