Minor Fictional Characters in Crosstime Traffic

This article lists the various minor fictional characters who appear in the Crosstime Traffic series. These characters play, at best, a peripheral role in the series. While they were usually given a name, some weren't. Most were simply mentioned or had a very brief, unimportant speaking role that did not impact the plot, and never appeared again.

=Gunpowder Empire= Volume 1

Iulio Balbo
Iulio Balbo Pavo was a secretary in the office of Prefect Sesto Capurnio of Polisso. Even as the city seemed likely to crumble to pieces under the weight of the Lietuvan siege, he went to Ieremeo Soltero's shop to insist that Soltero observe every jot and tittle of his required municipal paperwork.

Annio Basso
Annio Basso commanded the Roman garrison at Polisso during the war with Lietuva.

Pulio Carvilio
Pulio Carvilio, the cobbler, owned the slave Maria. He initially wanted five pounds of silver to sell the slave to Amanda Soltera (who intended to manumit the girl immediately), but the price was haggled down to four pounds.

Settimo Destro
Settimo Destro Sinistro was a poet who lived in Polisso in the 18th century. His verses were read throughout the Roman Empire and were a source of pride for Polissans, as Destro proved that they were not the illiterate country bumpkins which most Romans assumed them to be.

Fafhrd
Fafhrd, a big red tabby, was the Solters family cat. He was confined indoors, as their previous cat had failed to safely cross the street, and wistfully watched squirrels he could not catch from the window.

Michael Fujikawa
Michael Fujikawa was a young Crosstimer and friend of Jeremy Solters. In the summer when the Solterses went to Agrippan Rome, the Fujikawas went to an alternate North China dominated by Japanese warlords. The Fujikawas, being Japanese-Americans, were judged a perfect fit to blend in. In the messages which Michael sent to Jeremy that summer, he complained of having to get up very early for long and boring religious ceremonies, as part of keeping the Fujikawas' cover in that alternate.

Kuzmickas
King Kuzmickas led Lietuva to war against the Roman Empire, resulting in a bloody stalemate in Rome's Dacia Province. When Roman emissary Ieremeo Soltero negotiated a cease-fire in the besieged city of Polisso, Kuzmickas sealed the agreement by sending a beautiful fur coat as a gift to the emissary.

Fabio Lentulo
Fabio Lentulo Barbato was an apprentice silversmith in Polisso, of the same age as Ieremeo Soltero. When both boys had time off from work, they would play ball in the street.

Honorio Prisco III
Honorio Prisco III was the Emperor of Rome during the Solters family's assignment in Polisso. His official portrait showed a middle-aged man with a big nose, jowls, and a bored expression. During his reign, Rome fought at least one war with Lietuva.

Lavinia
Lavinia was a plump woman who fetched water at Polisso's public fountain. She was determined to know how Amanda Soltera's shop acquired such perfectly made mirrors.

Marco Plurabello
Marco Plurabello was the richest banker in Polisso, but this statement did not mean as much in Agrippan Rome as it did in the home timeline. Banking was not regarded as a high class profession in the alternate. Plurabello's father was an emancipated slave, and he had no title of nobility. Nevertheless, money talked in all alternates. Marco's wife was Livia Plurabella.

Mouradian (teacher)
Ms. Mouradian taught United States History at Canoga Park High School. Her class included Jeremy Solters, Michael Fujikawa, and Elena Ramos.

Elena Ramos
Elena Ramos was a student in Ms. Mouradian's United States History class at Canoga Park High School. She correctly answered a question about the danger of letting natives of alternates know about the home timeline.

Michael Robinson
Michael Robinson (age 13 or 14) was the son of the family who took control of the Crosstime Traffic front in Polisso after the Solters' shift ended. His first impression of the city was that it stank.

Stephanie Robinson
Stephanie Robinson was the daughter of the family who took control of the Crosstime Traffic front in Polisso after the Solters' shift ended. She was about the same age as Jeremy Solters, who found her attractive.

Dawn Stone
Dawn Stone, an employee of the Crosstime Traffic front in Polisso, was known as Aurora Petra in Agrippan Rome.

Lucinda Stone
Luncinda Stone (Petra in neoLatin) was the daughter of Dawn and Mark Stone. Jeremy Solters never got the courage to tell her how cute she was, and his sister Amanda told him to stop staring at Lucinda. As for Lucinda, she was glad that her family's shift in Polisso was ending so they could return home to Cincinnati.

Mark Stone
Mark Stone operated the Crosstime Traffic front in Polisso, where he was known as Marco Petro Alto. At the end of his family's shift, he turned the post over to the Solters family.

