Captain Kel Cheris
“Do the math, fledge.”
An officer in the Hexarchate’s Kel army. She joined up to flee a history of insurrection in her family, only to find that it follows her anyway. Cheris is brilliant at math in a regime whose technomagic runs on math-based ritual. She’s honest, hard-working, and abysmal at politics, always a winning combination.
General Shuos Jedao
“I’m your gun.”
The Ninefox General. The Hexarchate’s most brilliant tactician until he snapped and massacred two armies, one of them his own. No one knows why. The Hexarchate keeps him around as their undead slave/advisor for the wars no one else can win. In four centuries he has never been defeated. Also he never shuts up, which is a different problem.
High General Kel Inesser
Honorable, but not nice.
The only high general operating in the field, and the Hexarchate’s best living strategist. They cross-stitch to relax, although no one has ever known them to cough up a completed piece. Their emblem is the Sun Martlet.
Commander Kel Menowen
“Fuck you with a slide rule, no.”
The commander of General Shuos Jedao’s flagship Swan Anthem, back when. They never talk about their family. Rumor has it Menowen sprang fully formed from the heart of a pissed-off pulsar. Loves poetry, hates dueling.
Hexarch Nirai Kujen
“Physics is for the weak.”
Allegedly the oldest man in the Hexarchate, the only one who understands the secret of immortality. A librarian, mathematician, and psych surgeon, not necessarily in that order. Has strong feelings about books.
Hexarch Shuos Mikodez
Nice, but not honorable.
Claimed the seat at twenty-five, becoming the youngest Shuos hexarch in three centuries. Notorious for assassinating some of his own cadets the year after. Four decades later, he’s still in power. People are confused by his addiction to sweets and the pet green onion.
Shuos Zehun
Mikodez’s adviser and the power behind the throne. Their job involves thankless administrivia and even more thankless attempts to keep Mikodez focused. Owned by an indeterminate number of cats.