Character info.

Pine Family

The Pine family is one of the six ducal houses whose leader has the ability to inherit the throne of the Fredirin Kingdom. The family is headed by the Duchess Isabella Pine, and her husband, Franklin Pine. The Duchess and her husband have five children, ranging in age from 17 to 4.

The Pine Family has unusual customs for a noble family of their rank, they focus on family bonds, respect, and being humble.

The Pine Family has no ambitions towards the throne, according to the Duchess’s wishes, the family is attempting to maintain a low-key and neutral stance, while also trying to build up a foundation that they can rely on after the competition is over.

Unfortunately, their plans are not showing results, the other family’s either do not trust them or see them as an easy target.

Despite that, because the Pine Family is focused almost 100% internally, while the other pick at them and whittle them down, their power base within their own territory is powerful, powerful enough that the Pine Family is in a three-way tie for second place.

The Pine Dukedom

Located in the northeast of the Fredirin Kingdom, the Pine Domain is mostly mountainous terrain covered in forests. Due to the elevation, the domain is cold and snow is common.

Further north are the God’s Wall Mountain ranges, an incredibly difficult to traverse mountain range that serves as the Fredirin Kingdom’s northern border, and beyond that is the Barbarian Lands, whose inhabitants are in an uneasy peace with the Fredirin Kingdom. Further to the west of the domain would be the Sea of Sorrows, a sparsely populated body of water that takes months to cross. There are few islands in it, and for the longest time the sea was considered a wasteland but the Pine Family has been investing in naval forces and marine production lately. To the east is the Quarry Domain, home of the Quarry Family, and to the south is the Steam-burst Domain, home to another ducal family.

The pine domain only had three cities of note, the Citadel of the Pines located in the heart of the mountain range, that covered the one valley that connected north to the Barbarian Lands. The Port of Good Seas on the coast, and Arnbache which was the administrative seat of the domain.

Duchess Isabella Pine Fredirin, age 38.

The Duchess is a sweet and caring woman, the word “Motherly” would describe her well. She married her husband out of love, and she still acts as if she was a newlywed, much to the chagrin of her older children, and her husband who can be overwhelmed by her displays of affection. Especially when they happen in public.

The Duchess has no aims towards the throne, and seemingly cares little for the management of her domain. She set broad policy directives, but she leaves the day to day affairs to others.

She is a straightforward woman, and her primary objectives all revolve around her family.

However, it should be noted, that the Duchess survived the last competition for the crown, helping to propel her father into becoming the next king. She is not a simple character.

Franklin Pine, Age 32

Franklin Pine was the 3rd son of a baron, low-ranking nobility if there ever was any. He was a competent military leader but was only slightly above average at best. He poses a magical eye called, The Fairy Eyes, that allows him to see mana with a great degree of clarity. These eyes were inherited from his family.

Franklin is less of a fighter, mage, or strategist, and more of an administrator, which counterbalances his wife. He helps with the administration of the Family's domain and is also the driving force behind the Pine Family’s recently developed naval power.

He, like his wife, is a devoted family man, however, he is awkward around his children, not knowing exactly how to respond to them, and this problem is made even more apparent when he interacts with the younger ones. Still, he tries.

He is also a devoted husband, however, he finds public displays of affection to be embarrassing, and his wife always teases him. However, their relation is doing extremely well, and it is only a matter of time until the family receives another member.

Benjamin Pine Fredirin, age 17.

The eldest child of the Pine Family, Benjamin takes his responsibilities as an older brother very seriously, perhaps too seriously at times. While he pampers his siblings whenever he gets the chance, he finds it nearly impossible to be stern with them or discipline them.

Benjamin could be called a Jack of All Trades, he is trained as a knight, can use all but light type magic, and is also a decently skilled archer, however, he isn’t good enough in any of these fields to really make a career out of it. He is also well learned in a strange assortment of fields, including agricultural, engineering, painting, piano, smithing, fishing, even logging.

Since he graduated school two years prior, he has become his father’s assistant, helping him administer the domain.

Timothy Pine Fredirin, age 14.

The second oldest child, Timothy is still in school and is also still training to become a knight. While his training is still incomplete, Timothy is only slightly above the average, and his horsemanship is terrible. He specializes in Earth Magic but can use all elements to some degree. He unlocked his magic core early, and while he is talented, his overall magic capacity is on the lower end, limiting his potential as a mage.

He has a straightforward personality, and he strives to act with honor and be just and fair whenever possible. He finds the family’s situation to be vexing in the extreme, but he is also obedient to a fault and a stickler for rules.

Ironically, despite being somewhat self-righteous, thought random luck, Timothy has avoided any major problems during the competition, and his straightforward and upbeat personality has allowed him to be the only member of the Pine family with any real friends.

Appearance wise, Timothy is on the shorter side, only slightly taller than Olivia, who is both 7 years his junior, and also rather small herself. He has light brown hair that he keeps cut short, except for a single braid he keeps at the back. His eyes are brown, and give anyone looking at them a comfortable feeling, in fact, all of his facial features are somewhat soft looking. Whether this is just his natural state, or because he has yet to hit his growth spurt, only time will tell.

