"Alzim, now that's a name! Leader of the Alten Mercenary Corps, master tactician, ex-general of the Cadmury Kingdom's forces, slayer of entire brigades, or perhaps most notable is he is a master Weilder. Sadly many of the young do not remember him."

Old man at the local pub

M12 denotes the twelve supercomputer artificial intelligences that operate the 4th generation internet

Within a palace that is also a prison, Muggar the White Despiser wages war against the light, seeking to make all mortals his slaves.

Ever collecting books, knick-knacks, gewgaws and endless heaps of strange oddments and tidbits

Good and evil? I see neither, I only see law and order opposing chaos and anarchy. Anarchy means blood, death, and poverty. I’ll take order and riches over that.

Sokolov the Axiomancer

"I’ve heard poets say a pen is mightier than a sword.  Foolishness, mostly.  But I’ll say this.  A pen in my brother’s hand is worth a hundred swords in a hundred soldiers’ hands."
- General Kailan Sylanthin

With the evil in the hearts of men…

The Shadow grows

Volomain is a great wizard which has the rank of Master of the Bones.

Most Dragons live to accumulate wealth and crouch upon heaps of gold, content to slag troublesome heroes into cinders and distaining the company of men to absolute solitude. Vychan is not such a dragon.

Dalme is one of the various travelling Tinkers plying their trade in the villages along the back roads. One can hear his cart from a arrow shot away, clanking and clinking, his wares: pans, pots, utensils, plow shares, cow bells, and other metal bits, banging against the side of his cart. The rest of his goods are kept inside his house cart (mugs, plates, fabric, ribbon, and other things) along with his anvil and fire bellows. He tells news, shares jokes, and does a bit of trading. He is everything a tinker is expected to be…. and unfortunately much more.

Charles Champagne is most likely to be encountered as an invaluable friend to the heroes, or at the worst a charming diversion. After all he is essentially a force for good, with one very disturbing exception…