Because there are a lot of characters in this story, I maintain a list of those who have been introduced and information about them, because I often refer back to these older characters and events. Hopefully, this makes things a little easier for people to track. This page has a list of all the characters who have been introduced in the story up to the current chapter, and it may contain major spoilers for previous books. To mitigate this, as each book is finished, I’ll have a separate list set up which is current up to the end of that book, i.e., the cast list of book one will contain information about the first book and no information about events in the second book. These characters are sorted loosely by how central they are to the story, because the cast does get rather large.

Kyoko Sugiyama: The main character of this story, the narration of the books is entirely from her perspective. She’s a Japanese-American woman in her thirties, who looks like a teenager thanks to her heritage, and looks like a delinquent one thanks to the extensive tattoos ;in Japanese her name is written 杉山今日子. Her mother was a raiju, a creature in Japanese folklore associated with storms, and being only halfway human has an immense impact on Kyoko’s life. She moved from Tokyo to Pittsburgh mostly to run away from bad memories. She doesn’t have a lot of friends, and spends a lot of time alone in a house she can afford thanks to a substantial inheritance from her mother, who died when she was a child.

Capinera: A half-redcap whose adopted name means “blackcap” in Italian, reflecting a personal feeling of mourning or statement of intent related to that heritage. Recently opened a performing arts venue in Pittsburgh called the Blackbird Cabaret. Capinera herself is a spectacular vocalist who has an exceptional ability to inspire emotion using song. Likely, this is because that portion of her education was mediated by Clíodhna, the queen of banshees; Clíodhna is also Capinera’s godmother. Capinera has killed many things, both for pleasure and as her father’s assassin. She has been trying to be a better person recently, with mixed results.

Pepper: An old friend of Kyoko’s, though they’ve only ever interacted online; Pepper spends a lot of time online to hide from the physical reality of life and her abusive family. She goes through an endless array of usernames, all of which are bad puns about pepper. She’s the kind of person who can use hermetic and mantic in a sentence but misspells common words constantly, and she has nightmares about squid that Kyoko doesn’t want to know about.

Raincloud: Kyoko’s dog, a Siberian husky with preternatural intelligence. At the end of Seed and Trellis, Kyoko essentially created Raincloud in her current form by helping the mind of a dead fae to bond with that of a puppy. The fae being was a lupine creature which was fundamentally tied to a cypress tree in Pittsburgh, and was dying following that tree’s death. By enabling him to bond with Raincloud and become a disembodied presence sharing her senses and anchored to reality via her body, Kyoko simultaneously helped him to survive the death of his own body, and changed Raincloud’s experience of life forever.

Saori: A kitsune of uncertain origin and nature. Kyoko met her in the suburb of Fox Chapel, an exceptionally on-the-nose place for one of the fox-like kitsune to live. Saori was not the one who chose this home; rather, it was one offered to her by a mysterious benefactor, who helped her out of a similarly mysterious bad situation. She avoids discussing the whole topic like the plague. She likes to listen to extremely unusual music, consumes an impressive amount of sugar and caffeine, and her driving makes most people very glad to get out of the car alive.

Audgrim: While his proper name is Auðgrímr Eyvindson, Audgrim is a half-blooded dvergr who has long since given up on correcting English speakers. The dvergar have long had an interest in this city, and is currently the supervisor for the local dvergr investments and security company. A relatively close ally and acquaintance before the story starts. He’s the one who called her asking for a favor at the opening of Seed and Trellis. When he turned traitor at the end of that book, 

Caleb Moorhead: Kyoko’s oldest friend in the area, a human who went to university at the same time she did. He is now a practicing attorney and expects to make partner with a criminal defense firm in the near future. He’s concerned about her. She’s been pulling away from him because she knows that she will not be able to maintain the illusion of being a normal human with him for much longer.

