Traynor

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Childhood

Traynor was born into a collateral branch of Intis royalty. Although his relatives regarded his natural Sequence 9 as a poor foundation for advancement, he initially showed little concern and studied music with Edward. His mother introduced a strict advancement plan when he was eight, followed by years of demanding physical training 42.

He befriended Gustav’s second son, Ciel, through the cakes and snacks Edward made for him. Traynor regularly escaped his lessons through a route involving the garden railings, an oak tree, and the greenhouse roof. When Ciel despaired of matching his father and older sister, Traynor argued that ordinary Artisans could still change the world and help others 35.

As a child, Traynor enthusiastically anticipated a military career. His royal upbringing, Hunter relatives, and Intis’s expansionist atmosphere all encouraged his fascination with war 35.

Military Service and the Sauron Family’s Decline

At seventeen, Traynor entered the Sauron army during Gustav’s campaigns, with his mother hoping he would earn military distinction and a noble title. The following year, he witnessed Edward summon the Abyss and saw his servants devastate the land. This experience transformed his understanding of his father’s kindness: affection toward the family did not make Edward less capable of catastrophe 42.

Traynor became an accomplished and ruthless commander. His resemblance to Edward in speech and conduct earned him the title “War Maniac,” but military experience never erased his fear of his father 42.

During the upheavals surrounding the Sauron Family’s fall and Roselle’s rise, Traynor’s mother died by suicide. He later reunited with Ciel and Bernadette after Roselle proclaimed himself emperor; that meeting was his last encounter with Bernadette 42.

After Roselle’s death and Edward’s expulsion from Intis, Traynor faced hostility from the Sauron Family and the Churches of the Eternal Blazing Sun and Steam. He added Sauron to his surname, advanced to Sequence 4, and endured repeated trials, accusations, and confiscations. The depleted family eventually accepted him, leaving him a nominal title and one-fifth of his former family fortune 42.

He eventually became one of the Sauron Family’s leaders, although his collateral ancestry kept him on its fringes. By his introduction, he had been retired for decades, spending his time at salons, balls, hunts, and banquets rather than seeking further advancement 24 42.

Appearance

• Youthful and handsome, despite having lived through the Sauron decline, Roselle’s coup, and the Intis Revolution 24 26 218.
• Red hair and green eyes, resembling the coloring of his distant relative Helene 181.
• Sharply defined features and shoulder-length hair, ordinarily secured with a hair tie 187.
• Uses disguises that can alter his face, hair, height, and build; one transforms him into a shorter, broader, black-haired man with commonplace Northern Continent features 187.
• Frequently carries or smokes hand-rolled cigarettes 218 388 390.

Personality

Traynor is arrogant, reserved, and capable of extreme cruelty in battle, but has little interest in the ambition normally associated with his pathway. He explicitly rejects becoming a Mythical Creature, competing at the highest Sequences, or dying gloriously in war. His preferred future is to live out his remaining lifespan and die naturally 24 42 179.

His apparent laziness coexists with considerable administrative competence. He handles intelligence, business, complaints, reports, and logistics, while repeatedly seeking leave or preparing resignation letters. Medici finds him useful precisely because he is capable without coveting greater power 177 179 192 256.

Much of his weariness comes from outliving his friends. He tells Medici that they died amid war, fear, and misfortune, while he survived long enough to face another war. Nevertheless, his desire for a quiet life does not prevent him from acting: when Edward tries to keep him away from a dangerous conflict, Traynor insists that he cannot simply ignore it 186 542.

He is pragmatic about money and politics, treating payments to the Church as preferable to losing his parliamentary seat. Privately, he enjoys parties, food, fishing, and frequent romantic relationships; Richard strongly disapproves of his habit of changing partners every month 24 34 57 437.

