Tag: Character

Summersalt – Tracer

According to the latest census by the Summersalt Ministry of Commerce and Security—it makes sense in Summersalt, but nowhere else—the city-state is home to more than 700.000 beings, with humans being the majority. This census is the most accurate report on Summersalt population, if you forget that it ignores all mutants, saltbabies, horrors and aberrations born in the depths and slums, most of them from exposure to some form of raw salt.

Twenty percent of the population make up the upper neighbourhoods, where the Trade Princes, nouveau riches, big merchants and old school nobility live. But among them is a family with enough skeletons in their closet to beat the census by at least twice its reported amount, and enough secrets to burn the city itself a few times over. Continue reading Summersalt – Tracer

Writing Guide – Naming

When I create a new world for an RPG campaign or fiction, I always spend most of my time with names, be it for characters, place or historical events. For me, it’s central to the process of world building, and depending on the rules of my world and its civilisations, it can help ground my fantasy enough for readers to find their way and grasp the basic concepts.

There isn’t really a big secret with naming, but I’m very particular about it. Continue reading Writing Guide – Naming

Summersalt – Character Concept – Blankface

The city of Summersalt is a dangerous place, particularly for the Summer Knights, the regulation agents for The Salt, the wondrous substance at the core of the city’s technology, mysticism, economy and everything in between.

Regulation agents come from various background but they all have one thing in common: the job is their last hope. Some like Keegan Leona Mercer, have spent centuries burning bridges and making enemies. Then there are those like Julianne “Tracer” Allen, with two clear choices: service or some ghastly capital punishment, particularly if they have her unusual skills in Saltcraft. Continue reading Summersalt – Character Concept – Blankface

Summersalt – Early Character Concepts – Fuse

A few weeks ago I introduced you to the world of Summersalt, my new story idea which you shape with your votes on the poll you can see at the end of this article and on left sidebar on The Mental Attic. Each vote limits what I can create, and tells me what you don’t want to see in Summersalt, the general fantasy races, tropes and styles you feel should just go.

As part of creating this world, I’ve also started writing some of the characters that inhabit it. Currently I’m focused on the protagonists, and today I’ll introduce you to one of them, the leader of a small unit of Salt Regulation Agents aka Summer Knights.

I hope you like Keegan Leona Mercer as much as I do. This is her profile. But it’s only a story, and a few bits of her personality. If you want to truly get to know her, who she is as a person, you’ll have to wait until I write the novel.

Continue reading Summersalt – Early Character Concepts – Fuse