Age of the Nine Worthies III 🐩 Song of the Shrike

Name: Lucian "Luka" Modest Berko
Status: purebred
Age: 19
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Academy of Saints and Great Ones, House Solarus.
Additional information: Crown Prince of Octavia, founded the Nine Worthies squadron, had an older brother (Liroy "Lir" Otto Burko), the brother was an albino.
Image: Tall but not bulky—rather graceful, like a natural orator. Platinum blond, eyes the color of light amber. At the Academy, he always looks slightly out of place: collar unbuttoned, cuffs rolled up—as if he's cramped within the confines of his uniform. He wears a thin gold chain bracelet (a family heirloom) on his wrist.
Personality: A leader not by title, but by charisma. Calm in debates, he speaks in a way that makes even skeptics nod. In lectures, he asks tough questions, but does so respectfully. For his friends, he's the one who's the first to propose a plan and the last to leave the library.

Name: William Heathcliff
Status: purebred
Age: 19 years
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Academy of Saints and Great Ones, House Solarus.
Additional information: Heathcliff Jr. is constantly scolded by his father.
Image: The least "academic" of the bunch. His hair is a little longer than it should be, casually styled. His gaze is bold, his smile a spark. He likes to wear a leather vest over his uniform (a minor rebellion against regulations). There's always something jingling in his pockets—keys, coins, keychains.
Personality: A perpetual motion machine. If Lucian is the brains, then William is the energy. He can persuade the guards to let them onto the roof to watch the sunset. He's passionate in debates over the rights of half-bloods, sometimes too much so—but he's the first to rush to the defense of those being wronged.

Name: Marcus "Mark" Waldin
Status: purebred
Age: 20 years.
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Pagensky Corps
Additional information: The best of the Noble Legion.
The look: A perfectly pressed uniform, shoes polished to a mirror shine. Her blond hair is cut short, her face is open, but her gaze is steely and focused. On her wrist is a simple watch, a gift from her father. Her movements are precise and measured.
Personality: Absolute devotion to duty and friends. For him, honor is not a word, but an action. He doesn't argue about the rights of half-breeds—he simply doesn't see them as "different." His goal is to become the best in order to protect those he cares about. In a group, he's the one who ensures no one goes too far and the one who will be the first to defend.

Name: Jan Kager
Status: purebred
Age: 20 years.
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Pagensky Corps
Additional information: Has a younger brother, Janis Kager.
Image: Slightly less formal than Marcus, but still composed. His uniform has small details that betray his ambition: a cadet badge, a patch with his squad number. His blond hair is neatly styled, but not overly so. His eyes are bright and attentive.
Personality: A pragmatist with ambitions. He dreams of two paths—the Legion or the police—and can't decide because both are important. In arguments, he weighs the pros and cons and loves to cite historical examples. To his friends, he's the voice of logic: "Let's do this right, not just make a big deal out of it."

Name: Hunter Broom
Status: purebred
Date of birth:
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Height:
Zodiac sign:
Educational institution:
Additional information: Friends with William Heathcliff, Ian Cager, Kieran Watermill, and Regereth Don; In love with Grace, but she was unaware of his feelings, but she is in love with William.
Image: Stern, collected, but without pomposity. His uniform is always perfectly tailored, but there's no arrogance in this—just discipline. His hair is a pale wheaten color, his eyes light gray, almost steely. His gaze is calm, appraising.
Personality: The future director—it's evident in the way he listens and speaks. He dislikes chaos, but tolerates William's antics for the sake of friendship. In discussions about the Academy's future, he's calm and pragmatic: "First rules, then reforms."

Name: Kieran Watermill
Status: purebred
Age: 19 years.
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Academy of Saints and Great Ones, House Solarus
Additional information: Loves wine, is friends with the Waldins and Heathcliffs.
Image: Relaxed posture, as if he's always at a party. His shirt is casually tucked in, his tie is loose. He has a habit of twirling a silver ring on his finger. His hair is light, but slightly darker than Lucian's—a warm blonde. His eyes are gray-blue, with a slightly mocking gaze.
Personality: The life of the party and a master at defusing tension. He studies just enough to avoid getting kicked out, but when the chips are down, he pulls everyone else up a notch. His "I just wanted a drink" often turns out to be him spotting a detail that everyone else missed.