Abilities & Skills

Hunter Pathway and Combat

• Military command: An experienced veteran renowned for ruthless campaigning and command 42.
• Fire manipulation: Produces explosive flames, burns documents and other traces, and travels as a streak of fire 181 187 188 542.
• Physical power and swordsmanship: Breaks through masonry, concrete, and reinforcing bars; later splits a cliff projection to crush the Black Death beneath falling rocks 40 181.
• Aerial movement: Flies to Bayam during the search for Helene 181.
• Threat assessment: Identifies concealed spirituality and estimates other Beyonders’ likely Sequences from observation 399.

Mind Link

• Communicates with Medici and other associates without speaking aloud 399.
• Uses a lingering link to locate Tracy beyond visual range for a sniper shot 185.
• Helps stabilize Saint Tenebrous while the latter’s uncontrolled spirituality spreads the True Creator’s ravings 390.
• Receives messages from Saint Tenebrous, including his request for a Sequence 3 Seer formula and ritual 396.

Inherited Perception

• Senses hostility and states that he inherited some abilities from his father 390.
• Detects the activation of a charm bearing his spirituality imprint when its user is sufficiently close 181.
• His use of Malice Perception during the Bayam incident is explicitly activated through a charm 187.

Intelligence and Administration

• Manages the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s Intis branch, including complaints, intelligence reports, staffing matters, and mission paperwork 177 185 192.
• Maintains contacts across the Aurora Order, Pilgrimage Church, and both Rose School factions 41 390.
• Memorizes sensitive documents before burning them and destroys used objects to avoid leaving mystical clues 187.
• Can assemble and inspect Medici’s artificial vessel, including checking its operating systems and functions 189.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Greatsword: A silvery-white blade over a meter long, as broad as an adult’s palm, with rugged Feysac-style ornamentation. Used to shatter the cliff above the Black Death 181.
• Beyonder sniper rifle, charm-compatible version 3.0: Developed by Sharf at the Pilgrimage Church. Traynor uses it to deliver the Angel-level attack that kills Tracy; the shot exhausts the charm and destroys the rifle’s chamber 185.
• Charms: Carries numerous charms and lends one bearing his spirituality imprint to Helene. Other documented uses include Malice Perception and the charm supplied to Dunn during the Southern Continent fighting 24 181 187 303.
• Faceless clothes: Used in disguise; the clothing can also form a hat 187 188.
• Faceless Puppet: Taken by Edward before Traynor’s departure from Trier 154.
• Tabby Devil: A childhood playmate under Edward’s command, described as Traynor’s future messenger. The cat later accompanies him during his encounter with Audrey 35 547.

Relationships

• Edward — His biological father. Traynor remembers an affectionate childhood but fears Edward’s inhuman cruelty and struggles to understand his thinking. He repeatedly rejects Edward’s plans to take him into the Starry Sky 42 187 437 534.
• His mother — A Sauron woman who married Edward for love. She directed his early training and secretly preserved the characteristic that later enabled his Sequence 4 advancement 42 187.
• Ciel — His childhood friend and Gustav’s second son. Traynor hoped to escape Intis with him and send him to Bernadette at sea, but Ciel died from melancholy and anxiety before that could happen 35 542.
• Bernadette — Ciel’s older sister, remembered as a childhood tormentor who stole his snacks and remained too strong for him to defeat. Their final meeting followed Roselle’s proclamation as emperor 42.
• Medici — His superior and frequent traveling companion. Their relationship combines teasing, overwork, practical trust, and repeated arguments about Traynor’s lack of ambition. Traynor later chooses continued service under him over returning to the Sauron Family 179 192 437.
• Richard Ernst — A longtime associate whose charitable work Traynor finances. Richard criticizes his romantic habits; Traynor resents the financial losses but continues supporting the organization 34 41.
• Helene — A distant relative whose connection to him was established through a family tree. He supplies protection and intervenes in the conflict surrounding her and Tracy, but rejects the idea that he should train her as a Hunter 24 179 187.
• Sharf Maxwell — An Artisan whose weapons development Traynor supports. Traynor values his resourcefulness and arranges assistance for his escape from Intis 57 58 185.
• Gaston Raymond — An angelic superior within the Iron and Blood Cross Order. Traynor openly complains about his demands, particularly being awakened for administrative work 166 177.
• Klein Moretti — Initially encounters him disguised as Helene. Traynor later recognizes the rapidly advancing Seer as a fellow Aurora Order worker and helps relay the request for his advancement resources 181 288 396.
• Audrey Hall — Meets her after her demigod advancement, verifies her work for Richard, and gives blunt tactical advice. When she cannot bring herself to execute captured enemies, he tells her to look away and does it himself 547.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Intis Politics and Departure

