Maxwell

Maxwell is the main antagonist in The One and The Few.

**Life Before the Constant:**

William J. Carter (later known as the Amazing Maxwell) was born in the England in 1860, and was raised in London. He always had a knack for magic shows and close up magic, so for his 12th birthday, he asked his parents for a magic set, his parents did not get William the magic set he asked for, because they said that they didn't want him practicing the "dark arts". So William was forced to practice magic with his friend at his house. When William was 14, he was so good at close up magic, he would put on magic shows at recess for his classmates. William started charging 1 pence for a seat to see his magic show at recess. With the money that he earned, William bought a tome\* titled "On the use of Shadows in the Art of Magical Deception" from an old and unpopular bookstore. He continued to improve his skills at an accelerating rate, and in 1879, at 19 years old, William put on his first professional magic show in the local theater. He did a combination of classical magic and shadow-mancy using the tome\* he bought five years earlier. His show was a smash hit, he filled the small theater that he rented, and his own parents showed up. The next year, he hired his friend Charlie, to help him with his shows. Charlie made a phenomenal assistant, and William started showing her how to do some of the magic. In 1901, William and Charlie sailed overseas to the United States, and started doing shows in New York. William made a show-name for himself, "The Amazing Maxwell", which he continued to use. William and Charlie sold out more and more shows as the years went on, and in 1911, William made his shows only shadow-mancy. William slowly became power-hungry as he got his hands on more magical items. Charlie noticed a change in William, he began demanding that everyone called him Maxwell, and that the William J. Carter that they knew was gone. In 1912, Maxwell and Charlie would, unknowingly, put on their last show. The magic that was used was so powerful that it unlocked the tome's hidden power, the power to take the users to where it truly came from: the Constant. The tome\* sucked Maxwell and Charlie into the Constant.

\*a book, especially a large, heavy, scholarly one.

**Life in the Constant:**

Under the guidance of the Dark King, Maxwell and Charlie became the most powerful users of shadow-mancy. Maxwell was trained to cast powerful spells to destroy his enemies, and was taught the history of the Dark Kingdom. Charlie was trained to fully control the darkness and to use the shadows as her puppets. After the death of the Dark King, Maxwell took his place. Under Maxwell, the Dark Kingdom fought hard to regain it's lost territory, but with their new Proto-Staffs, the Light Kingdom was too powerful. Maxwell ordered a full retreat to the Southern Reach, a large mountain that was mostly unexplored. He would hide the remainder of his forces in the forest of its semi-flat peak. During their hasty retreat southward, something inexplicable happened, a dying, a Great Dying. At least 75% of Maxwell's forces were wiped from the Constant, Maxwell himself was lucky to survive this purge. The majority of the remainder of Maxwell's forces returned northward to an unknown fate while a group of 120 loyalists followed him up the mountain. Maxwell and his loyalists annexed the Pig, Merm, Spider, Treeguard, and Boar populations on the mountaintop, along with a castle in the very center of the mountaintop and a 25 foot tall wall that was enchanted with a spell that would let no-one climb over, dig under, or blast through it, in or out with the help of his new apprentice: Wilson. Maxwell let his conquered people rule themselves, wage war, forge alliances, and control resources. Then the events of The Few follow directly after.