This storyline is probably the closest I’ve come to embedding an entire Austen-​esque romance novel in the story.

A little case of mistaken identity is parlayed into a practical joke on a pompous young gentleman, but that’s when the characters’ true characters are exposed.

It’s a classic love story with ups and downs, handkerchiefs and cheering, and it conveniently closes with the “happily ever after”, even though there is tragedy later to come.

This is one of the great romances of Lothere, though perhaps the most painful. One troubled character must learn to put aside his prejudices, and the other must learn to go beyond her fear.

This storyline takes us as far as their “first time”, but their story is ongoing, and there will surely be a Part Two someday.

Born into the lesser Anglo-​Saxon nobility, Lady Eadgith lost nearly everything in the Conquest – her husband, her home, her wealth, and the protection of her lord, Sigefrith Hwala.

Beginning nearly ten years later, this is the ongoing story of how she recovered what she lost; how she gained in wisdom, grace, and dignity; and how she has rejoiced and suffered in her love for one of Lothere’s most charismatic and most despicable men.

This is the ongoing story of Eadie, a cousin of King Sigefrith who comes to the valley at the age of 12 with her mother and older brother.

She is naturally a shy and self-​effacing person, and we watch her struggle with a difficult family, a forbidden romance that turns into a fairy tale, and then the real-​world difficulties of wifehood, motherhood, and filling a prominent role in society.

Her guide as she meets these challenges is to always try to do as a “great lady” would do, never quite realizing that others see her a great lady herself.

This ongoing story begins with two misbehaving teens, but Eirik and Sigrid grow up into two of the most remarkable people who have ever passed through Lothere. Theirs is also the first storyline that goes well beyond the borders of the valley, and in recent times has picked up elements of adventure.

Their romance is one of the most beautiful and enduring, perhaps because it began in treachery and has had to weather such difficulties and misunderstandings. As Eirik later reminisced, “I loved her even when she hated me. I loved her even when I hated her.”

This storyline simply documents the tragically short life of the elf Lena. She grew up in a servitude whose horrors are only hinted at in this story, but she enjoyed one year of freedom at the end.

Her story intersects some of Lothere’s larger storylines, such as “Cat and Her Friend”. The storyline ends abruptly, but I suppose this is in keeping with her senseless death.

The King’s eldest daughter and the Duke’s eldest son seemed destined for one another since the Princess’s birth. Beginning with a little “prologue” chapter wherein the six-​year-​old Princess wonders whom she will marry, this storyline traces their relationship from their young teenage years, when both struggle against their fate, through to their marriage and wedding night, and their growing affection for one another afterward.

It’s another ongoing storyline, and it will have to be retitled “Britamund Becomes a Wife and Mother” sooner or later.

Sir Sigefrith is the elder brother of young Queen Eadgith. He was married at fifteen when his sweetheart Hilda, the daughter of his lord at the time, became pregnant. He does his best, but his marriage has not been a happy one.

This is the story of his romance with the daughter of one of his tenants, beginning when he was aged twenty.

This is the story of Kraaia, an unhappy, unruly orphan who is shuttled from home to home until she begins to find a place with the elves who live among the men of Lothere.

This storyline is ongoing.

This is not a storyline—this is simply a collection of all the chapters featuring something steamy or something sexual. Sometimes it’s only a kiss, and sometimes it’s more horrific than hot, but they are all examples of a subject that is difficult to write well. Those of you who are writers may be interested in studying how I’ve done it and failed to do it over the years. For educational use only.

The tale of the two loves of the elf Iylaine is one of the premier storylines of Lothere: one of the longest-​running, most controversial, most affecting plots so far.

Running to novel-​length already, this storyline is still ongoing.

Egelric Wodehead is the closest thing this story has to a “main character.” This storyline follows the first four years of his life in the valley, as he goes from being merely a capable farmer to one of the Duke’s most trusted men, even while his family life is falling apart. His relationship with Gunnilda also begins during this time.

