Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant

by Will Greenway

  There are other Foathrings in the Felspar family, but Cassin and Annawen were the first. Initially, Cassandra thought she could deal with her husband-to-be having become female, but later found she couldn’t handle it. Gondor also had problems having thought like a male for 50 odd years, now being a female and (via hormones) beginning to think like a female. The two of them grew apart but raised Cassin and Annawen as a family. Cassin married Sindra by ‘default’. She thought the pairing with the Frielos twins was a bad and unsafe endeavor. Only later did she come to really appreciate the benefits of being spoiled by an elder. Now, many years into the marriage, she has fully embraced their relationship and enjoys all of its benefits. Cassin plays the passive role to Sindra’s aggressive one, and is content to satisfy the needs of her sometimes demanding mate.

  Cassin is much more involved in technology and more technically savvy than her sister. In that aspect, she complements her sister well, who is extremely magic savvy. Working together the twins can excel in practically any culture.

  See Also: Frielos, Sindra, Ishtarvariku, Dorian Degaba, magic

  Felspar Clan—The structure of the Felspar clan is a complicated enough subject to merit its own entry. Loric Felspar’s permissiveness, the pervasiveness of telepathy, the extended life span of immorts, and promiscuousness created by the ability to shape change and empathically “reverb” (see empathic reverb. ) have created a tangled knot of a family tree that would have the most dedicated genealogist weeping. The root of the family’s complexity primarily comes from the three house matriarchs: Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri, Desiray Illkaren, and Dorian Degaba Ishtarvariku. Immediately, one wonders why Dorian is included on this list because she is not married to Loric. Dorian went through a permanent gender change. At an earlier point in her life, she was a man, Gondor Degaba. During that time she married Cassandra (technically, she is still married to her?). So before this explanation starts, it’s already taken on complications!

  Three Squared To understand the primary complexity one must understand that our three matriarchs are really not gender specific. They can be female or male, able to sire or birth. This is exactly what has happened. Dorian has fathered (or foathrad) children with both Cassandra and Desiray. Each of them has done the same with her and each other for a total of six combinations as depicted below:

  ==========================

  (f) Dorian + Cassandra

  (f) Dorian + Desiray

  (f) Cassandra + Desiray

  (f) Cassandra + Dorian

  (f) Desiray + Cassandra

  (f) Desiray + Dorian

  ==========================

  There are children from each of these unions. In the “official” histories, these children retained the surname of the foathra. This created unnecessary complications in creating a chronicle, so the surname Felspar was attributed to all of them. One can see this issue from both sides, saying the making the name the same complicates differentiating who belongs to whom. Granted. However, tracking fifty odd names is hard enough without trying to untangle relationships at the same time!

  Take it from the top Since Loric is the house patriarch, his direct descendants should be listed first. With two wives he has two lines of inheritance:

  Loric as Sire

  Cassandra Desiray

  =============== ===============

  + Celek Farveth

  + Lorrik

  + Radian

  =============== ===============

  + = Triplets

  As one can see, Loric’s part of the tree is quite modest (in comparison to the rest). It’s from this part on that the mind begins to swim:

  Matriarchal Interrelationships

  Cassandra as Sire

  Desiray Dorian

  ========== ==========

  Caldorian+ Kassandra+

  Sebenreth+ Dorrian+

  ========== ==========

  Desiray as Sire

  Cassandra Dorian

  ========== ==========

  Maarina Darin’Kel*

  Eviria*

  ========== ==========

  Dorian as Sire

  Cassandra Desiray

  ========== ==========

  Annawen + Leandra

  Cassin +

  ========== ==========

  + denotes identical twins

  * denotes paternal twins

  One might note that there is an inordinate occurrence of twins in this family. That is neither accidental or natural… in most of the cases the condition was egged on by magic.

  But wait there’s more… Further complications are added to the tree when Dorian takes a husband (Brin Ishtarvariku) and Desiray takes a second husband (Bertram Terrantil). Bertram was already married to Thamara Narrimar. Add to this, dalliances with two Valkyries (Megan and Adwena), Marna Solaris (the Kriar matriarch), and the pantheon lord Isis. Now, the picture takes on truly Dionysian characteristics. ((We haven’t even gotten to grand children yet!!!)) Was everyone sleeping around??? Well, in a word…yes. Didn’t this cause problems…??? Well, of course. Jealousy and drama abound. For those following along, do remember that most of these people are in their 70’s and 80’s. At the time when most of the stories of the Ring Realms take place Dorian and Cassandra are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their marriage. Despite this advanced age, through various magicks these individuals are still physically in their 20’s and as typically randy as beautiful talented brilliant people usually are.

