Stories from RhyDin & The Rings

Dramatis Personae

Extended Family
* Ebon Ilnaren - Husband and father. Occasional hero. Former Governor. Does things with his mind.
* Phen Seer Ilnaren - Wife and mother. Teacher. Jewelsmith. Frmer thief.
* Doran Ilnaren - Son. Best Brother Ever. Empath. Young Adult. Plays the flute. Theater geek.
* Azure Ilnaren - Daughter. Quiet. Shy at first meeting. Very good with needlecrafts.
* Olivia Ilnaren - Daughter. Bonds easily with animals.

* Cratos - Adopted son. Aspiring knight-errant. Doran's friend for years. Teases him about Sylva.
* Velen Ilnaren - Alternate future version of Doran. Plays a wide variety of instruments. Teacher.
* Pearl Fand - Maggie's alterate future self. Graceful dancer, graceful fighter with spells or weapons. Wed to Velen.
* Azure Wayfinder- Ebon's sister from an alternate reality. Good at finding things. Alive.

* Eregor - Time Lord. Mage. Actor. Gardener. Ebon's heart-brother. Married to Rhiannon Brock.
* Rhiannon Brock - Skilled duelist. Amazing mom. Dead sexy (according to Eregor). Makes excellent pastries.
* Ariana MacGyldren - Goddess. Baker. Makes the best cinnamon rolls ever. Ebon's heart-sister.
* Elspeth - Mage. Protector of troubled souls. Ebon's heart=sister. Deceased.

Friends
* Sylva - Once a shadow, now her own person. Likes to make little decorative bottles and chainmail jewelry. Sword-dancer. Loved by Doran.
* Maggie Harker - Youngest Baron. Kicks butt when she needs to. Speaks her mind. Doran's BFF.
* Tenball - Beholder. Kind-hearted. Loyal to friends. Loves a good book.
* Katt Batten - Retired baker. Businesswoman. Kicks ass. Protective of her friends.
* Race - Businessman. Runs Wonderplex. Former Green Lantern. Likes a good time.
* Narisa - One of Ebon's fosterlings. Pyrokinetic. Firefighter at Dragon's Gate Station.

Foes
* Grey - Embodiment of Darkness and Chaos. Trickster. Kind to children, though. Dark is Not Evil.
* Renna - Betrayer. Many aspects, all of them psycho.
* Cain - Vampire. Criminal mastermind.
* The Kyrul - Lord and Master of Ebon's homeland. Dead.
* Ulara - The Kyrul's niece. Ebon's "first" (though not by his choice).
* The Black Knives - Shadowy group. Numbers unknown.

Timeline

I stole this idea from Jewell, but it's helpful to keep things straight. Years are relative to RhyDin Common Era calendar.

1862 -Ebon is born in early spring.
1864 - Ebon's sister Azure born in late summer.
1869 - Approximately two months after his birthday, Ebon's home village is razed. He and Azure are among the children taken into slavery. All adults, including their parents, are slaughtered. (Origin, Pt. 1)
1875 - Ebon is summoned to Ulara's chambers as her personal serving boy. One night she tries to lure him into her bed, and when he refuses, she seizes control of his body and forces it to respond, while he remains conscious but helpless within. This continues for approximately a month before Ulara sends him back to the slave pens a broken thing. (Origin, Pt. 2)
1877 - After finding his sister being horribly used by the Kyrul, Ebon tries to plan an escape without success. It is the harem matron and a spy from the Feranor ("Free Men") who help him to escape with Azure. They are betrayed, however, and Azure is brutally murdered by the Kyrul. The shock awakens Ebon's psi-gift with violent, bone-crushing results. He is taken in by an outsider mage, Astenyar, who shelters him for a few months until the Silver Knives track him down. Ebon escapes through Astenyar's sacrifice, encounters Ulara again, and is finally found by Doran, leader of a Feranor cell, who helps him get out of the city. (Origin, Pts. 3-7)

2000 Midsummer Day - Phen and Ebon were married.
2001 April 10 - Doran Ilnaren born.
2006 September 9 - Azure Ilnaren born.
2015 December 15 - Olivia Ilnaren born.


March 12 - Ebon's chosen birthday (physical appearance around 40)
July 7 - Eregor's birthday (relative age is 3,594 in 2019)
October 1 - Tenball's chosen birthday (relative age is 95 in 2019)

Locations

In RhyDin

Stardreamer Manor
The Manor is located on several acres of land north of RhyDin City, just beyond the outer boundary of New Haven. The estate's western edge is bordered by the north road from RhyDin, extending eastward to the shore of Kaiju Lake. (A sophisticated sensor/deterrent system keeps the kaiju at bay.) The land is comprised of open fields--both for horses, sheep, and dairy cows, and for hay and crops--with roughly a third of it devoted to woodland. The manor house sits approximately halfway back from the main road, and behind it the ground slopes at a considerable angle before leveling off closer to the lake. A creek runs through the property, along the edge of the wooded portion. It passes beside the house and into a series of rapids to feed into a pond at the base of the slope, before continuing on its way to the lake.

Built in the shape of an L, with a second building housing a stable, workshop, and garage, the manor house serves as home to the Ilnaren family, their many foster children, and a few other residents. There are two stories in the main house, plus a basement. Ebon, Phen, and their children reside upstairs in the smaller wing, while the larger wing is devoted to the fosterlings, with 2-3 beds per room and enough bed space for up to two dozen children of varying ages. The first floor holds the kitchen, formal and informal dining rooms, an indoor koi pond in the main foyer, a library, sitting rooms Phen's workspace and Ebon's den. The basement contains the entertainment center, game and play rooms, plus the wine and fruit cellars. The rear side of the basement opens into a courtyard cut directly into the slope, so that one might walk from the basement door through the courtyard and down a path to the pond and then beyond to the lake.

