Fey Winds - Fantasy webcomic

Cast

-Chapter 1-

The Fox (aka Kit) - Through a series of magical crossed wires, she was an ordinary fox who ended up being turned into something almost-but-not-quite-human by an old country witch. She travels with Larina, who gave her a name, and Nigel, who showed up out of the blue one day. Quick-witted and fast on her feet, she's fiercely loyal to her friends and a constant source of cheer. Not having been a human for very long, she can come off as a bit dense when it comes to the finer points of human behaviour and psychology.

Nigel Dantalian - Taciturn and gruff, Nigel doesn't speak much about himself, his life in Kaderria or his past as a mercenary. He is bound to follow Kit wherever she goes by a gypsy's hex, and doesn't hesitate to complain about it, or tease her whenever he gets the chance. He isn't easily shaken or angered, and even in the most unfair fight, he's at least calm, if not downright enjoying himself. Despite anything he might say, he trusts his traveling companions and even enjoys their company, as long as they don't expect him to ever own up to it.

Larina Valadiel - An extremely promising scholar in the elven sanctuary that was her home, Larina left it all for the sake of adventure and ended up with more of the stuff than she had bargained for. Getting stuck with a gem that serves as a conduit to wandering ghosts (and paves the way for them to randomly possess her) was one thing. Stumbling on a very confused fox-creature was something else. Then one thing led to another and she ended up with a grumpy thug and a schmoozing prince on a quest to find relics that will hopefully be able to do something about one or all of her curse-related problems.

Prince Sidney Theodorus Cassian Merriweather Findain VIII (aka Sid) - The eldest of twin princes by a few minutes, Sid grew up blessed with the riches, education and social standing of someone of his rank....and a total lack of people skills. After reading too many adventure novels, and growing suspicious of his brother's new advisor (who gave him a medallion that turns him into a dragon when his nerves get the better of him), he sets out to see the world with Kit and her friends. He fancies himself the charmer, but his routine is so weak that even the fox can see through it. Somewhere deep inside him... there has to be some small redeeming quality... or at least, we hope.

-Chapter 2-

??? - Mysterious, shackled, comatose woman that has some connection to shady people, but is she on their team, or being held against her will?

Zephanias Kessel - A shy, clumsy thaumaturge from Kep who was also cursed during a run-in with a genie. He ran into Larina on a country road after having been chased all the way across the southern Moors. Taking an instant liking to her, he goes along with her, her friends and their plan of looking for relics. With his knowledge as a user of the Rule, he tries to help them them get closer to their goal.

-Chapter 3-

Sigurd (aka Lord of ~~Darkne~~ the Dying Light) - Other than his questionable taste in titles, Sigurd seems to want to keep his secrets for now. He appears to be some kind of fey, a Stranger or even an Ancient, and paradoxically, he seems to wield the Rule with considerable power, using glyphs and circle spells to spring a trap he's been planning for a long time.

The Sylphe - The Sylphe was, depending on who you ask, either a fey spirit, a child of a god or a war-golem. She was either summoned or created to serve a power-mad sorcerer in the Second War, but several years later, she defied all that was thought possible for golems and bound spirits when she turned against her master and fought alongside the humans and the fey. Shortly after peace returned to the Seven Kingdoms, she disappeared, never to be seen in the Kingdoms again. In the two centuries since the war, she has become a legend, and folklore attributes mythical properties to almost everything she possessed or interacted with during her time walking the earth. Finding items she owned, however, is tricky business, usually reserved for hardy treasure hunters. To this day, no one knows what happened to the Sylphe when she disappeared, if she died or if somehow she's still alive.

The Satchel - Though it appears to be a simple leather satchel, it'll be quick to remind you that it is in reality Giles Grimsworth Swaggerforth III and he's a magical leather satchel, thank you very much. Kit picked it up at a yard sale, thinking at first that it was a simple fashion accessory. However, the bag took a liking to her and decided to reveal its true nature: an interdimensional pocket to Elsewhere. The bag has accumulated a lot of things over the years--clothes, coins, food (that comes out of the bag as fresh as it enters), various and sundry sharp objects-- and since there's no limit to space in Elsewhere, there's always room for more things, even things that don't initially appear able to fit into a small leather satchel. If you're on its good side, you'll always be able to find what you need if you ask for it. Get on its bad side and you'll start to wonder how many rotten vegetables there are in Elsewhere...

