Dramatis Personae - Tempus Regina

Recently I was looking over my Dramatis Personae for The White Sail's Shaking, written back in March of last year.  It was amusing to see how the characters have since developed, not simply in the usual way of story arcs and all that, but from how I imagined they would be to what they truly were.  It usually takes me a little while to really grasp my characters - somewhere around the 50,000 word mark - and after I've grasped them, I have to go back and correct all misrepresentations in the beginning of the story. 

Yet as I venture into the strange, strange world of Tempus Regina, I thought I would do a Dramatis Personae post for it.  I don't expect this to be accurate to the finished product, or even the 50,000 word product; but it will give everyone a tiny glimpse into the story, and I'll be interested, sometime down the road, to look back and see the differences. 

tempus regina

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Regina

Regina has appeared on Scribbles a few times, but not being of a very open or sociable turn of mind, she hasn't featured much.  She has a spotty history; she can still remember (when she cares to) the time before she, her mother, and her brother moved to London from the country, but since then her life has been full of fog and dirt and hard labour.  Nine years of taking care of her mentally-ill brother on her own have lent ice to her personality, and no matter how turbulent the waters may grow underneath, she keeps that ice intact.  Not even being hurled through time, tangling with history, and falling in with an assassin can break her of that.

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The Assassin

The Assassin has also featured, with some success (little wonder: would you look at that guy's cheeky grin?).  He's a nebulous fellow, with a past about as spotty as Regina's and a present that exists primarily in the dark.  He dabbles in a little bit of everything - a little alchemy, a little astrology, a little assassination.  For a price, he agrees to help Regina find the answer to the riddle of the pocket watch, and thus hurls himself headlong into a hunt that will muddle past, present, and future and change the face of his world.

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Morgaine

Morgaine is something wholly different from either Regina or the Assassin, but her path runs into theirs, and after that there is no separating them.  She is quiet, not with Regina's stoniness, but with the air of someone who has learned to hold her tongue and prick her ears.  As tied to Britain as an oak tree, there yet remains something in her that has nothing to do with that world at all.  She feels it rather than knows it, and the knowledge of her own self, somehow entangled with the life of a woman from the future, shakes her foundations.

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A Fisherman

Living in a hut at the edge of a river, this man passes for a sort of strange fisherman - only, he fishes for knowledge and not trout.  Like the Assassin, he keeps to his shadows; he is the man above the stage, not necessarily making the puppets move, but watching them as they do and perhaps giving the strings an occasional tug.  He knows more about the Dragon watch than the other three characters put together, but there remains a large gap in his information; and until he has filled it, he keeps back and watches the puppets move.  When he comes out, though, I do believe he'll come out with a roar.

Dramatis Personae - The Soldier's Cross

Having done this for both my recently-completed novel and my work-in-progress, I thought I would do it for my published novel as well. I do believe this was even harder than Wordcrafter's; I didn't have any possibilities when I started, but here is what I dug up. (Also, please forgive the severe lack of period-correct clothing. You try to find actors wearing fifteenth century clothing on their IMDb pages.)

Note: Mild spoilers ahead. Nothing very major, though, I trust.

Fiona

Fiona is the daughter of a lesser English nobleman, and has lived all her life in a secluded manor just on the English side of Wales. She is little more than a child still, but her simple life is turned on its head when her brother, Giovanni, leaves England with Henry V's army. Before his departure he speaks to Fiona, not for the first time, of her need for something more than being part of the Church and attending Mass; showing her his cross pendant, he tells her that it will bring her peace. But she is quite comfortable in her worldly sort of peace, and laughs him off.

Then Giovanni is killed at the Battle of Agincourt and his body brought back home to England - without the cross. Mad with grief and believing she has had a sign from God, Fiona sets out across the Channel and a desolated France to find and regain her brother's silver cross.

Fiona is stubborn and naive, but also tenacious and, driven on by an emptiness inside herself that she must fill, capable of withstanding a great deal. She will stop at nothing to gain the peace her brother spoke of.

