Welcome to my worlds. 

The Arch-Mage is the Archetype of all the mainlines ruled by magic.

According to anyone who has ever met him, the Arch-Mage is abrasive, short-tempered, and has a French accent so thick that it is difficult to understand him at times. Most people mistakenly think his name is Archie Magoose (from the French L’arche Magus). This is actually due to a subliminally implanted suggestion in the mind of The Medium that has warped the universe. It is a practical joke that has gone way too far, and what is worse the Arch-Mage is completely unaware of it. The reality is that he is a very intelligent man, with a slightly and occasionally obscurely perverse sense of humor. Also, he is not French at all, he is actually of Dutch descent. As previously stated, he is short-tempered at times, but this is mostly because he can’t understand why people can’t understand what he says and won’t give him the respect his position deserves.

If you haven’t read book zero, the prequel, (and you haven't) this is a MAJOR spoiler.

Emily Hawthorne had been left behind when Saul and William had made their escape from the Professor’s clutches. Kisa used her skills as an inquisitor to wring the story of William and his Book from her and then proceeded to try to break her spirit for the Professor’s amusement. Emily died, but death is no escape where the Professor concerned. Emily Awoke the very next day, tied naked to the same restraints, she was in perfect health but with a clear memory of exactly what it was like to be tortured to death. She had died, but she had not broken, so Kisa had the Professor bring her back using his Revivifier device.

The second day was much like the first, only this time the fear of death and the eventual hope of death’s release from pain was gone, leaving Emily with only the pain and the horror. But she knew the pain from before, and the horror gave way to resignation, and then… just at the end… there was something else.

She awoke on the third day, just as she had before. Emily knew where she was and what came next, but she did the one thing that Kisa had not expected.

“Do it again,” Emily said.

The pain of it simply was, gone was the fear, gone was the horror, but she had not broken, she had awoken. She could feel Kisa’s love for, and devotion to the Professor. She could feel him, though he remained hidden behind his mirrored glass. She could feel his secret arousal and intellectual shame at is perceived weakness of it. He could also feel his love, hidden beneath layers of control and lies that he told himself daily. As Emily died for the third time the pain mingled with the shared love, forever separated by a pane of mirrored glass…. And she wanted it for herself.

On the fourth day, Emily said, “Do it again.” This time she felt a small glow in Kisa’s heart and saw the hint of a smile on her lips.  “Only this time,” and she turned to look directly into the Professor’s eyes, hidden behind mirrored glass, “I want you in here with us. You have hidden long enough.”

Finally, on the fifth day, she woke. Though still gloriously naked there were no shackles. They were both there, with apparently blank faces, trying desperately to conceal the feelings that she could now easily perceive. They didn’t know it yet, but they were no longer her master, they were her slaves. Bound to her through her strength of will and their own desperate need.

She smiled at them, drawing them both close into her embrace, and she whispered into their ears as she held them close.

“One more time…. Just to be sure.”

.

Destroyers of worlds, the somewhat erroneously named Black Vampires

The History of the so-called “Black Vampires” is covered well in book two. They are a simple race, manufactured for a singular purpose in the endless war between Lord Chao (who is no lord) and Lady Entropy (who is no lady either). These two, in particular, are of the Raptor Clan. But this Dark Master has broken the rules. He has stolen his apprentice and corrupted him for his own agenda. Guess what? They are the bad guys.

The Green Giantess, Avatar of the Great Fractal Tree, Mother of the Gods, more or less, and Technically mother of all Muses and Shaman.

Gaia is indeed the Great Mother of all, anyone with the hint of an education will tell you that. What they don’t know is the extent to which that is true. She was born from the seed of the great Fractal Tree to be its avatar over all of Nature, back in a time when the Interweave was a simpler place where all stories were split in influence between those of Nature and those of Divine Will. She journeyed to the farthest branch of the Fractal Tree and discovered a world of pure divine will where she first met Ouranos. She loved him and despite his scarcely concealed scorn, joined with him. Mother to the Titans, grandmother to the gods, and great-grandmother to the Muses of the Deep Red sector of Arts, her children all come to her for advice and to learn the mastery of their variously inherited talents. She is also mother to the Shaman, the denizens who monitor and care for the now Green sector of the Interweave where all stories of nature thrive between Magic and Order.  

One of the Shaman of the Green and Gaia's devoted servant. Though many generations removed, he is still a descendant of the line of Gaia as all Shaman are. Yet he harbors a deep desire for Gaia, one that his upbringing declares to be “unnatural” for one to whom he is related by blood. Like many other factors of his upbringing, He learns that his particular home mainline prejudices do not hold up well under the myriad diversities of the Interweave.

Young Muses of the Deep Red are distinguished from actual Muses as they have not yet mastered their abilities. In a centuries-old tradition,  most of them find some way to travel deep into the Green where their powers are weakest on a pilgrimage to find Gaia, last of the living Elder Gods, in order to learn mastery of their talents under the Great Mother. Young Muse Painter (whose birth name is actually Penelope Damphousse) is one of a rare type of traveler Muse. Her painted imaged become doorways to other places. Young Muse Piper’s skills are more diverse as her music can make all sorts of things happen while she plays, but she has not had time to master her skills yet. Supposedly she can open a door to other worlds with her music, but she has no control over it.

Hobartin Smythe, or Hob as he prefers to be known, is an anomaly. His father was one of the Archmages of the Deep Blue sector where all stories of a primarily magical influence reside, but his mother was a Muse of the Deep Red. His parents' partnership was part of a devious plan by Diana, the Muse matriarch, to give birth to a second male Muse and strengthen the Muse bloodlines. One virtue of his mixed heritage is that he can travel nearly the entire range of the Interweave without fear of becoming lost. For example, in deepest Orange, his Mage powers may fade to almost nothing, but his Muse Powers are only slightly affected. He is not terribly useful in a fight, as he tends to stutter when pressed. His Muse talent for poetry meshes cleanly with his particular discipline of Mage craft that uses spoke word spells.

He is a scout (second class) of the Tesseract Knights of Order in the Deep Yellow. A simple guard in the chamber of the Holy Tesseract Hypercube, his life is turned upside down by the outworlders. His exposure at such an impressionable age infects him with the curse of his forefathers from ages past, independent thought. This has marked him as “special” which is a bad thing in a society where everyone is supposed to be equal.