Sailing to Sarantium

Gisel is the beautiful, blonde, 19-year-old Queen of the Antae and Batiara. While she offers symbolic allegiance to the Sarantine Emperor, she is queen in her own right. However, her own people, the Antae, are not supportive of her rule. Gisel is caught in a no-win scenario due to the tentative and begrudging peace between the recently warring factions of her people. In the hopes of saving her own life from assassination and avoiding unnecessary war, Gisel sends a dangerous offer of marriage to Emperor Valerius II through Crispin. Gisel proves that she is intelligent, determined, and fierce, but is severely limited by circumstances beyond her control.

Once a young woman sacrificed to Ludan, the pagan god of the woods in Saraudia, Linon’s soul was captured by the alchemist, Zoticus, and bound to the form of a mechanical bird. While in the form of the grey and brown sparrow, Linon’s voice is that of all of Zoticus’ birds: a patrician Rhodian with a judgmental, bored drawl. Linon is Zoticus’ first experiment in binding human souls. Her outspoken, irritable nature is initially at odds with Crispin’s own temperament, but the two find themselves building a relationship beyond the bonds of their telepathic connection. Linon proves herself to be more than a cynic by sacrificing herself, surrendering her soul to Ludan for a second time to save Crispin, Kasia, and Vargos.

Kasia is a young, pale-skinned Inici slave who Crispin meets as a serving girl and prostituted woman at a Posting Inn. Though she is clever, compassionate, and resilient, Kasia is considered expendable by her owner and therefore named as the next human sacrifice to the local pagan god. Burning with determination and the will to live, she desperately asks Crispin to take her with him. After a near-death experience with the god, Kasia accompanies Crispin to Sarantium. After being freed, Kasia has difficulty adjusting to the city and to being a free woman after her years of slavery.

Vargos is a large and quiet Inici, with black hair and a scar high on one cheek from a disagreement with his father. Crispin initially hires Vargos as a temporary servant at a Posting Inn but earns the man’s loyalty through his daring, selfless attempts to save Kasia from a horrifying death. Vargos is a devout follower of Jad and Heladikos. His bravery and loyalty to Crispin save Crispin’s life.

Carullus is a proud tribune who considers himself kind, despite the harsh punishments he doles out to his soldiers. Despite a rocky, even violent, first encounter, Carullus strikes up an unlikely but significant friendship with Crispin. In both temperament and physicality, Carullus is bold, tenacious, and strong. He is loyal to his Supreme Strategos, Leontes, his Emperor, the Greens, and Crispin.

Despite his “soft-faced,” “unprepossessing” appearance, Emperor Valerius is a force to be reckoned with given his brilliant, problem-solving ability, unmatchable work ethic, and near-eidetic memory. Through his expertly planned schemes, he places his uncle, Valerius, on the throne and later succeeds him as Valerius II. Valerius is dedicated to three things: his wife, reunifying the Jaddite faith, and reconquering the rest of the once-unified Rhodian Empire. 

As Aliana of the Blues, the arrestingly beautiful woman was a dancer rumored to have sold her body to survive in accordance with traditions for that role. After catching the eye of the wealthy and cunning merchant Petrus, she proves that despite her manifold charms, her mind is her most powerful attribute. As Empress Alixana, she dazzles both friend and foe, proving to be more determined and courageous than her male colleagues, and demonstrates that her mind is second to none but her brilliant husband, if anyone. She is fully committed and dedicated to her husband.