Xär-Lilith¶
"Sister, I have been in three places at once for an hour. Where were you?"
— Reported as her opening line to a rival diplomat
Peer of The Automaton when the Automaton's face turns west toward [[Ashinân]]. Matriarch of the Xär-Lilith family — one of the most venerable Akkyshan elven lineages, claiming descent from Scaëlin's first courtesan. The name "Xär-Lilith" means "Eye" in Akkyshan; it is the title that passes to the matriarch, not the person.
What She Looks Like¶
A frail-framed elderly woman, disproportionately small for her power. Black hair shot with silver, kept long. Eyes that never blink at the same moment. She receives audiences in dim, candle-lit chambers that smell of cobweb-silk and faint preservative spices.
What She Can Do¶
- The gift of ubiquity — she can be in multiple places at once, fully present in each. Not illusion, not projection: genuine simultaneous presence. The mechanism is unknown even to her own family.
- Phenomenal diplomacy — generations of senior Akkyshan elders have called her the best living negotiator. She has not lost a major negotiation since taking the title in 977.
- Spider-aspect magic — like senior Akkyshans, she practices Spider-culture magic at the high levels; Lilith's blessings sit lightly on her shoulders.
How She Rules¶
The Xär-Lilith family is technically a council, in practice a court of one. She has no recognized heirs. Her advisors rarely survive a year in her service — disgraced, exiled, killed in unclear circumstances, or simply missing. The court is full of intriguers angling for the line of succession that does not exist.
She has chosen this. She has no intention of dying or naming an heir. The family's continued power depends on the senior elders' belief that one day there will be a succession; the succession never comes.
Her Current Project¶
The Akkyshan agent in the Glistenning
The young Akkyshan operative recently placed in the Guild of Favorites' Glistenning is one of her plants. Officially, the operative is "an exile making her way." Actually, she is collecting upper-city intelligence on the Var-Nokkt-Goldsmith axis, the Drakaër family's leak channels, and the activity around the Tractor. Xär-Lilith does not yet act on what she learns; she stockpiles.
Relations¶
- Yalin Aoue — co-Peer of the Automaton. Open hostility under formal courtesy. The Automaton's face decides who rules and Xär-Lilith is patient.
- The Automaton (the construct itself) — uncertain. The Cynwäll-set device controls when she rules. She suspects the device is not impartial.
- Akkyshan embassy — she does not formally represent it, but the embassy treats her as a senior unofficial intelligence node
- Guild of Thieves — operational. Akkyshan loot from the forest of Ashinân flows into Thief safehouses with her quiet approval.
- Duke — formally cordial. Privately she considers him a useful instrument.
The third heir
An unknown Akkyshan elf arrives in the city claiming to be Xär-Lilith's hidden heir. The court explodes in factional maneuvering. The party is approached by three factions — Xär-Lilith's senior advisor (deny the claim), a rival faction (verify the claim), and the Duke (find out the truth before either of the first two acts).
The face stops
The Automaton's face has now stopped in an in-between position three times since the Rag'narok began. The next stop may be permanent. Xär-Lilith is preparing — quietly — for the moment the alternating-rule arrangement breaks. So is Yalin. Whoever moves first wins the Automaton.