The Weave of Realms Character Universe
It’s been a while since I have done an entry based upon my fiction book series, The Weave of Realms, and since I currently working on book 2, I wanted/needed to work through some characters groups. Can I just say, I love these characters! I love understanding their strengths and weaknesses, their body language even their enneagram numbers. Today, I’ll take you through a tour of the character groups of the series without giving away any surprises, I promise.
The Races and Their Maker
Elderi
The Elder Race are the first born of the Creator in the Weave. These people are the Bright One, Majestic Ones, Spirits Above, etc. They belong to the stars because they were formed of fire and star dust. They participated with the Creator in the Weave, shaping and bringing order to the darkness with their light and beauty. Elderi do not age, they are immortal in a sense, however, they do have physicality and therefore can suffer mortal wounds. They were dutiful older siblings to the next people to be made. They take on roles, Orders, to bring truth, order and wisdom to their younger protégés. Some Elderi harbor animosity toward their simpler second borns and abuse the position they carry to take advantage of the younger race.
Second Born
Derisively named the Children, these people are ages younger than the Elderi and reside on the Otherside of the Elderi’s High Realm. Second Born are made of Water and Earth, and because of the tear in the Weave they are mortal and they age quickly. They belong to the land, specifically the land of the Lower Realm. For a time they participated with the Elder Race and the Creator in the Weave but when the Great Tear took place they were nearly ripped from it. The Children are ambitious, industrious and resilient people if they are however short sighted and mistrusting of outsiders. The common second born believe the Elderi to be an ancient myth or the underhanded, evil opressors and tricksters of the wild places, Otherkind that seek to devour or steal away Children who lack sense and wander too far from home.
Otherkind
These are the cryptids and shadow walkers of the forests, wastelands, oceans and mountains. Remnants of ancient fallen Elderi twisted by the Shadow. Many are elusive and non-confrontational but many are malevolent and prey the on Second Born and the creatures of the their realm. While some are simply hybrids of the creatures, or creatures from the high realm trapped in the Lower Realm, others are walking nightmares. When the Weave tore, the creatures without higher reason couldn’t travel using the gates and many were stranded and left unchecked, many went mad with desire to return home and some were released as weapons of war.
The Creator
The Weave was made by the Creator, the First Weaver. Weaver of Light, Weaver of Word, Weaver of Spirit. The Creator saw that which was Good according to the Light and wove Words together to affirm its goodness, bringing order and beauty from the Shadow and Void. When the Creator desire for participants to come forth from the Weave, Spirit was woven into all things that need breath and LIFE came forth and the Weave was begun and complete. The Creator wove upon the Wefts of Justice and Law and under such permanent order, beauty and life could abound eternally. Elderi remember the Creator and are predominantly loyal while most Children have forgotten the Creator since the Great Tear. The promise of the Creator is to repair the damage of the Great Tear by raising up a Great Weaver who will mend and complete the Weave.
The Great Weaver
The prophecies speak of One who will come and not only mend the Tear but unite the realms again as a loving family. The One however is said to be one of the Children; a Child known by their capacity to weave. A thing that just isn’t done; children can’t weave after all, only Elderi can. At our stage of the story line of these realms, there are a few candidates that have sprung up in the Lower Realm. Some surge of creative power in the weave has produced a few Children across the world that have the potential to be weavers and if so, maybe the One the Elderi have been waiting for.
Sub-Categories
Elderi: The Official and Unofficial Orders
The Orders consist of Watchers, Seers, Makers, Breakers, Dividers, Seekers, Givers, Keepers and of course Weavers. Each Order has specific roles and skills that have been honed and are used for the mutual benefit of the Elderi, the High Realm and, unbeknown to the Children, the Lower Realm too.
The Orders accept Young Elderi apprentices once they have been Proven and then Vow those who wish to remain in their Order.
The Forsworn are the Elderi that do not wish to participate under such formal agreements. They have chosen freely to abstain from the system as prescribed by the masses and do their own thing. They walk a dangerous line between loyalty and rebellion to the Creator according to most.
The Disavowed are Elderi who have either broken their vows to their Order or a personal vow. This is the highest dishonor of the High Realm. These Elderi must go through a Reproving in order to regain their honor and return to the system in good standing. Some Disavowments are not capable or Reproof and lead to being Fallen.
Fallen Elderi are those who are disavowed to the extent they must remain in exile or in the Pit until the Great Weaver comes to bring judgement and see if and when they can be Reproofed or if their strand is to be plucked from the Weave.
Military: Commander in Chief, Commanders, Subordinates.
Councils: Divine Council, Lower courts, civil law.
Relational contracts: commercial (customer/client and producer/supplier) societal: (Beloved, family, companions, guests, in need)
The rumored Dark Orders supposedly organize the Fallen into groups based upon natural inclinations and gifting that have become tainted by the Shadow and Void. They replace the family of origin and require giving up of any previous ties, demanding uniformity, often causing quarreling amongst themselves. The Dark Orders exist to master and control the 2nd realm and eventually the high realm. They convene openly in the Underworld/Avernus and secretly in the Second Realm. Rumors claim some operate in the High Realm in the guise of, or under the authority of, the Forsworn. Most Elderi don’t believe they have the numbers to cause any concern and some believe them to be a myth lingering from the great tear. (All the Fallen from the great tear have been put in the pit or thought to be destroyed in the ensuing war. Most Elderi believe their victory to be unshakable but the wisest know that the Shadow and Void won’t be still until the Weave is made new. The idea that a new generation of Elderi would vow to the Dark Orders and choose loyalty to the Fallen seems ludicrous)
Second Born:
Royalty, nobility, free-peoples, soldiers, slaves.
There are those who are loyal to the Creator and then those who are loyal to the Elderi that bargained with them long ago. (Children have always been ambitious and made alliances with Elderi. In exchange for having outposts or consulates of their own in the Lower Realm, as well as their women and slaves, and veneration in worship, the Children asked for all their knowledge of Weaving so they might gain power and wealth quickly and live immortally like the First Born.
The Children were tricked and eventually preyed upon by the beguiling Dark Elderi. Those loyal to the Dark Orders were promoted to positions of power in the Lower Realm and in turn gave the Elderi more power in their lands, the result was the mass extermination of Second Borns across the millenia, at the hands of their own kind and Otherkind alike. Only the shrewdest of Children, that keep their heads down have survived. Or those who have remained loyal to the Creator and do not fall into the traps of the Dark Ones, nor permit them on their lands.
After the Great Tear and subsequent wars, the realms have settled into a consistent rhythms or patterns of existence. Children are born into the class they are destined to remain in. Nothing new is expected and nothing new happens. The old ways are safe and predictable and life is regrettable and tragic at times but what else is to be expected when nothing ever changes. Everyone knows their place and their role and if you leave well enough alone you’ll be left well enough alone by Otherkind, Elderi and even the Creator. when those are involved it only means problems for Second Born. And Children should know better than to interfere anymore.
Otherkind:
Broad term for any creature that is not pure Elder or Pure Child. Allegiance can be to Light or Dark. Categories include:
Elder x Children crosses: Mighty Ones of Valor; demi-gods
Elder x Creature crosses: Satyrs, Minotaurs, Centaur, Reptilians, Mermaids, Some Cherubim, etc
Creature Crosses: Other Cherubim, Seraphim, Gryffins, Pegasus, etc.
Human x Creature crosses: Wærwolf, Vampires, etc.
Spirit Crosses: Shadow Walkers, Dream Walkers, Skin Walkers, Daemonium, Nymphs, Faerie, etc
In book two I delve deeper into the Forsworn and Otherkind and it’s terribly exciting!