FORE-THOUGHTS
What can a person say about a character that despite his vileness and the rest of his faults, has become extremely popular with his old gaming group? In order to answer that perplexing question, maybe I should start with the beginning.
It was summer back in Butler, Pennsylvania, a medium-sized town about thirty miles north of Pittsburgh. My friend, Jeff Hysong, was about to start a role-playing campaign in Rolemaster, a game produced by Iron Crown Enterprises. Jeff liked Rolemaster because of its intricate game system, which he felt, far surpassed anything TSR had come out with. I liked Rolemaster because of the variety of characters one could create. I was tired of the same old grind: fighters, magic-users, a combination or bland variant of both, but almost always created from either human or elven racial stock. In order to relieve the boredom of creating just another one of those kind of characters, I decided to throw myself into the dark world of necromancy. From those efforts, Raithe was born. My second attempt to create an entirely evil character was unsuccessful. Chaotic Lords are just too damn evil to be role-played in a way that truly does them justice. At least I can't play them that way. So, Raithe got most of my attention.
In the first couple of adventures, Raithe was rough, abrasive, and downright deadly. Face it, "The Earliest Days," was not intended to be a light-hearted, happy-ending story. If you are thoroughly disgusted with Raithe and his evil antics, then you've gotten the major thrust of the story. If Raithe hadn't changed, he probably wouldn't have made it as far as he has.
However, Raithe does change. In "The Necromancer Who Learns Respect," when Raithe walks into a seer's shop, he is cocky. No one can best the might Raithe, of the Vale of Shadow. He conveniently forgets that he's only a first level mage, and that practically anyone who wants to can kill him. That changes quickly, and Raithe becomes the person that has become a legend within the old gaming group. The mage becomes more cold, cruel, but also more calculating, less abrasive and stand-offish. He is still evil to the core, but that part of his personality is less dominant than it is in his early career.
I hope that this first anthology will be immensely successful, and to all perspective fans, I bring you the good news that I will be writing more short stories about Raithe as he becomes involved in more adventuring.
Until then, may you not meet the whisper-tongued magi in the darkest of nights.
John Brengman