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Who is Benzie Fernbottom
Benzie appeared alongside Elina Hogsbreath in A Thyme of Trouble. As Thyme was Elina’s first story, they’ve been a team since the beginning.
I write him as an overly-enthusiastic, young, naive, helpful, yet inadvertently troublemaking sidekick.
A lightfoot, young, fit, and thin - admittedly too thin by halfling standards - Benzie Fernbottom prefers to keep his chestnut-colored hair disheveled and untrimmed, his pointed ears poking out along the sides. He has thick eyebrows, a sharper nose than most, and an eager, wide smile that would give a stranger the impression he was up to something. He wears a white collared, button-up shirt with a handsome brown and green vest and matching pants cut at his knees. And like all halflings, Benzie didn’t wear shoes - he goes through the world barefoot.
Benzie is what I’d refer to as a typical halfling. I see him as good-intentioned and kind but flawed, sometimes going to extremes.
He lives a life of service in the Parishes; he’s happy and comfortable and will never leave.
I use Benzie as a way of expressing typical halfling attitudes and opinions in an environment exposed to outside ideas - the inn, the Swindle & Swine.
He might not appear in every one of Elina’s stories, but I do try to mention him or point out where he may otherwise be.
Who is Artemis Teafellow?
Artemis “Arty” Teafellow is a young Halfling Artificer who uses his tinkering skills to create and repair toys.
I picture him as having brass goggles atop a mess of walnut brown hair, a red scarf, a waistcoat, and a blue buccaneer jacket.
I originally wrote Artemis in the story Soso in March 2023. In that story, the great toymaker, Soso the Tortle, gave Arty a cache of complicated clockwork toys so he could keep them out of the hands of a mysterious organization called The League. Using Soso’s inventions, Arty explores and gets involved in things he really shouldn’t be getting into.
Arty is a young halfling with little life experience. He is fascinated by the magic of clockwork. I picture him as kind-hearted but naive, seeing the world as a kind of machine that operates off predictable rules. It doesn’t, of course, and he’s often flat-footed, making wrong assumptions.
His stories will involve steampunk and artificer (inventor) themes, dashed with maybe a little bit of Jules Verne, with a distant antagonist, The League, and what they represent.
Who is Godwick Emberfoot
Godwick Emberfoot is a Halfling Warlock enslaved to the Archfae Aurusel, the Great Gardener.
There’s a lot to parse in that sentence. A warlock is a person who has made a pact with an otherworldly being. The magic he wields is gifted by their power. His pact is one of the chain: he’s subservient to his patron and soul-slaved. When I describe Godwick, he’s shackled at his wrists with a chain that runs between them.
His patron is the Archfae Aurusel. An Archfae is a powerful creature with the influence, understanding, and power to bend the Faewild to its will. The Faewild is a parallel plane where the fae live, typified by magic, chaos, and change. Aurusel maintains a garden in the Faewild and is a powerful creature in his own right.
Godwick is in possession of a magic item that I call a patchwork cloak. It’s nothing special - I imagine it as a dingy patchwork quilt made into a cloak with a hood. Its special power, though, allows Godwick to plane shift, to move between different planes of existence at will.
I see Godwick as a haggard soul teetering on the edge of sanity. He somehow came in possession of the patchwork cloak and wandered into Aurusel’s garden in the Faewild. He wasn’t outright destroyed, but rather enslaved, for Aurusel has work for a plane-shifting halfling. Being enslaved by a powerful otherworldly force and bouncing around between planes of existence rattles the mind, and his is stretched too thin.
Godwick’s face is marred with deep wrinkles and crevices, sullen eyes, and weathered skin. Inky-black, greasy hair, that runs to his back. His use of pact magic wears on his body. I perceive some of his halflingness as eroded in some way.
A part of Godwick’s pact magic allows him to find a familiar, a magicked spiritual companion. Godwick’s familiar is the pseudodragon Greymalken. Greymalken is a twist on Shakespeare’s Graymalkin, an old female cat, a witch’s familiar, mentioned in the opening of Macbeth.
