Revenant

A **revenant** is the disembodied consciousness of a human who has been placed in the black cradle. Revenants appear in Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, and Revenant Gun.

The only three revenants known to have existed are Heptarch Nirai Esfarel, Hexarch Nirai Kujen, and General Shuos Jedao.

For the mothdrive vessel of the same name, see Revenant (moth).

## Overview

Revenants can survive inside the black cradle or while anchored to the body of another person. They can see in all directions at once around their anchor's body, and their speech can be heard by their anchor and by other revenants. They do not experience hunger or fatigue and do not require sleep, though anchors still need these things to remain functional. While attached to the revenant, an anchor's inner thoughts sound in the revenant's voice.

The shadow of an anchored revenant exists simultaneously in invariant space and gate-space. It can shift its shape, taking the form of the revenant's own shadow or expanding, contracting, or moving independently of light sources at the revenant's will. Glimpses of the revenant's faction emblem, such as shadow-moths or glowing fox eyes, can be seen in the shadow.

While an anchored revenant can survive in any calendrical terrain, the anchoring process itself is an exotic effect and only works under the high calendar.

Kujen designed the process to allow himself complete control of his anchor's body whenever he chose, down to detailed manipulation of the anchor's dreams. To protect himself in case of an anchor's death, Kujen's revenant is able to jump into the body of any other nearby human and take control of it. Since unsuitable anchors are not psychologically equipped to host revenants, Kujen kept suitable backup anchors available at all times.

Except on rare unofficial occasions, Jedao was not permitted any physical or mental control over his anchors, though bleed-through of physical and verbal traits did occur. He was never permitted Kujen's ability to body-hop. Formation instinct also constrained Jedao in some ways during deployment.

## History

The process of turning a living person into an immortal revenant was developed by Nirai Kujen. The black cradle's first victim was Heptarch Nirai Esfarel, who found existence as a revenant intolerable and killed himself by persuading his anchor to commit suicide. Kujen later used the process on himself and became the realm's only immortal heptarch. With the black cradle's technical details classified and false heptarchs managing faction mundanities for the Nirai, knowledge of Kujen's survival became restricted to high-ranking faction personnel only.

Several hundred years later, General Shuos Jedao was transported to Kujen for installation in the black cradle. Heptarch Shuos Khiaz signed Jedao over to the Kel Arsenal as a weapon, removing him from Shuos control. Over the subsequent centuries, the undead general was fielded numerous times as an anchored, highly restricted revenant, winning every battle to which he was assigned. His immortality became public knowledge, though the technical details were still restricted to high-ranking personnel.

Other hexarchs, coveting Kujen's immortality, attempted to create their own version that might bypass the drawbacks of the black cradle. Hexarch Rahal Iruja and False Hexarch Nirai Faian eventually succeeded, though their immortality procedure was never used. Kujen, meanwhile, developed a third, unrelated form of immortality by which he intended to resume life in an unageing recreation of his original body rather than as an anchored revenant.

## Anchors

Kujen's anchors include Liyeng, Uwo, and Nirai Mahar. Jedao's were usually Kel, and include Kel Streven and Kel Cheris.

## Trivia

* The psych surgery procedures used on Jedao to make him suitable for deployment led to the development of formation instinct.