ANDREA (ANDI)

Age: 15

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Thief-Acrobat (Sub-class: Jongleur)

Magic Weapon: Spheres

Andi is a willowy Hispanic girl, with wavy hair of a dark coffee color, and doe-like brown eyes; she wears a peliçon of watchet, edged in pale gray fur (squirrel, or something of that nature) over a short, mulberry-colored gown, and on her head, over a caul, a hat with a bold panache (very much like the one Madame Clara Cluck wears).

Andi is a very sweet girl, shy, timid, and pessimistic at first, but capable of bursts of high spirits and enthusiasm when given a lead by some more assertive personality. She is very loyal, and will always follow her leader, even when convinced the Young Ones are headed straight for disaster. (Does she she have a secret crush on the cute guy?) She covers up for her deep-down shyness by playing the showman with her juggling.

Her SPHERES OF JUGGLING (seven of them: violet, dark blue, light blue, green, yellow, orange, and red) are carried in a pouch at her belt. Each of the various colors, and each combination of them, has various effects: for instance, blue and yellow used together might produce an effect like a Dancing Lights spell, while blue and green together would have an effect like a Sleep spell: nearly all effects are of the dazzling and confusing variety; they are thus useful for providing distractions, but have little direct offensive capabilities. (They could possibly have some small utilitarian effect, as, say, red, yellow, and orange might light a campfire or a torch.)

ANTOINE (TWAN)

Age: 16

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (Good tendencies)

Character Class: Fighter (Sub-class: Corsair)

Magic Weapon: Ship

Antoine (or “Twan,” as he is called for short) has large, brown, twinkling eyes, and a wide, grinning mouth, usually open; he has a dark walnut complexion and close-shaved hair. He is dressed in a gaudy pirate costume, with a head-scarf, jerkin, knee breeches and hip boots, (and of course the poofy shirt).

Twan is a flamboyant personality, the Han Solo type: act first, think later. As the master of the Ship of Sea, Land, and Air he is likely to assume an air of authority, but as he is lacking in foresight and responsibility, the other Young Ones would rather follow a more thoughtful leader — though sometimes they are not given the chance.

The SHIP OF SEA, LAND, AND AIR, as its name implies, is able to sail on land and through the air, as well as both on and under water; moreover, when not in actual use, Twan can fold it up and put it in his pocket. It is thus useful for taking the Young Ones from one exotic locale to another, though it cannot exactly be used for direct combat.

CARTER

Age: 16

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Rogue

Magic Weapon: Rope

Carter, a “cracker” from Atlanta, Georgia, is of average height (5' 10") (1.78m), lean and athletic (but not excessively so), with light brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin that tans surprisingly easily. Carter wears suede boots, and gloves with a hole cut out of the back of them, a fawn-colored shirt and leggings, black leather belts and straps, and a dark brown leather jacket. He has various pouches attached to the belts à la Batman for lockpicks, tools, odds and ends, as well as a larger pouch about the size of a large fanny-pack or a medium game-bag.

Care-free, easy going, and laid-back, Carter has a surprisingly vast knowledge of cartoons, art, medieval warfare and law, and cooking.  He’s also into rock-climbing.  He hates conflict with others, and will try to avoid trouble altogether, or attempt to defuse tense situations through humor, with mixed results.  He will reluctantly fight if he’s forced to.

His MAGIC ROPE can weave itself into nets, bridges, etc., for climbing, entanglement, and such useful purposes.  He thinks it’s pretty cool.

CECILIA

Age: 13

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Character Class: Thief

Magic Weapon: Knife

Cecilia is an English girl, about 5' 2" (1.57m) in height and with a rather petite figure. She has red hair that hangs just above her shoulders, green eyes, and wears a costume made up of a blue shirt with sleeves rolled up and tied at her mid-drift, a air of blue trousers with one leg torn off, which has her knife strapped behind her and brown sandals.

Cecilia is a bright and pretty tom-boy, with a bit of a mischievous side. She tends to be rather naughty.

Her KNIFE OF THROWING can duplicate itself in order to be thrown at enemies and their directions can be controlled whilst in mid air. After they have completed their task, the duplicate knives dissipate into a small mist.

COLLIN

Age: 16

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Fighter (Sub-class: Highlander)

Magic Weapon: Sgian Dhuib (“Black Knife”)

Collin is a stocky kid, not fat, but well-suited for wrestling and shotput.  He’s about 5' 6" (1.68m) tall.  He keeps his reddish-brown hair fairly short, about collar length, but somehow it always manages to be messy.  His eyes are a dark hazel.  The costume he wears in the Realm is in accord with his Scottish heritage.  He wears a loose, long-sleeved off-white shirt, and over that is laced a sleeveless, dark brown leather jerkin.  The kilt and plaide (sash) that he wears are the old style (think Braveheart) rather than the modern kilts seen today.  These are not woven in a tartan pattern, but instead are both a plain dark green.   He wears brown leather boots, and over these are wrapped long strips of the same green wool as his kilt.  His plaide is held on his shoulder by a large silver brooch with an orange carnelian stone set into it.  There is a deer hide sporran belted around his waist.  (A sporran is the original “fanny pack,” in that it’s a purse or pouch attached to a belt.  It is worn in the front because it doubles as “frontal armor.”)  This is just a normal pouch, in which he can put coins or rations or small, interesting objects they find on their adventures.

