Among the games that I have truly enjoyed – and by that, I mean that they’re good enough to play at least twice – is the Witcher series. Particularly Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. If you’ve played the game, read the books, or watched the series, you know Yennifer. (I deliberately changed the spelling – they use “Yennefer” – just to avoid any snarkiness. It’s a bit of cowardice on my part, I think. I don’t have a Target store in the first novel, I have a Bullseye store.)
I figure anyplace like SPARK will be overrun by Yennefer wannabes and the Pod’s Yennifer is no different. She’s one of the younger Pod members at 14. She was born in the small California town of Hesperia and was orphaned when her parents were killed in the LA riots that were the genesis of the Southern California Autonomous Zone. She was riding horses with a friend at the time and ended up staying there. At 13 things “got weird” with her friend’s family and she started migrating northeast to get out of SCAZ. It took her most of a rough year to get to SPARK, some of which she spent pretending she was a boy to “avoid creeps.”
I picture her looking like this:
She plays as a Sorceress. Her avatar is close to the game’s Yennefer:
Zen is short for Zenobia Grant. She’s the main character in Mack Little’s (@macklittle) phenomenal debut novel: Progenie. Zenobia Grant is one of the best-written characters I’ve seen. Cis-female. Brilliant. Loving. Confused by her heritage at times. Deadly. The Pod’s Zen is more of a mystery. Preferred pronouns are “they/them.” They appeared uninvited at the Pod one night and caused quite a stir after explaining that they had simply followed Fantom and done what he had done, then tailed him into the Underground City. Zen’s age, cis-gender, and plans are all unknown. Wears a hat at all times. Plays as a lawful good Vampire. Go figure. They have asked that I not include a representation of their physical presence but use Ninja Warrior Meaghan Martin as a model for their avatar.
DeadElf is a 17-year-old with Alopecia. He is so pale that his skin appears translucent at times with visible networks of veins and arteries. He was in the foster system for most of his life and had a good family that insisted he join their faith and go on a mission when he became 18. He said “no.” They booted him. His foster brothers and friends said he looked dead so often that it became his nickname. His avatar name became a blend of his nickname and character class. Romantically linked to DreadBot. Both DeadElf and DreadBot appear in Book 2. Dead also preferred that only his avatar be shown.
Next up: A review of Uncaged by John Sandford & Michele Cook.