A Taste of Mortality

Posted On: September 08 2024 Filed Under: characters comments off 6

Alnam Devlon is the thirty-second Lord of Devlonmere, an estate in the Shadowlands. As a child he was dutiful and almost invisible, but as he grew up his personality began to take shape – still bound by the rules and laws that governed the Autumn Court, but also efficient and effective, something King Marnsul valued most. The two became good friends – the youthful strength of Alnam combined with the strict but jovial attitude of the ruler. Contradictions – but soul mates.

When Marnsul died – and Lorian ascended to the throne – Alnam mourned his friend, but had high hopes for the new king. Lorian was intelligent and powerful, something the Fae needed. But the Winter Court was nothing like the Autumn Court. The Fae slowly began to change, touched by the power of the new season. The woods craved blood, and Lorian was the one to provide it.

Alnam didn’t like the change, Ain’asel grew darker and darker. Autumn Court was not innocent or pure, nor was Alnam. But Lorian’s reign was shadowed, something Alnam would never accept.

The two began a little game. Of words, only. They knew that they represented different times, and they liked to stick needles into each other’s skin.

But this was invisible to others, and one day Alnam’s son, Corvel, came to Dal’coler with his father…

Which ended in his death.

The mutilated body of his son was brought to Alnam’s quarters one night. He recognised the shadow power, and though the official version differed from what he suspected, he also recognised Lorian’s kind of shadow, irremovable, stronger than any other.

He was very attached to Corvel, loved him truly, and real hatred blossomed in his heart.

Hatred and despair.

His wife, Narlia, blamed him for taking their son to Dal’coler. They stopped talking, and later Narlia fell ill, which eventually killed her. Devlonmere became empty.

Alnam lost everything, all because of the cruel Winter King.

The old Autumn Court had long since crumbled, replaced by Winter. Lorian decided to conquer the surrounding lands, with the willing enthusiasm of his courtiers. Alnam was a general of Marnsul and Lorian and went to war to silence his guilt and hatred. He trained warriors and invaded with them, always knowing that he would have to return to Dal’coler and look at Lorian.

He was a monster to him, a fey who loved torture, dangerous and bloodthirsty. The gradual change of the fey nature he attributed to him, a change into a cruel winter.

One lunar new year, he decided to take one of Lorian’s human slaves, apparently the king’s favourite. Harm her and make her fear Lorian even more – as a shapeshifter, he took Lorian’s form. But he saw something familiar in her, a hatred for her owner, and he ended up deeply fascinated – by her strength and will to fight.

It was Leira.

But Leira knew well that running after Alnam was not an option, and that she would have to stay with the most powerful Fae to stay alive in the Winter Palace. She realised that she had not slept with Lorian and denounced Alnam. Alnam was punished accordingly – his vocal chords were damaged and he can now only whisper with great pain.

Alnam became a lost, bitter man with no will to live. Everyone he loved was taken from him. Even the human he respected has betrayed him.

And he was kept alive only by the promise of revenge, and Lorian became his goal and the only thing that allowed him to exist.

But he didn’t know many things… like he didn’t know Lorian’s secrets and what exactly happened that night when Alnam lost everything…

The two feed off each other. Lorian loves to play games with Alnam, finds them seductive – Alnam has no choice and plays them, feeding his desire for vengeance.

—

Thanks to all brainstorm on him, Darkenaz! It was so much fun (and not only ^^).

Facts about Nymre

Posted On: February 22 2024 Filed Under: characters comments off 7

She is very possessive and jealous woman. She desires and loves Lorian but wants to be his main focus.
She is submissive in bed but NOT outside of it. She is bold, outspoken and proud and filled with inner strength.
She was a spy in the past, before she became Lorian’s lover. She still pulls the strings of spy net in the palace.
She is one of the oldest and most powerful fae in the realm.
Her innate scent is ocean breeze and her aura is light and gossamer-like.
She never puts her raven mask off. Lorian knows how she looks without it, but she doesn’t take it off even to sleep.
As a very old fae, she almost doesn’t need food, but in opposition to Lorian, she needs to eat sometimes to maintain magical strength.
She is infertile due to amount of magic in her. The more powerful fae female is, the more chances are she can’t bear children. In case of Nymre, she is pleased with it.
She can command ravens and to some extent other birds. Her own ravens, which she raised and “created” personally, have big blue eyes like her. They are bloodthirsty and always ready for hunt.
Her wings are very strong and can carry her non stop through whole Ain’asel, even to human realm. She is very proud of them and delights her that Lorian finds her feathers’ touch erotic. The wings give her freedom and joy.

