Characters / Mage Errant

The Masters

Alustin Haber, Librarian Errant

An Archmage that reports directly to Kanderon Crux and chose Hugh, Talia, and Sabae as his apprentices.

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• Almighty Janitor: He is a Paper Mage, which means he should be almost useless in combat, instead he is one of the most dangerous people who is not considered a Great Power.
• Berserk Button: The Havath Dominion, anything to do with them will immediately put him into an outright murderous mood.
• Cool Sword: Has a Helicote Blade made by the Lord of Bells. It has a binding that leaves stationary shadow clones that are extremely dangerous for how sharp they are.
• Eccentric Mentor: Is this for his apprentices, he often gives them completely nonsensical (to them) tasks that at some point in the future will bear fruit.
• Encyclopaedic Knowledge: For some strange reason he has extensive knowledge about the agriculture of Anastis and he loves discussing it, usually with his enemies.
• Extreme Omnisexual: Hides it from his apprentices very well, but according to Arthur Wallbreaker he moves between partners all the time and gender or species make almost no difference to him.
• Mr. Exposition: Acts as this from time to time for his students. Also uses it offensively as a tactic to put off his enemies.
• Hyper-Awareness: Multiple times it's pointed out by characters that he has an unnatural degree of awareness and during his introduction he is able to walk backwards at a quick pace while dodging people walking the other way.
  • He increases his already prodigious levels of awareness with his Farseeing abilities.
  • This is due to his training with his Helicote Blade, a sword created by the Lord of Bells, a Lich that ruled the city of Helicote. All the children of Helicote were trained to have inhuman levels of awareness at all times because the binding on the sword can hurt the wielder as well if they don't.
• Noodle Incident: Has these brought up all the time about him, the most common being something that happened with the Gorgon's.
• Paper Master: He is a Paper Mage by trade which makes him this, he is uncommon among Paper Mage's by being the only one we know of that's capable of combat.
• Pocket Dimension: Apparently has one that he keeps inside of his satchel. It's actually inside of the tattoo that Kanderon gave him, he just fools people into thinking it's in his satchel.
• The Strategist: Alustin likes to say that he doesn't have any far-reaching plans but always has enough pieces of different plans in motion that he's able to combine them at will.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Is a master of this, was able to use the poisoning of Indris and the impending attack of her mate, combined with the efforts his apprentices had made towards tracking down the saboteurs, into completely clearing himself of the crime of stealing Indris egg. Even he was surprised he was able to get away with that one.
• You Can't Go Home Again: His home city of Helicote was destroyed by the Havath Dominion.

Artur Wallbreaker

Artur Wallbreaker, Mercenary Mage

"Yer all as good as family, as far as ah'm concerned, and if any a'yeh ever need anything, all yeh have ta do is ask."

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• Brave Scot: Seems to be common for everyone from Lothal.
• Gentle Giant: Artur is 7ft tall and potentially the most caring and gentle adult our characters interact with on a semi-regular basis at first, on the battlefield however he is instead a One-Man Army thanks to his massive armor and seemingly unending Mana reserves.
• Genius Bruiser: While he tends to put on a front you don't usually become one of the most feared archmages on the entire continent by being dumb. Sabae internally points out that it's easy to forget sometimes just how intelligent that he is unless you're around him all the time.
  • He was also one of Alustin's original teachers and reminds him of this from time to time.
• Humongous Mecha: At its peak size his armor functions as a Magitek version of this as he is less covered in it and more piloting it from the center of its chest. Also he doesn't actually use his eyes or any sort of viewing portal to see out of it instead using a large cloud of stone dust and his stone affinity to perceive the world around him.
• Like Father, Like Son: He and Godrick are both stone mages, both use their magic to make armor out of stone, both use hammers as their main weapons, and both are very tall.
  • The key difference, besides his lack of a Scent affinity, is that Artur was born with an unnaturally large Mana reservoir and along with several of his tool which are both needed to make his massive armor function the way that it does.
• Trauma Button: Sea faring ships and the sea itself are his. We don't get the whole story but from flashbacks it appears that he was forced to serve on a pirate ship that was actually a Lich's demense, except due to it being too small the Lich was driven completely insane. To top it off the captain of the pirate ship was an Illusion Mage who took pleasure in torturing his crew with nightmarish illusions of his own design.
  • Him getting on a ship at all in Lost City of Ithos is what tips off Godrick and Sabae that something is very off with the mission that they're on.

