Quynn
Quynn (also known by his human disguises Simon and Eric, and his Cothellon titles Monitor Master and Den Boss) is one of the primary antagonists and most complex figures in The Metalwood Saga. As the ruthless right hand to Lorelei and the head of the Cothellon's mindmaster division, Quynn orchestrates centuries of manipulation, murder, and psychological torture.
However, Quynn harbors a massive secret of his own: he is not a complete person. He is a Soulsplinter—the severed, darker half of the ancient elven archaeologist Tarathiel (Trey). Embodying all of Tarathiel’s ambition, lust, violence, and rage, Quynn is literally half of a Prime Mage, waging a perpetual internal war while searching for meaning and power in a broken world.
Appearance and Personality
In his true elven form, Quynn is a gaunt, sharp-featured man with long brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and pointed ears. He is of medium height, well-built but not overly muscled, with a hard set to his jaw and a distinct blemish on his cheek that his counterpart, Trey, does not possess. His expression frequently carries a haunted, tormented look, though he is quick to mask it with a cold, calculating sneer.
Because he is in possession of the legendary Earring of Mist, Quynn can cast permanent mistweaving illusions to disguise himself:
- As Eric: A tall, statuesque, and devilishly handsome human man with dark, curly hair. He uses this disguise in The Under to seduce Phoenix.
- As Simon: A slightly heavier, round-faced human man with shorter hair, thicker lips, and rounded ears. He uses this disguise to masquerade as Trey's abusive human father for decades.
Personality-wise, Quynn is driven by a constant, agonizing internal war. As a splinter stripped of all gentleness, healing, and compassion, he feels nothing but the urge to destroy, control, and dominate. He is urbane, smooth, and highly intelligent, treating human lives as entirely disposable chess pieces. Yet, despite his villainy, Quynn suffers from intense loneliness. He occasionally shows flickers of vulnerability, admitting that his chaotic cruelty is a response to the gaping, agonizing hole in his soul.
Biography
Origins and the Splinter
Twenty thousand years ago, the elven archaeologist Tarathiel accompanied the secret Sending expedition through the gates to Earth (Mar). Surviving the catastrophic memory loss of the journey, he spent millennia wandering the planet as an amnesiac.
Approximately 2,269 years ago, during the era of the Roman Empire, Tarathiel was living with his ancient wife, Alleria. Plagued by restlessness and violent urges he couldn't understand, he lashed out during an argument and struck her in the face. Horrified and disgusted by his own actions, Tarathiel instinctively activated mistweaving magic in a desperate attempt to purge himself of his anger and dark instincts. The unstable magic resulted in a permanent soulsplinter, splitting his soul in two.
The aggressive, dominant, and power-hungry half took the name Quynn. Compelled by Tarathiel's subconscious final wish to leave, Quynn abandoned the unconscious Tarathiel and Alleria. Over the ensuing centuries, Quynn eventually joined the ranks of the Cothellon, rising to become the Monitor Master and the primary enforcer for the Cundu, Lorelei—with whom he maintained a centuries-long sexual relationship.
The Search for a Prime Mage
Aware of his own incredible power, Quynn became obsessed with breeding or creating a new Prime Mage. He located his amnesiac other half, Trey, and subjected him to centuries of horrific psychological experiments. Disguised as Trey's human father, "Simon," Quynn constantly placed Trey in traumatic situations, hoping the stress would ignite Trey's dormant Prime magic. Whenever an experiment failed, Quynn simply used his mindmaster magic to wipe Trey's memory and start over.
The Under and Phoenix
Operating under the title "Den Boss," Quynn secretly supplied darkprime wood to the brutal Crews of the Under to foment chaos and cull the human population without drawing the Cothellon's direct involvement. He mentored the fearsome Queen, teaching her how to wield mindmaster magic.
During this era, Quynn masqueraded as a human named Eric. Seeking to understand what it felt like to be a normal person capable of love, he briefly romanced the young killgirl Phoenix. They slept together, resulting in the conception of their son, Rylan. Quynn later admits to Arra that his brief time with Phoenix was the only moment in his millennia-long existence where he felt true, genuine love.
Quynn's machinations in the Under culminated in a massive riot on the surface. Phoenix confronted him, and despite Quynn's overwhelming mindmaster control, Phoenix's profound capacity for emotion allowed her to break his spell. She stabbed Quynn through the chest with a pinblade. Quynn survived the attack and cornered Phoenix, Beam, and Dill in the Under's whiproom. The trio ambushed him by dumping a massive sewer pipe's worth of raw sewage onto him, stabbing him as he was buried. Because Quynn's soulblock had not yet lifted, he did not possess mergemelding magic to phase through the damage; instead, he barely survived by gatesending away at the last possible second, allowing Cothellon soulsoothers to heal his fatal wounds back at Mission Control.