Pamela Pine Fredirin, age 13

The third oldest child and the older girl, Pamela is one of the two children of the Pine Family to have inherited the Fairy Eyes from their father, although she only developed one of them. She was formerly considered somewhat of a prodigy, both in Arcane Magic and in painting. However, three years prior, due to a freak accident that was almost certainly not an accident, she lost almost all sight in her fairy eye, and the magical power in it was lost completely. This caused her to give up on magic entirely and severely stunted her abilities as an artist.

Pamela still paints, although she can not complete a full work and even this required great effort on her part. The event that ruined her eye left her with mental scars that lead her to have panic attacks whenever she tried to paint, and this took her nearly a year to get over to the point she can paint, but she isn’t completely cured, she routinely has nightmares of that day.

If there was something good that came from that event, it was the fact that Pamela studied natural medicine trying to cure herself, and also became a hidden expert into the studies of mental trauma and other mental illnesses.

Pamela is tall, only a few inches away from six feet. Unlike Timothy, Pamela has hit her growth spurt, her face is still a bit round and young looking, but otherwise she is indistinguishable from an adult, a very womanly adult. She has silver hair that extends a bit past her shoulders that she usually keeps in a plain ponytail.

Unlike most girls her age, Pamela does not enjoy dressing up, possibly due to the fact she would have nowhere to go after dressing up, and she instead prefers simple, comfortable and easy to move in clothes. She often is covered in paint smears.

Olivia Pine Fredirin Age 7/???

Olivia is the 4th oldest child and second oldest girl of the pine family, but she has a second identity, a powerful evil Outsider that once ruled an entire dominion consisting of three great cities.

The human Olivia, before the Outsider took over, was a timid and small girl. She wasn’t particularly talented, nor was she particularly inept. She diligently listens in class, did what was asked of her, and then did nothing else. Lacking self-confidence, she was an easy target for harassment from her peers, and Olivia’s school was filled with bullying, bullying that left the young child with several mental traumas that are only just coming to light.

The Outsider Olivia existed in another plane of existence, she spontaneously spawned from the ambient mana along with 47 of her siblings. She and her brothers and sisters lived a hard life, but she eventually raised herself to heights she never would have thought possible, but in the process, only five of her siblings remained. Even during her rule, those five were again reduced until only Olivia and one other survived.

This form of Olivia was a shockingly powerful being, although how that strength stacks up in the new world she inhabits, is still unknown. One thing worth mentioning was that Olivia pursued an aggressive fighting style, one that left her consistently wounded. To increase her survival rate, and to also increase her ability to deal damage, Olivia mastered blood magic, which allowed her to rapidly heal and use her blood as a weapon.

When the Outsider Olivia died, killed by her enemies, a magical amulet given to her by her one remaining family member activated, transporting her soul to another world, allowing her to reincarnate with her memories intact.

The timid human Olivia was always the new body of the Outsider, but a mortal body could not hold Olivia’s soul, so a fake personality was made using a fraction of her soul, the fake personality lived as Olivia for 7 years while the main portion of her soul slumbered and waited for the body to grow stronger.

However, what may have been an assassination attempt, or may have just been the regular harassment going too far, put Olivia’s life in danger and forced her to wake up.

Olivia is now fully awake, and she is a cunning, brilliant, vicious, brutal creature. She knows little of mercy or human morals, she is driven by her desires and will do anything to see her wishes fulfilled. However, she is still naive in ways, she does not understand many human traits, the memories of the fake personality are hers, but they are clouded by her previous experiences. Concepts such as racial discrimination, the need for clothing, and things like pride, are confusing to her.

And because she absorbed the fake’s memories, she has come to see the Pine Family as her own, and she is fiercely loyal and devoted to her family.

While her power pales in comparison to what she had before, her body can still only withstand a fraction of her might, she is already an incredibly powerful mortal. She is immune to most poison and disease, her physical body is stronger than an ogre and more durable, and she also has flawless control of her mana, and she has a nearly inexhaustible amount of mana to her fingertips.

She has stretched the truth a bit towards her family, claiming she had awakened a bloodline, which is the excuse for her soaring power, and her change in personality.

For her appearance, Olivia, before she woke up, was a frail and timid child, short for her age too. She had dark brown hair and gray eyes. After having awakened her true soul, her hair turned pure black, her eyes lightened into a shimmering silver that was almost pure white, and while she maintained her size and shape, her body filled out, no longer appearing frail and weak, and her features gained a much sharper and more adult-like look.

Vincent Pine Fredirin, age 4

Vincent it the youngest child of the Pine Family and his young age has prevented him from doing much of anything in his life.

He has inherited two Fairy Eyes from his father, and he is a thoughtful and quiet child, but he is also somewhat timid. If left alone, he will generally just stay in place, rarely crying unless he needs help.

Pine Family Vassals.

