From the ROYAL STREET Files: The Magical World

(Yes, and a reminder that you still have time to win this week’s contests, below.)

One of the fun parts of writing fantasy is building a world, and one of the fun things about writing a fantasy series is making that world deep and rich. Over the next month, I’ll be tossing out occasional introductions to the world of Royal Street and the Sentinels of New Orleans series.

Today, welcome to the world of wizards!

The wizards are highly organized. A hierarchy chart might look like this:

Other than the Elders—the wizards’ ruling council—all licensed wizards fall into one of four Congresses. 

Red Congress wizards specialize in physical magic—they can channel magical energy and zap people with it, so strong Red wizards are considered warrior class. The can mainstream with the human population as law enforcement officers or military, but are usually too arrogant to do so.

Green Congress wizards are the geeks of the magical world; they specialize in ritual magic, which includes charms, spells and potions.They often mainstream as engineers, scientists, college professors.

 Blue Congress practice illusory magic—they can clean up a crime scene to make it appear as it was before, and tend to be highly creative. They are writers, artists, performers. 

Yellow Congress is the smallest group, and these wizards specialize in mental magic—they are often psychics or telepaths.They usually work as psychics or, on occasion, psychiatrists.

The wizards have, by longstanding treaty, been responsible for policing the borders between the human world and the Beyond, or Otherworld. The ones who hold that gatekeeper job are called Sentinels. Usually, they are Red Congress wizards. For extra muscle, the wizards employ a secretive group known as Enforcers. Not much is known about these assassins except there’s a loose affiliation with the FBI in the U.S. and lawkeeping organizations in other countries.

In my Sentinels series, the primary character is Drusilla Jane (DJ) Jaco. DJ is a Green Congress wizard only four years out from passing her exams, and she works as a deputy sentinel with her mentor, Red Congress wizard Gerald St. Simon, warrior class. They maintain the borders between New Orleans and the Beyond—borders which are destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Mayhem ensues.

Okay, commercial over!

There’s still time to enter this week’s contests:

To win Oath of Office, the medical thriller from Michael Palmer, click HERE.

To win Forgiven, third in the Demon Hunters series by Jana Oliver (or to pick up the first in the series), click HERE.

To win Dead Harvest, an urban fantasy from debut author Chris F. Holm, click HERE.

To win your choice of book in this week’s ginormous Reader’s Choice contest, click HERE.

Contests enter at midnight tonight (central daylight time in the U.S.) and are international. Now, start scrolling, clicking, commenting! And come back tomorrow to see if you won!