Main Characters
| Narra Jal | 17 years old. Short and thin, with dark brown skin, dark brown eyes, and long straight black hair she usually wears in a low bun. She always wears a scarf to hide birthmarks that are flat black splotches that look like fingerprints on her neck. She also covers up her bare skin so that no one touches her. |
| Kuran Jal | 19 years old. Narra’s older sister. Tall, curvy, with dark brown eyes and skin. She smiles all the time and likes to wear wavy black hair loose. She usually wears an anklet with brass bells on it. |
| Tanu Degani | 19 years old. The Jal’s longtime family friend. He has wide shoulders and straight black hair that he wears neatly cropped, light brown skin, and blue eyes from his Brelish mother. He’s always reading, but is a musician by trade. He has glasses that he hides away in his pockets and is embarrassed to let anyone see. |
| Arisa Lete | 18 years old. She is the Astar reborn and the head of the Baylan sects. She is tall, slim, and dresses like a queen. She has light tan skin and black hair that she styles elaborately. She wears gold jewelry at all times, and her signature piece is a comb with the sun on it. She has birthmarks on her neck and upper chest, that are reddish as though her skin was burned. |
| Teloh | 18 years old. Arisa’s bodyguard and assassin. He has golden brown skin, and curly black that he ties away from his face. He has high cheekbones, and odd almost blue-black eyes. He wears the black of the Guardians sect and a red sash. He’s armed with a kampilan, and always carries a ceremonial kris. |
| Virian Saniran | Keeps her age a secret (but she looks younger than 18). A candidate for the Sundo competition. She has pale skin with yellow undertones. She’s plump, and wears her hair in a chin length bob with side swept bangs. She has a nose that is crooked from being broken once. Her grandmother is Tigangi, but most of her family is from Rythia where she was raised. |
| Dayen Kam | 18 years old. A candidate for the Sundo competition. He’s tall and gangly, with messy hair that is always falling into his eyes. He’s got medium brown skin and a spray of freckles across his cheeks. He’s always hungry. He wears multiple amulets on strings around his neck for protection. |
| Oshar Toso | 64 years old. Short, stout, with short cloud of curly white hair and medium brown skin. She’s a rich woman who knows everyone in the city. She wears finely tailored fashions and favors trousers. She smiles all the time. |
| Reshar | 33 years old. Head of the Seeker’s sect. He always shows up disheveled, and has deep-set brown eyes that are typically red from a lack of sleep. He has tanned brown skin and often wears open robes or clothes that show off the snakeskin tattoos that go up and down his torso, legs, and arms. He carries a small brass gong with him wherever he goes. |
| Yirin Jal | 68 years old. She is Narra and Kuran’s grandmother. She is short, has dark brown skin, and straight black hair streaked with grey. She looks like an older version of Narra, and walks with a cane engraved with figures of the seven supreme Diwata. |
| Shora Jal | 38 years old. Narra and Kuran’s mother. She has curlier hair than Kuran, and darker brown skin than Narra. She likes to wear her hair tied back from her face with colorful cloth wraps. She is a cloth merchant by trade. |
Historical Note: Pre-colonial naming systems in the Philippines do not include family names, and are based on dynamic kinship relations where one person may not be called the same name by different people. I omitted this and used surnames to indicate family clans for ease of reading.
The Seven Sects of Baylan
| Interpreters | Diwata: Omu Datu: Kalena The Interpreters offer guidance from the Heavens, set the laws, settles disputes. Their magic is focused on divination and communication. |
| Guardians | Diwata: Madur Datu: Hendan The Guardians patrol the cities and keep the peace. Their magic is focused on armor, and physical enhancements during combat. |
| Healers | Diwata: Kitha Datu: Payan The Healers run the hospitals and function as doctors. Their magic is focused on healing physical and magical ailments. |
| Cultivators | Diwata: Nenlil Datu: Kormar The Cultivators magic helps ensure that farmers’ crops grow despite the rocky terrain. Their magic is also used grow and maintain warding trees that protect the cities and villages of Tigang. |
| Makers | Diwata: Minue Datu: Bamal The Makers create the ink for magic, invent new spells, tools and weapons. |
| Seekers | Diwata: Hamshar Datu: Reshar The Seekers were once navigators that helped the Tigangi cross the ocean. Now their purpose is to figure out hidden secrets and truths. Their magic is specialized in interrogation and spying. |
| Archivists | Diwata: Rea Datu: Senil The Archivists record all the history of Tigang. They are especially focused on genealogies and all children are brought to them on their first name day to be registered. They also collect taxes and tithes for the throne. Their magic helps them retrieve information quickly, and enhances memory. |
Historical Note: The Diwata are spirits associated with natural phenomena, places or objects. Some may have been worshipped as gods, while others were spirits that needed appeasing or avoiding. The Diwata in this book were created for story purposes and don’t correspond to any historical legends.
Places
| Tigang | The country where this story takes place. A rocky strip of a land bounded by mountains and plateaus. It’s biggest industry is mining. People: Tigangi |
| Bato-Ko | Capitol city of Tigang. Ringed with trees and rocky plateaus. Mountains rise to the East, and water borders the Northwest, while a high plateau cuts off the Southwest |
| The Glass Fortress | A fortress in Bato-Ko that houses the government of Tigang: the Raja/Reyna, the Astar Reborn, and is the training center for the Baylan. It is a fortress carved out of a natural hillside and fronted with thick glass walls. Attached to one side of the fortress, and divided by a single wall is the main library and archives of the city. |
| Arawan | The original homeland of the Tigangi that was destroyed in a cataclysm hundreds of years ago. The Tigangi descend from the survivors that fled the destruction. The tropical Archipelago of Arawan was made up of seven main islands. |