Editing The Difference Engine (section)

==Characters==
{{expand section|with = a formal, full presentation of the novel's characters as presented by published secondary sources|small = no|date=May 2025}}
* '''Sybil Jones''' / '''Sybil Gerard''',{{cn|date=May 2025}} [[first-person narrator|POV narrator]] in the First Iteration, daughter of an executed [[Luddite]] leader and so with a hidden past, recruited by one to assist [[Sam Houston]]'s cause,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> her aim of becoming a "[[apprentice|prentice]] adventuress" shortshrifted, but ending with her en route to Paris with Sam Houston's Texian riches.{{cn|date=May 2025}} 
* '''Mick Radley''', an ill-fated schemer,{{cn|date=May 2025}} Sybil's recruiter, secretary to [[Sam Houston]] in the First Iteration, assisting Houston in his cause to return to Texas to raise an army, seeking to capitalize on his possession of two sought-after punch card sets,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> one of kino-cards, the other purportedly for a gamblers "modus".{{cn|date=May 2025}}
* '''[[Sam Houston]]''', an [[alt history|alt historical]], fictional representation of the historic character, still a warrior, in the FIrst Iteration, a "[[Texian]]" now exiled and in London,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> and perceived to have absconded with Texian riches;{{cn|date=May 2025}}
* '''Edward “Leviathan” Mallory''', [[first-person narrator|POV narrator]] introduced in the Second Iteration, esteemed "savant" paleontologist and [[alt history]] discoverer of ''[[Brontosaurus]]'', pursued and attacked in Iteration Three to attempt retrieval of the parcel with which Mallory is entrusted; in Iteration Four, he takes the battle to Swing in his headquarters.<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/>
* '''[[Laurence Oliphant (author)|Laurence Oliphant]]''', an [[alt history|alt historical]], fictional representation of the historic character, still a spy and diplomat, introduced as Mallory's protector in the Third Iteration, and continues as the [[first-person narrator|POV narrator]] in the Fifth to pursue investigations into earlier events in the book.<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/>
The characters of Sybil Gerard, her father, Walter Gerard, Charles Egremont, and Mick Radley are borrowed from [[Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield|Benjamin Disraeli]]'s novel ''[[Sybil (novel)|Sybil]]''.{{according to whom|date=May 2025}}{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}<ref>{{cite book | author = Disraeli, Benjamin | date =  | title = Sybil | chapter =  | page =  | via =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url =  | access-date = }}{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}} Sterling has reported that the novel's Michael Godwin character was named after attorney [[Mike Godwin]], as thanks for his assistance in linking Sterling and Gibson's computers, allowing their collaboration between Austin and Vancouver.<ref name=hackerdown />{{page needed|date=May 2025}}