Category: Witchlight Strand

Merlyn Merrick

2017-08-29

A fantasy character illustration for any fantasy -themed role-playing game settings. Initially designed for my own fantasy -themed world Cresia.

 

Name: Merlyn Merrick
Race: human
Location: Port Magalie, Witchlight Strand, Akron

Merlyn Merrick is an experienced adventurer with a base of operations at The Wyvern’s Nest Inn in Port Magalie where he is a regular and well-liked patron. Merlyn is a stout and easy going fellow with a hearty laughter and a jolly attitude towards life in general. He has a low, booming voice and a self-confident demeanor with which he uses it. However, he isn’t disrespectful to others and knows when it is time to listen and when it is time to speak up. Whatever the case, he does have a tendency to laugh out loud even when it is really not that appropriate; like when quietly following a group of orcs in the Bloodspires and you see one of them tripping over on a rock.

Stealthy operations are not his forte. Neither are operations where tight or narrow locations are to be expected. Nor is he especially useful if careful diplomatic cornering is going to be on the menu. But he is the perfect companion to have around for your average everyday wilderness survival needs, heavy lifting needs and jolly company. Merlyn is at home in the woodlands of Witchlight Strand and is well acquinted with the harsh terrain of the Bloodspires. He knows numerous safe off-the-trail locations that are ideal for secure and comfortable nights in the open and good for prolonged stays should there be a need to lay low for a while. He is in good terms with the elven people of Liaglades and knows ways to keep them from interfering whilst traveling through their lands. Even some notable hobgoblins and goblins of the Bloodspires region consider him as their friend and allow him and his traveling companions some leeway usually not reserved for humankind.

 

 

Miranda Lef, Enchantress

2012-02-09

Name: Miranda Lef
Race: human
Location: Port Magalie, Witchlight Strand, Akron

Although the practitioning of magical arts is frowned upon in many countries and truly feared and loathed in many rural communities, Witchlight Strand historically has a more liberal standing on the issue. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that the area houses many elven tribes who see magic only as an extension to nature’s might and thus have a long and natural history with magic. Miranda Lef currently lives in Port Magalie and she has become known as a promising enchantress. She lives in the center of the city with her house situated on a cliff facing the dock ward and the river. She lives by herself in a rather spacious cabin that now also serves as her shop aptly named Miranda’s Majicks – a recent effort for her to establish a better income by publicly providing enchanting services.

Miranda specializes in items easing the life of travelers such as abnormally long-burning candles, special torches, magical sticks with which to start fires, salves to ease pain and such. She hasn’t got a huge array of items available at any given time, but instead she has cultivated a clientele who order things from her and collect them once finished. Sometimes these clients don’t show up and so Miranda has accumulated a small array of items on her shelves waiting for potential buyers.

Miranda is kind and good-spirited in nature, but she has a bit of a temper. Although she isn’t very competent in matters economic, her little shoppe is providing enough for her to make a decent living. Much of her extra money goes to new clothing items and jewelry – both of which she has amassed by the coffins in her home. An outgoing, liberally thinking and actively social woman Miranda has still not yet found herself her soul-mate with whom to share her life with. Although she isn’t in any way a practitioner of witchcraft, her status as a single woman meddling with magic has raised an occasional whispered sentiment of resentment and suspicion even in the more liberal Port Magalie. Good for her that witches are not actively pursued and burned in Witchlight Strand!

 

Kembo Ree, A Rogue in the Night

2017-03-18

A character illustration for any fantasy-themed role-playing game setting.

Name: Kembo Ree
Race: human
Location: Port Magalie, Witchlight Strand, Akron

Chapter Master Kembo Ree runs the infamous thief organization Sombra‘s operations in Witchlight Strand and is a close acquintance and a dear friend of Patricia Mael who heads the organization’s Akron operations. Kembo is of mixed descendance of a Ferrian father and a half-elf mother from Jaston in Witchlight Strand. He is thus well versed in the customs of both areas and this in turn has made his ascension to his current position much more easier as many Ferrian middle-men, couriers and mentors of the organization react well to anyone who show a familiarity with how the world works in Ferria.

