WORLD-BUILDING: The Characters of the Light Blade world

A cast of thousands - well, yes, that happens when you write a series. LOL

Characters keep popping up and demand an appearance in a story, sometimes they come out of nowhere. There's been at least one in every book in the Light Blade series.

Today, I'd like to go back and revisit the main characters and influential secondary characters who've impacted the series so far. And, you're lucky, I'm going to introduce you to a couple of new ones who appear in ALLEGIANCE SWORN (#3)!

Let's start with...

Annika (from Vengeance Born)

• Annika Gannec - the much maligned, half-blood Na'Chi who has the Gift of healing. Her demon father raped her mother to hatch his plan of vengeance against Davyn, a Light Blade warrior who killed his son nearly 30 years ago. She's Davyn's granddaughter and Arek's half-sister.

Kalan (from Vengeance Born)

• Kalan Tayn - the Light Blade warrior & leader of the human Blade Council. He was rescued by Annika from her father's dungeon. This action set in motion a series of startling events and revelations that shook the demon and human worlds. Kalan and Arek have been best friends since childhood and they went through Light Blade training together. Kalan overcame his prejudice and joined with Annika, who is now his wife.

Varian (from Alliance Forged)

•  Varian - is the leader of a small group of half-blood Na'Chi who were raised by a human slave called Hesia in Gannec Fortress, the same place Annika grew up in, although their presence was kept a secret from her all her life. Varian led his people into human territory, following Annika and Kalan after they escaped from her father's fortress. He asked Kymora for sanctuary at Sacred Lake then, with her help, established an alliance with the Blade Council. He and Arek became friends and helped the Light Blade warrior start his journey to accepting the Na'Chi and their shared demon-human history.

Kymora (from Alliance Forged)

• Kymora Tayn - Kalan's sister who served as the Temple Elect, the leader of the humans religious order. Blinded by an illness at a young age, she learned to compensate using her Gift of reading the auras of those around her. Devoted to serving their deity she was the catalyst for integrating the half-blood Na'Chi into the human world and instrumental in helping them form an alliance with the Blade Council. She gave up her position as Temple Elect to continue helping the Na'Chi. She and Varian found love by the end of Book #2.

• Arek Barial - Kalan's Second and chilhood best friend to both Kalan and Kymora. Arek never knew his parents and was raised by Davyn, his embittered grandfather. When he was three years old, his mother was kidnapped and raped by the demon king Savyr (although he never found this out until much later in life) and this led to his father taking his own life. Hating all thing demon, and encouraged by Davyn, Arek excelled in his career as a Light Blade warrior. During a patrol, he ended up wounded and captured by Na'Reish slavers. His journey to meet Imhara Kaal begins in Allegiance Sworn (Bk#3).

Arek & Imhara (from Allegiance Sworn)

• Imhara Kaal - full-blooded demon and leader of the Kaal Clan. She assumed leadership of her Clan shortly after her family were murdered, spoiling Savyr's plans to claim her territory and people. Tired of living a doule-life of a demon leader and an advocate of the Old Ways - accepting half-bloods and not enslaving humans - she hatches a plan to approach the human Blade Council and petition a truce in return for helping them defend their border against Savyr and the other Clans. She rescues Arek from the slavers who captured him and begins the task of convincing him her cause needs his help.

• Na'Rei Savyr Gannec - the demon king and Annika's father. He believes compassion is for fools and that to get anywhere in life you have take what you want. He's determined to see all humans either dead or enslaved to the Na'Reish. In the first two books of the series he is preparing to go to war with the humans.

• Davyn Barial - once a Light Blade warrior and Blade Councillor. He is Arek and Annika's grandfather, although he won't acknowledge his relationship with Annika as he lost his only daughter to Na'Rei Savyr. He's a man of many secrets, some which were revealed in Vengeance Born. He almost succeeded in killing Annika and his fanatical followers kidnapped Kymora in an attempt to destroy the human and Na'Chi alliance. Had he succeeded in his plans, the unrest and division he caused would have thrown the human race into civil war and the alliance would never have eventuated.

• Rassan Kaal - is a three-quarter blood Na'Chi and Imhara Kaal's Second-in-Command. Unswervingly loyal, Rassan is Imhara's closest friend and moral compass. Instead of playing a less prominent role to avoid detection (remember full-blooded demons despised half-bloods and would kill them to keep the bloodline pure), he ignored the risk to his life to accompany Imhara to the annual Enclave in Gannec territory and participated in the Clan Games, and earned himself the title of Clan Champion.

Rissa appeared in VB & AF.

• Rissa - the young human child Annika befriended in Vengeance Born. She is Gifted with the remarkable skill of being able to sense and heal pain on an emotional as well as physical level.

Master Healer Candra

• Candra - Master Healer and councilor on the Blade Council. She overseas the Healers Guild and is a prominent supporter of Kalan. She calls a spade a spade, tending to be quite outspoken in Council meetings and isn't afraid to share her opinion publicly.

Zaune appears in all 3 books

• Zaune - one of the half-blood Na'Chi who fled demon territory to seek sanctuary at Sacred Lake. An exceptional scout, he uses his Gift as a blood-tracker to help Varian and Kalan find Kymora after she's kidnapped by Light Blade rebels. Like Varian though, he is struggling to control the darker impulses of his Na'Reish side.

 I hope you've enjoyed this recap and sneak peak at some new secondary characters.