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Black Aniaus
Mouse, Druid-witch
Considered legend; a scary story used to frighten mouse children, of a cannibal fiend that attacks while they sleep. But the legend is true. Also called the Widow of Hepas. She resides upon Kildre Hill, in a hut filled with mouse skins and the bones of mouse children. She appears to assume guises drawn from the minds of her prey and twists them into horrific visions that strip their defenses; in Karic’s case: his sister Gabrielle and mother Mornae. Anaius also assumes the shape of an ominous mist with a black heart and red eyes, as well as the form of an old decayed female mouse, however, her true physical form is unknown. Karic concluded that Anaius and her hut are supernaturally bound as one. Pilot the Tall claims she does not actually consume those she “sacrifices,” although he offers blood, bone, a deceased mouse spirit, and a finger of his own flesh to gain answers from her, as she seems to serve as a spiritual conduit to the wisdom of the lost Nathair banished to the Outer Darkness.
First mentioned as legend in issue #1
First introduced in issue #3
First appears in physical form in issue #4
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Cassius
Mouse
Previously identified as the Hooded One, and assumed to be a fallen Templar, a “pale bellied grub” in service to rats. Blind in his right eye and sports a vicious scar. He leads a small party into the remains of Cricket’s Glen following the attack, search of missed valuables and clues to other exiled Templar. He follows the trail of Pilot the Tall and Karic, and tracks them as far as the Barren Lands, reluctant to do battle with a starving cat, and seemingly guided to his quarry by the light of a firefly.
Cassius is overcome, along with The Many, by the flood unleashed by Karic’s mystical pouch.
Cassius attacks Pilot amidst the Fields of Gold before the entrance to the Great Ash Tree, and accuses him of being the traitorous grub who guided rats in the destruction of Cricket’s Glen and betrayed Deishun to his death. He claims to have killed other exiled Templar: Methos and his disciples. When Karic leaps into the fray, Cassius stabs him through the gut.
First introduced in issue #2
First identified in issue #4
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Darsk, Captain
Rat
Captain of a raiding party whose mission is the capture and execution of Templar exiles, as well as collecting and culling mice slaves. He serves as part of a larger unit with fellow captains Darsk, Kruskof and Tosk, combining their caravans en route to the mice capital.
First introduced in issue #3
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Deishun
Mouse
Former Templar Knight now in exile as the blacksmith of Cricket's Glen, and master to apprentice Leito. A mighty, charismatic warrior with a foul temper and even fouler mouth, he lives in exile, barely tolerated by the community that grants him sanctuary, despite the protection he offers on their behalf. He courts the widow Mornae, until his heroic death at the paws of a rat raiding party commanded by Captain Tosk.
First introduced in issue #1
Dies in issue #1
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Elizabeth
Mouse
Youngest childhood friend of Gabrielle, Karic & Leito, holds a youthful crush on Karic, and an inhabitant of Cricket's Glen. She is separated from her family and taken captive by a rat raiding party commanded by Captain Tosk, en route to the mice capital as a slave.
First introduced in issue #1
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Farmer Malley
Mouse
survivor of the Cricket’s Glen raid. Randomly chosen by rats, from amongst all other captives, he carries Leito’s wounded body to Captain Tosk’s crossroads rendezvous.
First introduced in issue #1
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Gabrielle
Mouse
Daughter of Mornae, and younger sister to Karic, best friend of Elizabeth, enamored of Leito, and is an inhabitant of Cricket's Glen. Her father Siah is dead by an undisclosed cause. She is taken captive by a rat raiding party commanded by Captain Tosk, en route to the mice capital as a slave.
First introduced in issue #1
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Geldar
Mouse
Inhabitant of Cricket's Glen; survives an attack by a spider god that claims his co-worker Gilmak. Fate unknown.
First introduced in issue #1
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Gilmak
Mouse
Inhabitant of Cricket's Glen; co-worker of Geldar. He is ambushed and killed by a spider god.
