Quinn Dexter

Quinn Dexter is a Satanist. He is sent to the colony planet Lalonde after he is arrested for carrying an illegal shipment of sequestration nanonics. His role in the universe really begins when he gains himself a position of power among his fellow Ivets and organises the Ivets in Aberdale, in the Quallheim Counties on Lalonde. It is here that he discovers the edenist serpent Laton in hiding, and it is here where he begins his revolution to overthrow the citizens of Aberdale.

Whilst he is engaged in murder, destroying his victim by hanging in an upside-down cross position, a Ly-Cilph being follows the energy trails being released to find itself in the Beyond. The Ly-Cilph is immediately aware of the presence of the hungry souls there, which seem to be able to attack it. Out of fear, the Ly-Cilph freezes itself in stasis, and allows the multitude (quite accidentally) to pass into Quinn Dexter.

As the overthrow of Lalonde grows, the possessed Quinn Dexter manages to purchase a charter with Joshua Calvert aboard the Lady Macbeth to Norfolk, as Joshua ferries a load of mayope wood as an initial trade in exchange for Norfolk Tears. On Norfolk, the energy presence of the possessed Quinn causes the passport scanner of the young boy in charge of passport control to fail, however once the crew of the Lady Mac leave this scene Quinn is hardly heard of again, until later in the book when the possession of Norfolk becomes more tangible: After the battle of Boston, Grant Kavanagh (called to the city to help quell the disturbances) is possessed and brings Quinn Dexter home to Cricklade Estate.

Quinn is unique in that he is the only possessed to take back control of his body: To the horror of other possessed present, while Cricklade Estate was being taken over, Quinn manages to overthrow his possessor and becomes the master of his own faculties again, after the interrogation of Grant Kavanagh. It seems that while the posessor was attempting to “open” a host for possession, Quinn’s thoughts and desires leaked into the mind of his possessor, driving him to commit an act of such sadistic brutality that the other possessed recoiled in fear. When the possessing soul realised what he had done he was so horrified that he retreated into his mind which allowed Quinn, with his extraordinary strength of will, to take control and re-possess his own body while retaining his connection to the beyond and thus keeping the special abilities that the possessed exhibited.

Quinn later gains other abilities unique to himself, for example; he develops the ability to impose his presence around a body which he is opening to possession so that only those who sympathise with his personal philosophies will be able to possess it, thus ensuring that they won’t shrink from the acts which he commands them to commit. It is possible that he gains these abilities ultimately due to his sheer strength of will, as this tends to determine the strength and range of the white fire which the possessed can produce and could therefore be the main determining factor. Another unique ability of Quinn was to be able to cross over into the Ghost Realm, rendering him invisible to those in the standard universe and enabling him to pass unnoticed, and through material barriers. When he first encounters the ghosts inhabiting their realm he is temporarily curious, but once he realises they are unable to do anything for him he simply ignores them, using their realm for his own purposes. Ultimately his ability to sense presences across dimensional layers of reality leads him to being able to detect what he thinks of as Demons and God's Brother (The Light Bringer) which are actually the Orgathe inhabiting another, deeper part of the Ghost Realm into which the habit Valisk has also crossed. Quinn mistakes Valisk's heat and life-force as it falls through the ghost-realm (which has mobilised and excited the Orgathe) for God's Brother himself, and prepares his final ritual in the belief that The Light Bringer is about to cross over into London, Earth.