Collin is your normal, fairly well-adjusted, ever-so-slightly stuck-up high school jock.  He’s the kind of kid who would go out for wrestling and track just because he loves to hear the cheers of the crowd.  His preference is for individual events because they feed his love of being the center of attention...making him not so great as a team player.  He will wear his letterman jacket whenever possible because of the attention he thinks it brings him.  Frankly, he just loves being in the spotlight.  He does reasonably well in school — nothing exemplary, but he’s not flunking any subjects, either.  His grades are kept just high enough to keep him on the school teams — apparently he doesn’t think of the honor roll as a “good enough” type of spotlight.
Collin’s the type of kid who just tends to be LOUD.  He likes his music a bit too loud, the volume of his voice can easily overpower a conversation, his first car was a ’68 Mustang with no muffler, he’s known to shout “YES!” in a classroom after being called on and giving the right answer, and he can’t resist drumming on large, hollow objects like garbage cans as he walks by, just for the fun of making noise.  In fact, until coming to the Realm and being forced to learn silence could be a way of preserving his life when being pursued, the only time he gets quiet is when his temper starts to boil.  He has a fairly long fuse so his temper rarely explodes, but when he starts to grow angry, he will begin to speak in very low, deliberate, dangerous tones.  Usually this is warning enough, but whatever it is persists in angering him to the point of losing it, he will resort to physical violence.  His wrestling motto, “Hit hard, hit fast, take ’em down,” applies when he loses his temper, too.
Collin has a strong and dominating personality, but he is not leadership material.   As stated before, through his focus on individual sports, he is not quite used to being a team player, and though he would make a good spokesman, the other responsibilities of leadership — making the tough decisions for everyone, coming up with group strategies, keeping up the others’ morale, managing personality conflicts, etc. — are unfamilar to him.   He would do it if he had to.   That doesn’t mean he’d be good at it.

In Gaelic, his weapon is known as a SGIAN DHUIB (Pronounced “skeen doo”).  This translates to “black knife” or “hidden knife.” A brief explanation: By the old laws of Scottish hospitality, you are required to give shelter to anyone who comes knocking at your door seeking food or a place to sleep, even if it were your worst enemy.  In return, the guest is expected to disarm, and was only allowed to keep one small weapon in case of emergency.  This weapon was the boot knife, the sgian dhuib.  It was to be carried sticking out of the sock so the host could see it at all times, but it was officially “unseen” as a weapon unless the guest drew it.
Collin’s weapon has a very similar power.  It truly is the “hidden knife.”   It is a black-handled knife about eight inches long, with a silver double-edged blade and carnelian stone set atop the pommel, perfectly balanced for throwing, unbreakable and perpetually razor sharp.  It has the ability to go unnoticed by anyone else.  If the group was to be captured by a company of orcs, no matter how hard they searched, the orcs would not find a weapon on Collin.  If they were taken prisoner, he would have a way of cutting his friends loose later.   He could also throw it, for instance to knock a magic item out of someone’s hand, and the holder of the item would not see the knife coming until it struck the object in question.
The weakness of the weapon is that it is all about subtlety, and that is exactly what Collin is not.  Once he has drawn direct attention to the knife, then it can be noticed and seen by others.  Tucked in his sock or just resting in his hand, no one, not even his friends who know of its existence, would see it.  The second he obviously used it, whether threatening a person or cutting a piece of string for a fishing line, it would become visible to everyone around him.  It becomes unnoticeable once it is sheathed again.  (Collin always sees it; that way he can never misplace it and not find it again.)  In the above throwing example, if he were to make a big, obvious show of winding up before throwing, then the victim would of course be able to see it coming.  But if he were to be able to somewhat conceal his movements as he threw, the knife would not be seen until it hit its target.   If he were to pull it out in a fight, (which his friends hope he will never do,) it would look like a knife had literally materialized in Collin’s hand — which in itself could be useful just for freaking his opponent out.  But truly to utilize the weapon’s power, he has to learn that he can’t always be the center of attention, that he will have more success by letting the spotlight fall on someone else.

DARREN

Age: 16

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Bard

Magic Weapon: Horn

Darren is built slightly athletically.

