The Seven Against Nidah
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"We were the Seven Against Nidah..."
"...soldiers, spies, healers, zailors. We meant to democratise death; to break Nidah's hold on immortality and distribute their hoard of years more evenly. It was a good scheme. Bourdain recruited our legions. Lorenzo charted our path. Arik sailed our troops up the red river on living ships. Batuk led our armies. Rosina healed our wounds."[1]
The Seven Against Nidah are a group of individuals who seek to defeat the Presbyterate.
A Coalition Disbanded
Nidah is the City of Immortality and capital of the Presbyterate kingdoms. Here lies the secret of immortality, and here lie the lords who hide it from the world.[2]
Many years ago, seven men and women went on a crusade to democratize death and topple the status quo of the Elder Continent. They failed, and their remnants fled to the darkest corners of the Neath to hide from the wrath of the Presbyterate.[3][4] They lie in wait, though it has been a very long time, and they are all in dire straits. Perhaps one day, an ambitious captain might bring them together for a second chance at eternity.[5]
Mariam, the Schemer
"Her skin is the exact black-blue of the bone walls. She brushes dust from her apron. A small copper kettle steams on the floor at her feet, emitting an sharp, nutty odour.
Every surface in the chamber - a tessellation of cemented bone - is engraved. Amongst the threading scrawl, certain phrases repeat.
REMEMBER THE WAX-WIND
IT WILL FIND YOU
I AM A CANDLE
WIND WAX-WIND WAX-WIND WAX"[5]
Mariam is the founder and coordinator of the Seven, and as the daughter of the Presbyter himself, a former princess. She was always rebellious,[5] and in an attempt to appease her, her father broke all kinds of Presbyterian law to offer her the gift of immortality. It is implied that Mariam gave this gift to a Khaganian general in another act of defiance, displeasing her father greatly. It is also implied that said general was none other than Arik, the second person to join the Seven.[6]
She was the last of the Seven to retreat; she "would not leave until she knew Nidah would stand."[7] After the Seven's loss at Nidah, the Wax-Wind was invoked against Mariam personally, and she fled to the Fathomking's Hold. The Fathomking turned her skin peligin, cursed her to forget everything she knew, and sent her to the deepest parts of Scrimshander, where she made statues of her comrades and carved memories into the walls in an attempt to remember her grudge.[5]
Batuk, the Soldier
"Yes. Rosina's cousin. He was one of the Presbyterate's border-guards: the Gracious. But they discharged him when he allowed an explorer access to the Interior. An explorer..." she taps her teeth, thinking. "Lorenzo? Afterwards, Batuk became a mercenary, and joined our number."
"He'd had enough of discipline. He will have sought a place of freedom."[6]
Commander of the armies of the Seven and cousin to Rosina, Batuk is a cold and reserved man, making him the perfect candidate to rally and lead armies into battle against the seemingly infinite masses of the Presbyter. Before joining the Seven, he was a border guard for the Presbyterate, but he was stripped of his position for allowing a surface explorer to enter.[6]
As a soldier, he took responsibility for the failure of the campaign, claiming he charged at the city while not noticing an approaching army.[8] Angered and embarrassed by his loss, he has since rejected the world and fled to Nook, where no one cares about the outside. He may claim he no longer cares for immortality, but he just needs a bit of encouragement.[9]
Lytton, the Financier
"Lytton. He was more than our financier. He was our courage. He inspired us when we faltered."[6]
Charged with financing the campaign, Lytton was the second-oldest member of the Seven. His and his wife's knack for raising money was vital to the quest for Nidah, and the pair took donations from bankers, nobles, and anyone else with money and a lust for eternity.
After his failure, he fled to Low Barnet, where his entire lower half has been encased in coral and has been merged with the wall of the church. Broken, Lytton has given up on his quest; he wouldn't be able to continue even if he tried, given his current condition.[1]
Lorenzo, the Guide
"An explorer from the Surface, who came down here to be the first to climb the Mountain. The Nidaheen drove him away. I recruited him. He charted the Interior for us, and plotted the course of our armies.