First introduced in issue #1
Dies in issue #1
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Gretchen
Mouse
Elderly inhabitant of Cricket's Glen. She is openly disdainful of Deishun, until a rat raiding party besieges the town and she calls for the blacksmith's protection.
First introduced in issue #1
Fate unknown.
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Karic
Mouse
Son of Mornae, and older brother to Gabrielle, best friend of Leito, enamored by Elizabeth, and an inhabitant of Cricket's Glen.
His father Siah is dead by an undisclosed cause. He is playful, mischievous, and fascinated by ancient legends and stories about the lost
Templar Order, even though the elder townsfolk frown upon such interests. When a rat raiding party commanded by Captain Tosk besieges the town,
he reveals a surprising heroic side by organizing many townsfolk toward the river where they can escape.
He later rescues his family from their burning tree home, only to plummet into the water when the tree snaps before he can swing himself to safety.
He is swallowed by the Salmon of Knowledge and transported to the mystical realm of the fish gods.
They tell him that he is to become like the legendary Kuhl-En and save his people, and they bequeath a mystic pouch to aid him.
Returning to the smoldering ruin of Cricket's Glen, he rescues the wounded Pilot the Tall who tells him of the Templar prophecy of the Chosen One of Wotan,
and promises to train him as a Templar Knight.
At first, Karic feels unworthy of even becoming Pilot’s squire, but after experiencing a mystical dream that revealed the origin of the world, of defiant evil,
and the necessity of the Templar Order under Kuhl-En—as well as learning that Templar can pass between the Worlds of Night and Day when the
need is noble and desperate enough—he reasons that only a Templar can save his family and agrees to be taught. As his training begins,
he learns that much of what he learned as a child was distorted myth, and that he must now begin to discern truth as Pilot reveals it
to him—even to the acceptance of forbidden Death Magic utilized as a mere tool. As their journey takes them far from his home, to the desert
wastes of the Barren Lands, Karic and pilot find themselves besieged by the deadly threat of the ravenous horde of red ants known as The Many.
Employing the mystic pouch of the fish gods in a stunning fashion, Karic rescues himself and Pilot from the red ants, thereby proving he has been blessed by the gods, and perhaps by Wotan himself. Pilot continues training him to minimal effect, and finally guides him to Kildre Hill, and an encounter with the legendary Black Anaius, a supernatural being who proves she is no myth as she assumes the forms of those Karic loves and left behind—Gabrielle and Mornae—and traps him in her hut.
Karic flees and is seemingly rescued by Pilot who makes an offering to Black Anaius in exchange for the answer to an unspoken riddle. Following Karic’s success at what he calls the Test of Kildre Hill, Pilot later knights him as a Templar. They then journey to the Great Ash Tree where only the Readers of the Wheat can discern his true destiny. Pilot uses Karic’s blood in a Death Magic ritual that parts the vast Fields of Gold, but are attacked by the Hooded One, revealed as Cassius, who claims that Pilot is a traitorous “pale bellied grub,” a fallen Templar who guided rats in the destruction of Cricket’s Glen and betrayed Deishun to his death. Cassius stabs Karic through the gut, when he again experiences a mystic vision wherein he rides the back of the Great Death Owl; he is flown over the mouse capital city of Dealrach Ard-Vale and shown his family as slaves; when asked what he has to offer Lord Wotan in exchange for their freedom, Karic says everything; Wotan accepts.
First introduced in issue #1
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Leito
Mouse
Young orphaned apprentice to master blacksmith Deishun, best friend of Karic, enamored by Gabrielle, and an inhabitant of Cricket's Glen.
A natural storyteller, he reveals the origin of Kuhl-En and the fall of the Templar Order, as well as plays Templar Knight games with Karic.
That he has been secretly trained as a Templar by Deishun is surmised because his deceased father may have been one of the Order himself.
