Vera

Biodata

Background

Vera was expelled from an orphanage and nearly starved to death by the roadside. An elderly workhouse director took him in, an experience that led him to make regular donations to workhouses 107.

As an MI9 officer, he receives his living necessities through the organization. He spends much of his time away from home, often sleeping in his office or shared staff resting quarters. He keeps neither tea nor coffee at home, preferring to donate the money rather than buy supplies that would go unused 102 107.

Appearance

• Clothing: Frequently wears a black trench coat 46 51 108.
• Eyes: Black 51.
• Voice: Described as rich 74 108.
• Demeanor: Often wears an amused or devil-may-care expression, becoming solemn when discussing operational rules or serious dangers 46 74 108.

Personality

Vera combines a teasing manner with strict professional boundaries. He complains when Lorry treats him like a subordinate, refuses unauthorized access to internal files, and insists on verification procedures even when a submitted formula appears genuine 51 68. His willingness to reward useful work includes making exceptions: after reassessing Lorry’s abilities, he uses his authority to reserve a potion ingredient for him 74.

His concern for others is usually expressed through practical help rather than sentiment. He abandons an ongoing mission to answer Lorry’s distress signal and risks his most precious artifact to support the rescue. After the Mountain Estate catastrophe, he prioritizes compensation for the victims’ families 96 97 102.

Vera is persistent but realistic about investigations. He acknowledges that clever criminals can leave investigators with little to show for their efforts, yet advocates sustained pressure rather than reckless retaliation. He admires Lorry’s determination while warning him against acting rashly against Parliamentarian Begat 101 109.

Abilities & Skills

Prohibition and Confidentiality Barriers

Vera can establish restrictions through spoken declarations. During Lorry’s recruitment, he uses Ancient Hermes to forbid sound from leaving the office, causing its boundaries to visibly distort 46.

• Creates sealed spaces to prevent conversations from being overheard 56.
• States that the Interrogator’s Cane’s Prohibition power overlaps with his own abilities 108.
• Can make charms that give Lorry access to related effects, at a cost 108.

Interrogation

Vera personally handles an interrogation connected to Alyosha’s plagiarism case. Lorry uses this experience to assess him as a Justiciar Pathway Beyonder of at least Sequence 7 55 74.

• Can arrange interrogation assistance for Lorry’s information network, provided an application is made one day in advance 51.
• Criticizes Miles as unsuitable for informant work after personally handling Lorry’s request 55.

Concealment and Spatial Movement

Vera repeatedly appears or disappears amid warped shadows and slight spatial distortions 51 67 74.

• Uses these effects during clandestine meetings with Lorry 51 67.
• The passages do not establish whether these movements come from his own pathway or a mystical item.
• During the Mountain Estate rescue, his indirect access to the sealed area depends on a powerful mystical item’s ability to distort rules 96 97.

Charm and Tracking Badge Creation

Vera makes specialized charms and single-use tracking badges for field support 97 109.

• Tracking Badge: A black, button-shaped badge that transmits Lorry’s location when activated; destroyed after use 82 109.
• Offensive and restrictive charms: Spirit Piercing, Prohibition, and Imprisonment 97.
• Recovery charms: Rapidly replenish spirituality 97 101.
• Communication charm: Delivers spoken instructions about the Curse of Knowledge, but lasts only briefly 97.

Investigation and Mystical Knowledge

Vera evaluates intelligence, potion formulas, ingredients, and supernatural remains as part of his MI9 duties 67 68 73.

• Identifies a Wraith’s consciousness crystal and residual dust, including their ritual and advancement uses 73.
• Recognizes that a contracted Spirit World creature’s death immediately alerts the other party to its contract 101.
• Detects that Altair’s villa contains only ordinary people and no traces of Beyonder powers 101.
• Advises Lorry on mystical-item selection, weighing usefulness, overlapping powers, and dangerous drawbacks 108.

