Names, households and lives of their own
A princess preparing to rule. A father trying to get home on time. A boat repairer who will not call a dangerous hull safe.
Some lives unfold over several visits; others cross our path in a workshop, a hearing or an old account of the crown. Meet the people named throughout the Almanac, and follow each name back into their world.
58 PEOPLE · ROYAL HOUSES, WORKING LIVES, NEIGHBOURS AND HISTORY
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Step into a household, a working day or the years before a voyage. Alongside Aveline’s portrait, the illustrations below show places and customs from these lives.
Court & crowns
Crown princess and recognised Orinthian heir
Raised for rule in Velisar, Aveline is a Psionic Adept preparing to hear the coastal petition on Tarsenne. She wants to exercise judgement that can be discussed without reference to her mother's decisions.
Working lives
Palace laundry worker in Velisar
Edris sorts damaged textiles at the palace and shares rented rooms with his son Evin. His stories follow the competing claims of wages, fatherhood and an evening of music chosen for himself.
Working lives
Cargo-vessel repair apprentice on Nereth
Kesra trains on pressure seals and joins under supervision while sharing a flat with other apprentices. Her wish for certification meets mistakes at work and the cost of helping an injured housemate.
Across Tarsenne
River-boat repairer in Reedbank
Istra keeps small river boats working while weighing repair orders against the pain in her hands. She begins paying Osen for trial mornings and later refuses to call a damaged boat safe despite needing the work.
Working lives
Retired household teacher on Damar
Sevren once taught the children of prosperous families and now shares a quieter household with Amra. Helping a neighbour with an application gives him an opportunity to listen as well as teach.
Working lives
Junior glasshouse worker in Asterfall
Lethra grew up around Velisar's royal gardens and befriended Aveline through books and a disliked ceremonial song. She accepts a probationary post at Asterfall's municipal glasshouses to have her work assessed beyond the palace.
From sovereigns to neighbours, in alphabetical order. Every link opens the passage where that person appears.
Across Tarsenne
First Convenor of Selnic
Adrel heads Selnic's current administration as First Convenor, elected by the national Assembly. The office carries no hereditary claim.
From history
Earlier consort and manuscript patron
Mereth's consort supported music and acquired provincial manuscripts, preserving collections while drawing valued records towards the capital. He was the father of Ysabet and Terenne.
Working lives
Textile restorer and Sevren's wife
Amra's occasional textile-restoration work contributes to the household she shares with Sevren. She helps him face the practical need for a safe rail beside their bath.
Court & crowns
Queen of Orsala
Anessa reigns from Miravel, appoints ministers and negotiates external agreements. Extraordinary levies require the assent of the Landed Chamber and the Council of Towns.
Working lives
Apprentice and Kesra's flatmate
A slipping clamp injures Anet's hand and reduces his income while the yard looks for light duties. He remains determined to cook, and the household negotiates help without treating him as incapable.
Across Tarsenne
Testing technician
Arlu keeps failed marine-cable sections for apprentices. The specimens demonstrate that a neat exterior can conceal broken insulation.
Across Tarsenne
Winter Route Service examiner
Arven checks seals, dates and the actual contents of Halvyr's emergency stores. He does not accept a photograph of fuel as a substitute for fuel.
Across Tarsenne
Stove repairer and Istra's husband
Baret repairs household stoves and shares materials, a garden and arguments about missing wire with Istra. He makes a sound stool for the workshop when Osen begins helping there.
Across Tarsenne
Ceramic artist
Belessa became known for household bowls painted with the rooms in which they were used. Students at Tessovar's Design House study the glaze repairs in her early work as closely as the brushwork.
Working lives
Kesra's shipyard supervisor
Brannic inspects Kesra's damaged seal channel and supervises its repair. On a later job, his approval remains distinct from the record of her preparation work.
Across Tarsenne
Fish smoker at Willow Brake
The widowed fish smoker keeps a shared pot and charges separately for fuel and ingredients. Her notebook also names people she feeds without entering a sum.
