ASH · the Kiln · Ember Racing

CRIMSON

The Frontrunner

First to the first corner. Every round, without exception.

The shard

Crimson was watching the fire when the Whole came apart, and took the part of it that goes first — the flare off the top of a kiln, brightest before anything has actually burned. It has never adjusted to the idea that a race has a second half.

Someone has to be in front. It may as well be me, and it may as well be now.
CRIMSON

How Crimson races

The launch is not a tactic, it is a compulsion. Crimson is clear of the field before the first section has finished feeding, leads the opening third of essentially everything, and is running on a debt the whole time. Watch the top of the track and Crimson looks like the best marble on the grid. Watch the bottom and the same run reads as a slow, dignified collapse.

The signature

First Blood

Clear of the pack inside the first third, and gone before the field has decided what kind of race this is.

What it costs

The lead is borrowed and the interest is charged late. Crimson gives back more over a full descent than the launch ever gained — a marble that has led more sections than anyone on the grid and won almost nothing.

The tell

The horns, and a face that locks into determination the instant the lead is taken and refuses to leave it long after the lead has.

Feeds on

zigzagboostRampstaircase

Comes apart in

runInsieve

The voice

Hear Crimson

A hard "ba-DAK" that jumps up onto the second syllable and shuts on the k. It is the sound of going first, and it is over before you are ready.

In the race mix — D4, 294 Hz, The grab

Rising a fourth on the break. The fade is the same two notes the other way round, and the audience learns to dread it.

The record

2ndChampionship

28Points

2Starts

1Wins

1Podiums

1stBest

3.0Average

5thLast out

R06 5th of 6 comeback
R01 1st of 6 last-gasp steal

In the stands

The most reliable heartbreak on the roster. People who have watched thirty rounds still lean forward at the first corner.

Rivalries

CRIMSON

The Hourglass

One owns the first third. One owns the last quarter.

1–12 meetings

JADE

The same race told from both ends. Crimson is clear of the field before the first section has emptied and is being reeled in from the moment it is; Jade spends twenty seconds going backwards on purpose and arrives with everything it saved. They are almost never near each other until the exact moment it is decided.

Crimson has led into the final section more often than anyone on the grid. Jade is why that statistic exists and means nothing.