The following is a list of individuals who the Agents know are in the city of Absalom or are known power individuals.

Born to a minor noble merchant family in Eastgate, Starborn never really took to mercantile endeavors, preferring mock battles with his close friend Chun Hye-Seung and reading books on military tactics. His mother, seeing that drive within him, used the family funds to enroll him in a prestigious military academy where he quickly rose through the ranks of the First Guard of Eastgate. During this time at the First Guard of Eastgate, he met Miogimo and entered under his wings. Miogimo trained him in close-quarters combat and basic investigation techniques. While this was happening, Chun Hye-Seung rose up the ranks of the engineering corp. The three soon became a formidable trio: The leadership of Starborn, the tactical efficiency of Miogimo, and the mechanical genius of Chun.

During a minor siege of Absalom, Miogimo deflected an incoming arrow and saved Starborn's life. But, soon after this, the Miogimo vampire incident occured and Starborn lost contact with the man who saved his life.

By the age of 30, he was the acting commander of the military forces of Absalom. He was soon put into a trying position as the military commander during the Fiendflesh siege. It was during this siege that the acting primarch disappeared.

Note: This part is quite important about Starborn

When everyone else believed all hope was lost and that the city would fall to the demonic hordes attacking the city, Starborn issued one of his most controversial decrees (overstepping his authority to an insane degree as he was not acting primarch). Starborn promised freedom to all slaves who would join in the defense of the city. Due to how many slaves joined in the defense of the city, this decree largely ended slavery in Absalom overnight. The city, filled with the chaotic spirit of freedom against the forces of the Abyss [note: not hell], rallied around Starborn. Starborn led a new coalition of freed-slaves standing side-by-side with heroes from the Pathfinder society, Eastgate soldiers who grew up with Starborn, and Starwatch Agents against the demonic forces of Thurl, cousin of Staunton Vhane. While many died, primarily from the Starwatch forces who are not military trained but were expected to assist the Eastgate soldiers in a frontline capacity, the demonic forces were defeated.

Eyes on Absalom was quick to point out how horribly inefficient the existing nobility were to stop this threat (along with various scandals of nobles fleeing the city instead of staying to defend it) only made Starborn's popularity surge to unprecedented proportions. The city cried out for him to become the new primarch, permanently. The Grand Council rejected this for the time being, hoping to find the missing primarch. To prevent an uprising (and possible coup), the Grand Council outlawed slavery in the city.

During the next two years, Starborn used his position and power to help Chun Hye-Seung rise through the ranks and obtain her position as Second Gear of Absalom. This decision proved pivotal during the Whispering Tyrant's attack on the city (4719 AR) with his hordes of undead as the siege weapons were upgraded and calibrated by Chun Hye-Seung herself (despite all the objections from the Grand Council as an unnecessary expense), allowing them to hit boats much further out than anybody had planned for and thus was a major turning point in breaking the siege. Using an emergency order, the Grand Council granted Starborn full executive power over all armed forces (navy, army, police, as well as the ability to force conscript as many people into the defense of the city as possible). He quickly used this power to organize a proper defense of the city, defeating the lich king's forces and driving back his army.

The call to make Starborn the primarch was now too large to ignore. Stories of the miracle of Chun (both the engineering and her near-death experience), the story of Miogimo deflecting the arrow, and act of freeing so many slaves meant that the common person believed him to be chosen by the gods.

Starborn became the acting primarch. A legal distinction with little to no real world ramifications, barring the return of the missing primarch.

One of the first acts by Starborn was to make Chun Hye-Seung's position as First Guard permanent. His second major act was not executing Miogimo for terrorism after his capture. Instead, he sentenced him to the Black Whale prison, which Miogimo promptly escaped from. These two acts have started spreading rumors that Starborn is planning a coup against the Grand Council and installing himself as a military dictator, something that Eyes on Absalom has played no small part in spreading (indirectly of course). In order to stop these allegations, Starborn refuses to wear his military uniform anymore. Instead, he has recently adopted a more mainstream noble outfit. But, his personal bodyguards are still heavily armed at all times.

NOTE FROM THE GM: The 2-3 books I'm reading through are entirely unclear on some of these specifics, so I have to sort of choose the exact dates. These dates are fixed: Fiendflesh Siege and freeing the slaves is 4717, the Whispering Tyrant failed attack on Absalom and successful attack on Lastwall is 4719. Order to rebuild Precipice Quarter is 4719 (Fall). Agents of Edgewatch campaign starts in the summer of 4720. The previous acting Primarch, Lord Gyr of House Gixx, disappeared during the Fiendflesh Siege of 4717. Miogimo's timeline makes almost no sense, so I'm making it up.

