Drake
A young thief who arrived in Knighton without a coin to his name. Trained as a Talon operative under Cowbird's wing, took the Golden Acorn class at the Tanglewood arena, and was knighted in October of 1999 — Sir Drake of BlewYonder.
The Companions
The Fellowship
& The Fallen
A tribute to the players who brought BlewYonder to life, and the six knights who never came home.
Players · The fellowship
The names we
still remember.
Seven remembered players and six fallen characters. We have preserved each published tribute and kept the original roles intact. These are literary character records, not a database of real-world identities.
Visual recreations based on the surviving story. Historic illustrations are retained in the original edition.
Cowbird
Co-leader of Talon and the master thief of the realm. The man Lord Carlton sent for when something near-impossible needed doing. Quiet in counsel, lethal in close quarters. Companion to a great owl who sat through every contract negotiation that mattered.
Iron Claw
Came up out of Storm Gate in the East — Bronston's country. Walked west across the realm in the years before the wars and stayed long enough to be counted among Talon's own. Talon contracted him when a job called for heavy steel. The realm always knew when he had arrived because of his battle cry — "I am Sir Iron Claw, Defender of Good!" — sometimes hollered from rooftops in the real world too. When the fighting was finished and the field had quieted, Iron Claw turned for home and raised a new outpost from the rubble: the Defenders of Good. What fell in the West would not fall again in the East. Not on his watch.
Cambion
Once feared as an evil sorcerer who ran the seas around Pirates Cove. Walked back from the dark in the spring of 2000 in one of the saga's most-discussed redemption arcs. Carried his old reputation like a wound that never fully healed.
Scarface
The man with the burned face. Cambion's right hand. Ran the docks of Pirates Cove and the off-path roads of the realm. The contract Lord Carlton wanted closed — and Talon spent all of Volume II trying to close it. Played as a recurring antagonist by a real player committed enough to wear the villain's mask for a year.
Kayleel
Captain of the Royal Guard at Knighton, later King. Played long before most of the saga's other players ever arrived in the realm. Whoever played Kayleel retired the character into a guiding role, and so the leader of Knighton's guard kept ruling the city long after his player had stepped away. We hope you're well, friend.
Amberlea
A junior cleric who first appeared in Southpoint. Talon retained her for several major missions when healing was needed in the field, and she served alongside Tuiggi until the end. One of the survivors of the war that took so many of the others.
Pendleton
Talon's wizard. Walked into council chambers in purple and gold like he was about to recite a poem. Cast spells of teleport and protection that kept his fellow operatives alive on more contracts than any of them could count. Fell in the war alongside the others.
Jannek
A Talon operative from the Three Peaks. Son of a psionic reader, he could move objects with his mind. "He stayed. He died." A choice his player made knowingly when the war turned against them. A death we still respect.
Tuiggi
Talon's senior cleric. Held vigils for everyone else, and prayed every operative home alive. "She wanted to end her character in glory and not sit in some cleric den the rest of her life." So she stood hard and did her best. She earned her ending.
Manda
Symbolic tribute · no verified portrait survivesOne of the six knights who died in the Great War.
Weston
Symbolic tribute · no verified portrait survivesWeston and Koltar should have given up. They died fighting.
Koltar
Symbolic tribute · no verified portrait survivesWeston and Koltar should have given up. They died fighting.
Those who guided the journey
The pillars
of the realm.
Lord Carlton
Lord of the Western Realm · Tanglewood
Co-ruler of the realm under King John. Where Bronston held the East, Carlton held the West — Tanglewood and the great forest, Northshire and the frozen north, Rock Ridge and the river country, Southpoint and the desert's edge. Talon's patron. The man who sent for hard work to be done, and the man whose seal opened doors across the realm. Quiet in counsel. Steady when the seasons turned bad. The realm endured because two men chose to bear it together.
Lord Bronston
Lord of the Eastern Realm · Storm Gate · Fallen
Co-ruler of the realm with Lord Carlton. Where Carlton held the West, Bronston held the East — Storm Gate and the wild coast, Break Water and the working harbors, Diamond Sky and the high bard country, the haunted forests where the sea turned dark. He died holding his half. Few who served the West ever met him; fewer still saw his seat. The realm endured because two men chose to bear it together.
Hawk
Co-Leader of Talon
Six-foot-eight, two hundred ninety pounds, jet-black hair with a silver streak. Married to Jordan, a cleric. The commander who held Talon together through every storm — the man who took the contracts, briefed the operatives, and led from the front when the work demanded it.
Rooter
Talon Elder · Tanglewood
Pipe always lit, eyes always sharp. The retired adventurer who actually ran the Talon office in Tanglewood — kept the books, screened the contracts, vetted the new recruits. Quietly raised every young operative who came through the door.
Big Nast
Master of the Fighters Guild · Southpoint
Six-foot-six and absolute mountain. Ran the Fighters Guild down at Southpoint. Earned his throne with violence and ruled it with judgment. Made halls go quiet when he walked into them.
Master Rap
Grand Master of the Realm · Three Peaks
Ancient. Wise. Faintly amused at the world. Lived high in the Three Peaks, studying tomes few could decipher. The keeper of the deepest knowledge in BlewYonder. The great owl perched on his hand more than once.
Kandie
Archer · Talon
Half-elf, twenty-two, deadly with a long bow and dangerous with a smile. Daughter of Penic the master bowyer, born and raised in Tanglewood. Talon's best shot — the operative they sent when the work needed to be done from a quarter-mile away.
Artimus
War Axeman · Talon
Reddish beard streaked with gray, double-bladed axe across his back, turkey leg in one hand and ale in the other more often than not. Talon's heavy hitter — the operative they put on the field when subtlety wasn't going to be enough.
Deanna
Cleric · The Golden Acorn Class
Came online in the saga during the Golden Acorn class — the realm's training rite for chosen warriors and rogues. Devoted, gentle, and quiet. The kind of presence that made the long hours of training feel like home.
Jinx
Rogue · The Thieves' Guild
Lived in the thieves' guild. Snapped her fingers and things happened. Had history with Cowbird that no one ever quite asked about. Equal parts thief, witch, and old flame.