Stenwold Maker – Beetle-kinden spymaster and statesman
Cheerwell ‘Che’ Maker – his niece
Tisamon – Mantis-kinden Weaponsmaster
Tynisa – his halfbreed daughter, Weaponsmaster
Achaeos – Moth-kinden magician, Che’s lover
Nero – Fly-kinden artist
Arianna – Spider-kinden, Stenwold’s lover, former Rekef agent
Balkus – Ant-kinden, agent of Stenwold, renegade from Sarn
Sperra – Fly-kinden, agent of Stenwold
Thalric – Wasp-kinden, former Rekef major, now renegade
Teornis of the Aldanrael – Spider-kinden Aristos
Gaved – Wasp-kinden mercenary
Felise Mienn – Dragonfly-kinden duellist
Destrachis – Spider-kinden doctor and companion of Felise Mienn
Parops – Tarkesh Ant-kinden soldier, now in exile
Salma (Prince Salme Dien) – Dragonfly-kinden nobleman
Prized of Dragons – formerly Grief in Chains, Salma’s Butterfly-kinden lover
Alvdan II – the Wasp Emperor
Seda – Alvdan’s sister and one surviving relative
Maxin – Wasp-kinden general in the Rekef
Reiner – Wasp-kinden general in the Rekef
Brugan – Wasp-kinden general in the Rekef
Malkan – Wasp-kinden, general of the Seventh Army (the ‘Winged Furies’)
Uctebri the Sarcad – Mosquito-kinden magician, Alvdan’s slave
Gjegevey – Woodlouse-kinden, imperial advisor
Dariandrephos (‘Drephos’) – halfbreed artificer and imperial colonel
Totho – halfbreed artificer in Drephos’s cadre
Kaszaat – Bee-kinden artificer in Drephos’s cadre
Big Greyv – Mole Cricket-kinden artificer in Drephos’s cadre
Scyla – Spider-kinden spy, magician and thief
Lineo Thadspar – Beetle-kinden Speaker for the Collegiate Assembly
Plius – foreign Ant-kinden in Sarn, Stenwold’s agent
Odyssa – Spider-kinden agent of the Rekef