Characters

Kildare

" Or, more formally, Lady Kildare of the House of Dannan. She is a 900-year-old expatriate princess of Faerie, who has lived on "our" side of the metaphysical fence for the past several centuries. In her time she has danced with emperors, cosorted with assassins, gotten blind drunk with rock stars. She has been painted by Rossetti, courted by Byron, and had songs written to her by Syd Barrett. She currently runs a bookstore/collectibles shop called {"Curiosities"} in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, and serves as the unofficial matriarch and mascot to a group of displaced mythical beings who make their lives in our world. She is at the center of our story, the bright star around which all the other characters revolve. She is well schooled in the ways of magic, though she is wise enough not to make clumsy distinctions between the natural and supernatural. She has a lightning wit, a quick temper, impeccable taste, and a seemingly endless well of charm. She has a habit of going through lovers like she goes through shoes (which is to say, quite frequently). There is also fascinating moral flexibility to her, as all her vices for the most part come to her without consequence. In the end, Kildare of Faerie is many things; Beautiful, witty, compassionate, gregarious, lonely, impulsive, bitchy, manic, melancholy...a multi-faceted gem casting off bright colors to the gray world around her. Worship her. Adore her. Love her. Just don't piss her off." -Aria Preview

The Pug

" Descended from a long line of great Dwarven warriors, the being known to his friends as the Pug first stumbled into the mundane realm of our world 700 years ago, when he strayed from his battalion in a drunken stupor during the last great campaign in the Far Lands. Since that time, he has seen little reason to leave. He has been present at many noted historical events, from the battle of Agincourt to fields of the Somme. He fought as a mercenary in the armies of both Napoleon and Peter the Great, and in his time drunk what must amount to oceans of distilled spirits. A creature of great appetites, prodigious humor and iron-clad loyalties, he is perhaps Kildare's closest friend and companion." -Aria Preview

Gwynnion

"Kildare's cousin Gwynnion, often referred to as "Mad Ginny," was driven to insanity some 70-odd years ago after surviving a brutal Faerie massacre in the English town of Cottingley, during the famous outbreak of "Faerie Mania" that gripped that area earlier this century. She is a sad, delicate and profoundly damaged soul, and Kildare makes it a point to look after her." -Aria Preview

Dion

"In days long ago, in the misty Arcadian fields of memory, he was once known by a different name: Dionysus. He was the lord of revels, spurring the inhabitants of the countryside to wild, manic orgies, driving women to rend their husbands to pieces in mad, frenzied lust. Today? Well, today he runs a bar. But not just any bar. The finest bar in all of New York. You'll surely agree, if you can find it, and if you can remember where it was once you've left. This former Olympian God has grown quite comfortable with his new role in life. As Dion himself would be the first to point out, even the finest wine mellows with age." -Aria Preview

Hawthorne " A wild-eyed young man who rants constantly about fairies, demons and the coming of the "Dark One." A rambling madman or someone who's on to something? One thing's for sure: he's presently locked away in an English jail cell, so all's safe and sound, right? Right?" -Aria Preview

Count Iblis

"Sovereign of the Velvet Marches. To Iblis, everything in life (and beyond) is to be bartered, bought and traded, even souls. Silver-tongued and lethally cunning, he can be quite charming company, but one should only enter into a deal with him with the utmost caution." -Aria Preview

Childe Roland

"The mad, bad poet of the alley ways, Roland is a changeling, a half-faerie, street artist who spends his days writing in curious verse and painting strange glyphs and images on walls, bus stops and billboards. Read in the proper order, his scribblings can transport mortals to unearthly realms." -Aria Preview

The Sphinx

"A strangely enigmatic gentleman of uncertain age, The Sphinx is a being obsessed with puzzles, riddles, conundrums, posers, etc. He'll sit for days in his sprawling apartment, putting together jigsaw puzzles in the dark while translating Sanskrit religious mysteries in his head. Although fiercely solitary, his services are much sought after, for he possess the peculiar ability to solve any riddle or open any seal given him. He collects puzzles and riddles jealously, and is usually working on half a dozen at any given time. The Sphinx demands a quid pro quo for his services - a riddle for a riddle. Kildare sometimes pays for his services by passing on bad knock-knock jokes." -Aria Preview

Ondine "{with Lullaby}-Two of Kildare's closest gal pals. Lullaby is sunny and sweet, although a bit hopeless, and more than a bit clueless. However, she usually has little trouble getting by, due in large part to the fact that she causes men to do her bidding quite literally with a song. Ondine, a "recovering" Water Sprite, is a fiercely independent and somewhat stubborn individual, despite the fact that she is, technically, still the "property" of a rustic European village." -Aria Preview