The Land: Forging characters

First appears in chapter 2

The feared ruler of the Light Court. He orders his court to observe the newly detected traces of chaos and the surviving pixie chrysalis while privately remembering his responsibility for the plague that destroyed the pixies.

Also known as Lord Richter

First appears in chapter 3

The master of the Mist Village and a Chaos Seed. He accepts a mission to clear advancing goblin and bugbear camps, shares access to his concealed glade with Sion, and agrees to plant a blessed seed core at his place of power.

Also known as Sionavar

First appears in chapter 3

A wood sprite, Hisako's son, and Richter's companion and scout. He joins Richter's forest mission and gains access to the hidden glade. Daniella favors his longer name, Sionavar, despite his preference for Sion.

First appears in chapter 3

The Hearth Mother of the wood sprites and an ally of Richter. She directs the investigation of the eastern incursion, blesses the seed core for planting, and hopes to establish trade between her people and the Mist Village.

First appears in chapter 3

A half-sprite, half-human warrior and swordsmanship adept. He begins training Richter, first through punishing bouts and then through formal instruction in sword forms.

First appears in chapter 3

A wood sprite with a familiar, teasing relationship with Sion. Her use of his longer name shows both their closeness and her willingness to unsettle him.

First appears in chapter 4

An elder wood sprite and Life Magic master. She travels to the Mist Village as a prospective ambassador and begins teaching Richter healing magic during the journey.

First appears in chapter 5

The fragmentary remnant of an ancient mage, bound to serve the current master of the Mist Village. He advises waiting for the storm so the village nexus can better support the seed-core ceremony.

First appears in chapter 5

The Mist Village specialist responsible for overseeing construction of the forge.

First appears in chapter 5

A high-elf vessel builder who uses water and earth magic to strengthen her work. She can perform the specialist bonding required for a spirit-bound vessel and expects to have a river-ready ship completed in three months.

First appears in chapter 5

Richter's companion and a leader of the Mist Village guard. Formerly a mounted messenger and later an innkeeper, he is given leave from village duties so that he and Isabel can continue recovering from earlier trauma.

First appears in chapter 5

A village herbalist and the woman Terrod loves. At her introduction, both she and Terrod are still recovering from their recent ordeal.

Also known as Randy

First appears in chapter 5

Richter's chamberlain and village administrator. Richter informally calls him Randy.

First appears in chapter 6

Richter's newly summoned female soul familiar. Their permanent Psi Bond permits willing mental communication, and her future growth and magical access are tied to the Mist Village's place of power.

Also known as Richter

First appears in chapter 9

Richter's given name on Earth. He shares it with Sion while explaining that he had been training as a doctor before entering the Land and has now chosen the Land as his home.

Also known as Psi Dragonling

First appears in chapter 9

The name Richter gives his female Psi Dragonling familiar, which she accepts. She remains linked to him through their Psi Bond and to the Mist Village through its place of power.

First appears in chapter 8

The sole surviving royal Pixie Queen, preserved in a chrysalis through the plague that destroyed her people. She binds herself to the new quickening, becomes its caretaker and Richter's companion, and begins the effort to restore the pixies.

First appears in chapter 10

An unnamed attacker who directs dark magic during the bugbear assault on the Mist Village. The mage escapes the first clash after a summoned celestial servant intervenes.

First appears in chapter 11

A dark-elf necromancer and an established enemy of Hisako. She supports the bugbear assault, raises skeletons from a mass grave, and confronts the defenders with death magic.

First appears in chapter 14

A Mountain Dwarf, journeyman smith, and near-journeyman enchanter. He voluntarily pledges fealty to Richter and becomes Smith of the Mist Village, improving the effectiveness of arms and armor made there.

First appears in chapter 14

A high-elf crafter experienced in enchanted jewelry. He explains that enchanting depends on captured souls, suitable soul stones, sound materials, and specialized knowledge, and he can create the needed stones.

First appears in chapter 23

The controller of the undead Drow Elite Guards in the dungeon's guarded crypt. Although Richter's party has obtained the means to leave, freeing her bound guards becomes their immediate objective.

First appears in chapter 25

An ancient queen released when Richter returns her remains to their sarcophagus and frees her consort and warriors from undead control. She offers him an inherited skill and warns that portals allow danger to travel both ways.

First appears in chapter 27

Sion's childhood best friend. During an effort to free captive forest creatures, human animal-capturers seize both boys and kill Kurian, leaving Sion with lasting guilt and hostility toward humans.

First appears in chapter 30

A wood-elf hunter from the Mist Village. Richter's returning party mistakes him for an enemy in the dark and breaks his leg during an ambush before recognizing him.

Appears from the start

An imp to whom Richter owes a binding, unspecified future favor. He does not appear in the present story, but the debt and his purpose remain unresolved.

Appears from the start

The surviving leader of the Night Blades and a hostile figure who knows Richter's group. He remains at large as the new story begins.

Appears from the start

A noble of Yves connected to Isabel's former captivity. Richter's group robbed him without confronting him directly, leaving the possibility of retaliation open.