The Story
Characters
Characters
Willow Wolfblade – She is relatively small and lanky in appearance, but her strength rivals that of Sigmar when she has momentum working in her favor. She respects Anardr for his tenacity and kindness, even if he doesn't appreciate her smart mouth or thieving habits most of the time. She is a wolf animangian that is the color of the bark of a tree with a lively sheen in it with a white diamond on her chest. She has abnormally keen hearing and night sight. She is a rogue who allies her abilities to the city/person who offers the most money, unless it is an acquaintance of hers that she sincerely likes. She steals, spies, and bounty hunts for her living, but she never kills. She considers Stella her only true friend after they go on a few bounty hunts together. Willow fights with a blood-red dagger, named Flamedeath, that was crafted from the tooth of a great red dragon and diamond. She got it made by calling in a favor from a skilled dwarven craftsman that had hired her to steal back his families' armor back. It is enchanted to burst into flames when its wielder says the magic word.
She has a major crush on Anardr, but is wary of Sigmar at first. Her parents were slaves of war, and also gave birth to Willow as slaves. They committed suicide when they were tortured and thought that they would have to watch their daughter die. They didn't know that she was watching them, so they ended up killing themselves in front of her.
Stella Starstaff – A half-blood whose mother was an elf and father was a fey. She has wings, but they are very small. Her skin is pale, almost white, with an undertone of violet that makes her look very exotic. She is a mage of noticeable power, having been taught by a human mage that was more powerful than he let on. He entrusted to her his Grimore as he lay dying, which was magical and seems to pop up with a spell that will be needed in the near future. It is huge and can bring up any spell one has seen before in the book and let the owner view it when she wishes. It doesn't seem to like Willow or Sigmar very much, as it goes blank whenever they are around. It doesn't mind Anardr. Most races shun Stella for her mixed blood, especially since she is so obviously half-fey. She has had to learn to depend on herself alone, with some special contacts to earn a living. She also goes bounty hunting, almost always when Willow asks. The two seem to meet randomly, but they always manage to do some job together. She met Willow when she was lost and close to giving up on life in a deep forest on Animangian land. Willow escorted her to the edge of the forest and has then since met up with her. Stella has a companion fairy that is a fluttering book-worm that is obnoxiously terrified of everything.
Sigmar – An (ex)emperor that who became corrupt with power. His father before him had been the leader of a blood drinking cult that worshiped the Vampire King, even though the Vampire King is, in reality, a god of life and forgiveness, showing that living off of others will always be necessary in some way. Wanting immortality and great and brutal physical strength, he ordered the best summoner his gold could buy to summon a medium-level demon to seal within his mortal frame. As he did this foolish deed he was nearly consumed and used as a husk for the demon to use. Acting quickly and relying on his stubborn willpower he spent most of his kingdom's money on getting the demon sealed within his arm. It still controls him from time to time, which finally led to the revolt of Sigmar's kingdom that got him nearly executed, but the demon within him (now sealed within his arm and unable to escape if he got killed) controlled him and got him out of there. He fights with a longsword and a short-sword, alternating between the two and even fighting with both on occasion. When the demon's power takes him over or fills him with its strength, his swords change to an ebony and ruby greatsword that it seems no mortal could lift. The power from the demon allows him to move impossibly quick and have incredible endurance. He is intrigued by Stella and attempts to rape her, still having his emperor mindset. He gets his ex-royal a** kicked by first Willow, who was looking for Stella to get a hunt, then by Stella who is pissed and vengeful. Beaten and pissed, he sulks away, and always seeks them out when he hears about them being in town.
Anardr – The only one who has what 99% of people would call an “acceptable” morality. He is a ranger who is a human. He fights with a bow, and one gladius, though he keeps another strapped to his side always. He runs into Willow when she takes shortcuts through forests to visit cities that she is a part of. He doesn't like her thievery (morally correct, remember) but respects her need to survive. He is a werewolf, which is half of the reason he is usually alone in the forest. As a werewolf he is only savage towards humanoid creatures. When he is around animals as a werewolf he is calm and himself. As a werewolf, when around animangians in their animal forms he is calm as well and sometimes can communicate with them. He has a dagger he found (somehow) that acts strangely around Sigmar. He is initially intrigued by Stella because of her abnormal and prominent fangs. Anardr has a great horned owl named Mus'dane that never leaves his side unless delivering something as instructed. He bonds with Willow as she stays by his side when he first changes in front of her and talks to him. His mother is a warrior monk priestess.
Avah– Sorceress. Dragon in disguise. Wears an amulet that seals the dragon within the voluptuous and sensuous form she chooses to take. She is a shadow dragon (99.9% evil). She uses Zarrak to summon demons so that, as higher and higher level demons are summoned, she will not be the one who would be in trouble with the demons if anything goes wrong. So she thinks.
Zarrak – Warlock. Secretly in with her son, ___. He does what she instructs and summons the demons and undead, but makes them obey her only until her conniving son comes and gives them commands, making him be in control of the whole army.