Williams
Ms. Williams was the principal of Canoga Park High School. Amanda Solters was firmly convinced that Ms. Williams was too closed-minded to see past the end of her nose.

=Curious Notions= Volume 2

Dave
Dave was Mouradian's helper. He unloaded an order of garlic for Paul Gomes.

Elliot
Elliot was an employee of Crosstime Traffic. He worked the store Curious Notions.

For reasons that are not clear, Elliot was completely oblivious to the fact that Curious Notions had come under the scrutiny of not only the Feldgendarmerie, but the Triads as well, a situation that nearly proved disastrous for his replacements, father-and-son team Lawrence and Paul Gomes.

Fatty Horvath
"Fatty" Horvath was a police captain well-known to the entire city San Francisco. Paul Gomes contacted Horvath when he inquired into the fate of Charlie Woo on behalf of Woo's daughter, Lucy.

Later, when Lucy was in the custody of the Feldgendarmerie, she invoked Horvath's name to prove she and her family had no connection to the Gomes. The Germans were not impressed.

Old Man Lin
Old Man Lin was a neighbor of the Woo family. He informed Mrs. Woo that he'd seen her husband arrested by German authorities.

Louie
Louie ran a hamburger restaurant in San Francisco. When the German Feldgendarmerie shut down Curious Notions and arrested Lawrence Gomes, his son Paul ate at Louie's. While Louie was worried about what might happen to him if Paul was caught in his restaurant, he was more concerned about Paul's well-being, and so fed him.

Before Paul and Lawrence left the alternate, they visited Louie one last time for some baklava with the Woos, leaving a generous tip.

Peggy Ma
Peggy Ma was a friend of Lucy Woo's. They spent Sundays together in Golden Gate Park, because it was free. Like Lucy, Peggy was frustrated with the poor status of the United States.

Mildred
Mildred worked with Lucy Woo, running a sewing machine at a shoe factory. She'd been at it for most of her adult life. Like everyone else on the floor, she hated the superviser, Hank Simmons.

Mouradian (farmer)
Mouradian was a garlic farmer in Gilroy. He unknowlingly sold a good chunk of his crop to Crosstime Traffic via Curious Notions.

Andy O'Connell
Andy O'Connell was a San Francisco beat cop. He was of Irish descent, and had a massive belly. He was friendly with Paul Gomes. When Paul was on the lam after his father was arrested by the Feldgendarmerie, he had a chance encounter with O'Connell on the streets. O'Connell warned Paul to stay out of sight. He also offered to find out why Lawrence Gomes had been arrested.

Mrs. Pastrano
Mrs. Pastrano was a wealthy customer of Curious Notions. She bought a record player and a stereo. Her purchase paid for a load of garlic for the home timeline.

Both Paul and Lawrence Gomes were privately disgusted by Mrs. Pastrano's mink coat.

Hank Simmons
Hank Simmons was the foreman at the shoe factory where Lucy Woo worked. Simmons was a strict and mean supervisor. However, when the Triads took an interest in Lucy and what she knew about Curious Notions, they put pressure on Simmons to be nicer to her. He responded by having her sent to the warehouse's front office.

Chris Triandos
Chris Triandos sold almonds to the home timeline via Curious Notions for years. When the Triads took an interest in the store, they threatened Triandos and other farmers, warning them not to sell. Lawrence Gomes learned of this from Triandos.

Weidenreich
Weidenreich was an inspector of the Imperial German Feldgendarmerie in San Francisco. He entered Curious Notions and asked several questions of Paul Gomes about where the store got the items it sold. When Paul told his father Lawrence about Weidenreich's visit, Lawrence made up a list of supposed suppliers culled from the phone book. This list included Charlie Woo. The fake list didn't satisfy Weidenreich, plus it made life hard for Woo and his family.

=In High Places= Volume 3

Abdallah, King of Berry
Abdallah was a Berber monarch of the Kingdom of Berry, which bordered the Kingdom of Versailles to the south, in 2096. Like most rulers of southern Europe, Abdallah was a Muslim.

Abdallah was aggressive; the Kingdom of Versailles viewed him with suspicion.

Antonio
Antonio was the chief of police of Madrid in the home timeline. He took part in the takedown of the trans-alternate slave-trafficking conspiracy.

Charles, King of Versailles
Charles was the King of Versailles in the late 21st century. He reigned from Paris. As the Great Black Deaths had killed over 80% of Europe's population in the 14th century, the city never became more than a dirty medieval town, a fact which Crosstimer Annette Klein was frustrated to notice. While the kingdom was officially ruled by Charles, real authority lay in the hands of the capable Duke Raoul who, aware of the weak position of his Christian duchy, effectively played off the various Muslim states to the south.

