Iron Gold

How it opens

Ten years into the war, Darrow comes home to Luna and leads his Seventh Legion up the Via Triumphia on Liberation Day. Mercury has joined the free worlds after two years of siege, but Darrow took it with an Iron Rain the Senate had voted against, and a million of his men died there. He has come home to win ships and men from that same Senate for a final campaign against the Ash Lord on Venus. At Silene, his son Pax greets him coldly, and his old mentor Dancer stands against his call for more men.

Who you meet early

• Darrow O'LykosDarrow, the Reaper, is thirty-three and an ArchImperator, home on Luna from Mercury after a year away from his wife and son. He is married to Mustang, the Sovereign, and their son Pax is ten. He plans to stay at Silene for a month at least, with business before the Senate at the end of the week.
• Virginia au AugustusVirginia au Augustus, called Mustang, is the Sovereign of the Republic, Darrow's wife and the mother of his son Pax. She greets him with the Dawn Scepter at the top of the New Forum stairs, then remains in Hyperion with Daxo to handle the Senate, where Dancer is her main opponent.
• Sevro au BarcaSevro au Barca comes back to Luna from Mercury with Darrow, bringing the Howlers who serve as Darrow's bodyguards. He is married to Victra and has three daughters, and at Silene he watches his eldest, Electra, spar with Pax.
• Dancer O'FaranDancer, Darrow's old mentor from the Sons of Ares, is now a senator, the founder of the lowColor Vox Populi party and Mustang's main opposition in the Senate. He led the Senate's vote against Darrow's Iron Rain on Mercury, and at Silene he warns Darrow that he plans to stand up to him before flying back to Hyperion.
• WulfgarWulfgar, an Obsidian who fought beside Ragnar at the walls of Agea, is now ArchWarden of the Republic. He missed the Iron Rain on Mercury because the Senate summoned him home, and he greets Darrow on the Forum stairs and has his Wardens take Darrow's weapons.
• Thraxa au TelemanusThraxa au Telemanus, the Hammer, carries the ivory star of Darrow's Seventh Legion in the Triumph. She lost her left arm to Atalantia au Grimmus and now has a metal one, and at Silene she uses it to catch Electra's blade when a practice bout turns rough.
• Deanna O'LykosDeanna, Darrow's mother, now lives at Silene, where she plants bulbs in the garden with Red servants. Physicians have eased most of the effects of her stroke and heart condition, and she hopes to visit Leanna and perhaps take Pax to Icaria on Mars.
• Electra au BarcaElectra, the eldest of Sevro's three daughters, is nine and in the same pack of children as Pax at Silene. She fights him hard in a practice duel, and when her father appears she runs straight to him.