Ronald Clarace, Age 56

Formerly a general of the royal army, his was a friend of Franklin Pine’s father. When he retired, he was recruited to serve as the steward of the Citadel of the Pines. He is a steward in name, but most of his duties are still military in nature.

Patricia Clarace, age 38

Ronald Claraces only daughter, his wife having died in childbirth. Patricia serves as the head maid in the Citadel of the Pines, but since so few people live there, the number of maids is limited and she doesn’t actually do a lot of work.

Worth mentioning, Patricia is a widow, she was wed into an arranged marriage, but during the festivities, the groom tripped and fell, breaking his neck. Patricia had no real feelings towards the man, but felt it would be disrespectful if she were to remarry, and has remained single for over 20 years

Hart Cedar, AKA Old Man Hart, age 36

Hart Cedar is a half human, quarter dwarf, quarter elf. His racial traits make him appear much older than he is. He is the steward of the Pine Estate in the Capital Arvas.

Eslan Tale, age 225

A mix blood human and elf, his blood is ¾ elf and ¼ human. He a well known mercenary figure, but is extremely loyal once hired. The pine family hired him 18 years ago for a 25-year term.

He is currently the commander of all pine forces in Arvas.

Ava Spruce, Age 22

One of Olivia’s personal Maids, she was an orphan raised by the Pine family.

Lisa, Daughter of Ren, age 21.

Another of Olivia’s personal Maids, Lisa’s entire family has worked for the Pine family for several years, her mother is a cook and her father died of an illness five years ago. Her brother was a freelance adventurer, but while exploring a dark cavern, he was eaten by a Grue.

Spectres

The Spectres of the Hemlock are the Pine Family’s elite covert forces. They focus less on direct confrontations, but all combat oriented Spectres are at least rank 4 warriors, and the more skill-oriented ones are usually rank 3. They operate in 10-12 man squads most of the time, but will often break up into smaller teams, rarely do they combine to form platoons.

Some Spectre squads focus on intelligence gathering, some do counter espionage, and others are scouts and patrol teams. While they have never officially been given the orders, Spectre teams can easily function as guerrilla fighters, and assassination is also one of their strengths.

However, since the pine family has not taken any aggressive stances towards the other houses, the Spectres have only been used for defensive purposes, or hunting down bandits and other criminals within Pine Territory.

All Spectres are orphans raised from infancy by the Pine Family, they are fiercely loyal and highly skilled.

Spectre Officers are always one rank higher than what their position would entail, normally a sergeant would lead a squad, but a Spectre squad is always lead by a lieutenant.

Captain Nev Hemlock, age 22.

Captain of Spectre squad 10-25, Nev focuses on command and control of his squad, he is a planner and a tactician, not exactly a fighter. He is still a rank 3 swordsman.

Nev is a stickler for the rules and prefers proper etiquette.

Nev is also a captain, which as a Spectre, allows him to command a platoon, but Squad 10-25 had no need for the extra members, and stayed as a squadron.

Sergeant Penk Hemlock, age 25.

The oldest Spectres are all 26 years old, and there are only 7 of them. The 2nd generation of Spectres are 25, and there are only 10 of those. Penk is not only one of those ten, he is also one of the two Spectres with druid training.

Druid Spectres would have been really useful to the Pine family, but the devotion to nature conflicted with the devotion to the family, and of the 10 attempts, only three of them passed through their training, and one of those three have since died.

Penk prefers to only use his druid spells for utility purposes and to heal, in combat he uses a wooden staff.

Penk is also one of the two sergeants in Squad 10-25.

Sergeant Lars Hemlock, age 24.

Largs is the second sergeant from squad 10-25 and is also a battle mage, he focuses on earth and water magic.

Lin Hemlock, age 18.

Lin is a small girl, and she acts as the squad’s scout. She prefers ambushes with a short bow or her daggers. She is also the fastest runner from the squad, both long distance, and in short springs.

Wen Hemlock, age 17.

Wen’s weapon of choice is a battle ax that he wields with one hand, the other holding a shield. Wen was formerly in a different team of three that ended up getting attacked by two dire bears. He was the only survivor, and his body is covered in scars from that encounter.

Jeb Hemlock, age 18.

Jeb is one of the strongest fighters in squad 10-25, he is almost at rank five. His weapon of choice is a broadsword which he wields with a heavy shield. Spectres usually stick to studded leather armor, sometimes going as far as wearing chain mail, but Jeb is one of the few that wear a lightened set of scale mail.

Ivan Hemlock, age 20.

Along with Jeb and Naya, Ivan is one of the top fighters. Ivan isn’t even a citizen of the Fredirin Kingdom, but an orphan from the barbarian tribes. This shows in combat where he only wears the lightest leather armor and dual wields hand axes. He actually carries 4 of them, so that he can throw up to two of them at enemies.

Ula Hemlock, age 23

An older Spectre, Ula’s combat potential in a direct fight is limited. She wields a bow and a short spear, but her strengths are focused towards tracking, she can easily track both man and beast through almost any wilderness terrain. Sadly, that isn’t very useful within the capital Arvas.

Oz Hemlock, age 24.

