There are also several 'supporting' characters who have significant roles throughout the books such as Achamian's old students Nersei Proyas and Krijates Xinemus and the Emperor's nephew Ikurei Conphas.
The Dûnyain - A hidden monastic sect that has repudiated history and animal appetite in the hope of finding absolute enlightenment through the control of all desire and circumstance.
The Consult - The cabal of magi and generals that survived the death of the No-God in 2155 and has laboured ever since to bring about his return in the so-called Second Apocalypse.
Synthesizing monotheistic and polytheistic elements, Inrithism is the dominant faith of the Three Seas, founded upon the revelations of Inri Sejenus (c.2159-2202), the Latter Prophet.
The Shrial Knights - A monastic military order under the direct command of the Shriah, created by Ekyannus III, ‘the Golden,’ in 2511.
At the height of its power, the Nansur Empire extended from Galeoth to Nilnamesh, but has been much reduced by centuries of warfare against the Fanim of Kian.
Bakker's utterly foreign world, Eärwa, is as complex as that of Tolkien, to whom he is, arguably, a worthier successor than such established names as David Eddings and Stephen Donaldson.” –Publisher’s Weekly (starred review) “[R. Scott Bakker is a] class act like George R. R. Martin, or his fellow Canadians Steven Erikson and Guy Gavriel Kay.
Go read it now, as the publisher's blurb proclaims - ‘Something remarkable has begun...’” –The Alien Online Jacek Dukaj reviewed it for Polish magazine Nowa Fantastyka[1].