Giovanni

Giovanni is Fiona's older brother and only sibling. Since their father's mental and bodily failure several years ago, he has run the manor and provided for the family. Unlike most of Christendom at that time, he is a devoted follower of Christ and believes that salvation is something more than going through the motions; although Fiona does not know enough about the world beyond the manor to realize it, Giovanni is a Lollard. He does not believe in Henry V's campaign against France, but he joins the army in obedience to his sovereign.



Pierre [lord of gallandon]

Fiona stumbles onto Pierre's land accidentally, but "accidents" have no influence with the master of Gallandon, and Fiona finds herself a servant to his family. Pierre is the first-born son of the Duke of Alençon, but he is also illegitimate, which means he is not in line to inherit his father's wealthy estate; instead, the French crown granted him the marshy estate of Gallandon. Determined to improve his situation and make a name for himself, Pierre moves on to "plan B" - a good marriage. But he finds himself out of luck in that quarter as well, as the wife he gets has no titles and, in fact, is not even French.

Pierre looks older than he actually is, and maintains that appearance by his manner of speaking and dressing. His insecurities and his obsession with bettering himself make him harsh, but he is in fact little more than a boy. He fought in the Battle of Agincourt and, what is more, made it back alive to tell the tale.

Leah

Leah is of Germanic descent, without a drop of French blood in her veins, and is the daughter of a merchant. Pierre was tricked into marrying her, but when he discovered the fact, he was decent enough not to annul the marriage; however, their relationship is an uncomfortable one. Leah's muteness puts her at a distinct disadvantage, too, and one of Fiona's duties as Leah's personal maid is to translate for her. In serving her (a humiliating turn of fortune for a nobleman's daughter) Fiona gradually finds Leah to be something more than "the enemy"; she is beautiful with a beauty that comes from inside and shines out of her, and Fiona becomes devoted to her as a friend.

Christopher

Christopher, Leah's brother, was the force behind her alliance with Pierre. He is a fortune-hunter, like Pierre; but unlike Pierre, he has no scruples about it and has little interest in working to earn his bread. He has no interest in war, no interest in owning land; he lives by deceit, and does it well. He is allied with neither France nor England and has never fought in any of the battles. Fiona first crossed paths with him at a French inn and then meets him again at Gallandon, and she fears him as she fears the Devil - or more.


(Remember, The Soldier's Cross and Jenny's The Shadow Things are both on sale through April. Purchasing with the PayPal button on the sidebar will get you an autographed copy of each book.)

Dramatis Personae - The White Sail's Shaking

Having had such fun doing this the first time with Wordcrafter, I decided to waste time and do it again with The White Sail's Shaking. Fortunately this one was, generally speaking, not so difficult. Again, I do not own these photos (and so on and so forth).

Tip Brighton

The youngest of four sons in a New England family, Tip Brighton had several great misfortunes at birth, the two greatest being that his older brothers obtained all the superlatives - the most genial, the most brilliant, the most dutiful - before he came around, and that he managed to be given the name "Edward." Only his parents, however, call him that, and he goes by Tip with all his acquaintances. The only thing that he has ever really excelled in is the use of his fists, but he is not a bully, for he would lose all self-respect if ever he fought anyone smaller than himself (except Charlie Bent). But even this useful knowledge is not enough to ensure his survival in the strange, brutal world of the Navy, especially with the fellows he finds himself among on the Enterprize. He has a great deal to learn, and that has never been something he does particularly well.

Marta Rais

Marta's father was a British officer and her mother was a Syracusan actress; the two married while he was stationed in the Mediterranean, but they were apart for most of their marriage and Marta rarely saw her father. She lived with her mother in Syracuse, Sicily, for the first sixteen years of her life, and when her mother dies, Marta expects to be taken back to England with her father. He, however, is killed in action and she is left friendless in Sicily, so she means to make it to England in search of relations.

