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

• Profession: Assistant for Wizard Kadmeion
• Race: Narfleet (a half-blood with a human mother and elf father), male
• Appearance: blue eyes, blond hair, medium build
• Full Name: Wolverhampton Brighton M’Choakenchilde
• Formal Title: Twice-Seventh Son Mage
• Honorifics: Honorable Mage, Sir Bright
• Education: Master Magician in the Clockwork Arts, summa cum laude, Agatha University of Magical Arts and Sciences
• Milieu: Bright is a denizen of the Clockpunk Wizard world.

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:

• Forever Boy
• Ephraim’s Curious Device
• Old Bony Blue Eyes
• Glitter Ponies