Warmage (book)

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## POV Information

**Gender**
**Char Name**

Male
Minalan

## Backcover summary

The Goblin Invasion Is On...

...and a wizard's work is never done! After facing a hopeless siege, an implacable foe and an impossible escape, you would think that *Minalan the Spellmonger* would be able to rest -- but the armies of the undead goblin shaman *Shereul* (known as the Dead God to his human victims) are rolling over the western reaches of the rustic *Duchy of Alshar* and is headed toward the heart of the *Duchy of Castal*. Thousands are fleeing for their lives as hordes of goblins pour out of *Boval Vale* and devastate the rugged fiefs of the *Alshari Wilderlands**.* And the super-charged shamans of the Dead God are making defending the realm almost impossible for the outnumbered Alshari country knights.

While the two Dukes play feudal politics to further their own ends, the only people who seem to care about the invasion are Minalan and his outlaw warmagi friends -- and they're busy dodging agents of the sinister *Royal Censorate of Magic* *.*

But if someone doesn't organize an army in northern Alshar soon, then there will be nothing to stop the armies of the divinely-powerful Dead God from conquering all *five Duchies* in his genocidal quest for vengeance. But things are just not that simple: he has to cope with a sexy young shadowmage assassin who works for a mysterious spymaster, a cocky new manservant, a dysfunctional group of suddenly-powerful warmagi, the Censor General, and a bunch of whiny nobles before the Dukes will grant him the troops and money he will need -- and the Dukes have plans of their own. If Minalan the Spellmonger can't lobby the courts of Alshar and Castal to work together -- and quickly -- the hordes of the *Dead God* will sweep over the frontiers of both states. Worse, the mysterious Umbra veil he has erected around Boval Vale may come to imperil all Five Duchies.

Minalan would rather just go home and let the Dukes handle it, but his conscience won't let him. Someone has to stop the Dead God... and that someone happens to be him. Beyond politics and plots, goblins and trolls, mercenaries and magic, the Soulless and the shamans, Censors and secret orders, for Minalan there is only the thought that his child is to be born in a world with such dangers, and that is something he cannot permit.

It is time for the Spellmonger to pick up his mageblade, summon his allies, and go to war again... as a Warmage!

### **The Court at Wilderhall**

Escaping Boval Vale, Minalan traveled to Wilderhall to inform Duke Rard and his court of Shereul and the invasion.  The Spellmonger negotiated the support of the high magi to the duchy in return for suspending the Censorate bans on magic and allowing magi to be titled nobility. The council also considered if Minalan should lead a small force to Alshar to delay the gurvani advance.  The Duke concluded the council to ponder the bargain.

Minalan spent the next several days meeting individually with the Duke's councilors building support for his proposals.
First, the Spellmonger met with Master Dunselen, **the Court Mage**, ultimately promising him a witchstone in return for his support. Then Minalan was summoned to the sparing grounds to meet with **the Lord Marshal**, Count Salgo (alt. Sago).  The two spared strenuously with swords in the practice yard and Minalan won Salgo's respect.  The Count agreed to support the Spellmonger.  Minalan had lunch with Count Kindine, **the Prime Minister**. Minalan haggled with Kindine over the service magelords would owe the coronet should the bans be suspended.  In the end, the Prime Minister grudgingly acquiesced with Minalan's bargain.
Min retained a manservant to help him with his increasing commitments, Hamlan the Smartass.  Ham was actually very helpful. The next day, **Count Angrial** agreed to provide documents giving Minalan a Ducal warrant to fight the gurvani in Alshar. The Spellmonger next had tea with **Duchess Grendine** and her daughter **Rardine.**  Grendine, it turns out, was a ruthless, manipulative spymaster whose *nom de guerre* was 'Mother'.  And she invited Minalan to be a 'Son.'  She wanted to be able to use him as a part of her secret organization. In turn, she'd support him and his mission.  *And*, she wanted a witchstone for one of her operatives.  Min agreed.  As it turns out, Hamlan was also part of Mother's 'family.'
The Spellmonger was invited to a "casual" get-together that evening with **some court gentlemen**, including Count Moran. They debated Minalan's dire tidings and plan for using irionite-powered warmagi to combat the gurvani. Becoming exasperated with the arrogance of the leading nobles, Minalan cast a binding spell and lectured them all on the harsh realities of their situation. Afterwards, he learned about one third of the group admired his bold stand, the senior third largely hated him for it, while the middle third waited upon the Duke's decision.
Rardine told Minalan to order a whore that night.  Intrigued, he did.  **One of Rardine's ladies, Isily** came to him at the appointed hour.  She was a shadowmage and was the one to whom Min was to grant a witchstone as part of the deal with 'Mother.' She and Minalan became intimate, which worked out perfectly since she was supposed to keep an eye on him for Mother.
**Censor General Hartarian** formally requested custody of Minalan from Duke Rard. Duke Rard rhetorically trapped Hartarian. The Spellmonger asserted he would defend against the gurvani hoard, knowing he was giving Rard pretense to assume the crown. After a tense confrontation, **Hartarian realized his defeat.** Duke Rard ordered all Censorate operations to leave Castal.
### Marshal Minalan

Minalan, the Spellmonger, **Marshal of Castal and Alshar** gathered his troops and his command staff, including Bold Asgus, Captain of the Orphans, Captain Kaddel of Wenshar, master of the Hellriders, Rogo Redshaft, captain of the Nirodi Free Mounted Archers, and Sirs Pendolan and Kelear of the Warbirds.