This chapter in Egelric’s life ends with a tragic discovery in the barn.

This storyline follows the next four years of Egelric’s life, as he tries to be a father to his little girl and defend her from the fear and hatred that the men are beginning to feel for the elves. Gradually he begins to feel that he himself is a negative influence in her life. His unspoken love for Gunnilda remains in the background all the while.

This storyline ends when Egelric walks out onto the ice alone in the dead of winter.

The next five years of Egelric’s life are ever more closely bound up with the world of the elves, in ties of friendship, hatred, fear, and love. We also see the first ominous signs of the monster lurking in his depths.

During these five years he drifts away from Gunnilda, and we are left with a sense that what was there is gone forever.

This storyline ends when Egelric enters his house on Christmas Eve in 1080 and finds everything wrong.

In the course of the next five years, Egelric comes almost accidentally into some of the greatest happiness he has ever known. In addition to his own happy family life, he sees his daughter provided for and meets his first grandchild. At the very end of this period his life’s greatest gift—stolen from him fourteen years before—is returned to him as well.

But Egelric has always feared letting the gods see him too happy, and just when he thinks he has everything he ever wanted, what he loves the most is taken away.

This storyline ends with Leofric bringing bad news to the Duchess of Nothelm.

Each tragedy in Egelric’s life always seems to peel away some of his compassion and decency—even some of his humanity—revealing more of the beast that he has long known dwelt within him.

But this time Egelric goes too far.

This ugly episode in his life does not merely hurt the people he loves—it may even affect the fates of kingdoms. This storyline ends when Egelric’s fate catches up to him on the shores of Man.

Tentative title, tentative theme. This storyline is just getting underway.

Housewifely little Gunnilda has never been the sort to believe in fairy tales. At fifteen she picked out and won her own husband for practical reasons – simple-​minded, hard-​working Alwy Hogge – and set straight to work raising a family. But soon she was swept up into another man’s fairy tale life of elves, magic, curses, and tragedy. No matter how far onward and upward his life has carried him, she has never quite let go.

Her storyline closely parallels Egelric’s at the beginning, but in later years we see her soldiering on without him. Her story is still being written, so it remains to be seen whether their destinies will cross again someday.

A graying, jaded, Scottish lothario and a spoiled, haughty elf maiden: Two unpleasantly passionate characters are briefly brought together and make something magical in spite of themselves.

Leofric, the King’s father-​in-​law and oldest friend, is a notorious womanizer. As told in “Leofric and His Doves,” the one true love of his life was Matilda, the late wife of his friend Alred, who died while giving birth to their illegitimate daughter.

No lady could be less like Matilda than shy, sensitive Hetty, Alred’s second wife, but something about her stirs Leofric’s heart again—perhaps more than ever before. And once again Leofric’s forbidden love has tragic consequences.

This storyline is ongoing. It has its moments of poignant beauty, but we wait to see whether any happiness can come out of it for any of the characters.

Sophie is a racy, red-​headed Saxon, and Stein a mild-​hearted, silver-​haired knight from Norway. Both came to Lothere under unpleasant circumstances – Sophie because she was caught alone with a young man from Lothere and forced to marry him, and Stein because his cousin took pity on his family’s poverty and brought him home as his squire.

Dissimilar as they seem, they develop a certain friendship as young adults, but it takes a terrible tragedy in each of their lives to bring them together – and then they must help one another heal.

Theirs is not a storybook romance of rescued princesses and love at first sight, but Sophie and Stein – with a nudge from a feisty little fairy godmother – make it a real-​life fairy tale.

Flann is the younger sister of Catan, whose story is told in “Cat and Her Friend”. Her trials are less horrific than her sister’s, but she suffers tragedies of her own.

Flann is a brave, independent girl – her father called her his “favorite son” – but she is caught in a tug-​of-​war between two supernatural suitors. She must also face the world as an unwed mother.

