Keria Morning

**Keria Morning** is the current Obscurist Magnus.

## Biography

### Early Life

Keria was born and raised in the Iron Tower in Alexandria, Egypt. She's spent her whole life imprisoned in the Iron Tower, and has always wanted to escape it. She grew up having to calculate every word and judge every action. Four of her fellow Obscurist friends have committed suicide in order to escape the Iron Tower by the time she turns eighteen. Her best friend is Annis.

Keria is Christopher Wolfe's mother. She breaks the Library's rules by keeping her son with her in the Iron Tower past age six, not letting him be taken until he was ten. She is the youngest Obscurist Magnus. As Obscurist Magnus, she is in charge of directing the Obscurists in performing the duties that the Library requires of them. She is almost never seen outside the Iron Tower.

### *Tigers in the Cage*

Upon the arrival of Eskander Pallis in the Iron Tower, Keria agrees to be matched with him and make him "more of an Obscurist" if the current Obscurist Magnus declares her his heir in front of his son Gregory and formally in writing to the Archivist Magister. She is desperate to avoid being used as a possession to be passed around and bred due to her power. She knows she has very little power over her own life, but what power she does have is important. The Obscurist Magnus agrees to her terms. She will be the new Obscurist Magnus in a year's time.

She thinks that by becoming Obscurist Magnus, she’ll be able to change the rules of the Iron Tower. She thinks she can be the Archivist’s conscience and convince him to make the Iron Tower open again and the Obscurists into Scholars instead of slaves. She says Eskander is the best bargain she could make because they don’t want each other, and even if they are forced to be together to have a child, it won’t mean anything to either of them.

### *Ink and Bone*

It's revealed that in order to keep her son alive, Keria is the one to order that all of Wolfe's research, even that unrelated to the printing press, be interdicted from the Codex and sent to the Black Archives. She also orders that he be "taken to a place of questioning and there made to see the error of his beliefs."

In her diary, Keria recalls that her great-great-grandmother was an Obscurist in the Iron Tower when there was a revolt. Her husband and their children were not Obscurists and were either exiled or killed as a result of the failed uprising.

Keria makes a rare appearance outside of the Iron Tower to bring Morgan Hault inside by force. Wolfe tells Jess not to meet Keria's eyes directly.

### *Paper and Fire*

It's revealed by Gregory Valdosta that one of the new rules Keria has implements as Obscurist Magnus is that Obscurists can postpone being forced to participate in the breeding program by refusing three times.

Keria spends her time secretly scheming for a way to get the printing press out into the world and change the system for the Library. Keria knows that Morgan's friends will attempt to free her and rescue Thomas, so she hacks the Translation Chamber in the Rome Serapeum, forcing Morgan to bring her friends back to the Iron Tower. Keria expects them to begin investigating the Tower's secrets in the hopes of freeing Morgan as quickly as possible before they can be turned over to the Artifex Magnus. She actually wants them to discover the hidden entrance to the Black Archives and take as many books as they can with them before translating themselves out of the Tower.

Keria stays behind in the Iron Tower to buy her son and his students time to escape. She is killed when she's shot in the back.

## Physical Description

Keria is beautiful. She's tall with bronze skin. She has sharp facial features, and backswept dark hair that falls nearly to her waist and is liberally streaked with silver. She has dark eyes that seem "as dead as a corpse's." She looks like her son. Keria is at least fifty years old but still very striking. She can give a commanding glower. Her golden Obscurist collar is intricately, expensively engraved with symbols that flow together in a surprisingly elegant design.

## Personality

Keria is very mysterious. She is a fiercely loving and protective mother, even though she keeps it hidden. She is incredibly powerful as an Obscurist. She is smart and a strategic thinker. Despite being estranged, and Wolfe's anger and hatred towards her, Keria always does everything she possibly can to keep her son safe. At first it appears that Keria has accepted her fate and advises others to do the same. However, it's revealed that she's actually biding her time until someone comes along that she believes has a chance of changing the system.

## Trivia

* Keria does not have a sweet tooth.
* A sheer scarf with floral embroidery that was a gift from her mother is the only thing Keria has from her, and she cherishes it.
* She speaks English and Greek,