Bitterblue

A WHO'S WHO OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

SPECIOUS, ARBITRARY, AND ALTOGETHER OF DOUBTFUL PURPOSE

Recorded by Death, the Royal Librarian of Monsea, who would merely like to note that he does not have time for this.

BEWARE: THE FOLLOWING RECORD IS AN INCOMPLETE DRAFT.

THE ANNALIST IS OBLIGED TO FOLLOW ORDERS AND CAN

ONLY WORK WITH WHAT HE IS GIVEN.

ANNA (MONSEA): Head baker in the castle kitchens. Of questionable relevance to this record.

ASHEN (LIENID, MONSEA): First a Lienid princess, then Queen of Monsea, now deceased. Sister of King Ror of Lienid. Mother of Queen Bitterblue of Monsea. Murdered by King Leck of Monsea, her husband. This annalist remembers her as kind, highly educated, and trapped in an impossible situation. It is to be noted that she saved Queen Bitterblue's life.

BANN (MIDDLUNS): Medicine maker and reputed Council leader. Frequent traveling companion of Prince Raffin of the Middluns.

BELLAMEW (MONSEA): Sculptor, King Leck's especial favorite, murdered by him. Completed perhaps fifty or fifty-five sculptures of human transformations. Sister of Holt and mother of Hava.

BIRN (WESTER): King of Wester. Contemptible scoundrel.

BITTERBLUE (MONSEA): The Queen of Monsea and this annalist's most excellent employer. Daughter of King Leck and Queen Ashen. Niece of King Ror and Queen Zinnober of Lienid. Indubitably the finest monarch ruling in the known world today, though it is to be noted that even the finest monarchs waste their librarians' time with surprising frequency.

BREN (MONSEA): Teacher and printer in the east city; sister of Sapphire Birch. Family instrumental in the resistance. Assisting in the restoration of the castle library collection. Efficient, accurate, and highly responsible, unlike the brother she closely resembles.

DANZHOL (MONSEA): A dastardly lord from central Monsea, of questionable sanity. Grace: performing an outrage upon his own face which this annalist prefers neither to consider nor describe.

DARBY (MONSEA): Adviser to Queen Bitterblue in the years following King Leck's death. Grace: never sleeping.

DEATH (MONSEA) (PRONOUNCED TO RHYME WITH "TEETH"): This annalist, and the Royal Librarian of Monsea. Grace: speed of reading and perfect memory of all that is read.

DROWDEN (NANDER): King of Nander, now deposed. Insufferable blackguard.

DYAN (MONSEA): Head gardener to Queen Bitterblue. Of questionable relevance to this record.

EEMKERR (UNKNOWN): The childhood name of the person who would later become King Leck of Monsea. Born somewhere in the seven kingdoms. See entries for "Immiker" and "Leck."

FIRE (DELLS) (DELLIAN NAME: BIR, MORE OR LESS): A Dellian lady and what is called, in the Dells, a "monster." Most alarming woman.

FOX (MONSEA, LIENID, MONSEA): Castle servant in the years following King Leck's death. Grace: fearlessness.

FROGGATT (MONSEA): A clerk of the queen.

GADD (MONSEA): King Leck's favored creator of decorative wallhangings. Murdered by King Leck.

GIDDON (MIDDLUNS): Once a Middluns lord, now disennobled. Reputed Council leader and frequent traveling companion of Prince Po of Lienid. It is to be noted that he saved this annalist's life.

GOLDIE (MONSEA, LIENID, MONSEA): Queen Bitterblue's new Master of Prisons. Once the master of the navy prison in Ror City, Lienid. Grace: singing.

GREENING GRANDEMALION (LIENID): Lienid prince known as Po. Reputed Council leader. Seventh son of King Ror and Queen Zinnober of Lienid and cousin of Queen Bitterblue. Famous swain of Lady Katsa of the Middluns. Grace: hand-fighting (he says). Good with cats.

GRELLA (MONSEA): A legendary Monsean mountain explorer who kept bombastic and overblown journals of his adventures and died in the pass that bears his name.

HAVA (MONSEA): Daughter of Bellamew, niece of Holt. Grace: hiding/disguise.

HELDA (MIDDLUNS, MONSEA): Queen Bitterblue's housekeeper, ladyservant, and spymaster. Formerly ladyservant to Lady Katsa of the Middluns. A person of unsurpassed dignity, though opinionated.

