“
We are in you already, because you are asleep, and we are the canvas of dreams.”
The Usher of Truth is a name claimed by the Iconoclast/s present on Palisade. She is not necessarily a single Iconoclast, but "an Iconoclastic form that was presenting itself as one being".[1]
Appearance[edit | edit source]
When taking the form of Constantina Malady, the Usher of Truth looks like one of the glass nobles of the Fabreal Duchy, with Maleficent-style glass horns on her glass head.[2] As the Orion gem dealer "Gem", she resembles Adjoa Andoh with "the buzz cut look that she occasionally rocks".[3] When both these disguises were broken (literally shattered, in the first case) she took on a tendriled, melting body made of paint.[4]
History and Involvement[edit | edit source]
She was trapped in Q-concrete by the Rapid Evening for 5,000 years and removed by the Bilats, who sought to position her as the fabled Constantina Malady. She can affect people's dreams, or their memories of their dreams, and use this power to offer people things they want.[4] She also has the ability to open anything -- a container, a door, a gate -- and withdraw another Iconoclast to increase her power and size.[1]
In the guise of Constantina Malady, the Usher of Truth appears to Gentian and her retinue. She brings an offering locked in a large, ornate trunk[5] and makes Gentian an offer.[6]
She is referred to by the codename "Gem" during Operation Midnight Lapidary, a mission given to the crew of the Blue Channel by Gucci Garantine.[7] While the rest of the crew is ordered to keep "Gem" away from the coronation in Carleon-Upon-Wisk, the Figure in Bismuth receives instructions from the Witch in Glass to capture her. Although the Usher of Truth's identity is revealed, the Figure succeeds in convincing his crewmates to let him hand her over to the Witch, and so the Usher of Truth is once again imprisoned. This time she is placed in a Q-concrete sarcophagus and pushed into the sea to be picked up by the Witch,[4] who plans to unlock the powers of the Iconoclasts for herself.[1]