The Blinding Knife

by Brent Weeks

  Green: Atirat, goddess of lust. Her center of worship was primarily in western Ruthgar and most of Blood Forest.

  Blue: Mot, god of envy. His center of worship was in eastern Ruthgar, northeastern Paria, and Abornea.

  Superviolet: Ferrilux, god of pride. His center of worship was in southern Paria and northern Ilyta.

  On Technology and Weapons

  The Seven Satrapies are in a time of great leaps in understanding. The peace since the Prisms’ War and the following suppression of piracy has allowed the flow of goods and ideas freely through the satrapies. Cheap, high-quality iron and steel are available in every satrapy, leading to high-quality weapons, durable wagon wheels, and everything in between. Though traditional forms of weapons like Atashian bich’hwa or Parian parry-sticks continue, now they are rarely made of horn or hardened wood. Luxin is often used for improvised weapons, but most luxins’ tendency to break down after long exposure to light, and the scarcity of yellow drafters who can make solid yellows (which don’t break down in light), means that metal weapons predominate among mundane armies.

  The greatest leaps are occurring in the improvement of firearms. In most cases, each musket is the product of a different smith. This means each man must be able to fix his own firearm, and that pieces must be crafted individually. A faulty hammer or flashpan can’t be swapped out for a new one, but must be detached and reworked into appropriate shape. Some large-scale productions with hundreds of apprentice smiths have tried to tackle this problem in Rath by making parts as nearly identical as possible, but the resulting matchlocks tend to be low quality, trading accuracy and durability for consistency and simple repair. Elsewhere, the smiths of Ilyta have gone the other direction, making the highest-quality custom muskets in the world. Recently, they’ve pioneered a form they call the flintlock. Instead of affixing a burning slow match to ignite powder in the flashpan and thence into the breech of the rifle, they’ve affixed a flint that scrapes a frizzen to throw sparks directly into the breech. This approach means a musket or pistol is always ready to fire, without a soldier having to first light a slow match. Keeping it from widespread adoption is the high rate of misfires—if the flint doesn’t scrape the frizzen correctly or throw sparks perfectly, the firearm doesn’t fire.

  Thus far, the combination of luxin with firearms has been largely unsuccessful. The casting of perfectly round yellow luxin musket balls was possible, but the small number of yellow drafters able to make solid yellow creates a bottleneck in production. Blue luxin musket balls often shatter from the force of the black powder explosion. An exploding shell made by filling a yellow luxin ball with red luxin (which would ignite explosively from the shattering yellow when the ball hit a target) was demonstrated to the Nuqaba, but the exact balance of making the yellow thick enough to not explode inside the musket, but thin enough to shatter when it hit its target, is so difficult that several smiths have died trying to replicate it, probably barring this technique from wide adoption.

  Other experiments are doubtless being carried out all over the Seven Satrapies, and once high-quality, consistent, and somewhat accurate firearms are introduced, the ways of war will change forever. As it stands, a trained archer can shoot farther, far more quickly, and more accurately.

  Character List

  Adrasteia (Teia): A student at the Chromeria. She is slave to Lady Lucretia Verangheti of the Smussato Veranghetis; a Blackguard candidate and a drafter of paryl.

  Aheyyad: Orange drafter, grandson of Tala. A defender of Garriston, the designer of Garriston’s Brightwater Wall; dubbed Aheyyad Brightwater by Prism Gavin Guile.

  Ahhanen: A Blackguard.

  Aklos: A slave of Lady Aglaia Crassos.

  Amestan: A Blackguard at the Battle of Garriston.

  Aram: A Blackguard scrub. His parents were Blackguards, and he has been training in martial arts since he could walk.

  Arana: A drafting student, a merchant’s daughter.

  Aras: A student at the Chromeria, a Blackguard scrub.

  Arash, Javid: One of the drafters who defended Garriston.

  Aravind, Lord: Satrap of Atash. Father of Kata Ham-haldita, corregidor of Idoss.

  Arias, Lord: One of the Color Prince’s advisers. He is an Atashian in charge of spreading news about the Color Prince.

  Arien: A magister at the Chromeria. She drafts orange and tests Kip on Luxlord Black’s orders.

  Ariss the Navigator: A legendary explorer, discoverer.

  Asif: A young Blackguard.

  Asmun: A Blackguard scrub.

  Atagamo: A magister who teaches the properties of luxin at the Chromeria. He is Ilytian.

  Atiriel, Karris: A desert princess. She became Karris Shadowblinder before she married Lucidonius.

