Who’s Who in the Floating Palace

KING OLEB XVI
King of Drinax, Dragon Emperor of Sindal-in-Exile
Age 105 (Apparent age mid-50s)

King Oleb, Sixteenth of his name, is the ruler of the Kingdom of Drinax. He’s also, as he puts it, the ‘bumpty-umpth Emperor of Sindal, Lord Admiral of the Star Guard, protector of the whatsit and duke of the other thing’. The only titles that Oleb really takes pride in are his awards for boxing and swordfighting.
The King was a wild man in his youth, and spent years as a freebooting adventurer and sometime pirate before returning home to take the crown. Anagathic drugs have preserved his youth, but not his figure; the courtiers politely refer to the King’s ‘imposing frame’ or ‘vigorous presence’. The King is more direct about this – ‘I may be fatter than a gas giant, but I am still the godsdamned King’.
King Oleb delights in drink, in women, in food, in flying with his hawk men, and in conquest, but given the state of his faded kingdom, the last pleasure is denied him. The forces of Drinax are too diminished to conquer any other worlds, and the Aslan threat is growing.
Others may dismiss the King as a buffoon, but he is actually a cunning statesman and can be diplomatic when he has to be. He just doesn’t enjoy it half as much as shouting and blustering.

PRINCESS RAO
Heir Apparent and daughter of King Oleb XVI
Age 38

When her elder brother Harrick was gravely wounded, King Oleb realised his daughter was likely to inherit the throne. Previously, Rao was most ignored by Oleb, who entrusted her upbringing to his courtiers and attendants. She became the King’s foremost counsellor and
diplomat, and is highly influential at court. She dreams of a grand alliance of worlds – either the Kingdom of Drinax reborn, or a more equal and progressive league to provide a bulwark against the great imperial powers.
Bringing the advanced technology of Drinax back to her former subjects could bring about a golden age.
Her detractors claim the princess is overambitious and blind to the perilous circumstances of Drinax, and that any such grand alliance would only serve to anger the Aslan.

PRINCE HARRICK
Age 54

Prince Harrick is the prince of Drinax and potential heir to the kingdom. He led the assault on Asim twenty years ago, when the agricultural world was conquered by Drinax. His attack shuttle suffered an engine malfunction and crashed, and Prince Harrick was mortally wounded. His body – little more than a charred husk – was placed in a low berth and shipped back to the Floating Palace. The scientists of the Scholar’s Tower took him into their care, and they rebuilt him cell by cell.
For twenty years, Prince Harrick floated unconscious in a tank while scientists tried to restore him to life. The outcome was uncertain, and many rumours about his death circulated through the palace. At one point, when it seemed as though the procedures had failed and Harrick was about to die, King Oleb quelled fears of instability by naming Princess Rao his heir.
He emerged from the tank only six months ago. His features bear little trace of the horrific injuries that robbed him of half his life, but his movement is oddly stilted and his skin is just a little too perfect. The scholars refuse to discuss the technicalities of his resurrection, but most courtiers believe the prince is more machine and cloned tissue than mortal man.

Lord Wrax

Lord Wrax commands the Star Guard, the naval forces of Drinax. The Star Guard has only a handful of ships, and while they have the benefit of advanced technology, none masses more than 400 tons, and only the 100-ton scout ships have jump drives. The Harrier would have been the flagship of the Drinaxi fleet if Wrax had his way. He has little time for the King’s scheme of piracy.

Scholar Voha

Scholar Voha is the elderly master of the Scholar’s Tower, chancellor of the university, and unofficial court sage and prognosticator. Voha sees his role as protecting the knowledge of the ancient empire of Sindal, and is wary of any action that might endanger the Floating Palace.

Kasiyl of the Ahroay’if

An exiled Aslan from the Hierate. The Ahroay’if clan are the dominant power in Tliowaha Subsector. Why a prince of that family fled the Hierate is a mystery, and he refuses to speak of his past. He ended up on Drinax several years ago. The Aslan noble is a mighty warrior and a superlative pilot, but as a male he has no idea how to use technology or handle money, so he was little more than a beggar when he arrived. He sought a place on the Star Guard, but Lord Wrax refused him. Since then, Kasiyl has found work as a bodyguard and interpreter.

Thao Poloc

Imperial Consul Thao Poloc represents the Third Imperium at court. Capital is very, very far away from Drinax; even the Imperial governor at Pax Rulin is many weeks distant. The court of Drinax is not high on the Imperium’s list of plum assignments, even though Emperor Strephon does send greetings every ten years to his ‘beloved cousin’ the King of Drinax. The consul’s role usually involves dealing with lost merchant ships and a little light spying. The current consul, Thao Poloc, is a historian who travelled here to study the last remnants
of Sindal. His presence is a reminder that these are probably the final days of a once-glorious empire.

Lady Hil

Lady Hil is an influential noble in court who has little time for anyone who cannot trace their lineage all the way back to the old empire of Sindal. Sometimes, with her emphasis on protocol and noble titles from longlost worlds, it appears Hil is in denial about the current
state of the kingdom. She has a great many supporters in court and on the Floating Palace, and in a culture dominated by the weight of the past, her insistence on proper behaviour and tradition gives her power.

Rachando

A trader with no noble title or aristocratic lineage; he arrived on board a battered trader a few years ago, but has somehow become the lynchpin of the economy of the Floating Palace. He controls Rachando’s Bazaar.

Sal Dancet

A free trader and smuggler, using the Floating Palace for repairs and a hiding place. She can obtain rare goods and commodities from across the Trojan Reach, and is also an excellent source of rumours and information.

Cleon Hardy

When King Oleb conquered Asim, he overthrew the corrupt Foundation and instead put his
own nobility to rule over the planet. To ensure the loyalty of the Asim, he invited the inhabitants to elect an ombudsman to bring their concerns to court. Cleon Hardy is their representative; back on Asim, he was an economist and broadcaster. He is out of his depth in the strange court of the Floating Palace, but he’s learning rapidly.

Chieftain Galx

Chieftain Galx is a representative from the Vespexer tribes of the surface, visiting the Floating Palace when it passes over her territory. Even in the climate-controlled halls of the palace, she insists on wearing a full-body hazard suit.