• Refuses to pursue meaningful revenge for Beckland’s assassination. He offers forty percent of a shipment’s gold, spices, and gems to satisfy the Church while preserving his political position 24.
• Learns that Edward added twenty thousand victims to a massacre blamed on Loen’s royal family. Warned that the Church will question him, he prepares to leave Trier through the Private Port 154.
• Becomes Medici’s liaison while continuing to coordinate technical personnel and resources with the Pilgrimage Church 166.

Helene, Tracy, and the Bayam Conflict

• Follows Helene’s bounty trail, locates the Black Death, and destroys it. After discovering that the supposed Helene is an impostor, he captures Tracy and brings both her and Klein to Medici 179 181.
• Reveals Tracy’s Demoness Sect background to Helene and asks her to kill Tracy. After Helene refuses, Traynor and Medici return Tracy to Katarina Pelle, then kill her remotely with the charm-equipped sniper rifle 185.
• Faces the subsequent intervention of an Angel of Storm and a human-faced wolf associated with Evernight. After Medici’s escape, Traynor assembles a replacement vessel and criticizes the costly exchange that destroyed the previous one 187 189.

Southern Continent Warfare

• Directs Tony Dawn to provoke wider conflict: attack a Lenburg demigod while impersonating an Intis operative, then destroy a Loen colony while framing the Church of Knowledge 280.
• Works with Dunn during the operation against Berens City, where a grain convoy serves as bait for enemy cavalry 285.
• Receives Klein’s list of nobles willing to ransom captured relatives and directs him to enter the city from the east 288.
• Learns from Richard that the Eternal Blazing Sun has died and that Edward has become the Devil pathway’s True God 301.

Backlund and Klein’s Advancement

• Helps stabilize Saint Tenebrous after the Factory District stronghold falls. Reinette Tinekerr subsequently warns Klein to be careful of him 390.
• Discourages a hostile figure from attacking by invoking his Aurora Order connections and his father’s likely displeasure 390.
• Relays Saint Tenebrous’s request for the Seer pathway’s Sequence 3 formula and ritual. While traveling with Medici toward the Hornacis Mountain Range, he discusses obtaining the necessary resources from the Secret Order 396 399.

Refusing to Leave Earth

• Declines Edward’s offer to leave Earth, explaining that he prefers his current life working for the Red Angel 437.
• Refuses again when Edward announces that their departure is not negotiable and offers to make him an Angel first 534.
• Persuades Edward to release him so he can help in an ongoing crisis, insisting that the decision is personal rather than an army or Church operation 542.
• Meets Audrey during the Highlands conflict and identifies her through correspondence from Ileana. He explicitly states that he is no longer a member of the Sauron Family 547.
• Later helps interpret Medici’s coded summons to Feysac. After hearing of trouble in Backlund, he abandons his attempt to obtain another assignment and agrees to await the planned route 649.

Notable Quotes

“I don't want to become a Mythical Creature, and I don't want to take part in the struggle at the top of the Sequences. Nor am I pursuing a glorious death in battle. I just want to use up my life and die naturally someday.” 179

“Whenever someone asks me, ‘What are your plans for the future?’ I always answer, ‘I never actually planned to live that long.’” 186

“But this isn't a question of tactics or strategy. I simply can't turn a blind eye! I want to help purely to satisfy my own heart.” 542