Kwame Daniels
Kwame Daniels was an officer of the Seattle Police Department. He escorted Annette Klein to the station so that she could confirm that corporate bigwig Bridget Mallory was in fact the "slave tourist" Birigida. Having escaped from slavery, Annette contemplated Daniels' skin color which suggested that his ancestors had been slaves.

Daud
Daud was part of the brigand band that kidnapped the Kleins. He witnessed Khadija al-Marsawi use judo to flip an attacker named Ibrahim. He asked Khadija (believing her to be a fellow Muslim) if she could show some of the other men the trick, invoking Allah, the compassionate and merciful, in his request. She vaguely suggested she might, and then condemned Daud for invoking the compassionate and merciful Allah in his request. Another brigand sided with Khadija on this matter of theology.

Degrelle
Mr. Degrelle was one of the ringleaders of the conspiracy which misused Crosstime Traffic equipment to run a trans-alternate slave-trafficking ring. On the testimony of Annette Klein and other escaped captives of his enterprise, Degrelle was brought to trial in 2096 and sentenced to life in prison, with possibility of parole in 2121. His claims to have been a benevolent master who was not as cruel as some, were deemed unconvincing. The prosecutor compared this claim to the story of a man who killed his own parents and asked for compassion because he was an orphan.

Count Guillaume
Count Guillaume was a soldier of the Kingdom of Versailles, tasked with guarding the southern frontier. In 2096, Guillaume received a message from Duke Raoul of Paris that the neighboring Kingdom of Berry was preparing an incursion into Versailles' territory.

Although Guillaume sent Sergeant Pierre to search the nearby woods, no bandits could be found.

The message was brought by Jacques, a servant of the Duke's.

German trader
A trader from the Germanies attempted to bring a large bell over the border from Versailles to Berry, only to have it confiscated by border guards. The bell was clearly a church bell; while Christian churches were (grudgingly) allowed in Muslim Berry, they were not allowed to have bells, so as not to advertise the faith too much. The caravan leader told the grumbling German to be glad that the guards had not confiscated all his goods. Jacob and Tiffany Klein, watching this, imagined that the Berryans would either put the bell to their own use, or sell it back over the border for a profit.

Ibrahim
Ibrahim was part of the brigand band that attacked the caravan carrying the al-Marsawi family. He tried to subdue Khadija al-Marsawi, but she flipped him using judo, a feat that amazed his colleagues.

Luisa Javier
Luisa Javier was head of security in Pedro Olivo's office. Annette Klein thought she looked like a schoolteacher.

Sam Nguyen
Sam Nguyen, a lawyer from Seattle, represented Bridget Mallory, who had been a "slave tourist" at a "resort" where people from multiple alternates were enslaved against their will. As his client had witnessed atrocities and kept silent, and was an accessory rather than a participant, Nguyen was able to secure a plea bargain whereby Mallory would testify against the ringleaders in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Pedro Olivo
Pedro Olivo (b. circa 2041) was the Chief Administrator of Crosstime Traffic's Madrid station. Annette Klein was reunited with her parents in his office, and began making arrangements to have the trans-alternate slave-trafficking conspiracy taken down.

Paul
Paul was a low-ranking member of the trans-alternate slave-trafficking conspiracy, guarding the transportation chamber that led from the work fields to Madrid in the home timeline. Annette Klein, who had been kidnapped into slavery, pretended to be a "slave tourist" like Bridget Mallory, and deceived Paul into letting her return to the home timeline.

Pierre
Pierre was an older sergeant in the employ of Count Guillaume, who guarded the southern frontier of the Kingdom of Versailles. When Jacques, a servant of Duke Raoul of Paris brought a message to the Count from the Duke, Pierre vouched that Jacques was not a spy.

When Count Guillaume read the Duke's message, which suggested that the Kingdom of Berry might be preparing some sort of attack, Pierre agreed to take soldiers to scout the border.

Duke Raoul
Duke Raoul was the feudal lord of the city of Paris in 2096, the chief city of the Kingdom of Versailles, a tiny Christian kingdom surrounded by a sea of more powerful, wealthy Muslim states. Having taken centuries to recover from the Great Black Deaths, Paris, remained a small, dirty, medieval city. Raoul was a cunning politician who nonetheless remained aware of the fact that he ruled a Christian backwater. He ordered one of his subjects, Jacques to keep an eye on a suspicious set of merchants, unaware that they were actually traders with Crosstime Traffic.

Many people whispered that Raoul was the real power behind King Charles' throne.

