The Armoured Core

Faust's Armoured Core is made up of people who seek to protect others. They join to protect a loved one, family, their city, or friends. The Core's size shifts in response to this need, and if its members become shaken, so do their abilities. The main weakness of this group is its members are very individualistic and only fight when they see the need.

This group also loses many members to the Ritual of Blackened Moon. When all they have to protect is lost they sometimes go into the wilderness to fight the Green at its heart, even though it means death.

The armour of the Armoured Core is actually formed by the will of the individual. It can take many forms. Some only have parts of their body encased - an arm or leg - while others cover their entire body. Many that develop this talent learn to deflect blows to an area where the armour protects the individual.

Jeph

The Armoured Core's members learn from the scrolls of its former teacher, Jeph, a man whose exact age is unknown, but who is surely well over 146, based on the date that he settled, so to speak, in Lyre. He no longer speaks to his students. He just sits, encased in his black armour that glows with purple tribal symbols. It is said that he choose to protect all of Faust and, after many trials and tribulations, now ponders on how best to complete his task. Before he sat down on a great tree stump in Lyre, he threw his scrolls to his friend Xanth and asked him to continue to teach the ways written on the scrolls - the ways to protect all that a person loves. Jeph's popularity did not rise until after his full powers manifested and his armour had fully encased him. This has lead to many debates on when, and where, he was born. Many say he must have been a Tunnel Runner since he chose to meditate in Lyre. Others say he must have been a Sarchan, with a suit of armour over seven feet tall. Many believe that he had been active since the time of the fall, making him a truly ancient figure indeed, but there are other popular theories.

Xanth always answers people the same way when the question arises “Jeph cares little on where a person was from, all he cared about was if the person's heart was in the right place”