Cast and Setting

[dray]

Main Cast
(Jack/Jacques) Boyce: Former lumberjack, long-time hermit. Once human, now slowly transitioning to a dryad-like creature.
Trellis: A tree shaped like a friend and a mobile cabin both. Flavours of Baba Yaga, symbiotic relationship with Boyce.
Daphne: Adventurous dryad, Boyce's one-time lover. Reunited with her copse and trying to reconnect with her own people after a century of solitude.

Dryad Copse
Cypress: Patriarch of Daphne's copse, very stronk and big. Takes his copse' safety seriously. Considers Boyce and Trellis honourary members tasked with providing a screen to his copse's safety. The only evergreen of the copse, he stands guard during winter hibernations.
Birch: Butch dryad, tough and lovely. Think sporty Scorpia.
Aspen: Lanky and gossipy. Belongs to Birch, mostly.
Myrtle: Short, squat, as stronk as Cypress. Flowery Bull-horns and expansive laugh.
Cherry: Short and pink, has a somewhat squat wonderwoman look going on. Not much known, personality wise.
Arbutus: Vibrant, always shedding strips of bark. Melodic and creative, a little bit melancholy.
Larch: Short and militant, likes to boss the other dryads about. Very intense.

Other Humans and Humanoids
Owen Goodlace: An immortal with a connection to the elemental energy of fire. Old and smart and a little bit socially awkward. He rarely puts down roots but he makes a lot of connections.
Akadine Avaritte: An ex-sword for hire, guard for [Brandili Lastname], and adoptive mother of Anahi and Vianne. Brash prankster with a lot of scars and skills with close combat. Secretly a dragon. Poly fling with Owen.
[Brandili Lastname]: Princess-in-hiding from [Noble Nob-Head], an ex-husband who treated her like property. Fell for Akadine and ran away with her, with Owen's help. Natural mother of Anahi and adoptive mother of Vianne. Warm and strong-willed, cut her beautiful hair after going into hiding. Fully human.
Anahi [Lastname]: Natural daughter of [Brandili Lastname] and [Noble Nob-Head], Princess-in-waiting in her mother's home kingdom. Adoptive sister of Vianne. Eager to please and easily taken in by martial prowess. Eventually a full-scale YA widely traveled Mary Sue with a horse and an eagle and a body guard of her own.
Vianne Boyce: An unusual half-human half-dryad, born of Daphne and Boyce but adopted daughter of Akadine and [Brandili]. Vianne has no home tree but grows plant-like bark and has black eyes like dryads do. Abandoned by both birth parents, who were unable to properly care for her. Strong sense of right and wrong, very observant. T-poses for hugs and tends to loom. Strong as an ox. One day a Paul Bunyon or Susan Strong figure of the northern mountains.
Nell [Lastname]: Local villager one town over from Anahi. Eventually comes to Akadine for training and swoops Anahi up in a quest for adventure.
Urda Mayana: A mage with a big personality that was briefly third queen of the Tulani-Mayana line. She was the first to portage all the way up the River Road to the Dragontooth Mountains, forging important peace agreements with the river and lake folk who would later allow humans to settle along their banks. She had many children, and took one last trip up to the mountains only to go missing. People believe she is alive 300 years later. Owen knew her in passing during his time in the kingdom.
The Coven Hags: Boyce's friends, swamp hags who sell their magic to humans in several villages along the frontier. They allow Boyce to disguise himself as one of them to escape notice when he needs to hide from the law. Very fond of Trellis.
Ganette: Mayor of Urdasvale, key-holder for the Goldleaf Lodge as well as lore-keeper. Claims to be a direct descendant of Urda. Talks a lot.
Queen Monawe: Brandili's Great-grandmother and one-time ruler of her people. Sterling silver coins minted in her name with the tail a proud gryphon-head.
Norani: Current steward of the royal throne in Brandili's home.
Duke Seldo Mayana: Duke of Snowedash, ruler of the Everwood as meted out when it was ceded to the kingdom. He believes himself somehow the holy owner of the space as his grandmother (several generations removed) brought Evermarches under the kingdom's control. He is not entirely human, but that is quietly ignored for legal reasons. He is Brandili's ex-husband and Anahi's father, and generally a not-super-nice dude.
Gurile: Owen's contacts in Orastan. A foreman working the log run who has sympathy for the realm's non-human people.
Ooaaohn: The name of the merserpent people residing in the Dragontooth Glacier Lake. Their territory used to include the river run all the way to the coast, but safe travel has been cut off by human colonization of the river.
Scar: A younger merserpent known for their militant strength. They're tough, they like to fight, they like to take control of situations. At present their scales are almost entirely black, with koi-like markings of white along their stomach.
Star: A younger merserpent known for their adventurous attitude. They are open, curious, and friendly. They have a white star-like patch on their forehead and nose, and while their scales are mostly black, they have some white on their belly and sides.

Places

The Evermarches
A massive sprawling shield forest filled with magic and monsters both peaceful and dangerous.
The River Road: The main route from the Kingdom into the Evermarches, connects the Dragontooth Mountain Range
Dragontooth Mountains/Dragonteeth: A span of sharp mountains ranging East-West along the North-Eastern border of the kingdom. Known for being frontier country where magic and monsters are still untamed, and often dangerous. Named after the sharp white peaks, and the fact that the mountain feeding the headwaters of the River Road looks a lot like a dragon skull.
Dragontooth Glacier Lake: A milky-white lake at the headwaters of the River Road, around which a lot of fishing villages and even a small town have been established. Home to some truly wild aquatic beasts and a few people. It's said that a blind serpent lives deep in its depths, jealously kidnapping companions once every generation or two.
The Crimson Sea: An ocean boundary shared by the kingdom on one side and Brandili's kingdom on the other. It takes months to traverse and is teaming with wild things. Once a generation, magic blooms like blood across the entire breadth and fades within a week. This portent is taken many ways by the cultures who touch its boundaries.
Garnet Coast: A rocky, cliff-face coast famous for its unique geology; veins of precious stones guarded by fierce gryphons made it a contentious place for greedy humans about 4 generations ago. Located across the crimson sea.

Maeston: A river village that hosts hockey-like games during the winter.
Nanceton: A toll village along one portion of the River Road that harbours despicable bureaucracy and black market monster capture and trading. Contains a river lock that forces boats to check in and pay tolls. Also contains a circus for monstrous curiosities, and slave market. Only a few miles under the Evermarches' canopy, closer to civilization than the frontier. (Likely to change to Millbridge in the future!)
Oraston: A river village in competition with Maeston. Hosts the Oraston Wolfhawks hockey-like team.
Snowedash: A fortified castle on the edge of the Dragontooth Glacier Lake, and also the seat from which a duke or duchess the newest territory of the kingdom, including the Evermarches.
Urdasvale: a remote lesbian enclave beyond the Dragontooth Glacier Lake where Akadine, Brandili and their young family have settled. Known as a retreat for thinkers and magic-users, but kept very quiet.