Kaab

Ixkaab Balam is "the first daughter of Ixmoe Balam, first daughter of Ixtopob Balam, first daughter of Ixchukwapl Balam, first daughter from a line of first daughters descended from queens who ruled empires more vast than your imagination can compass." She is the third of the name, and her house is the House of Balam of the Traders of the Kinwiinik.

Mesoamerican in appearance, she is 20, tall, and athletic. Her hair is long and dark, and is generally worn in an ornate, braided style.

Kaab arrives in the City on The Wasp, a ship of her people. She took her father's dueling sword with her, and believes that he will understand why. Kaab is in disgrace and exile following a disaster that is never fully explained, but seems to involve a woman from another Kinwiinik trading family who died before Season 1 began.

Thus, while Kaab is given a genuine welcome by her family in the City, she is also under probation, and feels this. She wants to redeem herself and does not want to be restricted from acting in the spheres she most enjoys. She dreads being confined to the Balam compound and forced to look after the babies.

Kaab finds the City too cold much of the time, and dirtier than her own, where she can go out barefoot or in sandals and not have to worry about what she might step in. Like many of her people, she finds the Local food bland and the way the City folk take their chocolate bizarre.

Having learned the bare rudiments of fighting with a sword from a Xanamwiinik sailmaker on the ship, Kaab goes to Riverside almost as soon as she disembarks, because it is the most disreputable neighborhood she knows about. There, she gets into a fight with Benjamin Hawke over Tess the Hand, believing she is a prostitute being mistretated by her pimp. Although she loses the fight, Kaab enjoys the experience (and makes face saving remarks about Ben having served her in a ritual to sacrifice her blood to her gods).

Kaab quickly becomes familiar with people from many walks of life in the City -- Riverside, the University, the merchants of the Middle City. By the end of the season, she will also know people from the Hill. She sees more sides of the City than most. This has obvious advantages to a trader who is also a spy, as are most, if not all, Kinwiinik traders.

But, it also tends to make Kaab's life complicated. Her forays into Riverside leave her infatuated with Tess, while her trips to the Fenton home and the University area forge bonds of friendship between her, Rafe Fenton, and Micah Heslop (whom Kaab recognizes is a girl). Kaab is aware of the carefully juggling act she must perform to keep her loyalty to her new friends from clashing with her loyalty to her family and her people.

If the people of the Land were to learn how to navigate to Kinwiinik lands, it would be a disaster for Kaab, the Balam, and the Kinwiinik. Currently, the Kinwiinik have a monopoly on the chocolate trade from the Batab, the Ruler of the Territories. Other trader families are pressuring the Batab to cancel this monopoly, and the Balam family would lose a considerable amount of position and status if this were to happen.

Worse still, Kaab's people are under pressure from the Tullan Empire, which is actively seeking a reason to invade. If the empire were to do so, it would not simply mean a bloody war and conquest; Kaab's family would likely be killed as sacrifices to the gods. This means that the stakes are far higher than merely financial. Protecting the secret of naval navigation is a matter of life and death for Kaab, her family, and her people.

Despite her difficult position, Kaab is a woman who enjoys life and who is unafraid to find what she wants, rather than waiting for it to be offered.

Named
Micah Heslop

Rafe Fenton

Tess

Vincent Applethorpe

Named
Ahaak

Ahchuleb (Also "Chuleb", “Uncle Chuleb”, “Chuleb Balam”, “Ahchuleb of the Balam”, Ahchuleb Balam)

Ahjuub

Ahkitan

Ahpuut

Chokan

Ixchukwapl Balam

Ixmaas

Ixmoe

Ixnoom

Ixoen

Ixsaabim (“Aunt Saabim”, “Auntie”)

Ixtopob Balam

Juub

Koxol, Uncle

Mukuy

Unnamed
Father to Ixkaab

Great mother to Kaab

Great uncle of Kaab

Named
Bapl

Dzan

Unnamed
Balaam family priest

Cook

Gatekeepers for the Balaam

Named
Alaric

Cocom (family name)

Frederick (Duke of Karleigh)

Itzcoatl, Lord

Reynald

Unnamed
Tullan nobleman

Tullan delegation

Named
Akhin

Amos

Batab, Ruler of the Territories

Ben

Cassie

Chaacmul

Citlali

Diane

Ernestine Hemmynge, Lady

Ekchuah

Fenton, Mistress

Greenglass, Master

Henry

Ixcacao

Ixchel

Jamie

Jenny

Madeline

Nathaniel Hemmynge, Lord

Pip

Reuben, Cousin

Rosalie

Rupert Hawke

Thelonious Fenton, Master

Thomas Abney

Tiny Pete

Titus

Tommykins

Two-Ply Max

Wicked Thomas

William

Xamanek

Xkawkaw

Unnamed
The Batab's latest wife

Cabin boy on the Wasp

Captain of the Wasp

Guard in the Fenton Compound

Kinwiinik woman living in Tultenco

Linkboy

Maid in the Balaam Compound

Maid in the Fenton Compound

Man of Business in the Fenton Compound

Possum

Rupert Hawke's various neighbors in the country

Sailmaker on the Wasp

Serving boy on the Hill

Wasp Ship's Agent

Supplier to the haberdasher of the Duke of Karleigh

Washerwoman

Woman dressed in trousers