L.K. Evans asked Michael J. Sullivan:

Hi Michael. Huge fan of your writing! I was wondering if there were any tidbits you could give us about the characters coming up in The First Empire?

Michael J. Sullivan You're not concerned about me having to kill you afterward? =)

The world of Rhune (the first novel of the series) is different than in Riyria. Still Elan, but three thousand years earlier. In Earth history that would place it back in the Bronze Age, the time of Heroes and Myths like the epics of Homer. In Elan it takes place at the dawn of mankind, not long after humans made the transition from hunter-gathers to farmers. Humans are still mostly using stone tools, which means metal is magical.

Given this, traditional characters don’t fit so well. There are no knights or kings, because there are no horses or kingdoms (in the human realm at least). The hierarchy tree is fairly compressed as complex political systems haven’t developed yet. It is a time when anyone could become a hero, and in the First Empire series, a number of unlikely people do.

The cast consists of:
A loner warrior from a troublesome clan.
The widow of a clan chieftain.
A young mystic who believes she’s received an awful message of warning from the gods
A physically crippled potter who is in love with an emotionally crippled slave.
The slave who is also one of the greatest minds of all time.
A chronicler—because all fantasy books have to have one these days
And of course… Techylor, Mawyndulë, Cenzlyor, and Nyphron.

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