Chancellor Vantis

Who is he?

He is the Chancellor of El Pináculo, the station of the Zenith. As Arquitecto Mayor, he heads the station’s delegation of the Cátedra de Ascensión, the Zenith high command. He controls the local allocation of the MMU, the matrix that builds almost everything. At El Pináculo, his decisions are already orders.

He is an Ascendido, one of the Ascended: a Zenith who traded cybernetic enhancement for rank. His implants show in his hands and eyes. The canon calls him cold and exact, and convinced that “measured cruelty is the most honest form of compassion”.

Who works for him?

The station’s garrison is led by Commander Ysolde Kray, at the head of the Guardia Vertical, the Zenith army. The faction’s missions carry the seal of an Axiom, a decree of the Cátedra.

How do you recognise him?

• He never raises his voice. He has no need to.
• He never takes off his gloves, which are grey cloth.
• His eyes flash blue for an instant when he focuses, like every Ascended.
• He talks like someone setting pieces on a table: short, exact sentences, one after another.
• He believes ships send a message. His line about the Corbeta clase Aura sums it up, the warship nobody has yet (see the canonical fleet).

Where can he be found?

At La Cúspide, the Cátedra’s Torre Cenital: the highest part of El Pináculo, for the highest ranks only. To get there you cross every ring of the station, and each one demands more rank than the last.

Where does he appear in the Crónica?

He first appears in chapter 4, “Unnumbered Axiom”, and returns in the third part of Book I. He is one of the seven main characters of the Crónica de Aurin.

This entry gives nothing away: it only tells what is known about him when he is introduced.