What Exactly Do the Children of Fire Do

The Children of Fire (COF) did a good portion of the work during The Great Sea's creation. The Great Sea does not belong to them, however. Is this fair? No less fair than the fact that the men and women who did the actual construction of my house do not get to live here. At least the COF get to live on The Great Sea.

The COF are the most powerful beings on The Great Sea, excepting Madatar, Ardora and the High King, of course. As such, they have the power to do pretty much as they please. What they do not have is the authority. There is a limit on what the High King allows them to do. Up to that limit, it's mostly what they want. However, that being said, the High King has tasked them with certain duties. What the COF decide, individually and collectively, is whether to act in accordance with their duty. So what are the duties?

Mostly, the COF keep The Great Sea operating. They see to it that day and night remain on all inhabited worlds. They keep worlds on their course. They affect seasons. They have also been assigned the task of repairing The Great Sea. (After all, they were the ones who nearly destroyed it.) Basically, they are the custodial staff - masters of a variety of trades.

Hierarchically, there were four (4) levels: Lords (only Kensington, Draem and Zenophone); Wizards (the strongest); Teachers (less strong, but still formidable); Mortals (COF who chose to not only take physical form, but to accept mortality).

Not all the COF chose to comply with their duty. Some continued to seek domination, and they were given new names. Zenophone was still called a Lord, but the Wizards who abandoned their call were renamed Warlords. Teachers were called Titans and Mortals became Overlords. The Overlords extended their disobedience by taking Free People slaves and mating with them. From these unions came the Accursed Races: Gnomes, Barbarians, Renegades, Gargoyles - and Trolls.

Kensington, and his followers, maintained control of all The Great Sea's key elements, including Time. In fact, Kensington personally controlled the Regulator of Time. This was important, as history could not be changed once the Regulator of Time passed. (No world was 'in sync' with the Regulator of Time. In fact, they were all ahead of it.) Well, it was too difficult for most anyway.

Time is an important element in Swords of Fire. It is neither constant nor permanent. History can be changed - providing one has the power and means to go backward in Time. It is possible - on The Great Sea - to 'step out of Time'. Doing so presents all possibilities based on all possible choices. It is a dangerous venture, for one could find themself trapped 'outside of Time'. For this reason, the Free People were not granted this power naturally (like the COF). But using the power of Madatar they could do it, although only a couple did.

One final task the COF had was to support Madatar and Ardora. This Kensington, Draem and their followers did - one with particular zeal. Zenophone and his followers sought Madatar and Ardora's demise. They could not be 'killed' as we understand dying. But they could be so weakened they would be trapped on one of two isles made for COF who had become too weak to continue: the Isle of Wonder and the Isle of Nether Gloom.

Kensington and his followers continued to send messages to various members of the Free People, warning them of critical events in their path, such as storms, earthquakes, famine and such. Not everyone could hear them (the COF used the winds to speak), and those who could generally could not hear just anyone. It was a long and arduous task to match a member of the COF with an individual who could hear and understand them. Those of the Free People who could became known as Prophets, and their ability was sometimes called The Gift. There were a few communities in which large percentages of the populous had this ability. This is hinted at in Books I and II, and reveals itself more fully in Book III.