Yvin

A dwarf of the caste of Laws, from a line as old as it is respected, who gave his life to the toga rather than the hammer. His people do not make war; they make the peace afterward, and write the order that follows on the ashes of the last conflict.

Valin came to him with a rival: Krakelin of Kaz'Valah, whose gold mines cost him nothing to guard while Valin paid for security against Brazzant raids. Yvin observed that with a figure that influential, something unbecoming can always be turned up if one digs enough. He did not dig. He manufactured. Krakelin took forty years, then left Askenon forever, and the gold trade with Cerberus was Valin's alone.

On the day after Merenin's coronation, Yvin was summoned to a dark throne room to be offered Minister of Laws. He asked for light and was refused. Portin had compiled ten thousand pages on his career and, as the king always requires, a five-page summary. Valin, who had asked for the favor, apologized to the king for having been taken in by the man's fine speeches.

Yvin demanded a trial, and Merenin told him there would be no trial for Valin, none for Portin, and none for him. The nihilism of those who use the law while defiling it deserves neither courts nor justice. He put a hand on the jurist's heart and stopped it.