As not to become an unintended spoiler for the novel, I've confined my characters to those who begin the story with Philip.
Philip is the grandson of Baron Abernathy Thomas who fled Hobohemia and the family curse there. Heir to the Baltimore And Ohio railroad, Philip is hurled back into Hobohemia to either reconstitute the barony or die trying. A graduate of Wharton business school, he was trained to run a railroad - just not the railroad he thought after his father was killed.
Erin should have become a steam child, but the Irish redhead was kept from the tracks by her possesive mother. She grew up a spiker - with some of the abilities of her kind. Erin holds a dark past involving the Yegg King with whom she has reluctantly teamed up to see the Baltimore And Ohio barony reborn.
A cross between Beethoven and a mad scientist, William is the enigmatic leader of the dangerous yegg lurking across Hobohemia and has a plan to escape Hobohemia at any cost.
Quickly used to love the Baltimore And Ohio until she discovered the dark secret held by Baron Abernathy. She was instrumental in the downfall of the once mighty railroad, but at a cost to those who lost their livelihoods. The shunned steam child is caught between her own anger and a desire for redemption when she reaches out to help Philip.
Baron of the Philidelphia Railroad, he is not welcoming the news of Philip returning to Hobohemia and resurrecting the Baltimore And Ohio. Not with him running on the tracks Philip can technically claim back. He has a simple solution to the problem. Simple and potentially fatal for Philip.