Out of interest @Roman, will you be picking anyone up yourself to play in the game? I noticed in the old IC thread that you didn't before so was wondering whether that would be the case this time out too.
It’s more likely I’ll take the role of multiple NPCs that the players will meet along their respective journeys. Additionally, with the interest expressed here, it’s unlikely I’ll need to field a character for the purposes of filling out the roster. In all honesty the cities and their stories are my characters so someone else on top would feel superfluous - probably also be too tempting to be a bit more heavy-handed with the plot guidance.
So probably not? But nothing’s impossible.