Zelia Al Y Kazzam: daughter of &
Sheik Al Y Yabba Y Kazzam and the Lady Astra, a result of the ceremony that renews
the vow between, air and man. Their offspring combines
the best--or the worst--traits of both. She is independent, reckless, flighty,
yet stubborn and unwilling to submit to anyone's authority. From her mother she
has inherited magical powers, proscribed to a female, so her father gave her over
to the clerics of Cleric of Brigitta in Thessalia. Where
she became the heir to the Matriarch of all Healers, and later the first woman
to be accepted by the Mages as a Wizard Emeritus.
Ares the Adventurer - fellow
outcast, half-human half-elf, Zelia's lover and affianced. Child of Silenea
Nivea and an unnamed mortal lover in the Ritual of Blood, a rite almost
as ancient as the bonding ritual between Air and man. The bade was abandoned
in the Wastes as required by custom--only those in whom elfin blood ran
true could find their way back beyond the mists. The boy was found and
raised by a berserker who gave him his fateful name, and thus a prophecy
was fulfilled. Ares is Zelia's complement in personality and ability. A
rebel, a renegade and mercenary. And like Zelia, the first of elfin blood
to attain the status of Wizard Emeritus.
Sheik Al Y Yabba Y Kazzam - The chosen bondsman of Astra and
father of Zelia. He is a chief of a nomadic tribe, a position to which
a person is elected, usually for his weather sense and ability to find
water in the harsh desert climate.
Matriarch - Head of the healer craft, and premier priestess
at the human temple of the goddess Brigitta in Pelopnos.
Silenea Nivea - snow elf. High Priestess of Brigitta, roughly
the elfin equivalent to the Matriarch.
Queb - Former Archmage. As
a wizard, Queb fell wrote the Black Grimoire and
fell under its, causing the mage wars. After his capture, he was condemned
to an eternity trapped between planes, but he managed to escape. With the
help of elemental air his molecules were scattered across the universe
,
only to reform. Before his heart turned to magic, it loved the lovely elf
Silenea Nivea. Thus, Ares's father is also his arch enemy.
Philos the Benevolent - current Archmage of all Wizards. Referred
to as: `the malevolent' by the Reverend Mother of the Healers craft, `the
ridiculous by his peers and `the flatulent' by his students.
Oogal the Inestimable - one of the few sovereigns of Firth who
managed to survive the first year-long trial kingship because he was out
adventuring, or swashing and buckling--which includes drinking large quantities
of spirits and their elimination--during the often-fatal final two months
of his trial period. He comes of royal blood so watered down that he was
found working in a stable. All the other royals died, been eliminated or
moved to a healthier climate. Oogal is called the Inestimable because Firth's
have lost count of number of rulers it has had during its turbulent history.
Thesbos - former innkeeper, whose public house was burnt down
by Zelia during a bar room brawl, which resulted in her expulsion from
the Healer's College. Thesbos has prospered and currently holds the position
of mayor to Thessalia, the capital city of Pelopnos, the Isle of Learning.
Elementals
Lady Astra - air's queen and Zelia's mother.
Fante Zephyr - second and aide to Lady Astra.
Ignacious Roc - king of the
earth elementals and quite literally a mountain of a man.
Vitreous Humour - prince, son of Ignacious, and just a
chip off the old block.
Aqua Prima - water's queen.
Pyro Teknix - acting leader and spokes-combustible for fire.
Immortals
Satan (as himself) - aka Prince
of Darkness, King of Kings, Viscount of Evil, Demonlord or His Most Heinous
Majesty.
Pun (cum Puck) - a member
of the droll family and imp of the fourth degree. Purveyor of puns, cockerel
of comedy, harlequin of ill- humour, knave and hades court jester. He inherited
his position vicariously after his brother Biting Sarcasm and sister Snappy
Repartee where blasted to the nth dimension after a particularly bad performance.
His brothers, Bon Mot and Beau Jest, the two white sheep of the family,
buggered off into parts unknown, deciding that the position might be hazardous
to their health leaving none but the hapless Pun.
