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.

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Imhara - the Na'Reish demon leader

As an introduction to the characters from ALLEGIANCE SWORN, today I'd like you to meet Imhara, the heroine.

Name: Imhara Kaal

Race: Na'Reish demon (Na'Reishi highborn & Na, leader of her Clan)

Age: 28

Background: Imhara belongs to the Clan Kaal, one of twelve Na'Reish Clans. Her ancestors have remained true to the Old Ways - honoring the Lady as their deity and embracing a lifestyle where humans, Na'Chi and Na'Reish live together in peace.

Since the Great War over 400 years ago, her Clan has led an double life, interacting with the other Clans when necessary, portraying the use of a caste system and slavery as a part of everyday life, yet discouraging and restricting access into their territory to keep their secret safe.

Imhara (& Arek)

Their territory is geographically isolated by a mountain range and they control Skadda Pass, a well known slave-route used by Na'Reish patrols and raiders, to sneak into the southern provinces of human territory.

Imhara monitors the pass and all traffic, taking advantage of her rank as Na to demand tribute from those who use it, and rescue humans captured for the auction block.

As the only survivor of an assassination attempt on her entire family five years ago in a raid designed to seize control of her Clan and Skadda Pass, she took her father's place as Na during a Clan Enclave, foiling Na'Rei Savyr's attempt to claim her family's territory as his own.

Over the years she's survived numerous attempts on her life and made many enemies among the other Clans. Seeking vengeance, and in an effort to ensure her Clan's survival, Imhara intends to kill Savyr and approach the Blade Council for a truce. But to aid her in this attempt she needs to find an advocate, someone who will speak for her and convince them that the Kaal Clan are not a threat.

Skills: Imhara was taught by her parents the importance of responsibility and leadership from a young age, even though her older brother was groomed to take on the role as Clan Na.

Her father also insisted she train and learn weapon skills and strategy with her brother and his Na'Hord. She was able to utilise these skills after her family was murdered.

To avoid any further assassination attempts Imhara honed her fighting skills - an usual move by a female Na'Reishi society.

Imhara has also learned the art of deception and lives a double life within a culture that despises the Lady and her tenets. She's an advocate of the Old Ways, while her alter-ego, Na Kaal, has developed the reputation of being a tough, ruthless leader who enjoys taking human male slaves to her bed (a proclivity frowned upon by most of Na'Reish society).

Interesting facts:

• Imhara and Rassan (her Second-in-Command) became close friends during her teens. They met when her father insisted she learn fighting skills with his Na'Hord. Rassan was one of the young trainees.
• Imhara prefers the comfort of wearing breeches & a shirt to dresses, flaunting Na'Reish convention.
• Her favorite drink is k'sa, a hot, creamy, strong nutty flavored beverage popular among the Na'Reish.
• Imhara and her mother made the matching quilts that adorn her bed and chair in her room.
• As part of her persona as Na Kaal, Imhara has chains and shackles attached to the corner posts of her bed to foster the perception that she takes unwilling, human lovers.

ALLEGIANCE SWORN - Bk#3 in the Light Blade series

Well, here it is...the cover and blurb for ALLEGIANCE SWORN, Book #3 in the Light Blade series.

I LOVE IT!

The hero and heroine are finally revealed! :-)

There are so many subtle details that tie in with Arek & Imhara's story as well as the series - Gene Mollica is a wizard!

ALLEGIANCE SWORN

(A Novel of the Light Blade)

There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not purebred is virtually powerless. Until a demon leader seeks to unify the races…
With the alliance of the humans and the half-blood Na’Chi forged, the demon Na’Reish prepare for war by seizing human blood-slaves. Captured during a rescue mission-gone-wrong, Light Blade warrior Arek Barial finds himself claimed by a Na’Reishi female who offers him an unexpected choice.
Raised in the elite ranks of a society she abhors, Imhara Kaal lives a dangerous double life as a Na’Reish Clan-leader and an advocate for a caste-free life that honors the Old Ways. Openly rebelling against the Na’Reish would mean her death, unless she can find an emissary willing to present her petition to the human Blade council.
But Arek isn’t about to blindly follow a demon—despite the intense attraction growing between them. And while hatred for the Na’Reish is all he has ever known, Arek must learn to trust Imhara, or risk the destruction of all three races…

ALLEGIANCE SWORN will be released on April 2nd, 2013 with Berkley Sensation.