Bixente Anarti - Historian
nowadays attached to Brightlace University.
Invited controversity and mild ridicule in 1328 by writing a text
claiming the Eldar were merely a Terafan race of humans.
Thels Arcson - "Sports intellectual", died in 1332. Wrote witty and authoritative pieces for the newsheets and the athletic profiles in the Matterchack Almanac for the last 20 years. His books include the definitive history of the Garreday Games (tracing its development from gladiatorial times), a collection of biographies of past prominent athletes and a more academic examination of sports in Cities culture.
Holan Astan - Jalkin widower who gained brief notoriety in 1335 by being tried for necromancy, after wounding his sister-in-law attempting to raise the spirit of his dead wife. For his trial Astan introduced a freelance wizard to prove he didn't have a magical bone in his body. The whole case collapsed and Astan's name came to be associated not with dark sorceries but with gross Guards incompetence
Marie Balden One of the foremost of the Cities' businesswomen, a highly experienced and reliable figure in the manufacturing field. One of the early leading lights of the Zierlona Works before being forced out by a rather pointless boardroom coup in 1325. A year later she bought half-shares in a fledgling candle workshop and since then has made Christotan Candles one of the most profitable businesses around. In her early fifties, her reputation was marred in 1334 by a messy divorce case 1333-4; the highlight of court proceedings was when her husband accused her of having an affair with Tomas Celpic several years earlier and she countered by claiming that Celpic had raped her. It did little for her divorce proceedings but it helped drive Celpic out of town.
Sebastin Bellac Cultural commentator and social theorist, based at Brightlace University but widely read by Cities academics. Works include Nowhere Nation (1324), a definitive account of Callism
Yonath Brenton (1300-) Manager of the New Dories Mill since 1331. Some claim she has the best business mind of her generation. Others claim the jury is still out on her actual abilities and point to her father marrying one of Holstace Fortraine's younger sisters as being the reason for her first senior appointment.
Myran Caplan Dean of the University of Dorlaf
Tomas Celpic A prominent businessman, one of the most notable proponents of building a fortune through a large portfolio of part-ownerships. Also noted as a libertine with a long record of seducing, using and abandoning women, rich and poor alike. Tolerated for a very long time but when Marie Balden accused him of rape in October 1334 (above) it created such a swell of gossip that he has been forced to rapidly flee to Pockleton. Future now uncertain.
Landars Demesto General manager of Sardacs
Aldi Docson Highly talented actress, one of a hand-selected band who performed Holin Callar's best work. Now alas largely devotes herself to pantomime grand dame performances in Domes melodramas. Part of the Mosquitoes acting troop.
Nolstan Druak Gesund-born but based in the Cities for the past 10 years. 'The Clay King' who runs a scattered chain of pottery works and shops, mainly operating in the cheaper end of the domestic market. Chief works around the northern Campbells but some retail outlets in the Cities.
Stayson Dorlac Majority share owner of the Dando Smithies since a buy-out in 1328. Archetypal self-made businessman, blunt, anonymous and single-minded. Recently catapulted into fame after (with his approval) the history of his rather more colourful family became published. The escapades of a Guards-evading uncle, in particular, turned the history into a big seller.
Staycey Elparto - Poetess, novelist, social commentator, philosopher; one of the Cities' most famous intellectual lights of the last 30 years. Most of her texts (most famous the non-fiction book Building On Sand and the epic poem First Dawn in Vellers Square) are sweeping state-of-the-nation works which focus on small, often obscure parts of life to illustrate universal points. Trademark style is a mixture of sarcastic criticism and breathless enthusiasm, which have constantly baffled commentators unable to work out whether she loves or hates Christoté; primarily because critics don't understand dichotomies. Typical quotes: 'How great and glorious the Cities would be/ If only anything worked.' On Vellers Square: No other city in the world could create a site of such monumental vileness"; and "Imagine the hell of your religion. Reflect on how terrible and desolate it is and how, in your heart of hearts, you secretly wish to visit it. Now imagine the heaven of your religion. Reflect on how splendid and glorious it is and how, in your heart of hearts, you secretly dread spending eternity there. Place all these conflicting emotions together and there you have the feelings of the average Cities resident towards Vellers Square." On a Holin Callar play: "The pride at having endured it from start to finish leads one to subsequently exagurrate any pleasure it invoked." On politics: "The Christotan political system incorporates conflicts and contradictions at every possible level. It does so for exactly the same reason as a playwrite inserts numerous twists, turns and tantrums into his plots. It is more interesting." Elparto, now in her late sixties, is semi-retired but still a feature on the lecture and party circuit.
Kierlan Estel Former prominent figure on the Dorlaf Central Bank, linked with a major gambling scandal in 1321 when he and several others tried to nobble favourites in the Garreday Games. Estel narrowly avoided jail, but the scandal ruined his career; whereabouts currently unknown.
Gellina Eskton Playwright specialising in 'audience participation' drama.
Teresa Farson - Experimental playwright much in vogue amongst bohemian circles; plays have little or no speech in them and the story is told with a mixture of song, dance and orchestral pieces.
Antolin Grace - Musician, possibly the most fashionable at society parties at the moment. Composer of some quite innovative free-form pieces, but mainly forced to work through the canon of established favourites at parties.
The Amazing Grondiss - Stalwart of the Fishguard market. Sells entirely fraudulent 'magical' potions and has a fine comedy sales pitch, drawing heavily on jokes about his harridan wife
Ferent Harks - Athlete who won the Garreday Games in 1333; from a Forgar-based family of Erish descent.
