Divided: Act 1 and 2 Recap ~ Divided: A Brief History of the Occult

SPOILER WARNING: As obvious as this is I'm posting it anyway: This will be ENTIRELY MADE UP OF SPOILERS for Divided Act One and Act Two.

CONTENT WARNING: violence, death, murder, prejudice, domestic abuse, and worrying about the health of an unborn child. And the odd mention of sexual intercourse, but in no detail. Also a few mentions of alcohol.

This is a recap of Act One and Act Two. It serves as a reminder of the important parts of what's already been read, and is not intended to replace reading the chapters themselves.

It was Yimi who gave me the idea to organise this by characters rather than chapters (Thank her for that or you'd have ended up with the longest recap in the universe.) So let's go through all the main characters and the important parts of the story that connect to them.

Áine Sídha

'I have to make peace with the flames if I am to tame them.'
Age: 20 (start of Act One) / 23 (End of Act Two)

A witch from a country named Innisgreen, near Henford, who's looking to start a new life after two years of living in solitude. She enjoys helping people, and is trying to be brave in the face of the witch-hunts. She specialises in Wild magic, known in the modern day as Untamed magic, but she's also decent with Practical magic. She's got a strong sense of justice and is kind and loving to most people, but she had no problem with exacting her own form of justice upon people that wrong her or endanger children or witches.

Fleeing home: Áine fled her home at age twenty after the disappearance of both of her parents. Her father said he felt bad for the way he'd treated them (he was trying to get them to hide their magic for their safety) and that he'd left to make a difference, with her mother Saoirse going after them. They never returned. With a map in the back of her mother's wolf-adorned grimoire, she goes in the rough direction of Henford-on-Glimmer and ends up in Withernham, a small town.
Meeting Reynold. She sensed his magic at a sermon and vice-versa, and he let her stay at the witches' refuge under the Peteran monastery where she stayed until she got a job helping Kat with her cunningwoman job. The two eventually became close friends and fell in love, something quite scandalous for a Peteran priest to do as they usually swear to celibacy and devoting their entire lifes to helping others and nothing romantic or sexual in any way.
The Beltane festival / becoming pregnant. Yup, we all remember the Beltane festival, where the two decided to share a physical (and very unclothed) moment out in the forest to celebrate the occasion, and then Kat realising that Áine was pregnant (diagnosing her with 'denial'!) Áine had always wanted to be a mother, but she also worried for bringing a child into the world that would have magic. As well as what she saw growing up, this was what made her realise that she had to have a more active role in making a difference for witches.
The new job. Áine got a job at a small village. The intent was that she'd teach them to read and in turn they could use it to help themselves gain work and make more money to help their children, but she also ended up helping out the witch children and the witches that lived there as well. She ended up defending the village from not just one witchfinder, but two...one who ended up being her father, Brádach. He'd recognised the description of the woman that had attacked the first witchfinder and practically begged Volpe for the job, hoping in a forlorn sense that he'd find She was excited to see him when he arrived. Her own father was still alive! After all of these years! And then he admitted the truth to her...
Killing Brádach. Brádach told her what he did to her mother, handing her in to the witchfinders. He thought that Saoirse being so open about her magic would endanger both him and his daughter and that it'd attract the witchfinders to them both. Almost out of her control, Áine is overcome with a dark magic that kills her father. What she had done was drained his life force and absorbed it. Abigail, one of the witches she helped, tells her to take a horse and run for her life, that she and the others could defend themselves if need be.
Fleeing to Nebelstadt. Áine eventually finds herself in a town she thought was abandoned, until a demonic-looking woman tried to attack her. Another demonic-looking human intervened, saving Áine's life. This person turned out to be a man named Oskar Nivelheim, a vampire from Windenburg, who invited Áine to come and stay with him. He managed to get out of her how she ended up there, and he didn't judge her at all for her decision to kill her terrible father. If anything, he supported it. Áine stays with Oskar for a fair few months whilst she's pregnant, and he does his best to support her and look after her.
Giving birth. Though the two had been distant because Reynold didn't tell Áine something important about his identity and his past, eventually Oskar invites him back to Nebelstadt just in time for Áine to give birth to their daughter, a baby girl who they name Róisín meaning 'little rose'. Both Áine and her daughter make it through smoothly.
Leaving Nebelstadt. Oskar is sad to see her leave, but Áine and Reynold leave Nebelstadt after a few months. Now that everything is out in the open about Reynold, Áine decides to move in with him. She then spends most of her time looking after Róisín as she grows up once she moves back to Henford.