Another older Spectre, Oz is a trained combat engineer. He is able to build field encampments, and also effectively dismantle any others he finds. Oz’s weapon of choice is a sling, but he can also use it as a deadly cudgel if need be.

Bahn Hemlock, age 16.

Like Ula, Bahn is a tracker and hunter, but unlike Ula, his strengths lie in setting traps. He wields a repeating hand crossbow and a short sword if forced to fight.

Naya Hemlock, age 24.

Naya is one of the best fighters in the squad, and is the most balanced of them. Her weapon of choice is a glaive.

Carla Redwood, age 25

Carla was one of Olivia Pine’s two Guardian Knights, her loyal protectors and bodyguards. Carla was born to ordinary parents who were moderately wealthy merchants, but Carla had little interest in running a business, instead preferring to play and fight. Her parents agreed and let her join a combat school.

Carla is not a genius or a prodigy, but she makes up for it with earnest hard work. After she joined at the age of 8, within two years she had already moved from that school to another. Carla has been through several schools, learning several different techniques, until she was picked up by the Pine Family. Her accomplishments earned her the option to become a guardian knight for the newborn Olivia, and she jumped at the opportunity, getting adopted into the Redwood branch family of the Pines.

As a Guardian Knight, Carla focuses on battlefield command and defense of her charge. Knights, especially guardian knights, have a reputation for using swords, So Carla does use a heavy broadsword as her primary weapon along with a large shield. But she is skilled with many different types of weapon, and her favorite is a massive heavy flail.

Carla kept her hair cut very short, her red locks almost making her look like a man. This wasn’t a stylistic choice exactly, for whatever reason, Carla’s hair was unruly in the extreme unless she cut it short, she would look like a wild woman. She was tall, had an athletic build, and her bright blue eyes contrasted with her reddish freckles and her red hair.

The Goldfield Family.

The Goldfields are one of the six ducal houses of the Fredrin Kingdom, lead by Duke Zachary Goldfield, the eldest of the six dukes and duchesses. Despite being the oldest, the duke has a bad reputation and is generally considered somewhat incompetent. He was married twice, and divorced twice, and as such, is still single. His two marriages did grant him 16 children, aged 11 to 39.

The Goldfield Family is tied for last place, and is generally assumed to have no hope of winning, they have always been in last place by themselves, it was only recently that another house fell alongside them.

The family is also in internal disarray due to the duke's policies and behaviors.

The Goldfield Domain.

Located southeast of the kingdom’s capital the Goldfield domain is the kingdom’s breadbasket. Crisscrossed with small rivers, the entire domain is one sprawling expanse of open land with some small hills. It is named after the fields of golden wheat that blanket it during harvest season. The capital Arvas is actually surrounded by the Goldfield Domain, but it is located in the upper left corner while the domain spreads much farther to the south and to the east.

The domain also borders the other five dukedoms, but it has no borders with foreign nations. Due to its abundance of food, and its central location, it is also the wealthiest dukedom out of the six.

Duke Zachary Goldfield Fredirin, age 51.

Duke Zachary Goldfield is actually a talented man, skilled in administration, the sword, and magic, he is even a natural socializer and negotiator. Unfortunately, his talents are paired with equally great flaws, this is lazy, lustful, hedonistic, arrogant, and incapable of taking personal responsibility. He is a raging alcoholic, and he even sired his first child when he was twelve, his first wife being his governess who was over twenty years his senior. Both of his wives divorced him to due his outrageous behavior, and his tendency to have affairs, with almost anything. Rumor has it that his last wife left him after finding him having an affair with two maids, one of his guards, a horse, and one of each of his daughters and sons, all at the same time, in the estate’s library.

The Duke blames his failures on anyone but himself, which has created a very strained atmosphere within the family. The fact that he seemingly has taken some of his own children as his consorts has only made things worse.

However, the Goldfield Family seems to hold an even darker secret. Unhappy with his older children’s progress, the Duke ordered questionable procedures to be done to his children, in the hopes of creating superior breeds. Many of his children now possess strange and powerful magic, but they also possess a burning hatred for their own family.

Victoria Goldfield Fredrin, age 14

Born to the Duke’s second wife and also one of the children that went through modifications when a baby, Victory is one of the more competent children of the Duke. Victoria's changes involved trying to bind charm magic into her magic core, the process was ultimately successful, but it prevented her from using any other type of magic, but she did gain the ability to use powerful mental magic with very little effort.

Her childhood was a painful one, as she always accidentally charmed the people around her, and when magical defenses were used to prevent this, she learned she had no idea how to interact with other humans. To make matters worse, she was universally feared for her ability to effortlessly mess with people’s minds.

When Victoria was 9, she ran away from her house, using her innate magic to facilitate her escape. She lived as a street urchin for a few days before utilizing her magic fully and living with generous people who she had charmed.

Eventually, she began working as a serving girl in a tavern, something that opened her eyes, having worked for herself she radically changed as a person. By the age of ten, she was working as a street girl since no respectable brothel would hire such a young girl. However, by utilizing her charm, she eventually formed her own brothel, Madam Tilly’s House of Heavenly Delights. By the time she had reached 12 years old, she was a first-class courtesan and Madam Tilly’s was the Capital's, and the kingdom’s, finest brothel.

