Main Characters

(in alpabetical order)

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.

 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.

Reilyk the Red

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

Reilyk 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 Freemon of Devinshyre hired Silvilus to be his advisor in all things magical. As the king grew elderly, Iyne Freemon 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.

Spck

Race: Flairie
Weapon: Shoots 4-Foot Flame
Special Abilities: Moisty Immobilizing Mauve Mist
Age: 25 years

 Flairies are not a tall lot. In fact, they range from three to four inches tall. Spck is on the shorter side of the spectrum and closer to three inches.

Speck lives in the small town of Foggyfel in the Eugent Swamp. There are more flairie towns along the perimeter of the swamp, but Spck rarely leaves her home.

Spck wears a lime-green flowy dress, which is tied at the waist with a dark green ribbon. Her skin has a light tinge of green to it, which makes her dark green eyes stand out. Her wavy hair is green with blonde highlights and tumbles down to her shoulders.

Flairies come in all of the colors of the rainbow. If one were to see them all together flying around shooting out their different colored flames, one would think they might be on a psychedelic trip. Unfortunately, it would probably be the last trip you would ever take.

Flairies can release a purple fog from their mouths. This fog, which they call the Mystifying Moisty Immobilizing Mauve Mist, mmimm for short, is breathed in by the victim and freezes them, except for their eyes. This is when the flairies descend on their victim, shooting jets of flame all over the unfortunate soul and cooking them until they are crisp. Then the feast begins.

Flairies are meat eaters, and only meat eaters. They aren’t picky as to the type of meat. They have voracious appetites, often eating more charred meat in one sitting than their own body’s weight. As for wear it all goes, no one knows for sure, or what happens to it inside their body. It is thought it has something to do with burping, but no one really know for sure.

Spck, like all flairies, has the ability to shoot out a four-foot flame out of her mouth for up to ten seconds. This is how she cooks her food. Unfortunately for the victim, er, I mean her meal, the thing she is cooking is usually alive.

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?

Viperous

Race: Harpy
Weapon: Claws
Special Abilities: Sharp Tongue
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.