The Apprentices

Hugh Of Emblin

Hugh of Emblin, The Stormward, Kanderon's Heir

The main protagonist. He hails from the Emblin region, which usually never produces mages. Initially, he has trouble creating the most basic of magical effects.

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• Ancestral Name: After a fashion, his title of Stormward has traditionally been held by members of the Kaen Das family and was taken from a Grand Ward that one of Sabae's ancestors created to earn the title. She gifted him the book containing the ward and gave him the secret to power it. The title was officially passed on to him by Sabae's grandmother, current matriarch of the Kaen Das family, Ilinia Kaen Das.
• Animal Eyes: Following Hugh's warlock contract with Kanderon his irises have changed to be slits like a sphinx, they can even contract and dilate.
• Broken Bird: Hugh is deeply broken at the start of the story. His family died in a fire, he was taken in by his aunt and uncle who he stated neglected him mostly but we found out in Siege of Skyhold outright abused him, then he was tossed out by them when his magic awakened. That on top of being constantly bullied by Rhodes has done a lot of work to him. Then there's the demon who is intentionally making his mental state worse to force him into a Warlock Contract.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Hugh is one of the greatest Wardsmith's of his era, unfortunately this means that he tends to rely on his wards before any of his other abilities.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Post Jewel of the Endless Erg Hugh's eyes have become unnaturally green. In Lost City of Ithos we find out that Hugh's eyes are not only far sharper than a normal humans but he also has gained night vision.
• Oblivious to Love: Does not realize Talia has feelings for him, until she confesses to him though it is somewhat justified as Hugh has self-confidence issues
• Power Incontinence: What he has at the start of the story. It turns out that thanks to living in a mana desert for his whole life his body is just injecting way more mana into spells than it needs, causing them to fail and explode.

Sabae Kaen Das

Sabae Kaen Das, The Flea

Daughter of the great Kaen Das family, sent to Skyhold in an attempt to find a way that she could use her magic.

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• Arranged Marriage: Averted. Thought that after returning to her Family that her grandmother would force her into one. What she didn't know is how badly her mother fleeing a similar marriage affected her grandmother, so she never planned on forcing Sabae into one.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Hates that her Title is "The Flea" simply because she jumps around a lot and is hard to attack when she's friends with people who are called "The Nightmare" and "The Stormward".
• Irony: She's a wind mage that can't whistle.
• The Leader: She's the one who usually takes command and comes up with plans on what to do whenever she and her friends are in danger.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Post Tongue Eater and forming a 4-way Warlock pact with Hugh, Talia, Godrick, and herself her eyes take on unnatural purple hue similar to Hugh's green.
• Superpower Lottery: Would be a winner of this as she has Water, Wind, and Lightening but unfortunately she also has Healing which means that her ability to control her powers only extends a foot from her body at max.
• Team Mom: Has this role out of the Apprentices, more often than not she has the most level head and knows best how to handle Hugh's depression and Talia's Jerkass tendencies. She is still a teenager though and has her own failings when it comes to dating.

Talia of Clan Castis

Talia of Clan Castis, Talia the Nightmare

Youngest daughter of the Chief of Clan Castis, sent to Skyhold in an attempt for find a way that she could use her magic.

