Uncle’s second son and the de facto “Captain” of Uncle’s Men — the one who gives the party its orders.
What We Know
- Assigned the party to the smuggler-watch that netted Ari and The Recovered Documents. (S1)
- His people opened the locked trunk and began decoding the papers. (S1)
- Confirmed the truth of Awad’s death to the party. (S1)
The Two Debriefs (S6)
The party came home from Halwa with a curse, an orrery, a dream-contact and a heresy, and handed the lot to Ismad over two afternoons. What he gave back is most of the party’s current agenda.
On Estelle — the strangest thing that happened, and the most normal: “fairly standard agent-to-agent communications.” His first question was whether she showed any sign of knowing the party’s affiliation with Uncle. His instruction: play along, avoid being recruited, mildly try to recruit her (unlikely), and learn more. He judges her part of some organization, and notes that long-distance communication of that quality is very powerful. Escalated to Uncle and Maajid — who came back suspecting the Order of the Phoenix.
On the sanctums, the Six Voices and the orrery — obscure; the party will need help; be quiet about all of it.
On the Order of the Dawn — go to House Balventia, involved with the church for centuries. He’ll write the letter of introduction. Uncle has been cultivating Lusia Balventia for years. Be careful raising the sanctums and the new cosmology with her — though it’s not totally off the table. Haroun’s temptation: don’t raise it with her at all.
On Madeline — he doesn’t know what to make of it, and it’s very bad. Uncle’s Men informed the Eagle Knights, who have not dispatched anyone because it looked too dangerous; now that she has left the Folly it may be moot. Those decisions are the Eagle’s, and Ismad will keep them updated.
On Kraus’s Folly — keep Lindse as a servant. The teleportation circle is a huge deal, and almost certainly Ritual Magic — which comes in two flavors, Divine and Logos, with no sorcerous version. See Magic and Casting Traditions.
On the captured Owl knights — doable. Two prisoners at the Citadel of Gazra, on parole, behaving honorably, held as noble hostages. He provided an introduction and standing orders to Captain Faqir that they may be released into the party’s custody if wanted. He deliberately refused to brief the party first, so as not to bias them.
On Titus — pointed them at Father Jamar. It worked, overnight.
On Baahir — “Bahir is Bahir.” He complained that Lusia Balventia was not pretty. Harim al-Faisal is “someone’s useful idiot.” And on the dockside attempt: it appeared thrown together hastily, involved three people, and they were very professional. See The Attacks on Baahir.
Day two, from Uncle and Maajid — the 1720 massacre of the Bethlens, Amalricht von-Haup, Kristof Gruben, the Phoenix suspicion about Estelle (and Phoenix divination in the war forty years ago, worth researching discreetly with Lusia or her scholars), and Benedicto Malipiero’s identity as the Most Holy’s condemned younger brother.
Speculation
He gave them a letter to a Great House, a priest who could undo a sanctum’s curse, and the keys to two prisoners of state — inside two afternoons, without needing to consult Uncle on most of it. Ismad has more authority than the party’s “handler” framing suggests, and the wiki should stop treating Uncle as the only decision-maker.
Speculation
“Play along, don’t get recruited, try to recruit her.” That is not the advice of a man who thinks Estelle is a monster behind a door. Ismad’s model of her is a rival service, and his instinct is tradecraft, not exorcism. If Uncle’s Men are right and she is Phoenix, this is now a recruitment operation running in a man’s sleep.
Relationships
- Father: Salmaan ayd-Bara · Elder brother: Maajid ibn-Salmaan, Uncle’s chosen successor
- Captain Faqir — takes his orders regarding the Gazra prisoners
- The party — his to task