A nation, even a sovereign one-person nation, cannot exist in a vacuum. The demonstration of the Law of Ashes had the desired effect: it didn't invite attacks, but it did attract a certain kind of attention. The outcasts, the untouchables, the brilliant minds who did not fit into the world's neat boxes began to seek asylum.
The first to arrive was Dr. Aris Thorne (no relation to the fallen family), a bio-engineer who had been blacklisted for his controversial work on accelerated ecological reclamation. He arrived on a rickety fishing boat, clutching a datastick containing his life's work.
" I have nowhere else to go," he said, standing before Mo Chen in the austere throne room of the Spire. "The world calls my research a crime against nature. I call it the only chance for nature to survive us."
Mo Chen saw the fire in his eyes, a different kind of flame from her own, but just as potent. She granted him asylum and gave him a lab. His first project: designing a self-sustaining ecosystem for the barren archipelago, using his "controversial" methods.
Next came Kaito, a former intelligence analyst for the consortium whom Isolde had marked for termination for knowing too much. He brought with him an eidetic memory and a deep understanding of the shadow world's moving parts.
One by one, they came. A disgraced nuclear physicist, a hacker collective on the run from three governments, a former UN translator who knew every secret ever whispered in the halls of power. They were The Aerie's first citizens, a court of brilliant, broken, and dangerous minds.
Mo Chen did not rule them with a heavy hand. She gave them shelter, resources, and a single, unifying purpose: to make The Aerie unassailable. In return, they gave her their loyalty, forged in the shared understanding of being unwanted by the world.
The Phoenix was no longer alone. She had a flock.