Tariq
Tariq was the leader of a band of thieves in the Kingdom of Berry. In 2096, King Abdallah was supposed to have smashed Tariq's men, or so an innkeeper in Paris assured the Kleins. The Kleins' caravan was attacked on the way to Marseille, although it was never clear if Tariq was the leader that particular band.

=The Disunited States of America= Volume 4

Adrian
Adrian (d. 2097) was a soldier in the Virginia Army. While stationed in Elizabeth, he and another soldier, Millard, caught the tailored measles virus Ohio had unleased on Virginia early in their 2097 war. Adrian eventually died. Justin Monroe "borrowed" Adrian's uniform, joined a platoon, and fought his way into Charleston.

Violet Brown
Violet Brown (b. c. 2027) was a childhood friend of Myrtle Bentley in Elizabeth, Virginia. When Myrtle returned to Elizabeth in 2097, she ran into Violet's sister, Daisy Springer.

Cal
Cal was a soldier in the Virginia Army. He participated in quelling the Negro uprising in Charleston that came at the same time as the Ohio-Virginia War of 2097.

Cloyd
Cloyd was one of two Virginia border guards who inspected Beckie Royer, Myrtle Bentley, and Uncle Luke's passports. Both Cloyd and his colleague could not understand why two Californians wanted to visit Virginia.

Irma Davis
Irma Davis (d. 2097) was the waitress in the only diner in Elizabeth in the country of Virginia. She'd managed to get into Parkersburg for a dental visit after Ohio released a tailored measles virus into Virginia, where she contracted the virus. She died some days after that visit, but not before she'd served Randolph Brooks and Justin Monroe several meals.

When word spread that Irma had died, Myrtle Bentley tried to convince Ted Snodgrass not to let Brooks and Monroe back into the house. Snodgrass did not heed the advice on the grounds that everyone in the Snodgrass household had been exposed by now.

Major Duncan
Major Duncan, Virginia Army, was part of the offensive to regain Elizabeth from Ohio in 2097. When several troops were infected with the tailored measles virus Ohio had unleashed early in the war, he ordered his men to pull back out of Elizabeth.

Duncan had a heated argument with an army doctor, who refused to leave, asserting that taking care of the sick men was his job.

Eddie
Eddie was a soldier in the Virginia Army. He bonded with Justin Monroe when Monroe disguised himself as a soldier to get back to Charleston. Not long after entering Charleston, Eddie was wounded by a Negro insurgent. Justin was able to pull him out of danger.

Everett
Everett was a Virginia soldier stationed in Charleston at the tail-end of the Ohio-Virginia War of 2097. He checked Beckie Royer's papers when she went looking for the Charleston Coin and Stamp Company. Everett was surprised to see someone from California in the middle of a Virginia war-zone. Everett's partner assured him that the Charleston Coin and Stamp Company was legitimate, and Everett allowed Beckie on her way.

George Herman
George Herman (d. circa 1947) was one of the great North American rounders players. His team was the Highlanders. Video footage of his famous "called shot" confirmed that he really did aim his club out toward the sign, and smacked the ball over it.

Beckie Royer asked Justin Monroe if he agreed with the consensus that Herman was the greatest player of the game. Monroe, not a native of the alternate, gave a vague answer. However, when Beckie asked Ted Snodgrass and Randolph Brooks their opinion, Justin figured out that Herman was a figure similar to George Herman Ruth aka Babe Ruth of the home timeline. He interjected his own private joke, saying Herman was "ruthless", a joke only Brooks understood.

Beckie was puzzled by Justin's apparent unfamiliarity with Herman.

Special Agent Jefferson
Special Agent Jefferson of the Virginia Bureau of Investigation led an investigation into the death of Charlie Clark, a Negro janitor in Elizabeth, Virginia. To that end, he and his subordinates, Agent Madison and Agent Tyler interrogated both Beckie Royer and Justin Monroe. While Jefferson was suspicious of the Californian Royer, he determined that neither were involved in any Negro revolt designed to take advantage with the war with Ohio.

Literary comment
Along with his two partners, this agent is named after a President of the United States in OTL. In this case, Thomas Jefferson.

Mr. Kerfeld
Mr. Kerfeld was a grocer in Elizabeth, Virginia. Justin Monroe and Randolph Brooks shopped in his store after the diner was closed down.

Justin had the chance to observe Virginia's racial politics while in the store. Kerfeld treated his fellow whites, Justin and Randy, as equals. His interaction with town janitor Charlie Clark, a Negro, was cordial, but subtly showed the disparity between the two men's positions.

Lonnie
Lonnie was a driver for Crosstime Traffic. He volunteered to take Randolph Brooks and Cyndi & Justin Monroe to a quarantine alternate. The alternate had never evolved humans, which gave Lonnie the chance to catch up on his birdwatching.

