Imperials (humans governed under the interstellar Home Empire)

Family names written first, informal names formed by doubling last syllable of the formal name (MacGregor Kanshou is known to his friends as Shou-shou, for example.)

Yongle: Emperor of the Home Worlds and inheritor of the Ming Dynasty

Lady Ci Xiao: former member of the imperial cabinet, named Governor of the Province of Septimi after its formal annexation by Yongle

Macgregor Kanshou: Commandant of four legions brought from the Home Worlds to pacify Septimi during its annexation

Rao: Executive Officer and second in command to Macgregor

Haig Heiliu: Legate and third in command to Macgregor

Pan Quentin: Eugenicist academic, appointed by Lady Ci to become chief of the Septimi Legion's medical corps

Lady Hui: Magistrate of the imperial colony located at Septimi's North Pole, appointed by Lady Ci

Zheng He: barbarian converted to imperial culture, granted the name "Zheng" by Yongle and appointed Praetor of the Cassian system by the same Emperor for his service as an explorer, ambassador of trade and admiral

Jiaren (descendants of the first imperial settlers on Septimi, often intermarried with the Vidar)

Same rules as imperials. Some confusion can arise when jiawen words are rendered in the Vidar alphabet, however. Jiaren, for instance, means "home people" or "family" in jiawen ("home language").

Kang Sheng: former centurion in the imperial Legion, friend of Macgregor and Vitharr's Chief of Security (head of police and intelligence)

Song Theodore Victor: wealthy jiaren merchant and candidate for the newly created jiaren Walden

Wang Mang: former Magistrate of the imperial Septimi colony, displaced by Hui on Lady Ci's appointment

Cassians (humans governed by a tri-planet socialist, matriarchal Party)

First name is usually shortened to an informal nickname, and the last name is a patronymic formed from the name of the father and modified to accord with the gender of the child

Lyudmila (Mila) Ivanovna: spy for the Party and lover of Karl, known to him and other Vidar by the alias "Ethel", aka "Chen Wenying" to the Black Hundreds

Valentina Vladimirovna: Chairwoman of the Party Committee responsible for incorporating Septimi into the interplanetary socialist revolution

Nadezhda (Nadia) Konstantinovna: Party cadre and rival to Chairwoman Valentina

Ilya: A slave boy in the service of Lady Ci

Elena: Party Cadre and chief torturer for the Septimi Revolution Committee

Vidar (ethnic Cassians of the planet known to Cassians as Cassia Quartus, which the imperials call Septimi, but who consider themselves their own independent people of "Vitharr")

No family names, but nobles are referred to by the lands over which they lord

Lord Aeplerad deVoffrarr: Gretwalder, leader of the Gretwalden as elected by his fellow lords (Walders)

Lord Karl deVihorr: appointed Walder of Vihorr by Aeplerad after his predecessor's death at the hands of the VLF

Edgar: Keeper of the Scrolls (speaker of the Gretwalden and prime minister to the Gretwalder)

Edward: hereditary prophet of the Old Believers, chief commander of the Vidar Liberation Front (VLF)

Alfred: agent and lover of Edward, general in the VLF

Cuthbert: head of VLF intelligence