Most of the wealthy residents of East Island live in mansions and manors of more or less conventional design, fitting in with the rest of the neighborhood. Hiliac Oswon's house, however, is an exception. Oswon made their fabulous wealth in discovering new sources of summoning, and especially on using these sources to generate new building materials and methods. They have used those methods to build their own house, an eclectic assemblage of disparate parts and pieces of all different shapes and colors that has been said to look as if someone took a hundred different children's toys and glued them together. Most of Oswon's neighbors are not happy with this fandangular folly, considering it an ugly blemish on their lovely community, but Oswon is rich enough and stubborn enough to resist all pressure to remove it. Not helping the matters are the occasional parties that Oswon throws at their residence with their extensive guest lists, and the fact that they cheaply rent some of the outbuildings to university students and others of limited means, both of which practices bring in people of lower social status than would normally be found in East Island and whom many of its residents don't welcome.

Oswon still plays an active rôle in the business he founded, but not a full-time one; they generally spend alternate weeks working long hours, commuting to their company's office in Reedy Dale, and the other weeks devoting themself to their other various pursuits—hiking, music, various sports, model]making, and others. They are also a generous patron of the arts, and often spend their days off in Rosemary Hill or the Arts District—and many of the invitees to his parties are people he meets in these neighborhoods.

Hiliac is a broad-shouldered, rectangular, loose-jointed man who moves like a marionette. They regularly use magic to alter his sex, spending a few days as male and another few as female. They have short brown-grey hair atop a face like a shoe, with a crooked nose and slight jowls. He speaks with enthusiasm no matter the subject, often raising single syllables an octave in pitch for emphasis. His wardrobe is as eclectic as his house, and his outfit changes drastically day to day, though favorite features include fringes, bangles, and luminescent trim.