"Now? He fled into the north, where I have heard he maintains a lighthouse."[6]
A former Surface explorer, Lorenzo was tasked with navigating the dangers of the Elder Continent. He specifically came to the Neath to be the first to climb the Mountain of Light, an act that was highly forbidden. Despite being let in by Batuk, Lorenzo failed in his task, but he gained enough knowledge about the Elder Continent to join the Seven as a guide.[6][10] As a member of the Seven, he secretly had affairs with both Arik and Rosina.[8][11]
During the siege of Nidah, he was supposed to scout the area for incoming armies, but he accidentally failed to report a nearby army known as the Hyenas. Like Batuk, he considers it entirely his fault that the Seven failed, and he chose to flee to the Ragged Crow, taking residence in the cavern of the Undercrow, to atone for his sins, making sure no one would ever be led astray again.[8] Surrounded by moths, Lorenzo is now old and decrepit. His attempt at eternity is over.[12]
Bourdain, the Propagandist
"We were confidantes. He was a Frenchman and - in his day - a member of the revolutionaries' Calendar Council. He wrote pamphlets and placed bombs. I could not say which were more incendiary."[6]
A former member of the Calendar Council, London's anarchist revolutionaries, Bourdain saw the Seven's quest as a way to help sick people from the Surface, and his skills as a writer allowed him to rally many, many, men and women to the cause.[13] After his party's defeat, however, he fled to Frostfound, and was never seen again. Several years later, Mariam tried to rescue him, but her agents were attacked by Wreckers and failed in their search.[6]
Ice
"Is he trying to say something? There is no sound. He repeats the gesture. Does he mean-? You lean in and breathe on the ice, fogging it. Bourdain gives a minuscule smile. Then he raises a finger and begins to draw a message in the fog from the other side.
He writes backwards, which necessitates some deciphering. "I NEVER LEFT.""[14]
Bourdain failed in the Ruby Room of Frostfound, and his visage was trapped in the frozen wall. The Wreckers carved the ice into a slab, and gave it to the Fair King as a mirror.[13][15]
This predicament did not impede his cause at all. He can communicate by writing on the mirror, and he's still somehow able to scheme against the Presbyterate via Kingeater's Castle. One of his pawns is the Gnomic Gallivant, who was tasked with murdering members of the College of Mortality around the Unterzee.[14][16]
Rosina, the Healer
"Our healer, Rosina. She was the abbess at the hospital in Adam's Way, and petitioned Nidah on several occasions to afford her patients additional time. The Nidaheen ignored her. I did not."[6]
A skilled healer and Batuk's cousin, Rosina was in charge of medical services for Batuk's men.[1] Her greatest hindrance was the Animescence, a strange disease that ravages the people of the Elder Continent.
In an act of biological warfare, the Presbyter sent infected men to kill her. Normally, Rosina would have avoided contracting the disease by being as dispassionate as possible in treating her patient, but one day, news broke that ignited more passion in her than ever before: a Presbyterate princess - Mariam - had received a gift of immortality from her father, only to share it with an injured Khaganian general. At that very instance an Animescent beggar burst right in front of her, and she was seemingly doomed to die.[17]
She hasn't given up, however; she fled to Anthe, where she had her kidney crystallized to suppress her emotions and prevent her disease from progressing further. Her research into curing the Animescence still continues, but she is running out of time.[18]
Arik, the Captain
"I remember that he was the first I recruited to my scheme," Mariam says. "He was a scion of the Taimen, injured in a battle against my homeland. I saved his life. My father was not pleased."[6]
Captain of the Polythremi ships the army traveled on, Arik is a Khaganian captain and navigator who was the first person to join Mariam on her quest. He also may have been the recipient of the immortality that Mariam's father gave her to appease her.[5][6] Alongside Lorenzo, Arik played a vital role in logistics and repairs during the campaign.[1]
After the destruction of his companions' army and the scattering of the Seven, Arik hid in the moving city of Hideaway, where he is now preparing an even greater vessel to travel back up the river.[19][20]
References
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