Wild at Heart Adult Section: Ketrin Who's Who

When I decided to do a list of major characters in the Ketrin stories, I was rather surprised to discover how many there were - no fewer than 41 in the first 7 episodes alone. OK, so I might be stretching it a bit to include someone like Vandri, who only has a literal walk-on part, but basically every human (or humanoid) and lupinoid character who either has a name or has a bearing on the plot is listed here along with a brief description which will hopefully help readers to figure out who’s doing what to whom and why. Not to mention the author. Characters are listed more or less in order of appearance, which is why Ketrin, the supposed star, only appears in fifth place.

MEGA SPOILER WARNING!!!
Unwisely ignore this warning and skip to list
The character descriptions on this page are intended as reminders of who all the characters are and what they’ve done. As such it contains horrendous spoilers for anyone who has not read the original stories and will ruin the author’s carefully constructed (yeah, right) plot points. If you have NOT read the whole of the Ketrin series to date, please follow the links to the instalments below. If in spite of this warning you still want to continue, then don’t say I didn’t warn you because I will be able to produce this piece of text in evidence to the contrary. Thank you.

--Leem

WHITEBRUSH: Female lupinoid. Long ago Whitebrush witnessed the arrival of two strange beings, High Voice and Low Voice, not realising that they were first humans to set foot on her world and that many more would follow. Her memories of the incident were passed down through generations of lupinoids, and eventually to Mother Lupinoid and her adopted son Ketrin, through her milk.

HIGH VOICE AND LOW VOICE: Two strange beings observed by Whitebrush, actually a female and a male human wearing protective suits who are discussing the prospect of colonising Whitebrush’s planet.

SHERINEL: Male human. For many years he has suffered abuse at the hands of Borvinn before meeting and falling in love with Ketrin who helps to turn his life around. Admittedly this involves fighting a striagon and almost getting killed by it, but he has found the physical and moral courage to survive. Wounded in the fight, he finds his way to the village where Selvrida, Valizen and now Mavrida are living, and spends some time recuperating there, as well as discovering a remarkable new ability to communicate with lupinoids. Once he is recovered he sneaks out of the village and uses his ability to persuade the lupinoids to help him find Ketrin.

BORVINN: Male human, the manipulative and abusive chief hunter of Mavrida’ village. He is determined to get his hands on Ruthyar’s gold and enslave Ketrin as a sex toy. This makes him an ideal pawn of the Old Sorcerer. Using one of the sorcerer’s spells Borvinn eventually manages to paralyse Ketrin, but the spell backfires and paralyses him too. As of Part Six he is still standing helpless somewhere in the jungle.

KETRIN: Male human. Originally the name of Ruthyar and Mavrida’s infant son, lost in the jungle many years ago. Mavrida is convinced that the naked stranger who wanders into the village seventeen years later is indeed her son returned, and so he is henceforth known as Ketrin. Ketrin the wildling has been raised by lupinoids in the jungle, with whom he shares a telepathic bond, especially with his adoptive brothers Silverpaw and Shadow. Ketrin loves Sherinel and hates Borvinn, and so he and Sherinel attempt to thwart Borvinn’s evil plans. Later on Ketrin is paralysed by a spell, and while unable to speak or move he is worshipped as the god Ral-ne-Sa by Tolar and the villagers of Third Hill. Their worship is justified when he uses his telepathic bond with lupinoids to persuade Sun and Fire to help the villagers find food.

MAVRIDA: Female human. Following the loss of her infant son and her husband Ruthyar in quick succession, Mavrida resolved has herself to a life of stoical widowhood, constantly rejecting the advances of Borvinn, whom she knew was only after Ruthyar’s money. The apparent return of her son Ketrin as a wild boy rekindles her enthusiasm for life. Soon after, she leaves Borvinn’s village to live with her sister Selvrida and brother in law Valizen.

RUTHYAR: Male human, Mavrida’s wealthy husband. After their son is lost Ruthyar becomes brooding and depressive, and is manouevred by Borvinn into joining him on a striagon hunt despite Mavrida’s reservations. Just as she fears, the men return from the hunt without Ruthyar and report that he has been killed. For seventeen years Mavrida mourns her husband until she finally finds a chance to redeem his memory

THE OLD SORCERER: An evil creature of unknown origin which takes the appearance of a decrepit male human. He plans to destroy the lupinoids and their ally Ketrin by using unscrupulous humans like Borvinn as his tools. His ultimate motives are unknown, but their consequences will almost certainly be too horrific to imagine.

KORVEN: Male human. One of Borvinn’s cronies. A member of the hunting party from which Ruthyar goes missing, presumed dead. Seventeen years later during Borvinn’s lupinoid hunt he and Darshel attempt to restrain Ketrin until Borvinn can arrive and paralyse him, but Ketrin escapes - for the moment.

