The Coldfire Trilogy is a science fiction/fantasy trilogy written by Celia S. Friedman. It includes:
Black Sun Rising (1991) When True Night Falls (1993) Crown of Shadows (1995).
Synopsis The main events of the trilogy take place on the fictional planet of Erna, which was colonized by a group of humans from a future Earth 1200 years before the period in which Friedman's trilogy is set.
Erna is a primarily hospitable environment; although a planet with severe and intense seismic activity, it is similar enough to Earth to allow for habitability.
However, unlike Earth, the entire surface of Erna is wrapped in a powerful energy field known as "the Fae"--a type of energy that comes up to the surface from the core of the planet via a plethora of volcanoes and earthquakes which rock the planet's surface. This is an energy that the native animals of Erna sense and utilize to help them survive (i.e. the Fae is often able to tell a Sensitive individual when an earthquake is coming or if the tides are about to shift). Similar to the Earth's magnetic field, C.S. Friedman explains how if magic existed, it would be a natural force governed by consistent rules. "Like fire, it should be useful when controlled, dangerous if uncontrolled," she says.
The energy is also sensitive to the human psyche, as the colonists discovered to their dismay. The Fae reacts to human cerebral activity, bringing to life dreams and manifesting fears. In fact, many of the first colonists were killed by Fae-constructs, demons and beasts that fed off of their human progenitors, both physically and mentally. It was only by a Great Sacrifice, the loss of all the technology and knowledge the colonists had brought with them, that humanity came to terms with the Fae, at least enough to learn a rudimentary level of control over the power.
For a few hundred years, humanity has managed to eke out a scant existence on the harsh surface of Erna, keeping an uneasy balance with the Fae. Mankind grows weary of its tumultuous battle with the energy-force however, and multiple organizations try to find ways to render the human psyche unable to mold the Fae. One of these groups was the Church of Human Unification, an organization that sought to bring mankind together in prayer to accomplish two things: 1) make the Fae recognize man as a regular race on Erna, allowing them to live in harmony with the energy, and 2) allow for a human afterlife by bringing mankind to the bosom of a God that either already exists, or will be made by the power of the faith of man, and the Fae it will mold. This Church eventually brought forth a man who would be their salvation and damnation, their Prophet, one Gerald Tarrant.
When True Night Falls
In When True Night Falls, Damien, Hesseth, and Tarrant land on the shores of the Eastern Continent where the order of the Church have managed to subdue the unconscious working of the Fae. Consequently, the technology of the civilization is far more advanced than the Western Continent as is seen by the casual use of explosive weapons and fireworks. While conversing with various leaders, the group learns that only women are allowed to rise to the highest ranks in the Eastern Church. Many rarely see the Matria or holy women of the Church except for odd snippets of time and it is discovered by the group that the Matria and holy women are in fact rakh disguised with tidal fae.
After learning of the corruption starting on the Eastern Continent the group manage to trace it south, to the crystal palace of the Immortal Prince, and his Iezu servant, Calesta. Along the way, they rescue a young girl, Jenseny, whose father was killed and impersonated by the Prince's rakh servants. Jenseny is driven near to madness by events she has seen and her rare ability to see and control tidal fae. While scared and untrustful she manages to form a bond with Hesseth who is unable to bear children as was ritual to the rakh who journey away from their homes to mingle with humans.
The Prince makes a deal with Tarrant; in return for immortality, the Hunter must lead Hesseth, Damien, and Jenseny into a trap. But there was one catch to the deal: the Immortal Prince's plans include the corruption of the Church, and the former Prophet is not willing to accept that.
Meanwhile, Damien, Hesseth and Jenseny cross a seemingly endless desert populated with scraggly white trees and skeletons. Damien is hesitant to cross the desert as the skeletons indicate some form of predator but sees nothing that could possibly pose a true threat. The group decides to cross and settle down for the night under a tree. Damien and Hesseth awaken to find that the tree's roots have begun to grow into their bodies. While at first they cannot move, they both eventually break free of the trees and find that Jenseny's body has also been invaded by the roots. Damien cut away the roots but feared that they might still be harmful to the young girl. The trio keeps traveling without rest to avoid the roots of the trees. They finally find rest on a granite outcropping. That evening when Gerald returns, he kills the roots of the tree that are still inside Jenseny. Damien then Heals the wounds that are left when Gerald is finished.
Soon afterwards the group notice that there are large quadrupeds headed towards them with the intent purpose of killing them. In the escape that follows, Hesseth willingly gives up her life to save Jenseny - feeling that Jenseny was much akin to a child of her own and thereby willing to possess the greatest honor in sacrifice.
Tarrant joins the group at nightfall and leads Damien and Jenseny into the trap in the Prince's lands but finds a way to smuggle a coldfire-worked knife into Damien's hands. Damien attempts to kill the Prince, but the Prince's soul jumps into the body of his rakh captain. Jenseny finds the coldfire knife, and, hiding it, makes a deal with the Immortal Prince: he can have her body, and with it, her ability to work the tidal fae, a newly evolved human trait. The Prince agrees, but just as he is entering her body, Jenseny weaves a bond between herself and the Prince, and sacrifices herself to kill the Prince.
