Line and Orbit: The Cast

This is the third of a series of posts that I’ve been doing to introduce the world of Line and Orbit and the people who inhabit it (if you missed any of the previous stuff, they’re all linked here).

This time I want to dig in to the characters themselves – our primary cast, at least. For this I decided I wanted to do it in I Surrender style. Normally I honestly wouldn’t be so into this, because I’m really about letting readers imagine characters however they want to with the few details we give them. However, it was fun, and, like I said, I think it’s a good way to introduce them.

So.

[alexander skarsgard]

Adam was bred to represent the best of his kind—strong, smart, endlessly ambitious… and willing to sacrifice some of his most secret desires in the pursuit of perfection. But there’s a hidden flaw in him, waiting to emerge and pull everything down around itself. And when it does, there won’t be any going back.

[lenny kravitz]

Brash, cocky, and more than a little hedonistic, Lochlan represents many of the stereotypes that the Protectorate holds regarding the Bideshi. But there’s more to Lochlan than meets the eye, including a darker past that’s left its own wounds. He guards these closely, dancing through life with a cheerfully impulsive affect. He lets few people in, and he isn’t looking to add anyone to their ranks. But in this, he might not have a choice.

[ryan phillippe]

Kae is steady and even-tempered. Despite this, he and Lochlan have been friends since childhood, and between them they find a kind of balance. Kae is fiercely loyal to his friends and family, slow to anger but profoundly dangerous once roused. He’d like nothing more than to fight rarely and love often, especially when it comes to his wife Leila. But tides are turning. And when it comes to a choice between running and fighting, Kae doesn’t need much in the way of time to deliberate.

[deepika padukone]

Leila is like a dancing flame, beautiful to watch and more than capable of causing damage. One might be tempted to find her delicate build and easy smile disarming. And once disarmed, she’ll have you by the throat if she wants to. For the Bideshi, love and death often go hand in hand; Leila is no exception.

[morgan freeman]

Once Adisa was young, every bit as brash and impulsive as Lochlan. He didn’t accept leadership lightly and still doesn’t treat it that way. Age and many burdens have tempered his nature, but he’s still possessed of a quick temper, and it isn’t wise to underestimate him—especially when his people are threatened. He leads Ashwina side by side with the Aalim Ixchel, and there are those who whisper of a deeper past between them. But Adisa isn’t telling. It’s not his story to tell.

[whoopi goldberg]

Aalim, Old Mother, speaker for the stars and weaver of fates, daughter of the night that goes on forever. Some call Ixchel a witch, some call her a scholar and teacher, and Lochlan calls her a mad old bat. No matter what she’s called, Ixchel laughs off every name. She has her own titles, carries them within her, and a long time ago she stopped caring what anyone thinks of her—no matter how much she loves them. But every Aalim learns to feel changing wind between the stars, and Ixchel knows change is coming. If she’s afraid, she’ll only let a few people see it. For now.

[helen mirren]

Cold and relentless in the protection of her own interests, Melissa Cosaire is nevertheless loyal to one thing: the security of the system that has kept the Protectorate strong for well over a century. She seeks to eliminate any threat to this system, no matter how large. But her loyalty has the potential to spiral out of control, and relentlessness is always a key to madness when one is pushed too far. Cosaire doesn’t know how far she’ll actually go. The question is how many people will die before she finds out.

[joan chen]

Strict but kind, Ying was trained as a healer, but she knows how to cause wounds just as well as she knows how to heal them. She’s a lover of peace and, in her own way, just as much a mother to the people under her care as Ixchel is. And like any mother, she turns fierce when her people are threatened.

[chiwetel ejiofor]

Like any citizen of the Protectorate, Kyle is always looking to move up—in esteem, in pay grade, in station. Despite his ambition, his nature is fundamentally kind, and he’s been Adam’s friend since his arrival on Kolyma. That friendship could force him into a choice that will halt his climb—or propel him ever higher.

[mabel pantaleon]

Eva is a Private in the Protectorate’s Peacekeeper forces, going through the motions until the Protectorate is thrown into upheaval. What seems at first like a chance for some long-awaited excitement quickly turns into something else—Eva thinks she’s chosen sides, but her choice might not be as final as she believes.