Reynold Morgan

'No good comes from devoting yourself entirely to one cause. If you lose yourself in the process, then what good are you to the cause?'
Age: 22 (Start of Act One) / 25 (End of Act Two)

- a Brother, and the eventual Father of, the Peteran monastery in Withernham. He's very conflicted about his beliefs and his true identity as one of the Lunvinchenaîné (mooncasters). As a young man, he wants to enjoy life as well as just devote it to helping people, and a lot of his viewpoints are considered scandalous to Peterans, such as him being a father, being in a relationship, and considering pleasure to be just as important as helping others. He's a generally kind and calm man, and for the most part is a pacifist. He's very distant with his sister, and he loves Mother Joyce even if they clash sometimes.

The incident. Roughly two years before the story starts, Reynold got into a massive argument with his twin sister, Clementia, and he reacted with immense anger after she'd told him she wished he was dead. This burst of utter rage was the first time he'd ever turned into a werewolf- something his father failed to teach him how to control, hoping he'd never find out he had that power. After injuring Clem to the point of near-death, he flees with her and takes her to Withernham, ignoring everyone's offers for help until he gets to the doorstep of the monastery.

He manages to stabilise her wounds with his healing magic in the moonlight. The abbess, Joyce Milburn, asks him what happened. He explains everything to her, and she seems to understand that it was out of his control. An important facet of Peterism is to guide the dark towards the light, so when he offers to help her at the monastery, she decides to say yes despite everything. Once Clem is healed, she flees the monastery, not giving Mother Joyce a proper thank-you. Eventually, Mother Joyce trains Reynold as her successor as none of the other Peteran regulars want the responsibility.
Meeting Áine. This is already covered in Áine's section. Reynold didn't like that Peterism placed constantly helping others over enjoying your own life and denying one's own life of pleasure. Most are shocked by his outlook, but he realises denying himself pleasure won't help him or anyone else. He tells Áine how he feels about her and eventually the two become a couple, eventually fathering a child. Mother Joyce chews him out for this because of his werewolf blood. What if their child is a werewolf? Does he want her to live the way that he has lived? And that's exactly what happens. Róisín is born a Lunvinchenaîné, otherwise known as mooncasters, the moon-shackled, or werewolves. He won't make the same mistake his father did. He'll teach her about the wolf.
Being a werewolf. We find out in Chapter 1:12 who the werewolf is, and Mother Joyce tells him that at some point he'll have to likely be honest with everyone about his true self. For months, he somehow managed to hold off transforming upon the full moon, as painful physically and mentally as it was. His rage at the witchfinders prevents this, and he turns upon the full moon almost every time, unable to hold back, and often there are reports of dead witchfinders on the same night. The influence of the full moon is almost irresistible, and it usually makes him very irritable, so he tries to avoid people he cares about so he doesn't lash out in anger at them. Áine meets him in wolf form when he's behind bars in Oskar's home, and he tries to get closer to her until she puts her hand out, then he stubbornly walks away.
His relationship with Clementia. The two still keep in touch to some extent but the rift between them seems it'll never go away. She's convinced that Reynold will never change and that he'll hurt her again if she lets him in. He gets angry every time she brings it up, which doesn't help matters. Eventually, he tells Áine what he did to Clem. It takes a while for her to forgive him for leaving her in the dark, but eventually Áine helps Clementia try to heal from it. When Clem realises Reynold has not hurt Áine and has only gone after witchfinders, she realises he's changed. She apologises to him for telling him she wished he was dead, and she offers to give him a second chance. From then on, the two begin to become brother and sister after years of a rift.