  Ayrad: A yellow drafter. He was a Blackguard scrub years before Kip entered the class. He started at the bottom of his class (forty-ninth) and worked his way up to the top, fighting everyone. It turned out he’d taken a vow. Became commander of the Blackguard and saved four different Prisms at least once before someone poisoned him.

  Azmith, Caul: A Parian general, the Parian satrapah’s younger brother.

  Balder: A Blackguard scrub who has it in for Kip.

  Bas the Simple: A Tyrean polychrome (blue/green/superviolet), handsome but a simpleton, sworn to kill the killer of the White Oak family.

  Ben-hadad: A Ruthgari student at the Chromeria. He has been accepted into the Blackguards in an earlier class. A blue/yellow bichrome who has created his own mechanical spectacles that allow blue or yellow lenses to be used, he’s highly intelligent.

  Big Ros: A slave of Aglaia.

  Blademan: A Blackguard watch captain. He leads one of the skimmers in the battle at Ruic Head, along with Gavin and Watch Captain Tempus.

  Blue-Eyed Demons, the: Mercenaries who fought for Dazen’s army.

  Borig, Janus: An old woman. She is bald, smokes a long pipe, and is apparently a Mirror.

  Bursar: The Omnichrome’s most important adviser. She is constantly doing figures with her small abacus and is in charge of one-third of the chits for the soldiers to use for prostitutes.

  Burshward, Captain: An Angari captain (from beyond the Everdark Gates).

  Burshward, Gillam: Captain Burshward’s brother.

  Buskin: Along with Tugertent and Tlatig, the best archer Commander Ironfist has on the approach to Ruic Head.

  Caelia: A dwarf servant of the Third Eye.

  Carver Black: A non-drafter, as is traditional for the Black. He is the chief administrator of the Seven Satrapies. Though he has a voice on the Spectrum, he has no vote.

  Carvingen, Odess: A drafter and defender of Garriston.

  Cavair, Paz: Commander of the Blue Bastards at the Great Pyramid of Ru.

  Cezilia: A servant/bodyguard to the Third Eye.

  Clara: A servant/bodyguard to the Third Eye.

  Companions’ Mother: Head of the Omnichrome’s army’s prostitute guild.

  Coran, Adraea: Blessed. Said “war is a horror.”

  Cordelia: A willowy female Blackguard.

  Corfu, Ramia: A powerful young blue drafter. He is one of the Color Prince’s favorites.

  Corzin, Eleph: An Abornean blue drafter, a defender of Garriston.

  Counselor, the: A legendary figure. Author of The Counselor to Kings, which advised such cruel methods of government that not even he followed them when he ruled.

  Crassos, Aglaia: A young noblewoman and drafter at the Chromeria. She is the youngest daughter of an important Ruthgari family, a sadist who enjoys the pain she inflicts on her slaves.

  Crassos, Governor: Elder brother of Aglaia Crassos; the last governor of Garriston.

  Cruxer: A Blackguard scrub. He’s the third generation to enter the ranks; his parents are Inana and Holdfast.

  Daelos: A Blackguard scrub.

  Dagnar Zelan: One of the original Blackguards. He served Lucidonius after converting to his cause.

  Danavis, Aliviana (Liv): Daughter of Corvan Danavis. She i
s a yellow and superviolet bichrome drafter from Tyrea. Her contract is owned by the Ruthgari, and she is supervised by Aglaia Crassos.

  Danavis, Corvan: A red drafter. A scion of one of the great Ruthgari families, he was also the most brilliant general of the age and the primary reason for Dazen’s success in battle.

  Danavis, Ell: The second wife of Corvan Danavis. She was murdered by an assassin three years after their marriage.

  Danavis, Erethanna: A green drafter serving Count Nassos in western Ruthgar; Liv Danavis’s cousin.

  Danavis, Qora: A Tyrean noblewoman; first wife of Corvan Danavis, mother of Aliviana Danavis.

  Delara, Naftalie: A woman Andross was going to “let” Gavin marry.

  Delara Orange: The Atashian member of the Spectrum. She represents Orange and is a forty-year-old orange/red bichrome nearing the end of her life. Her predecessor in the seat was her mother, who devised the rotating scheme for Garriston.

  Delarias: A family in Rekton.

  Delauria, Katalina: Kip’s mother. She is of Parian or Ilytian extraction and is a haze addict.

  Delclara, Micael: A quarryman and a Rekton villager.

  Delclara, Miss: The matriarch of the Delclara family in Rekton. She had six sons who are quarrymen.

  Delclara, Zalo: A quarryman, one of the Delclara sons.

  Delelo, Galan: A master sergeant in the Omnichrome’s army. He escorts Liv to the gates of Garriston.