Darren is a trombone player in his high school band.  He has some slight athletic potential, but never having been interested; posesses extraordinary musical talent, but never has been willing to put the effort into it, has a very bright mind, but is lazy to the extreme: he’s your classic slacker bando.
Having already been interested in fantasy before being transported to The Realm, his initial reaction to his sudden transportation is one of delight... until he realizes how hard he’s going to have to work just to eat, and how often he’s going to have to go without his usual level of comfort.  Seeing how he fancies himself a leader (or at least, a good “advisor”), being always full of suggestions, in many ways, he takes the role Eric fufilled in the original group.  Though his ideas are sometimes taken seriously (they are often good), he is in no sense a leader... most people just don’t connect with him.
The big difference is that his defensiveness is not at Eric’s level; indeed, he is all too ready to trust... and explode verbally when he believes that trust has been exploited.  (He has a very exacting standard for truthfulness, even if he himself doesn’t always follow it.

His HORN OF BLASTING is a simple, long valveless trumpet (the kind from which you hang a heraldic banner).  Ironically enough, the symbol on his is the white eagle on the black background.  The most obvious power this horn has is a quick blast of sonic destructive power, very similar to Rahmoud’s sword.  Though the vibrations don’t typically destroy living things, it can shake solid structures.
For example, were it pointed at Venger’s palace, things might fall from the ceiling, cracks appear, etc.  If it were pointed at Venger, himself, his seating would be disrupted (he has to steady himself on his mount) and his ears would be hurt.
It may have other sound based powers, as well, which can be explored as the serikes moves on.

DAVID

Age: 14

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Character Class: Cleric

Magic Weapon: Scroll

David is a rather short, slight boy with longish, brown-black hair and dark brown, almond-shaped eyes, rather a triangular face, a pointed nose, and somewhat waspish, one-sided smirk.  He wears a monk-like hooded robe (black? brown? blue?) with a skullcap and a sort of stole or prayer shawl.   Voice, oboe-ish in quality, just a bit nasal and flat.

David is awfully clever, but not quite so clever as he thinks himself — as he is more than a bit conceited.   Endlessly ingenious, he has a tendency to devise Rube-Goldberg sorts of plans, sometimes effective, but more often backfiring horribly.  He is over-inquisitive, has a tendency to talk too much, a bad habit of spouting quotations, and a fatal tendency to say JUST the wrong thing.   In short, he’s a lot like a Super-Villain, except A) he’s on the side of Good, B) he’s not nearly as powerful, and C) he doesn’t laugh maniacally.   Usually.

His SCROLL OF KNOWLEDGE is a useful artifact, serving at different times as a map, a dictionary, or an encyclopedia of general knowledge.   For instance, if the Gang wanted to know about the Duke of Darkness, David would open his scroll and read: “Blue Fire, Land of — Its capital is the City of Atra; principal exports are slaves and zombie-repellant.   The population of Atra is 14,356.   A notable feature is the moat full of fire-breathing crocodiles.”
(Some fun could be had by writers in what useless or useful knowledge is included.  Basically, though, it serves as a device to convey plot information without having to drag in Dungeon Master or his equivalent for exposition.)   The scroll also serves as his holy symbol for turning Undead, should the occasion (or the Undead) arise.

I’m not sure whether he’d have any healing abilities or not.   If so, I suppose they could appear as clerical spells or recipes on his scroll.

EVE

Age: 16

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Character Class: Rogue

Magic Weapon: Dagger

Tall and thin, Eve is quite boyish in appearence. She has pale blue eyes, and her bleached-blonde hair is cut into a short, scruffy bob; she wears a black leather jerkin with matching leggings and matching black boots, soft but sturdy. She also wears light armor. Eve is light on her feet and graceful due to years of ballet lessons and several weeks of gymnastics.

Eve gives the impression of being quite laid-back, but she is suprisingly easy to anger. Tough and loyal, Eve feels protective towards the other Young Ones. She often plays the hero to give the others courage and keep morale up; rushing into dangerous situations without thinking is her speciality.

Eve’s MAGIC DAGGER is as long as her forearm, the hilt made of bone and the blade of some unknown metal. The blade is plain, but the hilt is a primitive (though well-done) carving of a saber-toothed cat. The dagger sometimes gives off heat, leading Eve to things and people that can aid the Young Ones in their quest. If Eve attaches a bit of cord to the hilt, she can also use it for dowsing.

GERTRUDE (TRUDY)

Age: 9

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Character Class: Barbarian (Sub-class: Valkyrie)

Magic Weapon: Spear

Trudy (don’t dare to call her Gertrude) is a stout little girl, with fiery red braids/pig-tails, round faced, freckled, and blue-eyed. She is dressed (as one might expect) in Wagnerian corselet and winged helmet, though her skirt is short enough to run in, and she has cross-gartered sandal-boots.

Trudy is a total tomboy. She is loud, headstrong, and rambunctious. She is a lot like Bobby.

Her SPEAR OF STORM is like the trident from the Dragon’s Graveyard which became a bolt of lightning, except that the Spear of Storm has the additional property of being able to summon a thunderstorm, with accompanying wind, thunder, and rain, at the user’s command.

