The Vorkosigan Companion

by Lillian Stewart Carl

  After Miles is admitted to the Imperial Academy in spite of his physical limitations, Ivan and he routinely end up on the opposite side in undergrad war games, and Miles savors his frequent victories over his taller and better-looking cousin. Upon graduation, Miles gets sent to the worst posting in all of Barrayar's army—to Kyril Island as a weatherman. Ivan can't help but grin. But he's in position to help Miles research his new and psychotic commander's sealed military files, and the two ensigns inadvertently uncover a hole in Imperial computer security.

  Ivan rises through the military ranks steadily, and is next promoted to the rank of lieutenant. But he still retains his responsibilities as a Vor and close relation to Emperor Gregor. Because of those connections, he accompanies Miles on the diplomatic mission to the Cetagandan Empire to attend the Dowager Empress Lisbet Degtiar's funeral on Eta Ceta IV. Ivan is entirely smitten by all the beautiful ghem-ladies, and they seem to return his regard, especially after a practical joke results in Ivan being slipped an anti-aphrodisiac before two ghem-women seduce him. Ivan

  concocts a story about Vor lords having to pleasure their women multiple times before the Vor lord is free to participate himself. He then delivers on that promise, making his popularity explode after that. Ivan also comes up with the idea to have eight haut gene banks, distributed by the Dowager Empress in a plot that has fallen apart with her death, recalled from the satrap governors' ships. But his good looks nearly get him killed. The haut-lady Chilian d'Vio thinks Ivan is the brains behind Miles's attempts to save Lisbet's heir, the haut Rian Degtiar, from a murderous conspiracy that could eventually plunge Cetaganda and Barrayar into war. Miles rescues Ivan, but is captured in the process of retrieving the last gene bank and the Celestial Great Key that opens it. Ivan finds ghem-Colonel Benin, and leads a rescue party to save Miles and his Cetagandan helpers from satrap governor Ilsum Kety.

  His next run-in with Miles occurs when Ivan is stationed on Old Earth, serving as the second assistant military attaché at Barrayar's embassy in London. His cousin is also on Earth in his persona of Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. But Lord Miles Vorkosigan also has to report in to Earth's Barrayaran embassy. Ivan covers for Miles when he goes to recover his three Dendarii, who have torn up a wine shop in the city. Ivan is captured by Ser Galen as part of a power play to force Miles to come to Ser Galen. Galen has arranged for a clone to be made of Miles, and he wants the chance to substitute that clone, later known as Mark, for Miles. Galen and the clone, now known as Mark, capture Ivan and lock him in an underwater pumping station, giving him an acute case of claustrophobia. But Miles is able to win the clone's trust, and they rescue Ivan, with the clone killing Galen along the way. Ivan, along with two Cetagandans, sees the two Vorkosigans, Miles and Mark, together, with Mark dressed as Admiral Naismith. The sight gets the Cetagandans off Miles's back for a considerable amount of time.

  Ivan is given the task of introducing Mark to Barrayar after Miles turns up missing, and possibly dead, in the process of trying to extract Mark from a mission on Jackson's Whole. Since Ivan is still upset with Mark for giving him that claustrophobia complex back on Earth, he takes on the mission with a larger than usual lack of grace, resulting in Mark almost killing a bully in the Caravanserai.

  After he's promoted to captain, Ivan helps Miles get through his forced resignation from his Imperial Security career, invading Vorkosigan House and dumping Miles into an ice bath to break him out of his near-catatonia. He then moves in, enjoying the delightful meals that Ma Kosti provides. Ivan is appointed to be Miles's assistant when Miles is promoted to the position of acting Imperial Auditor to investigate Simon Illyan's memory loss. He ultimately finds the bioengineered weapon that disables Simon. But Ivan's fondness for Simon doesn't stifle his dismay when he discovers his mother and Simon are having an affair.

  About this time, Ivan's own marital prospects are looking grim, thanks to a Vor preference for producing boy children rather than girls around the time of Ivan's birth. There aren't a lot of eligible Vor women still unmarried, and Ivan begins to believe he's out of time to find his own wife. In a panic, Ivan asks Delia to marry him. In typical fashion, when Delia turns him down flat, Ivan asks Martya to marry him on the same day, and she turns him down even flatter. Then Ivan's worst nightmare comes true when his mother, Lady Alys, becomes his commanding officer while she arranges Gregor's wedding. Peeved at Miles's declaring Ekaterin off-limits to his cousin's courting, Ivan tells Alexi Vormoncrief about her, so Miles won't lack for competition. His meddling launches a string of unintended results, including Miles's disastrous dinner party.