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• Fiery Red Head: Comes from an entire clan of them and is one of her defining traits. Along with her Power Tattoos.
• Genre Savvy: As an avid novel reader, she is well aware of a bunch of tropes used and applies them to her and her friends' lives, much to their annoyance.
• Irony:
  • She came from a family of fire mages but can't handle spicy food.
  • When they first become Alustin's apprentices, she tells Hugh that they are not friends, only for her to end up being the first to openly call him her friend and later falls in love with him.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Talia's Power Tattoo marks her this way to anyone that knows how to spot that type of Tattoo.
  • Gets another one post Tongue Eater when forming a 4-way Warlock pact with Hugh, Sabae, Godrick, and herself her eyes take on unnatural blue (the same shade as her tattoos) hue similar to Hugh's green.
• Power Tattoo: Received the most complicated and overpowered Tattoo that her parent's could afford. Unfortunately it basically crippled her magic since it was meant to only work with Fire Affinities and hers are Bone and Dream. Alustin finds a way around this.
• Superpower Lottery: Would be a major winner of this as Dream and Bone are extremely rare and powerful Affinities, unfortunately her parents had her tattooed with forms that would only work with Fire Affinities. Thanks to Alustin's tutelage she is still shaping up to be one of the most offensively powerful members of their team.
• Supportive Girlfriend: This to Hugh. Despite her temper, she is always looking out for Hugh whenever he feels overly anxious, even before they become a couple.
• Tsundere: Due to her short temper, she has the habit of punching her friends from time to time when she angered, especially Hugh. Though she does eventually stop before she and Hugh start dating.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She enjoys fighting, is pretty violent and makes crass jokes. She also enjoys wearing dresses, being perceived as pretty, and has shown to be a bit of a romantic.

Godrick

Godrick, The Hammerbreaker

Son of Arthur Wallbreaker, one of the strongest stone and steel mages in his grade. Befriends the main group through Sabae due to her training with Arthur.

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• Brave Scot: Seems to be common for everyone from Lothal.
• Bully Hunter: Is basically how his introduction to the party takes place after becoming friends with Sabae. Godrick is the only member of the four that didn't have anything distinctly wrong with his magic in the beginning but he also hated bullies, which Hugh had in abundance, and he would rather be in a party with Hugh than with a bully like Rhodes.
• Embarrassing Nickname: He hates that his title is "The Hammerbreaker", both because it's a take on his father's "Wallbreaker" and because it's due to him constantly blowing up his own very expensive and hard to come by magical hammers.
• Like Father, Like Son: He and Arthur are both stone mages, both use their magic to make armor out of stone, both use hammers as their main weapons, and both are very tall.
• Manly Gay: Is commonly mistaken for straight by female admirers but is firmly out of the closet as a young gay man.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Post Tongue Eater and forming a 4-way Warlock pact with Hugh, Talia, Sabae, and himself his eyes take on unnatural orange hue similar to Hugh's green.
• The Nose Knows: Thanks to his Scent Affinity, Godrick's sense of smell is far beyond that of normal humans and he has the ability to erase or replace scents at will. Used to great effect against a Dragon, who vomited when Godrick made him smell something terrible.

The Great Powers

Kanderon Crux

Kanderon Crux, the Crystal Sphinx, The Mad Sphinx, Founder and Head Librarian of Skyhold

"Your army is no threat to me- it's a feast, served right to my door. You will never have the Exile Splinter, nor Skyhold. I've no more wish to negotiate with fools, nor to play with my food. Leave. Now."

