Smoke rises day and night from the Crematory, a huge
building made of yellow clay bricks stained with soot.
Collectors make rounds through the city, piling up bodies
to bring back here for burning. Greasy ashes rain down
from the black clouds, painting swaths of the Ghost City
white and gray. Raam’s chapter of the Veiled Alliance
secretly convenes beneath the Crematory under the
leadership of Nanda Shatri, a capable and determined
female human of thirty-five years. Despite the fact that
she is one of the Offspring, Shatri is a powerful preserver.