> "If we leave Cleston by noon tomorrow, in a week’s time we can be at a little fief north of Vorone called Grimly Wood.  From there we can reconnoiter, identify where the goblins are most active, and decide where we can be the most effective. “And then we’re going to kill goblins, gentlemen.  We’re going to kill thousands and thousands of them, until the earth grows muddy with their blood.  You want a fight?  Before this is over, I can promise you the biggest, nastiest fight you’ll ever wake up screaming at the dreams from.” - Minalan to his command staff
>
>

Three weeks after leaving Wilderhall, Minalan's expeditionary force reached Grimly Wood for their first major engagement.
#### **Grimly Wood**

Minalan's force attacked some 600 gurvani and a shaman with the Nirodi archers screened by light infantry. It was an unmitigated slaughter and a bold statement that the Spellmonger's battle tactics would not follow customary "noble" orders of battle favoring mounted knights. It drove home his priority of sparing casualties--at least on his side.
#### **The Battle of the Lantern**

Minalan and his command--including Isily--continued on to Honeywell where they were joined by Mavone and Curmor. A force of 3,000 gurvani screened by a few hundred attempted an ambush, but between scrying and wariness, they took the goblins by surprise instead. In order to further take advantage of the Wilderland longbows in the dark, Minalan created an extraordinary mage light, nearly twice as bright as the sun. He positioned the light over the most densely packed part of the goblin army, allowing the archers to decimate their foe. The engagement was thus called the Battle of the Lantern.
#### **Kitsal Hamlet**

As Minalan's army moved towards Tudry, he, Azar, Astyral and twenty Hellriders rode ahead to detect and foil ambushes, both mundane and magical. They rode into Kitsal Hamlet and into a place of abysmal horror. An urgulnosti shaman and a band of gurvani tortured the residents for days, extracting the most horrible pain and fear that could be imagined. The anguish powered a complex spell of blue magic that projected a miasma of despair throughout Alshar, but particularly targeting Vorone. It there compounded and exacerbated Duke Lenguin's hesitancy and turned his indecision into complete immobility. Psychically, Minalan was deeply wounded by the horrors he had relived while thaumaturgically dissecting the magical working.
#### **The Battle of Tudry**

Minalan prepared for his next battle from a hill--the site of a Temple to Huin--situated between the fortified town of Tudry and Castle Megelin. Minalan engaged a force of about 10,000 gurvani that pinned down the forces of both fortifications. Using largely conventional but brilliant tactics, Min and his wizards provided instant communications between the maneuvering elements of his combined forces to crush the opposing forces.
About 9,000 goblins, 1,300 men, and a thousand horses had been killed. Because of a magical lightning attack on the armored cavalry, nearly a thousand nobles had been killed, among whom were the late Baron Merasan of Megelin and his son, as well as Sir Kavial and much of his guard. Townsfolk of Tudry were ordered to evacuate to Vorone and about 20,000 of them did so. In the aftermath of the battle, Marshal Minalan placed the Barony of Megelin under the direct protection of the Duchy. The Temple of Huin was attached to Tudry and was also put under the Duke's protection. Minalan reverted Tudry town to the Duke, and its charter was rendered null and void. Megelin and Tudry were now military outposts. He appointed Azar in command of Castle Megelin and Astyral as master of the Tudry outpost.
#### **Vorone**

Minalan determined in Kitsal Hamlet that Shereul's shamans had constructed a powerful spell cast over Vorone and its people that inspired dread. The ensorcellment also built upon Duke Lenguin's inclination to indecision, resulting in his large army remaining bivouacked around Vorone, rather than deploying in defense of Alshar. Movone and Isily tried unsuccessfully to get Lenguin to join his army with Minalan's near Timberwatch. It fell to Minalan to force the issue:

> So I decided that the best thing to do would be to go appeal to His Grace myself. Maybe it was a dumb move, but it was frustrating watching the troops at Tudry scramble to deploy and know that the rightful Defender of the Realm was sitting on his fat ass in a pleasure palace, watching (I’m not lying) the third jousting tournament in as many weeks . . . to determine just who would command his army. -Minalan
>
>

Minalan began his political conquest of Vorone by first bribing Court Mage Thinradel with a witchstone; the bribe was hardly necessary. That night, the Spellmonger crashed a court party with his colleagues, locked all of the doors and seized control of the ballroom. Minalan then bullied and blackmailed the duke into ordering his army to Timberwatch.

