(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 minds) even though momma Desiray has been dropping strong hints that her other son should get off his duff and make some grand kids!
(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. They 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.
After an encounter with Corim Vale, and his metapathic talent, Annawen has become rather fixated on the handsome man. The fact that he’s in love with Dulcere Starbinder is not at all troubling to her. She knows she’ll get her way eventually… she always has in the past…
See Also: Felspar, Cassin Kel’Ishtauri
Felspar, Caldorian — Son of Desiray Illkaren Felspar and Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri. Cassandra is the “Foathra” or the surrogate of a female / female coupling who provides the male genes. Caldorian is has an identical twin brother Sebenreth’Kar Felspar.
Caldorian is currently married to Bronawyn ShadowStalker and has two daughters: Cassopia and DonaRae.
See Also: Felspar, Desiray Illkaren, Felspar, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri, Shadowstalker, Bronawyn
Felspar, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri — Cassandra is one of the only surviving members of the first incarnation of the Band of the Crescent Moon. She has traveled and adventured extensively throughout the Realms during her 91 years of life. At one time she was engaged to be married to Gondor Degaba who by a quirk of fate was changed from a male to a female by the Aesir pantheon lord Loki. In Gondor’s new identity as a female things got pretty complicated as he and she had already managed to conceive children. Cassandra ended up not being able to handle the relationship and the two of them grew apart but continued to raise their daughters Cassin and Annawen. Cassandra went on to marry the elder mage Loric Felspar.
After the adoption of Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri by house Techstar, it became a fashion among the Kriar nobility to start interacting with
the humanity and skilled mages in particular. The ability of magic to overcome something Kriar science could not opened many eyes, and sparked intense interest in learning the secrets of magic. Also, humans being young and impressionable, made them excellent protégés. The Kriar being empaths, derive a great deal of satisfaction being around creatures who still experience excitement and passion. They can feel ‘vicariously’ through their empathy, emotions and sensations that they themselves have become numb to due to hundreds of millennia of life.
The Techstar family has profited enormously by Cassandra’s addition to their ranks, as the mage’s ‘star status’ among Kriar is worth a great deal in favors, media deals, and other ‘celebrity status’ benefits. This, of course, certainly hasn’t hurt Cassandra’s popularity among the members of her adoptive family.
See Also: Felspar, Loric, Felspar, Annawen Kel’Ishtauri, Felspar, Cassin Kel’Ishtauri, kriar
Felspar, Cassin Kel’Ishtauri — Cassin is the steadfast twin of the union. She represents all the things that Annawen is not. She is steady, logical, and dedicated to rational thought. Cassin is extremely close to her Mother (Foathra) Dorian. Dorian is Cassin’s paternal progenitor. Early in her life, Dorian was in fact Gondor (a man) and engaged to Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri. A extremely unfortunate encounter with a vampire and a the humor of a Loki resulted in a man being placed in woman’s body. By shape changing, he could regain his normal male form, but the magic would eventually wear off and he would again become ‘Dorian’. It was in his shape changed state that Dorian (Gondor) fathered the twins Cassin and Annawen. As a way of keeping things from getting confused, they coined the term ‘Foathra’ for a female that had sired children.
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: Felspar, Annawen Kel’Ishtauri, Felspar, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri
Felspar, Darin’kel — Son of Desiray Illkaren Felspar and Dorian Degaba Ishtarvariku. Darin has a twin sister named Everia. Darin is known as the “beauty” of the Felspar clan for his androgynous jaw-dropping handsomeness. His appearance is such that even the pantheon lord Isis keeps the young man on display nearby so she can look at him from time to time. This is one of the reasons for his accelerated rise through the ranks of Isis’ followers, a fact which has earned him more than a little enmity.
Despite his rival’s jealous claims to his “sleeping his way to the top” Darin’Kel is in fact an exceptionally gifted and talented individual. Having his mother Desiray’s incredible physique and Dorian’s keen intellect, there is little this young man cannot do once he sets his mind to it. As a cleric of Isis the dogma of the worship was stifling to him. However, he became a cleric as something of a defiance to his mother Dorian who wanted him to learn the magical arts (actually, it was more of Everia’s defiance than his, but Darin generally follows the will of his sister). It was not until Darin entered the ranks of the Sovereign that he truly began to flourish (the sovereigns are mages with priest training who serve Isis).
Both Darin’Kel and Everia feel a certain amount of resentment and rebellion against their mother Dorian. Most of their clash is rooted in a mother-daughter tug of war for identity and freedom. Ironically, Dorian’s persuasive and manipulative ways work on everybody except her children. Darin’s heart is considerably softer than Everia’s when it comes to Dorian, and when not toeing-the-line laid down by his sister he and his mother are very close. Desiray experiences none of the hostility that Dorian is privy to. She was the “fun” parent and had no part in the law laid down by Dorian which is in part the reason for the mage’s unpopularity with these two children.
Darin’Kel later marries a cleric by the name of Gwynned, and later still they have two sons: Xandar and Tristham.