People and races

Humans - Brought to the Seven Kingdoms by their guardians the Ancients, humans grew up surrounded by magic and strange creatures. They live fairly harmoniously with their neighbors the fey, except in Kaderria, where there are no longer any fey and in Greymoors, where their relations are a little cooler. Broewenders and Runefolk have a particularly close bond with the fey in their kingdoms.

Fey -The original inhabitants of the lands that would become the Seven Kingdoms, "the fey" is the catch-all term given to them once they began sharing their land with the humans. In reality, the fey are elves, ogres, fairies, dwarves, redcaps, boggans, selkies and hundreds of races with or without names. Where they live is mostly secret, but it's well known that their cities (some visible, some hidden) lie in the wilds where humans cannot build their walls. The fey hold court according to the seasons, the phases of the moon or the alignments of the stars, and it's extremely difficult to get them all together under any other circumstances. They aren't a united people, and their views on humans, the kingdoms and how best to live their lives vary wildly depending on the type of fey in question. Due to the very long lifespans of certain fey, and the very short lifespans of others, it's extremely difficult to deal with the fey as a whole, and most humans usually try to do business only with a few of the fey races at a time.

The Ancients - A few thousand of these mysterious beings arrived in the Seven Kingdoms thousands of years ago, fleeing some calamity with their human charges. They were the ones who first brokered peace with the fey and rallied them to defend the Kingdoms in the wars. They seem to have largely died out, though it is difficult to know for sure if that's true. They were said to be extremely wise and incredibly powerful, and their influence was one of the few things that kept the Kingdoms together over the centuries. It was the Ancients, understanding something fundamental about the Song, who created the Rule as a means for the humans to interact with magic.

The Strangers - Physically identical to the Ancients, the Strangers appeared much later, after the Seven Kingdoms had been established. They settled in Kaderria, where they learned about their new world. Displeased at the actions of the Ancients, the Strangers, powerful sorcerers like their brethren, set about turning events to their advantage. They corrupted the Kaderrians and set them against their fellow humans. It was thought they had been destroyed at the end of the First War, but a small number survived, hidden, biding their time until they had planned their return. However, even if they were capable of starting a war together, the sorcerers were unable to finish what they started the same way. Animosity erupted between them and their group split apart, each sorcerer now waging war on the other as well as on the humans and fey. By the end of the conflict, it was thought that no more than one remained. This time, the Ancients did not let even one slip through their fingers. Legends say the last Ancient fought the last Stranger in a fierce battle before striking one another down, but in reality, no one save the Ancients knew exactly what happened to the Strangers. However, the fey assert that the Strangers are indeed gone forever.

Spirits and gods - are one and the same, except for a minor difference: the size of their egos. A spirit is a creature closely related to the fey, but of the "more often intangible than not" variety. The scope of their power varies greatly from one individual to another, a spirit can be a small thing, with an easily controlled mind, or an ancient being of unfathomable intellect. They all exert their power over a certain element or natural force, and exist closely connected to Song. It is their essence, their power, that necromancers sometimes steal to imbue their golems with special talents.

Gods are spirits who have decided to put on a show for the mortals, and trick, con and pester people into constructing shrines and making offerings to them, and doing a lot of work for them. They usually operate in their own domain, be it puddles, petty thievery, olive oil quality, fertility, harvests, weather or blunt cutlery.

Golems - Golems are creations of mud and stone, with shards of souls and powers stolen to give them life. The creation of a golem is forbidden by the laws of the Rule, as the rituals needed to breathe life into the golem's body cross the line into Necromancy. Simple golems, mindless automatons can be created by a Thaumaturge alone, but anything more complicated requires a necromancer or an alchemist. What the golem is depends on its design, its maker and the source of its stolen soul or powers. It is extremely rare that a golem is made to be sentient, and rarer still that it is able to display emotion or live as a human. Most legal golems are simply thaumaturgical machines created to do difficult or dangerous work for their masters, and the two academies dedicated to the Rule have a good many of them.