Cetaganda characters

Appears from the start

The chief of Barrayaran Imperial Security and the official to whom Miles reports directly. That connection gives weight to Miles's authority abroad, even when the precise limits of his assignment are not visible to local officers.

Appears from the start

A Barrayaran lieutenant sent to Cetaganda as an observer at the Dowager Empress's funeral. When a fleeing station worker leaves a sealed Cetagandan device in his path, he keeps it outside official channels while trying to learn its purpose.

Appears from the start

Miles's cousin, a fellow Barrayaran lieutenant, and his companion on the funeral delegation. Ivan helps subdue the stranger who enters their docking bay, retains the abandoned nerve disruptor, and shares Miles's first assessment of the mystery.

Appears from the start

Barrayar's ambassador to Cetaganda and the diplomatic host responsible for Miles and Ivan during the funeral visit. He receives the two officers after their unexplained docking transfer without showing that he knows about the encounter that caused it.

First appears in chapter 2

A young Cetagandan ghem lord with a declining inherited estate and ambitions as an artist. He hosts Miles and Ivan after his elaborate fountain burns Miles's legs, an incident he calls accidental but Miles regards as a possible targeted attack.

First appears in chapter 2

A Vervani protocol officer who specializes in Cetagandan women's etiquette and heraldry. Miles asks her to investigate the emblem on the sealed rod discreetly, and she agrees to research it.

First appears in chapter 3

A haut Handmaiden of the Star Crèche from the late Dowager Empress's genetic constellation. During the funeral procession, before Ba Lura is found dead, she privately confronts Miles, calls him a thief, and demands the unexplained rod without disclosing its function.

First appears in chapter 3

The late Dowager Empress's senior Ba servitor, genetically engineered and genderless. Ba Lura is identified as the disguised station intruder who left the sealed rod with Miles, then is found dead beside the funeral bier in what appears to be suicide.

First appears in chapter 7

A Cetagandan Imperial Security internal-affairs officer assigned to examine Ba Lura's supposed suicide. He listens to Miles's reconstruction of a possible concealed murder and treats the Barrayaran as a useful but uncertain witness.

Appears from the start

The Barrayaran embassy’s local Imperial Security chief, currently away on other business. Miles intends to report the unexplained docking incident to him when he returns.

First appears in chapter 8

The Cetagandan Emperor and son of the late Celestial Lady. He attends the memorial ceremonies while the visiting Barrayarans observe the imperial family and the eight satrap governors gathered around the succession rites.

First appears in chapter 8

A satrap governor and the Emperor's younger half-brother. Miles includes him among the senior figures who might benefit from the missing genetic authority, and his refusal to meet after receiving a pointed message keeps him under suspicion.

First appears in chapter 8

The haut governor of Sigma Sita and a maternal cousin of Slyke Giaja. He is one of the satrap rulers Miles studies for political motive and opportunity while trying to determine who could exploit the theft of the Star Crèche's authority.

First appears in chapter 8

The governor of Rosita and an advocate for expanding Cetagandan movement through routes controlled by Barrayar. That strategic interest makes him one of the governors Miles considers while looking for a political motive behind the stolen device.

First appears in chapter 8

Ilsum Kety's ghem-General and a member of his public entourage. He serves as the intermediary when Miles sends Slyke Giaja a warning that Barrayar knows about Yenaro, placing him close to the guarded exchanges among the satraps.

First appears in chapter 12

A satrap consort entrusted with Star Crèche authority. She carries Miles privately to Rian's council and supports the consorts' effort to protect the distributed gene banks while the missing Great Key and its holder remain at large.

First appears in chapter 13

The unnamed haut consort of Sigma Sita. Ilsum Kety abducts her after withholding his gene bank, while another haut woman uses her bubble to conceal her absence.

First appears in chapter 13

ghem-General Chilian's unnamed haut wife. She impersonates the missing Sigma Sita consort, drugs Ivan during an attempt to abduct him, and is captured by the Star Crèche consorts.

First appears in chapter 14

A Celestial Garden security general discovered in Kety's cipher laboratory. He is actively supervising technicians who are trying to open the genuine Great Key and has helped produce decoys to obscure which copy is real.

First appears in chapter 16

Lord Vorob'yev's unnamed female aide at the Barrayaran embassy. She accepts his marriage proposal and remains with him at the embassy as his fiancée.