Sala - Goddess of Cycles. It is her dance that advances
the hours, the days, the seasons and the turns. It is her undying ambition
to save just one clutch from her voracious spouse.
Apsu the Devourer - Sala's husband and god of insatiable
appetite. According to southron legend, he eats the sun at the end of the
day.
Yessi - goddessling and Brigitta's helper.
THE BLACK GRIMOIRE - The book falls into a category by itself.
Like most books, the grimoire attained a life of its own found in the words
that were written in it, and its message changed in the hands of those
that carried it. A thing of magic imbued with its own life. This lifeforce
was enhanced and empowered by the dark overlord so that its potency increased
exponentially until it was a living, breathing being--with its own desires,
its own reasons-- and a major player twisting mortal fates and warping
mortal souls.
Other Players
Nepharious Hex - a jinn. Generally feared, the jinn are known for
their irascibility and ill-temper. Hex, like Rex, is a jinn appellation
noting rank by birth if not necessarily by skill. Nepharious Hex certainly
lives up--or, in this case, down--to his name. He is a blunderer, the result
of too many generations of in- breeding. He even flunked out of jinn school.
Most of his spells go hopelessly awry, having the opposite of the desired
effect. A bequest of a bed of roses for a mortal princess at her wedding
feast resulted in the groom being gelded by the thorns during the nuptials.
Needless to say the sultan was not amused, and Nepharious Hex was quite
correctly beheaded as the law demanded. Of course, the jinn grew another
one.
Joi Seraphim - Martyr's Bush and one of the guardians of
time's gate.
Joi II - his son.
Ampitere - an aging wizard (retired).
Mad Thomas - a wizard (also retired) who went insane when
he looked into the Black Grimoire.
Simon - a pig and Philos the Benevolent's assistant. The
apprentice mage was turned into his unseemly shape by a random magic that
periodically runs amok through the college.
Preston D. Digitor - Grand Inquisitor of the Wizards.
Fidhl - the Matriarch's assistant.
With diverse others, including: angels daemon, gods, goddess, godlings,
imps, fiends, archfiends, demons, pixies, gnomes, dwarves, and various
sundry elementals and mortals. Not to forget . . .
Zelia Al Y Kazzam: daughter of &
Sheik Al Y Yabba Y Kazzam and the Lady Astra, a result of the ceremony that renews
the vow between, air and man. Their offspring combines
the best--or the worst--traits of both. She is independent, reckless, flighty,
yet stubborn and unwilling to submit to anyone's authority. From her mother she
has inherited magical powers, proscribed to a female, so her father gave her over
to the clerics of Cleric of Brigitta in Thessalia. Where
she became the heir to the Matriarch of all Healers, and later the first woman
to be accepted by the Mages as a Wizard Emeritus.
Ares the Adventurer - fellow
outcast, half-human half-elf, Zelia's lover and affianced. Child of Silenea
Nivea and an unnamed mortal lover in the Ritual of Blood, a rite almost
as ancient as the bonding ritual between Air and man. The bade was abandoned
in the Wastes as required by custom--only those in whom elfin blood ran
true could find their way back beyond the mists. The boy was found and
raised by a berserker who gave him his fateful name, and thus a prophecy
was fulfilled. Ares is Zelia's complement in personality and ability. A
rebel, a renegade and mercenary. And like Zelia, the first of elfin blood
to attain the status of Wizard Emeritus.
Queb - Former Archmage. As
a wizard, Queb fell wrote the 
Ignacious Roc - king of the
earth elementals and quite literally a mountain of a man.
Satan (as himself) - aka Prince
of Darkness, King of Kings, Viscount of Evil, Demonlord or His Most Heinous
Majesty.
Pun (cum Puck) - a member
of the droll family and imp of the fourth degree. Purveyor of puns, cockerel
of comedy, harlequin of ill- humour, knave and hades court jester. He inherited
his position vicariously after his brother Biting Sarcasm and sister Snappy
Repartee where blasted to the nth dimension after a particularly bad performance.
His brothers, Bon Mot and Beau Jest, the two white sheep of the family,
buggered off into parts unknown, deciding that the position might be hazardous
to their health leaving none but the hapless Pun.