After cementing Madam Tilly’s position, she returned to the Goldfield Family and serves as their intelligence gathering arm, however, she is actually moving behind the scenes to undermine her family which she still hates. She routinely leaks vital information to the other ducal houses and even provides fall information to her own family.

She is a flirtatious being, highly seductive even without the use of her charm magic, something she rarely uses anymore.

Despite her career choice, she is actually somewhat petite, looking a bit younger than she really is. She has blue eyes, but she never has the same hair color for more than a day, sometimes a few hours.

The Canyon Family.

One of the three families tied for 2nd place, although that is a somewhat misleading statement. The leading house is far in the lead, and the two trailing houses are far behind. The Canyons, Pines, and Lakesides are all relatively close to each other, but far from the others.

The Canyon Family is a military family, they defend the southern borders against the Holy Uvalin Theocracy of the deserts. They are, for the most part, an honorable and upright family.

They also have 13 children, ranging from 1 year old to 35 years old.

The Canyon Domain.

Located at the southern border, the Canyon Domain is named after the massive God’s Divide Canyon that runs east to west, acting as a bulwark that stopped the spread of the Brown Wastes, a massive desert that sits beyond the edges of the Fredrin Kingdom. It also acts as a stop gap to block the advances the Holy Theocracy.

The river that carved the canyon had long since run dry, and only a massive scale civil engineering project that created hundreds of miles of aqueduct and canal brought enough water back to the canyon to allow people to live within.

Only a slight portion of the Canyon Domain touches the Steam-burst domain and the Lakeside Domain, the vast majority of it borders both the desert and the Goldfield Domain.

Most of the Canyon Domain is arid, and not suitable for much farming. There are a few spots where maize is grown, and areas around the larger aqueducts and canals see some light farming also, but the domain gets most of its food from ranching and cattle herding, and importing it. And because Duke Goldfield particularly dislikes Duke Canyon, imported food suffers a heavy tax. This has lead the Canyon Domain to be pioneers in some interesting foods, like snake, scorpion, ant, and some types of cactus.

Duke Patrick Canyon Fredirin, age 49

Duke Patrick is a knight, through and through. In fact, his devotion to honor and justice is strong enough that you might suspect he was a paladin instead. Of the six dukes, Patrick is probably the strongest, but his talents focus on defense, he is still a powerful warrior, but anyone fighting him will first note that he is basically unkillable. He fights slowly, methodically, and relentlessly, and he handles everything else in the same way.

Duke Patrick has a good, if stiff, relationship with his family. He respects his children, and they respect him, but family bonds are somewhat lacking. Even his wife, who bore him those thirteen kids, looks at him as if he were a business partner and not a husband.

Mitchell Canyon Fredrin, age 25.

A straight-laced and stern man, Mitchell holds the rank of Colonel in the army. He currently has neither soldiers or a mission and is instead on standby in the royal capital.

He has a rugged appearance and what could be called boyish good looks, if he ever smiled.

His talents lay in administration and spiritualism.

He was able to summon three fairies and contract with them, and his affinity was strong enough to permanently manifest all three of them.

Cartivo, age ??? (Old)

The oldest of Mitchell's three summoned fairies, and also possibly one of the oldest faries ever summoned.

Cartivo is lazy, she spends all of her time lounging about, she rarely eats, she rarely does anything but lounge.

Her body is pure black, her eyes, wings, teeth, tongue, nails, all black.

She seems to be able to sense death auras and can tell when a person has given up on life.

Ixall, age 100~

Ixall is another of Mitchell’s contracted fairies, she is just slightly older than Zyaipa. She is just over six inches tall, her eyes glow orange, she has a majestic pair of butterfly wings, and she has as a single long braid of orange hair on her otherwise bald head.

She is a fire spirit and is capable of fire magic, but she actually prefers to manifest an arm of fire-wielding a sword of fire and attack with that.

Zyaipa, age 100~

The youngest of Michell’s fairies, Zyaipa is also the smallest, despite the fact her body shows clear muscle mass, something very rare for the fey. She has simple brown hair and eyes, but unlike her sisters, she has two bony like horns on the side of her head, and she also has dragonfly wings instead of butterfly wings.

Zyaipa uses earth magic.

Gwyneth Canyon Fredirin, age 16.

Gwyneth is a black sheep of sorts in the Canyon Family. Like most of the family, she is entirely focused on martial pursuits, but that is where the similarities end. Gwyneth calls herself a duelist, she fights not for the army or for a cause, but for herself, for fame, and for the cheers of the crowd. She is an entertainer at heart.

Some people think she is a battle junkie, but to Gwyneth, the fight is secondary, all that matters is that she receives cheers.

The Wild Bear, Raging Chimera, and Swift Wind Schools are all assets under her name.

In combat, she uses a Jitte, a weapon from the Crystal Jade Empire that she recently acquired, along with magical scimitar called Dry Wind.