In Gibraltar her life takes a turn after she witnesses a murder and accidentally stows away on the American brig Enterprize - the murderer being one of the Americans. Tip discovers her and, with no chance of getting her back to land and the prospect of battles to come, agrees to help her pose as a British deserter; but between maintaining this fake identity and trying to keep the murderer from discovering what she knows, she is quite out of her depth.

Charlie Bent

Charlie, a fellow midshipman on the Argus and then the Enterprize with Tip, is the youngest of the officers at the age of fourteen; he joined the Navy when he was ten. He hails from South Carolina and, at least in Tip's opinion, is the epitome of Southern culture. He is something of a dandy, extremely arrogant, and quick to snap if you rub him the wrong way, but he also has another side - a boyish, insecure side - and he carries a secret that he would rather not be let out. He and Tip, coming from completely different paradigms, clash on their first meeting, but trouble on the Enterprize throws them into a tenuous alliance.


Joseph Darkwood

Darkwood, who has a heavy strain of Native American blood in his veins, is the oldest of the midshipmen and by rights should be a lieutenant, but for his own reasons has never taken a promotion. He does, however, have something of a "right of seniority" among the four midshipmen on the Enterprize, which comes as much from his quiet, feline nature and reputation of being a crack shot as from his greater experience. He is not quick to like anyone and keeps his own council, but Tip respects him all the same. Despite his formidable character, he is so withdrawn as to prompt the belief that he would have been more at home in the clergy than at sea.

Lewis:

Tip's first encounter with Lewis was even less promising than his first encounter with Charlie; they crossed paths in Tip's Pennsylvanian hometown, where Tip gave Lewis a thrashing for being a bully. That was when Lewis was only a friend of Tip's older brother, however, and he is none too pleased when he finds that they are to be fellow officers on the Mediterranean cruise - especially since Tip is now on foreign territory, and it is Lewis who has the advantage.

But Tip is not the only one to earn Lewis' ill-will, and Lewis has a fine little plan of retaliation for each one of his messmates.

Stephen Decatur

Decatur is one of the few major players in The White Sail's Shaking to also be historical; most of the historical characters, while they play a part, are kept in the background. He commands the brig Enterprize as a lieutenant, but after the burning of the Philadelphia he is promoted to the rank of captain (bypassing that of "master and commander"). In The White Sail's Shaking he is sly, but good-natured and kind to his officers, including the lowly midshipmen. Like Darkwood, Decatur earns Tip's respect, which only serves to make Tip's life more difficult.


Scipio

Because there always has to be a pet. After this Barbary macaque's mother is shot by one of the American officers, Tip adopts it and is allowed to keep it on the Enterprize so long as it causes no trouble. Charlie, however, is the one who gets to name it, as he has a better knowledge of the history of the Mediterranean than does Tip, and the macaque is thus named after Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus (better known as Scipio Africanus the Younger), the Roman general responsible for defeating and destroying Carthage in the second century B.C. The macaque is extremely attached to Tip, and he insists that its hideous exterior hides a heart of gold.

[Note: All previous warnings apply. In case of forgetfulness, I will reiterate them: I own all of these characters and all things attached to said characters; any use of them is against the law. And remember the "part Sicilian" bit.]

Dramatis Personae - Wordcrafter

Well, that was difficult. I would like to say that after Ara (and perhaps Liz), I was the first to get excited and want to do the same sort of Meet the Characters post; as it turned out, it took me so long to dig up good photos that Jenny, Megan, and Anna all finished and posted theirs before me. Hrmph. But here at last we have the main players of my novel Wordcrafter; I do not own these photos, this is purely for my authorial delight and not for profit, etc., etc., etc.

Justin King [the wordcrafter]

Main character Justin King has two great loves: his writing and his tea. He has lived alone in his Edinburgh flat for several years at the opening of the novel, and each day of those years has fit into the same mold - until the advent of Ethan Prince, whose friendship turns Justin's life upside down and whose very existence forces Justin to accept that not all fantasy is confined to the page.

