BFTS: Profiles, Places, Et Cetera
Age 24 / born October 19
Skills: kickboxing, a natural with short and sharp weapons, acting/bluffing, emotional endurance, physical endurance.
Weaknesses: faking sympathy/giving a shit towards people she hates, true weaponless combat, developing interests, information retention, using any sort of musical instrument.
Family: Mindy Morrow, mother; Horace Morrow, father.
Notes: Kristen is an ex-whore born in Revelers' Row in Strathclyde, Harland, one of many slums. She has a brother she doesn't know anything about - Christophe, 8, currently lost in the foster system and who probably won't make it into the story, but should probably be mentioned anyway just 'cause.
Age 25 / born January 23
Skills: botany, potion/wine making, most forms of magic, magical theory, information retention, manipulation, logic, sarcasm, drawing/sketching/coloring with pencil-shaped things
Weaknesses: bluffing, meta magic (form-modifying magic), social skills, painting, quick thinking, carpentry, sword fighting, projectiles
Family: Lauren Corvo, mother, deceased at 48 (mage's malady); Morgraven Corvo, father, deceased at 46 (killed in battle); Filomena Corvo, older sister, deceased at 7 (accidental suicide/murder by jealous berry bush).
Notes: The main character, a mystic of the second highest order (which you can tell by his hair color), born in Koinuma's Garden, Demonia, though his family didn't stay there long. Served in the Demonian army with friend, lover, and heir to the Demonian throne, Sorensen Carter Knox, until a month before the end of the war. Originally travels with Cliff and Kristen because he's got nothing better to do, and needs to get out of Daldain.
Age 27 / born June 5
Skills: seduction, fighting, physical/mental flexibility, bullying, hustling, stealing, sewing, cooking
Weaknesses: basic human decency, getting the right shade of lipstick, making tea, incredibly selfish
Family: Ling Bai, grandmother, 87; Chomu Bai, grandfather, deceased at 79-88; Theodore Bai, father, 57; Morena Ames-Bai, mother, 59; Fei Bai, aunt, 63; Mallory Ines, aunt's wife, 63.
Notes: Jaida Lenore Ames was a weapons store clerk in Amlaine, Harland before joining the group. She's mostly one-dimensional in that she's completely and totally obsessed with hedonism. Presumably, there will be character development. Until then, she's borderline antisocial and full-on sadistic.
Age 18 / August 17
Skills: decent sword technique for a beginner, physical endurance, compassionate, positive
Weaknesses: mentally weak, proud, far-sighted, has attention span of six-year-old in toy store, ruled by hormones, easily jealous, too goofy to be taken seriously, impulsive
Family: Emery Knight, biological father, deceased at 37; Nadir Kendricks, step-father, deceased at 45; Maevren Knight, mother, deceased at 46.
Notes: Cliff is an unlikely hero. That makes him, in essence, a likely hero, though right now he's exactly what you'd expect of a teenage boy.
Character portraits by Portrait Illustration Maker.
Kingdom of Harland, Litharuien Continent
Harland is a very small, very insignificant country, consisting of mostly farmland, fields, and quiet, sleepy towns. There are at least three major cities that break that mold, though; Soonah, Daldain, and Strathclyde. Harland is divided into the Western Lands and the Eastern Lands, or Vorbst Country and Soonah Country. The reason for the division is mostly monetary; the closer one is to Soonah, the more prosperous the citizenry is likely to be, and the reverse for Vorbst, which is almost entirely made of ghettos. Each countryside is as perilous as its other half, though, because while Vorbst is rife with muggers, dealers, and crazy militia people, Soonah has a higher population of the undead and more well-organized crime. The main exports of Harland are wheat, barley, silk, and hemp.
Daldain (Capital city), borderline Vorbst/Soonah [A large city practically run by the mafia by cycles - if tradition doesn't change, the Reynaldos will have control for another twenty five years or so before being shamed, ousted, and executed. The market here is diverse, but actually doesn't generally include naturally grown foods. Plants, fruits, and vegetables are more expensive here because there is a shortage, thanks to the infertile earth and the general lack of clean rain.]
Amlaine, borderline Vorbst/Soonah [A town that has traditionally been ruled by nobles, the most infamous of which were the Lonans, who took over after the tenth Duke of Amlaine died of a heart attack. The town is mostly just a tiny, self-sustaining village now.]
