Protagonists & Their Arcs:

1. Kael (Main POV): A traumatized ex-regime clerk joining the community. Struggles with the tension between action and passivity. Arc: From desperate anger to tempered wisdom.
2. Sister Helin: A serene community elder. Arc: Demonstrates unwavering commitment to non-violence, even in death.
3. Commander Dain: A regime enforcer. Arc: Discovers his loyalty destroys his own family.
4. Reverend Vey: Traditionalist rebel leader. Arc: His dogma blinds him to his faction’s hypocrisy.
5. Dr. Orienne: Technocrat rebel scientist. Arc: Logic without ethics leads to atrocity.
6. Talis: Citizen of a traditionalist-ruled nation. Arc: Learns the past was never pure—too late.
7. Nix: Citizen of a technocrat-ruled nation. Arc: Yearns for beauty in a sterile world.
8. Need to add a subplot or two showing people who are not affiliated with a faction – the merchant just making a living, valuing consumption, sees it threatened and then reacts with fear and seeks a false safety in security tech and isolation. – The poor or sick or foreigner who is dependent upon others, plot ultimately highlights how even the wealthy are dependent upon others but the wealthy get to command while the poor beg, contrast the detachment from materialism that is easier for the poor than the rich. After a series of on the job injuries and children dying of preventable diseases with expensive treatments, an unskilled profession attempts to strike for improved pay and healthcare, but other wage slaves complain about the incovenience and the unfairness and so the govt shuts down the strike by threatening to fire / blacklist anyone who doesn’t show up for work the next day.