HOLLY

Age: 15

Alignment: Neutral

Character Class: Ranger or Barbarian (Sub-class: Brush Runner)

Magic Weapon: Moccasins

Holly is of above average height, for a female, 5'8" (1.73m) or so, whip-thin and athletic. Holly has straight black hair, beautiful, large black eyes, and medium dark skin. She would be attractive if she weren’t scowling most of the time. She wears a breechclout, sash, loose white cotton shirt and short vest (or a Gabrielle-style halter), headband with a shell ornament, and high, fringed moccasins, with silver and turquoise accents on her concha belt and wristbands. A largish shoulder-bag on a broad strap rounds out the ensemble.

Holly tends to be sullen and withdrawn. She is happiest when she’s on her own, running (sprints or marathon) or working on pottery. She has an average knowledge of her Apache heritage, but doesn’t really like “all that Indian stuff”, and gets irked when people apply any “Indian” stereotype to her. She’s a lonely, angry girl.

Holly’s MOCCASINS OF THE WIND will allow her to walk or run over any surface (snow, water, quicksand, tar, lava, sand, dust, grass) without touching it, thus leaving no footprints and of course, not sinking into any unstable surfaces. Holly’s normal land-speed is then doubled. Upon command, the moccasins sprout wings and Holly may fly or levitate. With these moccasins Holly can aim a kick at an opponent or object, without connecting, and a gust of wind will push him back, knock items out of his hands, or put out torches or candles up to twenty yards away, knocking an ogre (or a small group of man-sized beings) off his feet, and damaging light structures (boats, huts, wooden doors or walls, etc.). Holly can’t use the Wind-Kick while flying, levitating, feather-falling, or standing on (or walking over) an unstable liquid surface. She hates them.

ISHA

Age: 18

Alignment: Lawful Neutral (Good tendencies)

Character Class: Monk

Magic Weapon: Ankh

Isha (pronounced EE-sha) has an oval-shaped face, an aquiline nose, large black eyes, severe eyebrows, and hair braided in rows à la Egyptienne. She is dressed in a quasi-Egyptian two-piece dress (like those bikini outfits that have towels that tie at the waist) in crimson silk, with gold headdress, pectoral, armlets, and anklets.

Isha is very much the leader-type, authoritative, articulate, and capable. She is strongly “grounded” and keeps her eye on accomplishing the task in hand. Her great fault is that she has a low tolerance for weakness in others, and tends to be hard on those who screw up, becoming devastatingly snarky and sarcastic. She also finds it excessively hard to accept blame when things go wrong, even if it was her fault. It is unfortunate that these characteristics become most obvious at those times when the Young Ones are most under pressure.

Her ANKH OF SUMMONING will call some living creature or creatures to the aid of the Young Ones, anything from a swarm of gnats to a brass dragon, from a giant otter to a flock of aarakocra. For instance, if the gang were attacked by an Iron Golem, she might (or might not — she does not always (ever?) know what she will get) be able to summon rust monsters to attack it. The ankh would not be able to summon specific people, nor would it summon either deities or undead — the usual type of creature to appear would be something of animal intelligence.

JOEY

Age: 14

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Fighter

Magic Weapon: Crossbow

Joey is about 5' 9" (1.75m) tall and has brown, shortish, spiky hair, and green-blue eyes. His costume is a brown tunic that has a long surcote, also brown but darker, which ends at his knees and is girded at the waist. His hose are the same colour as his tunic; his boots, as his surcote. He also wears also a small red cape draped around his shoulders, buttoned with a gold seal.

He is a rather happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but has high morals and doesn’t like to see wrongs go unpunished.

His ENERGY CROSSBOW is similar to Hank’s bow in that it shoots out energy bolts. Its main attack traps enemies in an electric field and immobilizes them completely, but it can be used in a multitude of ways, as the ingenuity of the authors sees fit.

JOHN

Age: 16

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Cavalier

Magic Weapon: Longsword

John has short blond hair, blue-green eyes and is about 6' 1" (1.85m) high. John’s costume consists of golden pauldrons, breastplate, and greaves, over a blue tunic and brown hose; he also has a mask of silver that goes over the top half of his head. He carries his sword in a leather sheath on his left-hand side.

John is the captain of his high school baseball team and a good leader type of guy. He’s mature and very responsible in what he does, strong, and almost certainly the first in front of any challenge.

His SWORD OF LIGHT is able cut through almost anything it touches. It can create a flash of light that blinds his enemies and renders them unable to fight for a moment, giving him the advantage. Another aspect of his sword is, that if called it allows him to move at the speed of light to strike at whatever is in front of him and is practically unstoppable.

JOHNNY

Age: Size to fit (See Below.)

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (tending to Good)

Character Class: Barbarian

Magic Weapon: Club

Johnny isn’t very bright.  He’s not very nimble, either; in fact, he’s quite clumsy. But he’s big.

