NEVER FORMALLY A MERCENARY company, the Meidua Red Company was concocted as a front by Hadrian Marlowe and Dame Raine Smythe of the 437th Centaurine Legion with the express purpose of locating the Extrasolarian kingdom of Vorgossos. Joined by a contingent of Jaddian soldiers at the behest of the Satrap Kalima di Sayyiph, they posed as a mercenary outfit, and traveled among the Norman Freeholds for decades. During this period, they built a reputation as mercenaries in the hopes of finding a lead to Vorgossos, most notably toppling the military dictatorship of Admiral Marius Whent on the planet Pharos, during which time they acquired two new ships and several hundred recruits. During this period, the company numbered perhaps two thousand strong (Lord Marlowe is vague in this account) spread across three vessels. The first was the Balmung, an antique Punisher-class destroyer kept in the holds of the supercarrier Obdurate. The other two vessels, the Mistral and the Pharaoh, were acquired during their campaign against Whent’s government on Pharos.

Lord Marlowe was the nominal head of the company, but that position was a facade. The official commander in this period was then-Captain Bassander Lin, and the rivalry between the two men led to tension within the company. This tension worsened following the addition of the Norman troops after Whent’s defeat, as they were more loyal to Lord Marlowe than to Captain Lin. Much of that tension and more is detailed in Marlowe’s account.

Here follows a list of those members of the Red Company mentioned in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account:

LORD HADRIAN ANAXANDER MARLOWE, nominal Commandant of the Meidua Red Company. Disowned palatine lord and immunis attached to the 437th Legion. The Halfmortal, the Sun Eater, Starbreaker, Palekiller, Deathless. Notorious genocide responsible for the death of the entire Cielcin species.

—His myrmidons, friends and former coliseum fighters from Emesh:

—WILLIAM OF DANU, called SWITCH, Lord Marlowe’s personal lictor.

—His former master, SET, a procurer.

—GHEN OF EMESH, centurion. Formerly a convict.

—SIRAN OF EMESH, centurion. Formerly a convict.

—PALLINO OF TRIESTE, prime centurion. Formerly a convict.

—His paramour, ELARA OF EMESH, quartermaster on board the Balmung.

VALKA ONDERRA VHAD EDDA, a xenologist from Edda in the Demarchy of Tavros. Nominally scientific advisor to the Red Company.

BASSANDER LIN, a captain of the 437th Legion, posing as Commodore of the Red Company fleet and captain of the Pharaoh. An ethnic Mandari and lifelong officer in the Imperial Legions.

—His First Officer, PRISCA GREENLAW, lieutenant in the 437th Legion. Staunchly loyal to Captain Lin.

—On board the Pharaoh:

—LUANA OKOYO, chief medical officer. A Norman officer recruited during the Pharos affair.

—SOISSON, lieutenant. Legion officer attached to the company since Emesh.

—DULIA, lieutenant. Legion officer attached to the company since Emesh.

—ETIENNE, a decurion and former lover to William of Danu.

The Other Captains:

—JINAN AZHAR, a lieutenant in the Jaddian army loaned to the Red Company and captain of the Balmung. Lover to HADRIAN MARLOWE.

—Her First Officer, ALESSANDRO HANAS, lieutenant in the Jaddian army loaned to the Red Company.

—On board the Balmung:

—ARTURO, a Jaddian officer.

—BRUX, a Legion officer. Ship’s supercargo.

—OTAVIA CORVO, captain of the Mistral and former second-in-command to the late Emil Bordelon. Betrayed him and Whent’s cause at Lord Marlowe’s urging. A Norman officer recruited during the Pharos affair.

—Her First Officer, BASTIEN DURAND, commander. A Norman officer recruited during the Pharos affair.

—On board the Mistral:

—KARIM GARONE, called CRIM, lieutenant. An ethnic Jaddian raised in the Norman Freeholds. Joined along with Captain Corvo during the Pharos affair.

—ILEX, lieutenant. A dryad homunculus with background in computer systems and engineering.

THE 437TH CENTAURINE LEGION

Constituted in ISD 11907 under the Fifth Centaurine Legionary Act drafted by Primarch Ambrose Surabian, the 437th Centaurine Legion has defended Imperial interests in the Centaurus Arm of the galaxy. During the Cielcin Wars, the Legion was under the command of Sir Leonid Bartosz, a career soldier born into the Legions—as so many are—his parents both being lifelong officers. To all accounts, Bartosz was an able commander, but he figures only little in the narrative of history. He is thought to have been among the casualties at the Battle of Gododdin, when he was lost with the legion’s flagship, the ISV Deluge, along with all hands. A victim of Hadrian Marlowe and the Sun Eater. Of his four tribunes, only Dame Raine Smythe is of much note, being the one to recruit Lord Marlowe to the Legions as an immunis after the Emesh affair.

Here follows a list of those members of the 437th Centaurine Legion and its Jaddian allies mentioned in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account:

LORD TITUS HAUPTMANN, Duke of Andernach and First Strategos of the Legions of Centaurus.

