Lita is pleased to announce a new room here at her castle in the northern realms. The Mage’s Parlor is where the characters in Lita’s Clockpunk Wizard stories come for interviews and general chitchat about magic and silliness.
My, how the characters in Lita’s stories love to talk. With so much to say, they clamored until Lita gave them a place to sit and chat about their stories, worlds, and magical matters. Please step into the Mage’s Parlor.
The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is an entry in the guest book for the Clockpunk Wizard Wing.
Miss Probability
Probability [prä-bə-ˈbi-lə-tē] proper noun, c. 1550; ME probabilis from probare to test < L probābilitās; also Luck’s Child, Luck’s Brat (derogatory), Daughter of Fickle Numbers, Baby Needs New Shoes
Probability’s Home is a Castle in the Upper Wager Meadows of Fluke Island
Probability is the oldest child of Sorceress Lady Luck and Death’s Wizard Mephistopheles.
Her younger brother is Chance Luck, and her family awaits the arrival of a second daughter. Probability also has a grandmother, Sorceress Amabel, who was the previous Lady Luck.
Because the magic for the Death Personification Office is harmful to children, and her parents are estranged, Probability lives on floating Fluke Island with her mother and brother. Their home is a sprawling casino and castle complex in the Upper Wager Meadows. She has not met her father. Probability plans to visit him where he lives on Undying Island, beyond the rim of their plate-shaped ocean world, when she is old enough to survive the journey.
Probability is Gifted in Mathematics, Language, and the Magical Arts
Probability is a precocious child in mathematics, language, and the magical arts. Her well-to-do mother hires the best tutors for the non-magical aspects of her children’s education.
Lady Luck personally teaches Probability and her brother the magical arts. Her mother anticipates that Probability will attend the Agatha University of Magical Arts and Sciences, and become the most powerful human sorceress of her generation.
As many girls are wont to do, Probability adores unicorns and horses. Her mother maintains a horse stables, and accompanies the children on frequent equestrian outings. Because unicorns need special care, Lady Luck has not yet acquired these magical sentient equines for Fluke Island, despite her daughter’s constant requests.
Lady Luck’s Daughter is Called “Baby Needs New Shoes”
Probability is not allowed in her mother’s casino until she becomes of age. Nonetheless, the little girl has a flawless mental ability to compute odds, calculate entropy decay rates, and mathematically predict when her brother will bring up a yucky boy’s topic during dinner.
Find out more about Probability’s adventures in these Clockpunk Wizard stories:
The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is an entry in the guest book for the Clockpunk Wizard Wing.
Wizard Familiar Furgo
Furgo [fər ɡō] proper noun, c.1400; Sanskrit pāti < Greek pōma < Old High Gr fuotar < Gr fuerre < An-Fr furrer < ME furren; c.900; Gr gehen < Old High Gr gēn < OE gān < ME gon; also Furgo-boy, Furgo-dog
Dog-to-Human Shapeshifting
Furgo is a rare dog-to-human shapeshifter rescued by Wizard Kadmeion during a mandrake root extraction on Holcomb Island. Furgo’s default form is a small black dog. He has a rarely used intermediate form of a brownie-sized fur-covered human.
Furgo can alter the apparent age of his human appearance, presenting a handsome lad of nine to sixteen years old. Because Furgo has an unusual situation with his human soul, he cannot age beyond his teenager years. This is another rare magical state called “Forever Boy.”
The cynanthrope’s caretakers sometimes use the names “Furgo-boy” or “Furgo-dog” to summon Furgo’s requested form. Kadmeion enchanted the cynanthrope to remember a silly spell that empowers Furgo to switch forms at will. The cynanthrope willingly wears a wizard’s medallion to display his Familiar role, and to focus his benefactor’s magic.
A Cynanthrope Retains Dog Traits in Its Human Form
While in human form, Furgo retains his dominant dog traits, namely loyalty, protectiveness, and happy nature. When in his dog form, Furgo retains some of his human intellect. In all his forms, Furgo’s most remarkable trait is his adorable puppy-dog eyes.
See Treasure Under Furgo-Boy’s Bed, Go Fer and Furgo, and Bestiarum Vocabulum: Cynanthrope for more about Furgo and shapeshifting.
Find out more about Furgo’s many adventures as Wizard Kadmeion’s familiar in the Clockpunk Wizard stories:
The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is the guest book for the Enchanters of Sye Tower.