Louise
Louise was Myrtle Bentley's sister and Beckie Royer's great-aunt. Myrtle and Beckie stayed with Louise and her husband Luke in Belpre, Ohio on their way to Myrtle's hometown of Elizabeth, Virginia. Louis insisted that Luke give Myrtle and Beckie a ride to Elizabeth, much to Luke's chagrin. He was running guns to Virginia Negroes, and didn't want the company. However, Louise, unaware of her husband's activities, insisted.

Luke
Uncle Luke was married to Myrtle Bentley's sister, Louise. Beckie Royer only ever knew him as "Uncle Luke". When Myrtle and Beckie visited Louise in Belpre, Ohio, Luke grudingly agreed to take them to Elizabeth, Virginia. Luke had been going that direction anyway, to run guns to the local Negro populations in anticipation of war breaking out between Ohio and Virginia.

Luke cleverly used Beckie and Myrtle's status as Californians to distract the border guard Cloyd, allowing Luke to safely take his load of guns into Elizabeth. Once they arrived, Luke ordered the two women out of the car, and went about his business.

Agent Madison
Agent Madison was one of three Virginia Bureau of Investigation agents who questioned Beckie Royer and Justin Monroe.

Literary comment
Along with his two partners, this agent is named after a President of the United States in OTL. In this case, James Madison.

Bessie Mathewson
Bessie Mathewson was the wife of Fred Mathewson. The fact that she was panicked about her husband's illness was proof to Ted Snodgrass that Fred had the tailored measles virus Ohio had released onto Virginia.

Fred Mathewson
Fred Mathewson was a resident of Elizabeth, Virginia. He caught the tailored measles virus Ohio had released on its neighbor early in their war.

Hank Meadows
Hank Meadows sold lamps in Elizabeth, Virginia. When neighboring Palestine refused to let Myrtle Bentley and Ethel Snodgrass enter the town (as part of the quarantine that the whole country of Virginia was under), Ethel angrily promised that Hank Meadows would hear of it, and that people from Palestine would be denied lamps.

Millard
Millard was a soldier in the Virginia Army. While stationed in Elizabeth, he and another soldier, Adrian, caught the tailored measles virus Ohio had unleashed on Virginia early in their 2097 war.

Literary comment
Consistent with this novel's repeated pattern of minor characters named for US Presidents, this character could be named for Millard Fillmore.

Mr. Monroe
Mr. Monroe was Justin Monroe's father, and Cyndi Monroe's ex-husband. Justin's parents had divorced in 2090. Everyone was still hurt over that in 2097.

Mr. Royer
Mr. Royer was the husband of Trish and the father of Beckie. He was a bioengineer from California. Somehow he tolerated his mother-in-law, Myrtle Bentley, with the patience of Job.

Trish Royer
Trish Royer was Beckie Royer's mother and Myrtle Bentley's daughter. She was born in California after her mother immigrated there from Virginia.

Trish eventually married a bioengineer. She shared a very frosty relationship with her mother, but a very close one with her daughter.

Sam
Sam was a soldier in the Virginia Army. He participated in quelling the Negro uprising in Charleston. Justin Monroe briefly served with Sam when Monroe snuck back into the city.

Smitty
Smitty was a soldier with the Virginia army. He and his comrade Eddie bonded with Justin Monroe when Monroe disguised himself as a soldier so he could get back into Charleston.

Smitty congratulated Monroe on his first kill in combat. Justin was privately horrified.

Daisy Springer
Daisy Brown Springer was the younger sister of Violet Brown, Myrtle Bentley's best friend in childhood. When Myrtle returned to Elizabeth, Virginia in 2097, she ran into Daisy. The two reminisced about their childhood for some time before Myrtle thought to introduce her granddaughter, Beckie Royer, to Daisy.

Franklin Delano Truman
Franklin Delano Truman was an important North American in an alternate where the United States dissolved in the early 19th century. Ted Snodgrass cited Truman as the type of person everyone had heard of.

Literary comment
This is a gag reference to consecutive OTL Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman. It is impossible to say whether the character is analogous to either.

Agent Tyler
Agent Tyler was one of three Virginia Bureau of Investigation agents who questioned Beckie Royer and Justin Monroe.

Literary comment
Along with his two partners, this agent is named after a President of the United States in OTL. In this case, John Tyler, who served as the 10th President 1841-1845, and does not figure in any Harry Turtledove work.

Hattie Williamson
Hattie Williamson was a childhood friend of Myrtle Bentley's. When Myrtle returned to Elizabeth, Virginia, she spent time reminiscing about Hattie and her dog with Daisy Springer.