SHARAVEL: Male human. Another member of the hunting party that leads to Ruthyar’s disappearance, but not under Borvinn’s thumb. Seventeen years later, he becomes sympathetic to Sherinel (whose father was a close friend or lover and partly named his son after him) and Ketrin. During the lupinoid hunt he is too late to prevent Tarvik and Sangrel from being killed by the Twins, but sees Mavrida safely on her way and then goes to meet Jarnel. Disbelieving Jarnel’s report of Sherinel’s death, he knocks Jarnel out and goes looking for Ketrin, but is not quick enough to find him before Borvinn does. Returning to the village he finds Borvinn missing and declares himself chief hunter on the grounds of maturity and experience.

SILVERPAW: Male lupinoid, one of Ketrin’s two adoptive brothers and later a friend of Sherinel. Appearance: red-brown fur with darker brown stripes and silver-white “socks” on his forepaws, hence the name. Shares a close telepathic bond with Ketrin and Shadow. He and Shadow are middle-aged by lupinoid standards but still formidable hunters and fighters. During the lupinoid hunt Ketrin meets up with him and they stay together as far as the Great Waterfall, where Ketrin is paralysed and sends him away to get help. He eventually traces Sherinel’s scent to Selvrida’s village and is reunited with Shadow and the Twins in the forest outside it. They later join Sherinel on his quest to find Ketrin.

SHADOW: Male lupinoid, brother of Silverpaw and adoptive brother of Ketrin. Appearance: at first sight his fur is pure black from head to tail,until one sees his stripes which are somehow even darker. During Borvinn’s hunt he shadows (no pun intended) Sherinel and defends him when he is attacked by a striagon. The striagon attacks and apparently kills Shadow, but he is saved by the mysterious distant observers and helps the wounded Sherinel to reach Selvrida’s village before joining up with the Twins and later Silverpaw nearby. He is the first to greet Sherinel after his recovery, and eagerly joins him on his search for Ketrin.

TWO MEN IN A CAVE: A pair of male human antagonists who discover a cache of magic paralysis crystals and fight for control of them, but only succeed in paralysing each other. Many years or centuries later the old sorcerer, according to his own account, finds the cave where they are standing naked and helpless. Far from helping them he repeatedly rapes them both before placing them in a humiliating pose and departing with the rest of the crystals. They are still in the cave to this day and may remain there forever.

SELVRIDA: Female human, Mavrida’s sister and wife of Valizen. Lives in a village some hours distant from Mavrida’s, and later takes Mavrida in after Ketrin has persuaded her to leave her old home for safety.

MOTHER LUPINOID: Female lupinoid, a distant descendant of Whitebrush, mother of Shadow and Silverpaw and others, and grandmother of the Twins. She and her mate discover a human cub lost and alone in the jungle and decide to adopt it. Her milk gives the cub lupinoid ancestral memories including Whitebrush’s, and changes it psychologically, allowing it to develop as a two-legged hybrid of human and lupinoid. Eighteen years later she encourages her two-legged cub to return to his own race. A few moons later, feeling old and tired, she meets the female two-leg who has adopted him. Satisfied that he is being well looked after, she departs for a sunlit glade where she can die in peace.

THE TWINS: Two male lupinoids. A pair of frisky young identical twins, grandchildren of Mother Lupinoid and nephews of Silverpaw and Shadow. Ketrin persuades them to guard Mavrida when she departs for Selvrida’s village. En route they are attacked by Sangrel and Tarvik and kill them in self-defence. They also encounter Sharavel but he submits to them and they let him go. Soon afterward they deliver Mavrida safely to her sister’s village and join Shadow in the nearby forest. After Silverpaw’s arrival and Sherinel’s recovery all four lupinoids set out with Sherinel to look for Ketrin.

JARNEL: Male human, one of Borvinn’s cronies. During the lupinoid hunt he witnesses Sherinel being attacked by the striagon, and Shadow’s intervention and apparent death. He reports this to Borvinn, who then demonstrates his plan for defeating Ketrin by humiliating Jarnel. Borvinn then sends Jarnel to rendezvous with Korven but he meets Sharavel first, who knocks him out and drapes him over a tree. All in all, not a good day. When he wakes up he has no choice but to walk home alone, terified of being attacked by lupinoids, not realising that they are actually guarding him. On his return to the village he is furious to learn that Sharavel has declared himself chief hunter in Borvinn’s absence, mainly because he always fancied the job.

TARVIK: Male human, a young member of Borvinn’s hunting party. He and Sangrel accompany Sharavel. Ostensibly tracking lupinoids, they have in fact been assigned by Borvinn to track Mavrida. Once they find her trail they stun Sharavel and go after her, but the Twins intervene and kill them. Sharavel recovers and meets the shocked Mavrida, and together they mourn the two men. After death, their souls encounter the Maiden who offers them a chance for redemption.

SANGREL: Male human hunter who accompanies Tarvik and shares his fate.

DARSHEL: Male human of Borvinn’s hunting party. Together with Korven he attempts to restrain Ketrin but only succeeds in getting beaten up for his trouble.

DISTANT OBSERVERS: At least two presumably human people who are observing Ketrin and his friends from afar. It is they who are responsible for miraculously saving Shadow from certain death. Who they are and why they are so willing to help has yet to be revealed.