Most of his young life, he’s used that size to intimidate kids smaller than himself.  He attaches himself to the more popular ones, and seeks to enlarge his image by putting others down.  He is feared and hated by those he bullies, despised and mocked (behind his back) by those he attaches himself to.  And he didn’t know any other way to live.  One of his primary targets was [insert smaller, unconfident Young One here, and adjust Johnny’s age to match].
When he got to the Realm, the tables were turned completely. At least at home, he pretty well knew how things worked; he is afraid of this new place.  Without the little, shaky social support he once had, he lacks the confidence even to bully.  And despite his size, he never was an athlete; he is easily winded (at least, early on in the series) by the long treks the Young Ones must make.
His initial reaction is to do what he’s always done: attach himself to the most powerful of the familiar people around him ... and that’s the other Young Ones.  Early in the series, he attempts to do a little bullying every now and then, though most of the time he’s too off balance to even think of it.
As the series progresses, he begins to devote himself to what he now thinks of as his “surrogate family,” which treats him better than his real family ever did.  He’s quick to defend them, often having to be restrained by [insert leader character here].  And he is very contrite about his treatment of [insert smaller character here] in the past.  The two of them get along very well now.

JOTO

Age: 10

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Character Class: Magic-User, (Sub-class: Transmuter)

Magic Weapon: Belt

Joto is a lithe and sturdy boy with a medium brown complexion, dark brown dredlocks, and dark eyes. He wears animal skin breeches, vest, bracers, and leggings, and a golden and gemmed torc rather like Diana’s. His voice is that of Jeremy Suarez.

Joto is a jovial and upbeat kid prone to running off at the mouth, selective hearing, and mild bursts of bravado common to all red-blooded, fun-lovin’, all-American boys. Not nearly so brash as Bobby, Joto will allow the others to step first into the fray while he hangs back, assessing which animal he could transform into in order to help the situation best, or waiting for someone to order him to assume the appropriate form.

Joto’s BELT OF TRANSMUTATION is a thick chain-mail belt of interlocking circlets of gold which allows its wearer to transform into any animal of similar mass to his own. Thus Joto is able to become anything from a wolf to a jaguar to a large bird or a very small whale. The upside of this object is obvious. The downside is that he has to keep it on while in animal form or he’s stuck like that. He occasionally needs to have others in the party hold onto it if his animal form is too inconvenient to retain wearing it on his own. Additionally, if he stays too long in a certain animal’s guise, he will begin to lose his humanity and become wholly that animal. It will take approximately seventy-two hours for him to completely lose all his human traits, including the capacity to use the belt. The only way to get him back to human form is by some other magic and it will take him another seventy-two hours to get all the animal out of him. Joto acquires the abilities of the animals he becomes, but only those abilities immediately available upon transformation and not those which require biological processes. Thus as a cheetah he can immediately run at incredible speeds but as a cobra he has to wait a few hours for his new body to produce venom.

KANE

Age: 17

Alignment: Lawful Good

Character Class: Samurai

Magic Weapon: Katana

Kanejiro, or Kane (which he prefers because it sounds cool), is about 5' 10" (1.78m), and lean, with a fighter’s natural grace of movement. He has, as one might guess, Asian features (think a very young George Takei); he usually has his mouth set in a half-grin or wears a neutral, studious expression, and he has long black hair drawn back into a ponytail. His garb is an abbreviated Samurai outfit — harimako-do (armor that protects the belly and back) combined with a simple jingasa (conical helm), and forearm, shoulder, elbow, knee, groin and shin-guards; clothing consists of a loose obi (light, short robe or tunic), tabi (split-toed boots, á la Panthro’s boots from Thundercats) , a jin-baori (overjacket) and loose cotton trousers. The obi is very simple in color and decoration, being light blue-green with an irregular triangular pattern (scale) in gunmetal blue; the tabi are dark grey, the trousers are a slightly darker green with a stylized design of scattered tortoise shells in a gunmetal blue. The jin-baori is black, with the kanji for “dragon” and “thunder” on the back in green and blue, above an irregularly shaped field of irregularly sized multicolored dots. The helmet is quite plain, with a simple Chinese dragon etched into the front and back.

Determined, occasionally playful, competitive, and a “take-charge and organize” kinda guy. Embraces any challenge that comes his way, but is constantly wondering, á la James T. Kirk (but with far less melodrama) whether he’s up to it; failure really cheeses him off, and makes him redouble his efforts to overcome whatever obstacles that are in his way. He tries not to be suspicious of strangers, and big scary drooling monsters with acid breath make him excited (as in, he wants to kick their posteriors). He cannot stand not being busy. He’ll occasionally come off as pushy and driven, but that would probably change a bit as he adjusts to the situation. Like Eric, of the original Young Ones, he wants desperately to go Home.