See Also: Felspar, Desiray Illkaren, Felspar, Everia, Felspar Clan
Felspar, Desiray Illkaren — Desiray Illkaren Felspar, also known as Whitelock, is one of the core members of the Band of the Crescent Moon. She is one of the “three matriarchs” of family Felspar (Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri and Dorian Degaba Ishtarvariku being the other two). Desiray has had a long and sordid history as a thief. Her adventurers in Silissia and later in quests against Hellzan, Surr, and the Dream Merchants made her fortunes which she turned to the task of building a network of guilds. Her skills as a thief are renowned through Sharikaar as is her merciless reputation. In her later years, this reputation softened considerably when she married Loric Felspar. She became gentler still after the advent of children.
Desiray was the personal patron of Sireth, who in turn was the patron of Liandra Kergatha. Desiray and Liandra initially share a mutual enmity toward one another that almost ends in them killing each other. Later, they grow closer and Desiray takes on a role as Wren’s surrogate mother. In an attempt to shield both Desiray and Liandra, Gaea alters Desiray so that she can become Liandra’s tao beta (meaning that they can join to become a single far more powerful being). In this form, Desiray and Liandra proved a reasonable match for even elder elite like the D’klace sisters Sindra and Drucilla.
See Also: Felspar, Loric, Felspar, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri, Sharikaar, tao
Felspar, Everia — Daughter of Dorian Degaba Ishtarvariku and Desiray Illkaren Felspar [Desiray Foathra]. She is one of a pair of polar-body twins ((identical / fraternal) similar appearance but different sex). Her brother is Darin’Kel.
Everia marries the Baronian warmage Luthice in 1114 N.I.S.
See Also: Felspar, Desiray Illkaren, Felspar, Darin’kel
Felspar, Loric — Numanorian elder elite and patriarch of family Felspar. Loric is a renowned Ranger and grand lore-mage. He has two wives, Desiray and Cassandra. He has three children by blood (with Cassandra). Loric is the creator of many magical items and technologies. The most notable of which are the Krillar. His wife Desiray wields the krill sword and dagger, Khairhavhel and Khairhavkul. Cassandra and Dorian both used krill staves of his design.
Loric is one of the last generation of Numanor, an elder race that eventually destroyed itself in pursuit of the ultimate power of entropy once possessed by the first ones.
Loric was born approximately 90,000 cycles prior to the events chronicled in most of the stories taking place in the Ring Realms. He by far pre-dates the lives of Aarlen Frielos and Elsbeth Crowninshield. Being one of the few remaining creatures possessing “true-magic” he felt that he should have a say in the development or the corruption of magic and how it was being distributed by the pantheon lords. This led Loric down a path where he began trying to police the ancient lores once controlled by the Numanorians and the first ones. He developed powerful magicks and trained allies to help him in this venture. Despite their limited number and resources Loric and his followers became a growing irritation to many of the pantheon lords, as he “kept them in line” policing not only the spread of magic, but enforcing a certain amount of separation between the lords and their sources of demiurge. The hit-and-run gorilla tactics of the Krill warriors finally escalated into full fledged war and Loric and his followers were forced into hiding. He
and his followers would go into seclusion for centuries at a time, spending the “cooling off” cycles in specially designed stasis chambers that Loric had secreted throughout the worlds of the Ring Realms. There were occasions when he spent as long as five millennia in stasis, the exact reasons for these extended submergences are unknown but there are at least four known periods when he went “underground” for several thousand cycles. It’s been speculated that he was in actuality sleeping off massive injuries to his body and spirit, but there is no evidence to support this theory. Upon each new emergence, he was stronger and more persistent in his desire to “clean up” the tyrannical dominion of the pantheon lords. Over the course of the millennia, the original desire to merely shepherd magic transformed into a one-man vendetta against the lords. It was in the latter portion of this war that Loric met and befriended Damay Alostar one of the great Kel’Varans. They undertook several quests to protect various members of the savant race scattered throughout the Realms. It was Loric’s eventual plan to gather up all the savants and turn them against the pantheon lords. In the middle of this plan, Damay soured on the idea fearing that they would in fact cause the destruction of savant kind rather than their preservation. This fundamental difference eventually resulted in their going their separate ways. In the interim, Loric had learned a great deal from the individual savants he had met, and had discovered intrinsic properties in the foundating power of Eternity. These new discoveries were integrated into the Krillar weaponry and the power turned against the pantheon lords in a renewed onslaught in order to force the lords to give up their possession of the “material plane” and constrain their activities to the outer dimensions. The conflict escalated quickly, and several lords were slain permanently by Loric’s new powers. The threat posed by the Numinorian created a situation where the pantheon lords would be forced to either comply and give up their possession of the core worlds, or cooperate and dismiss Loric from existence once and for all. The lords chose the latter, and in a massive battle the pantheon lords came together and in final battle corralled Loric and his followers and destroyed them all in a single entropic blast of demiurge.
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