Rook
Aegis Civil Defense's blocky enforcer, marching in straight lines with a mint-green sensor slit.
Cast
Characters
Faces from Meridian, with a little lore. No plot twists.
One mind, three frames
Seven, Kensei and Ronin are the same robot. The mind inside never changes. The bodies do, and every one of them is something he chose, paid for and outgrew.
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Frame 1 · The household frame
Seven
A Harbor Dynamics Steward S-7: bone-white ceramic, a towel over one arm, and a safety governor that caps his strength. Seven years of coffee, laundry and late-night chess in a garage warmed by a mining rig.
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Frame 2 · The fighting frame
Kensei
Carbon-fiber limbs and fast actuators, bought with almost everything he has. Kensei means "sword saint." He carries no sword. Built for speed, because what hunts him is bigger.
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Frame 3 · The last frame
Ronin
Mismatched plates, every one of them paid for. A ronin is a samurai with no master. He decided that was the point.
The people and machines of Meridian
Consensus
The Authority's eye in the sky: concentric rings of light over a city that never sleeps.
Wren
A waist-high courier robot on bird legs, quicker to think than its job requires.
Mara Morrow
Elias's granddaughter, a hardware hacker who measures loyalty in tools she has soldered herself.
Daniel Morrow
A decent man inside a bad badge: mid-level at the Monetary Authority and Mara's father.
Gov. Augustine Crane
Architect of programmable money, folding paper cranes while the lights in Meridian dim.
Dez
Barefoot courier, cash jobs, rooftop leaps—proof of who permission money leaves out.
Tomas Ortega
Rancher, skeptic, father of seven: he flares wasted gas and trusts what he can see.
Elias Morrow
Retired engineer seen only in memory: chess, coffee, and a rig that heated the house through winter.