His KATANA OF THUNDER is typical in appearance, at first glance; upon closer inspection, it has a silver-blue sheen, and an irregular pattern along the hardened edge resembling storm-clouds; towards the tsuba (guard) is an engraving of a stylized “thunderbolt” “vajra” or “dorje”, a Buddhist symbol; ; it has a scabbard that might be used as a parrying weapon. The sword’s fittings all bear the stylized “thunderbolt”, as well, but this will only be obvious in close-ups of the weapon or scabbard. A typical “slice through mundane-and-magical materials as if they’re made of soft butter” magic sword, it also throws slim lightning-bolts up to around 30 yards in length, can be electrified for hand-to-hand combat, deflects energy and missiles directed at the wielder. It’s also possible that he might be able to slice through catapult and ballista missiles in lieu of deflecting them. The sword also has a “thunder-clap” attack; he swings the sword with all his might, slicing through the air so violently that there is a resounding *BOOM* that stuns everyone but him in an indeterminate radius for several minutes; this is really only effective versus living opponents — Undead and constructs (like golems) would likely be unaffected.

LAURA

Age: 10

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Healer

Magic Weapon: Potion

Laura is a black girl from Harlem, New York, with Jamaican roots. Despite being a bit overweight, she’s a fairly pretty girl with big brown eyes and braided hair. Laura’s costume consists of a simple white dress with a dainty silver tiara and flat white shoes; the whole ensemble makes her look rather angel-like.

Laura is a hard-working girl who already knows what she wants out of life: to help people as a doctor. Mature and thoughtful, she’s an overly serious girl and isn’t good at cutting loose and having fun, or mixing with other kids/teenagers. Although her poor social skills can make her come across as snobby to other youths, she isn’t, at least not intentionally. She hates being talked down to or treated like a child and doesn’t like it when she can’t contribute anything to a situation.

Her POTION OF MENDING can heal minor injuries, such as cuts and bruises or achy muscles. All she has to do is dab a bit of of the silver liquid on whatever part of the person is hurt and it will heal the wounds as though they had never been there at all. The potion never runs out and is contained in a very small bottle that Laura keeps tucked away in a silver pouch worn around her neck.

LUKE

Age: 12

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Fighter

Magic Weapon: Cestus

Luke is a very young, stocky lad, 5' 3 (1.60m) tall. His hair is a fair blond colour and quite short; he has blue eyes. His costume has a light blue short-sleeve tunic with a darker blue jerkin over it which drapes down over his groin area, and pauldrons. His hose are the same colour as the tunic and his knee-high boots and greaves the same colour as his jerkin.

Luke has a bit of a temper and tends to get angry quite quickly when teased.

His CESTI have both close and medium-long abilities; close range attacks give his opponents a shock when struck with which can send them flying. The Cesti create an enormous energy blast which is shot at enemies within range, they also can be used in combination with their close-range strikes and are extremely powerful and damaging.

MIKU

Age: 15

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Sorceress

Magic Weapon: Rod

Miku was born in Japan, but grew up in California. She is very pretty, with longish black hair, and stands at about 5' 8" (1.73m) high. Miku’s costume is made up of a blue slender-cut dress over a short yellow skirt, long blue boots that come up just over her knees, gold and silver pauldrons and a long black cape.

Miku is a mature young girl and enjoys having fun, but she’s also a girl who knows when it is time to get serious.

Her MAGIC ROD has attributes similar to Presto’s magic hat, but more reliable. In order to release its power, she must say, ‘Power of the Realm, I call to you,’ and then state any desire from a shield of light to lightning to strike her enemies down. The wand is about 3 1/2' (1.07 m) in length, with a red gem in the middle of the shaped top.

PATRICIA

Age: 15

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Character Class: Thief (Sub-class: Shinobi (Ninja))

Magic Weapon: Bracelet

Patricia has short black hair that comes just down to her neck and pretty brown eyes; she is tall at about 5' 9" (1.75 m) high and a very athletic build. Her costume is quite simple, a black sleeveless top that goes down over her top thigh and is tied at the middle by a red belt, which goes over a mesh undergarment and a pair of black form fitting boots that go up to her knees, a black headband adorns her head.

Patricia is a “typical rich girl”; she can be nasty at times, but has a magnetic personality that people are drawn to. Just don’t upset her (or call her “Pat”). She has an authoritative voice, but not bossy; tough, yet gentle, she will always try her best.

Her BRACELET OF SHADOW can turn her body into a shadow so that she is almost invisible, which can be put to good spying uses. Not only can it turn her invisible, as long as contact is made with her, it can make others invisible as well. This golden bracelet covers most of her wrist and has a design graven on it with a green gem in the centre.

