LORYN

characters of book one

The Cast of Book One

Five point‑of‑view characters drive the hunt for three Keystone Chants to stabilise Greystone before the solstice storm. Allies steady them. Antagonists believe they’re right. This page gives readers the who, why, and how they collide.

POV Characters Allies & Mentors Antagonists Ensemble Chemistry Book One Arc

POV Characters

Each profile includes role, people, desire, fear, power, secret, and arc.

ProtagonistGreystoneMemory‑Singer

Llyra

Thalyss‑trained Greystone archivist

  • Wants: recover the erased name tied to her past; keep Greystone from blinking out.
  • Fears: being misnamed into a Rot copy; becoming a Curator tool.
  • Power: memory‑song that anchors or unmakes echoes; stone‑etching competence.
  • Flaw: compulsive truth‑telling that endangers allies.
  • Secret: the forbidden song remembers something wearing her shape.
  • First set‑piece: amphitheatre storm where she sings her name against a misnaming Rot.
  • Arc: from “I verify” to “I choose what deserves to be remembered.”
WeaverThalyss

Sevra Quen

Outcast Weaver; engineer of memory‑wards

  • Wants: prove ethical weaving isn’t a myth.
  • Fears: that all weaving is coercion in prettier robes.
  • Power: stitches memory into objects, places, oaths.
  • Secret: once forged a lineage slab that toppled a city‑state government.
  • Arc: from cynic to custodian, binding without stealing selves.
CourierVeyrnTide‑Marked

Neris Blackwater

Storm‑born messenger; songs that travel

  • Wants: carry a song the world can’t drown.
  • Fears: land‑sickness and being pinned to any shore.
  • Power: long‑reach chant relay; senses “currents” in crowds and councils.
  • Secret: smuggles banned songs for Veyrn radicals.
  • Arc: from runner to stander, choosing a place worth anchoring.
HeirKorrvainNamesworn

Aren Korvel

Lineage‑scarred heir; ceremonial law and public memory theatre

  • Wants: patch a missing ancestor bead and stabilise his house.
  • Fears: public erasure; that his line is a curated lie.
  • Power: ritual authority; battlefield discipline; hearth‑name boon he can’t control.
  • Secret: already Namesworn to a minor hearth‑name.
  • Arc: from inheritance as script to identity as choice.
ScribeStonewrought

Kest of the Third Rib

Living archive; perfect recall of what’s carved

  • Wants: autonomy beyond “useful object.”
  • Fears: tampering and erosion; being edited into a weapon.
  • Power: re‑carves damaged script; remembers what stone remembers.
  • Secret: carries a hidden counter‑inscription against Curator canon.
  • Arc: from shelf to author, claiming the right to self‑write.

Key Allies & Mentors

Edda Grael

The Old Singer; folklore, true‑name lore, moral compass with bite

  • Use: carries pre‑archive songs and warnings.
  • Scene to steal: calls a forgotten watch‑song that stills a riot for one breath.

Senna Tal

Curator envoy; elegant, resource‑rich, and morally grey

  • Use: brings resources and deadlines; forces public ethics.
  • Secret: retrieve the forbidden song or erase it, whichever protects Thalyss.

Layered Antagonists

Opposition with convictions, not cackles.

Deyric Ash

Namesworn operative of Thalyss’s black arm

  • Domain: a shutter‑name tied to closures and seals.
  • Goal: shut the Shattermark breach by force, people be damned.
  • Why he works: his victory saves lives short‑term, dooms Loryn long‑term.

The Palinode

A Rot phenomenon: beautiful, persuasive corrections

  • Form: harmonies that overwrite inconvenient truths.
  • Goal: tune the world into a single false song.
  • Use: pressures heroes to accept “better” versions of themselves.

House Korvel Regency

A court faction in Korrvain

  • Obstacle: would rather erase Aren than admit the chain is cracked.
  • Leverage: courts, law, and public memory theatre.

Ensemble Chemistry

Relationship vectors you can feel on the page.

  • Llyra × Sevra: ethics vs outcomes. She sings truth; Sevra stitches consent.
  • Llyra × Aren: public memory theatre; she breaks scripts, he performs them.
  • Llyra × Kest: what’s carved vs what’s sung; they learn to co‑author reality.
  • Neris × Aren: storm‑born anarchist vs ceremonial heir; respect forged in crisis.
  • Sevra × Senna: two Curator products; one escaped, one still believes she’s different.

Book One — Arc at a Glance

  • External spine: secure three Keystone Chants to stabilise Greystone’s section of the Shattermark before the solstice storm.
  • Midpoint reveal: the forbidden song is a partial true‑name for the god sealed under Greystone; singing it anchors the village while loosening the seal.
  • False victory: Deyric uses his shutter‑name to “fix” a blink district, erasing half its people from communal recall.
  • Climax: at the Titan‑Rib Archive, Llyra carves a scar in her own memory rather than let Senna weaponise the song. Kest takes the blow, saving the chorus but losing a part of himself the team must help re‑write.
  • Resolution hook: the Palinode now sings in the capital. Book Two turns toward Thalyss.