Skender Dragosti was the cruel human Knyaz of Vale Sangora before Brencis. His tyranny made it easy for Brencis to play the savior and win the people over.
Skender held common folk in contempt. He believed they understood nothing but force and fear, and he ruled through extortion.
When peasants rose against him, Skender crushed the revolt. He had the last rebels slaughtered at the quarry of Shrike's Crag.
In AD 1347 he went missing during a manhunt, and Brencis took the valley.
Albertus Taurinus
Albertus Taurinus is the in-world author of The Secret History of Vale Sangora, the lore series Rebel Wolves posted before launch. Read it if you want the valley's backstory before you start playing.
Image: Rebel Wolves / Bandai NamcoAlin
Alin is Coen's younger brother, who drowned as a child after falling through cracked ice. You never play alongside him, but his death shapes Coen, his mother Esme and the quest Home Sweet Home.
Image: Rebel Wolves / Bandai NamcoAndrei
Andrei is a silver trader in Svartrau who works out of a hideout behind a butcher's shop. He is the man Ocha wants dealt with in The Heart Wants What It Wants, and how you handle him shapes her ending.
Ascar
Ascar is a beekeeper who lives in a hut on the south side of Tantari. Crake has you tail him in the optional quest Distant Shadows, and what you find out explains a lot about Crake.