His early life was that of continuous trouble: he was not a very popular as a youngster and rarely enjoyed the companionship of friends. Not that he was a particularly hard person to be friends with but his mother and father both worked beyond the allowances of laws and thus were persecuted by state officials and more shady characters forcing the family to both lay low or relocate ever so often. It was not uncommon for the family unit to flee into the mountains South-West of Lirio (in Gruenroth) for a month or to hide in the natural caverns acting as sewers under the city of Gaulle Sax in Witchlight Strand. And his elder brother Alecor Ree was much more favored by his father even to the point of neglecting Kembo. Alecor was the one their father had high hopes for and Alecor was the one their mother taught more submitting menial and demeaning tasks to Kembo.

Fast forward a few decades and now Alecor is the one rotting in a jail in Mayhill in Akron, their mother dead from a rivaling burglar’s accidental slingshot to the head and their ill father reduced to occasional purse-snatching and bread heists in the city of Bomert in Witchlight Strand. And Kembo is running the operations of one of the mightiest illegal organizations ever albeit his role is strictly limited to areas surrounding the city of Port Magalie.

This illustration is part of my Through the Ages series in which one character is illustrated in several different settings.

Alyssa Corma

2016-09-11

Name: Alyssa Corma
Race: human
Location: Groam

Alyssa is a loner. She has always pretty much shunned company and even avoided her own siblings as much as it was possible for a child in a family of six children. She grew up in a socially active family in a socially active city of Port Magalie in Witchlight Strand … and hated every minute of it. She eventually came at peace with her inner demons and learned to tolerate other people around her. But she frequently sought solace by escaping from the city and enjoying the wilderness that the inner lands of the Witchlight Strand offer to those daring to explore them. Her family did come after her many times and practically had to drag to her back with them but eventually it dawned to them that she greatly suffered living in the city and gradually accepted that her place was somewhere else than with them. They parted their ways when Alyssa was 14 years of age and while there were many tears and hugs involved, everyone understood that it would sooner or later come to this. Her family at least tried to postpone the inevitable until Alyssa would be old enough to cope on herself.

Nine years later and Alyssa has seen the unusual red cliffs that are responsible for the naming of Bloodspires and hold sacred meaning to the demihuman races living in there. She has seen the sparkling white towers of the mighty city of Bedelhaus in Gruenroth resting on the stern arms of Mount Bedel. She has played The Game of the Kings with the legendary champion Merenes Anfala in Jaston. She has bathed in the red waterfalls of Tarsolom and enjoyed her fair share of the relaxing steamy hot bubbling natural waters deep under the city of Illes. She has danced with the minotaur king Maruk in Dumang and watched the setting sun on the endless golden beaches of Sostas. Despite this she has found the time to visit her family at Port Magalie on two occasions.

She travels throughout the vast kingdom of Groam now seeking new natural wonders, experiences and riches that the great nature can offer her. She has become much more composed and confident during these years and can nowadays even enjoy the companionship of others. Larger crowds and packed cities still frighten her but no longer render her unable to enjoy life in such places. Still, she much more prefers wilderness to cities.

Alyssa is an experienced traveler now able to find food and shelter in the  wilderness, procure and mix healing herbs to cure illnesses, protect herself against drunken bullies and find hiding places if need be. She doesn’t actively pursue companionship during her travels even while traversing the more dangerous routes but she wouldn’t turn down an offer to join small(ish) groups if they would share the same route. When with others Alyssa is relaxed, composed and natural but somewhat shy. She enjoys the little things and keeps a remarkably positive attitude often mixed with hearty laughter. The elves of Witchlight Strand taught her the valuable skill of writing and on occasion she writes down chapters of her experiences on the road.

 

 

 

 

Hym Grog

2012-05-18

Name: Hym Grog
Race: Orc
Location: Bloodspires, Witchlight Strand

One helluva conniving and deceitful bitch, Hym Grog is also exceptionally successful in making any orc male do her bidding. She is known to wrap men around her little finger, squeeze hard and when no gain can no longer be had, she dumps the poor fella and moves on to a fresh new mark. She uses her exceptional beauty (don’t just take my word, ask any orc male about this) to her advantage and most orc men (and indeed some gnolls and goblins too!) just can’t resist her like she’s some kind of a land bound mermaid whispering warm thoughts of unconditional love.

