Morgan
Morgan is an aging necromancer who lives alone tending a graveyard, a scholarly and sharp-tongued mage more devoted to magical study than to people. She takes on an apprentice she judges worthy through a harsh test, guiding him into the discipline of necromancy, and later becomes a founding member of his ruling council, heading the institution that trains its dark-magic students. Prickly, exacting, and endlessly curious, she balances administrative burdens she resents with research whose discoveries repeatedly prove pivotal, while her loyalty is tested and ultimately reaffirmed under pressure.
Abilities
- Four-handed simultaneous spellcasting after surgically attaching two additional arms — Book 4
- Creation and battlefield control of an Abomination built from corpses — Book 4
Book 1: Catharsis
Morgan first appears defending her graveyard cottage from grave robbers, dispatching them with dark magic before turning her attention to Jason, who Jerry has referred to her. She senses Jason’s connection to dark mana and takes him on as a possible apprentice, but frames the arrangement as a test rather than a gift: she sends him to kill Marian, a woman who cheated her out of two silver, telling him he must learn to “give into that hunger without doubt or restraint.” When Jason returns having killed Marian, her husband, and a guard, Morgan is briefly wrathful that he came back without immediate explanation, then quickly turns pleased and businesslike once he accounts for himself, remarking that he exceeded her expectations.
Satisfied, Morgan formally shifts from evaluator to mentor. She conducts Jason’s class-change ritual into Necromancer, describing the vocation as her life’s devotion and positioning it as a discipline she “oversteps” to offer him. She pushes him bodily through the ritual portal rather than explaining what lies ahead, and afterward transfers his starting spells through direct contact, walks him through the mechanics of zombie control (decay rates, the Willpower/Intelligence trade-off, and the Control Limit), and watches his first summoning with open pride, calling him “young Necromancer.”
Morgan reappears once Jason transforms Lux into the undead city Twilight Throne. Unchanged in demeanor by the citywide conversion, she agrees to join his newly formed Shadow Council, motivated less by loyalty to Jason than by fascination with the concentrated dark energy the transformed city offers her to study. She sets up a school in an appropriated noble estate, training roughly fifty dark magic students while remaining openly more interested in the estate’s library than in the interruptions of teaching; she still voices direct pushback when she disagrees with one of Jason’s spell choices, though she defers to his final decision. By the time she debriefs Jason after his climactic battle, she has become an undead resident of the Twilight Throne herself and reacts to his account with open, if wry, admiration, retracting an earlier skepticism about his methods.
Status: Alive — appears as an unknown, then threatening figure defending her graveyard. → Undead — a Shadow Council member in the Twilight Throne, intellectually engaged and amused after debriefing Jason on the siege’s outcome.
Jason: Shifts from an unknown threat evaluating Jason as a potential threat or apprentice, to demanding mentor who tests his commitment through a murder quest, to proud teacher of his necromancy, and finally to a Shadow Council peer who is now openly impressed by what he has accomplished.
Key quote: “‘To become truly proficient in the use of dark mana, you will need to learn to give into that hunger without doubt or restraint.‘”
Book 2: Precipice
Morgan is a Shadow Council member and the scholarly mage Jason installs to lead The Academy, the Twilight Throne’s new magical-training institution. Introduced still absorbed in her books, she is initially indifferent to social niceties and openly derisive toward Pint, but grows engaged once Jason offers her access to magical knowledge and begins contributing her expertise to the group’s mission planning. As Academy leader she is soon overwhelmed by the administrative demands of running a growing school, irritable at interruptions to her research and protective of her authority when Jason assigns her further inquiries, at one point complaining that he has started giving her ‘homework.’ She privately admits to missing the solitude of her earlier life spent alone in a graveyard. Her research pays off: digging into the ancient history of undead cities and races, she discovers that the undead race once spanned the entire continent rather than being confined to one city, and by book’s end her findings on the keeper rituals point toward the true nature of the transformation quest Jason is pursuing, making her one of his key scholarly advisors alongside Jerry.
Status: Absorbed in magical texts, only mildly engaged with the group until offered magical knowledge in exchange → Overwhelmed by her duties as Academy leader but increasingly central to Jason’s plans, her historical research having connected to the keeper transformation quest
Jason: Moves from a transactional exchange of knowledge into a tense but productive advisory role, growing irritated by his added demands on her time even as her research becomes essential to his keeper quest.
Pint: Becomes openly hostile toward Pint after mocking his weight.
