The stage may be set for a second referendum on Scottish independence but this time round the cast will be transformed on both sides of the debate.

With the political landscape in Scotland and beyond utterly changed since 2014, a rerun of the poll is an entirely different prospect.

Former first minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond steered his party closer to its dream of independence than ever before but stood down in the wake of defeat, handing over the reins to his then deputy Nicola Sturgeon.

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Now MP for Gordon and the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman at Westminster, Mr Salmond remains one of the most high-profile figures on the Yes side, but this time round it will be Ms Sturgeon firmly calling the shots.

Of all the key players in 2014, she has perhaps fared the best, riding a surge in support to secure a landslide victory in Scotland for the SNP in the 2015 general election, winning a historic, albeit minority, third term in government last May and leading Scotland's response to the Brexit vote.

The Herald:

Mr Salmond was often painted as a divisive figure, particularly among female voters, during the last campaign, so Ms Sturgeon's more measured style combined with enviable popularity ratings and the SNP's greatly-boosted membership will make for a different dynamic in round two.

The SNP leader's rise has been in stark contrast to many on the winning side in 2014, with some of the best-known faces from the Better Together campaign having all but disappeared from the public eye.

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The EU vote proved one referendum too many for former prime minister David Cameron, who alongside Mr Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement allowing the first vote to take place, and ex-chancellor George Osborne, who provoked anger by ruling out a currency union between Scotland and the rest of the UK in 2014.

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Jim Murphy, who toured Scotland defending the Union from a pair of Irn Bru crates, took over as leader of Scottish Labour shortly after the No vote but resigned following the party's disastrous showing at the UK general election, and has since swapped frontline politics for a career as a business and strategy consultant.

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Former chancellor Alistair Darling, who led the No campaign and battled Mr Salmond in the televised debates, and former prime minister Gordon Brown, who was credited with helping to tip the balance towards No in the final weeks of the campaign with his timetable for extra powers for Holyrood, have both stepped down as MPs and back from the public sphere.

The Herald:

Of the Liberal Democrat players, Danny Alexander, the then chief secretary to the Treasury, lost his seat amid the SNP landslide in 2015 while former Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael clung on to his constituency but went on to face an embarrassing court case over a leaked memo.

With UK Labour divided over the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, and with a Conservative majority government at Westminster under Theresa May, a repeat of the cross-party Better Together campaign is unlikely, with no clear candidate to unify the No side.

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While she has ruled out leading any campaign in favour of a non-political candidate, undoubtedly much of the responsibility on the pro-Union side will fall to Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, alongside the Scottish Secretary and Scotland's only Tory MP David Mundell.

Ms Davidson won plaudits for her role in the first independence referendum and has since achieved what might once have seemed impossible by steering her party to overtake Labour and become the second largest at Holyrood.

The Scottish Tory leader, who enjoys popularity ratings to rival Ms Sturgeon's and whose profile was raised across the UK during the Brexit referendum debates, will be seen as a strong asset for the No side.

The Herald:

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has already ruled out a cross-party campaign in favour of a distinct approach, recognising damage caused to the party by sharing a platform with the Tories in 2014.

Read more: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon plans second independence referendum

She has attempted to carve out a position for her party post-Brexit, advocating a constitutional convention and a federalised UK in an effort to head off support for independence.