Facts about Qhal

Posted On: February 20 2024 Filed Under: characters comments off 6

Qhal is a Fae who helps Tiyan cross the cold planes of Ain’asel and reach Dal’coler. He was sent by Lorian and somehow seems to really like Tiyan. But not everything is as it seems…

A few facts that might explain some of his traits and motives.

1. He belongs to a Fae race called Soath Lyth. They are Fae with mostly light powers, often opposing the winter powers of the Unseelie. They are great warriors and ferocious protectors of those they choose.

2. Qhal has a transparent throat. Soath Lyth don’t have stomachs adapted to stale food – only liquids, they feed on light. Be it sunlight, starlight or moonlight. Their membrane contains attractors that trap the light, keeping the Soath Lyth fed and energised.

3. He is absolutely loyal to Lorian. He owes him a lot, which will be revealed later in the story.

4. He has a very sharp sense of humour, even a cruel one.

5. Soath Lyth can’t lie. Qhal will always tell the truth. But…

6. Qhal is a master of deception. He has honed this trait to perfection. He can’t lie, but he will twist the truth so much that the lie looks like reality.

7. He can be wounded by an iron touch, but his resistance to it is similar to that of Unseelie – the touch doesn’t kill him and he can withstand it.

8. His power is spring – he can enchant the spring forest in the middle of the winter land – and protect himself from the cold.

9. He has a light complexion and a friendly, trustworthy smile and manner. His eyes are pale blue, piercing like ice.

10. His role in Dal’coler is unclear. Lorian always keeps him close, but no one knows what he does for him. He’s not a member of the High Court, and other Fae whisper that there is a special bond between them…

11. … which is only partially true. Lorian knows, however, that Qhal is the only one who can be given special cases that must be handled with extreme delicacy.

12. Qhal is very curious. He will go to the ends of the world to learn something, just for the thrill of it and out of sheer interest.

13. His family has a long history of animosity towards the Shadow Fairies. Shadow Fairies also believe that he has betrayed the Shadowlands by working for the Unseelie. Who have, in fact, enslaved their race. Which is quite… accurate.

14. Qhal doesn’t like public gatherings and ceremonies. If he had to attend one, he would be a wallflower.

15. He can create an illusion of security. The opposite of the power possessed by his enemies, the Shadow Fairies.

Facts About Lorian (15)

Posted On: January 31 2024 Filed Under: characters comments off 5

I expanded my “10 Facts about Lorian” from dA. Enjoy!

1. Lorian’s symbol is a wild brusha. Brusha is an animal from Shadowlands, who after passing the elder age, is eaten by the other brushas. His symbol depicts brusha eating own tail, with a rather devious, almost human-like expression. The same symbol is carved on Tiyan’s chest, just under his heart.

2. Lorian loves sex. As all faeries, he considers it a strongest showcase of attachment and love. And he is addicted to it.

3. Lorian is bisexual. He will sleep with both women and men. He doesn’t have any restrains in sexual matter.

4. He each day and each night feels attacks of terrible, bone-melting pain. This is caused by god’s power which he drinks from them in short periods of time. He knows the pain will be even worse – but he is dedicated to keep gods asleep – or rather in this case unconscious, weak – as long as it takes.

5. He doesn’t need almost any food. The older the fey get, the less food they need, and Lorian additionally is fed with pure magic. And…

6. … his favorite food are core apples. They hold pure blood in their flesh. They are magical fruits, so Lorian could live only on them, if chosen.

7. His power is shadow and night. He can enter with his darkness into bodies of others and cause pleasure, pain or both of them at once.

