Austringer's Wrath

Warning: Book One Spoilers Below

Austringer's Wrath

gifts of the Auldtree book two

The Sandmother

The sands test the mettle of those who walk them, and Kazir tests their faith. Those found weak of body or soul feed the desert, giving what little worth they have to those more deserving.

Their Light

After millennia spent cultivating the church and its influence over the regions of the world, now is their chance to restore the Tribunal of the Stars. But the future changes with every setting sun.

The King of Hearts

Nothing worked out quite how he wanted—but it may yet. Perhaps he cannot have it all, but rats if he won’t do his best to keep it all from everyone else.

The Princess

In the midst of so many power-hungry fiends greater than herself, Amelia must be a little more creative to impose her will on the world. But she certainly can’t exercise the true chaos of her whims in the bounds of Tarth…

Paperback

E-Book

Austringer's Wrath

gifts of the Auldtree book two

The Sandmother

The sands test the mettle of those who walk them, and Kazir tests their faith. Those found weak of body or soul feed the desert, giving what little worth they have to those more deserving.

Their Light

After millennia spent cultivating the church and its influence over the regions of the world, now is their chance to restore the Tribunal of the Stars. But the future changes with every setting sun.

The King of Hearts

Nothing worked out quite how he wanted—but it may yet. Perhaps he cannot have it all, but rats if he won’t do his best to keep it all from everyone else.

The Princess

Paperback

E-Book

The Characters

Marri

Fighting tooth and scale to preserve Old Remorra, she won’t let corruption take root in the sands.

Kazir

The Starkindled keeper of all that crawls, clicks, and creeps over the sands of Remorra.

Fria'lav

Her people went astray long ago, but now she has a chance to redeem them and herself.

Jory

He’s not winning hearts and minds, but he’s got some tricks up his sleeve.

Henry

The experiments with the raccoons turned out to be a bust. Alas, he’s still got his eye on other pets.

spoiler Ramus

The Stars do not revel in diplomacy. He was given such revelations, so it is surely his duty to keep the game… exciting.

The World

Centuries ago, the land of Norge was two countries. Ash and Norge were friendly neighbors at first, but the Ashites grew in their knowledge of science, weapons, and human-sprygan hybrids. They pecked at their Norgan neighbors, erasing memories to prevent retaliation. Memory or no, the Norgans knew who to blame. They turned on the country of Ash and when the dust settled on their war, the country of Ash was no more.

Outside the lush country of Norge, the struggles are simpler in nature. Swamps, deserts, snow, jagged mountains, volcanoes, sulfur pits… Cultures formed around values and principles that enabled survival in places that didn’t welcome humans with lush fields and easy prey.

The Church of the Stars is the prevailing moral and spiritual organization in the world. Evidence is clear to any with eyes to see—the gods are in the sky each night, and some even fall to the land below.

Old Remorra vs. New Remorra

Millenia ago, a few hundred nomads of the Yeshin Ice Desert left the north, traveling through the lands that are now Tarth and Ifer—where they weren’t welcomed. They ventured into the desert, so like the home they’d abandoned. They thought they might travel through it and find uninhabited lands beyond, but the desert stretched on and on… much vaster than the desert they’d come from. The heat bore down on them and eventually, they settled in the shadows of the mountains.

Soon after, basilisks started to pick off the humans at night, and oil moats were constructed around the cities and lit at night to protect the inhabitants. However, one woman ventured into the desert at night rather than marry the city’s leader. She had faith that the beasts would sense her plight and let her be. The Sandmother, touched by the woman’s faith in and understanding of her beloved beasts, rewarded her and granted her a bond with a basilisk. She returned to her city, had the basilisk kill her betrothed, and began to teach lessons given to her by the Sandmother. Lessons in honor, merit, and survival.

Remorra became a place known for these characteristics and the fearsome warriors they produced. The Sandmother blessed more of the faithful women with basilisks.

However, the Church of the Stars began exerting their influence at the borders and encouraging a more “stable” system with nobility and royal lineages. The two factions have been at odds for a few centuries.

Remorrian Cities

Lazhan

Lazhan is one of few centers of Old Remorrian culture left on the coast and has changed hands several times in the last decades. Currently it’s run by the honorable and ruthless, Marri Rolesa. Honorable may be up for interpretation in this instance.

Halsuin

A New Remorran city just to the northwest of Lazhan. It’s vast and benefits from the Church of the Stars’ generous support. Prior to the church’s support it was a small city, but it’s grown with their influence and trade benefits.

Vhiat

The city closest to Mount Zyrin—and the biggest stronghold of Old Remorran ideals and beliefs. It’s also the key point of trade between Old Remorra and Ifer. New Remorra would benefit by taking this central point over—and New Remorra is backed by the Church of the Stars.

Mount Ziryn

Home of the Sandmother, Kazir. This is a large volcano on the eastern side of the Remorrian desert. The basilisks dig caves out of the sides of the surrounding mountains to live in. Some basilisks are blinded so that they can guard Kazir during the day.