  Delmarta, Gad: A young general of Dazen’s army who took the city of Ru and publicly massacred the royal family and their retainers.

  Delucia, Neta: A member of the ruling council of Idoss (i.e., a city mother).

  Djur: Along with Ahhanen, he is on duty as a Blackguard when Karris and Gavin leave the refugee ship.

  Droose: One of Gunner’s shipmates.

  Elessia: A Blackguard.

  Elio: A bully in Kip’s barracks. Kip breaks his arm.

  Elos, Gaspar: A green color wight.

  Erato: A Blackguard scrub who has it in for Kip.

  Essel: A Blackguard woman who broke the fingers of an Atashian nobleman when he began to take liberties.

  Euterpe: A friend of Teia’s who was a slave. Her owners lost everything in a drought and rented her to the Laurion silver mine brothels for five months. She never recovered.

  Falling Leaf, Deedee: A green drafter. Her failing health inspired a number of veteran drafters to take the Freeing at Garriston.

  Farjad, Farid: A nobleman and ally of Dazen’s once Dazen promised him the Atashian throne during the False Prism’s War.

  Farseer, Horas: Another ally of Dazen’s, the bandit king of the Blue-Eyed Demons. Gavin Guile killed him after the False Prism’s War.

  Fell: A female Blackguard, the smallest in the force, she excels at acrobatic moves.

  Ferkudi: A Blackguard scrub, a blue/green bichrome who excels at grappling.

  Finer: A Blackguard seen in one of the cards.

  Fisk, Trainer: He trains the scrubs with drills and conditioning. He just barely beat Karris during their own test to enter the Blackguards.

  Flamehands: An Ilytian drafter and defender of Garriston.

  Gaeros: One of Lady Aglaia’s slaves.

  Galaea: Karris White Oak’s maid, and betrayer.

  Galden, Jens: A magister at the Chromeria, a red drafter.

  Galib: A polychrome at the Chromeria.

  Gallos: A stableman at Garriston.

  Garadul, Perses: Appointed satrap of Tyrea after Ruy Gonzalo was defeated by the Prism’s forces in the False Prism’s War. Perses was the father of Rask Garadul. He worked to eradicate the bandits plaguing Tyrea after the war.

  Garadul, Rask: A satrap who declared himself king of Tyrea; his father was Perses Garadul.

  Gazzin, Griv: A green drafter who fought with Zee Oakenshield.

  Gerain: An old man in Garriston who exhorted people to join King Garadul.

  Gerrad: A student at the Chromeria.

  Gevison: A poet (long deceased).

  Golden Briar, Eva: A woman Andross was going to let Gavin choose to marry.

  Goldeneyes, Tawenza: A yellow drafter. She teaches only the three most talented yellows each year at the Chromeria.

  Goldthorn: A magister at the Chromeria. Barely three years older than her disciples, she teaches the superviolet class.

  Gonzalo, Ruy: A Tyrean satrap who sided with Dazen during the False Prism’s War.

  Goss: A Parian Blackguard scrub, one of the best fighters.

  Gracia: A mountain Parian scrub. She’s taller than most of the boys.

  Grass, Evi: A drafter and defender of Garriston. She is a green/yellow bichrome from Blood Forest, and is a superchromat.

  Grazner: A Blackguard scrub. Kip breaks his will in a bout.

  Green, Jerrosh: Along with Dervani Malargos, he is one of the best green drafters in the Omnichrome’s army, and a Blood Robe.

  Greenveil, Arys: The Sub-red on the Spectrum. A Blood Forester, she is a cousin of Jia Tolver, and her sister is Ana Jorvis’s mother, Ela. Her parents were killed in the war by Lunna Green’s brothers. She has twelve children by twelve different men.

  Greyling, Gavin: A new Blackguard. He is brother to Gill Greyling, named after Gavin Guile. He is the handsomer of the two brothers.

  Greyling, Gill: A new Blackguard. He is elder brother to Gavin Greyling, and he is the more intelligent of the two.

  Grinwoody: Andross Guile’s chief slave and right hand. He is barely a drafter, but Andross pulled strings to get him into training for the Blackguard, where he made friends and learned secrets. He made it all the way through Blackguard training, and on oath day decided to sign with Lord Guile instead, a betrayal the Blackguards remember.

  Guile, Andross: Father of Gavin, Dazen, and Sevastian Guile. He drafts yellow through sub-red, although he is primarily known for drafting red, as that is his position on the Spectrum. He took a place on the Spectrum despite being from Blood Forest, which already had a representative, by claiming that his few lands in Ruthgar qualified him for the seat.

