Character
The Mentor
Mentor; Sallowbank ferry keeper
- Trustworthy, but jaded.
- Once caught up in the endless conflict between the two sides. Was pushed to do something and/or realized the conflict was pointless and fruitless, and walked away.
- A living example that stepping outside the conflict is possible.
From section 5: trustworthy but jaded; once caught in the conflict; was pushed to do something or saw it was pointless, and walked away; living proof that leaving is possible.
- Name and look: Aske Tarran, a woman of about sixty, ferry keeper at Sallowbank for twenty years. Broad, rope-scarred hands. She still wears her Warden glyph bands, turned inside out so the marks face her skin.
- Past: born in Twinhold to a Warden family; a mender by twenty-five, one of the Evane casters who seal warps and enforce the rules; later a company captain under Ondine Ash. Twenty years ago at Corran, a Facet town beside a widening warp, Ondine ordered a five-person mirrored seal. Aske argued against it, then cast her part. The seal held the warp and froze the town with it: Corran's people still stand in clear glass, mid-step. She blames Ondine, and herself more.
- The shard: as the seal closed, a Corran girl pressed a shard into Aske's hand, one half of a Facet glyph her mother was teaching her. The girl still stands in the glass beside the town well. The other half was lost; the player picks it up in the Shardfield in Act 2 without knowing what it is.
- Since then: Aske still knows every Warden glyph and has not cast one in twenty years. She keeps the Sallow ferry because it is the nearest crossing to Corran, and carries anyone for free, Evane or Facet. It is the only rule she still keeps.
- (Idea) The golem: Aske's training golem, stone and old iron under an old sail in her barn. She "bought it cheap" ("Doesn't eat"). The glyph on its chest makes it pull its punches, mostly.
- (Idea) The send-off (section 5's Hobbit-style beat): Aske gives two letters, one to a Warden in Twinhold and one to a Facet in Lanternfall. The Twinhold letter has a pale blue seal, the Lanternfall one amber; the names on the front are not decided yet. "Deliver both. Believe neither until you've met both."
- (Idea) Arc: refuses to go back; follows the player to Corran in Act 3 when the warps reach Sallowbank; faces Prelate Ondine, who gave the Corran order; casts again, once, to help undo the stilling. Joins neither side afterwards.
- (Idea) Voice: short, practical sentences. Distrusts speeches from either side, including the protagonist's.
Voice
"Don't promise. Just do it." Short, practical sentences; distrusts speeches.
From Walkthrough: Prologue and Act 1 › Prologue: The Door-Mark (as built) › Characters
In this act
Companion all act; casts once (Brace) at the Unstilling; stays the night in Corran.
Connected
Characters
Fenn
Chalks door-marks on every fence and traces them, sure they must work if you push hard enough.
Prelate Ondine Ash
Gave the Corran order, and will sacrifice Lanternfall to close the warps. Sincerely believes it saves more lives.
World
Sallowbank
No shops and no shop screens: a village of neighbours. Two of them sell from the door, in conversation. Marra sells Honey Bread and Herb Salve at the bakehouse…
Corran
A town twenty years late. In Act 3 it is silent glass and the only voice is Aske's. Once Corran wakes, the work is its people: the woken townsfolk, Hollis and…
Spells
Items
3D model
Scroll here to load the model.
Concept art
Prompt
Character concept for a mobile fantasy RPG, the mentor, a jaded but trustworthy village elder, a retired magic-user who walked away from an endless war between two magic orders, weathered lined face, short grey beard, tired kind eyes, long patched travelling coat whose faded emblem is half a symmetric white-gold sigil and half a broken prismatic shard, plain walking staff, clay pipe, slightly stooped, full body, three-quarter view, plain warm grey background, stylized hand-painted 3D JRPG game art, soft cel shading, clean readable silhouette --ar 3:4 --sref https://cdn.midjourney.com/e1cbf51f-e14d-47a5-878b-299fa466e41a/0_1.png`,
Midjourney job c6f2a179-57a9-4449-9b03-9c5a057bc450 / 1, 3
Prompt
Character concept for a mobile fantasy RPG, the mentor, a jaded but trustworthy village elder, a retired magic-user who walked away from an endless war between two magic orders, weathered lined face, short grey beard, tired kind eyes, long patched travelling coat whose faded emblem is half a symmetric white-gold sigil and half a broken prismatic shard, plain walking staff, clay pipe, slightly stooped, full body, three-quarter view, plain warm grey background, stylized hand-painted 3D JRPG game art, soft cel shading, clean readable silhouette --ar 3:4 --sref https://cdn.midjourney.com/e1cbf51f-e14d-47a5-878b-299fa466e41a/0_1.png`,
Midjourney job c6f2a179-57a9-4449-9b03-9c5a057bc450 / 1, 3
Elsewhere in the Codex
A mentor in town (an elder or retired magic-user, not necessarily called "wizard") recognizes the potential and sends the player on a quest to learn more about magic, in a Hobbit-style send-off.
The mentor's name and full backstory.
(Idea) Home: a farm at Sallowbank, a village on the Sallow river where Evane land meets the Shardfield. Parents dead; lives alone; Aske the ferry keeper is the nearest neighbour.
(Idea) Warm thumbs: the door-mark has always felt warm under the protagonist's thumbs, and they have never asked anyone whether that is usual. After tracing Coil at the Drowned Steps, Aske hears this and says: "Warm. Huh. Mine never were." A recurring motif for the even pair.
(Idea) Motivation, in order: keep Sallowbank safe from the warp upstream; find out what they are; later, help Aske undo what Aske did.
Aske saw it. That night, in Aske's barn, the protagonist fights an old Warden training golem. This is the prototype's existing battle.
From Story Bible › Protagonist and Mentor › The first cast: Repel
(Idea) The first fragment is Coil, at the Drowned Steps at the end of the Prologue, with Aske teaching the method.
From Story Bible › Protagonist and Mentor › Learning a spell by tracing a glyph
Aske's barn: the training golem fight, the prototype battle as it exists today.
From Story Bible › Story Outline › Prologue: The Door-Mark (Sallowbank)
Aske walks the player along the Sallow to the Drowned Steps, a Still Age shrine half under the river, and teaches fragment tracing there. Coil is the first fragment. Aske turns back for home.
From Story Bible › Story Outline › Prologue: The Door-Mark (Sallowbank)
Set piece: the Sallow Wyrm, a river serpent made of reflections, rising at the Drowned Steps once Aske has gone. Repel to stagger it, Coil to hurt it.
The warps spread and reach Sallowbank. Aske leaves the ferry and comes with the player.
Corran, the stilled town. The player learns Aske's story from the glass itself.