The War on the Eldrim
Following the activation of Fennas Elenathon, Quynn led a brutal Cothellon assault on the elven village of Sylrantheas. His goal was to reclaim Trey and the Book of Amplification. During the battle, Quynn callously murdered Trey’s best friend, Callan, finally providing the catastrophic trauma needed to awaken Trey’s Prime Mage abilities.
Quynn successfully kidnapped Trey and returned him to Lorelei's apartment in the sky cities, intent on controlling Trey as a weapon. However, Trey broke Quynn's mindmaster grip and escaped to the surface. Their conflict climaxed in the Prime Forest, where Trey and Arra worked together to crush Quynn beneath a massive, falling tree branch.
Eryn and the Rylak
Quynn survived the crushing blow by gating away at the last second, but was subsequently captured by Eldrim forces. While imprisoned, he was visited by the rogue shadowmage Jacob, who smuggled Quynn through a gate to the underground facility of Memory on Valaralda.
From there, the ancient mage Cariel (Magona) gated Quynn to the sweltering jungle planet of Eryn. Stranded with a fanatical priest named Saul, Quynn eventually encountered the rylak—the native wolf-men of the planet—and their leader, Talon. During a massive battle against an army of resurrected souls, Quynn earned Talon's respect by using his fallfoiling magic to drop the entire soul army into a massive sinkhole.
The Final War and Reintegration
Quynn and the rylak gated back to Valaralda, arriving in the midst of the apocalyptic war against The Twins. Orym, now a rogue god seeking to seize control of Xyclami, convinced Quynn to activate the Pyramid Offensive System to capture a million souls. Realizing that Orym's pursuit of godhood was a threat to reality itself, Quynn ultimately turned against him, fighting alongside the rylak and the Remnant to stop his former employee.
In the saga's climax, the chaotic energies of Xyclami required two balanced Operators to safely shut down. Quynn and Trey were forced to grab the device together. The godlike power destabilized them both, turning them against Arra and Phoenix in a red-magic-fueled rage.
Realizing that Quynn's raw power was overriding Trey's gentle nature, Arra approached them unarmed. She proved to Trey that his capacity for love—including Quynn's buried love for Phoenix—made him the stronger half of the soul. Arra used mistweaving to cast an invisibility illusion over Trey, violently breaking the physical boundaries separating the splinters. Overpowered by Trey's love and acceptance, Quynn's distinct consciousness collapsed, permanently reintegrating into Tarathiel and making the Prime Mage whole once more.
Powers and Abilities
Because Quynn is only half of a soul, he does not have access to the "light" Aspects of magic (such as soulsoothing, leafrunning, or mistweaving). However, he is a master of the "dark" or destructive Aspects, utilizing darkprime wood fueled by blood.
- Mindmaster (Dark Poplar): Quynn is arguably the most powerful mindmaster in history. He generates thick clouds of purple magic that allow him to control the actions of others, manipulate their emotions, wipe specific memories, or implant false realities.
- Mergemelder (Dark Oak): By burning dark oak, Quynn can render his physical body semi-transparent and intangible, allowing swords, bullets, and arrows to pass harmlessly through him.
- Fallfoiler (Dark Maple): Quynn can manipulate vertical gravity, allowing him to fly, crush enemies into the dirt, or effortlessly sink thousands of tons of sand to create massive abysses.
- Gatesender (Dark Willow): Because the Seventh Aspect (The Primal Way) sits at the center of the soul, Quynn retains the ability to tear holes in space and time to instantly transport himself across planets.
Key Relationships
- Trey (Tarathiel): His "lighter" half. Quynn despises Trey for his pacifism and weakness, though he spends centuries obsessively trying to force Trey to unlock his Prime powers. They ultimately reintegrate into a single being.
- Lorelei (Leriaar): His Cothellon superior and long-time lover. Their relationship is highly sexual, built on a mutual desire for power and control. Quynn is fiercely protective and jealous of her.
- Phoenix (Megan): The mother of his son. While masquerading as Eric, Quynn experienced a brief, genuine moment of love for her—an emotion he cherished but desperately tried to hide from himself.
- Rylan: His biological son with Phoenix. Quynn initially intended to use his offspring as part of his Prime Mage breeding program, but the two never interact meaningfully before Quynn's reintegration.
- Queen: His most successful protege in the Under. Quynn taught her how to be a mindmaster and utilized her to rule the underkids, though he considered her power to be crude compared to his own.
- Orym (Aten): He recruited Orym into the Cothellon over a century before the Ascension, in Boston. Quynn routinely belittled Orym as a mere scientist, unaware of Orym's true ancient identity until the final war.