More to come ...
Griette: Daughter of Lordarch Apollaen and his wife Aethelryn, the former Shieldmaiden of Tolleibrigg, Griette is a girl who possesses her own secrets and her own hidden strengths. Not content to wait for encounters with mythical beings to uncover the information she seeks, Griette soon discovers her father's own famously ill-kept 'secret.' What she does after confronting her father in the home of his mistress is something no one expects, and will set her on a path she never sought.
Krewkrie: Known as 'The Keeper of Secrets' due to his habit of extracting secrets from his all too-willing victims, Krewkrie is a being of great power. A homunculus created by the now-deceased Warlock Emperor Hellstrom, Krewkrie accumulates the currency of his stock-in-trade by infamously maintaining the Old Bargain, divulging two secrets in exchange for three. A shrewd deal-maker, Krewkrie always finds a way to give his customers less than they'd expected.
'Night' & 'Day' in Qapar
-- Iain J. Christopher
In their most basic, essential, meaning the terms 'Gar' and 'Im' mean nothing more than 'Night' and 'Day'. But as with most things in Qapar, things are rarely ever basic.
Thus, 'Im' can also mean light, loyal, life, justice, and aerie.
And 'Gar' can mean darkness, truth, death, justice, and sanctuary.
Curiously, they never expressly connote 'good' or 'evil'.
Nevertheless, the two forces are unquestionably seen as being cosmically in opposition and are so fundamentally a part of every day life that the four major races which reside in Qapar are not referred to, and cannot be truly conceived of, in a fashion that does not include one of these terms serving as prefix or suffix.
Therefore, the Duer peoples are almost never referred to as such, but instead are known as either Duerim or Duergar.
The Goael are referred to as either Goaelim or Gargoael.
'Humans' as we know them, are either Illim or Illgar.
The Faen are the only exception to this as their very name means 'protector of light.'
By the same token, Girfaen, means 'protector of light and darkness'. As a consequence, there are people from all races and persuasions who are inclined to view them as either particularly holy, or especially sacrosanct. Because they are not of pure Faen blood, they are viewed almost unanimously by that race as abominations.
Characters
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Tabyr: A youth at the beginning of The Name of the Father, Tabyr is one of the azorlings -- the children of the temple courtesans in service to Zoae BrightDaughter. His mother Aimyn is one of the very few ilfaen residing in Nefyrphanx, and is paramour to the brutal Lordarch, Apollaen, High Marshall of the Shields of the Northern Domains: a man Tabyr despises. Tabyr's journey begins with a chance encounter that he hopes will uncover the identity of his true father.
Krewkrie (kroo-kree), Keeper of Secrets
Who's Who in QAPAR
Notes on the Characters & Peoples that populate
The Four Worlds
When Iain first brought me the piles of materials that we have decided to assemble into the coherent form called Hidden Histories of the Four Worlds, I was intrigued, fascinated, and a little afraid.
Iain had done a lot of work over the years, much of it with the help of Elias' great-granddaughter Sonja, and had transcribed much of the material into digital form. And of course they had both done a lot of other investigations and attempts toward validating Elias' work in a range of other ways. But these primarily fell under Iain's concerns as a historian, and Sonja's concerns as a family member and so, not to put too fine a point on it, I decided very early on that those were not going to be my concerns.
Iain had fought the good fight trying to show that there was some value toward treating Elias' monumental life work as an accomplishment of Virtual History. This was very important to Sonja. But ultimately, I had to make it clear to Iain that for publication our aim had to be to tell a story that readers would find compelling. The historical, ethnographic, sociological, and religious commentaries needed to be incorporated into the tapestry that served as backdrop for this material. We could always publish the 'Appendices' afterward.
That said, we both thought that the creation of a website would provide ample opportunity to post some of the notes we took for ourselves as we worked on this project over the years. This section is devoted to the characters and peoples of Qapar. We have created another section devoted to places throughout Qapar. We will continue to fill out both sections over time.