A former Culture Contact agent who was sent to advise King Hausk, providing revolutionary military and technological ideas that transformed the Sarl into a dominant power. Now working for the Nariscene as a military commander on the war-torn planet Bulthmaas, Hyrlis is a tall, dark man with distinctive blue-purple eyes and a transparent nictitating membrane. He sympathises with Ferbin's quest but refuses to return to Sursamen, instead directing him towards his sister.