Diago (Vis Telimus Catenicus): The Strength of the Few’s Shapeshifting Protagonist

Overview

Diago arrives in The Strength of the Few under many names—Vis Telimus Catenicus, Deaglán, Siamun, and Leathfhear—each reflecting a different facet of his fractured identity. Born a prince of Suus, a small island nation east of the Catenan Republic, he loses his royal status, his left arm, and almost everyone he loves before the story begins. Having survived the Labyrinth (a mysterious construct that creates copies across parallel worlds) and emerged as a copy, Diago navigates a three-world conspiracy to stop a recurring Cataclysm that has already consumed the world of Obiteum. In every guise, he fights the same internal battle: whether to accept the crushing burdens thrust upon him by fate or to forge a path defined by his own choices.

Plot Role

Diago is the protagonist and primary viewpoint character. His journey spans the three realities—Res (the original world), Luceum, and Duat—as he attempts to prevent the Concurrence from destroying all life. He acts as a bridge between the oppressed (Octavii, Suusians) and the powerful (Catenan Magni, Anguis), and his movements often trigger the story’s major turning points. The character glossary in Chapter 82 lists him under four separate entries, underscoring how his role requires him to fragment his identity across political and social lines.

Motivations and Traits

Diago is driven by survivor’s guilt and an unwillingness to let others die in his place. He says explicitly in Chapter 61: “Cari died … I made a choice and I survived … Never again.” This promise to himself fuels his refusal to abandon his friends, even when a resurrected version of his father begs him to flee instead of marching toward Caer Áras.

He is quick to anger—a trait his father notes in a Chapter 55 flashback at age thirteen when Diago cannot understand why the Suusian negotiators refuse to let him sit in on a meeting. Yet his anger is not blind; it often crystallizes into resolve. When he challenges his superior in combat, Tara, knowing she will likely beat him, he does so not out of narcissism but to prove that his will cannot be broken by a single loss.

Beneath his aggression rests a deep well of empathy. In Chapter 60, his father reminds him that he was “one of the most kind-hearted people I know,” but also that his natural talents sometimes obscure his understanding of others’ limits. Diago genuinely grieves for his executed mother and sister, and the sight of prisoners in Sapper cells moves him to quiet fury.

Chronological Arc

1. Childhood (pre-invasion): Prince of Suus, sheltered from his father’s secret knowledge of the Gate and the Cataclysm. His mother chooses not to burden him because he is fourteen.
2. Invasion and Fall: The Hierarchy conquers Suus. Diago escapes through an underwater tunnel, but his younger sister Cari dies. He hides for five years.
3. Labyrinth Creation: The Gate copies Diago. He emerges as a duplicate in Obiteum, where the Concurrence has already won. Caeror explains the three-world structure and the need to “kill a god.”
4. Lost Arm and New Names: He wakes on a boat, his left arm amputated, taken to the village of Bhailcnoc. The mysterious Cian protects him. He later assumes the identity Deaglán among the Luceum druids.
5. Catenan Politics: Under the name Vis Telimus, he enters the Catenan Republic. He is adopted by Ulciscor, fights in the naumachia (killing the gladiator Melior, which makes him famous), and becomes entangled with the Anguis resistance.
6. Luceum War Council: He rejoins the Suusian remnant in Luceum, trains with spear and leadership among the exiles, and challenges Tara to prove his worth.
7. Reunion and Rejection: He meets his father—resurrected by a Vitaerium (Chapter 60)—who warns him not to go to Caer Áras. Diago refuses, insisting “it is my decision, Father” (Chapter 61).
8. Final Movement: Headed toward war and the anticipated Cataclysm, Diago acts as the focal point around which the conflict among the Republic, the Anguis, the druids, and the Concurrence revolves.