At one point, when Clem is targeted by witchfinders on a full moon, Reynold kills one of them in wolf form and chases the other off. Clem is traumatised seeing the wolf again, but she bravely reaches forward, putting her hand on his muzzle. Reynold as a wolf lets out a little whimper, and puts his paw on her arm. Maybe werewolves are more aware of their human sides than anyone once thought...
Meeting Oskar. Reynold is summoned by Oskar to Nebelstadt, telling him Áine is there. Reynold assumes she's in danger and charges there in wolf form, attacking Oskar. Oskar overpowers him and throws him in a cell underneath his house where he interrogates him. He's furious with him for not telling Áine that he's a werewolf, and he even recognises him as Alistair Morgan's son, a man he fought with during the Bloodmoon war and was a close friend of.

Oskar and Reynold have the feeling of a lack of control in common. Realising that his own father didn't teach him anything, Oskar does his best to help him understand his power, and he also helps him to come to some uncomfortable truths about his identity. Instead of denying the wolf inside of him and trying to separate it from him, Oskar tells him to own it as a part of his identity.
Mother Joyce's death and Reynold's ordination. After Mother Joyce's death in her late age, he tries to remember all of the praises she gave him in a speech to all Peterans before her passing. Most people didn't become abbot or abbess until their forties or fifties, and here he was at twenty-five about to lead the entire monastery. It takes Susana to get him out of his anxious mood and come back to the monastery so that they can actually ordain him. Brother Reynold then becomes Father Morgan, though many still call him Reynold for friendly informality or for the sheer fact that they don't want to call someone fifty years their junior 'father'.
Saving Shepherd Julian's life. When Shepherd Julian is attacked by a witchfinder after Clementia killed one of them, Clem asks Reynold to help save him with his magic. He's reluctant, but he does it mainly because he can use it to try and get through to him that not all witches are dangerous. Reynold goes to the cathedral and heals his stab wounds with his magic in the moonlight. Julian is terrified to know this is the case, though he realises now that not all magic is dangerous. Reynold encourages him to stop his anti-witch tirades, but unlike Reynold, Julian has peoplee watching over him and controlling what he tells the Jacobans.

Katlego Anansi

'sometimes, I feel I have the kind of curiosity that can't be sated...'
Age: 24 (Start of Act One) 27 (End of Act Two)

- A sorceress who has lived most of her life in a far-off country. Sorceresses are the same as witches, just a different name from a different culture. Katlego is generally perky and positive, and loves discovering new things...at least until she discovers Henford. She has an owl familiar, Nia, who she saved the life of. She's pretty decent with Practical magic, but she has also been taught Mischief magic. At this time in the story universe, Mischief magic was a closed practice, not to be shared outside of certain groups and cultures. She guards the secrets to her trickery well. She does not believe in extreme violence or murder, even when someone deserves it.

We don't know much about Kat before the start of the story yet, only she lived with her parents who sold their crafts. She got along well with them and she loves her home, but she's always had a desire to explore the world. Her parents wanted to and never got around to it, so now she wants to.

Coming to Henford. Curious to see the world and expand her business horizons, Kat takes her repurposed pirate vessel and her owl familiar out on the boat with a plan to further her business around the world. She ends up in Henford, something she may come to regret. She sets up a market where she meets a woman who tells her to not be too open about witchcraft. She's surprised since back home sorceresses helped people and weren't hunted down. The woman offers her her own home, an old cunningwoman hut.

