The Tyrant Philosophers/Wattery
Wattery is a demonist specialist attached to the Palleseen order, holding a commission as Fellow-Invigilator, who appears in Days of Shattered Faith as the designated authority on demon contracts within the Palleseen military apparatus in occupied Alkhalend. Berkely consults her on the structurally flawed contract governing the demon squad under Croskin before interrogating Postry, and her professional horror at the arrangement reshapes the questioning that follows. When she arrives in person at the Palleseen post, she identifies the contract as dangerously deficient, restructures the binding on the spot, and asserts her own command authority over the demon soldier through the very clauses she enforces.
Her significance to the book turns on what follows her professional intervention. The Palleseen discharge the demon squad, and Wattery returns to re-bind each demon on short individual contracts before sending them Below. In the cellar beneath the House of Tranquillity, Caecelian 'the Viper' confronts her with a blade and a contract written from a decade of watching army conjurers at work. Wattery's professional objection is overridden by violence: Caecelian's improvised contract proves structurally valid, Wattery is killed, and her corpse becomes the physical locus over which Caecelian binds Croskin and his twenty-seven subordinate demons to herself. That binding persists through the Battle for Alkhalend, surviving Caecelian's own death and the eventual transfer of the contract to Enshili, until it is voluntarily dissolved.
Wattery's arc is thus compressed into a handful of chapters but radiates consequences well beyond her death. She is the professional conscience that names the structural danger Postry has ignored, the officer who re-commands a demon squad through the letter of the law, and the body over which the law is rewritten by a former slave with a sword and a knife. Her corpse is where the rules stop and improvisation begins.
Character
Appearance
The books supply almost no physical description of Wattery. She carries a satchel from which she draws wards in extremis, and her demonist technique involves direct physical contact with a demon's nature, her fingers pressing dents into Croskin's form as she leafs through his contract. She is physically capable enough to bat a sword aside when Caecelian presses a blade to her throat. In death, her head and one arm are severed from her body by Caecelian's strike, and the Pal girl's pearl-bladed knife swirls as though the demonist's blood dilutes into an infinite sea - ch 42.
Personality
Wattery is exacting, blunt, and contemptuous of shoddy workmanship. Confronted with the contract governing Croskin and his squad, she condemns it in a single architectural metaphor: "If it was a building I'd condemn it" - ch 38. When Postry defends the arrangement by calling the demons fellow soldiers, her reply is two words: "For humans" - ch 38. She is incredulous at the condition of the demon troopers she finds in moth-eaten uniforms and immediately counts the roll - ch 42. Even with a blade at her throat, she objects on professional grounds rather than pleading: "A demon. Make a contract" - ch 42. She corrects command titles precisely, insisting Croskin say "Master" rather than "magister," and the terms of her new binding allow her to make him say it, and would have permitted her to make him smile as he did so - ch 38. There is no softness in her, no attempt to soothe or persuade; she operates entirely through the letter of the contract and the weight of her commission.
Beliefs & Motivations
Wattery's governing conviction is that demon contracts must be structurally sound, and that the people harmed by a bad contract are always the humans standing in the chain of command above the demon. She identifies this flaw before Postry has considered it and states it without cushioning - ch 38. She treats the contract as an object of professional craft: if it is bad, she rewrites it; if it is threatened by a rival binding, she objects on the grounds that the rival's work is not properly constructed, not on the grounds that she personally objects to the outcome. When Caecelian presents a contract drafted from memory of watching an army conjurer for over a decade, Wattery's objection is that a demon should make the contract, not a human slave who watched one be written - "A demon. Make a contract" - ch 42. She warns that unbound demons will be reclaimed by the Kings Below, an appeal to systemic consequence rather than personal survival. Her final act is to reach for wards, not to negotiate, when the blade comes at her - ch 42.
History
Days of Shattered Faith
The Arrival of the Salient (ch 35-37)
Wattery does not appear in person during this arc but is referenced as the Demonist authority whose opinion shapes Berkely's strategy. In ch 37, operating from a donated merchant's hall in Alkhalend, Berkely has already consulted Wattery regarding the demon squad attached to Postry's forces; Wattery's horror at the arrangement prompts Berkely to pivot his interrogation of Postry, opening with "Fellow-Monitor, why don't you tell me about these demons?" - ch 37. The consultation establishes Wattery as Berkely's designated specialist on demonist matters and sets up the physical intervention that follows in the next chapter.
Wattery's Contracts and the Occupation of the Palace (ch 38-40)
Wattery arrives at the newly occupied Palleseen military post in Alkhalend carrying Galversty's papers, the prior demonist having died and left the bindings loose - ch 38. She inspects the contract governing Croskin and the twenty-seven subordinate demons under his command, her fingers leaving dents on Croskin's nature as she leafs through the pages, and condemns its structure: "If it was a building I'd condemn it" - ch 38. Wattery interrogates Croskin on the dual basis of his obedience, noting that as a soldier he obeys and as a demon he likewise obeys, because she is his superior officer in the army of Pallesand - ch 38.
