Curse of Seltemver

This broad story has spanned several short stories and was one of my favorite things to write. It started as a filler article for Kyanite press Online and soon I had another story for World Anvil’s contest with Kyanite as well. The idea of short stories jumping around intrigued me, but let me tell you about the premise first…

The Cast

Seltemver is an elven warrior who is a captain aboard the Seahaven, a sturdy ship that sails the seas of many worlds. He has an imp that perches on top of his shoulder called Amonar and it is revealed early on that they are bonded by some sort of curse. In the first short story its really just these two, but near the end you learn that the crew of the Seahaven is made up of Orcs! Of all the races that you would never think of being friendly to another, this was on my top ten (if not top 5)

In the stories to come you meet such characters as Grunhilde, and orc healer that can actually channel healing power from the gods; Toth, the first mate that has a sarcastic wit sharper than Seltemver’s sword; and others that they rescue, kidnap, and otherwise acquire as they journey along.

The Curse

The curse of Seltemver and Amonar isn’t the only curse placed upon this fitful soul. The fascinating thing about this story is that every time they set sail, a horrible storm strikes, sending the ship and its crew through the ether into strange worlds. They can neither control this, nor steer their travels in anyway. The storms are always violent, tossing the ship about and sometimes damaging it in the process.

In the story Any Orc in a Storm, I alluded to the origin of this curse. It seems that Seltemver happened upon a sea witch that cursed him (and them) to always sail different seas…

“I honestly don’t know Toth. You were there when that sea witch cursed me. Do you remember what she said? She said I was doomed to sail distant waters until we found a home.” Seltemver looked right into the grey eyes of his first mate, wishing that he could tell them something different. He just couldn’t.

But wait there’s more

The stories here are part of a collection that exist in the land of Lythinall as a children’s book, and the anthology of stories that should be coming out in 2024, will be placed in that world as a fun little puzzle for Karsis to chew on. Below are just a few things that they will happen upon