the Acolytes

The Acolytes are the four sorcerers under the High Elder, one art apiece: Yanru of fire, Guhe of poison, Lei Ting of lightning, and Hansui of ice.

All four hide within the Discordance through vessels such as scarecrows, never showing themselves, only their arts.

Yanru sends fireballs tearing through the air with a sweep of her whisk, leaps up to summon doubles that rain fire, rings the ground with flame, vents fire from her sleeves at close range, and escapes through fire leaving only a burning afterimage.

Guhe spreads toxic mist that seeps into bone, conjures a poisonous double to work the same arts, and at close range lets poison burst from his sleeves until his victims' organs fail.

Lei Ting calls down pillars of lightning, moves with the thunder, and sets herself at the center of a circular lightning array; Hansui raises jagged glaciers and rows of ice spikes from the ground, then gathers the wind into a field of snow.

Yanru hunts the defectors Firefly and Dusk; Guhe keeps watch over the lake from the heart of the Meigu Lake islands; Lei Ting once shadowed the Herald in Pangzhen before turning to the Human-Faced Banyan; Hansui guards Crimson Manor so the crystal eyeball never changes hands.

All four believe the Merciful Lady's descent will end the old world, and each waits for their own version of it: consuming flame, spreading poison, judging thunder, or eternal frost.