=The Gladiator= Volume 5

Abbaticchio
Abbaticchio was a classmate of Annarita Crosetti's in Comrade Montefusco's Russian language class. He received a "C" as his final grade. He required a "B+" to get into the university he wanted. Montefusco steadily maintained that Abbacticchio had earned a "C". Angrily, Abbaticchio retorted that his father, a member of the Security Police would make Montefusco sorry. Abbaticchio proudly proclaimed that his father was the officer who brought down The Gladiator, a fact that did not move Montefusco.

Ernesto Albosta
Ernesto Albosta was Marcantonio Moretti's assistant. Albosta did the actual janitorial work for the building. Albosta hired By the Arch Repairs to fix the building's elevator. The fact that the company was headquartered in Rimini tipped off Annarita Crosetti that the repairmen were from Crosstime Traffic.

Alfredo
Alfredo was an older patron of The Gladiator. He spent a great deal of time and energy playing and studying the game "Rails across Europe". When Gianfranco Mazzilli played and lost to Alfredo, he was quite pleased with how well he played, even though he lost in the end.

Alfredo was among the first people to learn that The Gladiator was closed.

Filippo Antonelli
Filippo Antonelli was a senior at Hoxha Polytechnic and the president of the Young Socialists' League when Annarita Crosetti was still a junior. Despite his office, Filippo was a moderate communist. When a motion arose to investigate The Gladiator, a gaming shop, Antonelli set up a committee, comprised of Annarita, Maria Tenace and Ludovico Pagliarone.

While Antonelli was dutiful to Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist principles, his was a tempered devotion. He was sympathetic to Annarita's concerns that Maria wanted The Gladiator shut down without having investigated it first hand. With his counsel, Annarita was able to file a report that ruled The Gladiator sound. Unfortunately, The Gladiator was later shut down by the Security Police, proving Tenace right. Antonelli had to accept Tenace's minority report instead of Annarita's.

After Antonelli graduated, Annarita was elected president of the Young Socialists' League.

The Bombardiers
The Bombardiers were a modern musical group. They were considered counterrevoluionary, and so purchasing and owning their recordings was illegal and done underground. Annarita Crosetti and Gianfranco Mazzilli found Bombardiers recordings in a shop in San Marino. Gianfranco suggested that they purchase a few. Annarita vetoed it, as their companion Eduardo Caruso's trip to The Three Sixes probably drew too much attention to them.

Burn This Record
Burn This Record was a modern musical group. It was was considered counterrevolutionary, and so purchasing and owning their recordings was illegal and done underground. Annarita Crosetti and Gianfranco Mazzilli found Burn This Record recordings (among others) in a shop in San Marino. Gianfranco suggested that they purchase a few. Annarita vetoed it, as their companion Eduardo Caruso's trip to The Three Sixes probably drew too much attention to them.

Carlo
Carlo (b. 2072) was a young university student in Milan. He spent a great deal of time in The Gladiator, avidly playing the game Rails across Europe. He attempted the tactic of "loss leader" against Gianfranco Mazzilli during one of their games. It backfired on Carlo, but Gianfranco remembered the tactic.

Some days later, Carlo went to The Gladiator and found Gianfranco sitting outside the closed store. The two discussed the possibility that the store had been closed down by the Security Police like another store, The Conductor's Cap.

Chiapelli
Chiapelli was a Communist hero of the Italian People's Republic. His image appeared on the uniforms of the Young Socialists' League of Italy, along with that of Moroni, among others. However, their pictures were not as prominent as the Soviet Union's heroes.

Counterrevolution
Counterrevolution was a modern musical group. As its name implied, it was counterrevolutionary, and so purchasing and owning its recordings was illegal and done underground. Annarita Crosetti and Gianfranco Mazzilli found Counterrevolution recordings in a shop in San Marino. Gianfranco suggested that they purchase a few. Annarita vetoed it, as their companion Eduardo Caruso's trip to The Three Sixes probably drew too much attention to them.

Paolo Crespi
Paolo Crespi was a classmate of Gianfranco Mazzilli's in Comrade Pontevecchio's history class. When called on in class, he correctly stated that the United States had grown tired of fighting the Vietnam War, but he could not give a deeper answer.

Donofrio
Comrade Donofrio was an algebra teacher at Hoxha Polytechnic. He noticed remarkable improvement in Gianfranco Mazzilli's scores, after Mazzillim started playing Rails across Europe. He quizzed the boy, who'd been a terrible student heretofore, to make sure Gianfranco wasn't cheating.