Katlego's boat and most of her supplies are stolen. She's both angered and devastated as she's now cut off from her family with no chance of making a living...that is, until she remembers her customer. She takes up her offer of the hut and decides to live as a cunningwoman, offering her services to those who may not be able to afford it otherwise to get a business head-start. When the customer tells her that some cunningwomen helped find witches, Kat decides it might be a good way to trick vile men into paying her if she lies to them about finding witches.
Meeting Gideon. Kat met Gideon when he was enquiring about a witch. She managed to trick him into coming to see her if he finds her. When he finds his witch near to her hut, she calls him in. She protects the witch by lying to him, telling him that the witch will feel immense pain if he...drinks her urine mixed with his own. And he does it, and she feels nothing, therefore she is not a witch. Eventually he realises this was a lie and threatens her, which Kat does what Kat does best- sasses him and tells him she doesn't care.
Meeting Áine. Kat met Áine when she fell sick near her hut. Áine was there to witness Kat chew Gideon out. It was Kat who realised that Áine was pregnant, though it didn't take a cunningwoman to notice... She offers Áine to stay with her and help her for a while, though she tells her not forever since there isn't space for two people and a child. She eventually lowers Áine's workload as her pregnancy moves forward. Áine eventually leaves to a different job, not wanting to burden Kat.
Kat's exile. Billionaire physician and alchemist Samuel Annorin considers her a threat to his business (she's earning less than 1% of what he earns). So he forces a herb vendor to sell her herbs tampered with an emetic, or he'll kill his family. When townspeople who came to her for her work became ill, they were furious, and Annorin came to further stir the pot and get her kicked out, telling them that she did it on purpose to swindle them out of her money. She leaves, furious. Gideon comes across the scene and tries to stand up for her, since he hates nobles and rich people. She doesn't care to hear from him, and leaves Henford.
Coming to Glimmerbrook. On her escape, Kat passes out. Nia alerts a passerby to her, and she's taken back to a small coven-like group in the woods of Glimmerbrook. They're all dressed in 'wild woman' outfits. She is greeted by Iris, the leader of the group. She helps with hunting and performing spells. Kat becomes concerned about success. In her culture, your name in a way defines your future (based on an actual concept in Tswana culture, which sadly I don't remember what it is called, but this is apparently an important aspect of many different cultures in African countries.) Katlego's name means 'success' and she does not feel successful, to which Iris says success isn't just having lots of money and a business. This changes Kat's outlook.
Meeting Ellie. Kat finds Ellie attractive humorously at first sight. She eventually falls in love with her, the two of them forming a relationship whilst Kat is in Glimmerbrook. When Kat leaves after an argument with Iris, Ellie comes along with her, starting a new life with her in Henford in the witches' refuge of the Peteran monastery. When she refuses to kill a witchfinder, potentially endangering the witches, Iris is furious. Kat doesn't want to live her violent way of life and leaves, with Ellie following.
Returning to Henford. Kat keeps in touch with Gideon, of all people, as he tries to help her clear her name in Henford. After a few years, he's fairly successful, with most of the poorer people realising how much they needed Kat. She's not sympathetic at all to them because they had her chased out, but she realises going back to Henford might be a good idea. The plan to get back at Annorin goes on for a few years, eventually happening at the end of Act Two,
Meeting Oskar. On the night she returns to Henford with Ellie, Oskar explains that she can't go back to the Peteran monastery because of a 'werewolf' on the loose. (It was a night of a full moon.) So he gives her some money to stay at the inn. Word has spread about Kat, and Oskar hates Annorin as much as she does for his own reasons. Eventually, the two meet up and agree to take on Annorin in their own way. He's throwing a celebration of his success soon, and Oskar manages to get Kat invited by convincing Annorin to try and kill her at the celebration. When Oskar deals with the situation with a frightful amount of violence, the two angrily clash.
Getting Annorin caught. The letter that Annorin sent to Henry the herb vendor, Gideon gives her as proof of what he's done. As well as further bits about Annorin that are revealed at the celebration, such as him beating his son and stealing Katlego's boat (that was found in a ledger in his room) Annorin is revealed for the fraud that he is. No-one feels any sympathy for Kat, they just want to laugh at Annorin...but now Kat can possibly try and restart her business in Henford, with Ellie by her side this time.

