The Ayrelon Times

ROLEPLAYING VS DICE ROLLING, THE VALUE OF STORYTELLING AS A DUNGEON MASTER, AND WHAT IT MEANS AS A WRITER. This topic has come up a lot on social media recently. As a former hardcore pen & paper roleplayer, and current author, I figured I might have a unique perspective that will at least be an entertaining read, if not help some of you with your games, or your approach to novels. Now, I’ve covered some of my thoughts in previous blog entries. You can go hunt them down and read those first if you’d prefer, but it totally isn’t necessary. Without further ado, let’s get into it… after all, this is going to be fairly long. Why now? With the popularity of Stranger Things, many people around the world are being exposed to Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. They get to watch kids on screen have a blast playing a game they have no understanding of, and for some that piques their interest. So they jump online, or talk to friends, and try to gain an understanding of this strange gam...

Drakahl is a member of a species known as the Toor. Created by Titans many eons ago, Toor appear as nearly human-sized Titans, usually standing between 7 and 9 1/2 feet tall (213.3cm to 289.6cm). He appears quite young, even though he is centuries old and often passes as a human barbarian; hiding the fact that he is Toor. At the start of Bathed in the Blood of Ravens he can be seen wearing armor forged from draconic flesh, empowered by demonic souls, which grants him otherworldly strength and power. He wields a sentient blade named Strambáneur that drinks souls and feeds their power to both itself and its wielder. Read more about Drakahl ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Delriahna is a feisty, no-nonsense woman who helps her husband, Andor, keep control of the town council through political maneuverings and her widespread influence. She is well versed in the nuances of the court, and how to sway people to a common cause through intrigue and subtle nuance. Her day is equally divided between her duties in support of Andor’s position, and raising their daughter Tylee, who seems intent on driving her insane. Read more about Delriahna ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Nightweaver most commonly appears as a decrepit, hunched over, old hag who seems barely able to stand, let alone walk. This state of extreme aging is a side effect of an unwanted contract with a demonic host, who saps her of youth and prevents her from spending prolonged periods in her natural state. She is a being of unknown origin, who appears human. Her actions indicate that she is operating decades ahead of even the most powerful, knowledgeable people in the world toward a goal that only she understands. She has been a thing of legend among cultures the world over for thousands of years. Descriptions of her have been found by Mordechai that predate remembered, recorded history. Read more about Nightweaver ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Mordechai is a myth to some, and an enigma to others. He often introduces himself as a mere student of Fel’Vizsiour, and is glad when others believe that lie. Unlike most spellcasters, fame and glory has never been of interest to him. Instead, he seeks lost knowledge and the truth of his origins. He appears to be a very fit and trim human, with elf-like facial features and personal style. Read more about Mordechai ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Lyla (Lie-la) is a small, plump, energetic woman with a heart of gold who sees the good in everyone. She has a sharp wit and takes most things in stride, and enjoys going back and forth with Gaerin in pointless conversations poking fun at each other. Her skill with clerical spells and prowess with a mace made her an invaluable companion in their adventuring days, but she was more than happy to settle down, work the land and keep her husband fed when they returned to Mooncrest. One thing everyone notices about Lyla is that she treats everyone she meets like family. Read more about Lyla ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Gaerin (G-air-inn) is a tall, stocky, muscular former adventurer now retired and living a peaceful farming life just outside of Mooncrest. He studied and is well versed in all forms of armament, but always preferred to wield a warhammer and shield. He has a dry humor, and often quips back and forth playfully with his wife Lyla, with whom he shares a deep bond. He is a driven man, with great focus, and is not happy unless he has something he can obsess over. For over a decade, that obsession has been training Laurence to be a better fighter than he is, using lessons he learned at Fel’Rechaun and on the road as an adventurer. Nothing matters more to Gaerin than family. Read more about Gaerin ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Kyrilis (key-rill-iss) is renown Kingdom-wide by all those familiar with those in key positions of the Arkhanian Legion as one of the most, if not the most, skilled martial combatants in recent times. She is so skilled in both Griffin-back scouting and melee combat that the school of Fel’Rechaun, where she is based, reduced their funding for Griffin Riders down to one, and dismissed the rest of the unit back to the Afyr homelands as unnecessary. Few know Kyrilis on a personal level, and fewer still can be counted among her friends. She is a powerful force, and would rather be seen for her strengths and accomplishments than as a woman. Read more about Kyrilis ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Gahl was an unreasonably strong and skilled warrior, far superior in both physical capabilities and skill than most of the warriors in the land. He was known far and wide as Gahl the Raven, or simply The Raven, for the crest that was emblazoned upon his armor and weaponry. He first fought for Arkhan Vaelin, and was a true believer in Arkhan’s goal to unify the lands and forge a Kingdom from the warring fiefdoms. Read more about Gahl ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Arcturus (ark-T-err-us) is a cynical old man, who through long years has learned to dismiss the world for its failings. He has lost both faith in the ruling class, and his patience for the council that governs Mooncrest. His love for family, though, is unwavering and often pushes him toward rash—often harsh—decisions. He has seen too much loss in his time, and wishes nothing but to prevent such loss from befalling Gaerin, Lyla and young Laurence. Read more about Arcturus ! Another in a series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Laurence is a tall, lean, and fit teenage boy full of energy and ambition. Not yet an adult, he enters our story with excitement for his future; full of hopes and dreams. He is task-driven and mission-oriented by nature, as are all Ravencrest men. His upbringing taught him to pay attention to details, keep his eye on the bigger picture, and value the people around him. Everything about his nature will be put to the test as his tale unfolds. Read more about Laurence Ravencrest ! I’m going to be publishing a short series of profiles for several key characters in Bathed in the Blood of Ravens. For those that have read the book, you know I had to start with Laurence. These articles are not meant to be in story format, but closer to a wiki in format. Hopefully they shed additional light on the many characters you’ll grow to love, or detest.