The Gifts of Connection

While the hybrids and sprygans of the world have many gifts, they are not the only creatures blessed by the Stars with innate abilities. The Stars have also blessed others with gifts of connection. These others are known as the Starkin.

Starkindled are those beings sent by the Stars themselves, and the Starkindred are their offspring, who inherit some measure of the gifts.

Roarik, the oldest and most powerful of the Starkindled, is also the most gifted. But each Starkindled was blessed with a unique ability to connect with the world. There are gifts of perception, gifts of binding, gifts of things to come, and the gift of life.

Each of these gifts is known to increase longevity and regeneration of the one who was endowed with it. However, the body still ages and breaks down over time. Even in the Starkindled, age and death eventually take hold. This can be thwarted only with the living fragments of fallen stars.

Such teachings are not meant for the common man, who is better kept in the dark in how the Church leads them with such grace, lest their greed cause them to rise up and attempt to take such powers for themselves.

gifts of Perception

The gifts of perception endow one with a greater ability to understand those around them. There are many ways into the mind of another—their very being is communal. Every man desires for others to be truly known. Even as he tries to hide himself, he wishes to be understood. Those with the gifts of perception are susceptible to losing themselves in others. Immense empathy is an inevitably, and a danger to the boundaries of one’s mind. Exceptions happen in some rare few who are born physically weak; the Stars must accommodate for them, filling them with light such that they never need to feel the base emotions of others. They are simply blessed to know.

Clarity

The gift of clarity is given from the line of Rathmir, enabling a person to accurately extrapolate information based on micro-expressions, tone of voice, words, and circumstances. Those with clarity are blessed with better reasoning and analyzing skills, enabling them to understand people and situations at both a detailed and broad level.

Drawing

Drawing, also known as effacer by hybrids is the ability to draw memories, gifts, and emotions from another person. In sprygrans this is used as a means of communication and connection, while in hybrids it’s used as a means of erasing the memories of humans. However, the use of drawing on hybrids themselves has mixed results due to the uncertain nature of their minds, and the use is therefore forbidden by the Starlight Company. In sprygan males, the gift is not entirely in their control during high emotional states.

gifts of Binding

While perception allows you to know others, the gifts of binding allow you to strengthen connections in the world. There are threads between people, created each day as they cross paths with each other. The more life that passes between them, the stronger those bonds become. Over a lifetime, two lovers may form a cord of connection so unbreakable that they sustain each other past their intended ends. Death cannot overtake either one, because the lover simply breathes more life into them any time death draws near. So that when they are finally both out of life to give the other, death takes them together. With the gifts of binding, these connections can be manipulated and used.

Impartation

Impartation is the mirror of drawing, allowing one to give of their memories, feelings, and gifts to others. Its use in sprygans—and historically in hybrids—has been for communication, though at times it has been used for the sharing of gifts not inherited by other hybrids. It can allow a hybrid Waiter to serve as an intermediary of gifts for a Watcher, giving the Watcher access to any person’s gifts and insights.

Weaving

Weaving enables the weakening and strengthening of bonds within the web of connections between all things of the world—not limited to that which is alive. Pulling threads of bonding from one connection and weaving them into another creates a bond that cannot be undone.

gifts of Things to Come

Many things happen here and now, but hence and yonder the world exists beyond the perception of most. For those with the gifts of things to come, the Stars open a window into what is elsewhere or what is to be. These windows allow one to reach beyond the present place, to change what is beyond the reach of others. They can guide and they can shift the world into alignment with the will of the Stars.

Paths

The ability to dream of possible futures is a gift from the line of Darthula. While there is the main course of the future, once someone has seen this future, they can create new paths. Complications rise when more than one person has the gift of paths, or those with the gifts of perception discern what those with paths have seen. In this way, new paths can be created. In the past, some children were planned to have both the gifts of paths and clarity, but this poses more nefarious dangers—both to the world and to the one who is dually gifted.

Conjure

Conjure in its weaker form, that found in Watchers of Roarik’s making, allows one to conjure images of others through fragments of glass. However, in the time of the Starkindled originator of the gift, Cael, it was used to conjure items from elsewhere in the world through the glass. The extent of his ability was unknown, as he spent little time using the gift and was secretive about his methods.

gift of Life

Life is a gift that we all receive in some small measure. From the womb to the grave we are given a life and given the means to give and take it from others. But beyond such a precious gift, there is the Star of Life, from which all life came and all life can be sustained. It can awaken the sleepers and reform any creature into perfection. To corrupt this Star is the greatest of evils done on this world, a crime that cannot be let to rest.

Heartfire

Heartfire is what Roarik the Auldtree calls his gift, which at one point had the ability to wake the fallen stars, bringing them to their potential. Since splitting his heart to create Dawn, Roarik’s heartfire has diminished, and can no longer spark life in the fallen stars. However, it can still sustain life indefinitely if a strong enough bond is formed and kept.