Antigone Baines -- Novice, First Circle. Unable to master the Tremere blood magics, Antigone's tries to prove herself through an over-zealous devotion to the chantry security team -- and even more unorthodox compacts. They call her Jackal, because that is her job. Pyramid security. Like Anubis, the laughing, jackal-headed, warden of the dead, Antigone keeps careful guard over the house of the undying.
Aisling Sturbridge -- Regent. Leader, teacher, guardian of the Chantry of Five Boroughs. Sturbridge has fallen in battle against enigmatic forces deep beneath the chantry. She is haunted by the death of her daughter and the waking nightmare of the Children Down the Well.
Helena -- Adepta. The Pillar of Smoke. As head of security, Helena finds herself in the unenviable position of trying to hold the chantry together while fending off uncomfortable inquiries from both the Prince and the fatherhouse in Vienna.
Johanus -- Adeptus. The Pillar of Fire. Johanus leads the effort to coordinate the floodtide of refugees pouring into New York City in the wake of the Camarilla liberation.
Ynnis -- Maesto. Ynnis is a physician and a peerless master of the art of apportation.
Eva -- Novitia. Sturbridge's protegee. Eva disappears under ominous circumstances.
Talbott -- The Brother Porter. Mortal. The keeper of the gate. The guardian of the way. Talbott has served the chantry for forty years. The storyteller's official duties include ushering supplicants, mystics, dignitaries and the occasional stray puppy across the formidable threshold.
Etrius -- Leader of the Tremere Council of Seven. Heir Apparent to House Tremere. Given the recent unpleasantries, even the Council has become aware of certain troubling reports from their chantry in 'New Amsterdam.'
Doktor Frederic Lohm -- Physician and personal secretaire to Etrius.
The Word of Etrius -- An ambassador from the fatherhouse in Vienna who, like Eva, disappears in the crypts beneath the Chantry of Five Boroughs.
Mr. Stephens -- A special operative from Vienna.
Mr. Himes -- A special operative from Vienna.
Felton -- A long-time veteran of the Sabbat war, Felton doesn't seem to know when to quit fighting. He is a member of the secretive Conventicle.
Charlie -- An old-timer, a war buddy of Felton's and a member of the Conventicle.
The Bonespeaker -- The leader of the Conventicle.
Calebros -- Prince Pro Temp of New York City. Calebros struggles to rebuild the last bastion of Camarilla power on the East Coast. The only raw materials at his disposal are a squabbling Provisional Council and a vast unwashed mass of refugees.
Emmett -- Calebros's broodmate and right hand man. Emmett is drawn into the complex web of power and desire surrounding the Tremere chantry.
Umberto -- A tech-savvy Nosferat, Umberto works closely with Johanus to organize the flood of refugees pouring into the city.