Wraybrook (ghost town), Soonah Country [Before the vampires invaded, Wraybrook was a quiet, picturesque vacationing spot most famous for its biannual Rain Queen Festival at the start and end of summer. It's here that about thirty percent of all the kingdom's silk is made, and with reason; the silkworms here are said to be some of the most crossbred and tampered with in the world.]
Strathclyde, Soonah Country [Think Hollywood Vegas and you're not quite getting the scope of this city. Think Hollywood Vegas's illegitimate child with New York City and you're not far off.]
Soonah City, Soonah Country [Soonah is a religious site for worshipers of the dark god Adanvari, mostly revered by vampires and dark lites, regular humans who basically willingly make silly emo vampire caricatures of themselves. The town has numerous mixed vampire bars. The truly sad thing is, most of the best booze - including the most disgusting but effective arcana absinthe in the kingdom - are found at the mixers.]
Kingdom of Demonia, Kievane Continent
Shang
Koinuma's Garden
Shibamatsu (Capital city)
Onpei
Empire of Sangria, Kievane Continent
Inglevane
Marchfield
The Hallowed Isles, Island Chain off Kievane
The Hallowed Isles were once the home of an ancient, mystical race of humanoids, more powerful than the mystics and significantly more soundly extinct. These are, though the name and nature of them are lost to most, the Draconians. Among these isles, there are five significant ones: the Isle of the Ankh, named for its shape, famed mostly as a cursed isle once used to dump off particularly evil prisoners, and the focus of a famous novel and play by the great J. J. Markham, Anharo's equivalent of Stephen King. There is also the Isle of Evergreen, a beautiful island whose mystique and riches are enough of a draw that the curses, doomsday artifacts, and black magic still at work in the island isn't enough of a deterrent to stop archaeologists, historians, and even the occasional tourists from coming. There is also the Isle of Delirium, coated in a thick hallucinogenic mist nicknamed devil's breath which retreats only at midday, once considered the holiest island of the lot by the Draconians. The magic there is some of the strongest ever, more unfading than gods and goddesses, and a big blind spot to most of them, including all avatars of fate. There is also the Isle of the Crescent, named for both its shape and a strange device found repeatedly in the isle's underwater ruins. There is very little to see here unless you've prepared waterproof gear and breathing apparatuses. The underwater wraiths here are able to cast depressions upon any who look tasty, and are interchangeably called merfolk and sirens. The final island is the Isle of the Prophet. No one has been there in many thousands of years, or rather none who have returned. The tides are violent, and wreck ships as easily as some wreck toothpicks.
Grasshill, Isle of Evergreen [Somewhere in Grasshill, there are vampires. Somewhere close to the vampires are human tribes, both cannibalistic and benign. Despite the idyllic name, there is a dark magic at work here that coaxes the beast out of even the mildest man's heart, unless he has been purified in the Rushing Falls. Therefore, while the vampires are indeed a problem, the benevolent tribes cannot move far enough away, or they'll go insane.]
Kilana's Field, Isle of Evergreen [The Ramunasha Draconians lived and died here. Travelers have supposedly encountered both real treasures, such as strange gems of unimaginable quality and type, and fairy's treasures, which of course have a way of turning to shit come daylight, in the ruins of the city that was once here.]
Butcher Downs, Isle of the Ankh [Used to hold the capital city of the Draconians, a group of shapeshifters that were both dragon and fae, of which today there are none except the vampire master Mashiro. The Isle of the Ankh is largely uninhabited by intelligent lifeforms, but the Downs have several cannibalistic human tribes living therein which are collectively referred to as "bad news."]
Gyoro Mais, Isle of Delirium [Gyoro Mais is less a town and more of a shrine. No one has figured out how to get inside, not even, reputedly, the Draconians. It's said that Gyoro Mais is one of the many gods' homes, forgotten or abandoned or perhaps just waiting for a certain event.]
Bayou of the End, Isle of Delirium [A vast swamp where minor dragons and powerful wraiths still live. Deep within the swamp are ancient Draconian holy grounds, two shrines and a temple. Though only Mashiro knows the specifics of the legend, it's said that worlds end and begin in the swamp, and destiny loses its pull. Draconians were notoriously tight-lipped about the legend, possibly due to the whole destiny losing its pull thing, possibly because they had been at war with humankind for ages by the time of the legend's emergence.]