#dominic castillion

[gwyns]

"I don't believe that who we are is ever set in stone. We are transitory creatures—every day, we wake up as someone new, changed just a little bit by the experiences of the day before. Who we were is always a part of us, but it doesn't determine who we are, nor who we can still become."

[daughter-of-the-prophet]

Isabela (Dragon Age II) Part 2

I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: She develops a platonic version of this trope towards Areida Hawke. After Areida spares Isabela from being handed over to the Arishok, Isabela is shocked that Areida still wants to be friends with her even though her stealing the relic from the Qunari was what lead to the events of the Qunari invasion on Kirkwall in the first place and that she lied to her about it.

I Need a Freaking Drink: At the start of Act 3, especially.

Incredibly Lame Pun: Every single one of the talents in her unique skill tree is a pirate reference of some kind. Notable because almost every other skill tree's names try to be serious or informative. Not Isabela.

She has an armor upgrade named Rigid Boning.

She seems quite fond of puns at times in-game, chuckling at the sound of "ghast-hole" and dubbing Idunna an "apostitute" before laughing delightedly. Yeah... Bela's kind of a dork.

Indy Ploy: Most of her "plans" tend to involve little planning and mostly going with her gut.

Isabela: "Step one, we go to Velasco! Step two, something exciting happens! Step three, profit!"

Informed Attractiveness: Discussed in-story. Isabela readily admits that she is not as attractive as her reputation leads one to believe. Her real secret is that she just casts a wide net.

It's All About Me: While she can be a lot of fun, and even very affectionate at times (mainly to Merrill), it is made uncomfortably clear at several points in the story that she places herself and her hedonistic tendencies first, even when it might hurt others. Eventually under Areida's influence, her conscience starts to get the better of her, much to her dismay.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: When Fenris asks her about the incident where she released Castillon's would-be slaves, she downplays it with this exact phrase.

Karma Houdini: For stealing the Tome of Koslun.

The Lad-ette: She enjoys dirty jokes, drinking and getting into duels and bar-room fights.

Lampshade Hanging: She lampshades quite a few things.

Isabela: "If we kill them we get their stuff!"

Alistair: "Isabela, right? You look... different."

Isabela: "Don't we all?"

Lovable Rogue: A pirate captain not afraid to fight dirty and is quite the snarker.

Lovable Sex Maniac: She's a Lovable Rogue and Ethical Slut who has a very positive outlook on sex and constantly talks about it, as long as it remains Safe, Sane, and Consensual.

Missing Steps Plan: Invoked during her summing up the plan to deal with Velasco and Castillion.

Isabela: "Step one, we go to Velasco! Step two, something exciting happens! Step three, profit!"

Mommy Issues: Not fond of the woman. Given her mother sold Isabela into marriage to an Antivan merchant for a few gold pieces and a goat (without even haggling the price), it's hard to blame Isabela for how she feels.

To add insult to injury, her mother was a Qunari convert who sold her because she refused to follow in her footsteps. No wonder she also holds a grudge against the Qunari.

Morality Chain: Areida Hawke becomes this to her, particularly at the end of Act 2.

Morality Pet: Isabela's friendship with Merrill may be the only one that the pirate has that isn't based on teasing them. In fact, when Merrill wishes that she had an 'interesting' life like Isabela, she tells Merrill that she's a good person and deserves better than that.

Her fond anecdotes about her crew before the shipwreck indicate that they actually had quite a bit of camaraderie, and she clearly misses them.

Ms. Fanservice: She has about a foot of cleavage to back this up. And no pants. And frequent panty shots.

Ms. Vice Girl: She's a Friendly Pirate who revels in sex, violence, greed, and drunken revelry. She does admit to Areida that part of is just to keep up her Pirate, since she's a Pirate Girl in a male-dominated environment.

Mundane Object Amazement: Merrill's so fascinated by boots that reach thigh length that she sometimes drops marbles in them.