Enchanting on Ayrelon offers many benefits, and many challenges. The majority of enchantments are temporary, and often come with side effects. Enchantments can be placed on living things or inanimate objects. Their strength and duration depend greatly on both the caster and the resilience of the target. The more powerful the enchanter, the stronger their enchantments can be and the longer they will last. However, the side effects will also be more severe. Living flesh, for example, can be imbued with greater strength, haste or increased stamina. These forces provide benefit for a time, but also degrade that flesh and can cause permanent damage. Such enchantments also suffer from diminishing returns, due to that degradation. A horse might be enchanted to run faster and farther than normal, but those effects cannot be persisted indefinitely without causing the poor creature’s death. The same is true of enchantments placed upon inanimate objects. Objects imbued with spells also degrade as...

There are two types of Alchemy on Ayrelon. Chemical Alchemy involves the blending of ingredients using precise formula and processes to create salves, elixirs and the like. Magical Alchemy takes those techniques and enhances them with magical ingredients and is often enhanced through spells. Chemical Alchemy

The art of creating magical effects is complex, often requiring several components in order to accomplish the desired results. The more powerful and skilled a caster becomes, the less they require these components. However, they might still choose to use them out of habit, or to gain additional focus or control over their spells. Verbal

Soulfyr or Soul Casting is so named because the source of its power is generated by, and derives from the caster’s own being. The caster gains an inexplicable bond with the planet’s living essence, and that bond causes them to generate their own internal magical weave. Those with the power to cast Soulfyr magic are born with their abilities. This form of magic cannot be gained through study, or practice. Many have tried to do so, and all have failed. Furthermore, those born with the gifts do not always realize their abilities. Many live and die natural deaths without every discovering their potential. This is due to the fact that such abilities, while present from birth, lie dormant until unlocked. Unfortunately for the person so imbued, unlocking those abilities seems to require a violent, untimely death. It is unclear why this is the case, though some who have studied it believe the reason to be spiritual in nature, and this extremely hard to define. Unlike other casters who must mem...

