telemarina mentor couples! the first two are opposing faction leaders that the player can choose between allying with (or with neither - there are advantages & disadvantages to all paths), the second two are good friends of major characters and fill out the world. they are all gay people, in love, and very self-indulgent of me
(further details under the cut)
1. jack & sian are the leaders and creators of the coalition of covens, intended to organize & keep the peace in the cities magical groups after a small civil war six years ago. the entente is well-intended but imperfect + skewed towards the victorious & powerful, but perhaps a structure is necessary to keep the peace when the hurts of the previous conflict are still bubbling under the surface, and to guard against the growing threat of void monstrosities... jack & sian have been together for eight years but have been working tirelessly to set up & maintain the entente, so only now are they getting around to actually getting married. you can attend their wedding! jack is the charismatic leader, sian is her more subtle assistant. they are iris’ bosses. they’re in their late 30s. sian wears that earring to magically disguise some magical scarring on the left side of her face and neck that she got during the war; she prefers to hide it as she prefers to hide most of her vulnerabilities from everyone but jack. at home, they have an old golden retriever named lucy.
2. devrim & jeremy are the leaders of the faction of people who want the coven dissolved and the power structure of covens in general rearranged. devrim leads an anti-establishment coalition of people who were hurt or ruined by how the entente reformed the city’s magical culture - security and rewards to the “victors”, with punishment and restrictions to the “losers.” good & bad and victor & loser are not 1:1. who came out whole. the entente, in attempts to keep things peaceful (as is demanded by the local government), tends to cater to covens with power - and not every powerful covens goes entirely by the rulebook. so devrim & jeremy seek to eliminate the power structure of covens altogether, arguing that the magical benefit of pacts is not worth the human cost. devrim is the action guy, jeremy is his support, mostly via computer (he used to be part of the burgeoning technomancy coven, but left as they started sliding into corruption). if you ally more closely with them, rosé will join their cause, as their ideals align fairly closely with her grievances. they are life partners - maybe they’ll get around to getting married someday, but it’s not necessary. they’re in their early 30s. in private moments, they call each other “dev” and “gem.”
3. andy & caleb are a married couple who are raising their daughter, daisy! they are part of the metalmancy coven headed by one of the main characters, vee, and are good friends with her. andy & caleb were Forbidden Lovers during the conflict - andy was trapped in a contract with a really shitty coven which nearly killed him before caleb saved his life (which cost him his arm, and andy their eye). andy is no longer in a coven due to that trauma but luckily caleb is doing perfectly alright! they are very sweet and a joy to talk to. caleb works in vee’s shop; andy is a freelance illustrator. daisy is six years old, and was orphaned by the war - andy & caleb adopted her when she was three. due to losing his left arm, caleb wears his wedding ring on his left ear.
4. leonard is the representative of the small amount of natural psychics in the city. these psychics can’t turn their Listening off, leading to a lot of problems trying to live their daily lives in a city with many ghosts and spirits and an increasingly close fey otherworld - chronic migraines, besides all the mental health problems. he’s the kindly mentor to cora, who is one of the main party characters who is also a listener. many listeners were murdered or left the city following the war - leonard fought hard in the following negotiations for some amount of reparations and welfare for any survivors and newborn listeners. he wears polarized sunglasses to reduce visual stimulation. he sculpts! michel is his husband who is not a magic potentate, and does his best to help his husband live in a home that does not have a lot of sensory input. he’s a sound engineer. every first saturday of the month, they take leonard’s pottery to the local artist’s market.