My Grandma Can Do Better Than You: One of her in-battle taunts is mocking her opponent by saying they hit as hard as her grandmother.

My Greatest Failure: In Those Who Speak, she reveals her greatest regret is taking on a job to smuggle slaves, and having to sacrifice them by throwing them overboard in order to escape the Orlesean navy. This is partly why she has such a strong stance against slavery, despite her Bystander Syndrome.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By stealing the Qunari relic, Isabela set a chain of events in motion that resulted in the Qunari attacking Kirkwall, the deaths of many innocent people, and a power vacuum that allowed Meredith to abuse her power and bring the Mage/Templar conflict closer to exploding.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She got stuck and shipwrecked in Kirkwall as a consequence one of the few selfless good acts she did in her life, when she freed a bunch of refugees from a slave ship after she got hired to escort it. In order to pay off her debt, her employer Castillion tasked her with the near-impossible task of stealing the Tome of Koslun, which ended up with her being pursued by the Qunari and getting shipwrecked in Kirkwall.

Noodle Incident: She's behind a few of them. One of them involved a duel that somehow grew into a 20 person brawl in the streets.

Areida mentions the time she thought she had found the Relic and led them on a wild-goose chase all across the Wounded Coast, only to discover that the chest contained nothing more than some bad poetry... and an old boot.

There's also a letter from her at the Hawke estate, at the beginning of Act 2, saying that she "expected treasure, not spiders. Get well soon." It seems like they had several unsuccessful treasure chases in the wilderness during the three-year intermission.

Only Known by Their Nickname: Isabela is not her birth name, but it's the only name to which she'll respond. Her birth name is revealed to be Naishe in the comic Those Who Speak, but she considers that person to be dead.

Pair the Spares: Hooks up with Fenris, of all people, in Act 3. Granted, the relationship is purely physical by all accounts.

Parental Abandonment: She was sold into marriage at an implied young age by her mother and never knew her father. Those Who Speak sheds new light on this; Isabela's mother was a thief and a con woman who grew disillusioned with her criminal life and started to seek "salvation" by converting into the Qun, but Isabela refused to convert, so she gave her away.

Phrase Catcher: "Shut up, whore!" from Aveline. It becomes an Insult of Endearment once their friendship grows overtime.

Pirate Girl: She used to be a fearsome pirate captain. Her ship is the Siren's Call, which she inherited from her deceased husband, a merchant whom Zevran killed. She even called herself the "Queen of the Eastern Seas". But her pirate days were over when her ship sank sometime before Act 1, during the same storm that wrecked the Qunari in Kirkwall, leaving her stuck in the city. Given that we later learn she was on the run from said Qunari, it's left ambiguous whether it was the storm or Qunari cannons that actually sank her ship.

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Not by choice. Due to the loss of her ship and crew as well as the Qunari tome, Isabela is forced to spend most of Dragon Age II standing around the Hanged Man, drinking and acting vaguely pirate-y when not with Areida.

Rape as Backstory: It's implied the reason she let her husband Luis get assassinated was because he had her "entertain" his friends.

"Rashomon"-Style:

She has given different accounts of how exactly the assassination of her husband Luis went. She has claimed she had nothing to do with it but was glad it happened, or to have helped Zevran do it after she found out he wanted to kill her husband or to have actually been the one to have contracted the Antivan Crows to assassinate him.

Varric notes Isabela has given conflicting stories on the details of her Parental Abandonment. Sometimes her mother sold her off as a slave for some coins, sometimes she gave Isabela away with the promise she would be "looked after". Whatever the case, it is very clear she resents her mother for it.

Really Gets Around: Her sex life is a constant topic in conversations with the other companions, to the point finding past lovers of hers is a Running Gag. It reaches in-story memetic levels as time goes by, as she and Varric recall several patrons who attempted to (unsuccessfully) flirt with her and she recalls her vast sex life.