8. He is dominant, but in calm, cold way. He never bursts with anger, he never shows it to others, even Nymre.

9. Lorian loves his land. He can send the tendrils of shadows to feel it and it’s very intimate sensation. Ain’asel – the fairy realm – is something he would not admit, but would give everything for.

10. When gates to human lands were still closed, Lorian was known by humans as Reynardine, a fey who steals wandering women to his castle. Lorian never left his land back then, but this legend was rooted in tales escapees from fey realm were telling, to explain people disappearing in Feary Circles.

11. Lorian is a very passionate person, filled with inner fire, yet he shows a cold side to the world around him, an unmoved one, a perfect calm. Yet he burns high flames deep inside.

12. He likes others experience his power. Very selfish, manipulative and dark, yet he is able to love, with fierce passion.

13. He can read minds and it’s widely known. Yet it’s now known that he can enter them deeper, even if someone tries to hide thoughts. He can delve so deep, that he can retrieve smallests parts of someone’s life.

14. He likes books. He will read everything, if it catches his attention. Fey literature is very erotic, violent, indulgent and problematic from human point of view. He enjoys it. He also like uncommon knowledge.

15. He is a really dark character. Really cruel. And he is both a villain and an antihero.

Leira – Character Info

Posted On: December 31 2023 Filed Under: characters comments off 7

Leira was 19 when she entered the fairy ring and was swallowed by Ain’asel.

She was the only daughter of the leader of one of northern Avras villages. Her mother left her father for another man and Leira never could get through the wall her father made between himself and the others. She felt alone very often, but when she found her love, Mira, she was meeting with him often in the woods. He was older than her, and was a hunter, living more in the forest than in the village. Leira very often waited for him in a place which they both knew. Mira loved the woods and Leira learned to love them too.

One time Mira didn’t appear. Leira waited long. Later it turned out that wandering robbers attacked Mira and beat him, taking furs he stripped off the animals and thinking he was dead from their blows, left him on the path.

They would find Leira too, if she didn’t hide. They made a camp just near her hiding place, boasting how they killed the man. Leira listened to it and boiled inside from anger and fear.

Leira never deciphered how it happened. If she fell asleep, or not, if was dizzied by a spell or just eaten by the tree in which roots she hid. But Ain’asel knows what prey is most vulnerable and how to use it to feed its lords’ will.

She woke up under a sky that didn’t belong to her land. Everywhere there was only snow, and cold stars and loneliness. She was obviously scared, very, but Leira was always strong. She started to search for any hiding.

And that’s how she was found by the fae.

Most specifically, Lorian himself.

He was on the hunt with a few other lords, and Nymre. They hunted on aragners, the animals taken down only for sport by the fey, as they are most dangerous and almost impossible to kill by any other than a High Fae with strong magic.

Lorian was amused, so much, when Leira stumbled under his feet. It was always thrilling to find new slaves, who accidentally were swallowed by the portal.

Nymre proposed that maybe they will use her as bait for the aragner, not liking the captive’s beauty, but Lorian just took Leira for himself.

First few months in the Dal’coler were very hard for Leira. Lorian assigned her to really serve him, not as a toy, but watching him do atrocities were at first too much for her. Lorian was curious how much she could take, he was so so curious of her. It was a game he played with her, but when life in Dal’coler was hard and merciless, she just wanted to survive even harder.

Lorian thought that she would look better with tail and horns and she passed that too, indifferent at them, every day a fight.

She was always strong. She never was backing off. So Lorian slowly, very slowly started to respect her. At first only by not overburdening her too much. Later, giving her servant status. And then, he just gave her fae life span. In Dal’coler, there is a stream, beaming from under the rotten tree. If a human drinks from it, they will be eternal.

After time, something started to change in her. She stopped being moved by the darkness of Dal’coler. She assimilated, grew into the flesh of the fae realm. And started to care more for her current life, than her past one. More for her own one, than other humans.

She became darker, and started to feel things she never would dare to even think of. She grew closer to Lorian, desiring him and hating him at the same time. She feels so many conflicted feeling towards him, hungry want, attraction, hatred, fear, attachment, all mixed in a dangerous brew.

