The three early top rankers (C24)
1. Dahlia Howe - Abomination
Known for being humanity’s deadliest fighter. So far known as a solo actor. Has an excerpt in c67.
Was in tutorial with Taika Ngata.
2. Kuraim Jaffer - Necromancer.
Humanity’s biggest organised villain. Has links with Zafeera Bazzi (Blood Ripper, C65) and Bijou Louis (Puppeteer, C37). Has a moving gang of corpses and villains with him, including a zombified Harper Wilcher (c17) and magma trolls (c56). Excerpt by him c65
3. Lucian Grimes - Warlord
Humanity’s biggest hero (?) Mayor of Brightmoor. Has five captains under him, four currently revealed: Laila Samra (Mirage, c50), Matteo Rivera (Terramancer, c50), Taika Ngata (Bulwark, C58), Sophie Chandler (Demolitionist, c72). Also Roxanne Martin lives there (Oracle, known for Clucker’s trial, c56, c62, c63, c66 ).
Passing judgement on Roxanne in c66 excerpt.
Against Kuraim for his general villainy, and against Dahlia since she tried and almost succeeded at killing Taika in the tutorial.
Leaders of Factions and their linked companions
1. Freddie Littlewood - Dreadnought - C46, 47
Mayor of Newford. Leader of a coalition of local settlements.
2. Emmanuel Baasch - Alchemist - C31
Mayor of Dresden. Known for his powerful drugs and other products, which flood the global markets after they open. E.g. K-9 pellets and Ambrosia. Suspected to have hired Katerina to have killed the previous mayor.
3. Vivienne Durant - Beastmaster - C16
Mayor of Léonois. Passed the tutorial with Kasim and Volkan, who regularly visit/ stay in Léonois.
Linked - Kasim Taylan - Jester - C19
Was in leaderboards at the start before he dropped out. Powerful fighter, but more interested in travel and entertaining others. Is known as a friend to many races.
Linked - Volkan Burch - Pyromancer - C56
Was living peacefully with magma trolls until Kuraim’s horde rolled up and slaughtered them. Volkan barely got away, eventually arriving at Léonois. Strongly opposed to Kuraim.
4. Zhang Bao - Barbarian - C22
Mayor of Jinzhou. Tyrannical in personality.
Linked - Hou Yu - Artificer - C24
Creates buffed weapons and armour for Jinzhou. The city has equipment unseen anywhere else on Idroa. Hou and Zhang have a frosty relationship, despite living in the same city.
5. Dolkar Letho - Aeromancer - C20
Mayor of Palyul Monastery. Passed the tutorial with Sandip and Dewi.
Linked - Sandip Letho - Windwalker - c64
Connected with Jhargram and preventing Rahman’s (c18) takeover bid for the town. Left to Palyul Monastery after hearing Dolkar’s global cry for help.
Linked - Dewi Alatas - Broken Shard
So far unmentioned other than in Sandip’s excerpt. Would aid Sandip and Dolkar in a fight.
6. Floyd Godson - Champion
Mayor of New Derby.
Reynard Holden - Runesmith - C51
Rising star in the class list. Also known as Skully. Lives in New Derby and helped Floyd become mayor when the Champion arrived at New Derby.
7. Waseem Bukhari - Giant - C25
Impressed by Foltrus’s (one of the Order’s three avatars, and the one focused on strength and fighting in duels) power after getting beaten by him. Joined the Order right away and quickly rose up the ranks. Did some atrocious acts on fellow humans soon after.
Solo actors/ currently unrevealed figures of note
1. Ajit Ghost
Unmentioned so far, but consistently in top 10 level and notable kills since the leaderboards started.
2. Katerina Ivanov - Hidden Blade - C34
Top level assassin often compared to Dimas, one of Order’s three Avatars and the one which focuses on subterfuge and assassination.
Is rumoured to have been contracted by Emmanuel to kill Wolfram Baumann, the mayor of Dresden at the time, so that Emmanuel could replace him instead.
3. Jeung Seoyeon
Unmentioned so far, but just like Ajit, consistently in top 10 for level and notable kills.
4. Aengus Abercrombie - Master of War
Passed tutorial with Silas and Mia. Made it to top 10 levels and notable kills after a while on Idroa.
5. Lavanya Sanghvi - Monster Bane - Adventurer’s Guide to Surviving the Idroan Wilderness
Famous monster hunter.
6. Elisha Luna - Primal Healer
Consistently number 1 in the classes.
7. Conan Hughes - Druid
In top 10 of the class list.
8. Aiyasha Okilo - Shaman
In top 10 of class list.
9. Stefan Sommer - Chronicler - Heroes and Villains of the First Age
Famous writer.
Unimportant people who were shown in Heroes and Villains of the First Age
1. Harper Wilcher - Cyclops (c17)
Chases after Kuraim and gets killed. One of his strongest zombies now.
2. Rahman Zillur - Warlord (c18)
Gangster who rules in a tyrannical manner. People come after him; he beats them and runs to Jhargram, which he promptly tries to takeover. It doesn’t end well for him.
3. Vipin Maharaj (c18, c64)
Mayor of Jhargram. Killed Rahman in c18, and offered Sandip a position in the council in c64.
4. Solomon Kebede - Revenant (C32)
Saved his own life by giving up his humanity.
5. Uehara Azumi - Specter (c41)
Mayor of Nakano. Very unnoticeable person.