Sex Goddess: Her promiscuous life has led her to become a very experienced and skilled lover, to the point she often talks about kinky sexual techniques. She even claims to be so good in bed, she can turn even the straightest woman lesbian/bisexual.

Shipper on Deck: She writes erotic "Friend-fiction" involving Aveline and Donnic, and shares it with Varric.

Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: She might be an amoral Pirate, but she drew the line at slave trafficking, and one of her few selfless acts was turning on her employer Castillion when he hired her to escort a slave ship. She not only refused to finish the job but actually freed the captured refugees. In Those Who Speak, her past with slavery is fleshed out more, revealing she was a slave herself, being sold out by her mother. When she earned her freedom and became a pirate, she avoided slavery until she got deep into debt with the Felicisima Armada and was forced to take a slave trafficking job, but ended up botching the job when she got caught by Orlesian pirate hunters and she was forced to throw the slaves into the sea to escape, something she considers to be her greatest failure and she swore never to get involved with slavery again.

Slut-Shaming: Many characters often look down on her, or at least deride her for her promiscuous life.

STD Immunity: Averted. It's all but outright stated that Isabela does face repercussions for her grandiose sex life, but Anders is able to cure these without much trouble.

Stripperific: Isabela has the bustiest model in the story and she has the outfit to show it off. Also, no pants.

Supermodel Strut: Isabela walks with a deliberate swagger to her hips. This is even pointed out and Discussed by Merrill, who wants Isabela to teach her how to do it, but Isabela more-or-less says that a sexy strut just comes to a woman naturally.

Merrill: "How do you do that?"

Isabela: "Do what, Kitten?"

Merrill: "You sort of... swagger when you walk. I've been trying, but I trip over my own feet when I do it."

Isabela: "You just strut. It's not something you practice."

Merrill: "How do I learn it, then?"

Isabela: "It comes to you. Usually at night. It's like a lover... or maybe a burglar. Either it ravishes you or runs off with all your jewelry. And you have to run it down and stab it in the heart. And... that metaphor got a bit away from me, didn't it?"

Merrill: "I think it did, but it was certainly exciting!"

The Tease: She's openly flirtatious with most people, sometimes as an actual come-on, but often just because she has fun riling them up.

Thrill Seeker: Part of why she's a pirate and why she likes working with Areida is that she simply enjoys the thrill and the danger. When recovering from being KO, she even says that "Nothing like a Near-Death Experience to get the blood pumping".

Trick Bomb: She is a Rogue, so she can use different types of bombs.

Urban Legend Love Life: While she's still quite promiscuous, she admits she exaggerates when talking about her sex life, in order to preserve her "image" as The Lad-ette Pirate Girl. But she also seems to do it because she likes to scandalize people.

Venturous Smuggler: During her time as a pirate captain, most of her jobs were smuggling illegal contraband through the seas.

Vitriolic Best Buds: While she and Aveline obviously don't get along at the start of the story, due to being on opposite sides of the law, by the end of the story they develop an unusual friendship, even though they never stop insulting each other.

Yaoi Fangirl: In one of their conversations, she seems really turned on at the thought of Danarius oiling Fenris up and "keeping [him] close at hand" while Fenris "glistens." Fenris asks her if she's already written a whole story about it in her head, and she doesn't deny it.

You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Areida convinces her of this at the start of Act 3.

You Fight Like a Cow: Some of her combat lines can get pretty snarky:

Isabela: "You hit like my grandmother!"

Isabela: "You hit like an Orlesian dandy!"

Your Door Was Open: Apparently she breaks into the Hawke estate frequently.

[cromulentbookreview]

Ziziphus obtusifolia!

Ah, yes, Ziziphus obtusifolia, native to the Southwestern and South central United States and Northern Mexico, this shrub has many branches, forming a giant cluster of thorns that can reach up to 13 feet (4 meters) in height. This shrub does best in USDA Hardiness Zone 7, has a high heat tolerance, low water usage, and only requires partial shade and dry soils! It has deciduous leaves that aren’t really around for most of the year, showing off the shrub’s light gray-colored bark. It has an inflorescence (a cluster of flowers arranged on a stem) of little, inconspicuous blooms. It bears a small fleshy black drupe with only a single seed. The fruit is technically edible, but not at all tasty, so maybe leave that for the wildlife.

