- A Detective with nothing left to lose, against a Necromancer with a world to gain.
In a world where everyone wields magic, stopping necromantic crimes requires detectives who can solve mysteries and crack skulls.
Detective Heather Blackthorne’s victory over a necromantic cult was short-lived. The lone survivor of the cult butchered her husband and son in front of her eyes, so she would be forced to watch him steal their bones. She thought it was the worst moment of her life. She was wrong.
It's a year later, and her life is still shattered, her career is in ruins, and her last shot at redemption has gone wrong. Heather is sent in disgrace to the high North by the Church she serves. What peace is to be found in that quiet arctic outpost is all too quickly broken, as her past comes hunting for far more than her, this time.
"From Winter's Ashes"
is a Web Serial Novel by Patrick Rochefort and Keith Aksland, updated weekly.
This series contains examples of:
- Dark Fantasy: Magic is ubiquitous and runs on high emotion and tight focus, miracles are the product of runaway emotions that burn away part of a person's soul, and the heroes of the story are set up in what's widely regarded to be a punishment posting.
- Functional Magic: The Rule Magic variant. Individual elements are treated more as elementary particles than discrete forces, and every sentient being has a means to both sense and cast magic. Sensory type, casting style, and magical output may vary widely from person to person, but enough similarities exist that magic can be codified in a scientific manner.
- Good Is Not Soft: The Church Knights may be dedicated to dealing with terrible things so you don't have to, but that doesn't mean one might not stick a sword through your hand and drag you around by it to teach you a lesson.
- Grim Up North: Frostmoor Bay exists mostly to have a place for fur traders to ship from, and Empire-sponsored miners to relax at away from the military fortress. It's tolerably warm three months out of the year, murderously cold the other nine, and few people of note are there for good reasons.