  Afterward, Ivan is still feeling like the last Vor in his generation to be married, and starts seriously looking for his future bride. When he hears his former lover Lady Donna Vorrutyer is available again, he sets his sights on her, and then is dismayed to learn she has undergone a sex-change operation in order to inherit her brother's title of count along with the district. Ivan is also out of luck with former girlfriend Olivia Koudelka, as she has already fallen in love with Lord Dono. Ivan proves his worth when he helps thwart an assault on Lord Dono, then brings four Conservative counts on the Council to Dono's side, assuring him the vote and his countship.

  Ivan then serves as Miles's Second during his wedding. Several days before the ceremony, Aral takes Ivan aside to warn him not to do anything to spoil the ceremony. But Ivan can't resist after decades of twitting his cousin Miles at every opportunity. His addition to the winter garden wedding decorations is to slip in an ice sculpture of two grinning rabbits copulating under a bush. (C, CC, M, MD, VG, WA, WG)

  Vorpatril, Padma Xav:

  A captain in the Barrayaran military, he is also the husband of Lady Alys Vorpatril, and Ivan's father. In his middle thirties, he is a big, cheerful man. He is Cordelia's escort during Aral's confirmation ceremony at the Council of Counts. Padma is Aral's first cousin via his mother's younger sister, and is Aral's closest living relative other than Piotr. Although Padma and Alys, who is heavily pregnant with Ivan, evade the roundup of the counts during the initial stages of Vordarian's War of Pretendership, Padma is discovered while trying to find a doctor to aid his wife, who is in labor. He is killed by Vordarian's guards, but Alys and Ivan are rescued by Cordelia. Alys arranges to have a memorial plaque inserted into the street on the exact spot where Padma died. (B)

  Vorreedi:

  No first name given. The protocol officer assigned by Barrayar to Cetaganda, he is actually an Imperial Security colonel and the chief of Imperial Security on Cetaganda. Middle-aged, middle-sized, he often wears a loose bodysuit and the well-cut robes of a Cetagandan ghem-lord. The Cetagandans know his true position in Intelligence, but politely do not acknowledge it, just as the Cetagandan officers of similar status are known on Barrayar. Vorreedi is supposed to oversee Miles and Ivan's stay on Eta Ceti IV, but is kept in the dark for much of the time by Miles. He finds out what was happening under his nose only after Miles spells out what he's done during an audience with the Cetagandan Emperor. (C)

  Vorrutyer, Byerly:

  Known as "By," he is a Vor "town clown," or social gadfly, and has a sarcastic tongue and wicked commentary on the social and political intrigues of Barrayar. He also has a secret career in Imperial Security as a Domestic Affairs civilian contract employee with a rating of IS-8. He's first introduced when he appears to court Ekaterin, although he may in fact have been working. A cousin to Miles and Ivan by way of Aral Vokosigan's first marriage. He has a cousin, Richars Vorrutyer, and a recently deceased cousin, Pierre, who died from a heart attack at barely fifty. By pretends to help both Dono and Richars, but he is actually on Dono's side. His machinations help Lord Dono by manipulating Richars's assault on him, which firmly turns the Council of Counts against Richars. By's Imperial Security drop contact is Lady Alys Vorpatril. His house colors are blue and gray. (CC)

  Vorrutyer, Donna/Dono:

  Count Pierre's younger sister, she is forty years old. When Pierre dies, Donna dec
ides to block her despised cousin Richars from inheriting Pierre's District by having a sex change on Beta Colony, becoming Lord Dono Vorrutyer. He is an athletic-looking and handsome man of middle height, more lithe than muscular, with dark hair, a groomed, glossy mustache and beard, and electric brown eyes.