Gideon Reyes

'Rule Number One of my services- don't drag me into your problems with whole communities. Rule Number Two: I need proof, not just hunches.'
Age: 34 (Start of Act One) / 37 (End of Act Two)

- A thirty-four-year-old father of two, widow, and a witchfinder from Willow Creek. He's more meticulous than most witchfinders, requiring as much proof as possible and not going off of hunches. He wants to protect his children and their futures from the potential dangers of witchcraft, but he's mainly in it for the money, wanting the best life for his two young boys.

Gideon is another character we don't know a lot about before the story starts. He lived a simple life in Willow Creek with his partner Ruth. When she gave birth to Daniel and Josiah, she died during childbirth, leaving Gideon completely lost. Despite it, he pulled through for the sake of his children. After losing his old job due to industrial developments, he ended up finding work as a witchfinder.
Accepting a contract from Lord Volpe. The Tartosan nobleman Eduardo Volpe had requested his help looking for a particular witch that he saw dancing outside 'performing magic' with some other women. He says he's doing it because Cordelia is fearful of them. Gideon takes up the job anyway, taking half payment at the time and half when the job is done...that is, if the woman is at all a witch.
On the hunt for a witch. Gideon takes to Finchwick to look for this witch with his assistant...Brádach Sídha. He makes a point that she'd have likely fled a busy place like Finchwick and went elsewhere. He decides to ask around at the inn, where a very helpful lady decides to lend a hand...a very helpful lady by the name of Katlego Anansi. She tells him she's a cunningwoman, and that she can help find his witch.

Gideon visits the Peteran monastery asking where the woman he's looking for might be. Reynold sends him off into a random direction that'll send him into a wide bit of empty countryside, giving this stranger more time to get away from men like him. It pains him to do so, but Reynold has to warn the entire refuge about the witchfinder, and Áine helps to calm the children.
Tricked by Kat. Mostly covered in Kat's section. Brádach laughs his ass off when Gideon tells him what Kat made him do.
Guilt settles in. Gideon has a nightmare where the corpses of the women he killed berate him for what he did, as does his dead partner Ruth. He finds a burning corpse in his living room and the women try to push him into the fire. He wakes up horrified, and it's part of what makes him realise he's not doing his family any favours by being a witchfinder and that he's not a good role model to his kids. Even if he still didn't trust magic, there were women being killed who had no magic in them at all, which Gideon knew before becoming a witchfinder and yet he still did it.

He goes to the Peteran monastery to ask for Reynold's counsel, who tells him that the only way he can truly redeem himself is by making a genuine difference, not by feeling guilty.
Quitting being a witchfinder. To Lord Volpe's annoyance, Gideon gives up being a witchfinder for the sake of his two boys, Daniel and Josiah. After some time he finds work as a fisherman, which his boys help him with. He earns a decent living and tries to teach his children that what he was doing was wrong.
Learning the truth about Brádach Sídha. Gideon confronting his guilt and his wrongdoings convinces Brádach to do the same...and tell Gideon how he gave up his own wife to witchfinders in order to save both himself and his daughter. Gideon hits the roof and threatens him to leave. He's furious at how anyone could do that to their partner.
Helping clear Kat's name. Gideon has forgiven Kat, now realising she was just trying to protect women. When he witnesses her being verbally harassed by Annorin to leave, he tries to defend her because he too hates Samuel Annorin. It doesn't work, but over the years, he and Henry, the herb vendor forced to help frame her or his family would be killed, do their best to help clear her name. When Kat is in Glimmerbrook, she and Gideon share letters.

He tries to convince her to return multiple times, one of those times being when his own gets sick. He makes a full recovery, but Gideon thinks of the many families who have lost their children without Kat's affordable herbal remedies.

