Children of Ruin characters

Appears from the start

The consciousness of the long-dead scientist whose uplift experiment shaped the previous book, now preserved as an artificial intelligence and carried along with the expedition. A repository of old knowledge and a distinct, prickly personality, she serves as a bridge between the humans, the uplifted spiders, and whatever they may find in a new and unknown system.

Appears from the start

A bold and capable spider of the uplifted Portiid species, part of the joint human-and-spider crew sent to investigate distant signals. As in her people's tradition the name marks a brave, leading figure; she brings a spider's very different senses and instincts to a mission of exploration and first contact far from home.

Appears from the start

A male spider of the uplifted species aboard the expedition, inventive and thoughtful. Carrying a name long associated among his people with clever males who push beyond the limits set for them, he contributes his ingenuity to the crew's efforts to understand what they encounter.

Appears from the start

A human member of the joint expedition and a gifted specialist in language and communication, descended from the people of the earlier ark ship. Patient and perceptive, she is central to the crew's attempts to bridge the gulf between utterly different kinds of minds, human, spider, and stranger things still.

Appears from the start

A human scientist on the expedition, carrying experimental technology meant to help humans and spiders share understanding. Curious and a little uneasy, he is drawn into the crew's efforts as they venture toward contact with the unknown.

First appears in chapter 2

In an earlier age, an eccentric and gifted scientist attached to a human terraforming expedition, tasked with reshaping a distant water world. Playful, brilliant, and prone to going his own way, he becomes fascinated with uplifting octopuses to serve his work, a project that will have consequences far beyond his lifetime.

First appears in chapter 2

The leader of the earlier terraforming expedition, a conscientious scientist responsible for judging two candidate worlds. Dutiful and cautious, he faces hard choices when one of the worlds proves to hold native life, and when disaster back home leaves his small mission on its own.

First appears in chapter 3

One of the first octopuses uplifted by the earlier expedition's scientist, an early example of a new intelligence taking shape in the water. Emotional, quick, and expressive in the shifting colors and shapes of octopus communication, this figure marks the beginning of a strange and volatile new civilization.