Xerak: Leonine Wizard

Xerak: Art By Tom Kidd

Over the last few weeks, at the request of my friend, Jane Noel, I’ve been doing a deep dive into some of what contributed to the central characters in my new Over Where series.  I started with the eldest, Meg, moved to Peg, and last week took a look at Teg.  Having finished with the summoned, it’s time to move to the summoners.

At the start of Library of the Sapphire Wind, Meg, Peg, and Teg are summoned up and out of the Valentine’s Day book club meeting at Pagearean Books.  The summoners are a trio of young adults: Xerak, Grunwold, and Vereez.  However, their relative lack of age is not what immediately catches the attention of the summoned trio; it’s that they aren’t human.  Instead, they are therianthropic: creatures who combine human and animal traits.

The eldest of the summoners (more usually termed “inquisitors,” because they have questions to ask) is Xerak.  Xerak is about twenty-four, and leonine.  He’s also something of a magical prodigy, even in a world in which magic is relatively common.  For this reason, he was sent to board with a wizard tutor, Uten Kekui.  When Uten Kekui vanishes, roughly a year before the inquisitors take off for Hettua Shrine, Xerak devotes himself to finding him.  His failure to find his beloved master is what drives him to ask for supernatural aid.

When I’ve done book events for this series, one of the most usual questions is why did I choose to have the denizens of Over Where be therianthropic.  Honestly, the reason is that I’ve liked such figures since I first encountered them through mythology.  Minotaurs seemed more cool than monstrous to me.  Egyptian deities such as Anubis, Hathor, and Horus were fascinating.  Although I like shapeshifters, too, therianthropic creatures who were at home in both skins at the same time always fascinated me.

I also wanted to go exploring in a world that was different, right on down to the roots, and having the “people” (a term which becomes more complicated the deeper you dive into the world) not be human, seemed like a good way to shake up my preconceptions.

So, a bit more about Xerak.  He’s bookish, but his last year of constant travel has gotten him into prime shape, about which he is just a little vain.  Instead of a wizard’s staff, Xerak uses a spear, the obsidian head of which shows different colors depending on what sort of spell he’s building.  He has a bit of a drinking problem and knows it, but so far he has stayed just on the side of too much.

Xerak has the least problematic relationship with his parents of the three inquisitors.  His mom and dad run an antiquities business, and it’s likely Xerak inherited his gift for magic from his dad.  His original name was Senehem; his full wizard’s name is Xerafu Akeru.  He’s an only child, and his relationship with Grunwold and Vereez is rather like that of siblings, even though they haven’t seen as much of each other in the last few years.

That’s about as far as I can go without stumbling into spoiler territory.  I welcome questions, but if there aren’t any so complicated as to demand a new Wandering, next week we’ll take a look at Grunwold.