  Guile, Darien: Andross Guile’s great-grandfather. He was married to Zee Oakenshield’s daughter as a resolution to their war.

  Guile, Dazen: Younger brother of Gavin. He fell in love with Karris White Oak and triggered the False Prism’s War when “he” burned down her family compound, killing everyone within.

  Guile, Draccos: Andross Guile’s father.

  Guile, Felia: Married to Andross Guile. The mother of Gavin and Dazen, a cousin of the Atashian royal family, she is an orange drafter. Her mother was courted by Ulbear Rathcore before he met Orea Pullawr.

  Guile, Gavin: The Prism. Two years older than Dazen, he was appointed at age thirteen.

  Guile, Kip: The illegitimate Tyrean son of Gavin Guile and Katalina Delauria. He is a superchromat and a full-spectrum polychrome.

  Guile, Sevastian: The youngest Guile brother. He was murdered by a blue wight when Gavin was thirteen and Dazen was eleven.

  Gunner: An Ilytian pirate. His first underdeck command was as cannoneer on the Aved Barayah. He later became a captain.

  Ham-haldita, Kata: Corregidor of Idoss, the Atashian satrap’s son.

  Harl, Pan: A Blackguard scrub. His ancestors were slaves for the last eight of ten generations.

  Helel, Mistress: She masqueraded as a teacher in the Chromeria and tried to murder Kip.

  Hena: A magister at the Chromeria who teaches a class on luxin construction.

  Hezik: A Blackguard whose mother commanded a pirate hunter in the Narrows. He can shoot cannons fairly accurately.

  Holdfast: A deceased Blackguard. His son is Cruxer and his widow is Inana, another Blackguard.

  Holvar, Jin: A woman who entered the Blackguard the same year as Karris, though she is a few years younger.

  Idus: A Blackguard scrub.

  Inana: Cruxer’s mother, and a Blackguard. Widow of Holdfast, a Blackguard.

  Incaros: One of Lady Aglaia Crassos’s room slaves.

  Ironfist, Harr
dun: Commander of the Blackguard, thirty-eight years old, a blue drafter.

  Isabel (Isa): A pretty young girl in Rekton.

  Izem Blue: A legendary drafter and a defender of Garriston under Gavin Guile.

  Izem Red: A defender of Garriston under Gavin Guile. He fought for Gavin during the False Prism’s War. A Parian drafter of red with incredible speed, he wears his ghotra in the shape of a cobra’s hood.

  Jalal: A Parian storekeeper who sells kopi.

  Jevaros, Lord: A young idiot who could become the next Blackguard commander and Andross Guile’s tool.

  Jorvis, Ana: A superviolet/blue bichrome, student at the Chromeria, one of the women Andross Guile would allow Gavin to marry.

  Jorvis, Demnos: Ana Jorvis’s father, and Arys Greenveil’s brother-in-law, married to Ela Jorvis.

  Jorvis, Ela: Sister of Arys Greenveil, wife of Demnos Jorvis, Blood Forester, mother to Ana Jorvis.

  Jumber, Norl: A Blackguard.

  Jun: A Blackguard scrub. Partners with Ular during a scrubs test to get across town with money.

  Kadah: A magister at the Chromeria; a green drafter who teaches drafting basics.

  Kalif: A Blackguard.

  Kallikrates: Teia’s father. He ran the silk route as a trader before losing everything due to his wife’s lavish lifestyle.

  Keftar, Graystone: A green drafter and Blackguard scrub. He’s an athletic, dark-skinned son of a rich family that paid for him to be trained before he came to the Chromeria.

  Klytos Blue: The Blue on the Spectrum. He represents Ilyta, though he is a Ruthgari through and through. A coward and Andross’s tool.

  Laya: A Blackguard who drafts red, present at the Battle of Garriston.

  Lem (Will): A Blackguard, either simple or crazy, a blue drafter with incredible will.

  Leo: A Blackguard scrub, hugely muscular.

  Lightbringer, the: A controversial figure in prophecy and mythology. Attributes that most agree on are that he is male, will slay or has slain gods and kings, is of mysterious birth, is a genius of magic, a warrior who will sweep, or has swept, all before him, a champion of the poor and downtrodden, great from his youth, He Who Shatters. That most of the prophecies were in Old Parian and the meanings have changed in ways that are difficult to trace hasn’t helped. There are three basic camps: that the Lightbringer has yet to come; that the Lightbringer has already come and was Lucidonius (a view the Chromeria now holds, though it didn’t always); and, among some academics, that the Lightbringer is a metaphor for what is best in all of us.