Her reputation is now well known in the whole of Bloodspires, but nevertheless she continues her scheming and conniving because most of the orc men are ignorant and too self-absorbed in thinking that THEY are immune to her tricks even if all the others are not. Hym has three children, two of whom are bastard sons of major orc chieftains (Chieftain Grom and Chieftain Arrog). Hym is not exactly a motherly type and her children are being raised by Hym’s mother Merog Grog – who has quite the reputation as well.

Miss Grog is a competent combatant and utterly merciless when it comes to fighting. Some orc men have defeated her, shown mercy to the downed, bleeding and injured woman, turned their backs for a victorious growl and then experienced the pain of getting stabbed in the back. Repeatedly. With repentless force. This fierceness of hers, though, is just an afrodisiac to most orc men!

 

Ludwig Morton, The Crimson Knight

2009-02-01

 

Name: Ludwig Morton “The Crimson Knight”
Race: Human
Location: Morton, Thrubmorton Fens, Gruenroth

A member of a long line of knights and other noblemen of Groam descendance, Ludwig Morton is the current ruler of the city of Morton and the neighboring lands known as Thrubmorton Fens. Thrubmorton Fens is the southernmost area of the kingdom of Gruenroth covering a large area of mostly forested swamp land. The people of the area are packed into few town and cities and they consider themselves to be more part of Groam (or Akron) than Gruenroth due to their cultural and genetic past. Ludwig is the primary ruler of the city and the lord of the lands surrounding Morton (the fortified city of New Mere Fort and the trade city of Mullion both fall under Morton’s rule). And as is common in Gruenroth, he holds no title as such and the lands he control are not that well defined. Morton is known throughout the lands as The Crimson Knight – a nickname that originates from his youth. He supposedly defeated a red dragon (making him one of only a handful of men ever to be known to do such a deed) living in the mountainous area known as the Bloodspires and that was said to be the mother of a strange variety of reddish brown lizardmen that have been seen from time to time in Thrubmorton Fens but who seem extremely rare or elusive now. He brought the remains of the dragon to Morton where the parts were displayed in front of hundreds of citizens in the market square of the city. Ludwig then hired a well-known dwarven alchemist by the name of Durgar to extract the fiery redness of the dragon and instill it’s power into hardened armor plates that would then be molded into a suit of armor. The process lasted for two years during which time Ludwig rose to lead the city and the area. Morton’s red armor is said to contain extreme magical properties but those can as easily be old wives’ tales than absolute truth.

Ludwig Morton is married to one Lady Sullivan and they have two sons and one daughter now. The immediate family of Morton’s include a total of 24 living persons, most of whom live in the city of Morton or Mullion. That fact makes the Morton’s family a rock solid clan that is likely to stay in power long after a single of it’s member is gone. The family is close, effective and stable unit whose members share common interests and strong beliefs in how the area should be ruled and nurtured. They also maintain a strong presence in every possible city function and even though the family is well liked by the citizens, their apparent need to control everything is frequently causing problems in the area.

Ludwig is a rather well-mannered and civil man despite his reputation as a fierce combatant. He is comfortable in a leading position but his close ties to powerful people in Groam and Witchlight Strand make him suspicious in the eyes of other Gruenroth leaders – many of which would gladly see his family banished from Gruenroth. He is very much a hard-working man and regularly accompanies common citizens in even menial tasks such as bridge-building, tree-cutting, roofing etc. He gains enormous amounts of respect thru these events but in all honesty he doesn’t do those to win popularity contests. He simply enjoys manual labor and getting his hands dirty. Perhaps he senses that he needs to stay in shape for who knows what unpleasant events the future brings?

