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Count Pierre's younger sister, she is forty years old. When Pierre dies, Donna decides to block her despised cousin Richars from inheriting Pierre's District by having a sex change on Beta Colony, becoming Lord Dono Vorrutyer. He is an athletic-looking and handsome man of middle height, more lithe than muscular, with dark hair, a groomed, glossy mustache and beard, and electric brown eyes.

Ivan Vorpatril had a fling with Donna several years earlier, and the newly minted Lord Dono uses that relationship to help smooth the way to receive Gregor's approval and win the vote to make his countship official at the Council of Counts. Dono hates Richars because he tried to rape Donna when she was twelve, and when she stopped him he drowned her puppy and blamed her for it. Donna has been previously married three times, an early, arranged marriage that she behaved badly during to escape, a second marriage that both parties soon agreed was a mistake, and a happy third marriage that ended in tragedy when her new husband was killed in a sporting accident. Dono has remained a virgin in his new gender, and is looking forward to a very unusual marriage night first. Although set upon by thugs hired by Richars to castrate him, the attack is foiled by Ivan Vorkosigan and Olivia Koudelka, who use it to bring more counts over to Dono's side. At the Emperor's reception, Dono and Olivia announce their engagement. The couple attends Miles's wedding. (CC, WG)

Vorrutyer, Dono:

Not to be confused with his later namesake Donna/Dono. Mad Emperor Yuri's Imperial architect, and uncle to Vice Admiral Ges Vorrutyer. He designed the Imperial Security headquarters, which resembles a giant, windowless concrete box with oversized stairs that exhaust anyone trying to climb them. But when Miles is forced to examine all of Imperial Security from top to bottom, he realizes Yuri's architect might have designed hideously ugly buildings, but he knew how to make safe ones. After Emperor Yuri's death, Dono retired to his son-in-law's estate and went mad himself. He designed and built a bizarre set of towers there, which his descendants now charge the public to see. (MD)

Vorrutyer, Ges:

A vice admiral in the Barrayaran Navy, he is co-commander of the Barrayaran armada sent to conquer Escobar, and is on the ship that captures Cordelia's shuttle. Roughly Aral's age, he is a bit taller and stocky, with dark, curly hair with only a little gray in it, and beautiful deep, velvet brown eyes with long, black lashes. He is slated to be Minister of War once Prince Serg Vorbarra takes the throne. He went to school with Aral, and was the elder brother to Aral's young first wife. Ges had a homosexual relationship with Aral, during the distraught period after Aral's wife's death, and he still harbors an obsession with his ex-lover. Vorrutyer is a sadist, a fan of the writings of the Marquis de Sade, and abuses the privileges of his rank. He enjoys torturing people, both men under his command and any prisoners who take his fancy. Bothari kills Vorrutyer to stop him from raping Cordelia. (SH)

Vorrutyer House:

A generation older than Vorkosigan House, it is much more fortress-like, star-shaped with thick stone walls and no windows on the ground floor, only gunslits. The main gate to the ground is made of thick, iron-bound planks. The house hasn't been cleaned since Count Pierre's death, and when Lord Dono moves in, he is less than pleased with its current condition. (CC)

Vorrutyer, Pierre:

Also known as "Le Sanguinaire," he is a noted count in Barrayaran history. He was Emperor Dorca's trusted right arm/head thug in the civil war that broke the power of the independent counts just before the end of the Time of Isolation. The Cetagandans killed him after an infamous and costly siege. His oldest daughter married an earlier Count Vorkosigan (they became Piotr's parents), which is where Mark gets his middle name of Pierre. (CC)

Vorrutyer, Richars:

A cruel, petty man, he lodges a suit to inherit his deceased cousin Pierre's District and become a count, but is thwarted by Miles