  Ivan Vorpatril had a fling with Donna several years earlier, and the newly minted Lord Dono uses that relationship to help smooth the way to receive Gregor's approval and win the vote to make his countship official at the Council of Counts. Dono hates Richars because he tried to rape Donna when she was twelve, and when she stopped him he drowned her puppy and blamed her for it. Donna has been previously married three times, an early, arranged marriage that she behaved badly during to escape, a second marriage that both parties soon agreed was a mistake, and a happy third marriage that ended in tragedy when her new husband was killed in a sporting accident. Dono has remained a virgin in his new gender, and is looking forward to a very unusual marriage night first. Although set upon by thugs hired by Richars to castrate him, the attack is foiled by Ivan Vorkosigan and Olivia Koudelka, who use it to bring more counts over to Dono's side. At the Emperor's reception, Dono and Olivia announce their engagement. The couple attends Miles's wedding. (CC, WG)

  Vorrutyer, Dono:

  Not to be confused with his later namesake Donna/Dono. Mad Emperor Yuri's Imperial architect, and uncle to Vice Admiral Ges Vorrutyer. He designed the Imperial Security headquarters, which resembles a giant, windowless concrete box with oversized stairs that exhaust anyone trying to climb them. But when Miles is forced to examine all of Imperial Security from top to bottom, he realizes Yuri's architect might have designed hideously ugly buildings, but he knew how to make safe ones. After Emperor Yuri's death, Dono retired to his son-in-law's estate and went mad himself. He designed and built a bizarre set of towers there, which his descendants now charge the public to see. (MD)

  Vorrutyer, Ges:

  A vice admiral in the Barrayaran Navy, he is co-commander of the Barrayaran armada sent to conquer Escobar, and is on the ship that captures Cordelia's shuttle. Roughly Aral's age, he is a bit taller and stocky, with dark, curly hair with only a little gray in it, and beautiful deep, velvet brown eyes with long, black lashes. He is slated to be Minister of War once Prince Serg Vorbarra takes the throne. He went to school with Aral, and was the elder brother to Aral's young first wife. Ges had a homosexual relationship with Aral, during the distraught period after Aral's wife's death, and he still harbors an obsession with his ex-lover. Vorrutyer is a sadist, a fan of the writings of the Marquis de Sade, and abuses the privileges of his rank. He enjoys torturing people, both men under his command and any prisoners who take his fancy. Bothari kills Vorrutyer to stop him from raping Cordelia. (SH)

  Vorrutyer House:

  A generation older than Vorkosigan House, it is much more fortress-like, star-shaped with thick stone walls and no windows on the ground floor, only gunslits. The main gate to the ground is made of thick, iron-bound planks. The house hasn't been cleaned since Count Pierre's death, and when Lord Dono moves in, he is less than pleased with its current condition. (CC)

  Vorrutyer, Pierre:

  Also known as "Le Sanguinaire," he is a noted count in Barrayaran history. He was Emperor Dorca's trusted right arm/head thug in the civil war that broke the power of the independent counts just before the end of the Time of Isolation. The Cetagandans killed him after an infamous and costly siege. His oldest daughter married an earlier Count Vorkosigan (they became Piotr's parents), which is where Mark gets his middle name of Pierre. (CC)

  Vorrutyer, Richars:

  A cruel, petty man, he lodges a suit to inherit his deceased cousin Pierre's District and become a count, but is thwarted by Miles working with Lord Dono after Richars threatens to bring a murder charge against him. Richars is a notable sadist and a slickly believable sociopath. He attempted to rape his cousin Lady Donna when she was twelve, and when he failed, killed her puppy. He later thwarted two marriages for Pierre, and then possibly had Pierre's third fiancée killed to prevent his cousin from producing an heir. After ordering thugs to castrate Dono, Richars is found out when the plot fails. Denounced publicly at the Council by several former allies, he is arrested after the rest of the counts vote in Dono as count. (CC)

  Vorsmythe:

  No first name given. One of the former Imperial Auditors who used to hand in illegible reports that were never longer than two pages. (M)

  Vorsmythe:

  No first name given. A Barrayaran industrialist attending the Winterfair Ball that Mark wishes to talk to about investing his newly acquired wealth. (MD)

  Vorsmythe:

  No first name given. A countess on Barrayar, she assures Alys Vorpatril that both René Vorbretten and Dono Vorrutyer have her husband's vote. (CC)

  Vorsmythe:

  No first name given. A count on Barrayar and husband to Alys's friend, he helps Mark learn how the food-service distribution works locally, and becomes an investor in the butter bug business. Not to be confused with the industrialist or the Auditor. (CC)

  Vorsmythe Dolphin-class 776 jump ship:

  The jump ship that carried the Vorsoisson family to Komarr, it has quadruple-vortex outboard control nacelles, dual norm-space thrusters, and can carry one hundred passengers. Nikolai loved the ride, but caused some distress when he flushed his shoes down the toilet. He owns a model of the ship, and Miles and he discuss it during their first conversation on Komarr. (K)

  Vorsmythe, Helga:

  One of the formerly eligible Vor women that Ivan does not have the chance to marry. (M)

  Vorsoisson, Etienne:

  Ekaterin's husband, also known as Tien, is an administrator at the Serifosa division of the terraforming project on Komarr. He has brown eyes, is overly status-conscious, is quick to take offense at the most innocuous comments, and frequently puts his foot in his mouth.

