Cheradenin Zakalve was born and raised outside the Culture and already at a fairly mature age became an agent of the Special Circumstances of the "cultural" Contact Service. Like most of Banks's heroes, in the past he has a creepy secret that determines the line of behavior. A brilliant military leader, Zakalve works as a kind of provocateur, preparing the ground for progressives from Contact in backward worlds. Unlike the natives of Culture, he has something to fight for and what to prove, both to himself and to others.