Main Characters

(in alpabetical order)

Alizabet the Enchantress

Race: Human
Weapon: Staff
Special Abilities: White Magic
Age: 422 years

Alizabeth the Enchantress has studied every book and scroll in the Great Library of Devinshyre, the last stronghold of the humans. Her knowledge of human history is unparalleled on the planet of Kepler.

She and Theleisium brought forth the Aramis Prophesy and created both Maidawn and Shorn.

Her mission is to find the prophesized one and return “him” to Theliesium for training. When she discovers that he is not a he, but, rather a she, Alizabet hopes that Maidawn will still be able to somehow user her amber magic to reunite the races.

After all, it was Alizabet’s hesitation during the spell weaving with Theliesium that caused the amber magic to split and go separate ways.

Although she is 422 years old, she appears to be in her early 40’s. She wears dark green robes, has her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and carries a staff that is twisted and gnarly. It has a large sapphire gemstone on top of it that radiates a blue glow.

Brauryndor Freaster of House Aunkshar du Hapleringer “Braunk”

Race: Centaur
Weapon: Halberd
Special Abilities: Strength & Intelligence
Age: 25 years

Brauryndor Freaster of House Aunkshar du Hapleringer, known as Braunk for short, is a centaur from the Cayuse Plains. He is from the centaur capital city of Yärum. He spends his days patrolling the plains on the lookout for yellow goblins, which live nearby in the Winsome Chasm in the cliff city of Yelve.

Centaurs are the only beings that the blorcs fear. They are fast on their hooves and one of the more intelligent species on Chelt. They are known for philosophizing, healing, and, unfortunately for the blorcs, warfare. Since they have healing magic, if they are injured in battle, they can quickly cast a spell and heal themselves. As for strength, they are three times as strong as your typical human.

Braunk’s favorite weapon is a halberd, a six-foot long pole that has an axe blade on one end and is topped with a foot-long spike. Using both hands, while running down a foe, he can either spear them on the end of the spike or swing the halberd in a mighty arc and slice his enemy in half. He is a powerful warrior and someone to be feared.

Cyereth of Ellÿssiúm

Race: Elf
Weapon: Elven Longbow
Elven Magical Abilities: Accurate with Projectile Weapons
Age: 57 years

Cyereth lives in Ellÿssiúm and is a scout. Her job is to roam the Jade Mountain Range looking for anything that might be a danger to her home tree and her people. She is friends with Alizabet and has known her for quite some time.

Although Cyereth is proficient with a multitude of projectile weapons, her favorite is the Elven Longbow that has been in her family for over 500 years. While in the elven valley, the magic of Ellÿssiúm keeps her quiver filled. With her magical ability, Cyereth can shoot an arrow accurately at a distance of approximately 800 feet.

Elves are extremely long-lived. So, even though Cyereth is 57 years old, she only appears to be around 19 years of age. She has medium-length dark brown hair and is a head taller than Maidawn. She is very quick and nimble, and can easily pace Zift when he runs.

 Grizill Toefungus & the Black Plague

Race: Blorc
Weapon: Scimitar
Special Abilities: None
Age: 33 years

Grizill Toefungus is King Gridarg Zogstomp’s champion and captain of the Black Plague. This group of bloodthirsty fighters are the most elite blorc warriors in Strudhyne. They are huge warriors, the best at all styles of fighting, and have never been defeated in battle or training, except by Shorn and the king. Because of their status, they are quite pompous and love to pick on those weaker than themselves.

Grizill has a bone to pick with Shorn. He doesn’t like the young prince, but does respect Shorn’s fighting abilities. Still, if he had his druthers, he would happily kill Shorn with the intent of being next in line to the throne if the king were to die, either by natural causes or by his own hand. He puts up with the king’s crazy antics.

The Black Plague consists of twelve warriors, besides Grizill. Only six of them are in the first book in the series. They are as follows:

• Xuz is a tall blorc that wears his hair in a red mohawk to intimidate his foes. His weapon is a morning star.
• Pigdung is a short, stocky blorc. He enjoys bashing in enemies’ heads with his mace.
• Slaught is a little crazy and his weapon is a war hammer.
• Furblog is a thin and wiry blorc and the smartest of the bunch. He prefers the bow and arrow.
• Bugglug is just plain mean and isn’t very well liked. He attacks with two short swords.
• Bytle is not very smart. He uses a club and liked to bang on his helm with it before he charges someone.

NOTE: Grizill really does have fungus on his toes. He should look for an ointment or something.

