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characters

greer

leader of the incursion sent by Mars’s ruling Council. Once tasked by Alameda to kill Braxton,

he was defeated and banished from Venus, bearing the facial disfigurement from that encounter. Now a valued mercenary for the Mars Council, Greer is glib, flamboyant, canny, and prone to casual violence of murderous efficiency.

braxton

The third-generation leader of the Venus outpost, after his grandfather, an eccentric visionary, and his mother, Alameda, BRAXTON is calculated fury--A plotter and a thinker with a skewed moral code, Braxton’s not afraid to get his hands dirty when killing becomes necessary, as it often does. Venus is a testament to everything he was raised him to believe in…and he’ll be damned if he’ll see the world BUILT under his

family’s dynasty ruined, changed, perverted by Mars.

Lucas

Braxton’s son LUCAS is nineteen, and in contrast to his imposing father, suffers from a crippling leg injury, which Lucas thinks makes him “weak” in his father’s eyes. But Braxton, while protective of his son, sees only the weakness of Lucas’s easy manipulation by others, especially Alameda. Rebellious and prematurely eager to assume power via his presumptive legacy, Lucas isn’t ready for the demands of leadership.

alameda

Braxton’s mother ALAMEDA is a ruthless manipulator who assumed leadership of Venus after the death of Braxton’s grandfather: as others struggled to fill the void, she used her influence as a widow of the most prominent of the martyred heroes, “The Fives,” to muster support and blackmail others to step aside. Eventually she ceded leadership to her powerful and popular son, Braxton—reluctantly, assuming she could continue to pull the strings of power from behind the scenes. But it soon became apparent that Braxton had only the colony’s best interest at heart and no interest in his mother’s greedy plotting.

THEIRS IS AN UNEASY PEACE.

wil

HANDSOME AND CHARISMATIC, WIL IS THE FACE OF MARS’S INTEREST IN VENUS, ENTICING THE PEOPLE TO REJECT

THE WAYS OF THE PAST AND PURSUE THE PROMISE OF A RICHER FUTURE TOGETHER. AN EMPTY VESSEL,

HE DOES GREER’S BIDDING (AND, BY GREER’S PROXY, THE CHANCELLOR’S), WHILE GREER WORKS QUIETLY BEHIND

THE SCENES SLAUGHTERING THOSE WHO STAND IN THEIR WAY.

THE CHANCELLOR

The leader of the Mars Council, THE CHANCELLOR is a mysterious figure, as much CEO as gang boss, and suspicious of those around him—to a fault. The members of the Council are fiercely loyal, if only because they embrace the system that affords them rich, privileged lives. Because being in charge means everything to the Chancellor, he risks grasping too hard as power slips through his fingers. He’s especially concerned with Greer, whose glib fearlessness is in contrast to the rest of the Council sycophants.

braxton's crew

a devoted band of formidable men and equally tough women. Equal parts warriors, strategists,

and carefree killers, they serve Braxton as their predecessors served his Grandfather, and,

however briefly, his mother Alameda. Their loyalty is without question—they’d die for Braxton,

although they’d rather kill for him.

The WOMANCIPATORS

an underclass of Mars women dedicated to subverting the male status quo of the Mars colony.

Dismissed as a genuine threat individually, they’ve been largely relegated to a fringe status and only occasionally punished. Having banded together to agitate change, they’re still not taken seriously

and so have begun plotting a rebellion.

GUARDS

There are fifty GUARDS aiding Greer’s incursion on Venus, fitted with exoskeletal armor to help them move under the planet’s heavier gravity. Lacking the discipline of soldiers and the dedication of Braxton’s crew, these mercenaries for hire nonetheless excel at brutality and are eager for confrontation. But with his family’s lives at stake, Even fifty of them won’t be enough to protect the Chancellor against Braxton.