—SIR LEONID BARTOSZ, Legate of the 437th Centaurine Legion.

—DAME RAINE SMYTHE, 4th Tribune of the 437th Centaurine Legion, Captain of the ISV Obdurate. A patrician of plebeian birth.

—Her First Officer, SIR WILLIAM CROSSFLANE, Commander, First Grade; an elderly palatine.

—On board the Obdurate and the Schiavona:

—LUDOVICO SCIARRA, Commander and third officer aboard the ISV Schiavona.

—MARIS CARTIER, Lieutenant.

—TOR VARRO, Chalcenterite scholiast and Cielcin translator attached to the Legion. Brought on at Hauptmann’s insistence.

THE KINGDOM OF VORGOSSOS

According to legend, Vorgossos is a lost world orbiting a brown dwarf, settled in ancient times by the ancestors of the Extrasolarians fleeing the early Empire. Lord Marlowe’s account indicates that the settlement of the planet may go back further, that the city he visited may have been a Mericanii stronghold during the Foundation War. Whether or not that is true, it appears certain from his account that the myth surrounding Kharn Sagara and his conquest of the Exalted is. If Lord Marlowe is to be believed, the ancient warlord found a manner of immortality by relying on abandoned Mericanii technology and has ruled the planet ever since, providing a hideaway for pirates, mercenaries, and all manner of unsavory activity: notably the black market genetics and cybernetics trades.

Here follows a list of those denizens of Vorgossos mentioned in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account:

KHARN SAGARA, called the UNDYING, King of Vorgossos. Presumably the same Kharn Sagara from the ancient legends, implying that he is nearly fifteen thousand years old.

—His children, REN and SUZUHA, apparently his clones.

—His servants:

—BRETHREN, a Mericanii artificial intelligence composed of human tissue designed to grow forever. Confined to an underground sea in order to support its weight.

—YUME, an android which acts as the Undying’s caretaker and butler.

—CALVERT, the Exalted in charge of Kharn Sagara’s cloning program and body farms.

—NAIA, a homunculus.

—The suppliants:

—LORD KIM HAE SONG, the former Baron of Munshin.

—LADY CATHERINE DOMITIA HARFLEUR, the Baroness of Varadeto.

—LADY MARIETTA CALUSA, the Marquise of Sarmatia.

—LORD SENDHIL RAMANARAYAN, the Grand Duke of Milinda.

—PARDOS, ARCHIBALD, and FREDERICK, various members of the galaxy’s elite.

—In the city:

—SHARA, a beggar woman.

On board the Enigma of Hours:

CAPTAIN EIDHIN, captain of the Enigma of Hours. An Exalted sworn to the service of the Undying in Vorgossos.

—His ship’s mate, NAZZARENO, a tender pilot and de facto customs officer. Exalted.

—MARKO and JARI, Exalted, possibly members of the Enigma’s crew. The latter had mutated on exposure to the Deep on Apas; the former is his caretaker.

—JACOPO, a merchanter and natalist.

THE CIELCIN AND CLAN OTIOLO

Not much is known of the history of the Otiolo clan. The only contact between the Itani Otiolo and the Sollan Empire was during the Vorgossos affair as recorded in this text. Aside from military reports made by members of the 437th Centaurine Legion and members of Strategos Hauptmann’s staff, Lord Marlowe’s record is the only one touching on the clan at all—and is at any rate the most comprehensive. Piecing together what we can from the available sources, it seems that the clan Otiolo was a young, fairly minor tribe. Marlowe’s text says the Prince Aranata took its people “out of Utaiharo.” This suggests that Prince Aranata defeated another prince in combat and took his tribe for his own, making him the first chieftain of the Itani Otiolo, as any Cielcin who kills an Aeta becomes an Aeta. Such short-lived clans appear to have been common among the Cielcin, their being a species of tyrants (which explains the necessity of the Baetan class, who appear to maintain the continuity of the tribe as it changes hands and identities as it moves from Aeta to Aeta. Not much else is known of this particular clan, any primary documents and artifacts having been lost in the annihilation of the Bahali imnal Akura during Strategos Hauptmann’s offensive.

Here follows a list of the Cielcin, especially those of the Clan Otiolo, mentioned in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account:

AETA UTSEBIMN ARANATA OTIOLO, Viudihom, Prince of the Itani Otiolo, Master-Keeper to His People. The supreme ruler of the worldship Bahali imnal Akura and head of the Otiolo clan.

—His child, NOBUTA OTIOLO, presumptive heir to the clan.

—His retainers and slaves:

—OALICOMN, majordomo and coteliho (herald) of the Itani Otiolo.

—CASANTORA TANARAN IAKATO, Baetan priest-historian of the Itani Otiolo, a prisoner of the Sollan Empire and the Meidua Red Company in particular.

—{ITANA UVANARI AYATOMN}, formerly the Ichakta captain of the starship Yad Ga Higatte, killed by Hadrian Marlowe during the Emesh affair.

—On board the Yad Ga Higatte:

—SVATAROM, ETANITARI, and OANATORO, common sailors, soldiers, and slaves.