Following the Prince's death, Damien and Gerald Tarrant return north where civil unrest has broken out due to the revealing of the corruption in the Church. The new leader of the Church plans to purge the Eastern Continent which in turn infuriates Tarrant as that was not Tarrant's conception of the Church. However, in Tarrant's confrontation with the new leader, Tarrant accidentally shares a "divining" of the possible fall of the Church thereby bringing the new leader to his senses and stopping the slaughter of thousands of innocent lives. By doing so, Tarrant breaks his oath to the Unnamed and endangers his life in the process - a fact Calesta is quick to catch on to.
Erna The planet upon which the entirety of the series takes place. It is the only habitable planet that a landing crew from Earth found in their many centuries of searching. The terrain of Erna is, for the most part, much like Earth. The primary difference is Erna's severe seismic activity; earthquakes, large or small, are a common phenomenon on virtually every corner of the planet. An energy field called the Fae envelops and wraps every inch of Erna. Day and Night The night-day schedule of Erna is much different and less regular than Earth's, given the strange schedules of Erna's heavenly bodies. Daylight is provided by the star of Erna's system, a much dimmer entity than Earth's Sol, as well as the slightly less luminous Core, a cluster of stars in the middle of the galaxy visible by Ernans. The night is dominated by three moons, of differing sizes; the erratic lunar schedule created makes mapping the tides of Erna almost impossible. Erna's peculiar placement in the galaxy also provides for an infrequent and mysterious phenomena: every few months, the sun and the Core, as well as the three moons and every visible star manage to set and disappear, enveloping Erna in total blackness. Creating what is known as True Night, a time of particular mystique and power for the series.
Geography The series takes place in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres of the planet, with the majority taking place in the Western continent(s). The Western lands are more populated in the eastern and southern portions of the continent, the east centralized around the port city and human hub of Jaggonath. To the west are the Rakhlands, a wild, untamed testament to the old nature of Erna, where the aboriginal species of the rakh live. Human lands and Rakhlands are separated by the Canopy, a Bermuda Triangle-esque anomaly in the Fae. To the north are seismically active mountain ranges, and the famed/dreaded Mount Shaitan, a hub of wild and powerful Fae. The Eastern lands have an almost opposite population distribution, with most people residing in the west and north, getting less populated toward the east and south. The lands themselves are separated into two notable geographic landmasses, one to the north, and one the south. The two lands are apparently in pitched warfare during the series, and are separated by a dangerous stretch of ocean. The southernmost portion of the South-Eastern continent are colloquially referred to as the blacklands, a deserted patch of cracked, black terrain that is notoriously uninhabited and hostile.
Characters Damien Vryce A Warrior Priest of the Church of Human Unification on Erna. He is the trilogy's main character, and the plot is mostly explored through his perspective. At the start of the tale he is firmly devoted to his faith, almost to the point of zealotry. He is highly experienced in combat, having traveled all over the Western Continent battling demons and malignant Fae-Constructs in service of his Church. Ironically enough, he is also a moderately skilled sorcerer, one of the few in his order.
He comes from the jurisdiction of the Matriarch of the West, one of the two primary leaders of the Church. She is more flexible in regards to the teachings of their faith, and believes that it may actually be of use to the Church for certain priests to be allowed to Work the Fae, just as the Neocount of Merentha once suggested. Damien is part of the order of knights she enlisted with the task of learning to Work the Fae, and to teach the ability to fledgling warriors across the world.
In traveling with the fallen Prophet, Gerald Tarrant, his initially stern views on right and wrong are tested and warped, as he is forced to accept the help of and to save the life of an individual he normally would have died to kill. In the end, he must find a way to meld his faith with necessity, risking everything he is to save humanity.
Gerald Tarrant The Neocount of Merentha, the Prophet of the Church for Human Unification on Erna. He was a visionary, an individual who sought more adamant uses of the Fae to tame the planet, which was contrary to the Church's primary goal of rendering humans null to the Fae. He sacrifices his humanity to gain untold control over the Fae by murdering his wife and children in a dark ritual. Thus was born the Hunter.
The Hunter is an Adept with unfathomable capability and power. In the sacrifice he gained a control over the Fae no man had ever dared dream of before. Not only can he control the Earth Fae with ease, he can now utilize the elusive and tantalizing Dark Fae, with which he can perform the most arcane and dark of Workings.
He becomes a vital component to the trilogy's story, which centers around the travels of the priest Damien Vryce. One of the primary plots of this series revolves around the Hunter's redemption, something that is thrust upon him as the story progresses.
Ciani A powerful Adept of Jaggonath. She serves as Damien's first romantic interest in the books, and the catalyst for the events of the series.