Rowan Mire — Municipal scribe with a ledger-mind; precise, dry, stubborn. Good with ciphers and procedure; very bad at letting things go.
Lysa Vane — Catacomber mortician & grief-worker. Wry, tactile, tattooed with mnemonic ink; trusts actions over promises.
Edda Crane — Refinery sootbinder; purity-assayer. Maternal spine, hidden ledger of "wrong signatures."
Warden Garrick Voss — Keeper of the Stormward. Gentle voice, uncompromising arithmetic.
Consul Sabine Rell — Consular Guild whip. Elegant, venomous, policy as blade.
Prelate Orla Saan — Lantern Church hierarch. Honeyed doctrine, iron beneath.
Captain Bell Rusk — Rattleboys commander. Professional restraint, bell-tones as truncheon.
Dara Pell — Ledger runner; charming, fast, negotiates with air.
Candle-Nine — A Wick bound to a ward-pylon. Echoes like a child wearing borrowed voices.
Iskander Blyth — City Comptroller; procedure made flesh.