Isn’t that pretty?

So why the hell am I talking about this weird desert shrub? This is a book review blog, not a botany blog, right? Right? Well, good ol’ Ziziphus obtusifolia has many names:

Lotebush.

Gumdrop tree.

Texas buckthorn

Graythorn...

Wait. Graythorn. Gray. Thorn. Those two words mean something, I can’t quite put my finger on it....

Wait.

Oh. Shit.

GREYTHORNE!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! *More incomprehensible fangirlish screaming*.

Bet you wish this were just a plant blog after all, eh?

There will be some minor spoilers ahead. Keep your hats on, people. You’ve been warned.

So. Greythrone by Crystal Smith! 

Greythorne is the sequel to Bloodleaf, a book I absolutely loved beyond all logical reason. Sometimes I enjoy a book so much that it becomes physically impossible to review it objectively. However, fortunately for me, this is a cromulent book review blog - I offer perfectly cromulent reviews, not objective ones. If you wanted objective reviews, I suggest you look for somewhere a little less cromulent.

Before I start my incomprehensible fangirlish squealing, I suggest you take a look at the synopsis. Here’s what the writers at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers say about the sequel: 

In Bloodleaf’s highly anticipated sequel, Princess Aurelia’s life is turned upside down when the kingdom she thought she saved turns to ruin, a loved one is tragically killed in a shipwreck, and her home country refuses to respect her brother’s legitimate claim to the throne. With no place left to call her own, Aurelia returns to Greythorne Manor—her best friend’s family mansion—only to get swept up in a coup d'état on the night of her brother’s coronation. With everyone turned against her and enemies closing in on all sides, Aurelia has nothing left to lose in a mad fight to protect the only people she has left—her family. But in her darkest moments when all seems grim, will Aurelia find a spark of hope from a love she thought long lost? A read bursting with romance, magic, and ghostly intrigue, Greythorne will not disappoint.

OK, that seems like your standard summary except...

Wait. A loved one is tragically killed in a shipwreck? Huh, I guess they changed the summary to be far less spoilerific because before it specified that it was Aurelia’s fiance that was killed in the shipwreck. And when I read that my poor, YA fangirl heart just about burst out of my chest because WHAT THE HELL, ZAN DIES?!? Aurelia’s Zan?! The Zan she was betrothed to as a baby but they met without knowing who the other was and they fell in love anyway because sometimes arranged marriages work out and it’s romantic as hell only now apparently he dies in a shipwreck AND THEY SPOILED IT IN THE SYNOPSIS?!?!

Heh, some poor writer for HMH got yelled at for that one.

Anyway, since I spent pretty much the whole of the first book shipping Aurelia/Zan like...well, like a crazed fangirl. Hey, when I like something, I really like it. Anyway, faced with the prospect of having to wait until next June (NEXT. JUNE!) for answers, you can imagine my amazement when the digital ARC of Greythorne hit NetGalley back in September. 

My reaction, an approximation:

I did exercise some restraint and waited to read Greythorne until later in October because a) my TBR pile is roughly as tall as Mt. Kanchenjunga and b) I was somewhat paralyzed by the knowledge that, if I read it immediately, not only would I have to wait til next June for the finished copy, it’d be at least another year and a half AFTER next June before the third book comes out.

And then I waited until mid-November to write a review because I’m lazy.

I’m not sure if I’ve established this well enough yet, but I don’t like waiting. Waiting is the worst. 

The wait for the third book is going to be agony, but oh well. Best get comfortable.