Asilia of Gyr is the captain of Starwatch, and thus is responsible for investigating serious threats against the city. Being one of the oldest of the lawkeepers of the city (they claim to be the first lawkeepers, when Absalom was so small as to not require different groups for different districts), they have now morphed into a specialized force. Starwatch has full jurisdiction over the entire city as well as other district officers. This means their primary responsibilities involve investigating district guard for corruption as well as threats against the city itself (rather than local threats against a specific district). They are also responsible for any districts that do not have their own guard (the outskirts as well as the Flotsam Graveyard in the harbor area).

Due to an ancient law, Starwatch agents can be commanded by any member of the Grand Council to investigate “threats against the state,” (which, luckily for the noble houses, includes the noble houses on the Grand Council). As such, Starwatch is frequently pulled away from internal investgations of corruption to deal with threats against the noble houses and this has given the reputation that Starwatch is more of a personal guard for the nobility to be used against the lesser noble houses, a reputation that isn't unearned.

Due to Starwatch Keep being closely connected with the navy (by proximity as well as jurisdiction), the captain of Starwatch also commands her own naval vessel. In terms of legal authority, she is considered the second highest commanding officer for the Agents of Edgewatch (only Starborn is higher).

Starwatch is currently suffering a staffing shortage due to the Silent Tide uprising about 3 years ago. Since Starwatch functions as an auxiliary force for the Westgate and Eastgate forces, Starwatch was positioned on the frontlines to defend the city and lost many good officers.

Additional notes on Asilia: Asilia is a great friend of the preivous primarch (the one that went missing) and is the main reason a new primarch has not been officially chosen. While she is willing to work with Starborn, they are not friends. Asilia sees it more as a useful political alliance to maintain the peace while she continues to work tirelessly to find her lost friend.

To Chun Hye-Seung, Captain of the First Guard and Commander Militant of Absalom:

Greetings, my friend. Seeing your title written out in full at the top of a missive from the primarch must seem strange. I should know; it was the case when I served as captain, too. Congratulations on your promotion. It is well earned, and my only regret is that Rothos suffered so terribly at the hands of the Whispering Tyrant to create the vacancy you now occupy. He was a good soldier and an even better commander. His reports are certainly much better organized and insightful than mine ever were, so your time reading them will be time well spent.

Chun grew up in a minor noble house near Starborn. She saw in him something different. A natural born leader. She knew he was destined for something great in the city. A hero. Meanwhile, she just wanted to fidget with her gadgets and tinker with the walls of the city. Soon, she rose through the ranks as a genius inventor and became the Second Gear of Absalom. After the Fiendflesh siege, she was given extra power to try and prevent this sort of attack from ever happening again. She promptly used this power after the siege to experiment with increasing the accuracy and range of the siege equipment.

During the Whispering Tyrant Siege, her modifications were put to the greatest test against the hordes of the lich king's forces, proving pivotal against his naval forces. It was during this siege that Rothos, First Gear of Absalom, was killed in battle from an arrow. Undeterred from the oncoming horde, she continued to man the siege defenses of the wall. Soon, an arrow flew through the air, aimed right for her eyes. But, perhaps it was fate or just sheer dumb luck, Chun was wearing her extra thick engineering goggles, saving her life. She now wears them as a lucky charm and a reminder just how close she was to sharing her commanding officer's fate. Soon, the story spread around Absalom and Starborn issued an emergency promotion to make Chun First Guard of Absalom. And after the siege, he made this position a permanent one for Chun. While grateful for the promotion, she is clearly overwhelmed by the more political aspects of her job, taking her away from her precious (and easy to understand) machines.

Miogimo

The following are various individuals the Agents have either directly met or have direct information on.

Leader of the Edgewatch Division. A hard-ass. Tough on crime, tougher on fresh recruits. His special unique magic item, a non-lethal club named Lawkeeper, is always within arms reach of him while he’s in his office.

Skinny is the Edgewatch’s best detective, and she doesn’t hesitate to say so herself. Having grown up on the streets of the Docks, she has a deep understanding of how crime works in the city and can teach rookies the basics of detective work if they win her approval.

With her rakish charm, trademark hat, and penchant for intradepartmental flings, Skinny is notorious around the district for breaking hearts, and she just might set her sights on one or more of the agents if they’re (un)lucky.

