Many of the aspirant heroes who have studied magic under Œthide Hyx insist that she is the most powerful wizard in Claystone Heights, and perhaps in all of Lüm. That may be an exaggeration, but she is certainly a mage of considerable puissance, and yet she has made her home in Claystone Heights and made it her vocation to teach young adventurers and help them hone their spellcasting abilities... for reasonable fees, of course. She specializes in spells of knowledge and divination, but also has considerable skill with various transformations and magics of misdirection and concealment. Certainly she has a record of past success; several of her past students have gone on to thriving careers with galliards' guilds, and one, Aksa Jeonjara, currently serves on the Heroes' Council.

What most of Hyx's students don't know is that she is a member of one of the wizard covins that between them could be said to secretly rule Curcalen, and that, while she may honestly value her relationship with her students, certainly one of her motivations for her work is to further her covin's influence. Those who show considerable promise she may recruit into her covin, but even those who do not she may be able to persuade to work in her faction's interest—and indeed Jeonjara, the Heroes' Council member, is largely her puppet. At the moment Hyx's covin, Susurrus, has a serious foothold only on a couple of continents, but she hopes to change that and bring it to the worldwide prominence that major covins such as Braleigh's Brotherhood and the Broken Shield enjoy.

Hyx is seldom seen not swathed in a dark hooded cloak embroidered with glyphs of various forgotten alphabets and symbolries—which she is happy to explain to students when they reach the appropriate level, and which she uses as teaching aids. Even her hands she hides in gloves, usually leaving no part of her bare skin visible. Under the concealing cloak, she is a hatchet-faced dile with slate-gray skin and long black hair. She shows no signs of her advanced age, her skin as smooth as a teenager's, although she is missing four teeth for reasons she refuses to disclose. Nyx's voice is full and deep, and alternates between sounding angry and amused.