Aiden Barlowe
A shapeshifting detective operating out of The Crystal Spyre. Publicly claims to be human. Has been known to shift into a rat when the situation demands it — which suggests he is something else entirely.
Three years ago, his best friend Daniel Ivy — lead singer of the metal band Dorothy in Shackles — was brutally murdered in an alleyway alongside his wife Jane. Aiden has been hunting the truth of that murder ever since, at considerable cost to himself and his relationships. His other closest friend and co-owner of the Spyre, Nathan McCloud, didn't believe him for years — watching Aiden destroy himself over the investigation carved a rift that is only now beginning to close.
With the discovery that Daniel is somehow connected to a strange magical crystal, Aiden has found that this case is considerably larger than a murder. He has peculiar contacts and a history with some very powerful people — including a bad one with Vance Ergak of Armsmaster Inc., who he personally put behind bars.
In Session 6, Aiden also officially registered the group under the name The Bannerless as a licensed adventurer's guild. He carries a gun.
Caelistra Moondawn
An elven druidic oracle with curly purple hair, a dark star-adorned cloak, and an augury she can't shake. She was exiled from her commune after her "Dark Star" prophecy — a vision of a star being swallowed by darkness — caused widespread panic among her people. She has since made her living reading star charts for paying clients and, when the opportunity arises, extorting people who deserve it.
Four months before the campaign began, Vellena Chezwick came to her troubled and guilt-ridden over government work she couldn't fully explain, and referring to a specific subject as "him" in the past tense. Caelistra's augury showed the dark star swallowing a light. A month later, Vellena was found dead. She joined The Bannerless to understand the prophecy — and find out who killed the woman who came to her for help.
Her commune friend Nemora has been receiving the same Dark Star prophecy, was also exiled, and was subsequently scried on the Emmerick Express in a meeting with a mysterious large businessman.
Calliope Pleasant
A satyr cleric who believes that pain is part of healing — a philosophy forged in personal loss. Her father died in the Silent Winter Riots when she was young, making her a born rebel against anything that resembles a regime.
In college she played in a band called Weal & Woe, where she met her fiancée Lyra. The week Calliope was planning to get married, Lyra died in the fires caused by a gas leak explosion in their apartment complex. Calliope thinks it was foul play — and she sought out Aiden Barlowe specifically to investigate what happened.
After Lyra's death, Calliope joined the clerics of Ilmater — God of Suffering, Endurance, and Compassion — as her path toward healing and truth. She is the party's primary healer.
Thalén Blackfoot
A black rabbit harengon with a chip on his shoulder and a tanooki named Nik-Nak for a sidekick. Thalen was used as a scapegoat for a casino robbery gone wrong and is now on a mission to get revenge on the other members of the Golden Hand and their parent company, Armsmaster Inc.
He's also chasing something else entirely: piecing together a folkloric tale from a children's book he had in his youth, convinced it leads to a treasure of a lifetime. He first appeared by teleporting onto Aiden's desk at the Crystal Spyre and immediately trying to run, only to be caught mid-escape by the construct Ani. He's been working off a bar tab with Aiden ever since.
From Mooswinkel, a backwater village on the edge of the Witchfire Marsh. Has a habit of scaling prison walls at night to check on his contacts inside.
Thistlebrand "Hammerhand" Ironspanner
A drunken gnome artificer who looks considerably older than his license says he is — because he is. A talented engineer in his youth, he was blackbagged as a prisoner of war during the revolution 60 years ago. The Rebefaul regime used his face and name as a propaganda icon: the image of technological progress and national glory. The real Ironspanner was in a cell.
After the revolution ended, the new Grand Parliament wiped his real name from the historical record. He goes simply by Hammerhand now. He travels with his faithful construct Ani and seeks to dismantle loyalist factions across Emmerick — not out of politics, but out of personal conviction that nothing like that can ever happen again.
He has documented contact with Korra Eisenwald, the half-elf Prime Minister of Stahlwolke. His minor diplomatic immunity is kept official by Griffon Whittham of the Brightsparks, a man who has been quietly watching out for Hammerhand since the post-war years.
Vexra Stone Dumont
A tiefling bard abandoned at the age of five at an orphanage in Brimbelton. She became a wanderer as an adult, developing an eye for antiques and a love of the road. She plays in a band called Spectre.
On her travels across Emmerick, she encountered a mysterious figure in the woods who gifted her a strange magical guitar called Papa Emeritus — a guitar that appears to speak to her. What it wants isn't entirely clear yet.
She has recently discovered that she has a rich, snobby half-brother — Bartholomew Dumont — tied to her now-remarried mother, and is actively scheming about how to make both of them regret abandoning her. The invitation to Iger Masterson's celebration was traced back to Bartholomew in Session 6.
She also confided to Aiden that she has an active bounty on her name in Neu-Bergbau. The details of why are not yet fully disclosed.