The beloved Sergeant Ollo has been a city guard in various Absalom precincts for longer than a human lifetime. Unflappable and placid to the point of occasionally falling asleep mid-conversation, Ollo nevertheless keeps Edgewatch Headquarters organized by turning Lieutenant Lavarsus’s tirades into concrete orders. He gripes constantly about the chaos of the festival, with the constant refrain that he’s getting too old for this business.

A meticulous officer who answers every order with a crisp salute, Corporal Batiste helps organize the district and keeps things moving. While not necessarily the most efficient cop, her attention to detail and desire to maintain a clean outward appearance (actually part of her religion as she worships The Resplendent Court pantheon and thus is not required to wear the Edgewatch uniform as per her religious beliefs, instead choosing to wear a crisp outfit similar to the uniform, but with its own unique flair.

Little is known about these two for now.

Ama Uomi has been in Absalom for about 2-3 months and has been beset with constant struggles. Being a foreigner, and one who cannot speak Taldane too well (relying on translators for the more precise communication needs of such an exacting building as the Dragonfly Pagoda), the Agents of Edgewatch discovered the poor quality of her supplies. Comparing her purchasing history with Hendrid’s may provide information on where the poor quality materials are coming from.

An up and coming (if somewhat naive) new hotel owner. New to the city of Absalom, and thus a stranger to the customs of the city (such as a rich man going to taverns more associated with the poor), he might prove a useful source of information on hotel construction and the supply of materials. Being a rich naive outsider, it is safe to assume he was likely swindled during his renovation of the Dreaming Palace Hotel.

Eunice is the young coming-of-age wizard apprentice. His wizard teacher has gone missing, but he claims Marin the Wizard kidnapped him. This turned out to be fault. Due to being underage, until a definitive answer can be found about his master, the child is stuck in the Edgewatch precinct. He can be contacted and talked with, but likely holds no valuable information.

She runs Marin’s Arcane Emporium, a small arcane shop for wizards. While specializing in low level gear, she can offer more academic services on the cheap.

Thanks to the Agents helping defuse the situation (literally) with Eunice, she has a favorable attitude to the Agents.

Special Action Unlocked: If you have the money, and it’s a low level magic item or artifact, Marin can study the item for a nominal fee. First time free as thanks for saving her shop. This action is done outside of the precinct’s knowledge.

Betram Softwhistle is a small man but his presence is overwhelming. Deeply patriotic, this man single-handedly funded a small mercenary brigade to defend the people of his local district during the siege from the necromancer army.

Note: His bank was directly named by Eunice as containing the bank account of his wizard master, Kemeneles

“Sensationalist” / “Truth Seeker” / “Hard-hitting Facts,” these are just a few phrases that Reginaled likes to describe himself and his “newspaper” called Eyes on Absalom. To virtually everybody else, they would prefer terms such as “Yellow Journalism” / “Tabloid Trash” / “Not worth the paper it’s printed on.” This newspaper favors scandalous stories involving death, police corruption, ineffective government, and saucy stories about the political elite. While a member of the nobility himself, he is in a situation where he has little to no chance of ever becoming the head of the family (think second cousin situation), so chooses to revel in his less than noble profession, angering many in the nobility and legal system alike.

Note: Vancaskerkin is usually quite busy attempting to dig up stories with the nobility that the Agents will not be encountering him often. Instead, all contacts are made through one of his assistants, typically Erlith Norlo [face of the newspaper to the public and executive assistant to Vancaskerkin] as Layton Bryne [chief editor] is a recluse that refuses to leave his office and be seen in public.

Handsome. Charismatic. Unabashedly human supremacist. This power broker is new on the block. New money. But to him, he’d prefer to be called “self-made.” This man seems larger than life. Tall. Long flowing hair. A booming voice. It is no wonder that so many people are willing to work with him. Unlike many others, he is loud and proud about his beliefs and ideas, even going so far as to have a tattoo of Aroden, the former God of Humans and founder of Absalom and the one who discovered the Starstone artifact (who has since disappeared, see the wiki if you want a deep dive on that, particularly the sections on Absalom, Ascension, Growth, Departure, Death for the parts relevant to Absalom’s lore).

Relevant to the Agents, Jeremin Hoff was the primary supplier of lumber to the Dragonfly Pagoda as he has deep ties into the construction business in Absalom.

Assassin. Relationship Counselor. Southern Belle. She is a member of the Garrote Sisterhood and is available for assignment, if the price is right.

And by assignment, she usually means assassinations. But, she loves a good high end ball or extravaganza and is willing to hired as a fake escort (actually hired as a bodyguard).