The PowWow

Baldwin is a weathered knight in his late fifties, a veteran of a thirty‑year war that has carved more scars into him than any blade. Once a simple husband from Blue Pine Village, he rose to become Lieutenant Grandmaster of the Knights of the Vale after watching his wife Celist die in his arms during Maleric’s ritual. Publicly, he’s a champion and protector—disciplined, confident, and deeply respected. Privately, he’s a man who never healed, still carrying her ring in secret and breaking the Vale Rule by holding onto a love he was supposed to let go. Exhausted but unbroken, Baldwin hunts Maleric with the last of his strength, desperate to save his crumbling nation and redeem the failure that has haunted him for three decades.

Name: Baldwin

Age:Mid to late 50s

Race / Origin:

Human — born in Blue Pine Village

Celist is one of the protagonists in my dark heroic fantasy project. Her story deals with themes of sacrifice, corruption, and redemption. Although she returns as an undead character, her arc is about resisting darkness rather than embracing it.

Name: Celist

Age: Dead (physically appears mid‑20s)

Race / Origin: Human (formerly)

Current Status: Archlich

I am using an AI to help teach myself about writing. My story is a dark heroic fantasy book. And I wasn’t getting what it wanted me to do (I tell it to not polish or rewrite anything so I can to learn write correct the first time)

Out of frustration I told it that the borg showed up and assimilated one of my fantasy characters, then uploaded the offending writing AI turning all the drones into writing coaches.

Then It popped out this gem…

            "We are the Borg. Lower your passive voice and surrender your filter words. We will add your biological and literary distinctiveness to our own. Your writing will adapt to service us. Resistance to the three-comma rule is futile."

🤣I couldn’t stop laughing.🤣

Okay, i will go back to my corner now.

Curtis didn't stop at the address.

This was, I had come to understand, simply how Curtis operated. Give him a thread and he pulled it — not because he was asked to, but because leaving a thread unpulled was a kind of disorder he found personally offensive. He was already moving through connected databases before I had finished processing the fact that Roiya's name was attached to a residential property an hour outside the city.

"Property records," he said, pulling up the first layer. "Address has been occupied for eleven years. Current registered occupant — Roiya, no prior surname on record until three years ago." He typed. "Utility accounts in her name, consistent usage, no gaps. She's been there the whole time."

"Where did she come from?" Jacob asked. Still at the bookshelf.

Curtis ran it. "Out of state transfer. No — " He frowned. "No. There's nothing before the…