Adair: arcane painter/cartographer whose illusion magic channels through art. (Magic is called “weaving” in these stories.) He’s cheerful, friendly, and sweet, if a bit naive. More than a little obsessed with food, particularly pies and desserts, he loves cooking almost as much as he loves drawing and spending time with his friends. Adair’s a trans boy who wears his heart on his sleeve next to the paint stains that regularly splatter his clothes. Technically the main character of the Unexpected Inspiration series, he’s the heart of a misfit group of carnival performers who consider him one of their own. Bio Page / Moodboard / Pinterest Board

Blythe: a healer and knife/blade performer for a carnival troupe who spent her entire life prior to this as a Protectorate, the warriors trained to guard art and artists. Along with Etri, she becomes one of Adair’s sentinels. (This is a triad culture; sentinels are the bodyguards/spouses to artists.) As much warrior as healer, she’s strong-willed, quick at making decisions, and just as quick to speak her mind. She has a soft spot for those in need and will defend anyone who looks like they might need it, even if they insist they don’t. Blythe doesn’t fear much of anything, except maybe her family’s past– or one of her friends doing something stupid that she’d have to rescue them from. In her defense, this seems to happen every five minutes. Bio Page / Moodboard / Pinterest Board

Firedrake: a carnival performer and dancer more than a little obsessed with props and fire. What was once just their stage persona of a dragon has gradually taken over their daily appearance. Dray is agender, uses they/them pronouns, and doesn’t care an iota about anyone’s assumptions of gender. Their entire petite being is fueled by sarcasm, snark, and spite, and their moral compass has a habit of malfunctioning. Dray gets a kick out of pranking people, usually by using their fire and mind-manipulation magics. Despite all this, Dray is a good person at heart and refuses to use their magic to do more than humiliate or inconvenience someone. After years of being kicked around, Dray will never kick back at someone who doesn’t deserve it. Dray is Blythe’s sibling-by-choice, although both are constantly wondering what they were thinking when they made said choice. Bio Page / Moodboard / Pinterest Board

Etri: currently works as a carnival performer specializing in knives, having previously spent several years working as a reverse-thief where he returned stolen art back to its creators. He has a bad case of goth, probably because of his shadow magic that snuffs out light/fire and turns him nearly invisible, but this magic helped his thieving career immensely. Etri’s the epitome of the expression “cold hands, warm heart”– and not just because his magic leaves his skin noticeably chilly. While he’s a reserved introvert with social anxiety, he’s also kindhearted and intensely loyal to anyone who has gotten past his shy demeanor to earn his friendship. This loyalty and a fiercely protective streak leads him to become one of Adair’s sentinels, alongside Blythe. He’s the brains of the group and the one most likely to think through a plan before diving headfirst into trouble. Unfortunately the others all like to drag him in with them, so he spends more time trying to plan his way out of trouble. Bio Page / Moodboard / Pinterest Board

Sol: a fire performer with light/fire magic, but you can usually find him swimming through a dumpster or garbage heap. He’s an inventor who uses scraps that no one else wants and the heat from his magic to create objects ranging from useful to “what the heck is this thing?” He always has ideas, although whether they’ll work or backfire spectacularly is up in the air– which is frequently where they end up when they backfire. He’s something of a genius ditz; he comes off as a vapid, musclebound goofball, but inside that thick head of his is a mind that’s always five steps ahead. It’s just that they’re five steps well off the beaten path and his Sol-ish comments tend to leave people bewildered. As sunny as his chosen name, he’s always friendly and eager to help others even when his goofy flavor of help isn’t always appreciated. He’s Etri’s identical twin and they intentionally play off each other’s sun/moon, light/dark theme. Bio Page / Moodboard / Pinterest Board

Rosalie: a timid young woman far from what was once her home; eight years ago she and another priestess were sent away from the Sanctuaries of Shadow and Light in order to complete a specific task. Rosalie has struggled with her role in this, as she could have predicted from the lunar branding she received as a child. The fuller the phase of the moon, the more power a priest or priestess holds, and hers is no more than the tiniest sliver of a crescent. While Rosalie might lack magic strong enough to reliably make more than one shadow listen at a time, what she lacks in power she makes up for in kindness. Kindness was not an encouraged trait in her home temple, but it earned her the intense loyalty of one shadow who has stuck by her for the better part of her life. The shadow is really the only “better part” in her life, to spin the phrase another way. Part pet, part companion, and entirely her only friend, this shadow will do anything to keep Rosalie safe. With the support of her “pet,” she finds herself questioning her orders. If she has the courage, she can choose another path, but courage was never one of her strong traits. Moodboard / Pinterest Board