  Another factor to consider is that everyone discussed so far has telepathic ability. This factor alone instills a level of trust and permissiveness not experienced in ordinary mundane relationships. Partners don’t have to wonder whether they are still loved—the emotion can be discerned, confirmed, and so on. Also, its really, really tough to cheat in house of telepaths. It is far easier (and safer) to get permission than it is to ask forgiveness. [Granted, this is the opposite of how it ordinarily goes… but you’ve probably never had a loremage with immense magical powers pissed at you. She will make you pay for your transgressions. She has the imagination, the desire, and inclination to make life intensely uncomfortable. Worse, there’s nowhere you can run… she can teleport, and she’ll find you…] Anyways, over the course of five decades sharing was not an uncommon occurrence. It helps to understand that at different times Desiray, Cassandra, and Dorian each maintained separate identities as males that essentially had their own distinct relationships. Ah, the benefits (complexities) of shape shifting…

  Miscellaneous Couplings

  Dorian / Brin

  ====================

  Rindar+

  Jaraed+

  (f) Desiray / Adwena

  ====================

  Siriena

  (f) Dorian / Megan

  ====================

  Ralani

  Silvia

  With fifty cycles invested in relationships, children are bound to find partners, get married and have children. In this genealogy, you will see a number of female / female marriages. This is something of a side affect of the interrelationship of the matriarchs. Shape changing creates a lot of potential in partners… in a world of magic and star hopping, the choices are many and varied. However, it just works out that sometimes the best person to understand a woman is another woman… and when that woman can also be a man (or the partners can take turns in the male role… ) the imaginative readers can fill in the blanks…

  2nd Generation Couplings

  ============

  (1)Cassin +

  Drucilla (f)

  ============

  (None yet)

  ============

  (2)Annawen

  + Sindra (f)

  ============

  (None yet)

  ============

  (3)Caldorian

  + Bronawyn

  ============

  [Cassopia]

  DonaRae

  ============

  (4)Sebenreth

  + Jolandrin

&n
bsp; ============

  (None yet)

  ============

  (5)Darin’kel

  + Gwynned

  ============

  Xander

  Tristam

  ============

  (6)Everia +

  Luthice

  ============

  (None yet)

  (1): If there can be said to be any contention between the twins it is grounded on the issue of children. There has been considerable pressure from Grandma Frielos to see some bouncing half-Kriar / half-Teritaani babies. However, both Drucilla and Sindra being playgirls (boys?) they really aren’t child-rearing types. Being independently wealthy, ultra-pampered grand elders, the likelihood of them changing a diaper is all but non-existent. Cassin in particular is adamant that BOTH parents should be INVOLVED in child rearing. Drucilla of course wants Cassin to bear the burden of carrying the baby to term (she’s MUCH too busy to be bothered with being pregnant…) that is the second part of the issue. There are other considerations that further complicate the discussion. It remains a sore point, and is the source of the first real friction this long running relationship has experienced.

  (2): Annawen is the twin upon whom the real pressure is being applied by Aarlen to have children (mostly because she’s more easily swayed than Cassin). It is also because Annawen has a stronger desire for children. However, she agrees with Cassin (though to a lesser degree) about the issue of involvement of the parents in the raising of the children. Both sisters are aware of the cold and loveless upbringings fostered in the Frielos family, which is a stark contrast to the extremely close-knit Felspar Clan with multiple mothers fostering overlapping affection on all the children. It is that paradigm by which they gauge how their own families should be raised. Something that would be difficult with only partial participation of the parents.

  (3): The decision to bear children was sparked largely by Bronawyn. The dark Silissian princess has always taken issue with her in-law Gwynned, the nosy, judgmental, stuck-up, cleric of Isis living down the hall. This contention grew out of a basic argument of how such a “plain ordinary commoner” would rate one of the most beautiful men a woman could set eyes on i.e. Darin’kel (whom Bronawyn had always fancied but was never able to get the attention of). The ongoing upwomanship between these two would make a good story thread in a soap- opera. One of the requirements of Gwynned’s allegiance to the church of Isis was to bear at least one child, and teach them in the ways of the church. Gwynned and Darin were having problems conceiving. During one sharp-tongued dinner conversation Bronawyn was nettling Gwynned, suggesting that the reasons for their problems was simple frigidity and her not being “woman” enough to bear children. There were undertones about boyishness, etc. This trading of barbs escalated, with the remark about “wondering what a reptile knew about having babies anyway—they lay eggs after all…” Through a course of events one could only attribute to soap opera dynamics it became a race to see who could conceive first. Gwynned had a head start, but Bronawyn was determined to show her up… reptile indeed! Bronawyn did conceive first, a fact which she lorded over Gwynned for some time thereafter. This was also a source of kidding between the brothers about who had more of the “right stuff” but it was not taken as seriously as between the two women.

  (4): Seb and Jol are a very laid-back pair. Jolandrin is a simple girl used to being in the wilderness and has still has a way to go develop the sophistication of the others in this wild family. She has a good heart though and plenty of libido. There’s no rush (in their mind).

  (5): The relationship between Gwynned and Darin’kel is epic in its own right. Starting with a heated conflict between Gwynned and Everia. Everia is VERY possessive of her brother and had no desire at all to share her paternal twin with anyone—period. Add to this that the marriage between Gwynned and Darin was obligatory (it was ordered by the church after Darin was admitted to the ranks of the Sovereigns). This thorny situation was made worse by Gwynned’s dismay and dismissal of the Felspar clan’s “perverted” family interrelations. Carrying around those kind of thoughts in a house full of telepaths is bound to cause friction—which it did. Gwynned finally lightened up after she was given telepathy and began to understand the intricacies of shape-changing and empathic reverbs.