PETER

Age: 17

Alignment: Lawful Good

Character Class: Paladin

Magic Weapon: Two-Handed Sword

Peter is a big, bulky cart-horse of a young man (6' even (1.83m), he plays tackle on the school football team).   He has wide, ingenuous light gray eyes, straight, straw-blond hair (bowl-cut, parted in the middle, longish on top, close-shaved at the bottom), a big nose, high cheek-bones, rather thin lips, and a semi-permanent grin of amiable surprise.   He wears fifteenth century knightly armor (though without a helmet) in black steel, with a surcote (Gold, with a black cross extending from a black circle, on which is a white two-headed eagle).

Peter has a very sweet, humble, and rather gullible nature — the type that brings out the maternal instinct in others, even other guys.   Though not stupid, he knows he is also not particularly clever, and he tends to allow others to make decisions for him.   He is inclined to rate loyalty and obedience far higher than independence of thought or action, and he is convinced that his own friends, family, country (and God) are the very best that could possibly be.   He will probably end up in the Marines after high school — all the more so, as he genuinely enjoys fighting, though he fights without rancor or bitterness.

From his TWO-HANDED SWORD OF LIGHT Pete may fling globules of energy, rather like a hammer-thrower flinging his hammer:  these energy bolts are not unlike Venger’s fireballs (and about as effective). Also like a hammer-thrower he may whirl his sword in a circle, leaving a ring of energy that repels foes (this ring fades immediately, though).   Like the historic two-handed sword, Peter’s is not all that sharp; it’s pretty much a big club with pretensions.

RICKY

Age: 17

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Shape-Shifter

Magic Weapon: Ring

Ricky is a good-looking American Indian guy of medium build, with short spiky hair.

Ricky is a cool guy, extremely laid-back, though he can be strong or forceful when needed. He is very into music, and probably would have been a singer had he remained on Earth. He tends to dislike both overly confident people and nerds.

Ricky’s ancient Indian RING allows him to change into any animal from Earth. (This does not include creatures of the “monster” type, such as dragons or osquips, nor human, demi-human, or humanoid creatures.) This could be used to defend the group or to spy on enemies.

SASCHA

Age: 18

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Character Class: Barbarian (Sub-class: Cossack)

Magic Weapon: Shashka (Sword)

Sascha is about 5'11" (1.8m) tall, very thin and wiry, with a mop of untidy auburn hair and a thin moustache and goatee, and rather slanting bright blue eyes. (In fact he looks rather like a very young version of Nikolai Chersakov in Alexander Nevsky.) He is dressed in typical cossack fashion in a flame-colored caftan, dark, baggy breeches, leather boots, and a round cap of some dark fur. He is very agile and would make a particularly fine horseman.

Sascha is something of a wild-man, with a passionate nature and a very hot temper. He is extremely impatient, and, most of all, cannot endure anything in the nature of being confined or cooped up. Freedom is everything to him.

Sascha’s DANCING SHASHKA is a very sharp type of single edged, single-handed, slightly curved, and guardless sword. It is able to fight by itself in a battle, dancing in and out among the Young Ones’ enemies, and, when they are driven off, returning to Sascha’s hand.

TABITHA

Age: 17

Alignment: Neutral Good

Character Class: Shaman

Magic Weapon: Amulet

Tabitha is olive-skinned, with a long thick mane of dark hair.   She is short and small-boned, but curvy.

Tabitha is intelligent and sociable, but a bit cynical and a little egocentric.   Her amulet forces her to accept other aspects of her psyche that she denies: in her cat form, she can be nurturing, gentle and quiet, without giving up her edge.

Her MAGIC AMULET imbues her with the ability to transform shape — with some stipulations, i.e. she has difficulty changing into anything other than her “totem” animal, a large cat of indeterminate species, and she finds it dangerous to stay in animal shape for long periods of time.

TANDY

Age: 11

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (Good tendencies)

Character Class: Illusionist/Rogue (Sub-class: Impostor)

Magic Weapon: Hand-Mirror

Tandy is a slim, pretty little girl, very brown from constant exposure to the sun.   Her straight chestnut hair frames an oval face, with hazel eyes, upturned nose, and cupid’s-bow lips.   She wears a mouse-gray tunic that comes to mid-thigh over dove-gray tights, with little teal gloves and “elf boots”.   She wears a dark gray “Robin Hood” hat, with a teal hat-band set with a red feather.   She wears a teal sash/belt, with a medium-size dark gray pouch trimmed with squirrel-fur (or perhaps purse is a better term) on the side, and a smallish dark gray drawstring coin-pouch.

Tandy is a spoiled, self-absorbed, flighty, trendy, indulged, egotistical brat with a capital B-R-A-T.   She loves her laptop, cell phone, pager, PDA, digital camera, the Beach, the Mall, talking in an excessively chatty and continuous way, her clique of girl-friends from school, her scooter (or is it skates this week?), the Beach, role-playing in chat rooms, the latest flava-of-tha-week teen pop or rap star, the beach…  Tandy is flighty, and given to posing..