The first story I wrote for Godwick was his connecting origin story to Greymalken entitled Bargains with Dragons.
Godwick is my answer to several characters that I’ve enjoyed in fantasy and science fiction. He wears a multicolored patchwork cloak. This is a reference to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and a comic book character named Shade the Changing Man. He’s also, absolutely, a John Constantine type of character.
His stories will be fantastical, traveling to strange places, and meeting otherworldly creatures in the Faewild.
Who is Jore Brix?
Jore Brix is the odd man out: he is my one and only recurring Gaelwyn (human) character in Aevalorn Tales.
He’s also offered in two versions: a young version for YA (Young Adult) stories, and an older version that plays stick to Bartram.
In fact, I think the only reason why I talk about him is because he hangs around Halflings so much. He is also the only honest-to-goodness wizard in my stories.
I see him around 5’10”, thin, and dressed in medieval aristocratic clothing with knee-high boots and a long jacket with internal pockets; he wears a belt with leather pouches for spell components.
He’s a wealthy aristocrat, a privileged son of the City State of Brigantia; since his bills are paid and lives a comfortable life, he spends his time studying and teaching at Pax Arcana.
He's a falconer, like most high-town men of Brigantia.
I see him as optimistic and scholarly, intensely interested in mysteries and puzzles. In fact, I see him as a perpetual student, always learning. He made his first appearance as Bartram Humblefoot’s sidekick in the original Aevalorn Tales.
I foresee his stories being clever puzzles where I take the reader down a rabbit hole of evidence and suspicion. In YA stories, he’s a Hardy Boys/Scooby Doo kind of guy. I also see him as a part of any one of my characters’ stories, but Bartram Humblefoot in particular.
Finally, I had some wacko idea that I might make a younger version of him and write some young adult fantasy, but I really haven’t worked that out yet. That’ll evolve over time.
Oh, look! A younger version! It’s almost magic.
Who is Kindle Muckwalker?
Kindle Muckwalker is a Halfling Ranger of the Aevalorn Parishes.
He’s an outdoorsman, a hunter, a guide; a detached character who is an anathema to most Halfling archetypes because he’s not about hearth and home, or gregarious, or particularly cheerful. He’s a gruff, focused character, with a direct sense of communication, heavily accented, and is generally considered quite peculiar by most Halflings.
He’s got slick greasy straight hair to his shoulders, parted down the middle; pointed chin; I often describe him as grimy, but with no stubble though because he’s a Halfling. He relies on a shortbow for a weapon and wears a quiver of 10 arrows on his back. He's got a hunting knife at his side, secured by the leg, and by the waist. And he has a thick leather belt and leather breeches to his knees.
Stories with Kindle are about leading humans through the Aevalorn Wilds. They’re gritty adventure stories with a splash of nature wrapped in there somewhere. I see Kindle and Jayleigh Warmhollow as companions in some way - with Kindle being a mentor-like character to Jayleigh - where I can introduce more heart and mysticism into his stories.
His first appearance was in The Pig King.
Who is Joliver Barleywood?
Joliver Barleywood is a Halfling Bard of the Aevalorn Parishes. I picture him as middle-aged, fit, dressed always in a waistcoat and smoking a pipe.
Like Bartram Humblefoot, I picture this character rarely returning to the Parishes, preferring instead to be abroad and amongst Man in Gaelwyn.
This is a character who is interested in stories. I’m trying to make it a point where he’s always asking, “Tell me your tale”, or “Tell me about this or that”. He is a curator of stories; a collector of people’s experiences and dreams.
I want to write Joliver so that he exists somewhere legend and reality. He’s a wandering type, magical; he shows up in time to hear the last words of a dying man, witness an important event, or tell a story when it needs to be heard.
He’s jovial (“Joliver”), playful, teasing, and maybe a little bit snarky when he’s not performing. In D&D terms, he’s a Bard of the College of Lore, a jack of all trades, and a storyteller that holds his audience spellbound.