> I could care less about your honor, your dignity, or your position – but you have an army sitting outside your walls, and I want to borrow it if you aren’t going to use it. - Minalan to Duke Lenguin
>
>

#### **The Battle at Timberwatch**

Lenguin led his army to Timberwatch just a few hours before that battle commenced. The gurvani hoard outnumbered the humani on the field by at least 3 to 1. Carmella and Bold Asgus prepared the battlefield with emplacements and siege engines. Over two days of fighting, the magi and Alshari battled the goblins. Minalan raised a fire elemental epic in size and lethality. Then came the dragon. Horka eventually drove the worm away at the cost of his own life and hundreds of others. Despite hard fighting and heroism, the human army reeled from the sheer numbers of gurvani. At the edge of bitter defeat, Duke Rard led a Castali army that reinforced the strength of Minalan's warriors. Taren unleashed a spell that temporarily blinded the gurvani. Seizing the advantage, Minalan, Duke Lenguin, Duke Rard, the magi and the armies of Alshar and Castal assaulted their enemies from three sides. The battle was won and the remaining foe routed.
In celebration of their victory, Rard and Lenguin knighted the magi. All of them, including Pentandra, Tindal, and Rondal.

> I took a knee as Minalan the Spellmonger, and rose as Sire Minalan, Knight Magi. Both Dukes put their hand on the sword that did it, a high honor.
>
>

That night, Lenguin was assassinated in his sleep by Isily. Minalan confronted her and Rardine. When at Rardine's signal, Hamlan moved to kill Minalan, Tindal slew the treacherous servant with a warwand. The Spellmonger leveraged his acquired advantage over Rardine to remove himself from direct control of the "Family" and squeeze concessions in favor of the High Magi.
## From the back of the Book

### **Dramatis Personae**

* Minalan the Spellmonger ​
* Tyndal, his apprentice
* Rondal, his apprentice
* Alya, his girlfriend/wife
* Pentandra, his ex-girlfriend
* Master Osorio – Penny’s father
* The Magi: The Veteran Bovali Warmagi
* Minalan the Spellmonger, First High Mage
* Terleman
* Carmella
* Azar
* Wenek

* Hesia
* Horka
* Three Gilmoran magi Curmor, Mavone, Astyral,
* Delman
* Rustallo
* Reylan
* Taren
* Pentandra
* Rolof (Not participating in the war at this time)

#### Other High Magi

Isily of Brawin, Rondal​​, Master Icorod of Vendomere,  Master Cormoran, ​​Forondal (Forandal) of
Scaford, Lanse of Bune, ​​Bendonal the Outlaw, Master Thinradel, ​​Sarakeem of
Merwin, Master Dunselen

### Alshari Wilderlords

* Sire Geston of Grimly – lord of Grimly Wood
* Baron “Iron” Magonas of Greenhill
* Baron Raskean of Farenrose- Warden of the North
* Count Jendan of Autumnly - Warden of the North
* Sire Escut of Honeyhall
* Ozzig the Black – Lord of the Pearwoods Clans

### Castali Ducal Council:

* Duke Rard
* Duchess Grendine
* Countess Rardine: Daughter of the Duke and Duchess
* Tavard III, Son and Heir
* Count Kindine Prime Minister
* Lady Arnet: Minister of Lands and Estates
* Master Dunselen: Court Wizard of Castal
* Lord Angrial of Alshar, the official Ducal envoy.
* Count Salgo, Lord Marshal
* Lord Maron: Counselor of the West
* Count Moray: Ducal Advisor
* Lord Reiman of Lancelawn, Ducal Scribe
* Lord Seajack – Castellan of the Tower of Honor
* Baron Penegal – Baron of Wilderhall
* Sire Dasuos
* Lord Moran
* Lord Moray
* Sire Donaro
* Viscount Asipian
* Lord Efert of Morilla

* Baron Uins
* Viscount Poramar
* Sire Roald of Greenfield

### Alshari Ducal Court:

* Duke Lenguin
* Duchess Enora
* Count Venn of Darlake – Prime Minister of Alshar (In Falas)
* Master Thinradel, Court Mage
* Count Marcadine – Lord Marshal of Alshar
* Count Brayan.  Marshal of the Wilderlands
* Grand Master Saleppo – ineffective Alshari Censor
* Baron Jenerard, Lord of the Coasts -  Secret agent of the Rat King.

* Viscountess Threanas – Lady of the Treasury
* Sir Daranal – Head of the Ducal Palace Guard, intelligence
* Lady Arasma – Ducal court secretary
* Lord Andrien, Court Herald;
* Count Gallanan, the Warden of the North

## Chronological Sequence of Chapters

The first three quarters of Warmage is written in chapters alternating between Minalan leading his expeditionary force through Alshar and flashbacks to his political adventures in Wilderhall a couple of months prior. The chart below lists the chapters in chronological sequence, ordered on the column Chron Order.

## References

1. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Warmage: Book Two Of The Spellmonger Series (p. 551). Kindle Edition.
2. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Warmage: Book Two Of The Spellmonger Series (p. 454). Kindle Edition.
3. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Warmage: Book Two Of The Spellmonger Series (p. 495). Kindle Edition.
4. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Warmage: Book Two Of The Spellmonger Series (p. 709). Kindle Edition.