Characters

Main characters

These are the main personalities that you’re likely to come across reading through the World of the Lupi. Just a few basic, but interesting, stats that you might not otherwise know.

Lily Yu

Age : 28
Height : 5’2-1/2” (she insists that I mention that 1/2 inch)
Weight : 120
Eyes : very dark
Hair : black, thick, straight; usually gets long enough to brush her shoulders before she gets it trimmed
Race : Chinese ancestry
Description : Even features, well-balanced in an oval face; honey-and-cream skin
Favorite music : Eclectic. Current favorites include Yo-Yo Ma, anything from Tsaikovsky, some pop, some jazz. Recent purchase: Not Too Late by Norah Jones.
Profession : Until recently she was a homicide cop, but last fall a special unit within MCD (Magical Crimes Division) of the FBI recruited her.
Education : Associate degree in law enforcement/criminal justice from the University of California; graduated first in class at San Diego Police Academy.
Magical Gift/Nature : A touch sensitive. Lily can feel magic tactilly, but it can’t affect her.
Habits : Likes order, hates clutter. Practices judo regularly; second degree black belt. Runs for exercise. She has a large, messy family and is owned by a huge orange cat she calls Dirty Harry. Lily’s deepest need is to stop the monsters—human and otherwise—who prey on the vulnerable.

Rule Turner

Age : Looks about 30. Looks are deceiving.
Height : 6’1”
Weight : 185
Eyes : Dark brown
Hair : Mink brown, worn short
Race : Lupus; European ancestry
Description : Narrow face with skin taut over cheeks that might have been sculpted by the wind; crooked nose, wicked eyebrows. Built lean in the hips, broad in the shoulders. Muscular thighs.
Favorite music : Loves music, period, but especially fond of opera; considers Beethoven the greatest composer of all time; loves jazz; entranced by violins. Recent purchase: Csárdás Hungarian Gypsy Music.
Profession : Prince, according to the press, but the title annoys him. He’s the Lu Nuncio or heir of the Nokolai Clan. His duties include managing the clan’s finances; answering any Challenge to his father, the Rho; representing his clan and his people in public; and generally looking out for the interests of the clan and, when called on, the welfare of individual clan members.
Education : Unknown, but he speaks several languages and is well-versed in economic theory and practice.
Magical Gift/Nature : Werewolf; he also carries the heir’s portion of the Nokolai mantle, which some believe possesses magical properties beyond its ability to unite the clan.
Habits : Wears black. Secretive. A true alpha with a deep sense of duty, Rule has always lived up to the well-known lupus distaste for monogamy and has dated some of the most photogenic women in the country, so the gossip columnists are buzzing over the woman who recently moved in with him. Lily Yu is attractive, but ordinary in comparison to some of his former lovers. Yet she seems to be the only woman in his life now.

Cynna Weaver

Age : 32
Height : 5’9”
Weight : 135
Eyes : Whiskey-colored
Hair : Very short, spiky style; bleached blond
Race : Caucasian; possibly Scandinavian or German descent–doesn’t know
Description : Built like an Amazon or a centerfold, yet men may notice her body second because of the tattoo filligree covering almost every inch of skin like inky cobwebs.
Favorite music : punk, rave, some hip-hop; new interest in world music shows in recent purchase: Toumani Diabate’s New Ancient Strings.
Profession : Currently an FBI agent with the Unit, a division of MCD (Magical Crimes Division), but she’s done a bit of everything in the past.
Education : Associate degree in criminal justice acquired through online courses; FBI Academy
Magical Gift/Nature : Cynna’s a Finder. If the has a good pattern for a person or object, she can Find it if it’s within 100 miles. Her magical training is from the msaidizi path, an African practice (misnamed in the U.S. as Dizzies) that calls for spells to be inscribed on the body as tattoos.
Habits : Messy; lives in a hotel room. Highly altruisitic, though she doesn’t realize this; converted to Catholicism as an adult, partly as a refuge from her tumultous early years, partly to protect herself from demons. Cynna’s friendly streak is unimpaired by a heaping dose of cyncism–she doesn’t trust people, but she mostly likes them.

Cullen Seaborne

Height : 5’11”
Weight : 170
Eyes : Bright blue
Hair : Cinnamon without the sugar; often shaggy since he doesn’t bother with haircuts.
Race : lupus; mixed European ancestry
Description : The face of a debauched angel; he moves like music given form. Strangers stop and stare when he goes by. Built lean, like a runner or the dancer he is.
Favorite music : Like all lupi he’s enjoys a broad range of music, but he’s especially keen on all types of drumming; also classic and hard rock. Recent purchase: Europe’s Secret Society.
Profession : Dancer/stripper
Education : Claims to have gone to medical school, though there’s no record of it.
Magical Gift/Nature : He’s both werewolf and sorcerer. Though lupi are not supposed to possess a Gift, he does—a strong Fire Gift. In addition, he sees magic as energy and can manipulate it directly or through spells. His refusal to give up sorcery caused his expulsion from his original clan, Etorri, and estrangement from his father.
Habits : His temperment follows his Gift—bright, mercurial, likes to burn things. Doesn’t admit how important dancing is to him. Holds grudges. He’s a scholar of magical theory and history, interested in all forms of spellcraft–to the point of obsession, according to some.

Grandmother

Eileen tried, but she couldn’t convince Grandmother to participate.

The note reads “Grandmother declined to be included. EW”

Kai Tallman Michalski

Height : 5’10”
Weight : 140
Eyes : Dark brown.
Hair : Dark brown, straight, worn long.
Race : Her mother was Navajo, and that’s how she thinks of herself. Her father was Polish American.
Favorite music : Kai likes pop music of all sorts, old Dylan songs, and Willie Nelson.
Profession : She worked as a physical therapist for years. Now she’s a full-time mindhealer.
Magical Gift/Nature : As a mindhealer, Kai can guide and speed the way minds heal after trauma. She can often heal serious mental disfunction as well, though that takes a great deal more power.

Nathan Hunter

Height : 6′
Weight : 190, but humans never guess his weight right. He’s built lean and rangy.
Eyes : Gray.
Hair : Black, straight, tends to be shaggy
Race : Wild Sidhe
Favorite music : Jazz, especially trumpet and saxophone; he also loves the sidhe a cappella style called jaláin, which involves subtle microtonal harmonies.
Profession : The Queen’s Hound.
Magical Gift/Nature : Nathan was born a hellhound. He’s been a man a long time now, but he retains the abilities of the Huntsman’s hounds: he can cross realms without a gate; he heals quickly; and he can bring death to anything living.

Other characters

There are gaggles of extra characters that you may run across once or twice in the World of the Lupi. Here’s a list of some of them in case you need a reference!