Bastion

by Phil Tucker

Scorio is a Great Soul reborn in Bastion — a mile-wide cylindrical city that is humanity's last refuge in Acherzua (Hell). Great Souls reincarnate to defend the city against fiends, climbing through tempering tiers from Gold to Imperator. But the system that was meant to protect humanity may be the thing that's trapping it. Phil Tucker's series blends progression fantasy with found-family dynamics, political intrigue, and the question of whether an institution worth defending is one worth obeying.

39 characters, locations, and items in this world codex.

Characters

• Alain — The group's comic relief — a Great Soul with a 'peeping' ability limitation that made him a punchline until his unexpected death in Book 3 made everyo
• Chancellor Praximar — The Academy's autocrat — a man who mistakes control for order and discovers that the Great Soul he tried to crush was the one prophesied to change eve
• Dameon — A Sapphire-tempered antagonist with access to past life memories — psychologically complex but ultimately a foil to prove that remembering who you wer
• Devalos — A Manticore faction operative — one of the treacherous antagonists who made Scorio's journey through the Rascor Plains a lesson in trusting the wrong
• Evelyn — A Manticore operative whose faction loyalty defines her more than her individual personality — part of the political machinery that treats Great Souls
• Jova Spike — The companion who betrayed Scorio and spent two books earning back trust she never fully apologized for — proof that reincarnation can make strangers
• Leonis — Scorio's most steadfast companion — a Great Soul whose motivations shift like tectonic plates beneath a surface of unshakeable loyalty, with the best
• Lianshi — The group's worldbuilder — a Great Soul whose knowledge of Acherzua's history and politics makes her invaluable, and whose romantic arc with Leonis pr
• Moira — A companion wrapped in mystery — readers across three books still wish they understood her better, which may be exactly the point.
• Naomi — The Nightmare Lady — a Great Soul whose terrifying alternative form masks a woman fighting for emotional stability in a world that rewards brutality o
• Nox — A talking toad who became an Emperor Wraith Toad — the comic relief who quietly proves that fiends can be more than monsters, one sardonic comment at
• Plassus — A Charnel Duke described as 'the only person who consistently acts like a rational adult' — Scorio's straightforward foil who proves that competence w
• Scorio — The Scourer, Lord of Nagaran, Master of the Black Tower — a Great Soul reborn without memories who claws his way from amnesiac neophyte to dragon-form
• The Archmagus — A figure who has recruited heroes across time — possibly the final series antagonist, operating on a timescale that makes even reincarnating Great Sou
• The Blood Ox — An Imperator-level threat that cannot be defeated directly — a True Fiend whose off-screen death in Book 3 speaks to the scale of power that exists be
• The Iron Tyrant — Book 3's major villain — a True Fiend whose significant fight sequence pushes Scorio to the limits of his dragon transformation.
• The White Queen — A powerful faction leader involved in rescue operations — one of the political forces within Bastion whose agenda intersects with Scorio's survival.
• Xandera — A child volcano demon queen who serves as the most rational voice in rooms full of immortal warriors — proof that Hell produces wisdom as readily as i
• Ydrielle — The third Manticore operative — completing the faction's triangle of political antagonism in the Rascor Plains.

Locations

• Acherzua — Hell — the multi-layered underworld where humanity survives in a single city while everything else tries to eat it.
• Bastion — Humanity's last city — a mile-wide cylinder of stone and steel hanging in Hell, where reincarnating Great Souls train, fight, and forget who they were
• Ettera — The lost home planet — humanity's origin that exists now only as aspiration, the place everyone in Bastion is trying to get back to and nobody knows h
• LastRock — A significant location in Hell's depths — the setting of Book 3, where the Iron Tyrant rules and Scorio confronts the limits of his dragon form.
• Nagaran — Scorio's domain — territory in Hell's depths claimed by a Great Soul who decided that if the system wouldn't have him, he'd build his own.
• Silver Unfathom — A sociopolitical minefield — the primary setting of Book 4, where every conversation is a negotiation and every ally has an agenda.
• The Academy — Bastion's forge of Great Souls — a training institution where reborn amnesiacs are shaped into warriors through a curriculum that is equal parts educa
• The Black Tower — Scorio's stronghold within Nagaran — the physical manifestation of a man who built a fortress because the city wouldn't give him a home.
• The Crucible — The prison where Scorio was held for two years — a place of torture that became, against every intention, a forge for something stronger than what wen
• The Fiery Shoals — A Hell region of fire and treacherous ground — House Hydra's territory, where the landscape burns and the politics burn hotter.
• The Lost Cube Archspire — The legendary location that may contain the truth about everything — the Great Souls' history, Scorio's reincarnation cycle, and the Herdsmen's centur
• The Pit — The deepest region of Hell — where the most powerful fiends originate and reality itself becomes hostile to anything that isn't born from darkness.
• The Rascor Plains — A vast, perilous territory beyond Bastion's walls — where Book 2 forces Scorio to survive threats both fiendish and political in a landscape that want
• The Ruins — The dangerous borderlands around Bastion — where mana seeps through in pockets and exiled Great Souls learn whether they can survive without the city'
• Volcano Land — Xandera's volcanic domain — a region of Hell ruled by a child demon queen who governs more effectively than most Great Soul administrators.

Items

• Scorio's Ferula — A weapon-focus of distinctive design — the physical anchor for a Great Soul's mana channeling, as personal as a signature and as lethal as a philosoph
• Shrouds — Defensive and offensive magical constructs that Great Souls weave from mana — the basic tactical unit of combat in a world where punching harder isn't
• The Murder Machine — A mechanism that forces advancement through extreme duress and repeated near-death — tempering through trauma, which is exactly as ethical as it sound
• The Noumenon — An artifact or concept that Imperators must utilize — the thing that separates the powerful from the transcendent.
• The Spike — An artifact that pierced Scorio's heart in a past life — possibly the thing that disrupted his reincarnation and made him The Whispered.

View full codex at Simulacra.Ink