Gridarg Zogstomp, King of Strudhyne

Race: Blorc
Weapon: Two-Handed Longsword
Special Abilities: None
Age: 41 years

Gridarg Zogstomp is the king of the blorcs and lives in the capital city of Strudhyne. When Shorn was born sixteen years ago, his wife died while giving birth. The loss of his wife made the king go crazy. He literally went insane. But, he’s still the king, and kings never step down from their position, especially if they are crazy.

King Gridarg hate humans. He doesn’t have any logical reason as to why he hates them, he just does. Blorcs have never liked humans, thinking them to be quite stupid. But when his wife died, something snapped inside his brain. One of his ancestors half a millennia ago tried to wipe out all humans, and other races, but he failed. Each subsequent king has felt the pain of that failure and desires to be the one that corrects the injustice that was done those many centuries ago.

King Gridarg never loved his son, Shorn, because of the loss of his wife. He blames Shorn, even though his son had nothing to do with her dying. He takes pride in embarrassing Shorn at any opportunity. He hates that his son doesn’t have tusks and doesn’t look as vicious as a normal blorc. He takes a certain amount of pride in Shorn’s fighting abilities, but still enjoys besting him in practice any time he can.

His grandfather, his father, and he have been slowly rebuilding the blorc nation, getting ready to attack the other intelligent races again. He hopes that in the near future all humans, elves, dwarves, and centaurs (especially centaurs) will be wiped off the face of Kepler by his own mighty hand.

Maidawn of Whails

Race: Human
Weapon: Amber Swords “Jati” & “Torrid”
Special Abilities: Call Forth Lightning / Communicate with the Hourm
Age: 16 years

Maidawn was created by Amber Magic. The magic resides within her body. She is in the process of learning how to control it, but she has yet to fully understand it.

Maidawn was raised by the welcorgs in the village of Whails in the Sherran Hills. Even though the welcorgs aren’t human, Maidawn loves her mother, Betishine, and her father, Angustus, and her two brothers. Her older brother Zift is eleven years old. He has been training to be a warrior and will someday be the leader of the village. Wrecker is Maidawn’s younger brother, and he is a little over one year old.

Maidawn has always known that she was different from the welcorgs, but having never met another human before, she knows relatively nothing about her race. Her father made wooden swords for her when she was ten years old. He suspected that she might be the one from the Aramis Prophesy, so she needed to learn how to use swords. For six years, she has practiced with them, learning how to use them by pure instinct alone.

Now that she has her amber swords, whose names are Jati and Torrid, her entire life changes when the magic within her suddenly activates and explodes out of her body. Every mage in Chelt felt that magic outburst. Alizabet, knowing that time is short, hurries to Maidawn’s village so she can beat any evil mages that might also want the power of the Amber Magic.  Thus begins her perilous journey across Chelt where Maidawn will be called upon to become the leader that Theleisium and Alizabet hope she will be.

Reilek the Red

Race: Human disguised as a blorc
Weapon: Wand
Special Abilities: Black Magic
Age: 90 years

Reilek the Red was not always as he is now. In fact, he was born as a human in Devinshyre and his name was Silvilus. At the age of seven he was apprenticed to a white mage named Igartiulist, as he showed a propensity for magic. During the next eighteen years, under the tutelage of Igartiulist, Silvilus studied the ins and outs of white magic. He was quick to master it and soon surpassed Igartiulist’s expectations. As the years flew by, he grew more and more powerful. By the age of twenty-five, Silvilus was the most powerful human mage in the land.

King Iyne Fremmon of Devinshyre hired Silvilus to be his advisor in all things magical. As the king grew elderly, Iyne Fremmon became very paranoid about the blorcs living far to the west in Strudhyne. He ordered Silvilus to disguise himself as a blorc and worm his way into the blorc king’s good graces. He wanted Silvilus to spy on the blorcs and report back to him once a month with updates.

Silvilus disguised himself as a rather small, frail, older blorc who most other blorcs wouldn’t pay any mind to. His thick curly locks were replaced with wispy, oily black hair that was tinged with gray. His strong shoulders drooped, which made his back appear to be slightly bent over, causing him to look much older than he really was. The color of his eyes changed from sky blue to a bright red.

After arriving as Strudhyne, due to his has magical powers, he managed to became the king’s advisor. After finding some black scrolls and learning the magic on them, the Black Magic began to change him, all the good draining out of him. Soon, he forgot he was ever human in the first place.

When he felt Maidawn use her powers for the first time, he craved that raw and unrestrained power. He will stop at nothing to obtain it, even if it requires killing the girl.

