Primary worldgate management team (Manhattan)

A group of cats based on Manhattan Island, specialists in the very finicky business of worldgate management. Cats (wizardly ones, anyway) are routinely chosen for this work because of their ability to see string structure without artificial aids; feline wizards can additionally engage in direct manipulation of the hyperstrings on which worldgates are "strung."

The primary management team described in TBONWM consists of Rhiow (female), the team leader, Urruah (male), the member of the team tasked with acting as a power source for their spells, and Saash (female), the team's specialist gating engineer. During the course of the book the team acquires a new member, Arhu (male).

The description of the team as "primary" indicates both its members' seniority of practice, and a supervisory role. Because of the team's experience, it mostly manages the large and complex worldgating facility hidden inside New York's Grand Central Terminal, which handles both intraterrestrial, extraterrestrial, and some extracontinual transport. Another more junior team (consisting of three cats named Jath, Hwaa and Fhi'ss) handles the smaller two-gate facility at Penn Station; this facility is mostly limited to handling on-planet work.

The team is occasionally called on to do consulting work: one such consultation job is detailed in OHMWS/TVTQ.