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• Interspecies Adoption: Essentially what she does with Hugh by taking on his Warlock Pact, she doesn't admit it at first due to being a Tsundere but by the time of The Lost City of Ithos she begins comparing Hugh to her lost hatchling and in The Last Echo of The Lord of Bells she begins outright answering to "Mother" when Hugh calls her that.
  • Coming to realize this about herself in The Last Echo is what allows her to get over her betrayal by Alustin, simply treating it as a wayward child who was acting out against a parent who had not been paying attention to them.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Not her proper name, but when you find out that one of her titles is The Mad Sphinx and more importantly the things she did to earn it the reasons become apparent.
• Time Abyss: She is one of the oldest creatures living that we're introduced to early in the setting, having been alive for nearly a thousand years, only meeting older ones in the later books. This becomes cemented in The Last Echo when she becomes a Lich, as now she is immortal as long as her demense survives.
  • This works to her, and other long lived creatures detriment, as it's pointed out that they begin to see "Ephermerals" as not even living creatures given enough time. Thankfully pacting with Hugh and forming an emotional attachment to him seems to have fixed this by the later books.
  • As of The Last Echo she is working on extending Hugh and his friends lives as well as she doesn't to lose another child anytime soon and if she can make him immortal in the process then it's just an added benefit.

Ilinia Kaen Das

Ilinia Kaen Das, Stormguard of the South, Protector of Ras Andis, Kraken's Bane, and Hammer of the Sky

"Feh!"

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• Bequeathed Power: In The Last Echo we find out that she is using a warlock pact to divest herself of a large portion of her power to the Gorgon warlock Venta, both because it's the only way she will be able to pass on the Stormseat without killing the next Kaen Das Inheritor, and because she knows that it bothers Sabae who was and may potentially be in a relationship with Venta again.
• Ear Ache: Her favorite thing to do is to grab people she cares about by the ear and use that leverage to twist them around and examine them while she's talking to them. The only people who are safe from this treatment seem to be other Great Powers, those she doesn't care about, and Talia. The last of whom threatened to bite Ilinia if she even tried.
• My Greatest Failure: Her treatment of Sabae's mother, by attempting to force her into a political marriage for the good of the Kaen Das dynasty. Which in turn caused Sabae's mother to elope with a healer, give birth to Sabae, and eventually lose her husband to a pandemic as he was in the middle of it trying to treat the sick and the dying. Since Sabae is now back in her life Ilinia would never make that same mistake again. Also she has several nieces and nephews that she doesn't care much about to use for political marriages.
• Pauper Patches: Her clothing is ripped and patched, mismatched and unkempt, everything that one of richest Great Powers should not look like. The only thing she carries on her at any time that looks like it's worth anything is her staff which looks appropriately magical with a crystal containing a living storm at the top of it.
  • In her short story it's shown that the staff is a pretty fake and that her real magical focus item that connects her to the Stormseat and the source of her power is in fact the dinged up old flask that she's always drinking out of.
• Person of Mass Destruction: While connected to The Stormseat and at the height of her power she is the single most powerful Wind Mage on the planet, in her opinion even outstripping other very powerful wind mages like Indris Stormbreaker.
• Sir Swearsalot: Fully a quarter of her dialog is simply described as "obscenities" at people, objects, and actions.
• The Gadfly: Verging on full Troll behavior, but Ilinia loves playing pranks on people she likes that can can range from funny to almost cruel depending on the lesson she's trying to teach.
• The Nicknamer: Loves giving out nicknames, usually insulting ones, to people she meets and because she is a Great Power these sometimes have a way of becoming their official titles.
  • In the case of her Sandship it was originally christened Pride of Ras Andis, but after it was gifted to Ilinia its name became That Old Pile of Junk.
• Troll: To her enemies she is a massive one, there is nothing she loves more than to hurl insults, cruel jokes, and awful tricks at them.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Is this with Indris, both are the Matriarchs of their family with Ilinia being of the Iron Lady variety and Indris being of The High Queen sort, both are Storm Mages at the peak of the Great Power pyramid on their planet, and they bicker constantly. When they aren't bickering they share juicy gossip and prattle on about their various family members. Sometimes they include Kanderon in their gossip, but she doesn't really engage till after she's had a little time pacted to Hugh.
  • Post The Last Echo with the death of Indris to Heliothrax the Sunwyrm, Ilinia is very obviously saddened at the death of what was her best friend.