Cassie: She probably has a longer name, but she just goes by Cassie. She’s an older werewolf, one of the stronger ones in Pittsburgh and respected by the others, but often has an unusually modern presentation for an old wolf. She’s got a very good head in a crisis. She also has EMT training. Speaks fluent German for reasons she doesn’t tend to discuss. The best in the city at scent tracking. She has personal feelings about hunting accidents and how they can be used to cover up an assassination.

Lord Cerdinen: A lord of the Midnight Court who historically has for many years been a reclusive figure near Pittsburgh, very rarely leaving his home. Unusually, he keeps that home in the mortal world. Has power over the forest and a fixation on a particular Welsh folk song that runs very deep. He feels indebted to Kyoko for her preventing a major overreaction on his part in Seed and Trellis, as well as for returning the sickle which was in his keeping.

Derek Staver: A werewolf, one of the younger wolves in the local pack. He’s a decent guy who always gives the impression of being a puppy, even in skin. He’s a casual friend of Kyoko’s, and invites her to events sometimes. In particular, he hosts barbecues sometimes for the pack, and she tends to be invited. One of these parties got ugly when a small group of faeries picked a fight, claiming to be offended at not getting an invitation. That brawl went poorly for them, and involved Kyoko decking a small troll, which got her a fair amount of respect from the local pack. He’s terrible at poker.

Hope Robbins: Owns the coffeehouse Softened Dreams in Pittsburgh, and insists very strongly that it is in fact a coffeehouse rather than a coffee shop or cafe. In principle it’s also an art gallery, but mostly it’s used for her personal collection. Relies heavily on her close companion Lacuna to enforce the coffeehouse’s policy of neutrality and nonviolence. Kyoko has never quite been able to get a read on her, and isn’t sure whether she’s human or something else.

Jack Tar: Powerful mage, possibly the most powerful urban druid in the world. Extremely modern in his inclinations and presentation. Lives largely as a vagrant, homeless and wandering various cities, mostly in the northeastern United States. Fluent in Japanese, but his language use is strange in any given language or format, in one way or another. A relatively close ally of Kyoko in Seed and Trellis, and fond of her after she saved his ass at the end of that book.

Jacob Snow: An old, powerful werewolf who lives in Ashland, New York, and basically owns the town. He’s been there for over two hundred years, and even the humans are well aware of his power and influence. It’s one of the few places where you can reasonably expect that any given person you meet believes in werewolves. Kyoko spent a couple years in Ashland immediately after leaving Tokyo, and earned Jacob’s respect. In particular, her visions were crucial in preventing a minor war between Jacob and a vampire in Albany called Silas Fleischmann which would have been devastating to all involved.

Lacuna: Pale, silent nonhuman figure who is literally always present and active at Softened Dreams. Extremely devoted to Hope for unclear reasons. They never talk, but they can sign and write fluently when the feel the need. Lacuna is quite personable if you can look past that, and past their generalized strangeness. Kyoko considers them somewhat of a friend, but she doesn’t understand them and that’s unnerving to her. Keeps the peace at Softened Dreams with probably-lethal force. What they actually do to people isn’t clear, but the people aren’t there anymore when they’re done.

Maddie: Her full name is Madison Cavendish, but she very rarely uses that name, and goes by Maddie in almost all contexts. She’s human, but there’s a strong element of blood in her signature. She tends to do everything intensely, and she’s very hypervigilant, having panic attacks if she’s not early to events and meetings. She makes jewelry, using crystals that look almost exactly like rubies, emphasis on almost. She sells that jewelry often, or gives it away as gifts. She’s a personal friend of Kyoko’s, and they bonded over shared hobbies and interests.

Melissa: Twelve generations removed from Serket, and a scion who has noticeable, significant power. Was kidnapped at sixteen and kept for four years by a mage who specialized in manipulating emotions. As a result of this experience, she has severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and extreme alexithymia. Melissa does not know what her own emotions are, does not present those emotions overtly, and as a result can appear to flip from calm and cheerful to extremely emotional in an instant. Close friend of Kyoko, who participated in the raid on Melissa’s captor which saw her rescued. Kyoko watched Audgrim kill the witch who did this to her, and she feels that this was extremely merited. Kyoko calls Melissa “honeybee” as a term of endearment. She has extreme issues with touch, and can also be seriously triggered by things like raised voices, sudden movement, and terms of endearment. Since being rescued, she has been largely supported by the dvergar, ostensibly as compensation for a security lapse that was tangentially related to her kidnapping; Kyoko has always suspected Audgrim twisted some arms to make this happen.