When I first introduced this character, he was retelling The Ballad of Skyer Dannon; Love’s Repast was his first stand-alone story.
Who is Maedrey Puck?
Character Description
Maedrey Puck is a lightfoot halfling cleric of the Aevalorn Parishes, a Child of Yondalla.
In her sixties, she walks with a limp and relies on a weirdly-curved juniper wood staff to hobble around. She has piercing olive eyes, a smattering of black freckles, and a pock-marked face.
I often describe her as having many strands of tight box braids interlaced with crushable metal and bone beads; in writing the character, she may turn to these items for spell components when her focus, the juniper wood staff, is out of reach.
I write her as a devout eccentric - totally off of her rocker - who uses her very twisted sense of justice and wisdom to protect halflings; honestly, she is just as likely to drown someone as baptize them.
She exists in the past as a contemporary of Skyer Dannon and her stories generally concern a time when the Aevalorn Parishes started having more frequent contact with the human City States of Gaelwyn.
Her name of Puck is deliberate and refers to the character in Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Stories
As a cleric, I use this character to explore spiritual and moral themes. I find her fun to write because she’s sly, crafty, and tuned to the metaphysical world.
She made her first appearance in the Ballad of Skyer Dannon and her first dedicated story was The Pig King.
Who is Elina Hogsbreath?
Character Description
Elina Hogsbreath, a Halfling of the Aevalorn Parishes and the Proprietor of the Swindle & Swine, comes from a long line of kitchen witches: those whose spellcasting incorporates the magic of food.
Elina is middle-aged, in her early forties. She is a lightfoot halfling. She has brown curly hair.
The Swindle & Swine has been passed down through her family for generations. It’s located in the hamlet of Pondaroak in Aymes Parish.
Elina’s character is connected to her kitchen, and I spend a great deal of time exploring elements of her kitchen and her magical practices. Her kitchen is as much a character in her stories as she is.
“Come wolves, worgs, or worms, I’ll serve you right.”
Stories
Elina is a hedge witch. She is a solo practitioner of magic derived from divinity, herbalism, and alchemy. She isn’t formally trained, rather, she has learned what she knows from her family; generations of passed-down lore. She is extremely well-versed in all things related to fae. I believe Elina’s stories will have layers. One layer is about food, drink, magic, fae, and halfling traditions; another is about psychology and certain human truths; another is Celtic lore. I also believe that most if not all of her stories will take place in the Swindle, only because halfling appetites couldn’t tolerate her being away from the kitchen for very long.
Elina made her first appearance in Gammond Brandyford’s Piskie Sticks. The rest of her stories follow chronologically in the sequence below.
Who is Jayleigh Warmhollow?
Character Description
Jayleigh (Jay-LEE), a Halfling of the Parishes, has a talent.
She can hear the songs sung by the land and plants; feel their tenors and vibrations; she communicates with nature through song.
Jayleigh is a young lightfoot Halfling, just twenty-two years old. She was orphaned at an early age due to a fire that took her parents.
She’s a Druid and, following her parent’s death, spent a great deal of time in the Aevalorn Wilds with another halfling character, a ranger named Kindle Muckwalker. Kindle taught her the ways of the Wilds and how to survive.
Stories
Jayleigh’s themes concern nature, religion, and superstition. Besides Kindle, I’ve plans to write a story that includes a collaboration between Jayleigh and Skyer Dannon.
When you’re coached on writing, people will tell you to read what you write aloud to hear its cadence. This character is my answer to that problem. Jayleigh’s adventures are about poetry, rhyme, rhythm, and the sounds of nature. When I write these stories, I’m really trying to put my creative descriptions into overdrive; I try to write poems and songs to go along with the narrative.
She first appeared in the short story The Grotesque of Silvanus.
Who is Skyer Dannon?
Character Description
Skyer Dannon was a halfling, born more than four hundred years ago in Tatterfield Parish.