She had an athletic build, but she was somewhat weathered by the elements which made her appear a bit older than she was. She had shoulder length dirty blond hair that she normally kept tucked into a headband, and she had a light scar on her forehead.

Michael Canyon Fredrin, age 14.

Michael was another black sheep of the Canyons, but not to the extent of his older sister. He had no real achievements in and martial or war-related field, instead focusing on accounting, administration, and diplomacy. However, he has done all of that for his family.

In the past, Michael had bullied Olivia Pine Fredirin by burning her stuffed animal with a spell, leaving behind a very dangerous grudge. Michael, however, regretted his actions, and it was the pivot point that let him change his life for the better.

He was engaged to his personal maid, Shannon, Daughter of Jerry, who he loved greatly. Michael wanted to support his family and improve their standing, so he could then step back and retire, being able to live happily with Shannon.

Michael was killed by Olivia who was using her magic to puppeteer her stuffed sheep Gimmy. Michael was not only killed, but had his soul extracted.

He later agreed to work fully with Olivia to protect Shannon, and his soul is now being reforged with Olivia's magic while hidden inside of her heart.

Shannon, Daughter of Jerry (Fake last name)/ Shannon Canyon (As of 2/19/807), age 23

Shannon was an orphan discovered in the Canyon Family’s domain, but she was originally from the Holy Uvalin Theocracy. The theocracy itself is made up of various clans that all follow the same religion, some of those clans are very powerful, appearing similar to the dukedoms of the fredirin kingdom, and others are much smaller, being no different from single villages with a chieftain. The harsh climate of the Brown Wastes means these smaller tribes are often destroyed.

As far as anyone could tell, Shannon was from a smaller tribe that was destroyed, not by a raid or battle, but by a sandstorm. Shannon was picked up by a group of nomads who probably intended to take her as a slave, but they two were wiped out by another sandstorm. A dehydrated and nearly dead Shannon stumbled upon a Canyon Patrol that just so happened to have Michael Canyon within it.

Shannon became a maid for the Canyons, eventually become Michael’s personal maid, and then his Executive Maid, after he invented that position.

Shannon and Michael were a couple in form, if not exactly name. They were unofficially engaged, even if neither one of them admitted it. Shannon was against Michael’s plan to leave the family so they could elope, she wanted him to fully assist the family because she thought it would be the best for him.

Following Michael’s murder at the hands of Olivia Pine, Shannon was the one who found his corpse the next day and suffered a severe shock. The day after, she agreed with Michael’s will, and became his wife, a fact that was officially recognized by Mitchell Canyon, Shannon then became Shannon Canyon.

Shannon has a plain “Village girl” appearance, but she is also somewhat don-descript, easily overlooked. Her hair is black, her eyes gray, and she is small in stature.

Previously, Shannon had some basic self-defense training, but nothing more. Following her marriage, she awoke a bloodline of unknown origin and gained some form of power.

Roy Canyon Fredirin, age 12.

Roy is Michael’s younger brother, but the two have little interaction. Roy is an Elementalist who focuses on fire magic, but he is an extremely skilled mage who learned to use all six elements. He never had any real conflict with his older brother, but Michael was threatened by his growth, and ashamed by his own lack of talent in magic for a while, which lead to a strained relationship between the two that never really recovered.

The Lakeside Family.

The Lakeside Family is one of the more unusually dukedoms, and they are in many ways, the counterpart to the Canyons. Both are tied for second place, but while the Canyons are upright and honorable, the Lakeside are cunning and treacherous. While the Canyons focus on military might, the Lakesides focus on magical research and development.

Because most magical research centers are long established facilities, most of them are located in the capital, but many have been popping up within the Lakeside Domain in recent years.

The lakeside family only has six children, ranging in ages from 11 to 19, a relatively low amount compared to the other families, even those headed by female leaders.

The Lakeside Domain.

The Lakeside Domain is a very apt name for Duke Henry’s dukedom. The southeastern edge of the Fredirin Kingdom, even running up to the eastern reaches towards the mountains, is the massive Big Blue Lake, a lake that is large enough to be considered a sea.

The lake is shallow, only being 70 or so feet deep and the deepest, but most of it is a comfortable 30-40 feet deep. It is a freshwater lake, and it is also a very calm body of water, dotted with islands of varying size.

The Lakeside Domain surrounds the lake on all sides, only extending about 50 miles away from it at the farthest parts. Most of the domain is situated on the small island. Due to this, the domain only has one major city, Lake-Gate City, situated on the mouth of the river that feeds into the lake, and one major fort, Lake-Guard Castle, on the far side of the lake.

The far side of the lake is craggy worthless ground, and it has never been claimed by any nation, and is instead filled with goblins and wild orcs. Occasionally those creatures, or even the Theocracy or Empire will launch attacks, but the Fredirin Forces can just pull back to the coastlines and islands, neither of the opposing enemies has any level of naval force.

The domain focuses on two things, fishing, and magic research, the isolated islands make for good experimental labs, and also reduce the collateral damage when things go wrong.