There are a number of vehicles in the garage, including two vans, a bus, and Ebon's black Shelby Cobra.


Doran's LeBaron convertible (red with a black top, Rock Hards colors) is sometimes kept there as well, when it's not at the team gym:


A long, wide drive leads from the main road up to the house, ending in a circle so that drivers can pull through and back around. Halfway between the road and the main house, a beaten path leads away across the creek to where a second stream joins up with it. There, overlooking the babbling waters, sits a tall tree containing Doran's tree house. There is a small garden at its base where Sylva grows assorted berries.


Ilnaren Townhouse
In the middle of Dragon's Gate, around the corner and a few blocks away from the Red Dragon Inn and the primary dueling venues, a modest two-story brownstone serves as the Ilnarens' home within RhyDin City itself. It gives them a place to go when activities in town run later than expected and it's too far to go all the way back to the manor house. There are three bedrooms upstairs (Ebon & Phen, Doran, and the girls) plus an en suite bath for the parents and another bath between the kids' rooms. The first floor includes a half-bath, a front sitting room with fireplace and a separate dining room, full kitchen, and a sun room that extends out beyond the dining room. Off from the kitchen is a stairway leading down to a fully-furnished basement.


Ilnaren Dock & Yacht
Some years back Ebon purchased a dock along the south shore of the river, where his yacht is normally berthed.



Gardenhome Tower
Home of Rhiannon Brock and Eregor, this unassuming stone tower sits in the middle of a forest meadow off the main road south of Rhydin from the Old Temple district.

A short driveway leads from the road to a garage where Eregor's vintage roadster is kept.


The drive is bordered by a stone path that continues past to a large meadow, which opens up to reveal a variety of gardens, colorful flowers interspersed with herbs and topiary bushes from dozens of worlds. In the back of the meadow, behind the tower itself, there are some small but productive orchards with apple, peach, plum and cherry trees. There are also a couple of beehives that provide an ample supply of honey. The highlight of the gardens, however, is undoubtedly the mallorn tree, a gift from Queen Teleperien.

Stepping through the front door, visitors to the Tower find that its interior dimensions are far more vast than the exterior would suggest. That is to say, it's bigger on the inside, a phenomenon that would likely be more shocking if this wasn't Rhydin. The wide, circular, two-story entry hall is the size of a small ballroom, with a polished hardwood floor and elegant wood panelling along the walls bearing paintings of landscapes--some familiar, others wonderfully alien. The ceiling glows with a soft light, and there is a decorative structure not unlike a chandelier in the center, though it gives off no light. (*)

Double doors lead further into the Tower from the entry hall, with stairs curving up on both side that lead to a second-level walkway. Other doors open off from there. There are too many different chambers and halls to describe here. For image highlights, go here.

(*) - The Tower is Eregor's TARDIS, and the entry hall is the main console room; the description given above is when it is not moving. When active, the "decorative structure" descends to become the console and Time Rotor, while the paintings become viewscreens.

Goose

Goose is the Suchomimus that Ebon caught two years ago during the "Evil Petting Zoo" incident. Since being freed from the hell in which he and many of his kin had been trapped, this dinosaur has shifted to a more natural and less "demon goose" appearance, though he has kept the Goose name.

His den is located in the wooded portion of the estate, a short distance from the lake where he feeds on fish. Goose is about 12-13 feet high at the tallest point on his spine, and is covered in close-lying feathers that account for his altered coloration. He has animal intelligence but has been trained to be careful around the Manor children and other animals residing at the Stardreamer estate. At night he patrols the grounds, acting as the primary "watchdog".

He is a Good Boy.

artist depiction of two Suchomimus in the wild:

I've been thinking of a soundtrack to fit Ebon's life for a while, and I finally made one up. Each track resonates thematically with some aspect of Ebon's life, arranged chronologically from his POV, with the final one being his primary dueling theme.

1) Pink Floyd, "Goodbye Blue Sky" - Thematic resonance with the death of childhood
2) Metallica, "The Unforgiven" - Enslaved and broken
3) Jethro Tull, "Broadsword" - Standing against oppression in his homeland
4) Midnight Syndicate, "City of Sails" - Escaping to freedom across the ocean
5) Peter Gabriel, "Red Rain" - Early travels, trying to make a place for himself
6) Joe Harnell, "The Lonely Man" - Later travels alone
7) Midnight Syndicate, "Heroes' Valor" - Finding a home among the heroes of the One's Band
8) Justin Hayward, "Forever Autumn" - Love and loss
9) Queen, "I'm Going Slightly Mad" -First travels with Eregor across time and realities
10) Styx, "Boat On The River" - Finding stability in heart and mind
11) Murray Gold, "All The Strange Creatures" - Coming to RhyDin
12) The Moody Blues, "Nights In White Satin/Late Lament" - Phen and Ebon
12) Queensryche, "Silent Lucidity" - Lullaby for his children by blood or fosterage
13) The Beatles, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" - Family life
14) Scissor Sisters, "I Can't Decide" - Ebon and Renna
15) AC/DC."Back In Black" - Ebon's dueling anthem
16) Alan Parsons Project, "Sirius/Eye In The Sky" - Ebon theme as a hero of RhyDin