THE PEOPLE / NOBODY IS ONLY ONE THING
Difficult people.
The faithful, the furious, the useful, and the people holding all three together.
LOAD-BEARING LIVES
The core cast.
CORE CAST · Deliveries. Terms apply.
Lilian “Lil” Wood
She can get water through a checkpoint, a cart through a bad street, and her name onto the bottom of the agreement.
MEET THEM ↗
CORE CAST · Beds, blankets, one more bowl
Jilly-Quill Thompson
He came to Washington looking after Olga. The job has expanded without a corresponding increase in sleep.
MEET THEM ↗
CORE CAST · A familiar voice on an unreliable wire
Bronx Shines
Musician, broadcaster, and frequent discoverer of the part he should have mentioned first.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · The man inside the announcement
Joshua / Jesus #2
The posters promise a savior. The person behind them would like to know whether that chair is available.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · The kitchen has an opinion
Olga
Faith, swollen hands, good blouse. Will correct your theology after you return the ladle.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Please read the last page
Abegale Rittinhouf
Lil's administrator. She knows the difference between what was said, what was signed, and what just left the warehouse.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Keep the whole recording
Tamsin
Relay engineer, editor, co-owner. The signal gets through because somebody climbed the stairs.
MEET THEM ↗
CORE CAST · Water is a maintenance problem
Della
Commons technician and popular ward voice. Can identify a failing coupling through two walls and a speech.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Driver. Connector. Depends who's asking.
Trey
Useful hands, an ink-stained thumbnail, and a remarkably broad definition of access.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Count again. Then make room.
Carla
The person who knows where the blankets went and which promise is still only a promise.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · The Oracle. New terms available.
Marcus Cain
His cuffs are clean, his kitchens are open, and yesterday's worthless pledge may qualify for tomorrow's offer.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Order, with a place for your name
The Redeemer
While Cain explains the future, this man checks the jug against the measure.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · The person at the rope
Davi
A young steward with a red strip on his sleeve and time to ask the question twice.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Repairs that survive the weather
Sada
Coat-mender, mother, and unimpressed recipient of several excellent explanations.
MEET THEM ↗CORE CAST · Would like the chair, please
Harlan
A man with an illness, a dry temper, and a life that is not an inspirational demonstration.
MEET THEM ↗THE NOISY MIDDLE
Street voices.
They can bend a queue, sell a shortcut, expose a receipt or make one bad meeting famous. Their reach is smaller than the people above. It is not harmless.
Relay host · Morning relay and market queues
June Bug Bell
Good morning. Conditions apply.
Her queue forecasts save people hours, provided the sponsor does not need the east gate to look popular.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Route mapper · Cart lanes, stair cuts and checkpoint detours
Orin Pike
A shorter way, until everybody takes it.
He finds passages around delays and occasionally creates a larger delay by announcing them.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Salvage stylist · Repair fairs, clothing stalls and picture sheets
Patch Holiday
Yesterday’s emergency cloth, properly turned.
Patch can make repaired clothing desirable, then make the original owner defend why it was repaired at all.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Pledge reviewer · Pledge Market and copied buyer sheets
Mavis Scrip
Read the offer. Then read who recommended it.
She exposes rotten pledges in public and records her referral arrangements in handwriting small enough to require excellent faith.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Barrier contractor · Public meetings, kitchens and contested entrances
Cal Wren
Order begins with somewhere to stand.
He rents rope, posts and painted arrows to every side of an argument and believes this makes him neutral.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Access critic · Meeting halls, clinics and public counters
Hettie Moss
Four chairs. No backrests. One usable door.
Her brutally practical venue reports can empty a meeting faster than the agenda.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Procedure explainer · Steward circles and evening relay clips
Benny Ash
Here is what the rule actually lets them do.
A former steward who teaches residents how procedure works and ambitious listeners where its weak joints are.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Board keeper · Missing-person walls and family notices
Essie March
Bring a name, a date and something that can be copied.
She keeps hundreds of searches visible and decides when a weathered notice has occupied the wall long enough.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Ward organizer · Household registers and allocation meetings
Pru Locke
One household. One claim. Prove the door.
She began after her family lost a week’s supplies to a duplicate entry and now treats ambiguity as attempted theft.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Maintenance runner · Commons wards and repair demonstrations
Darnell Quay
Already fetched it. Might have fetched the wrong size.
A quick young runner whose admiration for competent technicians sometimes outruns his listening.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Anonymous maintenance feed · Copied fault lists and late relay bursts
The Last Honest Pump
The machine is not confused. Somebody is.
An unidentified voice publishes accurate failures, private grudges and instructions that should not always be followed.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Shared Commons persona · Bed notices, kitchen updates and arrival advice
Bedcount Betty
Betty knows. Betty is currently three people.
A trusted public voice maintained by several volunteers who do not always inherit one another’s promises.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗Document-leak persona · Contract walls, copied ledgers and argument tables
The Little Red Receipt
You signed it. Somebody kept it.
The account publishes inconvenient agreements and occasionally mistakes an incomplete page for a complete revelation.
HEAR THEIR SIGNAL ↗No neighbors found. Try another name.