HOLT (MONSEA): A member of the Queen's Guard. Brother of Bellamew and uncle of Hava. Grace: strength.

IMMIKER (MONSEA): A child born in Monsea in the year we believe King Leck to have been born. Possibly the Eemkerr who grew up to be King Leck, though this annalist can not confirm.

IVAN (MONSEA): King Leck's favored engineer. Built the three city bridges.

JASS (MONSEA): A kitchen hand of questionable relevance to this record. Grace: determining, by sight and smell, what meal would be most satisfying for a given person to eat.

KATSA (MIDDLUNS): A lady of the Middluns, banished and declared fortuneless by her uncle, King Randa of the Middluns, though this does not seem to stop her from entering the kingdom when she pleases. Reputed Council leader and that organization's founder. Cousin of Prince Raffin of the Middluns. Famous paramour of Prince Po of Lienid. Assassinated King Leck. Grace: survival, with an extreme capacity for any kind of fighting.

LARCH (MONSEA): Father of Immiker; therefore, possible father of King Leck.

LECK (UNKNOWN, DELLS, MONSEA): King of Monsea for thirty-five years; soulless psychopathic sadist. Husband of Queen Ashen and father of Queen Bitterblue. Assassinated by Lady Katsa of the Middluns. Grace: telling lies that are believed.

LOVEJOY (MONSEA): A cat of fine temperament.

MADLEN (DELLS, MONSEA): A Dellian spy who posed as a Graced healer in order to infiltrate Monsea.

MIDYA (DELLS): Famous Dellian naval explorer. Dellian mother, Pikkian father. Curiously, born in a Dellian prison.

MIKRA (MONSEA): Mother of Immiker; therefore, possible mother of King Leck.

MURGON (SUNDER): King of Sunder. Vile miscreant.

NASHDELL (DELLS): King of the Dells. Brother-in-law of Lady Fire. As far as this annalist knows, a good man.

OLL (MIDDLUNS): Reputed Council leader. Stripped of his captaincy by King Randa of the Middluns.

ORNIK (MONSEA): A metalsmith of the royal smithy. Of questionable relevance to this record.

PIPER (MONSEA): A Monsean lord who serves as a judge on the High Court.

PO: See entry for "Greening Grandemalion."

QUALL (MONSEA): A Monsean lord and a judge on the High Court in the years following King Leck's death.

RAFFIN (MIDDLUNS): A prince of the Middluns, King Randa's sole son and heir. Medicine maker and reputed Council leader. Cousin of Lady Katsa.

RANDA (MIDDLUNS): King of the Middluns. Not much to be said for him.

ROOD (MONSEA): Adviser to Queen Bitterblue in the years following King Leck's death; brother of Runnemood.

ROR (LIENID): King of Lienid. Father of Prince Po and Prince Skye, uncle of Queen Bitterblue. Presumably not the ass the other kings are.

RUNNEMOOD (MONSEA): Adviser to Queen Bitterblue in the years following King Leck's death; brother of Rood.

SAPPHIRE BIRCH (MONSEA, LIENID, MONSEA): A Monsean commoner who grew up on a Lienid ship, now identifying as Lienid; brother of Bren. Family instrumental in the resistance. A troublemaker and a squanderer of Her Majesty's energies. Of questionable relevance to this record. Grace: Her Majesty knows, but has not told this annalist.

SKYE (LIENID): A Lienid prince and the sixth son of King Ror and Queen Zinnober. Brother to Prince Po and cousin to Queen Bitterblue.

SMIT (MONSEA): Captain of the Monsean Guard in the years following King Leck's death.

SPOOK (MONSEA): A notorious black-market underlord.

TEDDREN (MONSEA): Known as Teddy. Printer and teacher in the east city; brother to Tilda. Family instrumental in the resistance. An adviser to the Ministry of Education. Currently assisting in the restoration of the castle library collection. Top-rate fellow, if a bit starry-eyed.

THIEL (MONSEA): Adviser to Queen Bitterblue in the years following King Leck's death.

THIGPEN (ESTILL): The King of Estill, for the moment. A vicious hoodlum.

TILDA (MONSEA): Printer and teacher in the east city; sister to Teddren. Family instrumental in the resistance. Currently assisting in the restoration of the castle library collection and the castle's defunct printing shop, with alacrity and a refreshing dedication.

Some entries are at the moment grievously incomplete, pending the final, official reports of Her Majesty. The annalist cannot be held accountable for errors or omissions caused or required by others, of which there are doubtless many.