- Istvan is a Gyongyosian soldier. At the beginning of the series, he was fighting the Unkerlanters in the mountain ranges between the two nations (an analogy to the Battle of Khalkhin Gol). He was sent to the Bothnian Ocean and fought Kuusaamans, then sent to participate in the Gyongyosian invasion of Unkerlant. There, inadvertently, he performed the most despicable act in Gyongyosian mores: he ate goats' flesh. He was very concerned that his secret would escape, but continued to soldier on until he was captured at Bechseley. The Kuusumans released him to be a witness of the test of their magic, which destroyed Bechsely; but the Ekrekek's Eyes and Ears, the secret police, arrested him and confined him in prison where he refused to recant his account of what he'd seen, which the Eyes and Ears did not want to believe. While still imprisoned, he watched the destruction of the capital, and later helped in part of the cleanup operation before eventually returning to his home village of Kunhegyes.
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