Lanith A’edredohr Vendbebelot
Lanith [lān ləth] proper noun, c.1614; Sumerian lilla, a demon < Akkadian lilītu < H lîlît; also A’edredohr
Lanith is a Merchant’s Wife in the Seaside Town of Isor
Lanith spent her childhood as a poor farmer’s daughter. When she was a teenager, Lanith’s parents sent her to the city. At a young woman’s finishing school, Lanith learned a lady’s genteel ways that would prepare her for acceptance into city society. During a Church-sponsored event, she met Guild Maji’ker (“Magician”) Tredan. After a proper courtship, they married. She now lives the comfortable life of an urban middle class merchant’s wife in the seaside city of Isor. After nine years, their union has yet to produce children.
Lanith and Arnl’jhott
Soon after marriage, Lanith attended classes at the Merchant Guild. She and her husband run a well-respected magical curios shop. They import more than half of their stock, and buy the rest from Isor’s local magical tradespeople. Tredan’s skill is with making pleasure charms, which they sell in their shop.
Lanith owns a rare pet—her blue male dragonette named Arnl’jhott. This affectionate and talkative creature joins her on monthly visits to the Church orphanage, where she holds a crafts workshop in amulet making. The merchant woman and her dragonette are a favorite with the children.
Lanith lives a magically unusual life. Her husband is a former Enchanter, and these magicians are the most powerful mages in her world of Sye. They hold the key for producing magical essence, which fuels all the spell casting arts.
Tredan and Lanith Run a Magical Curios Shop
Practicing Enchanters have delicate magic and are surprisingly vulnerable. They live apart from society in one of five enclaves to protect themselves from hostile magicians. Among other peculiarities of the Enchanters’ magical profession, the Church refuses to let them marry. Tredan left the Enchanter discipline and adopted the Church-approved life of a secular magician. Although he no longer can produce magical essence in the same quantities as before, he has plenty to lavish on his wife, dragonette, and custom curios in his shop.
Tredan’s Magical Essence Made Lanith Beautiful
This essence-rich environment gives Lanith the luxury of cultivating her native magical talents. Tredan’s magical essence has also enhanced her natural beauty, and made his wife especially attractive to the Enchanters.
Lanith’s attention to details makes her an exceptional trade magician and proficient in these thaumaturgical skills:
Read more about Lanith in these Enchanter of Sye stories:
The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is the guest book for the Enchanters of Sye Tower.
Sciomancer Sumernor’mylnburne
Sumer [ˈsu mər] proper noun, c.3300 BC; Sumerian < Akkadian; also Sumernor’mylnburne
Sumer Penned Beautiful Copies of the Book of the Dead
Sumernor’mylnburne was a Church Sciomancer magician in the seaside town of Isor over one hundred fifty years ago. Known for his talent with calligraphy, he produced beautiful custom copies of the Church’s Book of the Dead. He was also a natural seer of ghosts. Sumer counseled the confused ghosts of the recent dead to finding their way to the Fields of Yalu.
A flirtatious woman compromised his magic by marrying him so she could learn his private name on their wedding night. She used his powerful magic to steal money from the Church, and then fled Isor and her hasty marriage.
A Resident Ghost in the Old Church Catacombs at Isor
Sumer faced expulsion and a life of shame. He petitioned the local Isor Enchanter School for intervention. The Enchanters agreed to help. Grandmaster Sahn gave him a new private name so Sumernor’mylnburne could return to sanctioned Sciomancy. The Church annulled his marriage, and the Sciomancer never remarried.
The deep wasting sickness claimed Sumer in his seventieth year. At his request, he underwent the preparation for ghostly interment. Upon his death, Sumernor’mylnburne became a resident ghost in the Old Church catacombs at Isor. Because of the skillful magic of his fellow Sciomancers, Sumer was a biddable ghost. He willingly answered summons from Church and Enchanter magicians and had remarkable mental skills for the incorporeal. Two generations of Isor Sciomancers tended his relic cache in the catacombs, and Sumernor’mylnburne flourished as a land-bound ghost.
Sumer Left for His Final Home in the Fields of Yalu
A mad miscreant attacked the Isor catacombs and disturbed many of the ghosts’ caches. Among others, she destroyed the relic that kept Sumer tethered to the earthly realm.
The Isor Sciomancers were unable to restore Sumer’s relic. As per protocol, the local Church erected a proper tomb in the Old Burial Yard, placed what remained of Sumer inside, and performed the rites to send for his ghost. Sumernor’mylnburne responded this last time, conversed a while with his former colleagues, and then left for his last home in the Fields of Yalu.
Visit some more with Ghost Sumernor’mylnburne in these Enchanter of Sye stories:
The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is an entry in the guest book for the Clockpunk Wizard Wing.