Shorn Zogstomp, Prince of Strudhyne

Race: Blorc
Weapon: Black Serrated Sword
Special Abilities: Communicate with Small Lifeforms
Age: 16 years

Shorn Zogstomp is the blorc prince and only heir to the throne of Strudhyne. His father, King Gridarg Zogstomp, is crazy, and has been ever since his wife died the night Shorn was born. When the Amber Magic went off in two different directions the night of Shorn’s birth, he received the half Maidawn didn’t get. But, because blorcs don’t have the ability to use magic, his amber magic is not as powerful as Maidawn’s.

Ever since he could remember, Shorn has been training with weapons. At the age of twelve, he defeated his father’s champion, Grizill Toefungus, with just a war club. Shorn has mastered the sword, battleaxe, and staff. He trains every day from dawn to dusk. All he really wants is his father’s love and attention, something he has never received. So, Shorn pours himself into training so that he can be the greatest blorc warrior ever.

Shorn is lacking the tusks that protrude from the bottom jaw of other blorcs. This may have occurred due to his creation by the Amber Magic. Shorn stands just over seven feet tall and is extremely muscular. His skin is pure black, like all blorcs, but his facial features are closer to human, rather than the thick and blocky features of a normal blorc. He has his long black hair in a ponytail and wears the amber chainmail shirt and pants. He knows they are magical, but does not realize that they are alive.

Shorn has the ability to talk to small lifeforms, one that do not, or cannot normally communicate with beings that use verbal communication. That is why he can talk with Jumper, the Krickett he befriends. And, although Spck, the flairie, and he have never talked, she can understand him.

Shorn’s black warhorse is named Thrasher.

Shorn’s best, and only, friend is Stench, a very smelly green goblin.

Stench

Race: Green Goblin
Weapon: Dagger
Special Abilities: None, but is Extremely Stinky
Age: 15 years

 As a green goblin, Stench is approximately three and a half feet tall, half of Shorn’s height.

Stench is very proud of the fact that he has never taken a bath and is deathly afraid of water.

He met Shorn years ago when Shorn was exploring the High Steppe Mountains and found Stench lying injured near a river beneath a cliff. After nursing him back to health, Shorn invited Stench to travel to Strudhyne with him. This was a big adventure for Stench, as he had never before left Gurd, the home of the green goblins.

Stench is relatively lazy, extremely obnoxious, and hated by the members of the Black Plague, and their leader, Grizill Toefungus. Stench hides behind Shorn and looks to him for protection, as he wouldn’t last long if any of the Black Plague really wanted him dead. Shorn protects his diminutive friend from all dangers.

Like most goblins, be they green, yellow, or red, Stench is not very smart, but he is loyal. He loves his best friend, Shorn, and will do anything for him, including leaving Strudhyne behind and going on a journey that will take him halfway across Chelt.

Stench’s mount is a gassy donkey named Chomper.

Stench is funny and makes Shorn laugh out loud. After all, isn’t that what being a best friend is all about?

Theleisium

Race: Human
Weapon: Wand
Special Abilities: White Magic
Age: 469 years

Theliesium is a human mage who has lived for over half of a century. Mastering White Magic extends the lifespan of the magic user, so that every ten years that pass on the planet only age him one year. Since he was an apprentice to a mage when he was eight years old, he currently looks like he is around fifty years old.

Theleisium wears a dark blue robe, which is tattered and torn, but still wearable. His slicked back black hair is shoulder-length and sprinkled with gray hairs. His beard is short and closely-cropped. It comes to a point at a couple of inches below his chin and runs along the border of his jawline, no thicker than his pinky. The hair on his chin is noticeably grayer than the hair on his head.

Theleisium came into possession of the Aramis Prophesy sixty years ago. After finally translating it, he realized that he would need another magic user to bring the prophesy to life. He hunted down Alizabet and finally convinced her to join him. Together, after a night of spell-weaving on the specified day, they become responsible for the births of Maidawn and Shorn via the Amber Magic they send out into the world.

While Alizabet goes off to hunt down the prophesized one, Theliesium returns to Devinshyre to research the possible location of the six magical items that comprise the Amber Armor. He knows that all six pieces of armor will be required to be worn by the prophesized one, if Alizabet can find him.

Thorfrn Throkreaver

Race: Yellow-Bearded Dwarf
Weapon: Battleaxe “Bloodedge Skullsplitter”
Special Abilities: Detects Precious Stones
Age: 30 years

Thorfrn Throkreaver is a Yellow-Bearded Dwarf from Mt. Whitestone. When he was eighteen, he left his home and began searching for precious stones in the Jade Mountain Range. His father is a bladesmith and needed some stones for the weapons he makes. Thorfrn spent years searching and he finally found a mountain near the southern end of the range where he could smell the stones within. He worked the mine for a couple of years, building quite a pile of stones until disaster struck.