His arrival in Ethan's home world of Tera is at first a matter of great delight for the men of this other-earth and his love of writing earns him the respectful title of Wordcrafter among them, but it soon becomes clear that his coming has upset the balance of power. He becomes the spark that reignites a feud between Tera's two great races, the Horsemen and the Gypsies, and against his will he finds that he may also be the means of destroying the only friend he has - Ethan Prince.

Ethan Prince [the hound]

Known as the Hound in Tera, where "Christian" names are not used, Ethan takes his other name while in Edinburgh and introduces himself to Justin as such. He is the prince of the Horsemen, and, since the Horsemen subjugated the Gypsies a hundred years ago, the heir of all Tera; but Justin knows him simply as his friend. He is proud and shows a fiercely cold rage when angered, but he commands the love of the warrior Horsemen and the respect even of the Gypsies. Half-Horseman and half-Gypsy himself, he walks the line between the two cultures and embodies both the vivacity of the one and the cunning of the other.


Jamie Fairbairn [the vixen]

Bubbly, vivacious, and a little wild, Jamie had Justin King under her spell from the moment they met in Edinburgh. She is, indeed, a little too forward for his taste, but she makes up for it with her easy laughter and her apparent regard for him. She loves to be loved, but underneath her sweet exterior she has a mind that is ever at work and all the wiles ever possessed by a woman since the world began; she knows what she wants, and she will stop at nothing to get it. Once her disapproval has been earned, it will last forever.



Copper [the jackal's daughter]

The Gypsy Copper, daughter of the Jackal, begins to play a part in the lives of both Justin and Ethan soon after Justin's arrival in Tera. Quiet and unassuming, she is lovely rather than beautiful and wears a veil at all times, as is the custom among the women of both of Tera's races. For reasons of her own she does not have the same bitter hatred of the Horsemen that most of the other Gypsies flaunt, and she is fond of the Wordcrafter and the Hound. At very rare instances she will lay aside her gentleness and reveal the strength of spirit that underlies her nature, but for the most part she remains withdrawn from the goings-on around her.

The Lord of the Cliffs

If it were not for the fact that the Horsemen long ago defeated the Gypsies and took away their sovereignty, the Lord of the Cliffs would be the king of his people. As it is, he is known as their prince and bears the blood of royalty in his veins - and is very much aware of the fact. He is cool and cat-like and at first glance gives the impression of effeminacy, but he is a force to be reckoned with should any one be foolish enough to anger him. His mind is sharp enough to rival even Ethan's, and, driven on by a desire to see his people made a sovereign entity once more, that is exactly what the Lord of the Cliffs intends to do.


Marah [star of the horsepeople]

For centuries both the Horsemen and the Gypsies have been breeding the unicorns of Tera with the horses brought ages ago from Earth, and Marah, Ethan's mare, is the most beautiful of them all. She is what is known as "bloody-shouldered," having a white coat with rusty markings on her face and neck. With good reason she is called the Star of the Horsepeople and the Horsemen are more proud of her than of all their other horses combined; she is like a daughter to Ethan, who has raised her from a filly, and he rarely rides any other horse.



Ram

Ram, Marah's foal, is far more spirited than his mother and is a difficult horse to train. Like the other part-unicorn horses in the Horsemen's stables, he matures quickly, and when he reaches the age to be broken in Ethan gives him to Justin as his own. Unlike Marah, he is almost pure black except for his bleached hooves. The sight of Ethan on Marah and Justin on Ram is an extremely common one in the woods of Tera during a hunt.

[Threatening potential thieves seems to be The Thing to Do, so I shall follow in the footsteps of my predecessors. I own all of these characters and all things attached to said characters; their existence makes them copyrighted to me, and any use of them is against the law. If you would like to go read the copyright laws, please feel free to do so. Also, I'm part Sicilian. Enough said.]