TEMPOS THALES; THE RIDDLER, Nearly immortal mercenary, a partner of Vashanka before that god’s demise; commander of the Stepsons; cursed with a fatal inability to give or receive love.
WALEGRIN, Rankan army officer assigned to the Sanctuary garrison where his father had been slain by the S’danzo many years before.
The Gods
DYAREELA, A goddess whose worship in Sanctuary predates the Ilsigi presence and which has been outlawed many times since then.
HARRAN, Physician and priest to Siveni Gray-Eyes, now part of her four-fold divinity.
MRIGA, Mindless and crippled woman elevated to four-fold divinity with Siveni
Gray-Eyes.
SABELLIA, Mother goddess for the Rankan Empire.
SAVANKALA, Father god for the Rankan Empire.
SIVENI GRAY-EYES, Ilsigi goddess of wisdom, medicine and defense, now transformed into a four-fold diety.
SHIPRI, Mother goddess of the old Ilsigi kingdom.
STORMBRINGER, Primal stormgodlwargod. The pattern for all other such gods, he is not, himself, the object of organized worship.
JIHAN, Froth Daughter. His parthenogenic offspring, betrothed to the Stepson’s mage, Randal.
The Beysib
SHUPANSEA; SHU-SEA, Head of the Beysib exiles in Sanctuary; mortal avatar of the
Beysib mother goddess.
INTRODUCTION
Robert Lynn Asprin
For the first time in over a decade, Hakiem found himself seriously considering leaving his adopted home of Sanctuary.
Leaning out a window on one of the upper levels of the palace, he surveyed the town below as he thought-yet even this depressed him. He had always enjoyed walking the streets, first as a storyteller and later as advisor to the Beysib