Races
Animangians - Commonly called 'anima' by humans and dwarves. They live in the forest mostly, but some make cities on the border. All are in tune with the forest (or ocean for sea-faring animangians) and know what goes on within its borders. Had the elves apologized for jumping to conclusions, the anima would have forgiven them, but the elves' pride during the war kept the animangians from being able to forgive and forget, so they were forced to make allies with humans to keep from having to fight the elves by themselves while the elves were working to get the fey involved. The anima are still waiting for the apology to forgive them and move on. Brett KoZakku is the high general and queen of the animangians, queen just means leader of the council. The council has land, earth, air, fire, and water representatives, and a queen who is elected if there is no family to carry on the legacy. Brett was one of the few on the front lines who wasn't severely wounded or killed. She was also the ONLY general within the fight on the front lines. Brett is a good friend of Willow, and is grateful Willow finds ways to get her out of the queens' chamber and out on an adventure. All anima can change their form to the animal they are. Brett and Willow being wolves allows them to change into wolves. The only race they aren't tolerant of other than the internal judgment of the Aylids, are the elves. Aylids are animangians that can change into any animal they so desire, and often have an affiliation with an element. The most common in the forest where Willow and Brett live are shadow-mancer Aylids, who can travel through and manipulate shadows. Willow saw nothing wrong with them and worked for their trust, and soon earned it when she saved the leader of the Aylids' daughter. Often, Aylids are only male, the female merely carrying the gene on to her own children, but his daughter can use the Aylid powers just as any male can, and they hold her in high regard. Most animangians are jealous of the Aylids (although they will not admit to be) and push them away. The next closest clan of Aylids to the territory the story takes place in is fifty miles past the border and is an air or wind clan. Animangians live as long as elves, 700 years, and fight mostly in the melee department, with some archers thrown in. Very few are good at magic.
Humans – The only race with so much moral diversity. Most of them highly dislike he elves and the fey and have only recently begun to trust the Animangians. They have worked beside dwarves before but mostly just rely on the trade route that the dwarves have provided for each race. Their trust for the Animangians is only slightly above the human's hate for the fey and elves. At the beginning of the entire war, only the humans and the elves were involved. After ten or twenty years the Animangians and fey were dragged into it. They have since been fighting . Only recently was a very vague treaty passed, and each race except the dwarves were left to pick up the pieces. This race can be skilled at almost anything, but sadly don't usually live long enough to surpass the long living races in any craft usually. Best at making weapons. Live about 80-100 years.
Elves – Necessary . Ranged attackers. They are beautiful and graceful. They generally have long hair, and if not it is very short and wispy. During the war, they screwed themselves out of allies when they jumped to conclusions about what the animangians had and had not done. Then they scrambled to make the fey join, finding a way to get them involved without making it seem as if they were the ones that were doing so. The fey, to avoid a collision with the elves, send all of their archers and spell casters. Due to the mixed races, there were many half-bloods born. When they had aged enough to hold and swing a weapon with ease, they were sent to the war to fight, usually on the front lines. Often, after the war, the fey-elf mixed children and adolescents were tormented and had their wings torn off if they were significantly larger than normal half breeds. Most elves are 5-5 ½ feet tall, and are rarely any taller. Most are goodly and can live up to 700 years.
Dwarves- Best at making armor. They are the embodiment of the earth and craftsmanship. They are rarely seen since the war, and it is even rarer to see them working alongside elves and fey. They tolerate everyone else. They are hardy and fight in melee the with the most tenacity of any melee fighting race. Willow had her trusty dagger, Flamedeth, crafted by dwarves out of an ancient red dragon's fire-tooth (just an abnormally hard and sharp tooth in a dragon's mouth that matches it's scale color) and a huge hunk of (stolen) diamond. Sigmar had the shackle and chains that he later got enchanted crafted by dwarves, as well as his armor. Dwarves live up to 500 years. Other than melee they have a fair amount of priestly magic thrown in as well.
Fey- Magic users. Little is known about them, as they make themselves scarce around other races. They are short (shorter than even dwarves, who are 4 1/2- 5 feet tall). They are the only race that cannot breed with either animangians or dwarves. All appear fairy-like, with dragonfly wings. Most are fair-skinned, but there are a few clans with skin tones ranging from leaf green to violet. They usually have red or maroon eyes, and when they don't the color is blue-white. Only mixed-breeds have any other color. They can, against all odds, fly, which hints at their immense magical power. They almost always live up in trees, shaping them to their design through magic. When the magic kills the trees they move on after planting a densely packed forest of new growth that has been imbued to grow ten times as fast as normal trees. They usually have to move every hundred years. They can live up to 1000 years, but in extremely rare cases there maybe a fey that can live up to 2000 years.
Dragons-
Werewolves- (As previously stated) Only act savage around humanoid creatures or animangians.