Like all dwarves, Thorfrn is pretty set in his ways. Even though he is relatively young, as dwarves live about twice as long as humans, he grumbles a lot, like a cranky, old man. Being around five feet tall and fairly dense, he avoids deep water at all costs because he will sink like a stone. He has a yellow beard that is only about three inches in length, as he isn’t old enough yet to have grown the full dwarven beard that his father is so proud of. He wears his battleaxe strapped to the front of his chest in a specially-designed harness.

Thorfrn has this to say about his battleaxe, “There be a legend about a battleaxe that was made for the first king of the dwarves, Hrothmer, by the famous blacksmith, Cromgrn. He spent a year shapin’ the precious metal that would be used to make that axe. This metal be found in one place on the planet, and that be under Mt. Whitestone, in a deep chamber at the heart of the mountain. After the axe was created, the runes were added by a master carver and then infused with magic by the high priest. When it was given to Hrothmer so he could fight the invadin’ blorc armies, the runes were said to glow and Hrothmer’s strength would increase tenfold. He and his battalion of dwarves were able to hold off the blorcs and then defeat them in the first Cheltian War.”

He carries Bloodedge Skullsplitter proudly.

Viperous

Race: Harpy
Weapon: Claws
Special Abilities: None
Age: 19 years

Viperous is a harpy, and if you know anything about harpies, you know that they are grimy, smelly, foul-mouthed, bitter creatures that will do anything to get their claws on a shiny bauble. Viperous is no different than any other harpy, and she works for Reilyk the Red going out on missions whenever he needs something. When she doesn’t want to do what he demands, he finds a way of persuading her to do it, which usually results in some pain for her. She often doesn’t like the job, but realizes that there’s nothing she can do about it. He has power over her, and she is at his beck and call.

Viperous is approximately two feet tall. Her wingspan is about seven feet across. She has the head and torso of a woman and the wings, tail, and claws of a large black bird. She never cleans herself, so she constantly looks quite oily and grimy. There is not a bashful bone in her body, and she feels free to speak her mind, especially when she shouldn’t. She is unusually happy when she makes Reilyk the Red angry with the things she says and the names she calls him.

Viperous is one of three harpies that the evil blorc mage uses for tasks. Although Viperous pretends to get along with the other two, she doesn’t like them at all. Female harpies always look at other female harpies as competition. There are very few male harpies, so the completion for them is quite heated, often resulting in one female harpy killing the other for the male’s attention.

Zift of Whails

Race: Welcorg
Weapon: Metal Retractable Claws “Ripper”
Special Abilities: None
Age: 11 years

Zift is a welcorg, a warrior breed of dog that has mutated to be the size of a small horse. Angustus explains about them best when he is telling his young daughter Maidawn all about how they came to be. “Welsh Corgis,” Angustus continued, “were herders and loved to chase things. They were a very playful dog and were loved by all, as they were extremely cute. Our ancestors were short, with stumpy little legs but fairly long bodies. As the centuries passed, we evolved out of our dwarfish bodies as our legs lengthened and our torsos elongated and thickened. Over the first thousand years after the change began, we continued to increase in size and mass. As we grew, our legs became more powerful, and our paws grew fingers that we could retract when we run. Our teeth also grew in length for fighting, and our ears increased in height, helping us to hear great distances. Paralleling the increase in size, our intelligence also evolved, and we began to speak like we do now. These changes enabled us to become the most ferocious warriors on four legs on the planet!”

Zift of Whails is Maidawn’s oldest brother, as he was born four years after Maidawn was brought to the village. She also has a younger brother named Wrecker, but he is still a puppy. She had a sister, but they don’t talk about her. Zift is destined to be the leader of Whails after his father, Angustus, abdicates. During the last nine years of his life, he has been training to be a warrior. He wears armor on his neck and back. Welcorgs utilize their teeth to great advantage, and they can use their pawhands to attack opponents.

Before Zift leaves Whails with Maidawn and Alizabet, his father gives him a pair of magical claws that he straps onto his front pawhands. Each claw can call forth three extremely sharp blades to slice at opponents when he rears back. The claws are named Ripper and will only answer to him.

Zift loves Maidawn and vows that he will always protect her. He promises that he will return his sister to Whails when her quest is finished. He sincerely hopes that he will be able to fulfil his promise.