Ashlords

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Nicknamed “the Alchemist,” Imelda is a Dividian rider renowned on the Chats for her creativity and technical skill in phoenix resurrections, which she and her best friend, Farian, film and post online. Like all Dividian, Imelda is shorter and stockier than her Ashlord rulers. The Dividian were once invaders from across the sea who attempted to conquer the Ashlords, but they failed and were subjugated. Imelda and her large family live in an impoverished, unnamed village at the edge of the desert, a six-hour ride from the capital city, Furia. Unlike the affluent Ashlords, Imelda has little access to riding phoenixes and is limited to borrowing horses from Martial. Nevertheless, Imelda proves herself a prodigy, and Farian’s video of her “Trust Fall” resurrection captures Pippa’s attention, leading to Imelda receiving the Dividian scholarship for admittance into the Races.

Imelda’s exposure to the caste system of the Ashlord Empire in Furia radicalizes her to rebellion, but she has always had an independent nature. When an Ashlord named Oxanos attempts to disrupt her birthday party, threatening to arrest her family members if she does not agree to dance with him, she boldly agrees to dance the Contested, an Ashlord dance intended to humiliate her.