All this talk about the importance of relationships, and I forgot to include the following:

Helpless Doorknobs: Who is Related to Whom, Exactly, and How, Sort Of.

ALARIC: Family patriarch. Father of Andrew, Adela, Albert. Adopted father of Alethea.

AUNT ADA: Second wife to Alaric. Mother of Angus, although he calls her Aunt Ada, because the two of them think this is hilarious.

ALBERT: Alaric's oldest son. Not around much, but since he's first born, everyone knows that he will eventually inherit everything, so it pays to suck up to him. Bother to Andrew, Adela, (and Alethea). Cousin to Alfred.

ALETHEA: Adopted, although never officially, by Alaric. Is the natural daughter of Miss Florinfeld and Mr. Deged Yarrow.

ADELA: Alaric's daughter with his first wife. Sister to Andrew and Albert, and sort of but not really Alethea, cousin to Alfred and almost everyone else.

ANDREW: Alaric's younger son.

ALFRED: A cousin, related through Alaric's first wife's sister. He grew up and spent a lot of time in the house as a child. is especially close with Adela, who is more of  sister than a cousin to him.

ANGUS: The son of Aunt Ada and her first husband. Thinks calling her Aunt Ada is hilarious, but on some level is bitterly aware that because he is related by marriage and not blood, he doesn't have the status that Andrew does, even though he's around the estate more.

AMARYLLIS: Angus' wife. She had a different back story in an earlier draft, but that's gone now. In several ways, she is more likely to profit from the estate than Alethea, because she is at least married to someone who is related by marriage to Alaric.

AUGUSTUS: Might be the son of Amaryllis and Angus. 

ADOLPHUS: The family dog. Albert's hunting dog, but loves Augustus and has a somewhat more complex elationship with Agatha, although he does love her.

AGATHA: Hired to be a governess for Augustus.

AMBROSE: An old chum of Angus', who uses the family estate as his home base when he's not in country shooting at things.

ARTHUR: Another hanger-on to the family; in this case, he's a professer emeritus at some university or other who is anold friend of Alaric's who now lives in the house and carries out vaguely scientific experiments.

AMANDA: The head housemaid

ANGELA: The second housemaid. We have no idea where her baby comes from.