She challenges Postry directly, pointing out that nothing in the existing contract prevents Croskin from killing every human trooper below him, and that had he been promoted higher he could have begun with the Cohorts. When Postry defends the arrangement on the grounds that demons are fellow soldiers, Wattery's reply is flat: "For humans" - ch 38. Wattery then orders Croskin to assemble his twenty-seven subordinate demons and accept twenty-eight new contracts she will draw up herself, threatening to hand the squad over to the locals' "particularly effective" method of permanent binding if they resist - ch 38. Croskin salutes and complies, saying "Yes, Master" under the contract's compulsion; Wattery corrects him from "magister" to "Master," and the terms of the new binding allow her to make him say it, and would have permitted her to make him smile as he did so - ch 38.
The twenty-eight new contracts are drawn up and accepted; whether they prove durable is an open question, but the immediate binding is established and the locals' method is not exercised - implied, ch 38.
Gil's Arrest and the Destruction of the House of Hard Angles (ch 41-45)
The Palleseen have discharged the demon squad from the army, and Wattery arrives at the cellar beneath the House of Tranquillity - the former royal wine and victuals store, now used as a drill ground - to re-bind each demon to herself on short individual contracts before sending them Below - ch 42. She is incredulous at the sight of the twenty-seven demon troopers in moth-eaten old uniforms, being straightened by Croskin into a final military review, and counts twenty-eight including him to confirm the roll - ch 42.
Caecelian 'the Viper' reveals herself with a blade drawing blood at Wattery's throat, flanked by the Pal girl and the Usmiat girl, and demands that Wattery release the demons into a contract Caecelian has written from memory of watching an army conjurer draft bindings over a decade of servitude - ch 42. Wattery objects on professional grounds, insisting "A demon. Make a contract," but the blade constrains her; she warns that unbound demons will be reclaimed by the Kings Below - ch 42. Caecelian asks the demons for consent, and they assent in their own bestial speech; Wattery shouts "No!" but without occult force - ch 42. Caecelian thrusts the contract forward; Wattery bats the sword aside and reaches into her satchel for wards, but the Usmiat girl slashes across her shoulders and Caecelian speaks the contractual word "Gak," causing Wattery's head and one arm to fall from her body - ch 42. The Pal girl's pearl-bladed knife swirls with clouded red as though the demonist's blood were diluting into an infinite sea - ch 42.
Wattery's death resolves the question of whether a demon can write and activate a contract binding other demons: Caecelian demonstrates that she can, to Wattery's professional alarm, and the contract holds - ch 42. Wattery's corpse becomes the physical locus over which Caecelian completes the binding of Croskin and his squad to herself - ch 42.
The Battle for Alkhalend (ch 48-49)
Wattery is dead by the opening of this arc; her corpse remains the site over which Caecelian bound Croskin and his demons, an act Caecelian follows by telling them Do what you will, shall be the whole of your law - ch 48. During the battle in the mill district and along the sea wall, Croskin's demons form a double firing line blocking the ogrodon's path, and Caecelian later transfers the demon contract to Enshili at the cost of her own life, confirming that the binding established over Wattery's body persisted until its voluntary dissolution - ch 48.
Relationships
- Berkely - Wattery serves as Berkely's designated specialist on demonist matters; he consults her before interrogating Postry, and her horror at the existing contract prompts him to open his questioning with the demons - ch 37.
- Croskin - Wattery arrives carrying Galversty's papers and immediately asserts command authority over Croskin as his superior officer in the Palleseen army, interrogating him on the dual basis of his obedience as soldier and as demon. She forces him to address her as "Master" under the contract's compulsion, correcting his attempt to say "magister," and the terms allow her to make him say it, and would have allowed her to make him smile while doing so - ch 38. After the Palleseen discharge the squad, she re-binds him to herself on a short individual contract before sending him Below; she knows he would tear her apart given the chance - ch 42.
- Postry - Wattery challenges Postry's judgment directly, pointing out that nothing in the existing contract prevents Croskin from killing every human trooper below him, and that had he been promoted higher he could have begun with the Cohorts. Postry defends the arrangement on the grounds that demons are fellow soldiers; Wattery's flat "For humans" is the whole of her rebuttal - ch 38.
- Galversty - Galversty was the prior demonist attached to the squad. He is dead by the time Wattery arrives, and the bindings he left loose are the structural failure Wattery exploits to re-contract the demons - ch 38, ch 42.
- Caecelian 'the Viper' - Caecelian confronts Wattery in the cellar beneath the House of Tranquillity with a blade and a contract written from a decade of watching army conjurers draft bindings. Wattery objects on professional grounds; Caecelian's answer is a blade across the shoulders and the contractual word "Gak." Wattery's death and the subsequent binding of Croskin's squad over her corpse represent the complete inversion of Wattery's professional world: the contract is valid, the binding holds, and the slave who watched the work is now the one doing it - ch 42.
- Pallesand - Wattery holds a commission as Fellow-Invigilator in the Palleseen service. Her authority over Croskin derives from that commission, and it is the Palleseen who discharge the demon squad, precipitating Wattery's return to Alkhalend for the final re-binding - ch 38, ch 42.
Notable Quotes
- "If it was a building I'd condemn it" - Wattery, Days of Shattered Faith, ch 38
- "For humans" - Wattery, Days of Shattered Faith, ch 38
- "A demon. Make a contract" - Wattery, Days of Shattered Faith, ch 42
Tags
- invigilator · #demonist · #demon-contracts · #deceased