List of characters in The Quantum Thief
Encyclopedia
This is a list of characters in the science fiction
novel, The Quantum Thief
, by Hannu Rajaniemi
.
) is the protagonist of The Quantum Thief. At the start of the novel, he is imprisoned in the Dilemma Prison, a Sobornost prison located in the Neptunian Trojan belt
, but is rescued by Mieli and tasked to undertake another heist. Clues from his memories lead them to Oubliette, a Moving City of Mars. Jean has experienced life in the guise of many races in the solar system and can make use of his knowledge of the various races to his advantage.
's Arsène Lupin
novel, The Hollow Needle
) is an architecture student and an amateur detective. He is only ten Martian years old when he attracts unwelcome fame after solving a gogol piracy case that was brought to his attention by The Gentleman. This fame brings him to the attention of the millenniaire, Christian Unruh, who summons him to solve the mystery of the impossible appearance of a note at his residence.
Archons, which are used to imprison criminals in the Sobornost society.
motivated to create Dilemma Prisons to override the "old ugly physics" of the real world with the physics in the Dilemma Prison. Hence, they will convert any structure that is not a Dilemma Prison into one.
. Their culture, as revealed by Mieli, is based on Finnish culture. Mieli's name is Finnish, as is that of her lost lover, Sydän. Also, Jean makes references to the Oortian deities Kuutar and Ilmatar
: both appear in the Kalevala
, the former being the Moon spirit, the latter the air spirit. Some Oortians have functional wings: Mieli and Sydän are shown to have them.
) are a vigilante group formed by Oubliette citizens, out of concern for the gogol piracy that is plaguing the Oubliette.
) are a transhuman
tribe who have a colony on the Oubliette and a city on Saturn. Their origins can be traced back to gamer
communities from before the beginning of the massive mind uploading, and they hold Tangleparties, which can be thought of as a quantum version of LAN parties, to remember who they were.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel, The Quantum Thief
The Quantum Thief
The Quantum Thief is the first science fiction novel by Hannu Rajaniemi. It was published in Britain by Gollancz in 2010, and will be published in 2011 by Tor in the US. It is a heist story, set in a futuristic solar system, that features a protagonist modelled on Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief...
, by Hannu Rajaniemi
Hannu Rajaniemi
Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a founding director of a commercial research organisation, ThinkTank Maths.-Biography:...
.
Jean le Flambeur
Jean le Flambeur (a possible allusion to Bob le flambeurBob le flambeur
Bob le flambeur is a 1956 French gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film stars Roger Duchesne as Bob...
) is the protagonist of The Quantum Thief. At the start of the novel, he is imprisoned in the Dilemma Prison, a Sobornost prison located in the Neptunian Trojan belt
Neptune Trojan
Neptune trojans are Kuiper belt object-like bodies in solar orbit that have the same orbital period as Neptune and follow roughly the same orbital path...
, but is rescued by Mieli and tasked to undertake another heist. Clues from his memories lead them to Oubliette, a Moving City of Mars. Jean has experienced life in the guise of many races in the solar system and can make use of his knowledge of the various races to his advantage.
Mieli
Mieli (Finnish meaning) is an Oortian warrior who has been tasked by the pellegrini to rescue Jean le Flambeur from the Dilemma Prison. She is ambivalent about her task, as she despises thieves but is ordered to help one.Isidore Beautrelet
Isidore Beautrelet (the namesake of the boy detective in Maurice LeblancMaurice Leblanc
Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.- Biography :Leblanc was born in...
's Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin
Arsène Lupin is a fictional character who appears in a book series of detective fiction / crime fiction novels written by French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television such as Night Hood, stage play and comic book adaptations.- Overview :A...
novel, The Hollow Needle
The Hollow Needle
The Hollow Needle is a novel by Maurice Leblanc featuring the adventures of the gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin. As with the preceding two volumes of the Arsène Lupin stories, this was first serialized in the French magazine Je sais tout from November 1908 to May 1909...
) is an architecture student and an amateur detective. He is only ten Martian years old when he attracts unwelcome fame after solving a gogol piracy case that was brought to his attention by The Gentleman. This fame brings him to the attention of the millenniaire, Christian Unruh, who summons him to solve the mystery of the impossible appearance of a note at his residence.
The Gentleman
The Gentleman is a mysterious tzaddik who mentors Isidore in his detective work. The tzaddik draws Isidore's attention to a gogol piracy case early in the novel.The pellegrini
The pellegrini is an entity of the Sobornost, who wields god-like powers over Jean and Mieli. She has employed Mieli to free Jean from his prison for some unknown purpose. This apparently entails recovering Jean's lost memories, some of which are hidden in the Martian Moving City of Oubliette.Perhonen
Perhonen (Finnish meaning) is a sentient Oortian spidership. She has a flirtatious personality and often fills the inside of the ship with butterfly avatars.Pixil
Pixil is the zoku girlfriend of Isidore. She lives in the zoku colony on the Oubliette.Christian Unruh
Christian Unruh is a millenniaire, a person who is very rich in Time. When he first meets Isidore, he is about to organize a farewell party for himself, as he has elected to enter Quiet early. A mysterious note has appeared under impossible circumstances in his residence, announcing a gate-crasher to his party. After learning of Isidore's exploits, Unruh summons him to solve the mystery.All-Defector
The All-Defector is a purported glitch in the Dilemma Prison that appears to prisoners as themselves. This gogol always defects, hence the name.Engineer-of-Souls
The Engineer-of-Souls is a Sobornost entity who specializes in cultivating gogols in his garden, hence the title. One of his earlier creations was the AxelrodRobert Axelrod
Robert M. Axelrod is an American political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan where he has been since 1974. He is best known for his interdisciplinary work on the evolution of cooperation, which has been cited in numerous articles...
