A Culture Special Circumstances agent tasked with pursuing Horza. Resourceful and formidable, but quietly conflicted about the moral cost of the war she fights in and the methods her side employs.

A Culture Special Circumstances officer who recruited Zakalwe and manages his operations. Sharp, empathetic, and more personally invested in her agent than professional detachment would advise.

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.