Robert Asprin - Blood Ties

The Townspeople

AHDIOVIZUN; AHDIOMER viz; AHDIO, Proprietor of Sty's Place, a legendary divewithin the Maze.

LALO THE LIMNER, Street artist gifted with magic he does not fully understand.

GILLA, His indomitable wife.

ALFI, Their youngest son.

LATILLA, Their daughter.

OANNER, Their middle son, slain during the False Plague riots of the previouswinter.

VANDA, Their daughter, employed as maid-servant to the Beysib at the palace.

WEDEMIR, Their son and eldest child.

DUBRO, Bazaar blacksmith and husband to Illyra.

ILLYRA, Half-blood S'danzo seeress with True Sight. Hounded by PFLS in the FalsePlague.

ARTON, Their son, marked by the gods and magic as part of an emergingdivinity known as the Stormchildren. Sent to the Bandaran Isles for his safetyand education.

ULLIS, Their daughter, slain in the False Plague riots.

HAKIEM, Storyteller and confidant extraordinaire.

JUBAL, Prematurely aged former gladiator. Once he openly ran Sanctuary's mostvisible criminal organization, the Hawkmasks. Now he works behind the scenes.

SALIMAN, His aide and only friend.

MAMA BECHO, Owner of a particularly disreputable tavern in Downwind.

MASHA ZIL-INEEL, Midwife whose involvement with the destruction of the PurpleMage enabled her to move from the Maze to respectability uptown.

MORIA, One-time Hawkmask and servant to Ischade. She was physically transformedinto a Rankan noblewoman by Haught.

MYRTIS, Madam of the Aphrodesia House.

SHAFRALAIN, Sanctuary nobleman who can trace his lineage and his money back tothe days of llsig's glory.

ESARIA, His daughter.

EXPIMILIA, His wife.

CUSHARLAIN, His cousin. A customs inspector and investigator.

SNAPPER JO, A fiend who survived the destruction of magic in Sanctuary.

STILCHO, Once one of Ischade's resurrected minions, he was "cured" of death whenmagic was purged from Sanctuary.

ZIP, Bitter young terrorist. Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation ofSanctuary (PFLS).

The Magicians

HAUGHT, One-time apprentice of Ischade who betrayed her and is now trapped in awarded house with Roxane.

ISCHADE, Necromancer and thief. Her curse is passed to her lovers who die fromit.

ROXANE; DEATH'S QUEEN, Nisibisi witch. Nearly destroyed when Stormbringer purgedmagic from Sanctuary, she is trapped inside a warded house and a dead man'sbody.

Others

THERON, New military Emperor. An usurper placed on the throne with the aidofTempus and his allies. He has commanded that Sanctuary's walls must be rebuiltby the next New Year Festival.

The Rankans living in Sanctuary

CHENAYA; DAUGHTER OF THE SUN, Daughter of LOW an Vigeles, a beautiful andpowerful young woman who is fated never to lose a fight. DAYRNE, Her companionand trainer.

LEYN, OUUEN, DISMAS AND GESTUS, Her friends and fellow gladiators.

GYSKOURAS, One of the Stormchildren, currently in the Bandar an Isles foreducation.

PRINCE KADAKITHIS, Charismatic but somewhat naive half-brother of the recentlyassassinated Emperor, Abakithis.

DAPHNE, His estranged wife, living with Chenaya's gladiators at Land's End.

KAMA; JES, Tempus' daughter. 3rd Commando assassin. Sometime lover of both Zipand Molin Torchholder.

LOWAN VIGELES, Half-brother of Molin Torchholder, father of Chenaya, a wealthyaristocrat self-exiled to Sanctuary. Owner of the Land's End Estate.

MOLIN TORCHHOLDER; TORCH, Archpriest and architect of Vashanka; Guardian of theStormchildren.

ROSANDA, His estranged wife, living at Land's End.

RANKAN 3RD COMMANDO, Mercenary company founded by Tempus Thales and noted forits brutal efficiency.

SYNC, Commander of the 3rd.

