Characters from the Powder Mage Trilogy.
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Powder Mages
Tamas
Field Marshal Tamas
Field Marshal of Adro, favored hound of the Iron King Manhouch, he starts the series by executing a brutal coup against Manhouch and the rest of the royalist government. Tamas is a national hero and one of the youngest generals in Adran history, but he is also acerbic and has a terrible relationship with his son.
- A Father to His Men: Respected by his troops as they know he looks out for their welfare, helped by the fact that he prefers to lead battles from the front.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: All Powder Mages can change bullets' trajectories, making them supernaturally deadly marksmen. Even still Tamas take it up to eleven, as firing bullets around corners (and even without guns) is his specialty to the point the he can turn bullets at right angles.
- Old Soldier: He is feared/acknowledged as one of the best military commanders in his generation. In addition, he is an incredibly skilled Powder Mage, able to make bullets turn at right angles and fight a Warden on even terms even without guns, although he's forced to acknowledge his age is catching up with him near the end of the series.
- Super-Toughness: Another Powder Mage standard. He is both significantly harder to hurt and more capable of recovering than a normal person, provided he has gunpowder.
Erika
Erika
Field Marshal Tamas' deceased wife.
- Hero of Another Story: She had her own adventures with Tamas when she was younger. Some of them are chronicled in the short stories Forsworn and Servant of the Crown.
- The Lost Lenore: The Kez killing her pre-Promise of Blood and the king of Adro doing nothing about it is a major motivation for Tamas. In the second book, he admits that it is his only motivation; when Manhouch refused to go to war with the Kez over her murder, Tamas began plotting his coup. The monarchy was corrupt, but Tamas just used that fact to rally others behind his personal cause.
Taniel
Taniel Two-Shot
Son of Field Marshal Tamas and Erika. Taniel is a Powder Mage and war hero in his own right, known for loading two bullets in his musket at once and using gunpowder to guide them both with perfect accuracy—earning him the name "Two-Shot." Taniel isn't a notably skilled tactician like his father, but is far more brutal and dangerous personally, not helped by the fact that at the beginning of the book he just broke up with his fiance for cheating on him.
- Anti-Magic: Ka-Poel layers numerous protections on him at various times, making him capable of ignoring most magic as well as immensely physically tough, even more so than a normal Powder Mage. He walks through the equivalent of magical mine field without even noticing what he was doing, and even the Gods of the series have to put in roughly as much effort to affecting him as they do another GOD.
- Berserk Button: Keep away from his loved ones, especially Ka-Poel. Considering his abilities, you'd be lucky if he just decided to double-tap you.
- Functional Addict: He's struggles off an on with addiction to gunpowder, though this doesn't stop him from being one of the most dangerous characters in the series. During the second book, he spends days smoking increasingly ridiculous amounts of Mala in a drug-den after he wakes from his coma before he heads off to war.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: All Powder Mages can change bullets' trajectories, making them supernaturally deadly marksmen. His particular specialty is shooting with two bullets at once at extreme ranges, either killing two targets or to DoubleTap a particularly tough one. He spends most of his time on the front lines using this ability to pick off enemy Privileged. He also grievously wounds Kresimir with this technique.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Not only is he a Powder Mage with all their abilities (increased strength, stamina, eyesight, and gunpowder control), he can also fire two bullets at once from the same rifle and kill two targets with the same shot. He uses this ability to grievously wound Kresimir. Oh, and after he's the Powder Mage equivalent of a Predeii, essentially a Demigod.
- Super-Toughness: Another Powder Mage standard. As long as he has gunpowder, he can sustain and recover from far more damage than a normal person. With the help of Ka-Poel's wards and after the events of first meeting Kresimir, this is taken up to eleven. At one point he is restrained and a Kez solider is physically unable to break Taniel's arm, despite repeated attempts.
Vlora
Vlora
One of Tamas' most skilled powder mages, his semi-adopted daughter, and Taniel's fiance before she cheated on him. She is most known for her skill at detonating gunpowder; she can do it from half a mile off, considerably farther than any of the other mages.
- Ascended Extra: In the first book, she only has enough appearances to establish the end of her relationship with Taniel. While she has more importance in the following two, it is mostly as a supporting character in Tamas's story arc. In the next trilogy, starting with Sins of Empire, she is one of the viewpoint characters and head of the Riflejack mercenary company.
- De Powered: Vlora and Taniel hold off an entire army at the climax of Wrath of Empire. The effort leaves her powder blind and cut off from her sorcery for Blood of Empire. She gets better.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: A Powder Mage standard. She doesn't particularly specialize in it like Tamas or Taniel, but she can still hit a target from a mile out without a problem.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Shown off much more Gods of Blood and Powder, where she's a primary viewpoint character. Her exploits include taking on most of a slum (with three other Powder Mages to back her up) and fighting an entire army with just herself and Taniel.
- Super-Toughness: Another Powder Mage standard. Like all mages, she is significantly tougher than a normal person, provided she has gunpowder.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Her specialty is the ability to sense and detonate black powder at a greater range than other powder mages.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Despite Tamas's and Taniel's anger over her cheating on Taniel, they can't just get rid of her because she's too talented a powder mage. Fortunately they are more or less able to make up by the end of the first trilogy
- Happens again in Blood of Empire, this time with Obstructive Bureaucrat Delia Snowbound.