THE MAIDEN: Another mysterious figure who appears to Ketrin, Sherinel and Borvinn in dreams and visions to give them good advice. She claims to be a human girl who some years before was turned into a statue, radiating positive energy throughout her village and the universe. The spirits of Sangrel and Tarvik encounter the Maiden after they die, and she invites them to join her in her ecstatic stone existence.

VALIZEN: Male human. Married to Selvrida, sister of Mavrida, and thus a man of impeccable taste and character. Agrees to give Mavrida temporary accommodation after she leaves her old village, and later helps tend to Sherinel when he arrives half-dead after his striagon fight.

DORRIVEN: Male human. Chief hunter of Valizen’s village. Soon after the arrival of Mavrida and Sherinel he becomes convinced that there are lupinoids in the vicinity of the village but is frustrated and humiliated by his constant inability to track them down.

VANDRI: Female human, a friend of the Maiden and presumably an associate of the the distant observers. When the paralysed Borvinn is bitten by an arachnoid she arrives through a hole in nothing at the Maiden’s behest to give him a treatment that will take away the pain, but also his capacity for feeling pleasure. After this brief appearance she departs through the hole which closes behind her...never to be seen again?

LORD RAL-NE-SA: A deity, in the pantheon of Third Hill, the god of lupinoids. When Tolar discovers Ketrin paralysed near the Great Waterfall, he assumes that the naked, purple-eyed youth is an incarnation of Ral-ne-Sa and takes him to Third Hill where the starving villagers worship him sexually and pray for salvation. Ketrin doesn’t mind the worship, but at first he isn’t sure how he can answer the villagers’ prayers. But then the lupinoids Sun and Fire arrive, possibly sent by the real Ral-ne-Sa....

TOLAR: Male human, a senior hunter of Third Hill. While desperately searching for food after a drought he discovers a naked, motionless stranger with purple eyes (Ketrin). Tolar (naturally) assumes that this must be a physical manifestation of Lord Ral-ne-Sa, god of lupinoids, and that if he and the other villagers worship him with sex he will help them find food and water. After several days of this worship, Ral-ne-Sa sends them Sun and Fire, who prove to be be their salvation.

THARIL: Male human, another hunter of Third Hill. Rival, political opponent and passionate lover of Tolar.

AVO: Fictional male human in the improbable Tale of Avo and Ivo, told to Ketrin by the men of Third Hill. Cursed with an unfeasibly long penis, Avo finds a solution in partnership with Ivo so they can make love to Uvi who later bears their jointly-fathered son Aivo.

IVO: The other fictional male human protagonist of The Tale of Avo and Ivo. Cursed with a hollow penis, he seems doomed to a life without sex until Avo comes up with an idea which fills him with joy...among other things. Joint lover of Uvi and father of Aivo.

UVI: Fictional female human in The Tale of Avo and Ivo. Initially thrilled by the idea of a threesome with Avo and Ivo, she has no idea that their orgasms will knock her off her feat...literally. Nine moons later she gives birth to Aivo and looks forward to extorting maintenance out of the two men.

HEALER-WIZARD: Fictional male human sorcerer in The Tale of Avo and Ivo, who finally sorts out Avo and Ivo’s genital problems by giving them normal penises.

AIVO: Fictional male human in The Tale of Avo and Ivo. The son of Avo, Ivo and Uvi, he is perfectly normal apart from having three parents and two penises.

SUN: Male lupinoid, named by the men of Third Hill. Appearance: golden-yellow fur and light brown stripes. Partnered with Fire. Sun and Fire are pair of packless lupinoids whom Ketrin is able to contact telepathically while he is paralysed in Third Hill and being worshipped as Ral-ne-Sa. After lots of pleading and persuasion they finally agree to help the starving humans find food, subsequently setting out with Tolar and his hunting party. They lead the hunters to a hidden valley where game is relatively abundant, but which is also inhabited by striagons.

FIRE: Male lupinoid, partnered with Sun. Appearance: red-gold fur, dark brown stripes. Slightly smaller than Sun and submissive to him.

BERRAN: Male human, a hunter in Tolar’s expedition to the hidden valley. Wounded by a striagon but saved from death by Sun and Fire.

SARVAN: Male human, another hunter in Tolar’s expedition to the hidden valley.

WERSGOR: Male human, also a hunter in Tolar’s expedition to the hidden valley. To celebrate the success of the hunt he was given the honour of worshipping Lord Ral-ne-Sa with his body. Ketrin was intensely aroused by his lovemaking, during which he had a vision of what might have been the real Ral-ne-Sa.
NOTE: The character of Wersgor is based on a fellow author and freeze fan, by special request.

TORMIS: Male human, a young hunter of Dorriven’s village. Finds the spell-crystal dropped by the plumebirds and gives it to Mavrida.

THE MALE: Male human, one of two naked strangers who saves Sherinel’s life.

THE FEMALE: Female human, one of two naked strangers who saves Sherinel’s life.

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