—TOR VLADIMIR, chief scholiast advisor to the count.
—MALO, a palace concubine in the count’s service.
—His vassals:
—LORD PERUN VEISI, Archon of Tolbaran Prefecture and Lord of Springdeep Castle.
—His wife, LADY LYDIA REDGRAVE-VEISI, an offworld palatine.
—Her uncle, SIR ELOMAS REDGRAVE, a famous traveler, adventurer, and duelist. Retired to a life in the country as an amateur xenologist.
—His associate, TOR ADA, a scholiast, director of the archaeological dig at Calagah.
—Her assistants, MAROS and BEL, lay archaeologists from the University of Tolbaran.
—His servants, ORSO and DAMARA, brought with him from his travels.
—Their children:
—ALEXANDER VEISI, presumptive heir to the prefecture.
—KARTHIK VEISI, a young man, squire to his great-uncle Elomas.
—His mother, LADY KAMALA VEISI.
—ETAN VRIELL, a centurion in his service.
—LORD TIVAN MELLUAN, Archon and Exsul of Binah Prefecture.
—LORD IVANIS KVAR, Archon and Exsul of Armand Prefecture.
ON THE PLANET EMESH
Emesh was colonized by the Norman United Fellowship, a small-state direct democracy, in the early sixteenth millennium. The planet is
mostly oceanic with a diverse native aquaculture, and as such many of Emesh’s settlements were built on atolls or islands that are all that remain of the planet’s long-dead volcanic past. It has only one continent, Anshar, a small, volcanic outcrop a mere fifteen hundred miles across. There the NUF built its capital, Tolbaran. When House Mataro invaded, they built an advanced military base on Borosevo atoll, which in the centuries since has grown into a sprawling labyrinth of canals and platforms. Tolbaran has now been relegated to a secondary role in civic life. Much of Anshar’s land in given over to agriculture, as the volcanic soil has proved amenable to agriculture and viticulture.
The planet has two moons, Armand and Binah. Binah, the larger moon, has recently been opened for terraforming, and algae cultures have taken hold extremely aggressively. Armand is too small to hold an atmosphere but plays host to vigorous mining operations, especially of heavy metals.
Here follows a list of those persons appearing in the Emesh episode of Lord Marlowe’s account:
VALKA ONDERRA VHAD EDDA, a xenologist and de facto dignitary visiting from Edda in the Demarchy of Tavros. A researcher of the Umandh and of the ruins on the southern continent. Attached to Sir Elomas Redgrave’s amateur expedition.
CAT, a poor girl eking out a living in the streets.
SEPHA, an old woman who runs a clinic for the city’s poor and homeless, often for free.
—Her assistant, MARIS, a young woman.
GILA, head of a reclamation dock for abandoned lighter ships.
—Her employees, SKAG and BOR, starship mechanics.
RELLS, the head of a street gang that menaces the city and terrorizes the other homeless and disaffected people.
—His underlings, JOI, KALLER, and TUR, common criminals.
GIN, prefect-inspector of the Criminal Response Division, chief enemy of the street gangs.
—KO, REN, and YOH, all urban prefects.
NILES ENGIN, vilicus of the Umandh alienage at Ulakiel, high-ranking member of the Fishers Guild.
—QUINTUS, a douleter in the employ of the Ulakiel sanctuary and the Fishers Guild.
CROW, a traveler from an antique land.
—In the colosso:
—WILLIAM OF DANU, called SWITCH, an inexperienced fighter. Formerly a chartered catamite and cabin boy aboard a Mandari starship.
—His former master, SET, a ship owner, pederast, and merchanter.
—PALLINO, a one-eyed, forty-year active-service veteran of the Imperial Legions.
One of the de facto captains of the myrmidon team.
—His lover, ELARA, a local woman with a taste for the sarcastic.
—GHEN and SIRAN, prisoners forced to fight.
—BANKS, a grizzled veteran. One of the de facto captains of the myrmidon team.
—KIRI, a middle-aged woman fighting voluntarily, hoping to earn enough to send her son to school.
—Her son, DAR, a young man on the cusp of being old enough to take the civil service exams.
—Among the others, KEDDWEN, ERDRO, ALIS, and LIGHT.
—KOGAN, a former Whitehorse Company mercenary, veteran of the Battle of Wodan.
Recently joined the myrmidons at the Colosso.
—JAFFA and AMAREI, professional gladiators.
—CHAND, a slave and physician to the myrmidons. A Lothrian ex-patriot and former Imperial auxiliary.
—STROMOS, chef in the coliseum’s hypogean gaol. Considers himself too great an artist for his post.
—SLOW and SLOWER, prison guards tasked by the count with guarding special prisoners.