Richard Althoff: A pyromancer associated with the Tribe, and a relatively close acquaintance of Kyoko’s. He’s good company, but also genuinely, completely insane, out of touch with reality and prone to interact with fire like it’s a person he’s conversing with.

Saito Ryosuke: A friend of Kyoko’s from Japan, one of the few she’s still in sporadic contact with. He was at least a decade older than she is, and a prominent member of the Yakuza family she was spending time with. He takes the older traditions of protecting his people and looking out for his community seriously; in particular, he gets very protective about the younger criminals under his supervision. Has a military background of unclear nature, and was the one who left her with such strong feelings about weapon maintenance. He acted as a mentor to Kyoko, and when she needed to get some space and be away from Japan for a while, he was the one who recommended the town of Ashland.

Silas Fleischmann: A powerful, old vampire who rules the vampires of Albany with an iron fist and has extensive power elsewhere. He likes Kyoko and feels that he owes her for preventing a war between him and the werewolf Jacob Snow in nearby Ashland.

Alice: Wizard and member of the Tribe, good at enchanting objects and creating defensive wards.

Andrew: An older werewolf, and one of the most respected in Pittsburgh. He’s experienced and reasonably strong, but a lot of that respect is because he’s smart, has good organizational skills, and looks out for people. Murdered by Audgrim at the end of Seed and Trellis.

Anthony Hayes: Somewhat shady proprietor of a funeral home in North Shore. He’s a relatively decent person, but he does sometimes illicitly dispose of bodies for various people, at a steep cost.

Chris: A friend of Saori’s, a petty criminal in Pittsburgh who was affiliated with the Tribe. She met him when a mutual acquaintance recommended her services for a smuggling job, one that required a bit more in the way of subtlety than Chris could manage. They remained friends afterwards, mostly because he was heavily into street racing and she’s a lunatic who finds human driving skills rather quaint. Murdered before Kyoko actually meets him.

Hrafna Rauðfeldr: A full-blooded dvergr, she’s Audgrim’s half-sister. She regards her younger half-sibling with affection, but also a good deal of exasperation. She tends to say very little, but her silence speaks volumes. To Kyoko’s senses, her body posture seems markedly inhuman.

Kelly Lamarcke: Kyoko’s main point-of-contact with VNC, a disturbingly professional woman who is their main local agent.

Martin: Treacherous member of the Tribe in the first book, a witch who excels at creating peaceful, soothing feelings, and who uses this in ways that aren’t very peaceful at all. Killed by Jack in Seed and Trellis.

Nate: A shaman associated with the Tribe who has given Kyoko some pointers on the topic. In particular, he helped to arrange Raincloud’s creation.

Elaheh Nilsen: One of the named partners of the consulting firm Varkalnen, Nilsen, Casimir, and Associates. Kyoko met her once and found the experience frightening and disturbing; she is certain that Nilsen, if she was ever human, left that behind a long time ago.

Opari: Local woman who has personal experience of a shared-occupancy mode of existence. She contributed some insight from that experience to help with the creation of Raincloud.

Rebecca: Woman associated with the Tribe. She’s distinctly inhuman, and strongly associated with cold and ice. She’s a very good motorcyclist, a mobile skirmisher by preference in combat, and moves through the forest very well. When she killed someone in Seed and Trellis, they didn’t leave a body, just a whole lot of frozen blood on the grass.

Robert: Local werewolf with a particular skill for stealth. Survived the fight at the end of Seed and Trellis, though only by sheer luck and with severe injuries.