Magnum Opus characters

Ancilla

"ancilla," aka "eromene"

I don't give any of my characters official names - characters are referred to by function-determined nicknames that are subject to change as the characters evolve, or as they take on different roles and functions. Hence the two names here, both in scare quotes.

"ancilla" is a Latin word. In Roman times, it referred to a handmaid - a female servant who usually attended on the domina of the house. The word evolved to refer to a female slave or servant in general. The Latin translations of the New Testament had Mary calling herself an ancilla of God when Gabriel announced her pregnancy to her, and Heloise called herself Abelard's ancilla in her letters to him, one of which I quote from in a chapter of Ancilla. (Title drop!)

In modern times, the word is used more to refer to an assist - a study guide used to help with learning something difficult - or to an attachment. If something is ancillary, it's additional.

"Magister" calling his sub "ancilla" implies her subordinate status to him, her role as temple assistant, and her being a sort of sidekick.

As his feelings for her grow into passionate love, he begins to call her "eromene" - Homeric Greek for "beloved." He uses the feminine ending for the word. This would have been unheard of in ancient Greece, but fortunately for the protagonist and her mentor/dom/husband, they don't live in ancient Greece.

Ancilla

"Magister," "Erastes"

Magister's portrait: A tall, thin man with dark hair, grey eyes, and a thin roman nose. He is wearing a suit and tie. In the portrait are stacks of books and papers. there are clouds in the background.

Meet the male main character of Ancilla.

He's twenty years older than the protagonist, and outside of the bedroom and tutorial sessions, he is most definitely not an alpha. I wanted to take a wrecking ball to some toxic stereotypes of what sexual dominance is supposed to look like in a man, and what male main characters are supposed to look like in romances.

Surely I'm not the only reader who is sick to death of swaggering macho men, smug billionaires, insanely possessive yanderes, violent mafiosos, and other male characters who make you want to punch them in the face.

Give me a cinnamon roll book boyfriend any day of the week, please!

"Magister" is painfully shy, introverted, quiet and soft-spoken, comfortable in non-leadership roles, emotionally stable, and supportive of his beloved. He's a librarian by profession, and like "ancilla," he is an intellectual by nature. His personal interests include cooking and baking, listening to opera and classical music in general, playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, reading books (especially science fiction novels and books on history, philosophy, and the occult), studying Thelemic magick, and of course, BDSM.

I don't state his sexual orientation explicitly (aside from his kinks, and his monogamous wiring) but I imply him to be demisexual and heterosexual. I also code him as autistic, which is something he shares in common with the protagonist.

When he becomes more lover to her then teacher his name evolves from "Magister" (Latin for teacher) to "Erastes" (Homeric Greek for lover).

Soror Mystica

"Philo"

"Philo" (from the Greek word for friendly love) is my protagonist's best friend at Oxford.

Among other things, he plays the role of mentor to the protagonist. He's a vampire, like "Magister" and the protagonist are, and like the protagonist, he is a Fire elemental. He's the one who gets to break the news of her vampirism to her.

When he starts dating the protagonist's American sub, "zed," he becomes one angle in a polyamorous love dodecahedron.

He read music history and philology at Oxford, graduating from Christ Church College with undergraduate degrees in Music and Linguistics, and from Linacre College with an MSt and DPhil in Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, specializing in Scandinavian languages.

His hobbies include gardening, role-playing, and chasing after other men.

Soror Mystica

"ophelia"

"ophelia" is my protagonist's girlfriend and sub while my protagonist studies alchemy at Oxford. "ophelia" was loosely based on a woman I used to date. (Brig, if you even regain access to the internet and see this, I miss you. I hope you enjoyed reading my stories now that I finally got them published).

"ophelia" is an artist, and she has an artist's temperament.

"ophelia" dropped out of Oxford after one year at Pembroke College, but she lives in town and stays actively involved with her friends from uni.

Soror Mystica

"zed"

zed - A young man in his mid-twenties with unkempt hair that might be blonde and might be dark brown depending on how the light hits it. He wears horn-rimmed glasses and is pictured standing in front of a university library.

Meet “zed,” a young version. He ‘s one of the main characters in both Soror Mystica and Adept; if he looks vaguely familiar, that’s probably because you met him at the end of the last chapter of Ancilla.

He’s the protagonist’s American boyfriend and sub. They wind up becoming a permanent item.

I don’t think I’m spoiling too much by saying that, since my protagonist states outright in the “Kether” chapter, in a “How I Met Your Grandfather” aside, that he becomes her slave.

“zed” got his DNA from a couple of people who are very dear to me (one’s my husband) and like all my other characters, he took that DNA and ran with it. I plot. My characters pants me.

“zed” got his nickname/function from the British way of saying the last consonant of the alphabet. (The vowels were taken).

He’ll eventually be a history professor at Case Western Reserve University.

"zed" is a geek of many stripes whose hobbies include role-playing and historical reenactment. When the protagonist first encounters him, he reminds her of a fluffy owlet, hence the owl in the bottom left-hand corner.

Soror Mystica

"Soror Mystica," "Stimpy," et al

You've already met her. ;)

Please note: Any images of human beings that were not taken from old, public-domain works of fine art are AI renderings. I did not have anybody at hand who resembled my mental images of my characters and could sit for a photography session.

All other aspects of the art I publish involve my own edits of pre-existing public domain photographs and images that I put into collages and layered designs.