So! How to review without being spoilery? That’s the dilemma with reviewing sequels. Inevitably, something gets spoiled. Anyway, our favorite Bloodwitch Aurelia is back in Renault, keeping a low profile and avoiding being burned as a witch by living in a whorehouse and plotting to infiltrate the party barge of one of her many enemies, Dominic Castillion. Castillion is some kind of tyrant from the north who has been swooping in and taking over various nations, and he has eyes on Achleva. Aurelia encouraged her fiance Zan to go and parlay with Castillion...only his ship got caught in a storm and Zan drowned. 

OR DID HE?

Find out next June, because I refuse to spoil that. You don’t have to wait long to find out and it’s worth it. 

Anyway, Castillion is only one of Aurelia’s many enemies - she’s got more than a few in Renault, including the Tribunal, which is determined to have her burned as a witch. Her little brother Conrad is about to be crowned King, but his situation is precarious, at best. I mean, his sister is a known witch, and the Tribunal really, really hates witches, especially its leader, Isobel Arceneaux. She’s really not that big on witches.

Anyway, Arceneaux and the Tribunal interrupt Conrad’s coronation just to be dicks and undermine the young king before the crown is on his head longer than thirty seconds. They deliberately provoke Aurelia into a public demonstration of her magical blood powers, forcing her to flee, yet again, with her loyal guard Kellan and her old nurse/teacher/friend, Onal. They venture into the Ebonwilde forest, where there are rumors of witches capable of old magic and a dead/immortal horseman who enjoys chopping off heads...

And that’s about as much as I can say without giving the whole book away. Did I explain it well at all? Nope. Did I finish the book weeks ago and have been putting off writing an actual, semi-intelligent cromulent review because all I can do when I think about this book is make a long series of unintelligible fangirlish screeches? Yes, absolutely. This book was an absolute blast to read, and a worthy followup to Bloodleaf. There’s action! Romance! Magic! Card playing! Shapeshifters! Somberly sweet hallucinogenic wine! Zombie wolves! Witches that live in the woods! Ruined cities! A party barge! What more could you possibly need?

I do have one complaint, which is there is an instance of the Bury Your Gays trope. I’m not really even all that mad about it - I thought this particular character’s death was handled well, but I’m an idiot fangirl with a tumblr blog, so I’ll leave it to you to read the book and form your own opinion. 

Another kind-of-sort-of complaint: the covers changed. It’s another one of those Rebel of the Sands situations, someone in the marketing department decided to change things up. it means my hardcovers won’t match but...I guess that’s OK. I mean, it’s not like my eye doesn’t twitch every time I see my Harry Potters go from being paperbacks to hardcovers starting with Order of the Phoenix. I mean, I don’t panic a little every time I see that my first two books of the Ember in the Ashes series don’t match A Reaper at the Gates. It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s totally fine.

Anyway, here’s the original cover that would match the first book. It’s lovely! But I’m not in charge of marketing at HMH and the new cover is gorgeous as well.

Honestly, though, so long as I have the books and the spines are intact, I don’t give much of a shit whether or not my editions match. Of course, I’d prefer them to match, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. I just want the book. Change the cover to whatever you want, just please be sure to give me the words inside, please. The cover is just packaging - if all you do is look at a book’s cover, you’re not reading properly. Just learn to live with that eye twitch.

(Me, when stuff doesn’t match).

RECOMMENDED FOR:  Fellow Bloodleaf fangirls, fans of YA fantasy with a strong female lead, magic, romance, etc.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who didn’t like Bloodleaf, anyone who came here legitimately thinking I was going to write a blog post about Ziziphus obtusifolia, non-YA fans, people who can’t stand the idea of a kickass female protagonist.

RATING: 5/5

TOTALLY UNBIASED FANGIRL RATING: 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000/5

RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SEQUEL: Olympus Mons

SHRUB RATING: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

SIMPSONS GIFS THAT VERY ACCURATELY SUM UP MY REACTION TO THIS BOOK:

[blackdesertroleplayers]

The Kalis

After the monarchy ended with the young King Guy Seric, seven representatives were selected to form the Kalis, the first parliament in Calpheon. 