Across Tarsenne
Imperial commissioner
Sorn's inland station handles a limited portfolio of protection, communications and treaty business. His appointment preserves existing local rights and gives him no general sovereignty over the Sedge Coast.
Across Tarsenne
Ferry mechanic
Darven is named in a Nacre household budget that combines his net pay with his aunt's mending receipts. The example notes that another missed sailing would reduce the mending income.
Across Tarsenne
Organiser of visitors' rooms
Dernessa organises shared accommodation for outer-island visitors attending Assembly business in Nacre Sound. Having hosted opposing delegations in adjoining rooms, she labels the breakfast shelves carefully.
Court & crowns
Recognised heir of Halvyr
Prince Eslan is Halvyr's present recognised heir. The country's succession and regency arrangements involve the Valley Estates.
Across Tarsenne
Copyist at Lamp Court
Evara rents a worktable beneath Lamp Court's covered edge in Rimefold. She reads documents aloud before taking a fee and explains when a beautifully copied refusal is still a refusal.
Working lives
Edris's son and model-boat builder
Evin builds model boats at the folding table he shares with his father. His school workshop becomes the occasion for Edris to keep a promise despite the lost overtime.
Across Tarsenne
Boarding-house keeper
Halvenna runs Long Window Rooms in Rauth Crossing. She keeps individual rent receipts so that lodgers remain visible within household records.
Across Tarsenne
Reedbank deed custodian
Harla keeps household copies in a dry cabinet above Reedbank's market rooms. She records whether copying is paid by the requester or from common funds.
Across Tarsenne
Poet
Havren's widely memorised Winter Guests follows four households sheltering the same unreliable traveller. Its changing stories reappear in school recitations and puppet farces.
Court & crowns
Sarthene emperor
The current Sarthene sovereign has designated his niece Maelis as heir, with confirmation by the Chambers of Cities. The emperor appoints the executive ministry within the constitutional settlement.
From history
Hereditary protector
Iseran secured hereditary tenure for the Lower Estuary Compact's protectorate in CR 37. Supporters argued for continuity while opponents disputed whether reliable contracts required a family to possess the office.
Court & crowns
Designated Sarthene heir
Ilyan Sar's niece is the confirmed heir under Sarthene designation rules. She attends public-works and administrative briefings without holding the sovereign's current executive powers.
Across Tarsenne
Tenant representative
Malessa organises contract-copying sessions beside Hadrin's mill-town evening classrooms. She helps participants distinguish a lawful obligation from a creditor's invention.
Working lives
Palace laundry supervisor
Marit supervises Edris and fits his request for early work around the laundry's needs. A later conversation reveals her interest in music and a brother whose hearing was damaged by works noise.
Across Tarsenne
North Quay resident
Mave carries her father's lunch from High Bank to the Net Loft. Their brief meal on a rope crate finds companionship in a domestic disagreement over the roots in his stew.
Across Tarsenne
Ticket clerk at the Lantern Steps
Mavessa recognises her visiting aunt by the way she sings ahead of the ferry's chorus. Their reunion at Nacre Sound arrives with wet rope, diesel and a somewhat damaged pastry.
Across Tarsenne
Cloth sorter in Miravel
Merenna keeps lease copies in a covered tin at her sister's house. Her family's sorting, washing and parcel earnings can all be reduced by a week of closed lower access.
From history
Earlier empress of Orinth
Mereth ruled from CR 355 to CR 389 and expanded direct Treasury oversight after provincial accounts failed to reconcile. The reforms recovered revenue while reducing local councils' discretion.
Court & crowns
Witness to Aveline's earlier life
Merren's recollections describe Aveline's kindness as mixed with an insistence on her own wishes. He has not seen a frontier world when she asks him about one before leaving the inner provinces.
Across Tarsenne
Rimefold resident
Nava carries a repaired royal puppet towards her grandson's flat and stops to try hot fruit syrup over shaved ice. On Bell Bridge, she makes a passing child laugh by ordering the river to turn round in the puppet's royal voice.
Across Tarsenne
North Quay cargo examiner
Neris preserves photographs of damaged seals even when two competing firms object. She declares her brother's employment by one firm when handling its cases.