She lived for thirty years in the palace of the fairies. Making many enemies, the most important of them being Nymre and Lord Alnam.

She became more fae than she would admit. Long-living, with otherworldly attributes, she stopped being a human and became a child of the fairy land. And there is something boiling between Lorian and her, something dangerous and hot as white flame.

Mira searched for her for so long. Never finding, never knowing what happened with her. And she… forgot about him, just as all she left behind.

Lord Alnam – Character Info

Posted On: December 26 2023 Filed Under: characters comments off 8

Thank you, Darkenaz, you inspire, I love our brainstorming 😀

It doesn’t show Lorian in best light :> He is consumed by own pain and wants his savees to feel at least partial amount of what he goes through for them. Plus – he is awful, too 😀

Lord Alnam will become one of the important characters in describing fae society and one important subplot.

—

Lord Alnam is a High Fae, a part of the court and hates Lorian with a passion.

He introduced his son, Corvel, to the court, when he was very young – usually fae don’t do that, but Corvel insisted and Alnam had one weak spot – him. The fey usually treat their offspring as prolongation of their heritage, a way to pass the blood further, but Alnam was really attached to Corvel.

But the boy was hot headed and the first day he joined Alnam in Dal’coler, leaving family property, he fell for Nymre. Badly. It was both desire and something the young fey thought much deeper. He didn’t even know her, he just saw her and thought it’s love. Alnam didn’t know that. He thought Corvel has more brain in his head.

Corvel tried to be everywhere where he had chance to see Nymre. He followed each celebration and ball she was in. He talked with her only for short minutes, but was so eager with it, and Nymre found it amusing. Nymre liked the attention, even if just to later laugh with Lorian from the young fey’s attempts.

Until it caught attention of Lorian himself.

It was so easy to just extract the lustful imagery from Corvel’s mind. To see what he would love to do with her. And what he planned to share with her, if she allowed him even closer – the poor fool thought that amused Nymre is willing Nymre.

And it was enough to rub him wrong way.

When though Corvel liteally approached Nymre with hopeful delusions, it broke the dam. Corvel actually didn’t know Lorian well, and Alnam didn’t manage to speak some common sense into his mind, it was pretty obvious, that no one advances his mate. When he knew about it, it was too late.

Lorian just killed Corvel. Tormented by pain, he became darker and less forgiving.

Lord Alnam was done.

He started to hate Lorian with boiling strength. He had good reasons, in his opinion, Alnam knows nothing about Lorian’s struggles and he was good friend of his father, who was stoic and almost amiable king. Lorian is not only arrogant but also merciless. Despite the charm he put on many of the court, he still was darkest ruler in history of the fey.

And when Lorian decided to higher Leira’s position, he found a way, to avenge Corvel.

Alnam is a skinshifter, he can look as any fey or human. He took form of Lorian, during a festivity on Lorian’s ascention to throne anniversary… and luring her in, he tried to harm her. Literally, he tried to use her, destroying image of Lorian in her mind, if she had any.

He wanted to fuck her so badly, feeling dark desire for her, maybe even force her to carry his child. After Lorian killed his own heir.

But Lorian, to better protect Leira, made a magical thread between her and him. He knew perfectly well, when Leira is in danger and what danger.

It was first time a fae lord opposed him in such way. He filled Alnam with shadows for good few months, keeping him in costant pain, and then took his voice out, ordering him to whisper only.

He liked seeing him around later, feeling pain as he spoke. Better even than killing him. Better, because he knows what is in Alnam’s mind and he enjoys he hatred, his failed attempts.

Lord Alnam is a survivor of his own. He still seethes with hatred and he didn’t say his last word. His target is Leira still. And if gods will be gracious, also her lord. He doesn’t know what Lorian sacrificed to save his kind, so he thinks he is only a cruel ruler, who likes to cause pain, so much different than his father. Alnam is too important to kill and has too many supporters… and he knows that.

But Leira is in much better position now. Lorian grew more and more fond of her, she managed to enter his mind with not only lust. He really admire her strength and how she grew into the flesh of Dal’coler, how she adapted.

Alnam… will have a hard path, until he understands he has no chance.

Join me in night painted with crimson and black.