First, a review of who the Coders are. You have spent 2 nights with them as well as a dinner, so you know them well. I've glossed over the roleplaying side of this to save time, but keep in mind that you now can call the Coders friends if you wish. Because they are HUGE players in the Lunar government of Prax, you have a chance to make yourself heard if you like. The Coders don't specifically rule anything in Prax, but are servants of the Empire sent as peacekeepers, advisors, diplomats, missionaries, explorers, and counterterrorists. They directly serve Appius Luxius, Provincial Overseer and right-hand man of the Red Emperor himself. It is rumored that they have connections with the Lunar intelligence agency called the Spoken Word, but of course they wouldn't talk about it.
Count Julan is the leader and a Scimitar of Yanafal Tarnils (Lunar war god; Humakt's foe). He is an extremely charismatic (APP 19), reasonable, and skiller leader and warrior. He is clearly of aristocratic upbringing but strangely lacks snobbery or arrogance. He is a tall (SIZ 16), hardy (high CON; almost tireless) man and carries an iron scimitar ("Armbreaker") and armor, a powerful oathmaking spirit in an ebony death rune, and an iron belt buckle enchanted with protective Lunar magic.
Princess Anderida of Raibanth is Julan's close friend and a Priestess of the Seven Mothers (Deezola the Binder Within subcult; a fertility/healing cult). She is disarmingly kind, sincere, and persuasive. She is a member of the highest Lunar nobility and hence is not fully mortal. You find out that the reason that her hair often changes color is not a chaos feature as rumored, but she is completely hairless and wears designer wigs from the Heartland. She is attractive (APP 16) and clearly a powerful magician (think about ~60pts divine magic!). Anderida wears several magic crystals, an iron wand, a moonrock pendant, and an enchanted red coder cloak. She only carries an iron target shield and wears no armor.
Maculus the Monitor is the least likeable of the bunch and may even inspire hatred among some folks. He is stern, grim, and humorless, perhaps even completely unemotional (APP 9). Maculus main function is to maintain magics on the other Coders and act as an advisor on magic. He is very tall and thin (SIZ 17, STR 9!) with odd pearly skin, and seems unnaturally young. That he is older than he looks becomes more apparent one night at camp when he removes his ivory false teeth (yikes!). His body is festooned with little magical doohickeys; a few crystals, trinket matrices, tattoos, etc. At night, the man glows slightly from all this magic; an unnerving, wavering glow. He is a Red Goddess and Irripi Ontor (Lhankor Mhy's foe) cultist. {Tison: he maintains a strong Resist Magic on himself that you can't see through}
Nose Ring is the most unusual Coder. At first glance he seems fierce and ugly (APP 4, SIZ 17), with a hook for a left hand and skin covered in savage tattoos and ritual scarrings. He looks like a man that is whipped nearly to death once a day; a legacy of his early days in his cult of Danfive Xaron, "bridge to the seeker" and reformer of criminals. Caernak probably gets to be a good pal of Nose Ring, they have much in common. He seems shy and reserved, almost childish when he sits near Anderida at night and struggles to learn to read. He readily admits that he wears a sliver of Truestone (solidified Law, rife with magics) about his neck but is uncomfortable about using it, and in fact prefers not to use magic at all. He has abandoned using spirit magic entirely! Even more odd is that he has foresworn killing people. He wears assorted heavy iron armor, a scimitar "Moonflower" with his allied spirit, and a magical bronze nose ring that was once a pinky ring of a huge troll.
Eslas the Tracker was a regular Pentan nomad who worshipped Eiritha the beast mother until she fled her clan, who wanted to give her to the Lunars in the Redlands as part of their annual tribute. She ended up joining the red-haired people in the Heartland anyway, and was impressed by their compassion. She has converted to the Lunar way (Seven Mothers) and is an expert rider, tracker, and archer. Eslas is short (SIZ 11), lean, quick (DEX 23), and weather worn. She is even more shy than Nose Ring and spends much of her time taking care of her bow and arrows, or standing guard. She wears simple nomad leather armor, scimitar, and shield, and carries a living elven twig with special magics, a nomad bow with many enchanted arrows, enchanted coder cloak, and a silver thumb ring that ensorcels her arrows.
Next up: What happened in the Painting Room?