Characters

Charlotte “Kitty” Hawk (b. 1910)

Aviator, engineer, and adventurer, Charlotte Hawk’s sharp mind and uncanny ability to find trouble have earned her quite a reputation in her home town of Duwamish, Washington (just outside Seattle).  She speaks three foreign languages passably (German, French, and Japanese), has an excellent sense of direction and spatial relationships, and keeps a journal.

As we join her story, she is just coming home from a three-year expedition in Europe–a sort of internship with the U.S. military that seems to have gone south at some point and ended up a chaotic mess of gunfire and rocket packs.  She has yet to share the details with any of her friends or family.

Also, no one calls her Charlotte.

First appearance: Prologue

Martin Hawk (b. 1888, d. 1932)

Kitty’s father was a gifted aircraft designer and one of Duwamish’s favorite sons.  Marty’s talents were greatly valued by both private companies and the government, but he preferred to remain an independent contractor rather than committing his efforts to a single producer.  Towards the end of his life, he began to shy away from military work, fearing that rapid advancements in the field, both his own and those of others around the world, would escalate the scale of international warfare.

Marty passed away in 1932, while Kitty was abroad.

Jack Hawk (b. 1890, d. 1918)

If Kitty gets her mechanical prowess from her father, she gets her moxie from her Uncle Jack.  A flying ace in the Great War, Jack’s spectacular record in the skies is almost overshadowed by his reputation for both audacity and charm.  Sadly, Jack was one of the very last casualties of the war, leaving behind a wife, Giselle, but no children.

Bestiary

Old Bones

Who–or what–is Old Bones?

Mysteries

The European Adventure

Not long after Kitty graduated from high school, she went abroad, lending her expertise to various U.S. military outposts in Europe in exchange for the opportunity to study at some of the finest universities on the continent.  She doesn’t talk about it much, but she returned home battered and worn, and lacking most of her worldly goods.

Relevant episodes: Prologue