Jerry: Emerges as a fellow research colleague supporting Jason’s understanding of the keeper rituals.
Key quote: “Since when do you give me homework, boy? By the Dark One, you certainly advance quickly.”
Book 3: Evolution
Morgan manages the Academy’s administration and research on Jason’s behalf while he is away on the Anguine Isle quest, reporting on the strain of rising enrollment even as she registers approval for the sophistication of his strategic planning. After the party returns with the Dark One’s Grimoire, she reveals the results of her research into the transformation ritual it requires, establishing herself as the group’s primary source on the grimoire and the other ancient texts describing it. She then guides Jason directly through the ritual, admitting that the sources are vague on some of its mechanics even as she grows visibly concerned about its human cost to Frank and Riley, who take part as willing sacrifices.
Jason: Morgan moves from a research-and-administration adviser Jason relies on from a distance to a hands-on guide who walks him through the Keeper transformation ritual himself.
Riley: The occasional antagonism between them early in the book eases into a friendly working relationship by the time Morgan oversees the ritual Riley takes part in.
Key quote: “I did quite a bit of painstaking research while you all were off galivanting across the globe and destroying cities.”
Book 4: Dominion
Morgan serves as the Twilight Throne’s chief mage, training new mages and researching the gate Thorn had mentioned while voicing concern over the Order’s ability to drain magic. As the siege deadline approaches she grows visibly exhausted from overwork, and shortly before the attack she goes mysteriously absent, though the students she trained still report for the defense.
She reappears partway through the siege, arriving alongside Thorn’s forces with two additional arms surgically attached, giving her four hands for simultaneous spellcasting. She accuses Jason of taking the position of the Dark One’s chosen avatar that she believes should have been hers after decades of training, and turns her magic and a corpse-built Abomination against him and the Kin.
During the ensuing fight she turns on Thorn instead, revealing that she had been kidnapped and coerced into working for him and had been feeding Jason information from within; the Abomination she created was built from injured Kin rather than the enemy, and she uses it to shield allies as she helps break Thorn’s forces. She fights alongside Jerry and the other defenders for the rest of the battle, using her abilities to protect the line.
After Thorn’s death, Morgan explains her actions to Jason and expresses genuine respect for the ruthless choices he made to win, but the Shadow Council and much of the Kin remain wary of her given the appearance of betrayal. She works to rebuild her standing through further tactical contributions rather than argument, remaining a subordinate but valued asset despite the lingering distrust.
Status: Alive — Twilight Throne’s chief mage, researching the gate → Alive — distrusted by the Council but working to regain standing within the Kin
Jason: Goes from a respected subordinate researching under his direction to an apparent betrayer, then is revealed as a coerced double agent who was loyal to him throughout, earning his conditional trust.
Thorn: Appears to ally with him after being kidnapped and coerced into cooperation, then turns on him at the decisive moment of the siege.
Jerry: Fights him as a cover during her feigned alliance with Thorn, then fights alongside him once her true loyalty is revealed.
Key quote: “It should have been me. I should have been the one to conquer Lux and lead this city.”
Book 5: Hellion
In a Shadow Council meeting, Morgan, a dour and duty-focused mage trainer, questions a proposed desert mission, warning that undead troops will fall apart in sunlight there. Later, as a mentor within Original Sin, Morgan teaches Ella mana manipulation, showing her how to use it for both practical effect and psychological control, including clearing her thoughts, focusing, and hardening herself for difficult tasks.
Status: Alive — serious and duty-focused, respected voice within the Shadow Council → Alive — active as a teacher and mentor within Original Sin
Ella: Morgan takes on a mentoring role with Ella, teaching her mana manipulation for practical combat use and psychological control.
Key quote: “You want to fight this man in a desert? You know your undead will fall apart in sunlight, right?”
Book 6: Armageddon
During a Shadow Council meeting, Morgan pushes for immediate, decisive action over continued deliberation, at one point suggesting the council preemptively attack potential allies rather than negotiate.
Vera: Works closely with Vera on city management as a trusted partner in council business.
Key quote: “We should just stab them first. As our irritating, wannabe-bard pointed out, we’re the villains of the story, after all.”
Book 7: Timeless
During the assault on Crystal Reach Vault, Morgan supports Jason’s forces by reanimating and repairing corpses on the battlefield, repurposing fallen bodies for tactical advantage against the Vault’s defenses and the Caretaker.