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Sections Introduction Mistress Commander Angharad Godkin of the Sunblood Cliffs is a citizen of the Godkindred Kingdom. Like all her fellows, she has characteristics both humanoid and animal--both divine and bestial. She is the product of the interbreeding of people with characteristics of wildly different species, and in this world such interbreeding leads to intelligence, comeliness, humanity and (most of her people believe) divinity. They have evidence to support their beliefs. People who breed "true" or "pure," seeking others like them, become more like the animals that roam the mountains or forests, unable to plan or contemplate or resist their natures. The goal of all Godkindred is to return to divinity, to the forms intended by their creators. They believe such forms will imbue them with immortality, supernatural powers, omniscience and the wisdom to use all three for the greater good. They pity any creature not on this path... So naturally, they've taken it upon themselves to civilize everyone else. In the past three hundred and forty two years the Godkindred Kingdom has annexed almost every country on its borders. Most gave in beneath the brunt of the Godkindred Army. Others were conquered but continue to resist. Shraeven is one of these provinces, annexed only twenty years previously. This is where Angharad is going, to take over the mantle of the provincial governorship from Chordwain, the current, ailing representative of the Godson. Back to top About Angharad and the other characters Main Characters Angharad Godkin of the Sunblood Cliffs: Angharad is the Mistress Commander of the company and the new govenor of Shraeven. In order to have earned the title "Godkin" she has to be fruit of the union of at least ten different species, but in general appearance she is a griffin: mostly crane and swan with some cougar and similar species. Angharad is in her late 40s, unmarried, and by nature calm and assertive. Silfia Fiveblood of the Dale (Silfie): Silfie looks mostly like a fox-woman, but as Angharad's cavalry captain and new Second in command, her attitude very much belies her come-hither body. It's been 18 years since she and Angharad served together, and she's changed in ways Angharad cannot yet imagine... Ragna, Clan Hegwar: Ragna is Angharad's native guide, a woman nearly pure snow leopard with drops of clouded leopard, born of one of the mountain tribes. Other Characters Bobwhite: A mongrel soldier in Silfie's unit. Four-footed, striped, serves as a catcher of unusual things. Branden: A mongrel soldier in Silfie's unit. A giant four-footed griffin with partial hands who serves as Cavalry's chirugeon. Mistress General Casandre Godkin of the Salt Bluffs: A mostly genet-like Godkin woman who is currently in charge of the southwestern Shraeven border. She gave Angharad the assignment of taking over for Shraeven's current provincial governor. Governor Chordwain: The (currently unknown) man Angharad is replacing. Colblain Sixblood of the Snowflower Vale: One of Angharad's infantry captains. A noble. Commands two units. Donal Blacksmith: One of Angharad's infantry captains. Commands two units of conscripts from the province of Neshanti. Is Godkin, but hails from a province that doesn't recognize the custom of naming someone Godkindred. Gavan Fourblood from the Third Moon Plain: One of Angharad's infantry captains. Commands two units. The Godson: The ruler of the Godkindred Kingdom, the Godson is the person with the most deeply mixed bloodlines of any person in the kingdom. The Godson (or Goddaughter) must be a member of the nobility and chosen by the priests after a test of their blood. Oweir Threeblood from the Salt Caves: One of Angharad's infantry captains. Commands two units. Back to top The Story Thus Far October 6, 2003. Part One: The Will of the Godson Read it from beginning to end. On the eve of her retirement from thirty-four years of military service, Angharad, a Godkin griffin, is recalled by her Kingdom's ruler, the Godson. Her new mission is to proceed into Shraeven, a territory only lately conquered and barely pacified, and take over from the governor there. Angharad receives this news in a briefing that leaves her uncertain whether she is being set an impossible task. Receiving promises of all the aid she can request to do this job, Angharad leaves to rendezvous with her company at the major supply fort of Nadeir. When she arrives, it's to news that the new cavalry captain is alienating the Supply personnel. She goes to disicpline this captain only to discover it's none other than her first (and only) lover, Silfia, who abandoned her 18 years ago when her family demanded she marry and produce an heir to their holdings, the Dale. Angharad clears the air with Supply. Later, she discovers the reason for the agitation: Silfie has two cavalry units, and one of them is composed of mongrels, people who are nearer to beast than sapient beings. Angharad's reticense about these creatures is not ameliorated when Silfie reveals they were the only reason she succeeded in holding the Godkindred Kingdom's border against Shraeven in the north. Nor do Angharad's other captains approve . . . not only are they having problems with the extra unit assigned to Angharad, conscripts from a different province, but they have no desire to train with the mongrels. Angharad makes it clear they won't have a choice in the matter, but her decree doesn't