Born a princess of the Sarl, a feudal people living within a vast artificial Shellworld. She left her homeworld to join the Culture and became a Special Circumstances agent. Now she must return to the world she thought she had left behind.

A Sarl prince, eldest surviving son of the king. Vain and pampered, Ferbin is forced to flee his home after witnessing a crime that overturns everything he believed about his father's most trusted ally.

A short, fair, powerfully built knight in tyl Loesp's service who stood guard during King Hausk's murder. More impulsive and violent than his partner Vollird, Baerth draws his sword rashly when confronting Ferbin on the Surface and is disarmed by a Nariscene. Assigned with Vollird to guard Oramen at the Falls, he dies in the collapse caused by their assassination attempt.

Earl from Shilda who first brings Oramen the news of his father's death. He later becomes Oramen's equerry after Tove's murder. Newly married and determinedly faithful, Droffo is cautious and protective, accompanying Oramen to the Falls and helping to save him during the assassination attempt in the Nameless City.

The elderly, tall and principled secretary of the royal palace in Pourl, who serves as one of Oramen's most loyal and perceptive advisers. Fanthile repeatedly warns Oramen to be cautious about tyl Loesp's intentions, sensing corruption in events since the King's death. He urges Oramen to keep his eyes open but is unable to prevent the prince from being sent to the Hyeng-zhar.

The lady Aelsh, King Hausk's principal consort and Ferbin's mother. Fair-haired, dry-eyed and dignified in grief, Harne was responsible for the banishment of Oramen's mother Aclyn. Despite their mutual dislike, she cryptically warns Oramen to take care, sensing that not all is as it appears since the King's death.

The avatoid of the Culture ship Liveware Problem, initially presenting himself as a jolly, talkative Culture Greeter named Pone Hippinse. Short, portly and blond at first, he gradually becomes taller, fitter and more businesslike as his true nature emerges. He facilitates the group's rapid return to Sursamen and assists Anaplian in the mission to investigate Oct activities.

Ferbin's loyal servant, who accompanies his prince on the desperate flight from their homeworld. Practical, resourceful, and possessed of considerably more common sense than his master.

Anaplian's SC control and mentor on Prasadal, a two-thousand-year-old former human who has transferred his brain into an Aciculate body - a bush-like form of branching metallic limbs. He breaks the news of her father's death, reluctantly agrees to care for the orphan Toark in her absence, and later receives intelligence about the Oct ghost fleets that elevates Anaplian's personal mission to an official SC operation.

The King's closest friend and most trusted adviser, who betrays and murders King Hausk to seize power as regent. A tall, white-haired warrior-politician, tyl Loesp is ruthlessly pragmatic and believes only in power and effectiveness, not morality. He manipulates the Oct alliance, conquers the Deldeyn, and arranges attempts on both Ferbin's and Oramen's lives to consolidate his rule.

Oramen's tall, gangly and enthusiastic personal servant, a well-meaning country lad a year older than the prince but often seeming younger. Endearingly clumsy with words and manners, Neguste promised his mother never to pay for sex and takes this literally. He bravely defends the dying Oramen in the Settlement after the radiation disaster and is found alive by the rescue party.

Ferbin's younger brother, left behind when Ferbin flees. Thoughtful and studious where Ferbin is reckless, Oramen finds himself dangerously close to the man who now controls their kingdom.

Director General of the Morthanveld Strategic Mission to the Tertiary Hulian Spine, a spiniform waterworlder who is the highest-ranked official on Sursamen. Fascinated by Shellworlds, Shoum is sympathetic to Ferbin's plight but bound by non-interference rules. She arranges his onward passage to Xide Hyrlis and later deploys a defensive entity to Sursamen's Core as the Oct situation deteriorates.

Oramen's best friend since childhood, now serving as an army officer in the Flying Corps and appointed as Oramen's equerry by tyl Loesp. Enthusiastic, loyal and fond of drinking, Tove is murdered by assassins in the courtyard of the Gilder's Lament tavern when he inadvertently steps through the door ahead of Oramen, taking the knife meant for the prince.

A Culture drone (offensive class) that serves as Djan Seriy Anaplian's companion and protector. Sardonic, combat-capable and fiercely loyal, Xuss carries a small arsenal of knife, attack and scout missiles. When Anaplian is stripped of her SC enhancements, Xuss secretly copies itself into a knife missile disguised as an innocuous object and stows away in her luggage to continue protecting her.

A tall, thin, darkly intense knight loyal to tyl Loesp, one of those who witnessed and enabled the murder of King Hausk. Vollird is calculating, insolent and pragmatic, willing to murder on command. He is sent to pursue Ferbin to the Surface and later assigned as one of Oramen's personal guards at the Falls, where he participates in the assassination attempt.

A former Culture Contact agent who was sent to advise King Hausk, providing revolutionary military and technological ideas that transformed the Sarl into a dominant power. Now working for the Nariscene as a military commander on the war-torn planet Bulthmaas, Hyrlis is a tall, dark man with distinctive blue-purple eyes and a transparent nictitating membrane. He sympathises with Ferbin's quest but refuses to return to Sursamen, instead directing him towards his sister.

The Royal Physician who was present at King Hausk's murder and complicit in it under duress, plunging an instrument into the King's wound. A small, nervous man wracked by guilt, he drinks himself into incoherent despair at the funeral reception. He is found dead by Oramen in his chambers, apparently killed and staged to look like a suicide by drug injection.

Jerfin Poatas, the chief scholar and excavationer at the Hyeng-zhar Falls on the Ninth. A small, hunched man obsessed with the Nameless City, he guides Oramen through the dig sites and oversees the investigation of the mysterious artifacts, including the Sarcophagus. He grows increasingly secretive about dealings with the Oct and their interest in the central excavations.

The lady Silbe, a beautiful young noblewoman at the Sarl court and one of Ferbin's former lovers. Emotional and dramatic, she throws herself at Oramen's feet upon hearing of the King's death. She later scolds Oramen for his frequent absences from court and provides a social foil for the prince's growing independence.