Zealot

Zealots are the servants and footsoldiers of the Anox Vi. There has been some argument as to whether they are truly sentient or self-aware, or merely mindless zombie drones, following the will of the Priestess who made them. This confusion comes from the fact that they will mindlessly follow out orders given by their maker, even to the point of their own death. They rarely speak, though they do have speech, and very few of them are named.

Zealots are formed through a magic technique which regresses and distills their DNA to an earlier, more potent state, while simultaneously binding them to the one which makes them.

In the web, thus far, all of the Zealots have been made from Trianglers. Since the Trianglers descend from Dantrath, this has resulted in an army of quasi-Dantrath loyal to Penance.

The process by which Zealots are named by their Anox Vi masters seems to impart some power, or authority in them. And while all Anox Vi seem to be capable of making and naming Zealots, all of the Zealots in any given population are generally made by a single Anox Vi. When Patience took the initiative to make and name Piety in order to use him against the insurgents, it caused a major falling out between her and Penance.

Of the few named Zealots, Piety, once Eramus d'Vanth et Myhraal, seems peculiar in that he has appeared to exercise at least some small measure of free will. It is unclear as to whether this is due to the Anox Vi that made him, and some defect in her process, or the strength of his original personality, or if it is actually a ruse.