in The Steel by the Brigade under the walls of Old Residence. Captain Evrard Gruder (becomes Companion in The Forge) Younger brother of Kaltin Gruder. Killed in The Forge by a shell from a Colonial pom-pom, a light field gun with a higher rate of fire and smaller shells than the Civil Government's. His personality was very similar to Kaltin's, both of them quick to violence in Raj's service, with a taste for women and the finer things. Captain Barton Foley (becomes Companion in The Forge) Commands: A Company, 5th Descott Guards. Loses his left hand in The Forge to a pom-pom shell; he replaces it with a sharpened hook. Foley is Gerrin Staenbridge's protege-cum-boyfriend, and is fond of literature. Before every major battle in the field, Foley gives the following toast to end staff meetings: "He fears his fate too much, and his desserts are small, he who will not put it to the touch --- to win or lose it all.". Foley's interest in literature will garner him an award for his book, Raj Whitehall and His Times, which he writes after Thom Poplanich is enChaired as Governor and Center declares the Fall to be ended. Senior Captain Antin M'lewis (becomes Companion in The Forge) Commands: 5th Descott Guards' Scout Unit (The Forty Thieves). Hailed from Bufford Parish, the most lawless part of not-so-lawful Descott County. Distinguished by his wire garrote and the skinning knife he carries on his left side, both of which are quick to his hands whenever a point needs to be made. M'lewis meets Raj Whitehall when he is brought before Raj concerning a farmer's pig (or a shoat) gone missing despite a no-foraging order. He gains Raj's confidence and eventually heads a special team of similar characters known as the "40 Thieves", leading them through intimidation and example through scouting missions into enemy territory. Major Mekkle Thiddo (becomes Companion in The Hammer) A junior Lieutenant in the 5th, he was supposed dead in the retreat from El Djem. However, he survives and rises to command the 1st Rogor Slashers at the start of the Southern Territories campaign. Shot and mortally wounded under a truce banner while parlaying with Squadrone Admiral Auburn, at which the head of the Admiral's younger brother was presented to him as evidence of his death. Raj later ordered the crucifixion of all those who took part in the treachery,