He lived a good life. He had friends. He had a family. He was adored by his kin. Ask around: Skyer Dannon lived.
Skyer Dannon died. He did die.
Although he died, Skyer Dannon was never buried; his body did not decompose; his consciousness never left him.
In death, so many years ago, he walked Aevalorn immortal, and Skyer Dannon continues to do so to this very day.
”Perfect as Pears.”
Stories
Skyer Dannon is a complex character that bends several ideas on its head, starting with the idea of “hobbits”. In the Ballad of Skyer Dannon, I wanted to create a story where the Shire gets a vampire. He represents everything a halfling isn’t. He’s an anti-villain of sorts, a good guy and a bad guy. His stories are dark, sinister, and horror; he’s all about graphic violence, vampire lore, and demons.
Skyer is immortal and can appear in many settings, but he will have adventures with Maedrey Puck, Jayleigh Warmhollow, and Kindle Muckwalker. The Ballad will be the first long-form book that I’ll publish.
Who is Gammond Brandyford?
Character Description
Gammond Brandyford is a lightfoot halfling male in his mid-twenties. I like to say that he’s about as much a halfling as a halfling can be.
Born and raised in Pondaroak in Aymes Parish, he left when he was around seventeen to explore the world.
Gammond is a rogue, a pick-pocket, and he’s severely fearless and foolish. Gammond doesn’t give a crap; he’s a smallfoot sociopath. And maybe a tad divergent?
He’s an adventurer and a journalist; he sends his journals back home where they’re published as volumes of popular stories. He has curly ruddy hair and green eyes, or blue? Depends on the light.
He carries a leather satchel with inkwells and parchment and journals. His satchel plays a big part in nearly every one of his stories.
He has a deep scar on his right arm that was earned from bargaining with goblins.
Gammond has a pal, an animated amulet named Vongur.
“What’s the easiest way to get what I need?”
Stories
Gammond Brandyford was a halfling hero in a D&D campaign that I ran between 2013-2018. His stories figured prominently in the campaign and he’s the whole inspiration for Aevalorn Tales. When I write his stories, I’m usually taking a playful voice as a narrator and will occasionally break the 4th wall where I’m speaking directly to the reader. Often I feel like I get into a Douglas Adams headspace with this character. His stories are silly and fun.
Who is Bartram Humblefoot?
Character Description
A stout halfling male in his late sixties, Bartram Humblefoot is at the far end of middle-aged.
He has wispy gray and walnut blonde hair. Light brown, hazel eyes. He’s pale, taller than most of his peers, and is usually armed with a cheery disposition.
Born and raised in Applegrove Parish and raised with a noble upbringing, Bartram is a Paladin, a Faithful Warrior-Servant of Rillifane Rallathil, the Leaflord. He has taken the Oath of the Ancients.
As the Aevalorn Parishes have no standing army of their own, Bartram has served the Free City of Mumling in Gaelwyn for over fifty years.
Bartram’s gear is humble. He wears a silver oak tree around his neck; he must bear the weight of his family’s signet ring. He wears a simple ringmail shirt - tailored for the human men in the army of Mumling - a thick brown leather belt, gloves, and carries a round steel shield emblazoned with a matte silver oak tree. In battle, he wields a leaf-bladed short sword.
Bartram struggles with the hypocrisy of faith. He is also bothered by the way Man treats the poor. Bartram loves to travel and dislikes the proposition of settling down or retiring. He strives to find the biggest multiplier effect when helping people.
“Is right … always right?”
Stories
When I write about Bartram, I’m usually trying to explore a number of concepts: growing old, ageism, sexism, what is holy and devout, and wealth inequality. His stories are usually more serious and I try writing in a more neutral voice. I really enjoy detailing his spirituality, spellcasting, and connection to nature. As I continue to write the character, I’ll actually be traveling back in time and visiting him when he was younger.
Bartram made his first appearance in Aevalorn Tales, and I’m currently writing a long-form story for him titled The Goblet of Bone.