Eithne is the little sister of Catan and Flann, gentler and dreamier than they. The adventures of her sisters and cousins in Lothere have attracted the attention of powerful beings – some of them malevolent. Eithne becomes a victim to their curiosity about what makes her family so special.

Eithne’s story takes on the popular theme of an immortal falling in love with a mortal, but it shows the tragic consequences that can befall a girl whose relationship involves such an imbalance of power.

Leofric is King Sigefrith’s dearest friend, but for years it was believed he died at the Battle of Hastings. This storyline begins when he arrives in Lothere and meets Sigefrith and his old friends, among them Matilda, Duchess of Nothelm, the wife of his friend Alred.

This storyline follows his first ten years in Lothere, and the complex relationships he has with the women in his life: wives, lovers, daughters, and friends.

This storyline is followed by “Leofric meets his match.”

Synne is the King’s lively teenaged cousin, and shy Murchad is the son of his closest ally, Lord Aed of Galloway. Their future is decided for them as matters of politics, but the two wise young creatures manage to make the best of it, and develop a touching affection and loyalty to one another in spite of their trials.

Their storyline is a nice change of pace from the family dramas going on around them.

Brede is the King’s cousin from Denmark. His father, a knight, was a violent alcoholic who reduced his family to poverty before getting himself killed in a brawl. Estrid is a young noble lady from Norway who came to Lothere as a teen.

Though their romance is forbidden by their relatives, the two take advantage of circumstances and marry. However, they learn that making it to the altar does not guarantee a happily-​ever-​after.

The King’s cousin Aelfden was a priest and monk in Denmark before he came to Lothere—in part to escape a haunting past. His arrival marked the end of easy-​going Father Brandt’s dominion, which disappointed many who were accustomed to the old Saxon priest’s winking indulgence of their little sins.

Aelfden is a troubling character: half-​orthodox, half heretical, and a miracle-​worker in spite of himself. But he is the spiritual leader the residents of the “accursed valley” need—and not only the humans.

In 1079, the Norse-​Gael Godred Whitehand claimed the Kingdom of Man and the Isles. Accompanying him at the Battle of Sky Hill were Sir Brede, King Sigefrith’s cousin, and his brother-​in-​law, the young Norseman Eirik. Eirik had lived in Lothere in his teens, but just before the battle had inherited his father’s ships and gone abroad.

Whitehand spared the lives of the native Gaelic chieftains, and settled in to a stern but unchallenged reign. His ships had total dominion of the Irish Sea, so terrorizing the Irish, Scots, English, and Welsh that none dared even put a warship on the water.

Eirik stayed on Man rather than returning to Norway. By the time this storyline begins, he has grown in power until he is second only to Whitehand himself.

This is the first major storyline to reach outside of Lothere.

Most of the founding families of this story were childless when they first came to Lothere. Thus we have been able to witness the births of their children and watch them grow up.

Sixteen years after the start of the story, many of these children are entering into their teen years, and are beginning to inhabit a drama-​filled world of their own.

This storyline follows Princess Emma, Lady Gwynn and Lady Margaret, Cedric, Cubby, Finn, and their peers as they grow up the “middle children” of the first generation born in Lothere in over a century.

Aed, son of Aengus, is an eighteen-​year-​old lord of a corner of Galloway. Called “Young Aed” to distinguish him from “Old Aed,” ruler of Galloway, he has already established a reputation for military efficiency and diplomatic cunning.

Nevertheless he lives under the tall shadow of his father, the late lord, as well as of his older brother, also named Aed, who died before he was born. And he has only recently freed himself from the guardianship of his mother and his detested stepfather.

Now having reached his majority, he has surrounded himself with uncouth young men, including wolfskin-​clad wild man Congal, and the enigmatic former monk Gaethine.

Noteworthy because it is the first in this story to overtly cover a homosexual relationship, this storyline follows Aed as he begins his rule.