Court & crowns
Prince of House Orinth
Aveline's younger brother shared her lessons and jokes about official portraits. He is interested in navigation models and wants recognition beyond the office he does not hold.
Across Tarsenne
Labour organiser
Omira brings sample contracts to Delsic market sessions, distinguishing deductions for water, bedding and tools from wages. Employers differ sharply in their willingness to make room for her work.
Across Tarsenne
Cargo unloader learning boat repair
Osen earns irregular wages unloading river cargo and wants to learn Istra's craft. Their paid trial mornings depend on confirmed repair orders rather than a guaranteed apprenticeship.
Across Tarsenne
Retired dyer in Miravel
At a school performance with her granddaughter, Osvena recognises a rejected length from her old workshop in a queen's blue cloak. She lets the child's delight stand without explaining the dye fault.
Across Tarsenne
Ceramic maker at Kiln Court
After preparing plain storage jars, Ovara puts a bowl with six uneven birds at the front of her display. The small sale gives room for pleasure in work otherwise shaped by ordinary production.
Working lives
Food-store worker and Sevren's neighbour
Pella asks Sevren for help applying to a purchasing course, insisting that the application retain her own voice. In return, she helps him learn a changed household-payment system.
Across Tarsenne
First Convenor of Veydan
Rellin built her reputation organising hurricane repairs and now chairs the Concord's executive board. Critics say she treats political disagreement as another obstruction to clear.
Across Tarsenne
Practitioner at Reedbank's surgery
Roel treats patients within the staff, knowledge and supplies available at Reedbank's former-school surgery. Difficult cases depend on onward transport, and clean water containers remain a practical concern.
From history
First imperial sovereign
Iseran's daughter succeeded to the protectorship before the Charter of the Crown recognised an imperial office in CR 61. The charter made Saelin the first imperial sovereign.
Across Tarsenne
Playwright
Sennari wrote Three Missing Oars, in which family members conceal that they have borrowed the same boat for different appointments. Productions still dispute its forgiving ending and a version that preserves the grandmother's anger.
Court & crowns
Keeper of Petitions
Sereya previously administered appeals in a provincial port and now keeps formal submissions distinct from findings. Her work includes helping a bridge-repair supplier trace evidence without pretending that she can decide his payment claim.
Court & crowns
Queen of Nereth
Nereth's sovereign represents a hereditary monarchy whose elected Commons controls ordinary revenue. The kingdom's Safety Commission can close unsafe facilities, including royal ones.
Court & crowns
Queen of Halvyr
Halvyr's reigning sovereign has her principal seat at Rimefold. Her government is remembered in particular places through repaired substations and unpopular charges.
Across Tarsenne
Essayist
After recording town hearings, Teluna wrote The Uninvited Chair about people affected by decisions made in their absence. Her essays circulate in temple libraries and municipal reading yards.
Court & crowns
Imperial consort and restoration patron
Temren studies restoration drawings, visits sites and corresponds with craftspeople. His patronage can bring attention to neglected projects, though he has no independent imperial executive authority.
Court & crowns
Prince and patron of historical performance
Ysabet's younger brother supports historical performance and repeatedly opposes centralising archive policy. He remains in the wider succession after the sovereign's eligible descendants.
Across Tarsenne
Passage adviser
Tereva rotates appointments through Veydan island labour rooms. She checks return-fare clauses and distinguishes genuine training debts from charges invented when a worker gives notice.
Court & crowns
Designated heir of Orsala
Princess Vesari Talun is Anessa's designated heir. Her declaration belongs within a succession procedure recorded before both chambers.
Across Tarsenne
Residence adviser
Vessa holds evening sessions at Tessovar's Quiet Room Library. She helps workers assemble residence evidence from landlords, schools and employers without guaranteeing that a claim will succeed.
Court & crowns
Reigning empress of Orinth
Ysabet inherited the crown in CR 389 and presses officials to explain who will be responsible when an arrangement fails. Her daughter Aveline can feel carefully loved and continuously assessed in the same conversation.