Character Spotlight - Saijin

Quick Facts	...
Place of Origin	Cratom, Gotha Kingdom, Yu Danh Hao
Race	Uelfin
Ethnicity	N/A
Magic Type	Soulbinding
Mentor Spirit/God	God of Music, Lanfin
First Appearance [Book/Chapter]	Tears for the Moon God / Saijin's Song

Foresight is for the Singer

What if you could see the future, and then influence what you saw? What if you could change it so that the events you foresee don't come to pass? The echoes of even the smallest change might have a sweeping impact in the grand scheme. The results might not be what you wanted. You may even fail to prevent the future you foresaw from coming to pass. And when a god is added into the mix? Might it be possible to see your vision take hold? Might you face obstacle after obstacle as that god, now angered, rails against you?

This is what Tears for the Moon God is fundamentally about. When Saijin sings, he opens a window through which others, the Wanderers, can break away from the Halls of Time temporarily. But the gods, and in particular God Lanfin, have an agenda that does not include the interference of those entities; and Saijin, in a momentary act of defiance, positions himself against them, threatening the stable hierarchy they have spent tens of thousands of years shaping.

One Race, Two Systems

To understand Saijin, you need to understand some things about his people. Though they have enjoyed lives of prosperity from their cushy seats of power within Cratom, as discussed in Character Spotlight - Wu Bane, their lives are perhaps not quite as comfortable as they at first appear. The Uelfin are split into two factions: those loyal to God Lanfin, who reside in the God House of Music together with him; and those who oppose him, who reside in Cratom together with their ancestral mother, the spirit of the Crystal River, Oe. These two factions have traditionally enjoyed a shaky truce as a byproduct of pressure from other entities throughout the world not to wield their gift for manipulating the future against each other. There is but one taboo against the use of this innate ability, and that is never to sing in counter tune to God Lanfin. That is to say, never to manipulate the future in a way that undermines his designs.

A Man of Importance

Saijin was not a character in the original timeline, but serves as a primary focus in this one. His function is as the originator of an inciting incident which informs the trajectories of the other characters throughout the rest of the work. This is where the time travel element comes in. Though Saijin cannot himself travel back in time, he is able to see in the windows opened by God Lanfin's songs what is happening presently and how it will inform the future. In his own songs lies the power to manifest possibilities in the future. Matchmakers among the uelfin use this ability to set new couples on the path to lasting relationships. There are other permutations and functions this ability serves which I will not get into here to avoid spoilers for Tears for the Moon God. Nonetheless, outside of Sao Njack and Dupec Safar, Saijin may well be the most important character in the work. He is also featured on the cover.

His actions in defying God Lanfin, by singing in counter tune to him, set the stage for a world altering conflict, leaving him vulnerable to violence from those who support the God of Music as long as he remains in Cratom. In order to insure himself against an untimely death for his crime, he must secure passage away from Cratom, and leave everything he holds dear behind. There is only one place of safety left for him, the Hidden City, Ur; but to get there, he will need the help of a pathfinder and a Raukha assassin, who have their own plans for the future of his city.

Tears for the Moon God is now available on Amazon.com. Read for free with a Kindle Unlimited Subscription. Click the image above to be redirected to the sales page.

Sign up for the newsletter for updates on future works, new blog posts, and more.