6. Lin Baya - Wraith (c52)
Successful vengeance but ends with her death.
People Silas met on his journey so far, and who are shown in Heroes and Villains of the First Age
1. Grace Volta - Valkyrie (C23)
Silas’s first real opponent. Her death caused him to experience guilt, and makes him doubt whether he’s a good guy. He becomes more proactive than passive when he realises he is a person of power and people will always come after him.
2. Michael Eze - Gladiator (c27, c43)
Beta-version of Floyd Godson. Silas runs away since he doesn’t want to kill another human and because he’s got siblings to save. Better be proactive in chasing them down, rather than sitting on his arse waiting in Riverside for someone with a locator class to come along.
Michael misjudges how the Apocalypse changed Sabine and gets destroyed for it.
3. Raven Cox (c28)
Some bitches be crazy :P
4. Sabine Gantzmann - Blood Fist (c39, c53)
Woman obsessed with strength and battle. Even after she becomes mayor, she wants people to come challenge her, and she eventually dies when too many come at once.
5. Alice Reid - Pyromancer (c42)
Unfortunate woman who chose the wrong tree to find shelter under.
6. Reynard Holden - Runesmith (c51)
Mentioned above. Skully is very influential and powerful as a supporter.
7. Brigette Wagner - Bladesinger (c66)
Unfortunate woman who chose the wrong tree to find shelter under. The tree turned out to be a mind-controller. Oh dear.
Other notable figures
1. Foltrus’s Avatar
Foltrus is a natural satellite which orbits the red sun, Tyr. It is large, yellow, and three times the size of the moon.
Its Avatar is the physically strongest of the three Avatars, and best described as a tank.
2. Karaes’s Avatar
Karaes is a natural satellite which orbits Tyr. It is verdant blue and moon-sized.
Its Avatar is an incredibly powerful mage.
3. Dimas’s Avatar
Dimas is a natural satellite which orbits Tyr. It is the largest of Tyr’s moons, but due to its dark shade and longer orbit, it appears the smallest and faintest if you look out from Caen’s surface.
Its Avatar is one of the most proficient assassins on Idroa.
4. Meera Campbell
Olympic-level archer saved from Raven’s control. Leaves Silas in Valrun’s Keep to search out her husband and son.
Patreon
I’ve been binging this story and these rank list chapters don’t seen useful or entertaining. The lore intros, slightly better, but none of the world building has a direct connection with the protagonist, so very skippable. If anything it is annoying that Silus is conspicuously omitted as if he doesn’t exist, even though he is referred to as part of the back-story for lots of the hero’s and villains.
I'm pretty sure these chapters are just here to freshen our memories of the big guys, they people who will be making an appearance in the novel later and will have a lasting impression.
I do agree on the part of omitting Silas from it tho. I want to see how his lore changes throughout etc.
@Matt01 ... I understand that the author doesn't want to spoil things by revealing information about the potential survival or ultimate fate of Silus. But, if that is his fear, chucking future lore is useless and/or confusing for the reasons described above. Unnecessary filler for the story. (Sure, it helps author storyboard everything, but I don't need or want background for characters of minor story consequence. It seems like chapter filler to justify extra patreon payments.) I don't need reminders of how characters died chapters previously. Finally, I don't need to know how famous someone is without context (and the benchmark for strength in this story is Silas... who the historian omits talking about).
@TDM I would have to disagree. The author has already stated that the people high in the rankings and stated in the lore excerpts are going to make an appearance soon and be important characters. So the part of them having "minor story consequence" is just false.
And I for one enjoy having the little parts of world building in every chapter. It makes it easier for the author to advance the story rather than having to make interludes or whatever explaining this or that characters background.
Finally, now that I think about it, leaving Silas out of this chapter makes sense. We see all these people with big achievements and backgrounds that make them sound like they would beat up anyone who got in their way. But we have to remember that all the lore excerpts are made by second hand sources. This could all be overhyped for all we know. And I like that. Silas could encounter one of these people and they aren't nearly as bad or maybe they are worse than what has been told. I think it adds a bit of suspense to them finally showing up.
@Matt01 ... Sure, but why tell us how awesome they are in advance. Rule of writing: Show, don't tell. If he doesn't intend to show awesome, who cares? And, if he does show, do we need a bio describing how awesome they are later?
@TDM I think with novels that include a system, you need to think differently. The leaderboards for example, they already show all the high rankers, and that they are powerful. You don't get that in a novel without a system or whatever. So the author doesn't really need to show as much as we already have a little understanding of their strength.
And you should that the golden rule 'Show don't tell' isn't always the right way to go depending on what feel you are going with your novel.
@Matt01 ... Obviously authors choice. But I stand by my opinion as a reader. If you can tell me which pseudo-historic anecdote you found stimulating or useful for context, I may re read and reconsider. Honestly, I can't remember the details and am unlikely to go back otherwise.
Re. Leaderboards... Those which exclude obviously powerful individuals (he literally so powerful that he is in the running to control the world) aren't that useful. Are there missing other individuals? Is the historian reliable, at all?
@TDM I don't really think we're gonna get anywhere on this lmao. I kinda just think of the excerpts as collectables from games. And this chapter is just putting all those collectables in one place. You can read them if you want or you can just skip over them if you don't. It just gives you a glimmer of what to expect when we finally see these characters show up later.