Modesitt plays language games, I suppose to try and make us all truly understand that this all takes place in a galaxy far, far away, but the roots are often very near the surface. For example, the days of the week in Solidar are Lundi, Mardi, Meredi, Jeudi, Vendrei, Samedi, and Solayi - which are almost the same as the days of the week in French (Wednesday is mercredi and Friday is vendredi and Sunday is dimanche). The names of the months are less directly stolen, but have enough similarities that they are recognizeable.
People's names are another game. Many are simply long and odd. The hero's name is Rhennthyl and his sweetie is Seliora. His boss's name is Dichartyn, and so on. On the other hand, his brother is named Roussel - which seems to fit until you try to pronounce it and it becomes "Russell." Many names fit that pattern - conventional name, peculiar spelling. Of course, in this day of odd spellings of names they don't seem quite so odd.
By the way, the name of the country out to destroy Solidar which has the highest dependence on mechanized technology in their world is named Ferrum. Think back to your high school Latin. And the name for the slum areas of the city where the gangs hang out is "taudis" - which a quick google identifies as the French word for hovel or slum. I think it is a safe bet that Mr. Modesitt took French in high school.
Our hero is busy courting his future wife and using her family's network of information sources to run things down. He also is assigned to walk a beat with the local cops and establishes a working relationship with a couple of the taudis gang leaders. He also is assigned to paint portraits of various important and senior imagers, which gives us an opportunity to get acquainted with them. And people keep shooting at him.
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