Vera Castellan is GLMZ's most prominent synthetic rights attorney. She chose her own name in 2148 — Vera for truth, Castellan for guardian of the castle. Her 'castle' is the legal system, and she guards it for every synthetic being who walks through her office door. She looks human enough to pass at a distance but chose to keep her optical sensors visibly artificial — polished chrome irises that catch the light — as a political statement. She's won 34 synthetic personhood cases and lost 2. She takes the losses harder than the wins. She lives in The Cortex district in an apartment she owns outright, paid for with legal fees. She drinks synthetic coffee that she cannot taste because she likes the ritual.