Chieftain Grom

2010-07-03

Name: Grom
Race: Orc
Location: Bloodspires, Witchlight Strand

One of the foremost leaders of the several restless and bloodthirsty demihuman tribes of Bloodspires (the mountainous wilderness in the North-East corner of Witchlight Strand), Chieftain Grom bows for no-one. There is no formal king among the biggering tribes of orcs, goblins, kobolds, hobgoblins and ogres and what-nots of Bloodspires, but if one would be appointed today, Chieftain Grom would be a strong candidate for such a post. Grom probably does not live to see himself rising as the King of Bloodspires since he is not particularly interested in uniting with anybody that’s not an orc and orcs are no more populous than their rivaling demihuman brethren. The orcs themselves are just a fraction – albeit a strong one – of all the inhabitants of Bloodspires and even the different orc clans have blood feuds and ancient rivalries running through their veins. The area called Bloodspires is practically devoid of humans and while most of the lands technically belong to Akron, the kingdom has long since given up efforts to maintain a strong presence there and has withdrawn their forces and outposts to the more hospitable coastal regions.

Chieftain Grom is ruthless, cunning and intelligent. He would be considered an intelligent person even if he was a human or an elf, but for an orc Grom is definitely exceptionally bright. However his conniving brain is constantly under attack by his impatience and bursting temperament that frequently cloud his judgement in all matters ranging from domestic affairs to warfare. Proof to that is his bastard son with the famed gold digger Hym Grog who seduced him to a six month long romantic affair a few years ago and that ended when Hym Grog got bored and caught herself a nice and rich gnoll warlord Gerom Sharg.

Grom has supporters in all the orc clans inhabiting the Bloodspires and several tribes of goblins and kobolds and other demihuman races, but he has not yet been able to show enough leadership to form a solid and wide ranging supporter base that would allow him to claim a more prominent position. Nevertheless he is not just a chieftain among chieftains anymore and anytime the orc chieftains hold meetings of any kind, when Grom speaks his mind, silence falls and his propositions are met with shy nodding and grunting signalling agreement.

Several authorities in coastal cities of Witchlight Strand have seen Grom’s growing power as alarming and a few unsuccessful assassination attempts against Grom have already been attempted. The Liaglades elves are, however, not at all worried about Grom as such, but the possibility of a united demihuman front is what makes the elves more cautious and even frightful. The elves see Grom as too violent and bloodthirsty to be able to form a cohesive union between the tribes and races, but eventually such a person is bound to rise among the demihuman ranks. The elves hope that as long as Grom stays as the alpha predator, rising usurpers – no matter how much potential they would have in forming a cohesive front – are in mortal danger and hopefully that delays the inevitable by a generation or two.

Humans on the other hand more generally acknowledge Grom’s possibilities in achieving some sort of powerful pact or alliance between the orc clans. If such a pact would form, the power of the orcs would grow considerably and might draw the lesser dominant races of Bloodspires towards them. Whatever the future holds for humans and elves, the orc Clan of Grom is enjoying successes after another under the leadership of Chieftain Grom.

 

 

Milja Markovec

2010-11-13

Name: Milja Markovec
Race: Human
Location: Port Magalie, Witchlight Strand, Kingdom of Akron

All the inns and taverns in all the countries around the continent have one thing in common. They need skilled workers to serve the tables, do the dishes, help the intoxicated to their beds, offer an ear to weary patrons or join in the merry singing. And keep a smiling face through all this to secure a tip.

Milja works in the biggest tavern in Port Magalie. The place, The Wyvern’s Nest, is located in an ideal spot pretty much at the dead centre of the bustling port city and has a constant stream of patrons no matter the day or hour. She has served tables there for three years and is a highly popular figure in the tavern. Well liked, open, chatty, witty and with a hearty laughter she has charmed both the local busy bees stopping for a drink after the day’s work and travelling merchants just spending this one night in the city.

Her position is such that she hears things. Many things. And while not a tell-tale by any means, she has been known to line her pockets by dropping an essential piece of information to needy adventurers who treat her good and respect her hard work.

Milja is an excellent singer and was the founding singer in the events now known as Wyvern’s Tuesdays – evenings filled with laughter, singing, poetry, musical acts and such. The events are free for all to attend but since the place is usually packed on those nights, the performers receive a small fee from the tavern’s owner as well as nice tips from good performances. Milja sings on her own, as part of a choir and with percussionists and string-instrument players. She performs mostly local folk songs but also has been known to surprise the audiences by singing songs originating from far away lands. Calculated as it may be from Milja’s part, patrons such as Calishem merchant sailor crews easily tip much more when they hear a common tune so far away from their homes and when one has a boat load of sailors doing the same … anyone can do the math.