Archons, which are used to imprison criminals in the Sobornost society.
Matjek Chen
Matjek Chen is a Sobornost Founder. Jean knew him in a previous life and used to go drinking with him. He makes an appearance in the epilogue.Sydän
Sydän (Finnish meaning) is the lost lover of Mieli. It is implied that she is under the control of the Sobornost, and that Mieli is bound to serve the pellegrini in the hope of being reunited with her. She appears to Mieli in the Dilemma Prison as a dream memory, which was supplied by the pellegrini to alleviate Mieli's ordeal.Xuexue
Xuexue is a citizen of the Oubliette. Her story gives an infodump of how mind uploading was carried out prior to events in the current novel.Groups
This is a list of names of groups of gogols in the novel. Some are names of tribes, while others are organizational or functional names.Archons
The Archons (etymology) are the builders and wardens of Dilemma Prisons. They were created by the Engineer-of-Souls to provide prisons for the Sobornost. They are nanomachinesGrey goo
Grey goo is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves, a scenario known as ecophagy .Self-replicating machines of the macroscopic variety were originally...
motivated to create Dilemma Prisons to override the "old ugly physics" of the real world with the physics in the Dilemma Prison. Hence, they will convert any structure that is not a Dilemma Prison into one.
Founders
The Founders were humans who have acquired god-like powers through the foundation of the Sobornost. The pellegrini appears to have Founder-like powers, if not a Founder herself. Other Founders include Matjek Chen, whom Jean used to know in a previous life, Chitragupta, Anton and Hsien. Besides the pellegrini and Matjek Chen, none of the Founders have appeared in the novel.Oortians
The Oortians are a humanoid race hailing from the Oort cloudOort cloud
The Oort cloud , or the Öpik–Oort cloud , is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets which may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun. This places the cloud at nearly a quarter of the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun...
. Their culture, as revealed by Mieli, is based on Finnish culture. Mieli's name is Finnish, as is that of her lost lover, Sydän. Also, Jean makes references to the Oortian deities Kuutar and Ilmatar
Ilmatar
In Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, Ilmatar was a virgin spirit of the air.-Origins:The name Ilmatar is derived from the Finnish word ilma, meaning "air," and the suffix -tar, denoting a female spirit...
: both appear in the Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
, the former being the Moon spirit, the latter the air spirit. Some Oortians have functional wings: Mieli and Sydän are shown to have them.
Quiets
The Quiets are machines operated by the downloaded consciousnesses of Oubliette citizens who have entered the Quiet. They can be best described as servants who perform the menial and administrative tasks that keep the Oubliette society running. Examples include: Atlas Quiets who support the Moving City; Quiets defending Oubliette from the constant attacks of the phoboi plague; security and civil service Quiets, who are sometimes in humanoid form; and Quiets who assist the Resurrection Men.Resurrection Men
The Resurrection Men are charged with implementing the resurrection laws in the Oubliette. As citizens of the Oubliette transit to the Quiet, their Noble bodies are collected by the Resurrection Men and stored until their time in the Quiet is complete, after which their consciousness is downloaded back into their bodies.Tzadikkim
The tzadikkim (Hebrew meaningTzadik
Tzadik/Zadik/Sadiq is a title given to personalities in Jewish tradition considered righteous, such as Biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ṣadiq, is ṣ-d-q , which means "justice" or "righteousness", also the root of Tzedakah...
) are a vigilante group formed by Oubliette citizens, out of concern for the gogol piracy that is plaguing the Oubliette.
Vasilevs
The vasilevs are agents of the Sobornost who infiltrate Oubliette and carry out acts of gogol piracy. They are known to be very vicious when they attack their victims, and will self-destruct when apprehended by the authorities.Zoku
The zoku (Japanese meaningZoku
is a Sino-Japanese term meaning tribe, clan, or family. As a suffix it has been used extensively within Japan to define subcultural phenomena, though many zoku do not acquire the suffix ....
) are a transhuman
Transhuman
Transhuman or trans-human is a term that has been defined and redefined many times in history. In its contemporary usage, “transhuman” refers to an intermediary form between the human and the hypothetical posthuman.-History of hypotheses:...
tribe who have a colony on the Oubliette and a city on Saturn. Their origins can be traced back to gamer
Gamer
Historically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. Since they became very popular, the term has included players of video games...
communities from before the beginning of the massive mind uploading, and they hold Tangleparties, which can be thought of as a quantum version of LAN parties, to remember who they were.