Order of Battle
THE UNION
High Command
Lord Marshal Kroy – commander-in-chief of his Majesty’s armies in the North.
Colonel Felnigg – his chief of staff, a remarkably chinless man.
Colonel Bremer dan Gorst – royal observer of the Northern War and disgraced master swordsman, formerly the king’s First Guard.
Rurgen and Younger – his faithful servants, one old, one … younger.
Bayaz, the First of the Magi – a bald wizard supposedly hundreds of years old and an influential representative of the Closed Council, the king’s closest advisors.
Yoru Sulfur – his butler, bodyguard and chief bookkeeper.
Denka and Saurizin – two old Adepti of the University of Adua, academics conducting an experiment for Bayaz.
Jalenhorm’s Division
General Jalenhorm – an old friend of the king, fantastically young for his position, described as brave yet prone to blunders.
Retter – his thirteen-year-old bugler.
Colonel Vallimir – ambitious commanding officer of the King’s Own First Regiment.
First Sergeant Forest – chief non-commissioned officer with the staff of the First.
Corporal Tunny – long-serving profiteer, and standard-bearer of the First.
Troopers Yolk, Klige, Worth, and Lederlingen – clueless recruits attached to Tunny as messengers.
Colonel Wetterlant – punctilious commanding officer of the Sixth Regiment.
Major Culfer – his panicky second in command.
Sergeant Gaunt, Private Rose – soldiers with the Sixth.
Major Popol – commanding the first battalion of the Rostod Regiment.
Captain Lasmark – a poor captain with the Rostod Regiment.
Colonel Vinkler – courageous commanding officer of the Thirteenth Regiment.
Mitterick’s Division
General Mitterick – a professional soldier with much chin and little loyalty, described as sharp but reckless.
Colonel Opker – his chief of staff.
Lieutenant Dimbik – an unconfident young officer on Mitterick’s staff.
Meed’s Division
Lord Governor Meed – an amateur soldier with a neck like a turtle, in peacetime the governor of Angland, described as hating Northmen like a pig hates butchers.
Colonel Harod dan Brock – an honest and hard-working member of Meed’s staff, the son of a notorious traitor.
Finree dan Brock – Colonel Brock’s venomously ambitious wife, the daughter of Lord Marshal Kroy.
Colonel Brint – senior on Meed’s staff, an old friend of the king.
Aliz dan Brint – Colonel Brint’s naive young wife.
Captain Hardrick – an officer on Meed’s staff, affecting tight trousers.
The Dogman’s Loyalists
The Dogman – Chief of those Northmen fighting with the Union. An old companion of the Bloody-Nine, once a close friend of Black Dow, now his bitter enemy.
Red-Hat – the Dogman’s Second, who wears a red hood.
Hardbread – a Named Man of long experience, leading a dozen for the Dogman.
Redcrow – one of Hardbread’s Carls.
THE NORTH
In and Around Skarling’s Chair
Black Dow – the Protector of the North, or stealer of it, depending on who you ask.
Splitfoot – his Second, meaning chief bodyguard and arse-licker.
Ishri – his advisor, a sorceress from the desert South, and sworn enemy of Bayaz.
Caul Shivers – a scarred Named Man with a metal eye, who some call Black Dow’s dog.
Curnden Craw – a Named Man thought of as a straight edge, once Second to Rudd Threetrees, then close to Bethod, now leading a dozen for Black Dow.
Wonderful – his long-suffering Second.
Whirrun of Bligh – a famous hero from the utmost North, who wields the Father of Swords. Also called Cracknut, on account of his nut being cracked.
Jolly Yon Cumber, Brack-i-Dayn, Scorry Tiptoe, Agrick, Athroc and Drofd – other members of Craw’s dozen.
Scale’s Men
Scale – Bethod’s eldest son, now the least powerful of Dow’s five War Chiefs, strong as a bull, brave as a bull, and with a bull’s brain too.
Pale-as-Snow – once one of Bethod’s War Chiefs, now Scale’s Second.
White-Eye Hansul – a Named Man with a blind eye, once Bethod’s herald.
‘Prince’ Calder – Bethod’s younger son, an infamous coward and schemer, temporarily exiled for suggesting peace.
Seff – his pregnant wife, the daughter of Caul Reachey.
Deep and Shallow – a pair of killers, watching over Calder in the hope of riches.
Caul Reachey’s Men
Caul Reachey – one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, an elderly warrior, famously honourable, father to Seff, father-in-law to Calder.
Brydian Flood – a Named Man formerly a member of Craw’s dozen.
Beck – a young farmer craving glory on the battlefield, the son of Shama Heartless.
Reft, Colving, Stodder and Brait – other young lads pressed into service with Beck.
Glama Golden’s Men
Glama Golden – one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, intolerably vain, locked in a feud with Cairm Ironhead.
Sutt Brittle – a famously greedy Named Man. Lightsleep – a Carl in Golden’s employ.
Cairm Ironhead’s Men
Cairm Ironhead – one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, notoriously stubborn, locked in a feud with Glama Golden.
Curly – a stout-hearted scout.
Irig – an ill-tempered axeman.
Temper – a foul-mouthed bowman.
Others
Brodd Tenways – the most loyal of Dow’s five War Chiefs, ugly as incest. Stranger-Come-Knocking – a giant savage obsessed with civilisation, Chief of all the lands east of the Crinna.
Back to the Mud (dead, thought dead, or long dead)
Bethod – the first King of the Northmen, father to Scale and Calder.
Skarling Hoodless – a legendary hero who once united the North against the Union.
The Bloody-Nine – once Bethod’s champion, the most feared man in the North, and briefly King of the Northmen before being killed by Black Dow (supposedly).
Rudd Threetrees – a famously honourable Chief of Uffrith, who fought against Bethod and was beaten in a duel by the Bloody-Nine.
Forley the Weakest – a notoriously weak fighter, companion to Black Dow and the Dogman, ordered killed by Calder.
Shama Heartless – a famous champion killed by the Bloody-Nine. Beck’s father.