Duke Henry Lakeside Fredirin, age 43.

Duke Henry is one of the Kingdom’s greatest mages, his rank isn’t known, but he is estimated to be at least a rank 8 Arcanist. He isn’t a combat focused mage, instead, he prefers to focus on research and massive ritual magic, but with his rank, he is still an incredibly dangerous foe.

The Duke is a man of strange contradictions, he’s cunning and ruthless and has few, if any, friends. He isn’t particularly rude or obnoxious, but he creates such an aura of distrust that no one wants to be around him. He is likewise a stranger to his children, making no effort to interact with them at all.

On the other hand, he is a highly devoted husband, seemingly only able to trust his wife. His wife, however, is somewhat sickly, which explains the small amount of children.

The Duke has had a long-running rivalry with his brother, Duke Patrick Canyon since they were children, although it is for the most part, a good-natured rivalry.

Sebastian Lakeside Fredirin, age 15

The third oldest child of the Lakesides, Sebastian is an interesting character. He is a natural diplomat and socializer, able to make friends with anyone within moments of meeting them. At the age of fifteen, he has already built several floating party houses that he positioned in the capital Arvas, and he often hosts parties in them.

Sebastian has no interest in getting his father the throne, and in fact, he is envious of the Pine Family’s stance. Despite having nothing in common with his father, he is the child that gets along with him the most. He has a distaste for his younger brother, Bartholomew’s behavior, and he often moves to thwart his more wicked actions.

Sebastian however, was assassinated by his brother in the chaotic opening made after Olivia killed Michael.

Bartholomew Lakeside Fredirin, age 14.

The 4th oldest son of the Lakesides. Bartholomew is a sociopath, but he isn’t overtly evil. He takes the most efficient path towards his goals, even if such a path would be morally reprehensible. He doesn’t view the sentient races as having much more value than livestock, and he treats them as such. He believes the worth of a person is based only off of their actions, a useless person is like a sick animal and should be put down. His views extend to himself also, he would have no complaints if he were killed to further someone else's goals.

He also believes that only the most valuable of things should have names, so he calls all of his servants by numbers, he probably only knows the name of a handful of people.

He is capable of actions of great cruelty if need be, but he gets no satisfaction from those actions.

His older brother Sebastian often moved to stop Bartholomew's plans, which resulted in the younger brother assassinating the older.

The Quarry Family.

The Quarry Family is tied for last place with the Goldfields. They are technically, in a worse standing than the Goldfields, but unlike the other family who has effectively no hope of winning, the Quarrys might improve their position, and in fact, are trying to do that.

Six years ago, the Quarry Family made a large gambit that if successful, would have put them well in the lead of the other six families. The Canyons, Lakesides, Goldfields, and Steam-bursts all united to stop them, and stop them they did. The Quarries were completely thwarted, everything they put into their attempt was lost, and in the ensuing chaos, the other four families picked them apart. Even the Duchess Analise Quarry Fredirin’s husband died in the failed move.

Now, the Quarry Family has reorganized and focused on strengthening their defenses while biding their time to make another attempt.

The Quarry Family has five children, ranging in age from 14 to 1.

The Quarry Domain.

Located in the far north of the Fredirin Kingdom, in the Spiky Mountains, is the Quarry Domain. The Spike Mountains are a bunch of sharp but short mountains, divided by steep ravines. To the west is the Pine Family Domain, to the south, the edges of the Goldfield domain borders it, and to the south-east is the only part of the domain that isn’t mountainous, before it reaches the Lakeside Domain.

The Quarry Domain is the source of more than half of the Fredirin Kingdom’s mines, the rest being an even split between the Canyons Pines, and Steam-bursts. However, while the other families tend only to be able to mine one or two different types of ore, the Quarrys have a mine for just about everything.

As their name implies, besides mines, they also provide the kingdom’s cut stone, providing large amounts of granite, and the more valuable marble.

Very little food is produced within the Quarry Domain, small farming villages are set up, and there is a degree of goat herding, but the vast majority of the food comes from trade.

Militarily, the Spiky Mountains are easier to traverse than the God’s Wall Mountains, so the Quarry domain is dotted with various fortresses that overlook the many pathways into the barbarian lands.

Duchess Analise Quarry, age 34.

An ambitious woman, Analise Quarry’s desire to become the next ruler of the Fredirin Kingdom is likely the strongest of the six dukes and duchesses. Her ambition manifests in a reckless outlook, which has been her own worst enemy. The Duchess is found of large, complex plans, and ones that risk a ton, but also potentially gain a ton. She is also generally rather lucky, even when she fails, she always survives, as does a stable foundation of her strength, so she always has an opportunity to rise again.

In fact, long ago, many of her cousins met their ruin when the Duchess’s plan fell apart, and then they attempted to chase her down and give her the final blow. While others might move steadily, the Duchess moves haphazardly, and while most are surprised she hasn’t been destroyed yet, it is also worth mentioning that she had utterly destroyed more of her rivals than any of her siblings.

The other five ducal houses view Analise Quarry as possibly the biggest threat.

