Adam Boreas

Sketch of Adam drawn by Josiah Bancroft

## Background

“Adam Boreas was born in the grasslands of Khayyam in the west of Ur, where the land was golden with perennial drought and the sky was a blue desert. His father worked in the Depot of Sumer, where many vital railroads intersected, swapped cargo, and snaked again into the expansive fields of tall buffel grass like black millipedes.” - Excerpt from Senlin Ascends

Adam's father died in an accident, forcing him to find work to take care of his mother and sister, Voleta, instead of going to school, where he had high marks. Her mother fell ill and she was taken in by his aunt and uncle, who had no room for him. He decides to go to the Tower of Babel with Voleta to find work.

At the Tower, he thinks he finds work in the Parlor as a clerk, spying on actors to make sure that they are stoking the fires. However, he did not realize that he also was an actor and his signed contract meant that he owed sixteen minas to the Parlor, rather than the other way around. He was branded and sentenced to become a hod, but his sister was able to make a deal with Finn Goll to pay off the debt.

He then started working under Finn Goll to pay off his debt while his sister worked for Rodion at the Steam Pipe. He also bribes Rodion to "keep her on the stage and out of the boudoirs".

## Appearances

### Senlin Ascends

Adam leads Senlin through the Skirts to the entrance of the Tower where loved ones leave notes for one another. Adam leaves a note for his sister, Voleta, who he says he hasn’t seen in two years. Senlin hires Adam to be his guide through the Tower, assuming Marya has traveled to the Baths, where they were initially going to vacation. An airship crashes down on the Skirts, and Senlin is horrified to see the ship and bodies ransacked by the people around him.

Adam leads Senlin through the tunnel and into the Basement, the first “ringdom” of the Tower. The two find lodging so Senlin can rest, but when he wakes up, he discovers that Adam robbed him. Sometime later, Adam accumulates enough money on a con for him to leave the Tower with his sister. Not wanting to alert Goll, he takes a ferry going to New Babel, but it's actually a pirate ship, who rob him and send him back to the Parlor, where they gouge his eye out for returning.

Adam is working in Goll's port when Senlin returns to take the role of Portmaster. Senlin, alongside Adam, improves the efficiency of the port, increasing profits while increasing the wages of the workers, unbeknownst to Goll. Senlin informs Adam on his plan to steal a ship, and taking on Adam, Voleta, and Iren as crew. Adam is uncertain of the plan, and Senlin tells him about how he stole a painting from the Commissioner to convince Adam that he's capable, and he eventually agrees to Senlin's plan even though he actually tips of the Commissioner in an attempt to leverage the information for him and his sister's freedom. The Red Hand breaks into Senlin’s bedroom and interrogates him about the paintings whereabouts. Adam shoots at the Red Hand, but he escapes from the ringdom.

As Senlin's plan is set in motion - in which Rodion, Goll, Billy Lee and all of their men fight - Adam warns everyone that the Commissioner and his warship are coming. *The Aratat* enters, firing into the port. Senlin orders Adam to get Iren so they can leave aboard The Stone Cloud with Edith Winters and Voleta.

### Arm of the Sphinx

The crew goes to the Windsock, a hanging port to sell the rum and spend at the markets. Adam isn’t allowed to stay with the ship due to his previous duplicity. He talks with Iren at a pub about how he wants to regain Senlin’s trust.

When they go to the Silk Gardens to meet with Luc Marat - Adam, Iren and Voleta are left to repair the ship. Adam is annoyed that Voleta disobeys orders and goes to follow Senlin and Edith. Adam and Iren are attacked by mechanical spider eaters, which they are able to fend off with fire. Adam discovers a diary in a wrecked ship describing rivers of gold on top of the tower which he becomes transfixed by, and also realizes he doesn’t feel the need to smother his sister anymore - this feeling is later exemplified as Edith chastises Voleta in front of everyone, and Adam doesn't come to her defense.

As they enter the Sphinx's Lair to ask for the Sphinx's help, Edith is worried that Adam will be vulnerable to the Sphinx's duplicity. Adam is also surprised by the revelation that Senlin was addicted to crumb throughout their time on the Stone Cloud.

Edith takes Adam to get him out of the lair so that he isn’t tempted by the Sphinx’s offers. Adam suggests that they go to the top since that is where the captain of the diary visited. He is then taken by a group of “sparking men” with lightning rods who recognize Adam. Edith is allowed to leave but instructed to never return.

