Here are four more characters for my series "A Rat's Empire." From left to right:

Ferin DeRatry

Smart. Sexy. Sassy. Spoiled. Sarcastic. These words do a good job at describing Ferin, but they don't explain it all. Despite being an accomplished student (top in her class), she is underestimated by her father, Clint, who considers her to be little more than Daddy's Little Princess. You might think she'd resent that title, but actually, she clings to it. As a child, she was ridiculed by her mother for being ugly, chubby and awkward. Clint spoke out against that, praising his little girl for a thing of beauty and great importance. Ferin loves her father very, very much, and she believes he would prefer her to remain just a socialite; so therefore, despite her desire to run the family business once Clint retires, Ferin resigns herself to a lifetime of parties and charities and whatnot.

In order to cope with this, Ferin amuses herself in dalliances ranging from sons of mayors to some of the male servants in her own home. She's not a "Lady in Red" for nothing. ;) At 23, she has already received *five* marriage proposals. She turned them all down, yet was gracious about it, not wanting to lose the adoration of any male. Of course, Ferin has other hobbies as well: skeet-shooting (she's a great shot), piano playing (she's not so great at that), and swimming.

Azalea Thomseen

Azalea is a 16-year-old high school student who comes into Clint's office wanting to get business advise from one of the most successful business-rats in Ratropolis. Not much else is known of her at this time.

Robert DeRatry

The younger brother of Ferin, Robert is more or less the polar opposite of his sister: shy, sensitive, serious. He has recently graduated from college, and now stands on the brink of learning how to take over the helm of his father's company. This doesn't suit well with the young male, as he feels like his whole life has been planned out for him. To make matters worse, Robert doesn't know what he would want to do with his life if he were in charge of it, anyway. So therefore, Robert finds himself in a kind of limbo where he doesn't know whether he should continue letting others run his life and live the rest of his life in security, or if he should break away and seize control, but also possibly face an endless void of uncertainty.

Despite their differences, Robert and Ferin are quite close. They know most of each other's secrets, and will back one another up if ever the other is in a jam.

Marcus Bafer

Marcus is new employee at Clint's company, DRIndustires. An ambitious young rat, he often struts around as if he knows he will one day take this place by storm...