More than 100 candidates will contest the 19 seats across the north and north-east in the general election on May 6.
They include a Scottish Jacobite, a trawlerman turned TV star, a campaigner who is banned from entering the constituency he wants to represent, and a member of the Lovat Fraser clan who stood on a pro-smoking ticket at the last Holyrood election.
By the close of nominations last night 113 hopefuls had registered with local returning officers in seats from Falkirk in the south to Orkney and Shetland in the north.
The four main parties – the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP – are fielding candidates in all 19 seats. The Green Party, UKIP and the far right British National Party are also contesting several constituencies.
Among the most closely-watched seats will be Aberdeen South, where the six hopefuls lining up to topple Labour’s Anne Begg include Conservative Amanda Harvie.
The former chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce is best known for planting a kiss on the cheek of then-Labour first minister Jack McConnell when he gave the go-ahead to the long-awaited city bypass.
Another contender, Robert Green, is prevented from campaigning on doorsteps because of a bail condition banning him from entering the north-east. The 64-year-old is acting as legal adviser to the family of a disabled woman who claims she was abused by a paedophile ring as a child and will contest the seat for Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers.
One candidate who probably won’t need any introduction to voters is Jimmy Buchan.
The skipper of the Amity II became a familiar face to millions of TV viewers as a star of the BBC documentary series Trawlermen before deciding to don a blue rosette for the Conservatives in Banff and Buchan, the seat vacated by SNP First Minister Alex Salmond after 18 years at Westminster.
In Argyll and Bute, John Black, 69, is one of two Scottish Jacobite Party candidates standing for parliament. The other, his aunt, is hoping to win Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.
Among the seven-strong field in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey is Kit Fraser, whose clan runs Moniack Castle Wineries.
The Inverness bar owner stood for the Publican Party at the Scottish Parliament election in 2007 in a protest against the smoking ban.