  (6): The relationship between the Baronian war-witch and Everia is a complex knot involving her brother Darin, Luthice, and a number of events that would take several chapters of a book to do proper service to. Simply, it was a relationship that went hot-cold-hot-cold-hot-cold—something that was a source of confusion and frustration for Everia and simple irritation for Luthice. In general, Baronians lead cold passionless lives of duty with little other emotions save anger and blood-lust to warm their emotional pallet. Being creatures of war they have strong libido and a desire to reproduce. In any event, Desiray had approached Luthice to see if she could receive some tutelage in spying arts. (Elders who are great mages are not uncommon, but elders with vast experience in espionage are considerably more rare.) Luthice and Desiray met an accord, and in the Baronian’s shuttling back and forth to train Desiray she ran across Darin’kel. (Darin’kel makes women regardless of age stop and stare.) Being a rather forward elder, she made some advances on the boy which the possessive Everia immediately tried to rebuff. Luthice eventually lost interest in Darin, he was married and boringly true to his wife Gwynned. However, Everia was much like him in a lot of regards, and completely unattached. Luthice bribed Desiray into “giving” her Everia. What ensued after that was a cat-and-mouse chase that went on for cycles. Eventually, Everia came to care for Luthice and they were engaged. Children? The grandmas are waiting with baited breath drooling over the prospect of child that has both Desiray’s enhanced genes and that of the war-evolved Baronians. Time will tell.

  The main relationships are chronicled in the tables above but they are of course not the full extent of the allies and close-knit trysts that have formed over the decades. There are Gabriella and her children. There is Bertram and his wives. First Thamara who he later divorces. Later Bertram marries the daughter of Algernon D’Tarin, Valsiden who then by association becomes Desiray’s new sister-wife. There are pantheon lords, eternals, Kriar, savants…oh my. Enough material for a story or two at least?

  See Also: D’Tarin, Algernon, Felspar, Desiray Illkaren, Felspar, Everia, Felspar, Loric, Felspar, Annawen Kel’Ishtauri, Felspar, Caldorian, Felspar, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri, Felspar, Cassin Kel’Ishtauri, Felspar, Darin’kel, kriar, Shadowstalker, Bronawyn

  Felspar, Annawen Kel’Ishtauri — Annawen is the silent sister to Cassin. The two sisters are as different from one another as they are alike. Where Cassin represents restraint, logic, and intellect, Annawen represents hedonism, creativity, and passion. Annawen is extremely promiscuous, outgoing, and spontaneous. While Cassin plans things down to the last detail, Annawen simply makes it up as she goes. Each sister represents the pure forms of the extremes that might occur in a normal personality. This is why Annawen is so good at magic. It is a skill that requires confidence, the slightest shred of doubt can ruin or cripple a spell. Annawen literally has no worries, and no fear or compunction about the consequence of her actions. By that token, she has nothing holding her back. This is, of course, why she has problems with control.

  Though law and rules are not the kind of thing Annawen would normally like, she finds the idea of twisting rules to her own ends intriguing. Her creative and exhibitionistic nature are extremely well suited to both a courtroom and the stage. She would be perfectly suited to them except for the fact that she does not speak aloud. This of course, keeps her out of trial law in all but the most sophisticated territories where telepathy is tolerated as a means of communication. She does on occasion call on Cassin to be her ‘voice’ as she is in most of their everyday life. Cassin typically refuses most of her sister’s requests because she feels Annawen should ‘find her own voice’. Being the eldest, they are the big sisters to all the Felspar family children. Th
ey are often bailing their brothers and sisters out of trouble. Annawen’s interest in law is quite valuable for resolving many of the situations that arise.

  Annawen feels that Cassin is an errant part of her that has run away. The fact that she cannot function overlong without her troubles her. She harbors a secret (not so secret to her sister) desire for them to unify into one person. Cassin is extremely bothered by this desire in her sister, likening it to being ‘consumed’. Despite their oppositeness, they are as close as two sisters can be and NOT be one person. Becoming married to Sindra and Drucilla Frielos has been an extremely satisfying experience for Annawen. Her pairing with Drucilla provides a balance in her life that Cassin was unable to provide.

  The Frielos twins are specialists too, but it is not along the right-brain left-brain aspects. Drucilla represents the passive aspect of their pairing (to Sindra’s aggressive) which is well suited to Annawen’s personality and tendencies. Cassin and Annawen are extremely active and well traveled. They are adored on Homeworld. Elsewhere they are regarded with respect, and in many cases with fear and suspicion.

  Elsbeth Crowninshield considers the twins, and Annawen in particular, two of the greatest threats to the integrity of magic. Despite herself, Elsbeth has been unable to view these two as enemies though they embody the very essence of what she fears (the merger of magic and technology). Whether by luck, or through their empathy, the twins knew it was essential to make sure they became close to this elder elite. A campaign several years in the making got them into the good graces of the red-haired woman buying them safety from her war on technology.