- Working with the Ex: The third book has Vlora and Taniel working together to rescue Ka-Poel.
- They also work together extensively in the sequel trilogy.
Andriya
Andriya
A Kez defector who absolutely hates his former countrymen.
- Blood Knight: Has an unspecified hatred for the Kez, and is upset at not having the opportunity to kill more in close quarters in the second book.
- Your Head Asplode: His eventual fate when he charges Brude heedless of the god's power display.
Privileged
Bo
Privileged Borbadour
A young member of the Adran cabal, he was adopted by Tamas at a young age before his powers were discovered. He still maintains a close friendship with Taniel and is by far the most kind-hearted of the Privileged... which still means he is incredibly brutal with alarming regularity.
- Broken Ace: Bo spends a good part of the trilogy as the last Cabal level Privileged in Adro. However, a permanent injury at the hands of Brudanian Privileged pushes him into a mentor role to Nila.
- Glass Cannon: True to an extent of all Privileged if they doesn't have wards up. The fact that they can still be killed by a musket shot is part of why Privileged generally dislike Powder Mages.
- Good Is Not Soft: He is not averse to killing, torture or other acts of extreme violence due to the training he has with the Adran Royal Cabal. Other characters have their reservations about him, which is fair, but he is generally one of the good guys.
- Had to Be Sharp: His moments of ruthlessness and ability to commit brutal acts without flinching can be traced back to his upbringing in the Royal Cabal, where murder and backstabbing were practically day-to-day occurrences.
- Loophole Abuse: For about half the trilogy, Bo is under a geas which will eventually compel him to seek revenge on the man who killed Adro's king. This makes him a threat to Tamas which can't be ignored, but he eventually deals with the compulsion by killing the executioner.
- The Mentor: Becomes this for Nila after discovering their great potential as a Privileged.
- Only Friend: Taniel was this for him, which is why he'll go to any lengths to offer help when Taniel needs it.
- Person of Mass Destruction: He can kill regiments of troops without breaking a sweat if he is not countered.
- Squishy Wizard: Arguably all the Priveleged are this. They have awesome elemental powers but are just as squishy as a normal human if they are not ready (or their wards are bypassed).
Knacked
Olem
Olem
Tamas's bodyguard, a man with a Knack that means he never has to sleep.
- Badass Normal: His only Knack is not needing to sleep. He fights alongside powerful Powder Mages and eventually leads his own regiment of hardened, elite Riflejacks
- Body Guarding A Badass: For all his fighting ability, he doesn't hold a candle to Field Marshal Tamas when he lets loose.
- The Sleepless: Does not need to sleep, which makes him an ideal bodyguard.
Adamat
Inspector Adamat
An independent inspector in Adopest with a Knack of memory.
- I Have Your Wife: Gets subjected to this when Lord Claremonte's people take his whole family hostage. A large part of his story is trying to find and protect his family.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His eldest son, showing talent as a powder mage, is delivered to the Kez and turned into one of their black Wardens. When Adamat finds this out, he has to ask Bo to Shoot the Dog.
- Photographic Memory: His Knack, which makes him a superlative detective and investigator.
Other Characters
Ka-Poel
Ka-Poel
Taniel's "savage girl," she is a Bone-eye, a type of witch from across the sea. She is also mute, and older than she looks.
- Blood Magic: Ka-Poel's magic is a mix of this and voodoo. Specifically, the Red Stripe bullets are made from the sacrifice of a living thing, usually a bunny or rodent. Most of her magic seems to require either blood or other bits like hair or fingernails, and she often uses small wax dolls to control people.
- Cute Mute: She relies on hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate.
- Older Than They Look: She looks fourteen, but is actually nineteen. This isn't helped by her ill-fitting clothes, which make her look younger than she really is.
- Pint Sized Power House: She's small, adorable, and the Bone-eye equivalent of a Predeii. Even the Gods step lightly around her. Adom admits that she makes him nervous, and she keeps Kresimir bound unconscious through force of will alone for all of the third book.
SouSmith
SouSmith
An old, tired boxer who Adamat hires as his bodyguard.
- Berserk Button: Mess with his family, and he'll make sure they'll never find the bodies.
- The Big Guy: A bare-knuckle fighter who can put a man's head through a wall.
Nila
Nila
A laundress who ends up desperately trying to keep Jakob, the last son of royal blood in Adro, alive despite everyone fighting for him. She ends up entangled with Tamas and the others mostly by accident.
- Playing with Fire: As a Privileged, her primary element is fire—specifically, fire so hot that it can melt through flesh and bone in a heartbeat.
- Unique Protagonist Asset: She has to full powers of a Privileged, but doesn't need the gloves—only the gods have shown the same ability. This, combined with the fact that she still has a very small presence in the Else because she hasn't been using her powers for long, means that most enemy Privileged dismiss her as a threat.
Characters From the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy
"Mad" Ben Styke
Formerly the commander of the Mad Lancers, an elite cavalry unit that served with incredible distinction during the Fatrastan Revolution, he was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life in prison after two firing squads failed to actually kill him.
- Made of Iron: It's unclear whether Styke is just incredibly tough or if there's something magical going on here, but he repeatedly survives things that should easily have killed any two lesser men.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: Bears a Knack that lets him smell other magic users and their work.
- Why Won't You Die?: Gets asked this specific question by a man he's hunting. His only response is "I get that a lot."
Michael Bravis
