Introduction to Welgar the Cursed

To give an indication of what to expect in my collection Welgar the Cursed from Tule Fog Press, here is my Introduction:

 

“Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus” was the first story I wrote involving Welgar, a young mercenary, short of funds, who enlists in the city watch in Assabarr, which just happens to be undergoing a puritanical revolution at the time.

 

The main character in this story, though, is Ossani the Healer, who previously made a brief appearance at the end of “The Storyteller of Koss” (Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 2022). Ossani has been hired by the city’s merchants and the prevailing priesthood to help bring an end to these puritanical disrupters.

The inspiration for these was based on the Florentine monk Savonarola who, along with his fanatical supporters, plunged Florence in 1497 into a similar plight, culminating in the infamous Bonfire of the Vanities, an event mirrored in this tale.

 

Unlike any of the other Welgar stories, “The Dark Priestdom” is narrated by Nadrain the Storyteller, who previously appeared in the above mentioned “The Storyteller of Koss.” In this tale I wanted to give Welgar a bigger role, showcasing his heroic capabilities, and also to explore the dark, demon-haunted city of Agrypt, which I had previously alluded to in other tales without any of them visiting it.

 

I realised after “The Dark Priestdom” I could not leave Welgar like he was and had to continue his blighted saga. In “Welgar the Cursed” (published in Swords & Heroes, 2023) Welgar realises how cursed he is, not only in becoming the image of an unwrapped mummy, but in the extreme bouts of insane violence the demon god that has possessed him makes him carry out.

 

Again, Welgar was left at the end of “Welgar the Cursed” in a predicament that needed further exploration, and thus came “Mask of a Mad God” which serves to reveal even more vividly how unmitigatedly evil the demon god that has possessed him is.

 

At the end of “Mask of a Mad God” Welgar is determined to end his life or destroy the Agryptian demon god that has possessed him. Afraid to be anywhere near people because of the mad god’s murderous tendencies, he can see only one course of action: to trek to the arctic north and find the demon-haunted city of Cyramon. For me, the story related in “The Forbidden City of Cyramon” represented the logical outcome to what poor Welgar had undergone.

 

The final story in this collection, “Emerging from Their Twilit Realms,” was a difficult one to write and I have to admit I made several false starts. In the end, I decided to come full circle with Welgar meeting Ossani again. The old sorcerer-cum-healer has moved to Oriaska, where he awaits the mercenary’s return, having divined what happened to him in Cyramon. Along with Ossani, though, another character from Welgar’s past is awaiting him, one the mercenary is far less pleased to meet.