Rais'Alon

Rais'Alon is the main character of the story. Born to Lutai parents, Rais'Alon was the first child in the land of Yushen to not have any of the Seeds associated with the people.

His father attempted to have him sent to a baron in Outcast so that he could be raised as a foster child. His mother would have no part of this. She left with Rais'Alon and traveled to Outcast on her own. Unfortunately, she died before the boy had turned ten. Yulan Carrens, a local craftsman, took the boy in and raised him as his own.

Rais'Alon became a successful hunter and guide, but he was never happy. He often turned to drink as a way to alleviate his pain. On his 35th birthday, Yulan presented him with a sword. The craftsman had dreamt of the sword in detail and felt compelled to build it.

The night of his birthday, Rais'Alon was forced to use the sword. He slay a Lord's son in combat and then immediately collapsed. When he awoke everything had changed. His once-brown hair was black, his eyes were black, and even his nails had turned black. The moment that the sword tasted blood it came to life, merging with Rais'Alon. The sword spoke to him, saying its name was "KrethX" and that it was now the master of his mind. It was mistaken.

When Rais'Alon and KrethX merged, the one Seed that nobody in Yushen or Outcast was capable of training Rais'Alon with entered him. The Seed of magic. Now that he had been exposed to each everything about him transformed. Where he was once the man who all believed had none of the Seeds, he was now the only being who had them all in equal measure. They were always there, but they lay dormant until now.

Kreth'X

KrethX has the same make up of an assassins sword, but it goes further. There are a number of glyphs drawn onto the sword that provide special abilities to its owner. It was designed by Keynauth and sent to Yulan in a dream.

The glyphs are:

• Summoning: This allows the owner of the blade to summon the blade from wherever it may be.
  
• Duplicity: Ability to appear to be in two places at once. It is merely an illusion, but it can come in quite handy.

• Knowledge: Provides ability read various texts and understand various languages.
  
• Anvil: Any unfriendly hand that touches the blade will feel the immediate wrath of it. It will become hot as fire and as heavy as an anvil.
  
• Vision: Ability to see easily in the darkest of areas.
  
• Cloak: Ability to render oneself nearly invisible.
  

Yulan Carrens

Yulan Carrens is a craftsman that was sent to Outcast because he kept trying to bring new ideas into the traditionalist society. After being warned numerous times he was charged with going against the state and, upon conviction, was sent to Outcast.

When Rais'Alon and his mother arrived in the town of Kessy, Yulan was one of many to help the new arrivals get settled. He oversaw the building of their home and crafted a number of pieces of furniture for them as well. And as Rais'Alon grew, Yulan tried to train the lad in the ways of craftsmanship. It did not go well, so instead Yulan trained him how to use a sword and how to hunt.

On her deathbed, Rais'Alon's mother asked Yulan to care for the boy. He promised he would raise the boy as his own.

Keynauth

Keynauth is the oldest living wizard, and he is likely the most powerful wizard ever to have lived. He is kind of heart and very wise.

He was present when Mesk tried to resurrect magic in Yushen a thousand years before. He was one of many who had banished Mesk from the land, and his wife received the full brunt of the spell that Mesk cast before he died. Due to the spell, Keynauth's wife gave birth to the first child to carry the Seed of magic in over one thousand years. His wife died on the table. Keynauth, hoping to save his son from a life of torment and persecution, took his son's life. In so doing, all of the knowledge of magically immediately flooded him. He told everyone that his child would not be the only one born with the Seed of magic. He further explained that anyone that took their child's life would inherit the Seed of magic.

As a personal penance for having killed his own son--even though he believed it an act of mercy--Keynauth left Yushen and traveled north. He instructed the elders to bring him all the children born of the Seed and he would raise them until he died. He had no idea that he would become their eternal overseer at the time.

His original name was Dirgo.

Aeserian

Aeserian is the head wizard at the Castle of Cessation on Atramental Isle. He is the former teacher of Denethyn. He is likely the most vile of all wizards to ever set foot on the world. Aeserian only finds pleasure in the torment and destruction of others. He fears death immensely, so he does all he can to make others suffer their deaths early, and he watches the fear in their eyes as they slow extinguish.

In order to protect himself, Aeserian created a series of blades that he gave as gifts to hired assassins. The blades were infused with sinister magic that caused them to merge with whomever was holding the blade when an assassination took place. After hundreds of years, the assassins no longer slave to Aeserian. If anything, they loathe the man. Sadly, they are compelled to feed blood to the swords every so often or they will go insane. Since Aeserian has a constant supply of contracts, he still holds the most sway over the guild.

When Aeserian learned that Denethyn had plans for a young man living in Outcast, he immediately hired the assassin Mignaus to staunch the problem. Mignause was transported to Connetor's Forest to kill Rais'Alon, but the attempt failed. Next Aeserian called on the leader of the Assassins Guild, Prakith, to investigate the situation and be sure that Mignaus lost his life fairly and, if not, to finish the job.

