City of Golden Shadow - Characters in "City of Golden Shadow"

Characters in "City of Golden Shadow"

• Paul Jonas: A person trapped within the Otherland network. When first introduced, Paul believes himself to be a soldier condemned to the trenches of the First World War. Because he underwent "treatment" (brainwashing) before being introduced to the simulation, he cannot remember anything that happened more than a few days ago. As he explores the simulation, he struggles to discover who he is, as well as trying to escape from Mullet and Finch, agents of The Grail Brotherhood.
• Mullet: Supposedly a companion of Paul Jonas in the trenches. When Paul escapes the World War I simulation, however, Mullet, in various incarnations, pursues him through the other simulations of the Otherland network. Later revealed to be Mudd, an employee of Felix Jongleur.
• Finch: Mudd's companion, who pursues Paul. His real name is Finney.
• Gally: A boy that Paul meets in the Otherland simulation, and who accompanies him in his flight from Mullet and Finch. He demonstrates to Paul the significance of the river that flows through the various simulation worlds in Otherland.
• Irene "Renie" Sulaweyo: A South African computer teacher, whose younger brother Stephen falls into a coma, prompting the research that leads to her discovery of the Otherland network.
• !Xabbu: A bushman from the Kalahari desert, and a student of Renie. He helps her research the cause of her brother's coma, and enters the Otherland network with her. His spiritual guidance keeps Renie sane, as well as providing her with a viewpoint that does not take the technology of her civilization for granted.
• Stephen Sulaweyo: Renie's eleven-year-old brother, who spends a large amount of his time in virtual reality with his friends Eddie and Soki. He falls into a coma after visiting a forbidden area of the net, and is moved to a hospital, where he remains for most of the story.
• Long Joseph Sulaweyo: Renie's father, described as a once-honorable man who became an alcoholic after the accidental death of his wife (and Renie's mother). Apathetic about the problems and emotions of his family members, he resists Renie's attempts to keep him safe.
• Dr. Susan van Bleeck: A rich technology expert who at one time taught Renie virtual engineering. Renie contacts her after her brother falls ill, and she is able to direct Renie to Martine Desroubins, Murat Sagar Singh, and Bolivar Atasco before agents of the Grail Brotherhood murder her.
• Jeremiah Dako: Susan van Bleeck's butler and cook, who joins Renie and !Xabbu after van Bleeck is murdered.
• Strimbello: A man who operates an ominous club designed to entice children to enter a situation where they can be mentally damaged for the benefit of the Grail Brotherhood. He is responsible for putting Stephen into a coma, and nearly succeeds in doing the same to Renie and !Xabbu.
• Murat Sagar Singh: Also known by the code name "Blue Dog Anchorite," Singh is an elderly man who was an acquaintance of Susan van Bleeck and a worker on some programming for the Otherland project. He helps Renie, !Xabbu, and Martine hack into the system, but is killed by a malevolent aspect of the Otherland security system when he tries to enter with them.
• Martine Desroubins: an acquaintance of Susan van Bleeck who lives in France, and who assists Renie and !Xabbu and enters Otherland with them. She is revealed to be blind, and interprets virtual reality through different mechanisms than the others, so the large amount of information in the Otherland system starts to drive her insane, and she is seemingly ill because of this at the end of the book.
• Orlando Gardiner: a terminally ill teenager who plays the VR MMORPG Middle Country with his best (and only) friend Fredericks. After he discovers an image of a golden city, a location in the Otherland network, he becomes obsessed with finding it. Both he and Fredericks enter Otherland, despite the fact that he is very sick with pneumonia. At the end of the book, he is unconscious and at risk of dying from his disease, cared for by members of the other eight people who also succeeded in entering Otherland.
• Salome Fredericks: simply called Fredericks, this is a friend of Orlando's, who wears the sim of a man, but is actually a teenage girl (Orlando, her best friend, is unaware of her true gender until late into the plot). She does not approve of Orlando's attempts to learn about Otherland, believing that they are likely to get harshly punished for their actions, but accompanies him on all of his exploits.
• Mr. Sellars: an elderly man imprisoned on an army base in North Carolina, who 'recruits' Orlando and the others by leaving clues about the Otherland scattered across the net. Eventually, he meets them in Otherland, and tries to explain the situation and what they must do.
• Christabel Sorensen: a young girl living on the army base, who secretly becomes friends with Mr. Sellars and helps him escape from the army base.
• Felix Jongleur: The oldest person on earth, born before the outbreak of World War I, he is also one of the wealthiest and most powerful, and certainly one of the most ruthless. He is the leader of the Grail Brotherhood, and masterminded the creation of the Otherland system. Through much of the book, he appears in his preferred environment, a simulation of ancient Egypt, where, as Osiris, he presides over meetings of the Grail Brotherhood.
• Johnny Wulgaru: Known by his adopted name, Dread, this character's real name is only mentioned once, and then in reference to his unhappy childhood. He has the power to manipulate electronic devices, an ability he calls his "twist," and views his life as a sort of movie. He makes sport of hunting and killing women. Despite his dangerous obsession with rape and murder, Jongleur, who calls him "Anubis," recruits him to assassinate Atasco. He has an uneasy relationship with Jongleur, who has kept many secrets from him, and when he breaks into Otherland he welcomes the opportunities to secretly gain information about Jongleur's plans.
• Robert Wells: A centenarian living in Oregon, where he heads the powerful technology firm Telemorphix, Wells is a member of the Grail Brotherhood, appearing in Jongleur's Egypt as the god Ptah. While his technical expertise makes him indispensable to the Brotherhood's plans, he is unpopular among many of the other members. He heads a minority faction which seeks to remove Jongleur from leadership.
• Daniel Yacoubian: A general in the US Army, he is also a member of the Grail Brotherhood, appearing in Jongleur's Egypt as the god Horus. He schemes with Wells to remove Jongleur from his position of leadership.