Characters | Eras of Empire

Sir M. Nigel Carlisle

1933 - present

Background

Lording over the mysterious Castlemartin estate, Sir Carlisle is a prophetic historian made famous by his initially controversial 1995 book Eras of Empire: The Growth Patterns of Human Civilization. While the book received intense criticism - bordering on ridicule - upon its initial release just five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the book would go on to become a cult classic amidst the tumultuous times of the 21st century liberal international order.

Refusing to relish in his success, this secretive aristocrat has not been seen in public for decades. He remains within the book-filled confines of Castlemartin quietly working on his research.

Diana Pagonis

1981 - present

Background

Born in Romania during the twilight of the USSR, Diana has only faint memories of her parents as they were executed for trading Soviet secrets under than Ceausescu regime to the Americans. She grew up with extended family in Greece and changed her surname. Graduating from the Ecole Normale Superieure (PSL) in Paris, Diana spent her young adult years travelling around Europe and the world.

If Diana had been a painter, she would have been a pointillist; her ability to take innumerable points of data and coalesce them into a coherent story holds no peer. Not past her fortieth birthday, it was as if she had lived forty lifetimes, enough to cover nearly all of human history.

She has consistently ranked in the top five global super forecasters since 2011. Also an accomplished poet, Diana pushes the limits of Aristotelian logical syllogisms with such notable works as Infinity is Always Waiting and You Don't Walk Away from Dismemberment.

A key member of Carlisle's Castlemartin research team, she has resided there since late 2019.

Ethan Briar

1983 - present

Background

From conventional upbringings in Morristown, New Jersey, Ethan has been a part of the greater US diplomatic apparatus ever since being joining the State Department following his senior year at Georgetown. He served nearly a decade in the Foreign Service in various posts around the world including Prague, Beijing, and Santiago.

As a Director of Consulting with a fast-growing and highly in-demand global research company called Sovereign Intelligence (SOVERINT), he looks to move up in the ultra-competitive corporate world of mid-town Manhattan and embrace new challenges aiming to make his mark on the world.

Claire Rosedale

1988 - present

Background

Graduating at the top of her class at Oxford, Claire is the essential historical companion specializing in Western Civilization. She endeavors to navigate the pathways of history exploring its near-infinite possibilities. Growing up in Paris as a French citizen, Claire straddles between the British Isles and European continent with its unique blend of cultural differences. This has provided her a precocious empathy of sorts to embrace multiple perspectives maintaining a fluidity between objective and subjective philosophical outlooks at such a young age.

While she doesn’t fully reject her aristocratic lineage, she avoids conventional high society and keeps a low profile.

Sir A.H. Hugsby XIII

1941 - present

Background

Fueled by a nostalgic longing for a return to a world of aristocratic values and endless cups of Yorkshire Gold, Ashley Hugh Hugsby XIII is the quintessential exemplar of British landed gentry. His diet is extremely eclectic and sophisticated, but never misses out on daily helpings of cucumber sandwiches sans crust, taking after Queen Elizabeth.

Hugsby's personality manages to aloof indifference, borderline paranoia, and acute genius all at once. An autodidact, he dropped out of Cambridge in the late seventies when his parents passed away, he spent several years fly fishing around the ponds near his family estate in northern England.

This period of his life and physical likeness led him to adopt the moniker of Jeremy Fisher from the Beatrix Potter fables; it is rumored that he cannot fall asleep unless he hears the sound of gently croaking frogs.

Hugsby is a loyal friend of Carlisle, their relationship going far back to the beginnings of the Cold War period in the 1950s.