Dana McAllen is a member of the urban exploration association that is currently investigating remnants of the worlds previous civilization. She initially made her debut in the Tunnelrunners side comic. She has been Ian's closest friend since early childhood, and is still his closest confidant.
Julia Wells, significant other of Ian Caladharas. Julia co runs the Wells Hotel in Erech’s Clocktower District. For those people who have rpg’d in this world: The Wells Hotel is now known as Cytheron’s. Julia and Ian tied the knot in the City of Greyrest in the Crossing Territories.
How indeed? The eternal question …
You don’t ‘crack’ the cycle. You can’t. The best you can do is to limit the effects.
iow, we can make impact of those cycles worse …or better, but short of the heat death of the universe, it’s impossible to stop them.