Her MIRROR OF LIGHT appears to be a simple metal mirror, the body inlaid with bronze set in Celtic knot-patterns, with a Celtic triskelion depicted on the back.   The handle can telescope up to 24" (61cm), or withdraw completely into the body of the Mirror.   It can reflect an opponent’s magical or energy-based attack back at him.   It can also give off light in dark places and shoot light-beams or flashes from its reflective surface to dazzle, blind, or even scorch.   The mirror’s greatest power is to alter Tandy’s appearance — she could appear to be an elf, dwarf, eagle, halfling, goblin, goat or roadrunner.   However, it is merely an illusion — no physical characteristic is actually changed, and the further the appearance is from her own, the more difficult it would be to maintain.   For example, a human female slightly older or younger than her actual age would be able to be maintained with little or no concentration; a dwarf or goblin would be more difficult; the image of a male would be harder still.   Sean Connery, an orc, a goat, or a beholder would be very tough; if her concentration wavered for an instant, the deception would be revealed — she’d be hard-pressed to create the illusion around her of anything much larger than that, or less than half her size.

TERRY


Age: 16

Alignment: Neutral

Character Class: Tabaxi (Cat-Man)

Magic Weapon: Rod of Change

Terry in human form is 5' 8" (1.73m) in height, thin, though not frail, with big feet and hands (for his size), and unremarkable features except for his pale blue eyes.   His brown hair bleaches under long exposure to sunlight; conversely if he stays out of the sun for long periods, it gets very dark, almost black.   As a Tabaxi, he retains his human face, but gains short, striped fur, a prehensile tail, claws on fingers and toes, and short fangs.

Terry’s a half-baked armchair historian, but is more interested in pseudo-history, crypto-zoology and legends (he owns all of Erich von Dänniken’s books, for example, and reads everything that he can about Atlantis, Bigfoot, and the Goat-Man; he has a collection of tomes including Bullfinch’s Mythology and select works by Montague Summers. He is half-convinced that Lovecraft was writing non-fiction, and was afraid that at puberty, he’d develop the “Innsmouth Look” and was ecstatic when he only got a few zits.) He likes Kung-Fu movies, Indy comics (he has an Amy Racecar T-shirt), and old episodes of Thundercats.
Terry tends to have his head in the clouds, and has always taken a lot of abuse from the other kids at school over his wacky ideas. His responses have ranged from “Hey, Troy was found on the strength of a fairy-tale...*shrug*”, to hammering someone’s head into the blacktop after being hit by a thrown garbage-can.   Terry’s not particularly violent, but does not tolerate being physically pushed around or bullied, and tends to push back.
Terry has mixed feelings about being in the Realm: while it does validate his preoccupation with myths, pseudo-science and crypto-zoology, upon entry to the Realm, his first reaction to being transformed into (or merged with) a Tabaxi was to want to “sue those jerks at the amusement park for this queer practical joke.”   “Where’s the stupid zipper on this costume?” he asks.   He’d rather not look like an extra from CATS any longer than he has to.   However, he does somewhat appreciate the irony of someone who has studied the Skunk Ape, Chupacabra, and Yowie abruptly joining their ranks as a fellow-crypto.

Terry’s ROD OF CHANGE is an eighteen-inch gold-colored Rod: it can changes shape within a limited range of items — Bow and Arrow, Spear-thrower, Spear, and War-club. It can shoot energy, can be used as a quarterstaff, and can be charged with non-lethal stunning energy, as well as be used to shoot arrows, stab things, hurl spears, chop wood, etc.;   any hurled weapons would return to him.

VEENA

Age: 15

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Character Class: Illusionist (Sub-class: Dream-Dancer)

Magic Weapon: Veils

Veena is a lovely (East) Indian girl with long black hair, very big, dark brown eyes, a lovely smile, and a dancer’s elegant figure. She is dressed in a sari of rose and violet, with dancing veils of all the colors of the rainbow.

Veena is a very calm, accepting girl. She believes that “What will be, will be.”

Veena’s VEILS OF ILLUSION are her dancing veils. If she waves them in the air in front of her enemies, they will assume the form of whatever illusion she wants.

WENDY

Age: 14

Alignment: Neutral

Character Class: Druid

Magic Weapon: Staff

Wendy (or more properly Gwendolyn) has a round face, prominent cheekbones, and green eyes — the ethnic type is Celtic (more specifically Welsh?). She is dressed in a long green and gold robe, with a chaplet of oak-leaves in her copper-colored hair, and bare feet.

Wendy is a bit of a hippie, laid-back and mellow, a bit of a flake — the oatcakes and crystal meditation type. She is probably more at ease in the Realm than any of the other children, as she believes strongly in the whole Universal Balance thing, and is content in accepting the decrees of Fate, believing that it will all work out properly in the end. She is the most serene and happiest of the Young Ones.

Her STAFF OF THE GREENWOOD gives her control of the plant kingdom, enabling her to summon dryads, make trees walk and replant themselves in other places, cause vines to bind her enemies, and so on.