Maelin
Maelin is the Princess of Saxhaven. She is a short, petite blonde with large green eyes and delicate features. With her pale skin, she looks like a porcelain doll. She has a lively, energetic personality and is normally carefree and exuberant. Despite her giddy, childlike demeanor, Maelin is extremely intelligent and perceptive. She prefers indoor activities over the outdoor life. While growing up, she was always very fond of Antony, but the relationship did not mature as Maelin did. She enjoys teasing Morgan, even though it makes Celeste jealous.
After Malissa came to Saxhaven, Maelin was sent to Carnac for her safety and to find a cure for Llorgau’s addiction to the Hedonae. She took Brutus with her and acquired another dog in Carnac, Clavius dementus.
Llorgau
Llorgau is the Sagamore of Saxhaven, one of the principal cities in the Saar valley. His wife’s name was Llewelyn and his daughter is Maelin. He has no other children or heirs. Llewelyn had a Poma named Brutus.
The Sagamore is a great bear of a man, with wild shaggy locks and a full beard. He has a powerful, vital presence and is a born leader of men. He is usually full of energy, seldom resting, ever active. He is a scholar as well as a warrior and loves the pursuit of knowledge.
In 5972 AF, the mountain savages known as the Targ swept down on Saxhaven. But for the intervention of the Raavs, Saxhaven would have been overwhelmed. After several great battles, the Targ were defeated. Morgan and Max were both involved in the fighting and have been friends with Llorgau ever since. Llewelyn was so grateful to Morgan for his help that she wanted to pledge Maelin to him, but Morgan refused.
Everything changed in the Fall of 6006, when the Hedonae Malissa arrived in Saxhaven.
Antony
Antony is a former Raav who left the mercenaries to become Ambassador of Saxhaven. He is called Glossauric, the GoldenTongue, a tribute to his powerful, melodious voice and command of language. He was a master negotiator with the Raavs and has few equals in court intrigue and espionage. He is also a skilled pharmacologist.
The Ambassador is a slender man of average height with long blond hair and flowing moustaches. His clothing is always impeccable and true to the latest fashion. He carries a snuff box on his arm, and inhales a powder to remedy his chronic sinus problems.
His constant companion is the giant Caestus and he has assembled a bodyguard of women soldiers. Antony is an accomplished swordsman, if his arts of persuasion fail.
Taurus
Taurus, originally from the northern nation of Skorn, is Captain of the warship Windrider. The circumstances of his departure from his homeland are mysterious and he currently makes his living as a trader along the coast of the Sarlassan Sea. Taurus is probably not his real name. Ironically, although a seaman, Taurus cannot swim at all. As with most northerners, he is a casual worshipper of Thaar, the god of war. Most of his crew were criminals purchased at the Gallows Auction in Androssar. Despite their past, the crew greatly respect their Captain and would gladly die for him. This type of devotion is unusual and mostly unexplained.
The Captain is a burly man with a great black beard and “excess in all things” is his motto. He is egotistical, loud, impetuous, reckless, uncouth, absolutely fearless, insanely loyal, of dubious moral character, and favors great quantities of northern mead. His temper is legendary. He fights with an axe and a three-barreled projectile weapon he calls Charon, the Taker to Gaol.
Morgan and Max met Taurus on a exploratory voyage to the western continent of Vaeland. Taurus spent three years with the Raavs and they became close friends.
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.
Dramatis personae
Morgan Caeda
Morgan was born around 5916 AF. He was a foundling, discovered as a baby lying in the forest. He was raised by an older couple, Hodin and Belov, who could not have children of their own. No one ever knew the identity of his natural parents. Morgan’s foster parents lived in Falmount, a small settlement in the foothills of the Perpetual Mountains, north of the Saar valley. Max and him were raised in the same town and became childhood friends. His adopted parents gave him the name Morgan. Max added Caeda, which means “killer” in Saarish.
An old hermit named Cynar took an interest in Morgan and Max and trained them in the use of weapons and battle tactics. Morgan and Max spent their childhood training with Cynar or in the wood hunting and exploring. When they were old enough, they left Falmount and petitioned to join the Raavs, a group of mercenaries. After many battles and adventures, Morgan rose to Commander of the Seventh Raav Legion. He carries a large, two-handed sword named Lex talionus, the law of retaliation. The hilt and crossbar are formed of coiled dragons.
As an adult, Morgan is a large man, clean-shaven, ruggedly handsome, with brown hair. He bears many scars from past fighting; on his left eyebrow, his hands, and various other places. Morgan has strange eyes; gray with flecks of gold in the irises. He heals faster than normal, is unusually strong, and has incredible stamina. On Morgan’s lower back is a strange “birthmark,” a circle of puckered flesh with ridges of tissue spreading out from it like tentacles.
Morgan is an idealist and slightly embittered by life’s disappointments and imperfections. He has a strong sense of duty and a strict moral code. He doesn’t indulge in strong drink or frequent the prostitutes, unlike most of the other mercenaries. He has fallen in love a couple of times but the relationships never worked out. Morgan is very loyal to his friends. He is also strangely naïve, especially with women.
As Legion Commander, Morgan joined the great Raav general Imperius on the Crusade, a military invasion into the heart of Mhoul territory. Seven Legions of Raavs were decimated by some terrible weapon near the Mhoul capital of Mogda Thal. After the massacre, Morgan wandered into the mountains and was taken in by the monks at Khulankor. While at the monastery, he converted to the worship of Iosus the Maker. After twelve years, Morgan left Khulankor and returned to Saarland on a mission for the Mons Monachus, the monks of Khulankor.
