Prince Talbot of Skara Thrae
Celeste’s brother Talbot, as a prince and heir to his father’s position as Warlord, had grown into a bit of a rogue and a playboy. Talbot is dark and handsome and excelled at fencing, hunting, and riding. Many women were attracted to his dashing good looks and his title, and Talbot accommodated them all. He left many broken hearts when he traveled to Carnac to continue his education. The cosmopolitan wonders of the centaur city fascinated Talbot and he supplemented his studies with considerable wine, women, and song. Talbot’s other main interest was his research into the races of Faerie, especially the elves. After he returned to Skara Thrae, he found the northern isles dark, forbidding, and confining. He also had no interest in the duties of government. His father became impatient with his lack of focus and commitment and they had many arguments. After one particularly heated debate, Talbot left the island and returned to Carnac, where he had spent the best years of his life. But after a while he became bored and restless, and left Carnac for the forests of Aijalon and the cruel fate that awaited him there.
Princess Celestine of Skara Thrae
Celestine is the daughter of Ryde, the Warlord of Skara Thrae, and Seressa his wife. She has an older brother named Talbot. Celestine received her basic education on the island of Skara Thrae, which included weapons handling and riding. As a young woman, Celeste traveled to the centaur city of Carnac, where she studied under the Baron Serenus. Her areas of special emphasis were the Ha’ashtari culture and the ecology of the Waste. After leaving Carnac, she returned to Skara Thrae and remained there until the Haggas invasion. Escaping the Haggas, she fled to Androssar and sought aid from Rulda, the Sagamore of Androssar. After Rulda refused her, she went to the Demented Boar, where she met Morgan and Max.
Celeste is a slim, athletic woman with long brown hair and a regal bearing. She is beautiful, with slightly slanted deep blue eyes that give her an exotic look. Her skin has been bronzed by her love of the outdoors. She is an independent, very intelligent person with her father’s temper. She also has a wicked sense of humor. At court, she had many suitors, but found them boring or too overbearing and dominating. Her father had begun to doubt he would ever find a husband for his fiery daughter. She is a woman of strict morals and has chosen the worship of Iosus over the pagan rites of the Maenor, the ancestral gods of her people.
Morgan and Celeste are attracted to each other and could fall in love, given the time and opportunity. But events have conspired against them and each has obligations they cannot ignore. Will true love ever find a way?
Maximilian – Le Morte Kahn
Max was born in 5916 AF, in the village of Falmount. This is a small settlement in the foothills of the Perpetual Mountains, north of the Saar valley. Max was the youngest of five children, with three brothers and a sister. His father was the village smith, a large, powerful man. There were complications during Max’s birth, which left him a frail child, often confined to bed. No one expected him to live for long. His parents thought him special, and doted on him. His father even made him a pair of swords, tailored to his weakness and small size. All the extra attention made his brothers and sisters jealous, and they avoided his company. Max was often alone.
Max surprised everyone, and seemingly by sheer force of will, lived and grew stronger, although he was still small. When he was a young boy, his father’s kiln-forge blew up and his father was seriously injured. He never recovered. Max watched his father dwindle from a powerful blacksmith to a wasted shell. Max took his father’s accident badly, and stayed by his side until the end, which took years.
After his father finally died Max began training with weapons. An old hermit named Cynar lived near the village. He made some money by teaching the boys to use weapons. For some reason, he took a real interest in Max and Morgan, and spent hours training them, but never asked for any payment. Max practically lived with the man, and worked harder than anyone. He was determined to overcome his childhood weakness. He always used the swords his father had made him. In the meantime, Max’s mother died, mainly from grief at her husband’s misfortune.
A head shorter than Morgan, lean and supple, Max has black hair and a closely trimmed goatee that contrasts sharply with his pale skin. Handsome in a classical sense, his eyes lend a coldness to his face---dead eyes, like pale blue holes in a mask. The most striking thing about Max is the way he moves. Inhumanly graceful and fluid in his actions, incredibly fast, his lean muscles deceptively powerful, he resembles a mountain panther stalking its prey. Max wears dark clothing and carries two short swords made of ebonite. Max has a long recurve bow, made of layers of dark, lacquered wood. He calls the bow Stryker and is an excellent archer. Max also has a small dagger, with a black blade and a crystal sphere that adorns the hilt. The blade is ebonite, worked at the smithys of Khulankor and the globe is a form of Luminarae.
Morgan and Max left Falmount as young men and petitioned to join the Raavs, a mercenary company. They fought many battles and worked their way up the ranks, until Max became Commander of the Eighth Legion. Max is probably the deadliest swordsman in the Raavs.
Max is very quick-witted, cynical and sarcastic. He hides his feelings and no one except Morgan has ever gotten very close to him. Even Morgan does not know him that well, in spite of all their time together. Max prefers shallow, short-term relationships with women. Due to imprisonment in a small, dark cell, Max has developed claustrophobia, but fears nothing else on the planet.