Name: Regeret Don
Status: purebred
Age: 19 years
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Academy of Saints and Great Ones, House of Mercuro.
Additional information:
Image: A more subdued style than Solarus. Cool tones in the details: a steel bracelet, engraved cufflinks. Hair almost white, eyes icy blue. Keeps a bit of a distance, but always within sight of her friends.
Personality: The voice of reason when emotions run high. Supports Lucian and William's ideas, but looks at the implementation: "That sounds great, but how will it work in practice?" Able to calculate consequences three steps ahead.

Name: Raven "Ray" Romano
Status: purebred
Age: 19 years
Place of birth: Triticum, Octavia
Educational institution: Academy of Saints and Greats, House of Marsen
Additional information: Ruth Romano's older brother, melancholic, introvert.
Image: In contrast to the others, he has darker accents in his clothing, although canonically he's still blond. He may wear a thin silver chain with a black stone, even at the Academy. His eyes are dark gray or the color of a stormy sky. His gaze is thoughtful, as if he sees more than he says.
Personality: An introvert in the company of extroverts. Often silent, but when he speaks, everyone listens. He's interested in history and politics and loves digging through archives. His support for half-breed rights is quiet but firm: he understands how systems work from the inside and understands where they break down.

Name: Darius "Dar" Cotillard
Status: purebred
Age: 20 years
Place of Birth: Septentrion, Octavia
Educational institution: Pagensky Corps
Additional information: Loves to argue or play cards.
Image: Physically the strongest of the group, but not brutish—more of a collected strength. His uniform fits him like a second skin. His gaze is direct, almost piercing. His hair is blond and cut short, and his eyes are light green or amber—the gaze of a predator.
Personality: Competitiveness is his fuel. He wants to be the best not for praise, but because he knows no other way. In company, he's the one who challenges: "I bet you can't..." He supports his friends' ideas, but through the lens of strength: "If we want change, we must be strong enough to change it."

A secret society of patricians from the Academy of Saints and Great Ones. Each year, only four first-year students can join the Vultures. The Vultures' main idea is that dark matter doesn't guarantee blood purity. A light appearance is a consequence of using dark matter. The founder of this society was Lucien Nemo Berko.
Name: Lucien Nemo Burko
Status: purebred
Date of birth: 1910
Place of Birth: Romus, Octavia
Educational institution: Academy of Saints and Greats, House of Marsen.
Additional information: It is generally accepted that all children of the Berko dynasty were inducted into House Solarus. That was the custom. But there was one time when Solarus was left without a Berko.
A troubled prince, a rebel by nature, found himself in House Marsen. He once founded the secret society "Vultures." This was long before the arrival of Lucian Burko.
Current members of the society:
— Lucian Modest Burko
— Leroy Otto Börko

• William Heathcliff
  — Jan Kager
  — Hunter Broom
  — Kieran Watermill
  — Frank Lafar
  — Raven Romano

Page Corps
The Octavian Page Corps is one of the prestigious military academies for purebloods in Octavia.
Motto: "Pure as gold, hard as steel"
Situated in the northern city of Septentrion.
The Octavian Corps of Pages was established in September 1850.
Admission at 16 years old.
The training lasts seven years. Balls are held twice a year at the Corps of Pages. Regular guests are the "robins," students of the all-girls boarding school called the "École des Beaux-Arts Élodie Godelie Bercot." The symbol of the Octavian Corps of Pages is the Octavian black petrel.
The symbol of the "École des Beaux-Arts Élodie Godeliev Bercot" is the robin (also known as the European Robin). The "École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts Élodie Godeliev Bercot" is popularly known as the "Raspberry School." It takes its name from the color of the façades of almost all the buildings within the school—a delicate raspberry and white combination.
Elodie Berko fed birds in the School's large garden—mostly robins. This is how the bird symbol came to be.
The Elodie Godeliev Bercot School of Fine Arts is an elite art school for purebred Octavians. Foreigners are prohibited from studying there. Elodie Bercot dreamed of reviving and supporting Octavian art in all its forms.
The educational institution was founded in 1902. There are no more than 120 students. Admission is extremely difficult.

