Summoner Character Profile: Part Two

In 2683229part one of our interview , Jason Scott discussed what it was like to create a story for a role-playing game and provided us with some additional insights on two of the game's main characters, Jospeh and Jekhar. While these two characters play a central role in setting up the story and introducing various themes in the game, the supporting cast plays an equally important role in Summoner. Each playable and nonplayable secondary character provides valuable insight into the personalities of Summoner's lead characters as they expand and drive the main story with their unique personalities and backgrounds. Two secondary characters that join Joseph in his quest are Flece, the thief, and Rosalind, the spellcaster.

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Flece serves as an interesting contrast to the rest of the Summoner cast. Though most of the characters in Summoner are born without a silver spoon in their mouths, Flece's early life seems to be difficult. Caleia, Flece's mother, is born into a peasant family, but she tries to provide a better life for herself by finding work as a maidservant for a local wealthy merchant in the city of Lenele. Unfortunately, Caleia becomes pregnant with the merchant's child, and as such, the merchant promptly dismisses her and forces Caleia to live in the streets, where she gives birth to Flece. Caleia finds work as a prostitute to provide for herself and her child, but once again, she meets with tragedy when a rival stabs her to death in an area known as the Alley of Dogs. The gravediggers find Caleia's body and bury her in an unmarked grave outside the city walls.

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Left on her own in the most dangerous part of Lenele, the Old City, Flece comes under the protection of an outlaw named Tancred, who also goes by the name of the King of Fleas. Tancred's control over the Old City begins to grow as the number of smugglers and thieves increases, and he quickly becomes aware of Flece's own natural pocket-picking abilities. Eventually, Tancred begins to teach her the higher arts of thievery including stealth and the art of deception.

Rosalind's life starts out in a manner similar to Flece's, but the circumstances are much different. While looking for the summoner Joseph, Yago--a monk of the Order of Iona--falls in love with a woman named Ursanne who just happens to be the daughter of a minor lord. Ursanne eventually becomes pregnant, but Yago leaves her to continue his search. When Ursanne's father learns of her pregnancy, she's disowned and forced to live alone with her daughter, Rosalind. Shortly thereafter, Ursanne is killed by the plague, so Rosalind is orphaned and forced to live on her own. No one really knows how Rosalind makes her way to the Order of Iona, but she does, and the monks there notice she shows promise as a student of the order. A number of years later, Rosalind's skills have progressed and she begins to learn Aosi--the language of the gods.

The second part of our interview with Jason Scott delves into the personalities of Flece and Rosalind, how they interact in the game, and how they develop as characters.