Denethyn

Denethyn was the former first-apprentic to Aeserian. He is a cunning, self-centered man with his sights on bringing Mesk and Yushen back together so that he may rule all of it. He overtook the Castle of White from the hands of Keynauth (something Keynauth allowed). He studied the books and sent out countless spies in search of the edge he needed. One of them turned up interesting.

Hearing rumors of a boy in Outcast that had none of the Seeds expected, Denethyn invaded the boy's mother's mind and dug through her thoughts. He saw that the boy was not devoid of the Seeds, but rather contained them all in equal measure. Denethyn attempted to enter the boy's mind as well, but was never able to pry his way in. He attacked the mother again and left her with the suggestion that Rais'Alon should travel to the Castle of White for training, and then he caused a cancer to form in the mother's lungs so that she would not be able to travel with him.

To ensure success, Denethyn stole the mind of a young woman (Mirnrith) and transported her to the edge of the town. She must spy on Rais'Alon and provide constant information to Denethyn or she will suffer horribly.

Mignaus

Mignaus is one of the highest-ranking assassins in Mesk. He has completely countless contracts and is the first assassin that Aeserian seeks when a big job needs doing. Mignaus, like most assassins, only wishes to meet a foe powerful enough to kill him. Having spent years bent to the will of the blade, he knows the only way out is by his own death.

When Mignaus is dispatched to Connetor's Forest, he sees a foe that is new to him. The man is the antithesis of every assassin. Assassins have white hair, pure white eyes, white nails, and dress predominantly in white garb to further show their state in life. This man, though, appears the exact opposite to this. Mignaus is pleased by this as it means that he is finally facing a worthy foe that may mean an end to his suffering.

Prakith

Prakith is the head of the Assassins Guild. He is the only ranking member who also is versed in magic and is quite an adversary for even the likes of Aeserian. Prakith is called to the Castle of Cessation because Aeserian hears of Mignaus's death. He demands that Prakith investigate and kill Rais'Alon once the investigation is complete. Prakith reminds Aeserian that if Mignaus was killed honestly, Rais'Alon will not be killed by anyone from the Assassins Guild. It's their honor code.

Prakith watches as Rais'Alon escapes from a Sai encampment. He sees the capabilities that the young man has and comes to the conclusion that Mignaus died well. Prakith also sees that Rais'Alon does not respond to his sword the way assassins normally do. He decides to aid Rais'Alon and his companions so they can be free of the encampment. Then he offers to train Rais'Alon on how to use KrethX properly. Later he request payment by way of Rais'Alon teaching him and the rest of his brothers how to gain domain over their assassins blades.

Mirnrith

Mirnrith is a young lady that planned to be a wizardess. She was a student at the Castle of White and was a lover of Denethyn's main apprentice, Lathos Sarand. Sadly, Lathos told Mirnrith secrets that she should not have known and it ended up costing Lathos his tongue and cast Mirnrith into a web of horror.

Denethyn got her addicted to a magical elixir that he was addicted to. Whenever they are connected mentally and he drinks the elixir, she gets her fix. However, if she does not do as expected, he will sever the connection without drinking and she will suffer.

Keynauth does all he can to protect Mirnrith, but there is only so much power he can expend in that direction.

Neilen Tackens

Neilen Tackens was born with the Seed of sight (Pruyai). His sight did not consist of the future, but rather with the ability to see through things.

Seeing no valuable use for this ability, Neilen was sent to Outcast when he was in his early teens. Neilen has found his ability quite useful as a thief, though, and along with his friend Senz he has pulled off numerous heists.

He learns, after meeting Rais'Alon, that he can also see through magical things. This is intriguing to him and makes him an asset on the journey to Mesk.

Along the way, Neilen is transformed from the selfishly theiving rogue into someone who actually has found a group of people he can refer to as family.

Senz Warsythe

Senz Warsythe was born as Sai. He was the largest Sai ever to grace the land of Yushen and great things were expected of him. Senz had a fatal flaw that would leave those expectations unfulfilled: he greatly feared all things magical. Since Mesk was their primary enemy, Senz could not expect anything less than magical confrontation in the event of battle. His fear was so great that he literally froze when confronted with the prospect of magic.

He met Neilen in Outcast and the two became fast friends. Senz was quite honorable so it took quite a bit of coaxing before he was willing to join Neilen in his thievery. Even when he did it was only with the understanding that nobody got hurt and that they would only target well-to-do people that could survive with a little less weight in their pockets.

When Senz met Rais'Alon and saw the magic, he didn't recognize it. But when he eventually found out, he had already come to like Rais'Alon so well that he was surprised he felt no fear.

...then wizards came.