Tomas Harpac - Veteran ballad writer and performer, responsible for some of the more enduring tales of the last twenty years. Particularly fond of sacrificing facts in favour of a good story or pleasing rhymes, while still stubbornly maintaining he is singing nothing but the truth.
Kalinka the Inker Resident of Jakks Lane, Jalkin, and the most celebrated document forger in the Cities. A charmingly spry woman in her 70's, who still lives in a mean hovel despite having allegedly made a fortune from her practice. Given a blind eye by the Guards, for whom she has done numerous favours over the years.
Falcan Kelp - Historian, based at the University of Dorlaf nowadays. The academic's academic. His first work was A History of the Eastern Kingdoms Prior To 967, published in 1312 and some fifteen years in gestation. Some 2,500 pages long, it was immediately hailed as a masterpiece in some quarters, with a fantastic amount of detail, a wealth of well-researched fact and a dry but readable style. Kelp also announced that the work of historians was narration not theorising; it rejects the idea of an underlying historical dynamic in favour of accounts of knock-on events and short-sighted decision making. The long history of the Kingdoms of Dorlaf, Elsey et al, the rise and fall of the Erish and Juric Empires and the rise of Tars Tukas are all portrayed as amoral events with no destiny behind them. The neutral treatment of the birth of Christoté upset some people in the sensitive 1310's, who ludicrously attempted to lump Kelp in with Cane Callar and the rest. Twenty years later Kelp produced his second work, The Christotan Lands from the Wesseldale Treaty to the Cessation of the Ten Years War. It neatly followed on from where his first ended, continued his facts-driven approach and is regarded as the greatest history of Christoté yet. Again, Kelp rejected notions such as Christoté somehow embodying a 'will of the people', as well as more fanciful notions about Elvish influences and the like. Christoté is what it is today, he claims, because of Dorlafan/Zabric traditions and a series of pragmatic reactions to immediate situations made by people in key positions. In the foreword he also wades into Thinking Man's Empire, the last great work about the Confederacy.
Elak Kehtren Torgun (non clergy), a leading light of Brightlace University. Led resistance to Callism with a series of works on the individual sense of self-worth and the relevance of pragmatism. Through this self-worth comes and understanding of society; i.e. starting from the same point but reaching different conclusions to Cane Callar's 'tooth and claw' world. Main works 1310-20.
Staycey Kerritz Schallic athlete who won the Garreday Games women's contest 1330-3, also the Dorlafan Games (representing Yaleth) 1329 & 1333.
Christos Labeson Commercial manager of the Domes
Lachliss Wizard who runs the Baelan's monitoring rooms. Intensely agoraphobic, he rarely leaves the Baelan, though is forced to attend the Chancellor's occasional meetings with Elf mystics.
Carlin L'Janiar A champion Kakranfan gladiator imported to the Cities in 1334 by a consortium of businessmen to compete in the Garreday Games. On his arrival, paraded through the streets in a cage and then attended a big reception committee in Rand Park. Unlike most hyped up imports he justified the fuss, winning the men's events at a canter; but then departed whence he came.
Kellin Mechlic - Former manager of one of Chorley's main smiths, recently recruited by Tarragons in Forgar to oversee their expansion plans. A dour, unpopular and utterly self-confident character, clearly competent though more adept at handling metals than people.
Piers Mesking - Owner of a haulage firm which operates particularly on the routes to the south-east; chiefly commercial business, very profitable. Recently accused of bribing Holan Brightson, though with no real proof. A long-standing member of the Baelan funding consortium which fell apart at the start of 1335. Used his influence to get his son, Anarto, a job as Uhan Elcco's private secretary.
Etime N'Doum A Kakranfan wizard who runs the Baelan's teaching and library facilities; physically an extremely tall, thin and almost albino woman.
Madran Novisso Member of the Stride Wide Men troop, a particularly celebrated melodramatic actor specialising in performances of outrageous hamminess.
Radav Occi Wizard who runs the Baelan's artefact development and testing laboratories.
Tomas Ollic - Playwright specialising in 'audience participation' drama.
Kael Otranto - Former manager and part-owner of the Forgar Timber Mill, turned it into a byword for corruption and unsafe working practices. Prosecuted and publicly birched in 1334, banned from company ownership. Current whereabouts unknown; (very unsubstantiated) rumours claim she's become a brothel keeper.
Ceycil Poulton - Artistic director of the Domes. Overbearing, melodramatic, incompetant and a strong believer that only the 'classics' (plays written over a hundred years ago) are worth anything.
Jed Passaln - Second generation Astic immigrant residing in Yariston. His 12-volume Tales of Dorrick was a huge seller, made Passaln a national hero and put him at the forefront of the supposedly resurgent Elsan literary scene. He has produced little of note since the final volume in 1327, however, and appears to have shot his bolt.
Linsey Satswan - Sister of the Arch Priestess of the Cities Church to Ella, herself a prominent Ellan priestess. Assorted works, mainly developing the theme of a fixed Ellan morality acting as an anchor in the face of varying social and political conditions. Main works 1315-40.
Tomas Solsen - Architect - designed Farlingdale House and . Wrote the famously snide pamphlet The Self-Assembly, All-Weather Dorlafan Town Kit lambasting unimaginative modern civic architecture.
Olderan Womerack - The 'Market King', owning an unfeasible amount of market halls and warehouses in the Cities and beyond; most notably the Tinners Barn. Is increasingly using his position to squeeze as much money out of merchants and traders as possible. Rarely seen in public without at least two bodyguards. Not a popular man.
Shantar Zulti - Dancer and composer; currently feated by the intelligentsia for a complicated series of dances, all performed herself, which each demonstrate a particular emotion