When Gianfranco suggested that his improved scores were attributable to the game, Donofrio admitted to playing it, too.

Marco Furillo
Marco Furillo was a student at Hoxha Polytechnic and a member of the Young Socialists' League. He moved that the League investigate The Gladiator, a gaming shop that was growing in popularity, on the grounds that it wsa subversive.

Iacopo
An Italian Security Police officer named Iacopo or perhaps Iacomo, was the lead investigator in Gianfranco Mazzilli's "kidnapping". He escorted Gianfranco back to The Three Sixes in San Marino in the hope that Gianfranco could show the Police the location of a secret trap door. Gianfranco eventually was able to take them to a hidden room full of gaudy furniture and burned papers.

Luisa
Luisa was a classmate of Annarita Crosetti's. They were in Comrade Montefusco's Russian language class.

After a brief visit from a pair of Russian diplomats, the class asked a series of questions about Russian culture, in part out of curiosity, in part to avoid actually doing classwork. Luisa was given the last question. She asked how Soviet prison camps were worse than those of the Italian People's Republic. She asked whether non-Russians had fewer right than Russians in the USSR, but Montefusco ignored it.

Massimo
Massimo was an employee of Crosstime Traffic. He was unhappy that Eduardo Caruso brought Gianfranco Mazzilli back to the home timeline. However, he did unbend some, permitting Eduardo to show Gianfranco around their Rimini.

Dmitri Mechnikov
Dmitri Mechnikov was a member of the Russian delegation in Milan to promote fraternal Socialist cooperation and trade. He was from the Volga region. He and his colleague Comrade Terekhova visited Annarita Crosetti's Russian language course. The were both late, spoke casually of corruption in the Soviet Union, and left early. Everyone seemed relieved when they did.

Since Mechnikov came from southern Russia, he spoke with a thick accent that made him sound like a mooing cow. Comrade Montefusco explained it was common in his region, comparing it to Italian spoken in Naples or Sicily. However, the class thought it made him sound stupid, whether or not he really was. Comrade Montefusco agreed and said Muscovites had a similar opinion.

Teobaldo Montefiore
Teobaldo Montefiore was a classmate of Gianfranco Mazzilli's in Comrade Pontevecchio's history course. While Montefiore correctly answered that the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War showed that the United States was merely a "paper tiger," he couldn't say why this was the case, which angered Pontevecchio.

Montefusco
Comrade Montefusco taught Russian language at Hoxha Polytechnic in Milan. He'd studied in the Soviet Union for some years and had a very good Moscow accent. It was rumored that he'd spent time in a camp there. Annarita Crosetti took Montefusco's course in her Junior year.

While a good Communist, Montefusco knew that Russians were far from perfect, and shared some of these observations with his class.

Moreno
Moreno was a Crosstime Traffic employee. He drove Gianfranco Mazzilli and Eduardo Caruso from Rimini to Milan, where Gianfranco would be returned to his alternate. Gianfranco never learned if "Moreno" was the man's first or last name.

Marcantonio Moretti
Marcantonio Moretti was the chief janitor in the apartment building that housed the Crosetti and the Mazzilli families. He was quite impressed with the repairs Rocco and Giulio made on the buildings elevator. Naturally, he behaved as if he'd somehow been responsible for the repairs.

Moroni
Moroni was a Communist hero of the Italian People's Republic. His image appeared on the uniforms of the Young Socialists' League of Italy, along with that of Chiapelli. However, their pictures were not as prominent as the Soviet Union's heroes.

Luisa Orlandini
Luisa Orlandini was a classmate of Gianfranco Mazzilli's in Comrade Pontevecchio's history course. She was able to parrot the "fact" that the United States' decision to back down during the Cuban Missile Crisis proved that it was a "paper tiger". However, she could not say why the United States failed in its aims during the Vietnam War.

Ludovico Pagliarone
Ludovico Pagliarone was a student at Hoxha Polytechnic and a member of the Young Socialists' League. He was part of the committee that investigated The Gladiator. He did not visit the store, but accepted Annarita Crosetti's argument that the store was ideologically sound, much to the rage of the third member, Maria Tenace. In truth, Ludovico wanted an opportunity to get some Roman figurines.

Pastrano
Comrade Pastrano was a biology teacher at Hoxha Polytechnic. Gianfranco Mazzilli was in his class.

Pellagrini
Comrade Pellagrini taught literature at Hoxha Polytechnic. She was an attractive woman; most of the boys in her class, Gianfranco Mazzilli included, had a crush on her.

