Grand Chancellor Seiro Makok

Immaculate gray silk, a thin gray beard, a voice like a closing door. Ninth Seiro to hold the seals of state; the family has run Kaishon's bureaucracy for six centuries and Makok has never questioned that it should. Passed the examinations first in his year at seventeen. Believes in the Doctrine of Ordered Reason with the fervor of a man who has never needed anything else. Not corrupt; he is too proud to steal. Rules an empire of fourteen million and has met, personally, perhaps three hundred of them. Will not let a woman hold the Jade Throne and has said so in council in words that were written down. Dull, rigid, formidable. The immovable object.

Ties

• Princess Tokrai Seitotai — will not let a woman hold the Jade Throne; she is the only person he is afraid of
• Emperor Tokrai Shaiku — holds the seals the Emperor cannot
• General Dezau Honmyan — the general is loyal to the Dominion, not to him