Peoples, Clans & Factions

The Three Great Clans

The Clans began as religious communities organized around service and the ancient gifts associated with Rahim. By the Penultimate Age they have hardened into hereditary political powers, rival courts, military institutions, and competing forms of worship.

• Clan Scarlatti — the tradition of Sight, splendor, strategy, wealth, and court culture.
• Clan Azura — the tradition of Strength, martial honor, protection, royal lineage, and Testifying.
• Clan Dorian — the tradition of Swiftness, humility, hidden deeds, guarded records, and secret paths.

The Clanless, Mals & Revs

Living outside strong Clan privilege does not automatically make someone Clanless. Orphans, laborers, the poor, and people without noble protection may exist at the margins of the Clan system without belonging to the violent outlaw groups known as the Clanless. In The Hunger, that name is used specifically for marauder bands with a reputation for killing, predation, and harvesting Mage Creatures for parts.

Mals and Revs represent a different kind of exclusion altogether: people whose bodies or identities are reshaped by deprivation, Potation, and the power of the Aspects. Their condition should not be confused with political outlawry.

Earthmen, Ethermen & the Fissure Folk

The deeper history reveals two ancient peoples: Earthmen and Ethermen. Their separation, later binding, and relationship to the six Aspects help explain Hunger, Thirst, and the hidden history of magic. The Fissure Folk preserve another tradition centered on the World Fissure, prophecy, and technology capable of descending into the deepest places of the Realm.

The Remnant & the Remainder

Two similarly named survivor movements belong to different stages of the post-Wrath world. The Remnant forms around Sven, the Emerald Aspect, and his attempt to unite surviving humanity under a single banner. The later Remainder is a looser network of survivors and resistance groups organized around practical missions rather than Sven’s claim to rule.

Post-Wrath Factions

Major Book Three spoilers: as the old Clan order disappears, the Remainder develops increasingly specialized groups.

• The Reclaimers — associated with Sarhah; they recruit, rescue, gather intelligence, and recover people from the Dark vessel’s reach.
• The Vigilant — watchers led by Carnon who prepare spiritually and practically for Azil’s return.
• The Defenders — led by Cherbur; they focus on protection, engineering, tools, and survival.
• Sanctuary followers — subjects and devotees of the Dark vessel whose new religion turns visible divine power into a system of loyalty and control.

For the larger political map, see The Realm After the Wrath — Peoples, Factions & Settlements.