Equipment & Items

• Curse of Knowledge / Curse of Eternal Life: Vera’s personal Grade 2 Sealed Artifact, taking the form of a white bone ring. It is intelligent, possesses power roughly corresponding to Sequence 6 or Sequence 5, and is his most precious possession 97 102.
  • Contains sixteen spells Vera carefully Recorded over two years, including Teleportation, Distortion, Combat Hypnosis, Psychological Invisibility, Fear, and Provocation 97.
  • Its Recorded spells reach, at most, half the power of their originals 97.
  • Refuses to help people it considers stupid or unwilling to think, and demands payment for its assistance 97 103.
  • Vera lends it to Lorry during the Mountain Estate crisis and allows him to retain it temporarily afterward 97 102.
• Gold pocket watch: Used to make Lorry drowsy before the treatment of his poisoning. Lorry later suspects the watch may have concealed the involvement of an unseen Spectator Pathway Beyonder; hypnosis is not confirmed as Vera’s own ability 46 47.
• Tracking badges and charms: Personally made support tools issued to Lorry. Their costs are charged against his merit rather than treated as unrestricted gifts 101 109.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruiting Lorry

Vera recruits Lorry as an unofficial MI9 member, becoming his direct superior and sole contact. He explains confidentiality requirements and offers access to rewards, including Marauder Pathway formulas confiscated from the Percival Family. He also gives Lorry a rescue badge and delivers Duke Negan’s reward, the Sunfire pendant 46.

He then prepares to treat Lorry’s poisoning. Afterward, Lorry discovers that memories of the treatment and MI9’s location have been obscured, which he attributes to hypnosis and a possible hidden Spectator Pathway Beyonder 47.

Percival and the Koyar Village Investigation

Initially satisfied with the spirit-channeling evidence that Baron Percival acted alone, Vera reconsiders when Lorry reports the suspicious death of the Nies Police Precinct chief. He agrees to verify the report and review related files, but refuses Lorry access to MI9’s internal records 51.

A check matching Percival’s spirit-channeling testimony confirms the bribery connection. With no remaining leads, Vera suspends the inquiry while agreeing to pursue it again if Lorry identifies whoever ordered the case’s reclassification 55 56.

Backlund Disappearances and Lorry’s Rewards

Vera assigns Lorry to discreetly document disappearances, particularly among homeless people and solitary workers in East Borough and Bridge Borough. He requires reports every five days and forbids deeper investigation, warning that MI9 suspects a powerful Death Pathway Beyonder connected to Qilingus’s death 56.

Mountain Estate Rescue

Lorry activates Vera’s tracking badge after noticing the estate’s suspicious black cat. Vera immediately leaves his current mission, but cannot enter the area and suspects Lorry is no longer in the real world 82 96.

Using a mystical item to distort the rules, Vera establishes contact and sends in the Curse of Knowledge with six charms. He explains their capabilities and urges Lorry to survive and return the ring 96 97.

After Lorry and Fors defeat Randolph’s Brain and return to reality, Vera arrives, accepts the creature’s remains, and credits Lorry with enough merit to obtain the resources for Sequence 8 advancement 100.

Pursuit, Compensation, and Further Assignments

Vera accompanies Lorry to Altair’s villa using the ring’s Recorded Teleportation, but Altair has already escaped. He also explains that Lorry’s account is insufficient evidence to move against Begat 101.

After counting ninety-three bodies at the estate, Vera distinguishes Falk from the ninety-two innocent victims and seeks to compensate their families. He and Lorry arrange to use seized assets for relief, while Lorry takes responsibility for the porcelain factory and its workers 102.

Vera subsequently helps Lorry exchange his rewards for the Lucky Money Bag and money. He reports that Altair is a confirmed cultist—and that Begat himself presided over MI9’s commendation ceremony for the case 108.

He later warns Lorry against retaliation, confirms that another team is tracing Altair, and relays orders to conceal the massacre’s supernatural circumstances. He also agrees to arrange Lorry’s new identity as Fitz Posner, assigns him to watch for Azik Eggers, and replaces his destroyed tracking badge against future merit 109.

Relationships

• Lorry — Informant and direct subordinate. Vera initially values his intelligence-gathering potential, then grants him greater trust and preferential treatment after seeing his results. Their exchanges become increasingly familiar, though Vera maintains operational rules and charges for support 46 68 74 109.
• The workhouse director — Unnamed elderly benefactor who saved Vera from starvation. His kindness inspired Vera’s regular workhouse donations 107.
• Curse of Knowledge — Intelligent artifact owned by Vera. It criticizes his study habits and considers Lorry a better learner; Vera’s loan leaves Lorry responsible for the artifact’s repayment demands 103 107 109.
• Duke Negan — Vera delivers the duke’s Sunfire reward to Lorry during his recruitment 46.
• Altair and Parliamentarian Begat — Subjects of Vera’s investigation. The conspirators identify him as a Sequence 6 MI9 officer too significant to attack lightly, and Begat promises to deal with him 89.

Notable Quotes

“I never expected... Heh, I underestimated you.” 74

“All we can do is keep at it, deny them even the slightest breathing room, and drive evil into a corner little by little.” 101

“Kid—stay—alive!” 97