Sir Bright
Bright [brīt] proper noun, c.1000; ME >OE beorht, breht > Gothic bairht, Old Saxon beraht, Old Norse bjartr; < berkto- Welsh berth “splendid”; L flagrāre “to blaze”; Albanian bardhë “white”; Sanskrit bhrājate “shines”; also Brighton
Nesting Land Porpoises Jumping to Their Rookery on the Floating Island of Dolphin Barns
Bright is the seventh son of Elf Mage Higginbotham Norfiwyn M’Choakenchilde (also a seventh son), and Sorceress Wode Rilmandra. Bright’s father and grandfather are Princes of the Elf Court. Bright grew up on the floating island of Dolphin Barns, named after its extensive rookeries of nesting land porpoises. Because of his human mother and twice-seventh son lineage, his parents hoped that Norfiwyn’s seventh son would be a rare elf wizard (wizardry is a human magic). When Rilmandra became pregnant with Bright, Norfiwyn hired Wizard Pursuance to be his son’s magical caretaker.
Never Once Did Young Bright Fall Out of a Tree
Pursuance was unable to control his greed. He enchanted the helpless babe in his crib and siphoned the lad’s magic for his own use. This parasite damaged Bright’s wizardry and most of his native elf magic beyond repair. This hampered magical ability made growing up a trial. He was the frequent target of his older brothers’ teasing. The school bullies were especially harsh.
To escape the taunts and constant magical humiliation, young Bright fled to the forests and excelled at tree climbing. Never once did the boy fall out of a tree. Rilmandra, hopeful that somehow her son would become a mage, attributed his aerial safety to the remnants of his wizardry.
Professor Morton Introduced Bright to Wizard Kadmeion at the Agatha University of Magical Arts and Sciences
When Bright moved to Agatha to attend the university, he apprenticed as a rig monkey in the zeppelin yard. He planned to sign up for the Airship Guild after graduation.
Professor Morton introduced Bright to the soon-to-graduate Kadmeion. The wizardling took on the damaged narfleet as an assistant despite the naysayers. Because Kadmeion had known the now deceased Wizard Pursuance, Kadmeion could correct most of Bright’s magical damage. However, for the narfleet to work all but the simplest spells, he must share a profound magical binding with an accommodating wizard.
The Honorable Mage Brighton Has a Master Magician Degree in the Clockwork Arts
Bright’s love of trees blossomed into Arboriculture, which was his undergraduate minor at Agatha. His passion was cultivating oak trees.
He converted the bay window of his dormitory room into a quercetum, filled it with saplings, and lavished his scant enchantments on them. His roommates swore that when Bright talked to his pet trees, they answered the narfleet in sighing whispers.
See “Twice-Seventh Son Elf Magic.” Find out more about Bright’s many adventures as Wizard Kadmeion’s assistant in the Clockpunk Wizard stories:
The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is an entry in the guest book for the Clockpunk Wizard Wing.
Wizard Kadmeion
Kadmeion [‘kad mē ôn] proper noun, c.1300 BC; Gr> Mycenaean acropolis palace complex at Thebes; lit ‘Son of the East’; also Kaddie (childhood nickname)
One of Young Kadmeion’s Favorite Flying Machines. A Cat Aviator Sat On a Cushion Under the Balloon and Steered by Pawing At the Strings.
Kadmeion is the only child of Wizard Trentworthy and Sorceress Dorian. His mother’s father, Haldemare, is also a wizard. Kadmeion grew up on the floating island of Gogogogo, named after his family’s popular rest home for elderly magicians.
Kadmeion showed his wizardly tendencies at birth. Trentworthy describes the delivery room drama thusly:
Dorian had just produced that most wonderful of enchantments, our little boy Kadmeion. The babe did not immediately cry. Midwife Mary held him up and slapped his rump to get the youngster to breathe. Kadmeion let out a squeal, and then belched a flaming hiccup that singed away Mary’s eyebrows and bangs.
Kadmeion’s Enchantments Kept the Airborne Cats From Harm
The wizardling lived a sheltered childhood with his parents, various cats, and the eccentric magicians living at the rest home. Considered a magical prodigy, the retirees doted on the handsome, but introverted lad.
Kadmeion’s boyhood hobbies were ice gliding and building scale models of flying machines. The boy based his replicas on the full-sized versions from Leonardo’s Airborne Contraptions.
No Hurt Feelings–The Seagulls and Cats Were Great Friends
Kadmeion taught his cats to use the small flying machines. The proper enchantments made the cats float with or without their contraptions, and kept them from harm. The furry aviators zoomed around the cliffs and terrorized seagulls and little dogs. This was done all in fun, for the seagulls, dogs, and cats were great friends. The feline pilots were a must-see attraction for Gogogogo Island visitors.
See “Kadmeion’s Magic” and “Concerning Magical Thingummys, Dodads and Whatnots.” Find out more about Wizard Kadmeion’s many adventures in the Clockpunk Wizard stories:
Lita Burke 