Richard

Richard is an ancient Earth cultivator who uses an English name while concealing his original identity. As one of the planet's five Nascent-realm authorities, he supports strict conflict control and later helps lead the old-power coalition when deities, devils, and demons transform Earth's political order.

Biography

Guarding Earth's hidden order

Richard joins the other Nascent authorities in Geneva and at the Midnight Inn, keeping a modest appearance despite his status. In negotiations with Ragnar, he represents Earth as a polity seeking practical exchange. When return coordinates become a vulnerability, Richard argues that predictable reentry enables ambushes and warns that indiscriminate retaliation would destroy the stability the old leaders were appointed to preserve. (Chapters 95, 112, 121, and 154)

Challenged by a younger generation

Earth's rebellious cultivators accuse Richard and his peers of suppressing ambition, hiding knowledge, and mistaking stasis for protection. He rejects their attempt to intimidate or trap the old authorities, but the confrontation exposes how little trust their secret governance has retained. During the later planetary war, Richard aligns with Sam and Fateh, accepting devil and demon support to preserve an old-power coalition under conditions their former rules can no longer control. (Chapters 158–159, 283, and 602)

Appearance and personality

Richard appears as an ordinary-looking Chinese man of advanced age, dressed modestly enough that nothing about him advertises a Nascent cultivator. He is cautious, analytical, and focused on second-order consequences: traps at return points, loss of public order, and the danger of killing before loyalties are known. That restraint reads as responsibility to allies and stagnation to younger opponents, defining the central dispute around his leadership. (Chapters 95, 121, and 154–159)

Abilities and cultivation

Nascent-realm cultivation

Richard is one of only five publicly hidden Nascent-realm powers governing early Earth. That advancement grants him enough strength to negotiate with Jotun representatives and threaten rebellious Earth factions, but the narrative does not name his cultivation technique, affinity, or weapon. Later cosmic escalation also limits the value of his realm, forcing coalition politics when deities and external species enter the war. (Chapters 95, 112–121, and 602)

Strategic governance

Richard specializes in risk assessment and collective control, identifying the exact-location return flaw and opposing retaliation before targets and loyalties are known. His system succeeds at limiting open cultivator warfare for a time but suppresses information and opportunity so heavily that descendants rebel. The later coalition demonstrates adaptation under pressure, though reliance on devils introduces new dependencies rather than restoring the old order uncontested. (Chapters 154–159 and 602)

Relationships

• Alexander Morrison: Alexander belongs to the younger cultivation world whose rise challenges Richard's closed system of governance.
• Brandon: Brandon is a fellow Nascent authority whose visible family development contrasts with Richard's more suppressive approach.
• Ragnar: Richard negotiates with Ragnar as a representative of Earth's senior cultivators.

Items

Richard has no finalized notable-item inventory.