Baron Jakis is a powerful and wealthy nobleman from Vintas. The Baron is somewhat eccentric. His wife is dead. The Jakis family is currently 12th in the line of succession to the Vintic throne. The family may have orchestrated the death of the entire Surthen family at sea - Devi points out the Jakis' connection to piracy - and so moved closer to the throne. Antagonist Ambrose Jakis is the firstborn son of the Baron. The baron has at least one other child, a daughter, who may be somewhat rebellious.