It's easy to see the Glades as a place where wealthy recluses hide in their manors among the trees, with little interaction with each other or with the rest of the city. But of course they do interact; the residents of the Glades have rivalries and collusions, and there is a lot of activity simmering beneath the idyllic surface. But perhaps the most sinister secrets in the Glades is a nameless conspiracy of demon summoners that meet in the woods to perform their nefarious rituals, dressed in hooded robes to hide their identities from those who run across them—assuming those who run across them survive the encounter, which is by no means a foregone conclusion.

The coterie is not large, a few dozen all told, most of them butlers and other high-ranking servants to the wealthy landowners, but their number does include a few of the rich householders themselves. This includes the unofficial leader of the group, Neremi Astaston, scion of a family that made their living in quarrying but who now mostly live off the interest of their vast wealth and holdings. Astaston founded this group of demon summoners partly to use the demons' powers to increase his own already substantial money and influence, but also partly, though he wouldn't admit it to himself, because he's bored.

Neremi Astaston is a large, redheaded man of somewhat weaselly appearance, with dark eyebrows and a lopsided smile. He has a tendency to click his tongue when he's feeling particularly contemptuous of the person he's talking to, which is often. When not dressed in the hooded robe of his secret society, he favors velvet vests and puffy trousers in violet and burgundy hues.