Major Characters

Grace: Mid 20s. The only child of former farmers and newly successful business owners. A capital-L-liberal. Functionally a man. Uninterested in the life being offered to her. Wants more but doesn’t know what that looks like. Struggles to see past the tip of her nose, she is self-absorbed. She is led primarily by her feelings, but tries very hard to avoid them. She uses escapism a lot. She learns to question power structures and societal norms. Her arc asks the questions: How do power structures act on individuals subconsciously? How rigidly do people perform their assigned social role? Should you continue performing your role if it hurts others? What responsibility do you bear for what your comfort costs? How do you accept that?

Adrian: Mid 20s. The second born son in a poor farming family. Good at reading people, a deeply empathetic and reflective person. Artistic and sensitive. “Apolitical.” Functionally a woman. Adrian is led by his strong desire for logic, he questions rigorously and seeks to understand. Adrian creates logic from emotion. Does a lot of emotional labour for everyone around him. His arc asks the questions: What agency can you grant yourself if others are trying to take it from you? How do you assert yourself in a system that will not recognize you? What must be done to survive in a world designed to crush your humanity? How can you become your own person when you lack a function for others?

Thomas (Tom): Late 20s. Adrian’s older brother and the first born of his family. Acts as a parental figure to siblings. Has “first born/masculine” power but does “lower-born/female” labour. Calm, measured and responsible. Thomas thinks before acting almost to a fault. He is far more concerned with others than with himself. He is anxious but present, more reactive than Grace. Thomas’s main struggle is that he thinks that he is slowly becoming his father, and he has to grapple with the idea of who he is, who he wants to be, and who he has the potential to become. His arc asks the questions: how can you approach, accept, or ethically hold power when all your models for it are corrupt? How do you weigh “tradition” against who you are or who you feel you must become? How much of yourself should you sacrifice for a perceived greater good?

Supporting Characters

Owen: Father of Thomas, Adrian, Hannah, and Caroline. Used to run a whiskey distilling business but has neglected it to the point of near bankruptcy. Now maintains a farm that grows rye without preparing it for distillation. Eager to social climb, but struggles to take things seriously. Depressed, isolated, angry. Acts from a place of fear and sadness, he is clinging to what he fears losing.

Mara: Around Thomas’ age. Lives in the town. Emancipated. Mara is a leader within the mutual aid network and is a fierce advocate for the rights of lower-borns. She is something of an agitator in the town. Practical, gritty, intellectual, always looking for whats next. Mara is the ideological opposite of every other character. She has found her way within the system but aligns herself outside of it.

Hannah: 12-14ish. Understands more than everyone else gives her credit for. Wants to be best friends and sisters with Grace and later Mara. Hannah is pushed to “replace” Adrian, she has a difficult time with this.

Caroline/Cara/Corey: 9 (almost 10). Leans masculine. Name is a placeholder for now.

Grace’s Parents: Mother unnamed for now. Step-Parent is called Rook. Grace’s father is not in the picture. Highly respected in the community. They produce agricultural equipment for the state farms. This is lucrative, they are among the wealthiest in the region. Ongoing resentment between them and Owen. They are super focused on their business and are somewhat absent with Grace. Both coded as non-binary. Rook is not involved in the business, they are the primary presence in Grace’s house.

Grace’s Friends: Verity, Cale, Blythe, Fen.