The Kalis manages the parliament, legislates, and regulates taxes. It includes representatives from prestigious families, nobles, and renowned merchants. One representative among the citizens is also included. Members of the parliament were some of the richest people in the city, for certain.

Note: Though the Kalis members themselves are all named NPCs, the bureaucracy surrounding the Parliament’s work and duties call for all sorts of underlings such as clerks, couriers, diplomats, aides, and more. There is great potential there for a character concept!

Members of the Kalis:

Chairman - Feresio Family: Herman Feresio

Councilor - Military Representative: Delphad Castillion

Councilor - Batian Family: Theophil Batian

Councilor - Erne Family: Dominic Erne

Councilor - Leight Family: Elina Leight

Councilor - Encarotia Family & Xian Guild: Enrique Encarotia

Councilor - Citizen Representative: Giovan Grolin

Lore Entries of Interest:

Player Title - “Holder of the Kalis Medal”

Kalis Plaza

Crisis in Kalis

[thekingsmanscycle]

Karlemon’s Lands: Tylia

An oddity amongst the lands of men, the Republic of Tylia is a mostly sparse and dry land on the watershed between the Osirian Sea and the Far Ocean. Founded by refugee mages fleeing the drowning of the Ynen Valley, the state is a magiocracy in all but name, with the Chancellor elected by a popular vote amongst those who fulfil the criteria of citizenship. The current Chancellor, Clementina de Seneka is something of a revolutionary in that she does not subscribe to either the traditional Varro or Duartist factions within the Court of Maegi. Her rule has been fraught with political strife amongst her courtiers, tempered by reforms directed towards the lower classes which have made her a fairly popular ruler. 

The six large cities are ruled by the city masters and the two consuls by the city mayors, all of whom are subordinate to the Chancellor and the Court of Maegi, which hold session from the Palace of the Assembly in Telcontar. All of the above are addressed as ‘don’ or ‘dona’ depending on their gender.

Population: circa 5 million (86% human, 7% elf, 3% dwarf, 2% halfling, 1% goliath, 1% half-orc)

Capital City: Telcontar (ruled by House Seneka)

Other cities: Seneka (ruled by Master Barrera), Altamira (ruled by Master Quirineo), Castilion (ruled by Master Medellin), Sirenis (ruled by Master Corbo) and Praia (ruled by Master Carrasco).

Consuls: Gualba (Hurtado) and Chasinde (Fraga)

Religion: Lydian Polytheism (80%), Church of the Four Virtues (9%), other religions (11%).

***

Founded by refugees from the drowning Ynen Valley, the people of Tylia have always had a stronger connection to the arcane than those descended from the tribes of Kanja’s Rise, a trait that has guided the rise of the nation since the beginning and the rule of the Arvan.

The Arvan were a group of dozens of tribes who found no shelter with the peoples of Kanja’s Rise, for reasons long forgotten. Under the great chieftain Isidoro Menser, they settled at the foot of the Azuleyan Marches, where water was plentiful. From here the Arvan began to raise up great irrigation works that fed crops for hundreds of miles around and they began to spread out, building new settlements and cities as they went.

Owing to their fractious origins, Tylia has never been ruled by a specific singular dynasty as it was believed by Isidoro that to make subordinate his commanders and their peoples would dilute the knowledge the people could contribute towards the survival of the Arvan in such a hostile climate. He encoded this along with other beliefs and some potent magic into a great silver tome known to this day as the ‘Praxeum Arcanum’, which informs much of the current practice of Tylian law and the Arcanum Nobilite.

The creation of the great Court of Maegi in 839 EE is considered by many to be the founding of the modern Tylian nation and its founder to be the first Chancellor, Valerian de Hervás, a lawyer and orator of great skill and honour. It was established in the Court of Maegi that the people were to be represented by those best suited and their kin. So passed the Law of Dutiful Obligation. A family may be noble and hold power over their subjects, but only so long as that family worked for the best interests of their people.

