Hazadi noble of the al-Affan family — Separatist faction — with contacts in the Eagle Knights. Justin’s character.
What We Know
- He told the party about the call. On the ship home he broke the silence himself and described the pull of the alternate divine power he felt at the sanctum. The Call at the Sanctum is now party knowledge, not player knowledge. (S6)
- Something called to his soul at the oasis the night after the Sanctum of Sethariel — like his youthful awakening to the Maker, “intense, appealing and right.” He resisted it, and told no one at the time. (S5) See The Call at the Sanctum.
- Ismad’s response: the sanctums are dangerous in a metaphysical sense, and do not raise this with Lusia Balventia — of all the things the party is carrying, this is the one Ismad flatly forbade discussing with a Great House. (S6)
- Ran the Naqi al-Akram enquiry and found no decent way to ask the family, so sent a note of condolence to the widow Rashida al-Sabri instead — then went at it sideways through Sadiq, an elf who squired under Naqi alongside him. Got the answer (Naqi was pulled off Awad’s expedition by his sister’s death, then died of illness at home) and read Sadiq as holding something back. Pushed gently; got nowhere; arranged to meet again within the month. (S6) See The Death of Naqi al-Akram.
- Held the roof of the Ulpia estate under sniper fire during the riot. His magical protections did not stop the shooters doing significant damage; the party teleported inside. (S6) See The Riot at the Ulpia Estate.
- Ran the party’s intelligence work in Halwa: wrote the Kraus’s Folly report Achmed forwarded to Uncle, and got Halwa updates from Achmed. Cannot disguise himself worth a damn on the first attempt — succeeded on the second. (S5)
- Sister Alasia was his love interest during the Halwa posting — a significant history he has not told the party. Each knows the other is hiding something and both have chosen not to probe. She is someone with the virtues he was raised to admire, expressed in ways he isn’t used to, and part of what has been breaking him away from the conservatism he was brought up in. (GM) (Party-sensitive: his to disclose.)
- Finally reached Sister Alasia by staking out the poor houses she frequents and catching her in the street. Her warning: be careful around Father Ignacio. She later brought him to Madeline Foussard, and he and Madeline agreed to trade information through Alasia. (S5)
- His magical sight confirmed the shards of a translucent purple gem in the octagon after the party’s retreat, with Gnaeus teleporting a torch down for him. He also detected strong evil in the tunnel. (S5)
- Wanted to stay and fight the abbot while Gnaeus wanted to leave — the exact reverse of his caution at Kraus’s Folly a session earlier. (S5)
- His family (al-Affan) belongs to the Separatists. (S2)
- Former posting: Halwa — he was Uncle’s agent there before joining the party; an unnamed agent replaced him, whom he contacts via obfuscated letters. Old contacts include Sister Alasia of the western church. (S4)
- Twice ambushed by thugs in Halwa while trying to reach Sister Alasia, then turned away by Father Ignacio — see The Halwa Ambushes. (S4)
- Remembered the Red Star from the interrogation notes, and the Owl/Eagle confrontation in Halwa — his recall keeps paying off. (S4)
- Poor sailor: seasick in the storm, nausea recurring until Ari fixed it. (S4)
- The party’s voice of caution at Kraus’s Folly: argued for withdrawing and reporting the creature to the Eastern Church rather than fighting it. Was overruled-ish, proven right, and heavily implied “I told you so.” (S4)
- His nemesis and ex-betrothed are both from the Conservative faction. (S2) (Names unknown — capture them when they surface.)
- Has friends and contacts in the Eagle Knights he’s been re-cultivating — very likely dating from his squire years under Naqi al-Akram. (S2)
- He squired for Naqi al-Akram, an Eagle Knight often assigned to protect Crown Prince Awad — not a relative — and learned of Naqi’s death during the funeral-season weeks. This is the “death in the family” the session notes left unnamed; it was not a kinship death. This gives Haroun a personal line into The Death of Crown Prince Awad: whether Naqi was in those ruins is unestablished, and his Eagle contacts are the natural way to ask. Naqi was of House al-Akram, which leads the Conservatives and produced Haroun’s nemesis and ex-betrothed. Branch of the Eagle not yet established. (S2, Aaron’s clarification)
- The party’s researcher on The Recovered Documents. (S2)
- Judges people well: read Gandolfini’s group as disciplined, probably knights. (S1)
- Hit it off with Nusra al-Bushra over poetry and calligraphy. (S3)
- Provides the party a luck blessing (Serendipity).
Open Personal Threads
- Sister Alasia — whether to tell the party, whether to resume anything, and whether the not-probing pact survives her being his only channel to Madeline. Note the drift: the call at the sanctum and Alasia’s un-conservative virtue are pulling in the same direction, away from where he started. And Uncle’s Men have now put Madeline in front of the Eagle (S6) — the institution that hunts what she is. That channel just got more dangerous for everyone on it.
The call at the sanctum — will he tell anyone?He did (S6). Open now: will it come again, and what does he do about the fact that his handler’s response was never mention this to a Great House?- Naqi al-Akram’s death —
was he in the ruins with Awad?No (S6). He was supposed to go, his sister died, he begged off, and then he died at home. The remaining questions — what the sister died of, what the illness was, which branch of the Eagle Naqi served in, and what Sadiq isn’t saying — are all still Haroun’s, and all still askable without a cover story. See The Death of Naqi al-Akram. - The nemesis and the ex-betrothed — who, and how dangerous?