Outside of her own reckless ambition, the Duchess is actually a pleasant person to be around. She is learned in pretty much every field and topic, she is a decent mage, a decent administrator, a decent general, and a decent warrior. She is also, by far, the most charismatic of the six, no one really dislikes her, even those she has trampled over in the past.

She is a surprisingly loving mother and wife too, although six years ago when her husband died in her failed gambit, she was left depressed for over a year, always wearing mourning dresses whenever she went out.

Since then, three years ago she remained in a purely political sense. Her new husband holds none of her trust, and has almost no power, the Duchess rarely even bothers to tell him what her plans are, let alone consult him.

The Steam-burst Family.

The undisputed top dog of the competition to see who will be the next king of the Fredirin Kingdom. The Steam-burst Family’s lead is so massive, that no one really expects anyone else to stand a chance.

The Steam-bursts have little interaction with the other families, instead focusing on their internal development, in this way they are like the Pine Family. However, unlike the Pines, the Steam-bursts will strike back, viciously, if they are messed with, and while uncommon, they do occasionally strike first.

The Steam-burst family has 7 children, aged 18 to 13.

The Steam-burst Domain.

Before Duke Steam-burst took over this area, the Steam-burst Domain was not actually part of the Fredirin Kingdom, but part of a large stretch of unclaimed land that no one cared for.

The original Steam-burst Domain was a small section of land between where God’s Divide Canyon flattened out before reaching the coastline, and the southern edge of the Pine Domain. This small area had two dilapidated forts before the Steam-burst took over. From that point, the coast continued down south-west, and if one were to go from there to the south-east, they would reach the deserts of the Brown Waste. However, the gap between the coast and the desert was a barren swamp marsh dotted with occasional volcanic vents that spewed steam and boiling water out.

The land was inhospitable, being entirely marshland, the bodies of water were either too brackish to drink, or contained nearly lethal amounts of sulfur. The only wildlife was small and tended to be poisonous itself. Hostile lizardfolk made this area home, as did a few sahuagin tribes, and it was also one of the main avenues for the Crystal Jade Empire to attack through. Even the Theocracy, would occasionally try to send a flanking army through the swamps. And because the swamps were so inhospitable, many of those invasions would see numerous soldiers dying within, who to this day, rise as bloated undead corpses.

The Steam-burst family aggressively reclaimed this area, pushing south along the coast, using a relay of boats from a port they built near those two forts. Once they reached where they wanted, they began transporting in tons and tons of stone, gravel, sand, and dirt. Building up mounts to hold towns and even cities. A massive, raised, roadway along with an aqueduct allows transportation through the swamps.

However, all of these gains would have meant nothing had the Crystal Jade Empire invaded.

The Steam-bursts used the volcanic vents to create a series of cannons, large towers were built over the vents, and inside of the towers were magically sealed tanks that held the pressure that spewed out. A large warhead could then be shoved into a hollowed out tube, and then the steam would be released, firing the shell out like a cannon. The power of these cannons allowed them to have a range many miles out, and the many vents allowed several towers to fire upon any army that advanced. Different types of magical stones allowed different types of attacks. Since they Steam-bursts took over this land, they repelled countless lizardfolk and sahuagin raids, two large-scale invasions from the Empire, and one from the Theocracy.

Duke Jason Steam-burst, age 30.

Jason Steam-burst took this name before he had reclaimed the salt marshes that would eventually become his domain, which indicates that he had a plan from the beginning and that he knew how to make the steam cannons well before he started building them.

Which wasn’t unsurprising to anyone who knew him. Jason was a quiet, spindly man, lacking skill in any of the martial talents. He was shy, not particularly attractive, and not liked by anyone. He was, however, highly intelligent and studious. In fact, he spent nearly all of his time in libraries and classrooms.

He married one of his maids, who was in her thirties at the time. No one knows exactly why they married, the fact that she was pregnant was one reason, but she was neither a person with political backing, a person with their own talents, or even a person who was particularly attractive.

Their marriage is, however, harmonious, they act less like a noble couple, and more like a family of commoners. Since the Duke is absent-minded and socially awkward, and since his wife is nearing her sixties, they appear more like a couple of grandparents.

The fact that their last child was born over 13 years ago lets some outsiders make verbal jabs that the Duke is no longer attracted to his wife, but in a rare moment for the Duke, during a banquet at the Royal Capital, he loudly announced that that wasn’t the case at all and that the Steam-burst Family Doctor had recommended against any more children due to her age. The fact that he hasn’t remarried seems to indicate that that was true.

Martin Steam-burst Fredirin, age 17.

The second oldest child of the Steam-bursts, Martin is a trained knight. Due to being on the frontier, the Steam-bursts have a strong need for military might, and Martin takes up the mantle of being one of the families strongest combatants. At the age of 16, he had already been considered as a rank 6 knight.

He currently acts as a traveling liaison to the other families, he doesn’t actually negotiate much of anything, since that isn’t his skill set, but he keeps the others informed of the Steam-burst Family’s intentions.