As was typical in the education system of the Italian People's Republic, all literature and interpretations of that literature were used to bolster the idea of the inevitable triumph of Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism. This included giving pat answers to troubling questions, such as how the monstrous "English Socialism" system depicted in 1984 had nothing to do with "true" Socialism, and therefore the book did not involve any criticism of the actual world system.

Pierniccolo
Pierniccolo was a student at Hoxha Polytechnic and member of the Young Socialists' League who graduated two years before Filippo Antonelli did. Antonelli was not fond of Pierniccolo; he was the son of a Security Police captain, and so was a ferocious adherrent of Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism.

Antonelli compared Maria Tenace to Pierniccolo.

Pope Pius XIV
Pius XIV was the Pope of the Catholic Church in the late 21st century. Although communism dominated the globe, the Soviet Union was aware of the importance of religious tradition in Italy, and so left Pius and the Church alone.

Pontevecchio
Comrade Pontevecchio was a history teacher at Hoxha Polytechnic. Gianfranco Mazzilli was one of his students. Generally, Pontevechhio wasn't a very interesting teacher, and his students weren't very studious.

Isabella Sabatini
Isabella Sabatini was a junior at Hoxha Polytechnic and the General Secretary of the Young Socialists' League. Annarita Crosetti privately noted that Joseph Stalin had turned the office of General Secretary into the supreme office of the Soviet Union. Annarita doubted Isabella Sabatini had such ambitions.

Sofia
Sofia was a classmate of Gianfranco Mazzilli's in Comrade Pontevecchio's history class. She could not define "popular fronts" for her teacher, which doomed the class to writing an essay on the subject.

Terekhova
Comrade Terekhova was a member of the Russian delegation in Milan to promote fraternal Socialist cooperation and trade. She and her colleague Comrade Dmitri Mechnikov visited Annarita Crosetti's Russian language course. The were both late, spoke quite casually of corruption in the Soviet Union, and left early. Everyone seemed relieved when they did.

Terekhova's Russian was difficult to follow as she used the Mat dialect rather than formal Russian.

Vittorio
Vittorio was a "Rails across Europe" player at The Gladiator. He wasn't one of the better players; Carlo was confident he'd beat Vittorio when they played the losers' bracket of the in-store tournament.

=The Valley-Westside War= Volume 6

Frodo
Frodo was a junior Burbank Customs Inspector at the border with The Valley. His superior politely shook-down the Mendoza trader family for a pair of Levi's for himself, Frodo and Melvin when they crossed into "Beautiful, downtown Burbank". Liz Mendoza was reminded again by the name that Lord of the Rings had remained popular in this alternate and references to it were not safe as passwords.

Harvey
Harvey of The Valley was a soldier on duty with "Doubting Thomas", guarding occupied Westwood. He stood watch while "Thomas" went to inspect the Mendozas' cargo of Levi's jeans.

Melvin
Melvin was a junior Burbank Customs Inspector at the border with The Valley. His superior politely shook-down the Mendoza trader family for a pair of Levi's for himself, Melvin and Frodo when they crossed into "Beautiful, downtown Burbank".

Norm
Norm was a secretary from The Valley. He got that job after a teacher praised his handwriting. If he hadn't received that recommendation, he probably would have become a leatherworker like his father. Imagining that example of what might have been, helped Norm's friend Dan understand the idea of alternates.

Senior Burbank Customs Inspector
When the Mendoza family fled The Valley a second time, they traveled north and then headed to Speedro through "Beautiful, downtown Burbank". At the border, a Senior Customs Inspector questioned them. When he found they had a load of Old Time Levi's jeans, he admitted they would be duty-free since Burbank couldn't manufacture anything similar. He then hemmed about checking the regulations until Jeff Mendoza offered him and his fellow inspectors a pair each. The Senior Inspector politely thanked Mendoza and then called Frodo and Melvin to get their share. After, the Mendozas were free to enter Burbank.

George Stoyadinovich
George Stoyadinovich was a Crosstime Traffic employee stationed in Speedro. He had a large mustache which made him look like a cartoon Gaulish warrior, and was a fan of Citizen Kane and Shaquille O'Neal.

Irma Stoyadinovich
Irma Stoyadinovich was a Crosstime Traffic employee stationed in Speedro. She made an excellent cake sweetened with honey and raisins, despite not having any sugar.

Doubting Thomas
Doubting Thomas was the nickname given by Jeff Mendoza to a Valley soldier guarding the entry into occupied Westwood. The soldier was skeptical of the Mendozas' claim to be selling Old Time Levi's jeans, but was impressed with the products' quality and took his hat off (literally) as a sign of admiration. Liz Mendoza figured, from the way the man was enthralled by the jeans' details, that he must have come from a family of tailors.

=References=