  A disaster both as a husband and as an employee, he's had thirteen jobs in ten years, and has moved his family all over the Barrayaran Imperium and finally to Komarr. Tien is from the South Continent of Barrayar, and served in the military for ten years prior to his civil career. Tien is ten years older than his wife, and is a distant, selfish, and emotionally abusive husband.

  Both he and his son have a genetic disease—a Barrayaran mutation called Vorzohn's Dystrophy. He has the typical Barrayaran prejudices against mutation, and wants to keep his condition secret, worried news of the condition will cramp his chances for advancement. By doing so, he has put his son at risk by shutting them both off from any possibility of treatment. Tien keeps promising his wife he'll get treatment off-world, but puts it off as too expensive.

  He is also up to his neck in illegal activity, knowing about the peculation scam at waste management, but not about the plot to destroy the wormhole to Barrayar. He has taken bribes from Soudha, losing the money in Komarran trade fleet speculations. When Ekaterin finds out about all of this, she leaves him.

  To make amends, he finds Miles and tries to bluff him into thinking he has just found out the graft in his department. He takes Miles to the Waste Heat experimental site, where they are both captured by the Komarrans plotting against Barrayar. Because he didn't check his breath mask, which wasn't fully charged, before going outside the dome, he dies horrifically in the unbreathable atmosphere while he and Miles are chained to a fence, even though the plotters had summoned help for them before leaving. Because of his connection to the plot to destroy the wormhole to Barrayar, the true nature of his death remains classified. Only Ekaterin, Miles, Vorthys, the plotters, Gregor, Imperial Security, and eventually Nikolai know the truth. (K)

  Vorsoisson, Nikolai:

  The only son of Ekaterin and Etienne, he is nine years old, with brown eyes and hair that is darkening to his mother's shade of brown. Called Nikki for short, he is a growing boy, almost as big as Miles when they first meet, and would like to be a jump-ship pilot. He finds out about his Vorzohn's Dystrophy after his father dies, and rec
eives treatment for it before leaving Komarr. He is a bit worried about what other kids will think of him, but Miles helps him deal with it.

  Nikki does not seem to have been very close to his father, but he has begun to forge an excellent relationship with Miles. When rumors surface that Miles murdered his father, Ekaterin and Miles take Nikki to see Emperor Gregor, who gives Nikolai as much of the truth as he can, and puts to rest his fears that Miles murdered Etienne. When Vassily Vorsoisson and Hugo Vorvayne come to take custody of him because they are worried that Vorbarr Sultana will be embroiled in a war, Nikki calls Gregor. The Emperor's solution is to bring everyone in the house to Vorhartung Castle for a personal meeting, where he guarantees Nikolai's and his mother's safety to her irritating but worried relatives. Nikki is pleased that his mother has proposed to Miles, and wants Miles to make her happy. At the wedding reception, he and his friends latch on to Arde Mayhew to hear all about the pilot's adventures. (CC, DI, K, WG)

  Vorsoisson, Vassily:

  Ekaterin's cousin-in-law, he is a lieutenant in the Barrayaran military, with a job at Orbital Traffic Control at Fort Kithera River. As Etienne's cousin he is the Vorsoisson male next in line to inherit the official guardianship of Nikolai. He allows the transfer of guardianship to Ekaterin. But when Alexi Vormoncrief sends him news that Miles supposedly murdered Etienne, he comes to town with Hugo Vorvayne to take Ekaterin and Nikolai back home. Nikolai calls Gregor, who has them all brought before him, and puts an end to the idea. Vassily meets the family of his new in-laws, and reconciles the idea of having the Vorkosigans as relatives. (CC)

  Vorsoisson, Violetta:

  One of the formerly eligible Vor women that Ivan does not have the chance to marry. (M)

  Vortaine:

  The Barrayaran count that is Ivan's heir. If he dies, his daughter will receive his assets, but his hereditary titles would go to Count Vordrozda. (WA)