City World characters

Also known as James, McGill

Appears from the start

A Legion Varus centurion who returns to his family property after the Ice World campaign. When his parents plan to develop the land, he tries to keep them from discovering the human remains hidden in an old well.

Appears from the start

A returning associate who arrives while James McGill is concealing the old well.

Also known as Alexander

First appears in chapter 3

Earth's senior civilian authority and Galina Turov's father. He directs the strategic briefing after a midzone warship appears over Earth and singles out James McGill.

First appears in chapter 3

The imperator leading Earth's military response to the unidentified ship.

Also known as Galina

First appears in chapter 7

An imperator, campaign planner, and intermittent partner of James McGill. Assigned to the Mogwa expedition, she expects him to find a way to remove the alien leaders before their mission endangers Earth.

Also known as Tribune Winslade

First appears in chapter 7

The tribune commanding Legion Varus and serving on the campaign staff as Earth prepares its response to the Mogwa demands.

Also known as Primus Graves

First appears in chapter 7

A senior Legion Varus officer serving alongside Winslade on the campaign staff.

First appears in chapter 5

A rejuvenated former commander and past battlefield associate of James McGill. Backed by imperial authority, he compels Earth to prepare a distant military expedition without initially disclosing its purpose.

First appears in chapter 5

The grand admiral's mate and a provincial authority traveling with their young offspring. She invokes imperial authority in support of commandeering Earth's armed forces.

Also known as Adjunct Barton

First appears in chapter 9

An adjunct in James McGill's unit who handles readiness checks during Legion Varus's emergency assembly.

First appears in chapter 9

James McGill's heavy-infantry adjunct. He is responsible for recalling personnel as Legion Varus rushes to join the Mogwa expedition.

First appears in chapter 9

A Legion Varus technical scout attached to James McGill's unit. She provides reconnaissance and technical support as the expedition assembles aboard its transport.

First appears in chapter 9

A Legion Varus officer responsible for logistics and weapons support during the emergency mobilization. He helps James McGill prepare the unit for a long campaign.

Also known as Captain Merton

First appears in chapter 9

The captain of Dominus, the transport carrying Legion Varus on the Mogwa expedition. He oversees the ship as it provisions for an unusually long deployment.

First appears in chapter 8

Galina Turov's adjunct and office aide. He has little combat experience and is alarmed by the prospect that his support assignment may take him into the field.

First appears in chapter 14

A veteran in James McGill's unit selected for a dangerous detail aboard the Mogwa flagship. He joins a group of enlisted soldiers ordered to pose as senior officers.

First appears in chapter 15

A Third Unit trooper who scouts a second entrance to the Mogwa hunting arena with James McGill.

First appears in chapter 16

A member of James McGill's force who is killed in the first Mogwa arena fight.

First appears in chapter 20

A technically skilled member of James McGill's unit. She explains why navigation in the Mid-Zone is uncertain as the fleet approaches its distant destination.

First appears in chapter 24

The commander of Seventh Unit. His troops are overwhelmed by armed land drones, prompting James McGill to send a costly relief force into the fighting.

First appears in chapter 27

A Legion Varus primus administering the expedition's depleted revival capacity. She enforces the rule that personnel listed as missing cannot be revived without verified deaths.

First appears in chapter 30

A stealth specialist in Legion Varus. He secures a line across a flooded obstruction in the tunnel beneath the Mogwa dome, but a triggered grate kills him during the crossing.

Also known as Centurion Roth

First appears in chapter 32

A sapper centurion leading construction of a broad passage beneath the Mogwa dome. His plan combines rapid tunneling with electromagnetic traps against hostile drones.

First appears in chapter 35

The Mogwa Marine commander who negotiates with James McGill inside the dome. The commander accepts the human legions' declared service, orders them admitted, and seeks approval from the local council.

Also known as Mills

First appears in chapter 40

A centurion and earlier intimate acquaintance of James McGill. She reaches the food-processing factory after her unit is caught in a bear ambush, but dies from a penetrating wound.

Also known as Tribune Krause

First appears in chapter 43

The commander of Legion Victrix and the highest-ranking human officer still present. He persuades skeptical Mogwa leaders to approve a defense of the city's water-control facility.

First appears in chapter 48

A Saurian bio-worker whom James McGill recognizes as someone he knew before. The worker now conceals that earlier identity behind an assumed one.

First appears in chapter 51

The leader of the gremlin technicians serving with Legion Varus. After proving that his people can operate Mogwa power armor, he conditions their military support on James McGill taking them off City World.

First appears in chapter 54

A prominent Blood World gremlin who remains hostile toward James McGill because he abandoned her people in the past.

First appears in chapter 54

A revered parent figure whom Blood World gremlins regard as their creator. James McGill invokes a promised reunion while bargaining for their military support.

Also known as Collins

First appears in chapter 57

The full name of Collins, the Legion Varus officer who led major defensive actions on City World. After revival, she accepts a transfer to Legion Victrix and offers James McGill the position credited with the gremlin armor tactic.

First appears in chapter 58

An adjunct transferred from Legion Victrix into James McGill's unit under unclear disciplinary circumstances. The transfer is proposed as Barton prepares to leave Legion Varus.

First appears in chapter 61

An investigator conducting secret biological research on Dust World with Etta and the gremlins' creator. The investigator is engaged to the creator.

Also known as McGill's daughter

First appears in chapter 61

James McGill's revived daughter. She works on Dust World with an investigator and the gremlins' creator, despite the lasting changes to her hybrid body.

First appears in chapter 64

Galina Turov's revived sister, whose revival-related memory loss includes the loss of memories of her fiance.

Appears from the start

James McGill's father. He plans to sell and develop the swamp property and receives James's false explanation about the old well.

First appears in chapter 12

A shuttle pilot drawn into James McGill's unauthorized trip to the Mogwa flagship. Navy personnel shoot Patel alongside McGill when they return.