Fermi Esfet.
Fermi is the owner of Fermi's Emporium. Age 49, Fermi is an avuncular man of medium height and the olive skin of an Anhuine . He is clean shaven, wears his hair short and is slightly round-faced. He is in generally good shape, but has a small pot-belly which he wears proudly as a sign that he can afford to live well. He wears the colourful robes that are currently in fashion - somewhere between a kaftan and a djellaba. He also likes to sport a soft felt pill-box hat, and he has a large collection of these. Fermi likes to keep a katar (punch dagger) hidden inside his robes.

Jaele Esfet.
Joint Owner. Age 47. Jaele is Fermi's wife, a fellow trader from way back. She is of slight build and quite short, also Anhuine stock with dark hair that she keeps wound up on her head in elaborate braids, often decorated with beads. Her dress sense is a s colourful as her husband's. Jaele is quieter than Fermi, but also shrewder. She handles the money side of the business whilst he handles the goodwill.

Sevsheer Esfet.
Age 27. Looking a lot like her mother, only taller than both her parents, Sevsheer has inherited the family business sense. She is a serious girl, showing her dry sense of humour with a wry smile rather than in great laughter. She takes great interest in different cultures, and Llaza, with its cosmopolitan atmosphere, suits her quite well although she longs to return to the wandering days of her childhood.

She is engaged to Herverten Dahout, a smart and sensible man with an important clerical job in the Merchant's League headquarters. He is also, unfortunately, stultifyingly dull. He dotes on Sevsheer and loves her very much, but although she loves him in turn she sometimes worries that she is doing the right thing. Her eye often wanders to more exotic and dangerous men.

Fermi is disapproving of this. He feels that a marriage to Herverten is a good, safe idea. Jaele points out to him whenever he brings the subject up that when she married him, he was a drifter with no better aim than to visit the unknown, and that their eldest daughter should be allowed to make her own choices.

Mandasa Esfet.
Age 22. Where her older sister is outwardly serious and inwardly wild, Mandasa is the opposite. She is a night owl, taking great pleasure in the various entertainments (not all of them legal) that Llaza has to offer. Darkly beautiful with deep brown eyes, Mandasa has many men pursuing her but has let none catch her yet. Deep down, however, she feels unfulfilled, hence her endless partying and thrill-seeking. Recently she has begun to find solace in the teachings of Divine Manrupashnar, and is currently wavering between her old lifestyle and a new one of religious asceticism. In the evenings she sometimes sneaks away to work in the Narvindar Manrupashnar orphanage and flop-house.

Indfasa Esfet.
Age 18. The youngest daughter, Indfasa is a shy, quiet girl. She helps her parents at the Emporium, but is studying law so as to become one of the Merchant League adjudicators. Indfasa is probably the most balanced of all the daughters of Fermi and Jaele, but sadly also the most ignored.

Nemesh Esfet.
Age 10. The baby of the family, and the only boy, Nemesh is a gap-toothed scamp who makes plenty of pocket money by charming the patrons of the Emporium with cute young scalliwag-type shenanigans. Shrewd beyond his years, Nemesh is nevertheless bright and carefree.

Oths'ol. Age 30. A salsham'ai, and chief cook at the Emporium, Oths'ol's past is a mystery that he deliberately maintains. He is an old friend of Fermi and Jaele, and all the children remember him always having been around. Oths'ol lives on a platform in the nekmel tree in the courtyard and is friendly and open to everyone, unless they inquire too deeply about his background.

Siss.
Age ?. Siss is a muita and is nominally a pet belonging to Oths'ol, although the creature seems to spend more time with Nemesh. This is probably because it has a similar personality to Nemesh, doing trick for scraps of food and occasionally pilfering shiny objects.