1. It's the "Just Wars" that were fought between the FA and Liosan. Reaper's Gale, 394.
2. As for the Liosan, FA, and Ribby Snake:
The latter sections make clear that Brayderal was "hiding" as a human child, but that her increasing stress was making it difficult to keep her hidden.
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"She alone possessed the legacy of the Inquisitors, shining bright beneath her almost translucent skin.... I am a child of the Quitters. I am here to complete their work."
Further on:
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"Be careful, daughter, with these humans. To live, they will do anything."
Further yet:
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"And the Quitters came among us, down from the north. They walked like the broken...."
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"The sun made the world white, bitter with purity. This was the perfection so cherished by the Quitters."
We also have 3 distinctive titles amongst the remaining 4 "Quitters".
Inquisitor Sever, Brother Adroit, Sister Rail, and Sistern Scorn who is the remaining Adjudicator. All 4 emerged:
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"from the heat shimmer...fast closing. Like win-rocked puppets, every limb snapped back until broken, wheeling loose, and death surrounded them in whirlwinds.... [She] saw mouths open - YIELD!"
So, to some up, all four Quitters have the multiple joints of Assail. They walked like the broken, I guess if they walked with lose joints some might see their gait as broken.
At least two have the word magic as "mouths" opened.
Brayderal, is a child of the Quitters, and has translucent skin. Badalle equates "a world made white" with the Quitters. We have never seen FA use voice magic before in the other ancient and very powerful few we've met (however, I'll note that could be an evolutionary thing that developed).
It seems to me that there is a combination of Forkrulian and Liosan traits here, which would denote a mixing of the two.
3. As for Mr. Beard, there is a character with a beard mentioned three times in the book that I noted:
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'Thank you, Captain,' Ruthan replied, combing fingers through his beard....'
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'The mystery is, there's at least three in there I can't even identify. A woman, a girl and some bearded bastard who feels close enough to spit on.'
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"Among all in her clan, Kebralle Korish alone had succeeded in drawing close enough to the Three to swing her blade. She remembered, with vivid clarity, the shock upon the face of the Bearded One, when her curved weapon's edge had bit deep, scoring the flesh deep and wide across his chest....
Kebralle Korish stood on the wall of the Fastness. She delivered a wound upon one of the Three, the only T'lan Imass to have done so. Had he stood alone, she would have killed him. The Bearded One would have fallen, the first breach in the defences of the Three.... [who] had seen the stain of his blood? Running black as night."
In addition, I noted ZERO other characters in the Wastelands with a beard, including Draconus, Ublala, Torrent, Silchas, (don't remember of Ryadd Elalle does).
My guess is the guy with the beard is Ruthan Guud, who is just (obviously) very good at concealing his nature and staying out of the way of those who might take notice. However, the addition of the Bearded One in a random aside just seems too damned convenient to me in this situation, and could be more history on the mystery man himself.
The black blood is an interesting bit. Guess where we've seen it before?
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"He swung at a shoulder and the tulwar slid through the stones with a grating screech. The arm hung half-dismembered, accompanied by a gout of black blood as thick as tar."
RotCG, Traveller, Kyle, & Ereko v. the Cabal in Jacuruku.
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