Sometimes known as Primal casting, or Primal Elementalism, this type of magic involves accessing the underlying forces which comprise and govern reality. Few casters attain the ability to sense or interact with these forces. Fewer still survive their first attempt to access them. These sources of power are unrefined and without limit. Their nature is nearly impossible to understand without experimentation. No spells have ever been written for such primal forces, and so few casters gain mastery of these arts that there are very few tomes which detail the process of using or controlling them. He opened his mind again, reaching out to the primal essence of water. Leveraging a lifetime of experience with the arts, he focused his mind with a will few could achieve. He’d reached the limits of what wizardry would allow him to achieve, and fate had introduced him to these forces at just the right time. The army that threatened Haern wouldn’t wait for reinforcements to arrive. He had to act now...

Ayrelon is surrounded by a magical weave comprised of ley lines and nexus points. To those that can see them, ley lines appear as a white and blue stream of electricity-like energy coursing through the sky, high above the clouds, and nexus points where the lines cross glow like beacons of unbridled power. There are those who are born with the ability to see these forces, slowly developing the ‘sight’ as they grow to adulthood. Others obtain the ‘sight’ after reaching great heights of power in other forms of magic. Those that grow strong enough to see and interact with the weave are said to walk with the weave or travel the ley lines. They come to be known as Leywalkers, and they are some of the most powerful beings to exist on the world of Ayrelon. All Leywalkers begin their journey with the use of spells. Though, in contrast to Wizards they do not need to memorize those spells and store power within themselves. They can, instead, call down power from the heavens on demand to cast thei...

Of all the types of magic on Ayrelon, Wizardry is one of the few that can be learned through study and persistence. Channeling is learned through study and devotion to a host which provides the power for spells. Wizardry requires far more study, as there is no host entity to provide assistance in casting spells. Many who seek to cast spells have no natural affinity to do so. They are not born attuned to a source of power, so Sorcery is beyond their reach. They are not born with an attachment to the magical weaves and the ley lines which comprise it, which puts Leywalking beyond their grasp. In fact, the functions and forms that differentiate the various types of casting from one another are unknown to most of the inhabitants of Ayrelon. Many see terms such as Sorcerer, Mage or Wizard as generic terms that ultimately point to the same thing; someone who can cast spells. The truth of the matter is that a Wizard is a distinct style of caster; one that forces themselves to become what they...

Sorcery is one of the most volatile forms of magic. It is dangerous, limiting and the process of casting spells with Sorcery requires the consumption of a source of power. Unlike Wizardry and Channeling, Sorcery cannot simply be learned. The act of drawing energies out of an object, or substance, and twisting them to produce a spell, is one of the most difficult methods of casting. Most practitioners of Sorcery are born with a natural gift. Through the course of their life they discover an affinity for something in the world around them. They feel drawn to it, and more at peace when in the presence of it. Not all who are born with the gift recognize it for what it is. Many live out there lives in typical fashion and never seek to further their attachment or learn to cast spells. Sorcery casters are, therefore, one of the rarest types of spell-caster on Ayrelon. Casting spells through Sorcery requires access to the caster’s source of power. A Sorcerer who is attuned to rubies needs to d...

Channeling is the art of drawing power from a host entity or that entity’s plane of power. Spells of this type often take the form of prayers, rituals, curses or callings. Channelers learn to pass a host’s power through their form to create magical effects, or cast spells. Through practice and study, they learn to enhance these abilities and withstand greater, and greater magical forces. Channeling, by itself, does not offer access to any other source of power. One who learns and focuses on Channeling is powerless if they cannot access the powers provided by their host. Should a Channeler lose favor with, or depart from, their host they lose all powers afforded them by said host. As a result, many who desire to leave the host that they Channel seek training in other forms of magic before doing so. What types of Channeling Casters are there? Clerics / Priests