instantly smooth ruffled edges. In the two weeks Angharad spends at Nadeir, she succeeds in resupplying her company and sets them to their wargames. She is dismayed to find that most of her captains are not making the leap from 'makers of the peace' to 'keepers of the peace'... from army men to policemen. She changes her exercise schedule to present situations that will come up, like broken bridges and burning grain silos, but the captains aren't certain about this new doctrine. Angharad wonders if they'll be able to make the transition at all. While handling these things, Angharad also grapples with her renewed relationship with Silfie and the appointment of her new support staff, which includes a studly steward named Magwen who apparently believes she will need to wear dresses while in Shraeven... a point upon which she and Magwen disagree. Nevertheless, personal items aside the two weeks the company has to restore its disipline and its spirit pass. Four of Angharad's scouts return with reports of more people in the mountains than expected, and while this information unsettles Angharad, there is nothing for it. It's time to go. She and her company mount up and ride for Shraeven. December 15, 2003: Part Two: The Phoenix Flies Over the Mount Part Two, Beginning to Middle.. Part Two, Middle to the End. Just within Shraeven's borders as Angharad marvels at how different the land feels, the company finds a hillswoman, a pard woman named Ragna who offers herself as a guide and translator. Angharad accepts her offer, which feels much like accepting the fealty of a squire. Her thoughts are on governorship, and she wonders how it will differ from leading a martial company. Angharad and her company encounter their first town on the ridge of the rising mountain path. There she deals for the first time with the villagers and their complexities: their curiosity over her interest in them, their anger over the deaths of their kin in the war, their weariness with strife. Angharad invites the village elders to a feast, where she encounters the thorny notion of religion. When the village shaman invites her up the cliff to read the divination stones for her, she accepts... and is sent up to the top of the cliff to have a conversation with the winds of Shraeven. Surely they didn't speak to her and agree to test her. Winds don't talk. No matter what the campfire gossip says about magic and the province of Shraeven. Mundane tasks resume as Angharad and her company leave behind the village. She worries about money. She deals with a vicious storm, even saving Ragna's life by plucking her off a cliff before the rain can beat the pard off of it. All these things swirling through Angharad's mind: is governing a province slavery, or a glorious servitude? And why is Ragna upset when they come upon a valley village? The company enjoys the fair the village hastily puts together for their benefit, but Ragna is missing . . . and continues to be so. And then Angharad discovers that the pards are cruel and vicious mountain tribes that afflict the valley villages, and Ragna would not be welcome among them. When Ragna doesn't come back, and the scouts Angharad sends to find her don't come back, Angharad decides it's time for everyone to go into the mountains to search for the pard. Flying before them on the winds, Angharad is brought down by a stone thrown by a pard pack... and she's savaged on the rocks before being dragged to the pard village, where she and Ragna are imprisoned. When Angharad's company arrives, she escapes, but Ragna remains in the camp of the enemy. Together with an unexpected alliance forged from the valley folk and the people of the plateau (brought by Shaman Negrat's foresight), Angharad plans an attack on the pards during a ritual that gathers all the neighboring tribes. The evening of the ritual, they attack--and Angharad rides into the middle of the fray to rescue Ragna, who would have been the ritual sacrifice. Angharad's alliance easily overcomes the trapped pards... until the second wave of beasts traps them in the cavern after savaging Donal and Oweir's units to launch their sneak attack. The alliance wins out over this second wave, but many people die. After the battle, the Shraevenese are impressed with Angharad's willingness to shed the blood of her people for their defense. They pledge themselves to her governorship. Shaman Negrat decides to become a permanent member of Angharad's entourage; and Ragna thanks Angharad on behalf of the now freed pard women and children. The Godkindred are not so cheered--Magwen exemplifies a common Godkin prejudice over "defiled women." Whatever the case, the army reassembles itself and heads back toward the capital, planning to deal with its wounded and with after-action reports after leaving behind too-curious allies. August 6, 2004: Part Three: Get of Shraeven Read Part Three so far in order. Part Three opens with Angharad's arrival to the Gate of Shraeven, the city chosen by the Godkindred as the major commerce center connecting the province with the Kingdom's hub. Here Angharad is greeted by the local nobility, and she is only beginning to make sense of the religions, customs and populace when an angered native of the Kingdom arrives to challenge Silfie to a duel. This man has cause, but Angharad decides to let the gods arbitrate and sets up a ritual which ignores her petition entirely in order to strike her down with a new divine patron--literally. Back to top |
