Northstrider

Northstrider is one of Cradle's seven Monarchs, styled the ruler of unbound sacred artists — those who belong to no sect or clan. A dragon-like figure with golden, slit-pupilled eyes, dishevelled black hair and black scales running to his elbows, he dresses like a ragged beggar despite his immense power.

He walks the Path of the Hungry Deep, the most powerful hunger-madra Path still in use, built of blood and hunger and empowered by devouring the strength and authority of dragons. He is also a maker of pocket worlds, and created Ghostwater as an experiment to enhance his mind by building an artificial Presence.

That experiment failed, and its discarded seed became Dross — completed instead by Lindon within the collapsing Ghostwater. Proud, blunt and immensely dangerous, Northstrider takes an interest in Lindon and his companions and comes to act as a distant patron, one of the rare Monarchs willing to look beyond clan and faction.