Category: Characters

Learn more about the Players of the Game saga’s characters!

Players of the Game Character Spotlight: Welt

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Welt is a staunch ally of Ashe Stelfire.  He also knows first hand the consequences of losing to Corsis.  The Master of the Game inflicted a grave curse upon Welt. 

Taking his head. 

Through ethereal means, Welt still lives with a shadowy boundary at the base of his shoulders once occupied by his neck.  He can still talk, eat, drink, and smoke gaun herb cigarettes.  His friends value him sage and eloquent advice and his steady presence.  He is a gunmancer, a specialist who mixes magic and technology with all manner of firearms, be they high tech or low tech. 

Give him enough time, and he can make a weapon to slay the greatest of foes.

Players of the Game Character Spotlight: Gnorok

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Gnorok (the G is silent) is a one of Ashe Stelfire’s best friends.  He pretends to be a Demon mercenary.  In truth, he’s Dragon-Human hybrid called a Murdrake.  He and Ashe start out as competing rivals, but the pair of them soon find they work well together.  Gnorok also gets romantically entangled with Salatha, a Wred Witch with questionable loyalty to their cause.  He leads the Brigands.  Always from the front with his blade bared.

Players of the Game Character Spotlight: Salatha

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Salatha is one of the Brigands.  She possesses both innate psionic powers and hard-learned prowess in mancy.  She counts herself as one of the more skilled Wred Witches.  Salatha’s ultimate loyalty between the Brigands and her sisterhood is often a point of tension.  Her relationship with Ashe in particular ranges from subdued distrust to grudging respect.  She is romantically involved with his best friend, which only makes the question of her trustworthiness all the more tangled.

Players of the Game Character Spotlight: Ed Burnhelt

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Ed Burnhelt is one of the main characters of the entire series.  This is another rendering of him as he appears in the third book.  As you can tell from his bearded image in the post below, he doesn’t come out of it without a few literal and figurative scars.  Despite that, Ed maintains a lightness in comparison to others like Ashe Stelfire or Harry Mang, and would much rather disarm a conflict with a joke, rather than through his powers.  Circumstances often conspire to prevent him from taking the less fraught route.

Amethyst Holds the Line

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Players of the Game Character Spotlight: Amethyst
Amethyst is a Skin Bot ally of Ed Burnhelt.  She is also the sister of Violet.  Skin Bots’ minds are spawned in a virtual environment called the Playpen.  The artificial beings have families like humans and forge meaningful friendships and romances between each other.  They can choose to spend their entire lives in this synthetic paradise, but if they opt to experience more, then can enter into physical bodies and serve for a time in the Grellish Armor Corps.

Amethyst is an excellent tactician and always holds the line.  She is protective of Violet and will gladly lay down her life for her sister.

Fethelithers lurk in the darkness and strive to spread it.

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Players of the Game Creature Spotlight: Fethelither
From time to time I’ll be showcasing members of monster armies and demonic hordes that the Players of the Game protagonists must face throughout the series.  One such fiend is a Fethelither.  These are demons composed of solid shadows with pale white masks covering their faces.  They have dagger-like fingers and are among the assassins and light combat soldiers of the Holy Alliance’s Horrinshal, an organization that lurks in the dark places.  Fethelithers strive to spread that darkness.

Dire Mistakes Loom in Quar Iniv’s Future

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Quar Iniv is one of the primary antagonists of the first couple of Players of the Game novels. He is a Human-looking Demon with perpetually bleeding eye sockets, though he possesses enhanced vision that allows him to see 360 degrees all around him. He is cruel, greedy, and quite willing to antagonize his wife, Nirva Iniv. That is dire mistake. He makes even worse ones when it comes to Avril Enzali and Ashe Stelfire.

Suso will not abide death by the hand of another.

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Suso is a death goddess who aligns against Corsis and Nirva in the first two books of the series.  She is old friends with ViRauni and Welt, though she met each of them under different circumstances.  She strives to keep the Mosul Flute out of Nirva’s hands, which would grant the would-be empress the power to control the dead.  A turn of events that she will not abide.

Vex Ramansa at Your Peril

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Ramansa is a Sphinx who starts off wary of Ashe Stelfire, but ultimately becomes a close friend. She expects excellence from all those with whom she works, especially her daughter. Very few can match her mastery of ethereal arts. Those who try soon learn that it’s most unwise to vex a Sphinx.

ViRauni cannot touch you with her skin. Her sword is another matter.

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ViRauni is a major character in the Players of the Game series. She has been featured before on a bonus content book cover. She is a former queen who fell into a dark place. Her past choices haunt her. She is constantly reminded of them with the cursed armor that she wears, and the cursed sword she wields. The magic affliction renders her skin unable to touch anything living, passing through it like a phantom. Corsis took much from her. She strives to take it all back.