Other Cielcin mentioned:

—DORAYAICA, presumably AETA SYRIANI DORAYAICA, of whom much is written in the latter parts of Lord Marlowe’s account.

—HASURUMN, another Cielcin Aeta chieftain.

—PAGORAMATU, another Cielcin Aeta chieftain.

—{UTAIHARO}, presumably deceased, an Aeta Prince defeated by Aranata Otiolo, his tribe incorporated into the Otiolo scianda.

THE WIDER WORLD

Many persons referenced or appearing in this second volume of Lord Marlowe’s account belong to none of the groups above, but have been included here for the purposes of completeness. They have been divided by location, with references to the Imperial and Jaddian courts on Forum and Jadd respectively, as well as on the planets Delos, Emesh, Pharos, and Rustam—in addition to the Extrasolarian city of March Station.

Here follows a list of these persons mentioned in Lord Marlowe’s account:

ON FORUM:

His Imperial Radiance, the EMPEROR WILLIAM THE TWENTY-THIRD OF THE HOUSE AVENT; Firstborn Son of the Earth; Guardian of the Solar System; King of Avalon; Lord Sovereign of the Kingdom of Windsor-in-Exile; Prince Imperator of the Arms of Orion, of Sagittarius, of Perseus, and Centaurus; Primarch of Orion; Conqueror of Norma; Grand Strategos of the Legions of the Sun; Supreme Lord of the Cities of Forum; North Star of the Constellations of the Blood Palatine; Defender of the Children of Men; and Servant of the Servants of Earth.

—His ancestor, {KING WILLIAM VII WINDSOR}, called WILLIAM THE ADVENT, the God Emperor, Emperor of Avalon and Eden, Last King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King-in-Avalon, and Lord Sovereign of the Kingdom of Windsor-in-Exile. The first Sollan Emperor, deified by the Chantry.

—EDOUARD ALBE, a Legion Intelligence Officer and future friend of Lord Marlowe’s.

ON JADD:

His Royal Highness, ALDIA AHMAD RODRIGO-PHILLIPE DI OTRANTO, High Prince of Jadd, Prince of Laran, First-Among-Equals of the Princes of the Principalities of the Jaddian Peoples, Lord of the Encircling Moons, Keeper of the Planet of Fire, Chief of the Eali Al’Aqran.

—LADY KALIMA ALIARADA UDIRI DI SAYYIPH, Satrap of Ubar, loyal to the Prince of Thessaloniki, a formal envoy to the war front on behalf of the High Prince.

—Her Lictor, SIR OLORIN MILTA, a Maeskolos Swordmaster of the Fire School.

ON DELOS:

LORD ALISTAIR DIOMEDES FRIEDRICH MARLOWE, Archon of Meidua Prefecture and Lord of Devil’s Rest, former Lord Executor of Delos System, the Butcher of Linon.

—His wife, LADY LILIANA KEPHALOS-MARLOWE, a celebrated librettist and filmmaker, daughter to the Duchess of Delos.

—Their son, CRISPIN MARLOWE, Hadrian’s younger brother and presumptive heir to Devil’s Rest and Meidua Prefecture.

—His mother, {LADY FUCHSIA BELLGROVE-MARLOWE}, deceased.

—His retainers:

—SIR FELIX MARTYN, Castellan and Commander of the House Guard, formerly Hadrian’s fighting instructor.

—SIR ROBAN MILOSH, a knight-lictor and once Hadrian’s bodyguard.

—TOR ALCUIN, scholiast and chief advisor.

—TOR GIBSON, Hadrian’s beloved tutor, a Zenoan scholiast trained on Syracuse. Exiled, presumed dead.

ON EMESH:

LORD BALIAN MATARO, third Count of Emesh, Archon of Borosevo Prefecture and Lord of Castle Borosevo.

—His daughter, ANAÏS MATARO, Hadrian’s betrothed and future Countess of Emesh.

—{GILLIAM VAS}, deformed bastard son of Emesh’s Grand Prior, killed by Hadrian in a duel.

—{CAT}, a peasant girl and former lover of Hadrian’s, died in the plague that wracked Emesh.

ON PHAROS:

{MARIUS WHENT}, deceased military dictator of the planet Pharos, formerly an Imperial legate. Defeated by Hadrian Marlowe and the Meidua Red Company.

—His subordinate, {EMIL BORDELON}, a Norman mercenary and ship’s captain. Famously depraved and disliked by his men.

ON RUSTAM:

THE PAINTED MAN, a shape-shifting homunculus and crime lord in Rustam’s underbelly. Formerly of Vorgossos.

—Its subordinate, SAMIR, a plagiarius and weapons dealer.

ZHIVAY, interim Consul of Rustam, formerly a chief of the urban prefects.

ON MARCH STATION:

ANTONIUS BREVON, a merchanter and businessman with ties to the Exalted and to Vorgossos.

—His slave, EVA, a homunculus.

YEVGENI CENTO, a bonecutter and natalist.