Red (extradimensional being)

This so-far-unnamed extradimensional being is herein provisionally named Red, not to be confused with Purple, another nearby extradimensional being. Unlike Purple, Red is officially declared to be a monster by the expert Dimitri Vapnoople. He/she/it has one large eye and no obvious mouth, although later we learn that having grabbed Tarvek in one of those black tentacles it (monsters are "it") can push him into itself through what looked like solid skin.

It appears from the shading that what would be the cornea in a human eye is concave rather than convex, but perhaps this is just an artifact of viewing a higher-dimensional being in three dimensions.

We meet Red when it appears in response to the operation of a machine created by the Grey Hoods (the name given by Trogulus to the secret society of sparks inside the Society dome) down in the depths of the dome, in a place said to have special properties related somehow to the Queens' Mirrors. As it turns out, the machine was defective, but Agatha, who came with the ostensible purpose of preventing the summoning, instead has a fit of Sparkhood and repairs the machine for them.

Red seems to communicate only in roars. After it grabs Tarvek, though, it seems to respond to Tarvek's screams -- one scream, one roar; two screams, two roars. This calms Tarvek and brings his scientific mind out of his panic. "I can work with this," he says. And that's when Red pokes Tarvek inside himself.

Meanwhile, the Grey Hoods have fired cables attached to skin-piercing plugs into Red. The cables are attached to what Tarvek declares to be similar to Lucrezia's Summoning Engine with the purpose of tranferring "energy" from Red into Snacky. The latter takes umbrage at Tarvek's entry into Red, thinking it deliberate, an attempt to steal the energy for himself. Snacky zaps Red, who disgorges Tarvek. Tarvek can't really speak, and is declared mad by Purple. (But Purple thinks Tarvek was/is/will be better.)

(Confusingly, the Hoods talk about "summoning" Red, but they mean the first step, bringing Red into our dimensions. The machine that's like the Summoning Engine is called "the secondary apparatus" by the Hoods.)

The great experiment is a success; Snacky has a second breakthrough and becomes a god, complete with halo. The other Hoods expect to take their turn in the machine to become gods, but instead Snacky uses his new powers to kill them all. (This is a surprise to the Hoods but not to the readers.)

Taking in Tarvek is the only thing Red has been able to do of its own volition, so it is hoped that some communication happened and that Tarvek will recover in time to play a role in this continuing crisis.