Faction — El Cinede (militarist wing)

The militaristic, isolationist political faction of the sky-island El Cinede — they want to conquer and exterminate the “groundlings” of Kouréas below. “Selfish, bratty, and worse taste in clothes.”

SphereStanceLeaderStatus
El Cinede / the High SpireConquer the groundlings[[fauna-sneelerFauna Kneeler]]

Overview

The Crew are the antagonists of Chapter 1’s politics — the wing of El Cinede that believes the floating island should ascend alone and treats the surface world as “vermin” to be wiped out. They run the Veil-Tear mutation program beneath the city: capturing surface creatures, mutating them into the arena’s “Lost Children” and a would-be zombie army, and skinning others for Mademoiselle Nero’s hats. Aligned members include Fauna Kneeler (their genocidal leader, secretly a puppet of Damanos), Rikor Broadbelt, and the port official Tobias.

Fall

They lose the parliamentary vote to The Host, and Fauna is killed and exposed in the finale — but Damanos escapes, and the nine-pointed sigil on Fauna’s arm suggests something larger behind them.

Appearances

  • 240626-ch1.2 (⏱ 01:22:29) — Militaristic Cidene faction that deems groundlings inferior and wants to conquer the surface; aware of Kouréas, and implicated in experimenting on jailed groundlings to create the purple monsters.
  • 240709-ch1.3 (⏱ 00:28:59) — One of the two political factions vying over the High Spire; the library guards and Rikor are Crew. Characterized as the antagonistic ‘wants to screw you over’ side.