Stenwold Maker - Beetle-kinden spymaster and statesman

Cheerwell ‘Che’ Maker - his niece

Tisamon - Mantis-kinden Weaponsmaster

Tynisa - his halfbreed daughter, Stenwold’s ward

Achaeos - Moth-kinden magician, Che’s lover

Atryssa - Tynisa’s mother and Tisamon’s former lover, deceased

Thalric - renegade Wasp-kinden, former Rekef major

Nero - Fly-kinden artist, old friend of Stenwold

Felise Mienn - Dragonfly-kinden duellist

Taki - Solarnese Fly-kinden aviatrix

Lineo Thadspar - Beetle-kinden Speaker for the Collegium Assembly

Balkus - renegade Sarnesh Ant-kinden, Stenwold’s agent

Sperra - Fly-kinden, Stenwold’s agent

Destrachis - Spider-kinden doctor, companion of Felise Mienn

Parops - Tarkesh Ant-kinden, leader of the free Tarkesh

Jons Allanbridge - Beetle-kinden aviator

Plius - foreign Ant-kinden in Sarn, Stenwold’s agent

Prince Minor Salme ‘Salma’ Dien - Dragonfly nobleman, leader of the Landsarmy

Prized of Dragons - Butterfly-kinden, Salma’s lover

Phalmes - Mynan Soldier Beetle-kinden, former brigand, Salma’s lieutenant

Teornis of the Aldanrael - Spider-kinden Aristos and

Lord-Martial Odyssa - Teornis’ chief agent in Solarno

Cesta - Assassin Bug-kinden killer in Solarno

Scobraan - Soldier Beetle-kinden aviator in Solarno

Laetrimae - Mantis-kinden ghost from the Shadow Box

Xaraea - Moth-kinden intelligencer in Tharn

Tegrec - Wasp-kinden major and magician, governor of occupied Tharn

Raeka - Wasp-kinden, Tegrec’s body-slave

Kymene - Mynan Soldier Beetle-kinden, leader of the Mynan resistance

Chyses - Mynan Soldier Beetle-kinden, Kymene’s lieutenant

Hokiak - Scorpion-kinden black-marketeer in Myna

Gryllis - Spider-kinden, Hokiak’s business partner

Alvdan II - Emperor of the Wasps

Seda - his sister

Maxin - Wasp-kinden general, Rekef

Reiner - Wasp-kinden general, Rekef

Brugan - Wasp-kinden general, Rekef

Malkan - Wasp-kinden general, Seventh Army

Latvoc - Wasp-kinden colonel, Rekef, Reiner’s aide

Gan - Wasp-kinden colonel, governor of Szar

Ulther - Wasp-kinden colonel, former governor of Myna, deceased

Axrad - Wasp-kinden lieutenant and aviator

Uctebri the Sarcad - Mosquito-kinden slave and magician

Gjegevey - Woodlouse-kinden slave and advisor

Dariandrephos (‘Drephos’) - halfbreed auxillian-colonel and master artificer

Totho - halfbreed artificer in Drephos’ cadre

Kaszaat - Bee-kinden artificer, in Drephos’ cadre

Big Greyv - Mole Cricket-kinden artificer, in Drephos’ cadre

Capitas - the capital of the Empire

Asta - Wasp staging post for the Lowlands Campaign

Collegium - Beetle-kinden city, home of the Great

College The Commonweal - Dragonfly-kinden state north of the Lowlands, partly occupied by the Empire

The Darakyon - forest, formerly a Mantis stronghold, now haunted

Helleron - Beetle-kinden factory city, occupied

Myna - Soldier Beetle city conquered by the Wasps

Sarn - Ant-kinden city-state allied to Collegium

Solarno - Spider-ruled city on the Exalsee, occupied

Spiderlands - Spider-kinden cities south of the Lowlands, believed rich and endless

Szar - Bee-kinden city, conquered by the Wasps

Tark - Ant-kinden city-state, occupied

Tharn - Moth-kinden hold, occupied

Vek - Ant-kinden city-state, recently at war with Collegium

The Ancient League - a Moth-Mantis alliance of Dorax, Nethyon and Etheryon

Assembly - the elected ruling body of Collegium, meeting in the Amphiophos

Buoyant Maiden - Jons Allanbridge’s airship

Crystal Standard, Path of Jade, Satin Trail - Solarnese political parties

Esca Volenti - Taki’s orthopter

Great College in Collegium, the cultural heart of the Lowlands

Landsarmy - force of refugees and irregulars led by Salma

Mercers - Dragonfly-kinden order of knights errant

Prowess Forum - duelling venue in Collegium

Rekef - the Wasp Empire’s secret service

Shadow Box - an artefact holding the heart of the Darakyon

Skryres - the magician-leaders of the Moth-kinden

Starnest - great Wasp airship used in the conquest of Solarno

Winged Furies - name for the Wasp Seventh Army

Following his victory over the Sarnesh field army, General Malkan prepares to lead his army towards Sarn itself to destroy the military capability of the Lowlands. The alliance of powers that Stenwold brokered at Sarn is still gathering its strength, so it falls to Salma’s Landsarmy to hinder the Wasp advance while the Lowlanders prepare.

Over the winter the Wasps have added the Spider city of Solarno to their Empire, and also the Moth hold of Tharn. However, careful manipulation by the Moth Skryres and their agent Xaraea has ensured that Tegrec, the new governor of Tharn, is secretly sympathetic to their case, being a magician who has hidden his true nature from his kin.

Meanwhile the maverick artificer Drephos has been ordered to take his secret weapons to the city of Szar, whose Bee-kinden people are in open revolt after the death of their queen, whom the Empire was holding as hostage for their continued servitude. However, amongst Drephos’ cadre is Kaszaat, a former citizen of Szar, and the lover of Stenwold’s former student Totho.

The mission to recover the Shadow Box has failed after Tynisa, under the control of the Mosquito-kinden Uctebri, stabbed Achaeos, leaving him severely wounded. The box, meanwhile, has fallen into Uctebri’s hands, and he has promised the Wasp Emperor that he will use the artefact to make Alvdan immortal. However, at the same time, Uctebri plots with the Emperor’s sister to dethrone her brother and make her into an undying Empress.