Ryan

Ryan Koss is the Machinery Hivemind investigator who leads the three-Church team sent to Cordu after the village's hidden corruption attracts official attention. He combines the direct force of a Dawn Paladin with patience, restraint, and the willingness to coordinate specialists whose beliefs and temperaments frequently clash.

Biography

Role in the Central Conflict

Ryan arrives with Bureau 8's Leah and Eternal Blazing Sun clergyman Valentine to investigate the anonymous plea for help cut from newspaper letters. He takes the operational lead without treating the other two as subordinates: he hears local testimony, accepts Leah's scouting and divination judgments, and repeatedly cools Valentine's urge to purify every suspicious person immediately. When Lumian Lee reveals the repeating cycle and proves it by predicting events, Ryan recognizes that an ordinary official response might simply destroy the village. He nevertheless elects to keep searching for a solution that could save people, while also acknowledging that Valentine has personal cause to want the corruption stamped out. (Chapters 1433–1448, 1466, and 1494–1497)

The detailed investigation unfolds inside the lifelike dream that reconstructs Cordu after the disaster; Ryan and the other real investigators enter the corrupted region, fall asleep, and become entangled in it. Within that reconstruction, Ryan treats Lumian as a risky but necessary guide. He joins raids on Pualis's castle, probes the cathedral's underground altar, orders retreats when invisible forces exceed the team's understanding, and keeps the group focused when revelations about the padre provoke Valentine. His leadership is practical rather than infallible: destroying the altar exposes them to a time-related anomaly, and using Hurricane of Light against Pierre Berry also injures allies and forces the team to spend resources surviving its own attack. (Chapters 1497–1512, 1526, 1533–1534, and 1812)

On the reconstructed twelfth night, Ryan chooses one final attempt rather than abandon Cordu immediately. His plan is to reach the sacrificial site, rescue Lumian and Aurore Lee within a minute, use the Tanago Scarecrow if direct attacks fail, and leave the village to trigger another cycle if the situation becomes hopeless. The stained-glass barrier withstands even his Sword of Dawn and Hurricane of Light, and he collapses as the ritual completes. In the real aftermath, however, Ryan lies alive near the sealed area. When Fors Wall asks whether the sleeping investigators should be eliminated as possible threats, Lumian refuses; Ryan's later fate is not shown beyond the confirmation that he was one of those drawn into the realistic dream. (Chapters 1537–1541 and 1812)

Appearance and personality

Ryan is naturally about 1.5 meters tall, a fact he regards as a major personal misfortune and one reason he selected the Warrior potion. His Beyonder physique makes him substantially taller and more imposing until the underground time anomaly temporarily returns him to his former body. In ordinary dress he is deliberately unremarkable: a brown tweed or drab duffel coat, pale-yellow trousers, a rough dark bowler hat, and practical investigator's clothing. (Chapters 1433 and 1509)

He is composed, courteous, and cautious. Ryan habitually seeks Leah's judgment, warns impulsive companions, and explains official reasoning instead of demanding obedience. He can make severe decisions—burning an altar, risking an area attack, or planning a forced withdrawal—but does so with clear fallback conditions and concern for allies. His admission that he chose the Warrior pathway partly to change his height also shows a private insecurity beneath the steady professional manner. (Chapters 1494, 1509, 1520, 1534, and 1538)

Pathways and abilities

Ryan follows the Warrior pathway through Warrior, Pugilist, Weapon Master, and Sequence 6 Dawn Paladin. Advancement changes his natural build into a tall, powerful combat body and grants exceptional strength, endurance, balance, and weapons proficiency. The corrupted altar can temporarily reverse those changes and strip his powers, demonstrating that the enhanced physique is a Beyonder state rather than his original body. (Chapters 1509 and 1514)

Dawn armor and weapons

Ryan can condense dawn-like light into silver full-body armor and a large weapon such as the Sword of Dawn or an axe. The armor lets him occupy the front of a formation and absorb impacts while his constructed weapons carry enough force to destroy ordinary defenses and supernatural creatures. Neither is absolute: corruption that suppresses his Sequence removes both, invisible effects can bypass his straightforward defense, and the stained-glass barrier at the final ritual survives repeated strikes. (Chapters 1509, 1526, 1533, and 1539)

Purification and Hurricane of Light

Sunrise Gleam fills an area with dawn light that dispels illusions and weakens evil, undead, or corrupting influences. It is valuable when Leah's warning bells detect danger without identifying its source, but Ryan still needs a target or a meaningful area to cleanse; it does not automatically reveal every concealed enemy. (Chapters 1499, 1511, and 1533)

Hurricane of Light is his largest demonstrated attack. Ryan creates a storm of radiant blades and fragments that sweeps a wide area, inflicting severe damage on evil spirits and physical enemies alike. Its breadth is also its cost: he cannot perfectly spare nearby allies, and in the confined house where he attacks Pierre Berry, Valentine is wounded while Leah must rely on a Paper Figurine Substitute. Ryan therefore uses it when ordinary weapons have failed and the team has an escape or survival method, not as a routine opening attack. (Chapters 1534 and 1539)

Relationships

• Leah: Ryan's Bureau 8 counterpart, scout, and diviner. He regularly asks for her assessment and plans around her warning bells, flame movement, and Paper Figurine Substitutes.
• Valentine: Ryan restrains Valentine's zeal without dismissing his faith or grief. Their partnership works because Ryan channels that intensity toward agreed objectives and intervenes when anger threatens the investigation.
• Lumian Lee: Ryan initially treats Lumian as a witness and possible corruption risk, then accepts him as the only guide who understands the cycle. Lumian later refuses to have the sleeping investigators killed.
• Aurore Lee: Aurore is one of the civilians Ryan's final plan attempts to rescue from the sacrifice, although the team cannot break through the ritual barrier in time.

Items

• Tanago Scarecrow: A joint team's Sealed Artifact reserved as a contingency against the padre. Ryan carries it during the final approach and throws it to Leah when his direct attacks fail; it is operational custody, not personal ownership. (Chapters 1538–1539)
• Standard firearms: Ryan carries an official investigator's revolver for ordinary threats, but his conjured dawn weapons are more useful against supernatural enemies. (Chapters 1438–1448)