Clementia Morgan

'Áine seems like the kind of woman I wish I could be. Unapologetic and confident, yet loving and kind at the same time. What a blessing it must be, to not have to sacrifice one for the other.'
Age: 22 (Start of Act One) / 25 (End of Act 2)

Shepherdess of the Jacoban cathedral of Finchwick. She and Reynold have an incredibly troubled past, and she masks her trauma with an air of acidity and 'calmness'. She's skilled with Jacob's sword. She is bravely trying to make her way up in the ranks, and Jacoban society is not quite so welcoming of a high-ranking woman as the Peterans would be. For Clem, it feels like the world has always been against her- what difference does it make?

Part of Clem's backstory is covered in Reynold's section. Growing up, she was not favoured by her parents. They wanted a son and didn't expect an extra daughter. She also didn't have magic in her blood, so she was often not particularly considered important. She used to get told to 'just deal with' her brother's outbursts caused by the full moon. After the situation where Reynold almost killed her and she woke up in the Peteran monastery, she fled. No longer believing in a kind Watcher, she converted to Jacoban, eventually becoming a shepherdess.
Throughout the story, she seems traumatised every time someone raises their voice at her, especially Reynold. We eventually find out why, because Reynold had attacked her as a werewolf. As covered in Reynold's section, the two eventually reconciled. As is also covered slightly in Reynold's section, a big turning point for her is when she sees him in werewolf form, and bravely puts her hand on his muzzle. He doesn't try to hurt her or react with anger, and puts her paw on his arm. She realises fully now that Reynold has control over his wolf form now, and that he'll never hurt her again.
Killing a witchfinder. Clem killed a witchfinder who entered the cathedral looking for Alice. Clementia runs Jacob's Sword through him to save Alice's life. When a witchfinder comes back for Shepherd Julian in an act of what seems to be revenge, Clementia calls on Reynold to save his life with magic, which he does reluctantly given Julian's anti-witch beliefs.
Accused of witchcraft. The Jacoban High Priest, as well as the Great Convincer become convinced that Clem herself may be a witch after the incident where she killed a witchfinder. Shepherd Julian decides to cover for her, knowing they'll take his word over hers. Thankfully, they're convinced...it seems.
Visited by the Great Convincer. One evening, Great Convincer Juniper visits Clementia at the cathedral. This happens before witchfinders try to attack Clementia on her way home. She questions Clem about the fact that people think Shepherd Julian was bewitched into his pro-witch stance, with Clem of course being first to blame. She gets a vitriolic response from Clementia, who also says she could easily accuse her of witchcraft if she wished. Juniper backs down, realising the danger she's in and giving her a dagger to protect herself. Juniper tells her she knows what it's like to be a woman in a high place, and is just as unwilling as Clem as to give up the power she's found for anyone.

Julian Jourdain

'Remember, the Eyes of the Watcher are always upon you.'
Age: 70 (Start of Act 1) / 73 (End of Act 3)

Julian Jourdain hails from Champs Les Sims, and is the fervent and intimidating Eye of Jacob at the Finchwick Jacoban cathedral, though most just call him the High Shepherd. His methods may seem unnerving to some, but he is genuinely convinced of all he says. He believes witches are a punishment from the Watcher for human's wrongful behaviours, and he believes that getting rid of them will help spare people upon the Eve of Retribution (The day when the Watcher saves those who have performed good deeds and kills those who have not.) His services include absolution (shaming people into apologising to the Watcher over and over and doing a good deed to redeem themselves), fervent sermons, and collecting donations, most of which go towards making his quarters fancier.