The great First Republic was ruled justly from its inception to its end, or so the bards say, and Tylia kept to itself, not wanting the interference of outside dynasties. Whatever the truth, Chancellor Gaspar de Sylva was the last to administer before the War of Tears when the land was occupied and plundered, the Court of Maegi suspended indefinitely and the Arcanum Nobilite, even then a noble institution, was banned throughout elven-held territory. It would be seven long and hard years before Karlemon, King of Man was able to liberate enough Tylian territory for the elves to retreat.

Out of respect for Karlemon’s efforts to free them, the people of Tylia, though insular in comparison to likes of Valarre or Fallsund or Cosima, decided to adopt some measure of the laws he laid down in his own territory. The old families that had defended their rights and liberties were now Houses, and thought their reach was still far and away more tempered than in other lands, they were given rights and privileges for their service.

The declaration of the Second Republic under Chancellor Christoval de Laparra in 805 CE was celebrated unlike anything before and the new Houses were given centre stage. Since that day, two of the old families have been deposed from their seats for abuse of their privileges, the Houses of Astorga of Seneka and Berganza of Praia. Besides that the worlds of the Arcanum Nobilite and Court of Maegi become ever more entwined and twisted as politics and philosophy seek to dominate one another in an increasingly hostile and complex arena.  

***

The Head of State of Tylia

Dona Clementina de Seneka, Chancellor of the Republic of Tylia and Protector of the Realm, daughter of Don Lorenzo and Manuela of Seneka. Age: 49. She rules from her capital of Telcontar at the head of the Court of Maegi.

***

City Masters and Mayors of Tylia

Dona Elisana de Seneka, Master of Telcontar. Age: 34. A mage-adept of the Blue Circle of Telcontar, she is consort to Chancellor Clementina de Seneka. Her mastery of water magic was instrumental in the overthrow of the previous Chancellor and again during the construction of the Grand Sierra Water Gardens at the feet of the Azuleyan Marches. 

Don Victor Barrera, Master of Seneka. Age: 48. Curate of the Arcanum Nobilite University of Tylia and a neutral force in the Court of Maegi. As a former classmate of the Chancellor, he has sided with her personal philosophy and ignored both the Duartists and Varro.

Don Cesar Medellin, Master of Castillion. Age: 44. Head of the Duartist faction within the Court of Maegi, he is a leading proponent of benevolent oligarchy of magic in Tylia. 

Don Sebastian Corbo, Master of Sirenis. Age: 46. The patron of the Corbo Bards College and the Grand Theatre of Tylia, he is known to be an avuncular and pleasant soul with an unsurpassed love of music, art and drama. 

Don Salvatore Quirineo, Master of Altamira. Age: 55. Known to all and sundry as 'The Gilded Man' he is a devotee of the Temple of Solus and is never seen without his golden mask, which he freely admits disguises his disfigured face.

Dona Nalda Carrasco, Master of Praia. Age: 61. She is head of the Varro faction within the Tylian Court of Magi, who believe in the equal right to all of access to magic and education in the arcane. 

Efraim Hurtado, Mayor of Gualba. Age: 74.

Jimena Fraga, Mayor of Chasinde. Age: 45.

[gwyns]

dominic castillion:

[gwyns]

my dominic castillion lovebot ass remembering that crystal had dominic put aurelia's dagger to his chest before saying: "it's all right, my two-faced queen. they told me long ago that you would be the end of me. go ahead... break my heart."

[gwyns]

crystal smith owes me therapy for this

[gwyns]

ebonwilde characters as random memes i have saved to my phone

aurelia:

zan:

rosetta:

dominic:

connor:

kellan:

nathaniel:

bonus, me after finishing this book:

+ crystal's reaction to this thread:

[gwyns]

i just think that dominic castillion