Umberto's current goals:
- Establish a scholarly reputation
- Perfect his theories about the deep structure of Monite
- Publish his work on incantation structure
- Become more comfortable in his own skin
- Keep in the good graces of his uncle and his mother. That means periodically snooping around country houses, art auctions, and meeting with collectors
- Likely have a more stable social life?
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The Galeazzi
- Lucrezia Alessandra Dorotea Galeazzo - His mother. An import/export merchant specializing in luxury goods, art objects and so on. Handles business arrangements. A dashing woman with a certain reputation for genteel social scandal. Just the right amount to be interesting
- Gian-Niccolò Aristide Mirandola Galeazzo - His uncle, an antiques and antiquities dealer, occasional smuggler, and notorious gadfly
- Cannio Donati - The wick factotum to the Galeazzi. Very likely the half-brother of Lucrezia and Gian by way of Umberto's maternal grandfather
- Bernabò Ippolito Atanasio Galeazzo - The said grandfather. A aged, devious old man, now semi-retired. In poor health, about which he complains constantly to annoy his family
- Valeria Phoebe Sabina Iannarelli - His grandmother. A sprightly lady in her late 80s, much prone to interfering in the life of her family members
- Tulia Donati - The confidential steward to the Galeazzi and occasional mistress of Bernabò. A human woman and the mother of Cannio
- Lavinia Mirabella Sofia Galeazzo - His aunt. sister to Lucrezia and Gian
- Nicostrato Porfirio Orazio Lorenzetti - Lavinia's useless husband, his uncle
- Eudoxia and Marcella Lorenzetti - His madcap cousins, "Doxi and Marci"
- Great Aunt Jocasta - the ancient second wife of maternal great-grandfather. A keep vintner and breeder of grapes
The Bassinton-Smythes
- Laurence Stapleton Bassington-Smythe - His father, a professor of entomology at Brunnhold
- Dr Abeline "Abe" Beatrice Ixbridge - His cousin, a dedicated physician
- Beatrice Ixbridge (nee Bassington-Smythe) - his deceased aunt, Abe's mother
- Wilberforce Ixbridge - His uncle, Abe's father. A clever horologist
- Flora Helena Penelope Pangbourne (nee Bassington-Smythe) - His aunt, a collector of antique ceramics
- William Vincent Pangbourne, esq - Flora's husband, his uncle. A country gentleman and justice of the peace
- Clarissa Pangbourne - His cousin, Flora and William's daughter. A student and swashbuckling enthusiast
- Melpomene Sibylla Atene Pallis - His former romantic partner, a rare books dealer. The split was amicable, and owes a fair deal to Umberto's erratic personality as well as their of their respective dedication to their work, which kept them apart for long periods of time.