Tyrant Banderas
This tyrant, named Banderas, is the despot of a Spanish colony. He is very intelligent, and he often thwarts the town's attempts to overthrow him. He seems to be able to predict people's behaviors. And it's not like he has no track record—there is a nearby prison filled with those who opposed him before.
The townspeople
The town acts as a single organism in this book. They are feudal folks, serfs and farmers and such. They need to overthrow the king if they ever want to be free. He makes them work, and he extorts them of the profits, and without a way to defeat him (he keeps all the weaponry to himself), the townspeople are forced to organize and attack.
The prisoners
Nearby, we learn of a prison, full to the brim with people who opposed Tyrant Banderas in the town where he lived before he moved to this colonial city. The prisoners aren't gangsters and mercenaries. They're just townspeople who failed. Their inclusion in the story is a picture of Banderas's formidable strength, the risk of failure, and the severity of his tyranny.