RASHAN; THE EYE OF THE SAVANKALA, Priest and Judge of Sanvankala. Highestranking Rankan in Sanctuary prior to the arrival of the Prince, now allied withChenaya's disaffected Rankans at Land's End.

STEPSONS; SACRED BANDERS, Members of a mercenary unit founded by Abarsis whowilled their allegiance to Tempus Thales after his own death. CRITIAS; CRIT,Leftside leader paired with Straton. Second in command after Tempus.

RANDAL; WITCHY-EARS, The only mage ever trusted by Tempus or admitted into theSacred Band.

STRATON; STRAT; ACE, Rightside partner of Critias. Injured by the PFLS at thestart of the False Plague riots.

TASFALEN LANCOTHIS, Jaded nobleman, slain by Ischade's curse, then resurrectedby Haught. His body has become Roxane's prison.

TEMPOS THALES; THE RIDDLER, Nearly immortal mercenary, a partner of Vashankabefore that god's demise; commander of the Stepsons; cursed with a fatalinability to give or receive love.

WALEGRIN, Rankan army officer assigned to the Sanctuary garrison where hisfather had been slain by the S'danzo many years before.

The Gods

DYAREELA, A goddess whose worship in Sanctuary predates the Ilsigi presence andwhich has been outlawed many times since then.

HARRAN, Physician and priest to Siveni Gray-Eyes, now part of her four-folddivinity.

MRIGA, Mindless and crippled woman elevated to four-fold divinity with SiveniGray-Eyes.

SABELLIA, Mother goddess for the Rankan Empire.

SAVANKALA, Father god for the Rankan Empire.

SIVENI GRAY-EYES, Ilsigi goddess of wisdom, medicine and defense, nowtransformed into a four-fold diety.

SHIPRI, Mother goddess of the old Ilsigi kingdom.

STORMBRINGER, Primal stormgodlwargod. The pattern for all other such gods, he isnot, himself, the object of organized worship.

JIHAN, Froth Daughter. His parthenogenic offspring, betrothed to the Stepson'smage, Randal.

The Beysib

SHUPANSEA; SHU-SEA, Head of the Beysib exiles in Sanctuary; mortal avatar of theBeysib mother goddess.

For the first time in over a decade, Hakiem found himself seriously consideringleaving his adopted home of Sanctuary.

Leaning out a window on one of the upper levels of the palace, he surveyed thetown below as he thought-yet even this depressed him. He had always enjoyedwalking the streets, first as a storyteller and later as advisor to the BeysibEmpress. The town had always had a rough vibrancy, like the rich organic smellof a swamp, and he drank it in along with the rumors to assure himself of thecity's survival. Now, however, he found that he rarely ventured down to thestreets to savor it.

Not that he was afraid for his safety, mind you. Whether it was due to his longstanding membership in the community, his well known neutrality andharmlessness, deference to his position as the Beysa's advisor, or a combinationof all of these factors, his passage through town was never challenged. Rather,he often hid within the palace shadows and corridors to spare himself theheartache of witnessing what was happening to his beloved Sanctuary.

The spirit of the town he knew had been born of parents named Poverty andDesperation. While he had cursed the crime and filth along with the rest of thecitizens, there had also been a secret pride in the inherent toughness ofSanctuary's inhabitants. Like the scrappy optimism of a bright-eyed gutterpredator, there had been a certainty that the town would survive regardless ofwhatever hardships fate or the Rankan Empire could throw at it. Small moments oftenderness or self-sacrificing heroics shone all the brighter here, as uncontestable evidence of the strength of the human spirit.

Then two changes occurred almost simultaneously: the Beysib arrived and Ranke'sStormgod had either died or retreated into oblivion.

As Sanctuary's fortunes literally rose through the influx of Beysib wealth, theEmpire's prestige and power had begun to wane-and the very nature of the cityaltered. Instead of small, vicious fights for survival, the town sank intoselfish power squabbles which were proving more deadly and disruptive thananything the citizens had known before. Instead of desperation and poverty, thestench of greed hung over the town and Hakiem found it stifling.