Profession: Vagabond
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Hair: Long, red-gold, dirty and tangled
Eyes: Blue
Build: A little short, very thin
Class: ? (Apparently lower)
Usual clothing: Dirty, ripped, ill-fitting blouse and jeans; leather pouch around her neck, backpack, beat-up jacket
Basic skills: Survival, dodging the Guard, self-defense and handfighting

Personality and background:
Keyri has been living on her own on the streets ever since she was thirteen. She moves from town to town, never staying in one place long enough to become a familiar face with any of the other vagabonds—or with the Guard. She tends to avoid the Guard as much as possible. No one knows where she comes from, where she is going, or who she is. She travels alone, and although there are many for whom a young girl alone would be easy prey, she seems to have been successful at defending herself so far. Perhaps it is the painfully empty look in her eyes, a look that is difficult to meet and tends to turn predators away to look for easier targets. Keyri is excellent at surviving, although paradoxically, she often debates with herself about whether it is really worth it. But no matter how much she despairs, some instinct deep inside her wishes to cling to life, and she fights to stay alive with every lonely, cold, and hungry day.

Kathryn Renquist

Profession: History and politics student, teacher-in-training
Code name: Truthsword
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Hair: Long, brunette
Eyes: Brown
Build: Medium, tall
Class: Upper
Usual clothing: Nice clothes of the upper class
Basic skills: Very intelligent, good at mentoring, and pretty good at understanding others and how they think

Personality and background:
The daughter of a rather well-known, upper class family, Kathryn was a very good student and received a full ride scholarship to the acclaimed Sheffield University, a place that was very difficult to get into; being accepted at Sheffield was a high mark of status. Kathryn's family was very proud of her. However, what no one knew was that most of the members of Kathryn's family were Christians—a fact that could get them all killed, were it discovered. Kathryn had lived with this secret all her life, but she had grown so used to keeping it that it did not really trouble her; besides, she believed it was worth the cost to be able to practice her faith, which was a very important part of her life. While attending Sheffield, Kathryn ran into Jace and members of the Resistance. She decided to aid them in their fight for the rights of the faithful, and so she joined the Resistance. As a highly respected member of the upper class, she could go where many others could not, and learn things they would never find out on their own, thus making her a valuable asset to the Resistance. She and Jace are in love, and although the road to this love was a rocky one, they now make an excellent team, trusting and aiding each other in all their missions.

Jace Lockwood

Profession: Social worker with troubled youth
Code name: Lightsparker
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Hair: Blond-brown
Eyes: Sea green
Build: Medium
Class: Lower
Usual clothing: Slacks and a loose shirt, old but carefully mended; also a headband
Basic skills: Compassionate, good at handling carefully those with fragile emotions, willing to do any job that's necessary

Personality and background:
Jace is a member of the lower class who was not born into a Christian family, but he has always been resentful of the injustices committed by the government. He spent some time on the streets as a young teen, but Captain Grager, after catching Jace stealing food, took the young man under his wing instead of arresting him. Once on his feet again, Jace vowed to pull himself out of the gutter. He got a job and worked hard, and eventually he saved enough money to open a home for runaways, vagabonds, and other troubled youth. He is excellent at helping others who were in much the same position he was. While not a Christian to begin with, Jace had been a Friend of the Resistance ever since he first began to change his life. After meeting Kathryn, he was inpsired and amazed by the strength of her faith, and soon he came to believe as well, becoming a full member of the Resistance.

Renata Halloran

Profession: Local Resistance leader, factory worker
Code name: Esther
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Hair: Short, golden-blond
Eyes:
Build: Tall and large; buxom but athletic
Class: Lower
Usual clothing: Slacks and shirt, old but carefully mended
Basic skills: Administration, planning, good at helping her group dodge the Guard

Personality and background:
Renata is the leader of the Windale branch of the Resistance. She lives in the Resistance hideout most of the time, taking care of her charges and planning their strategy, but she also has a home in the slums as a cover. Like Jace, she does social work when she can, although her cover job is working in transport factory, building the public and individual craft that carry the upper class from one place to another. In fact, carefully hidden compartments placed in some of these transports have proved invaluable to the Resistance, for secretly transferring information, items, and even people when the need arises. Renata is an excellent leader, and she never hesitates to do what is necessary, even when it puts her at considerable risk of discovery or capture (which it often does).

Robern Rintal

Profession: Guardsman
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Hair: Auburn
Eyes: Gray
Build: Medium height, thin (appears tall)
Class: Lower
Usual clothing: Guard uniform
Basic skills: Intelligent, respectful, follows orders, good Guardsman, highly intuitive, goes with his gut feeling

Personality and background:
Robern joined the Guard because it would help him get out of the slum where he was living, and it would also ennable him to earn enough money to send home to his starving family. His parents were very proud of him for being accepted to the Guard. For a time, Robern was proud as well, but he has since become doubtful about the Guard's injustices and violation of others' natural rights. He keeps silent about his doubts, but they trouble him more and more every day, especially since his sense of intuition tells him that many of the prisoners he guards have done nothing to deserve their treatment. The look in their eyes haunts his sleep, and he wonders if there is more to their innocence than just his imagination.

Captain William Bascom

Profession: Captain of the Guard
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Hair: Dark brown
Eyes: Dark, almost black
Build: Tall, more muscular than he seems
Class: Upper
Usual clothing: Guard uniform
Basic skills: Manipulation, politics, investigations and spying

Personality and background:
An ambitious Guardsman, Bascom's personal goal is to stamp out the Resistance wherever possible. He is quick to anger and tends to hold a grudge, and he can often be cruel. He lacks patience and sometimes has difficulty controlling his temper, faults that have gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. For some reason, he seems to know who Keyri is and wants revenge against her; no one but he and Keyri know why, however.

Captain Jack Grager

Profession: Captain of the Guard
Code name: Daniel
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Hair: Black touched with gray, particularly at the temples
Eyes: Dark, intense blue
Build: Large, a big bear of a man; dark, angular, bearded face
Class: Upper
Usual clothing: Guard uniform
Basic skills: Excellent at Guard administration and leadership, also good in a fight

Personality and background:
Catpain Grager is one of my favorite characters ever! A big bear of a man, he is has a booming, blustering voice, and he can be quite intimidating—but in reality, he is one of the kindest men you will ever meet. Easily a father figure to almost anyone, he calls the young people in the story "my dear" or "my boy." He will always put himself on the line to help another person in trouble, and although he is excellent at keeping up his role of a devoted and dutiful Guardsman, he has done many great deeds in helping the innocent escape the Guard's wrath. He is very good at not being caught, and although his situation is delicate, he never lets that spoil his good mood, and he always has a smile, a laugh, or a kind word ready for anyone who needs to hear it.

Keyri's Story ©2001 Amy Unfred