### The Fall of Babel

Adam Boreas is taken into the ringdom called Nebos by Elrin Allod, despite his sister, Runa’s, opposition, where Adam’s fate on whether he can stay or face execution is decided via accord or vote made by the citizens of the ringdom.

Ida Allod, Elrin and Runa’s mother, argues on Adam’s behalf, as she created a famous work of art based on Adam’s life called the Daredevil’s Brother. Runa is assigned to watch Adam, and she takes him to a place called the Warren ran by her friend Ossian, which is basically a giant storage facility. Ossian gives him new clothes, and his old clothes are burnt in a weird furnace-like contraption called the Nautilus.

Adam is treated like a celebrity in Nebos due to Ida’s work, with everyone asking him to steal from them since the work depicts him as a pickpocketing thief. Ida holds a screening of her work, and Adam discovers that everything he’s seen with the eye that was taken from him in the Parlor is displayed on screen. Adam publicly scolds Ida and leaves the screening. It’s revealed that the visual footage taken from gouged eyes are called espials and the Brick Layer originally intended them to serve as an archive of past visionaries and geniuses, however – the Nebosans instead starting using espials to make art – called scintillations. The Conservator, a robot in charge of the archive of espials, was thought to be the only figure that could scrub through quickly espials, until Ida released the Daredevil’s Brother. Adam also learns later from his scintillation that Voleta isn’t his younger sibling but his twin sister. Runa shows Adam scintillations that explain that the Bricklayer had a vision for the top of the Tower that would become Nebos. He gathered builders from outside of the Tower to realize his vision, which took three generations to complete. When it was finished, the builders had a vote on whether to live in Nebos or return home, and they chose to stay in Nebos. Elrin, infuriated that Adam insulted his mother, takes him to work for the lumenguard. They travel across an open abyss to the end of the black trail and take offerings from the hods but find that a baby was hidden in the donations. Adam argues against the lumenguard disposing the baby and returns the baby to the hods. An older hod, Faruq, explains that this is their only chance for survival and Adam agrees to help smuggle the hod children into Nebos.

Adam, Runa, Ossian and Faruq work together to smuggle the hods into the Warren. Adam and Runa also have to fake a romance to explain to the public why they are running off together so frequently. Adam also goes to the Conservator, and since his eye was entered into the archive, he’s given full privileges to the archive, so he asks to see how the Brick Layer died – and learns that the Nebosans attempted to assassinate him because he wanted the ringdom to be a haven for hods. However, as they attempted to drop a capstone onto him, he vanished. Ida and Elrin confront Adam and Runa, and Adam notices that Ida has the pendant that the Brick Layer was wearing, deducing that she stole it from the Conservator and that’s how she made Adam’s scintillation. The Conservator goes berserk and the four barely escape its wrath. Elrin then reveals that he’s uncovered their plot to smuggle hods into Nebos. Ida and Elrin take them to the Nautilus, where Ida plans to take Adam’s other eye and finish her work. Adam and Runa fight Elrin and Ida, resulting in Ida and Elrin drowning into a fluid called slow water.The espial of the Brick Layer’s revelation that the ringdom was made for the hods is shown to the public. Adam and Runa are put on trial for execution after the hod children are found in the Warren and an accord is set to decide the fate of the hods.

The State of the Art crew goes up to Nebos to enter the Sphinx’s lair from above, where they rescue Adam and Runa from execution. Adam explains that the Nebosans are currently voting on whether to allow the hod children to remain in Nebos. Edith threatens the Nebosans that anyone who votes against the Bricklayer’s edict will have their citizenship reviewed, so everyone votes to allow the hods into the ringdom.

Voleta explains that the capstone must be placed at the top of the pyramid, which Adam and Runa elect to do. Adam is distraught after hearing that Voleta died – though Edith assures him that no one could’ve prevented it and that she would trade both of her brothers for a brother like him.

Adam and Voleta reunite in Nebos, and she’s overwhelmed with emotion following the deaths of the Sphinx and Reddleman, both of which were mentor-like figures to her. She tells Adam that she loves him even though it may look like she doesn’t care. Adam mentions that a chamber has opened. The two decide to enter and it’s a bridge of a ship. The Bricklayer is projected onto the bridge and explains that Nebos is a ship headed to a destination that’s two years away. Adam and Voleta are selected to be the pilot and navigator in case there is any emergency where they need to assume control.

Voleta later suggests to Adam, Runa, and Captain Dyre, a member of the lumenguard, that they explore a mysterious door found in the lower decks of the ship to find out more information on the ship’s purpose.