Sam

Simon is from a prominent Genoese family (the Ghisolfi) and is of the Jewish faith, though he is not actively religious (but he does adhere to dietary restrictions). His uncle is an important leader in the Genoese community in the Crimea, where Simon spent most of his adult life. After the fall of Constantinople and the near-miss.

Hanno was a silver miner in Switzerland, and worked for Janos Hunyadi as a sapper. He served with Johannes Grant, with whom he often converses indirectly, by making Gerard van Delft act as a translator in Latin. He asks many detailed questions about the architecture of Constantinople, which he has never himself seen, though he continues to insist that Zurich is a greater city than any in the east. Hanno has great knowledge of mining, of the bones of the country, and understands engineering and architecture.

Kalina does not discuss her purpose for being in Hungary, but it is known that she was close to the inner circle of Fra John of Capistrano. And as soon as he died, she had little to say about him.

Wulf is trained as a locksmith though he never joined the guild, as technically he is still a journeyman. He instead spent many years fighting in the militia against robber knights in Alsace and is a good shot with a crossbow, having won prizes in the Schützenfest. He is also clearly a good fencer though he rarely engages in sport matches with Gerd and Jan. At Belgrade he was working as a gunsmith for Hunyadi, adding matchlock serpentine devices to captured firearms. While with the Black Army he got into a dispute with a soldier who was mistreating a woman, and ended up fighting a duel with the man, who he killed. The incident was famous in Belgrade and he was forced to leave town before being paid, lest he suffer the revenge of the other soldiers. He is still brooding a bit over this incident and his lost pay.

Gerard is trained in medicine and was working as a personal physician for one of the nobles in the Black Army, but when plague broke out his patron quickly died.

Johannes Grant served with the Genoese in the defense of Constantinople, successfully intercepting several Ottoman tunneling efforts. He performed the same role with equal success in Belgrade. Since the siege and its aftermath though, he says he’s had enough of looking at impaled corpses and hopes never to hear the Mehter again. He plans to return to his native Edinburgh and contribute to building up his home town into a great city, bringing ideas he learned during his time with the Italians and Byzantines.