The Academy of Saints and Great Ones is a prestigious institution of higher learning for purebloods. It is located in Romus, the capital of Octavia.
Patrician is a student.
Polis is a dormitory building.
A messenger is a delivery service employee.
The Senate is the building where the highest governing body of the Academy meets.
Prefect - head of the House (the person responsible for order in the polis and the behavior of the patricians).
The Comitium was a separate building (similar to an amphitheater, but with a roof) with a common hall for speeches to the patricians.
Plebeian - a half-breed worker on the grounds of the Academy of Saints and Great Ones.
Insula is a house in which plebeians live.
Thermopolium is a dining room with a kitchen for the plebeians.
The rector is the head of a higher education institution.
Vice-rector - deputy rector.
The Octonium is a large dining hall for purebloods only.
The first table in the octonium is intended for the rector and vice-rectors.
The second table is for professors and members of the Senate.
From the third to the seventh tables for the patricians of the Houses of the Faculties.
—HOUSE SOLARUS
Color: gold
Star: Sun
Patron God: Janus
The best of the best, with great ambitions and a desire to fight to the end.
—HOUSE MARSEN
Color: ruby ​​red
Planet: Mars
Patron God: Mars
The best of the best, but dangerous, aggressive, with a difficult character.
—HOUSE OF MERCURO
Color: jade
Planet: Mercury
Patron God: Mercury
the best and more or less adequate ones, who look down on the first two houses.
—HOUSE OF VENUSIANS
Color: sky blue
Planet: Venus
Patron God: Venus
Octavia's best girls.
—PLUTO'S HOUSE
Indigo
Planet: Pluto
Patron God: Pluto
The most problematic ones refuse to work together, they are solitary outcasts.

Dark matter is a special substance or energy that only purebloods can control. The ability to control dark matter is directly linked to the "purity of one's blood": the more ancient and "purer" the bloodline, the greater the individual's command of the power. Half-bloods have weak or unstable magic, while lesser half-bloods lack it altogether.
A Brief History of Dark Matter.
1521 – first appearance of dark matter in Europe (Spain).
1644 – First appearance of dark matter in Octavia.
1808 – Foundation of the Academy of Saints and Greats; the Academy was founded by Pascal Marcius Bercot.

Pureblood (Medium Dark Matter, Light Hair).
They inhabit all cities except the Forbidden Lands. They are the highest caste, the elite of society, whose position is based on magic and a rigid system of privileges.
Half-breeds (Dark hair, low level of dark matter).
intermediate caste between the elite and the lower classes: They are in a vulnerable status: above the lower classes, but deprived of the privileges of the pure-blooded.
Lower (Dark hair, no dark matter. But some can be "extractors" who extract dark matter).
The most oppressed layer of society, standing at the bottom of a rigid caste hierarchy. They are a marginalized group, openly despised by purebloods and considered "dirty." Their status is so low that even half-bloods look down on them.

The Forbidden Lands are one of two districts into which Octavia is divided. The other is the Central District, where purebloods live. The Forbidden Lands surround Romus, Octavia's capital, and are essentially its slums, home to "free" half-bloods and lowborn.
Chaos and devastation reign in the Forbidden Lands. There are many dangerous diseases, which mostly affect the Lowborn, less often the Half-Breeds, and the Pure-Breeds are infected only through contact with the infected. The country's economy is essentially based on the slave labor of the Low-Breeds and the barely tolerable labor of the Half-Breeds. Getting from the Forbidden Lands to the Central District is quite a quest: you need to contact the Department of Half-Breed and Low-Breed Migration. Low-Breeds caught in another district without permission are detained and held in police stations for days.

The rest of the characters.

• Macius Waldin is a stately, impeccably stern aristocrat with an icy gaze, who instills in his son loyalty to Burko as the highest virtue in every gesture and word.
• Dorian Heathcliff is a noble man, but tired of his son's rebellion: his restrained reproaches always reveal a deep, somewhat helpless love.
• Leroy Otto Börko is a fragile albino youth with translucent skin and light, almost colorless eyes, whose quiet kindness is remembered by all who knew him.
• Korenin Auguste Berko is a majestic and reserved Emperor with a heavy gaze: he puts pressure on his son for the "good of the Empire", but in rare moments of privacy he makes it clear that he loves him unconditionally.
  Grace Sturridge is a graceful girl from the House of Venus, with soft features and a calm, warm gaze; she looks at William as if she sees in him not a rebel, but someone very dear.
  Frank Lafar – Patrician Loma Marsen. He's friends with Raven, but doesn't share the views of all the Nine Worthy. He's a member of the Vultures because he wants to understand what idea the nine heirs of the most influential families are so passionate about.