When a rat raiding party kills Deishun, he challenges their captain, Tosk, to a duel under the rules of Trial by Combat to avenge his master's death,
but only loses his own sword arm to the vicious rat commander. Discovered alive yet delirious, and part of the slave caravan en route to the mice capital, Leito’s incapacitating wounds are tended by Mornae.
First introduced in issue #1
Fate unknown.
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Malik, Captain
Rat
Captain of a raiding party whose mission is the capture and execution of Templar exiles, as well as collecting and culling mice slaves. He serves as part of a larger unit with fellow captains Kruskof, Malik and Tosk, combining their caravans en route to the mice capital.
First introduced in issue #3
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Mornae
Mouse
Widow of husband Siah, mother of Karic and Gabrielle, and inhabitant of Cricket's Glen. A poor seamstress, she is courted by Deishun until his death.
Her demeanor is sweet natured, loving and nurturing, yet can be politely defiant, resourceful under stress, and capable of brutal defensive violence
when her family is threatened. She is taken captive by a rat raiding party commanded by Captain Tosk, en route to the mice capital as a slave. Along the way she discovers the wounded Leito as a fellow captive, and tends to his severe injury.
First introduced in issue #1
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Pilot the Tall
Mouse
Former Templar Knight now in exile. His effort to warn Deishun of the imminent rat attack upon Cricket’s Glen goes unheeded and he is
escorted from town under guard. Yet he still returns to aid in the town’s defense only to be wounded and left for dead by rat captain Tosk.
He is rescued by Karic, and is the first to reveal the Templar prophecy of the Chosen One of Wotan. He offers to train Karic in the ways of the Templar.
Pilot urges their swift departure to evade “pale bellied grubs,” fallen Templar now aligned with rats. He later interprets Karic’s mystical dream of the origin
of the world, reveals distortions in the sacred doctrines of the mythical Kuhl-En, and conducts the rigorous, often demoralizing, physical training of the Templar.
After leading Karic to the relative safety of the desert wastes of the Barren Lands, he casually utilizes forbidden Death Magic to divine answers to a mystery
regarding the deceased inhabitants of a rat army camp they discovered. Soon, however, they are overrun by the deadly horde of the ravenous red ants known as The Many.
After his extraordinary rescue from the red ants by Karic’s use of his mystical pouch, Pilot is convinced the boy has the blessing of the gods, and possibly of Wotan himself. He continues his training, while leading them south to Kildre Hill, legendary home of the mythical Black Anaius. Affirming that Anaius is real, he then abandons Karic to fend for himself.
Pilot bargains with Anaius, offering blood, bone, a deceased mouse spirit, and a finger of his own flesh in exchange for an answer to an unspoken riddle he posed, seeking the wisdom of the lost Nathair. He later declares Karic’s success in the Test of Kildre Hill enough to knight him as a Templar. They then journey to the Great Ash Tree where only the Readers of the Wheat can discern his true destiny. He uses Karic’s blood in a Death Magic ritual that parts the vast Fields of Gold, but are attacked by the Hooded One, revealed as Cassius, who claims that Pilot is a traitorous grub who guided rats in the destruction of Cricket’s Glen and betrayed Deishun to his death. When leaping to his defense, Cassius stabs Karic through the gut.
First introduced in issue #1
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Tosk, Captain
Rat
Captain of a raiding party whose mission is the capture and execution of Templar exiles, as well as collecting and culling mice slaves. He serves as part of a larger unit with fellow captains Darsk, Kruskof and Malik, combining their caravans en route to the mice capital.
Brutal and efficient in the execution of his task, he is also arrogant, cocky and headstrong. He wears an oversized iron gauntlet upon his right paw.
He oversees the death of Deishun, disarms Leito in a Trial by Combat, and supervises the capture of Elizabeth, Gabrielle and Mornae.
Pilot claims that Tosk was the rat that stabbed him and left him to die slowly.
First introduced in issue #1
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