Lin Sukai
The emperor’s apparent daughter, whose investigation of the palace becomes an investigation of her own manufactured identity.
Jovis
A smuggler searching for his abducted wife who becomes famous for rescuing children from the bone-shard tithe.
Mephi
Jovis’s bonded ossalen companion, whose developing speech and power reveal that the empire’s old legends are incomplete.
Emperor Shiyen
A ruler who treats people, memories, and bodies as components in an imperial machine.
Bayan
Lin’s foster brother and rival for the succession, also trapped inside Shiyen’s experiments.
Phalue and Ranami
A governor’s daughter and her common-born partner, divided by privilege but drawn into the Shardless Few rebellion.
Sand / Nisong
A woman on Maila whose recovered memories expose the emperor’s replication program.