Relationships

• Father (King of Suus): Diago’s most emotionally significant relationship. Their reunion in Chapter 60 is among the book’s most powerful moments. His father is dead physically but sustained by a scarab-engraved Vitaerium. Their argument in Chapter 61 encapsulates Diago’s core internal conflict: duty to the many versus loyalty to the few.
• Diago (the alupi): He names his wolf-like companion after himself, suggesting a symbiotic bond. In Chapter 73 he speaks to the alupi softly—“time to be strong”—and the animal appears to understand and reflect his moods. The creature’s training to tolerate imbuing (Chapter 44) mirrors Diago’s own need to adapt to imbued enemies.
• Ulciscor: His Catenan patron. Diago refuses to be a pawn, openly defying Ulciscor over breakfast in Chapter 10: “You no longer dictate my movements.” He demands equal-footing alliance.
• Relucia: A complex Anguis operator and Ulciscor’s wife. Despite mutual distrust, she arranges Lanistia’s escape in Chapter 49. Diago respects her sincerity when she drops the mask of politics.
• Tara, Aequa, Eidhin: Fellow warriors in Luceum and Caten. Diago earns their loyalty through action rather than title.

Key Decisions and Consequences

• Challenging Tara to combat (Chapter 55): Rejecting the safer choice of fighting a lesser opponent, he forces Pádraig and the elders to see that he will not be excluded from the mission to Caer Áras. It does not change the outcome of the selection, but it establishes his refusal to accept a passive role.
• Rejecting Ulciscor’s authority (Chapter 10): He smashes a cup, roars his fury, and redefines their relationship. The consequence is that Ulciscor treats him as an ally rather than a tool.
• Forcing himself to attend the Festival of Pletuna (Chapter 49): He enters a politically explosive crowd with a huge alupi, knowing he is a target. His presence forces the Catenan elite to account for him and exposes him to Vulferam’s revenge faction.
• Refusing his father’s plea to avoid Caer Áras (Chapter 61): He chooses personal responsibility over safety. His father calls it “the choice the ones you love wanted you to make” but Diago insists it is his alone.

Theme and Symbol Connections

• The Burden of Leadership: Every major decision Diago makes is burdened by his awareness that he may be the only person positioned to act. His father tells him plainly: “Poor luck is being without choice … you are not one of them.”
• Identity and Transformation: Diago is the story’s prime example of transformation. A prince becomes a refugee, a gladiator becomes a hero, a son chooses the survival of others over filial obedience. His multiple names are not disguises but markers of internal growth.
• Systemic Oppression and Resistance: The Catenan Rankings described in Chapter 1—an eight-tier hierarchy from Princeps down to Octavus—enshrine a power structure Diago opposes. He sees in the Anguis rebellion and in the caged lions at Pletuna’s festival “small men so desperate for power that they will take it from wherever they can.”
• Truth and Deception: Diago deceives everyone—Ulciscor, Relucia, the Catenan Senate—while searching for the truth about the Cataclysm. His father taught him that “words sound the same coming from the honest and the deceiving.”
• Cycles of Violence and Redemption: The Cataclysm recurs every few centuries. Relucia argues that “blood becomes the only possible currency of change.” Diago hopes to break the cycle without becoming its architect, but he does not flinch from using violence when no alternatives remain.

Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Diago refuse to back down from his challenge to Tara in Chapter 55? He wants to prove that he belongs with those going to Caer Áras regardless of his skill. He says outright he will not be “a piece on someone else’s board.” Even after losing, he refuses to concede, forcing Tara to accept his determination.

2. What is the Vitaerium, and how does it affect Diago’s father? The Vitaerium is a stone medallion engraved with a scarab, described in Chapter 60. It lends borrowed life to a corpse but does not restore heartbeat or breath. Diago’s father is physically dead but able to move and speak because he wears one.

3. Why does Diago reject Ulciscor’s authority in Chapter 10? Because Ulciscor sent him to the Labyrinth without proper warning—a mission that cost Diago his arm and killed his friend. Diago refuses to be a disposable agent and insists on an alliance of equals, which Ulciscor eventually grants.

4. What is Diago’s plan to stop the Cataclysm by the book’s midpoint? He intends to reach Caer Áras, the likely site of the Concurrence’s attack, fight alongside the Luceum warriors, and use his unique access as a surviving copy from the Labyrinth to locate and disable the “god” that triggers the elimination of life—though the exact method remains a mystery he must uncover as he goes.

5. How does the relationship with his alupi companion, also named Diago, reflect his character? The wolf exhibits the same traits Diago prides himself on: wariness of untrustworthy power, loyalty to those who earn it, and a capacity for controlled violence. Diago calms the animal by the subtle threat of his own imbuing (Chapter 44), mirroring how he uses his growing power to reassure rather than dominate.