All we know of Julian's history is that as a young man, he lived a very non-Jacoban life of flirting with women and drinking alcohol. He became High Shepherd in his late fourties. He at one point had a young daughter when he was younger named Blanche, who died of illness. The only person who could cure it would have been Samuel Annorin, who was not affordable in the slightest, not even for the High Shepherd. This only heightened his belief in a wrathful Watcher.
Meeting Reynold. He meets with Reynold to get to know his new competition given Mother Joyce is getting older. They clash when he brings up what Reynold plans to do about the witches- which is, of course, nothing.
Juniper's concerns. Julian shows great anger when Great Convincer Juniper, a woman, questions whether or not Clementia is really fit to replace him when the time comes. For a Jacoban, Julian is actually fairly progressive. In his youth, he believed women were not equal to men, but he came to realise when he was older that women were just as capable as any man. He calls her out for her internalised misogyny, and is quite vitriolic towards her. She also accuses him of 'fraternising' with a Peteran for inviting Reynold to the cathedral.
Getting attacked at the cathedral. As mentioned in Clementia's section, he's stabbed by a witchfinder and would have died had Reynold not saved him with his magic. He's terrified to know Reynold is a witch, even though he slightly suspected it. He listens to what Reynold has to say about magic, and he thanks him for saving his life. Trouble is, Reynold can change whatever rules he wants. Julian can't. The other trouble? Julian is from Champs Les Sims. The werewolves' language is a pidgin language partially made up of their language (a French analogue). He recognised the magic as that of the moon-shackled. Julian knows that he is a werewolf, and now he's questioning the scar across Clementia's face...and is terrified.
A change of heart. Julian delivers a VERY CONTROVERSIAL anti-witch speech at his sermon, which has concerns set high for just about everyone and prompts the High Priest to investigate Clementia, thinking she bewitched him into doing it, and that the witchfinder had come after Clementia.

Oskar Nivelheim

'We've all lost control at one point, with devastating results. There's always an underlying fear that one day, it may be someone you love.'
Age: 36 (Biological) / 160 (Chronological) (End of Act Two)

- A woodworker who hails from Windenburg, who was turned into a vampire in his late thirties ~~and took over Act Two entirely~~. His long life has led him down some interesting paths, and he has been a teacher, a soldier and an adoptive father time and time again. He was turned by Violeta Vasile Nicolae, a vampire who befriended him. He asked her to turn him to prevent his death from terminal illness. Oskar is autistic and also eventually figures out that he's gender-nonconforming, only in this period of time no-one knows much about either of those things, so all he knows is that he's different from everybody else somehow. Many just see him as eccentric, and consider him interesting and fascinating for his outlooks on life. Despite him being from the past, many find him to be oddly like he's from the future.

Despite his struggles with socialising and reading between the lines with people's words sometimes, he likes getting to know people and loves to talk, sometimes not realising that he's not letting the other person get a word in. He likes hearing people talk about their passions. He gets annoyed when people aren't clear about what they want. He tries his best to be there for the people who deserve it, but he has an incredibly-strong sense of justice and no patience for people who wrong their children. He's incredibly merciless to people who do harm to children. His morals come across as warped for some people. His vampiric years have dulled his emotions quite a lot, and that can be alienating for him. On top of that, it's also given him some problems akin to mental illness, and he's sometimes consumed by obsessive thoughts of hurting others, which he'd never do unless he had a reason.

There's a lot that isn't shared about Oskar's backstory because of how long he's been alive. We'd be here forever. He was born to Johann and Lorelei Nivelheim, master woodworkers. They realised their child was different from the other children, and when others suggested abandoning him and worse, they rightfully lashed out and loved him regardless of his differences. He didn't get on well at school, so they homeschooled him. He was fascinated with their work and, as a baby, used to like sawing or hammering dents into their expensive pieces of furniture.

They decided to leave this as a family signature, and it's now a common sign of an authentic Nivelheim piece. Woodworking became a special interest for him, and he helped out a little bit with the family. He never made any friends since he was usually busy with helping his mother and father, but he was always friendly to locals and neighbours and was always up for a chat. The plan was to carry on that legacy when his parents died, but the completely-unexpected happened...
Meeting Violeta: He met Violeta Vasile Nicolae at the Windenburg bluffs. She'd only just arrived in the country and didn't trust him at first. He ends up showing her some of the landmarks, and she reveals that she fled after killing her abusive husband, which he congratulates her for. Eventually they become close friends, and he makes her a wooden bear as a gift. She reveals she's a vampire, which shocks him, but his intense interest in arcane history means it doesn't bother him (only that he thought they were dead). He soon falls ill before starting his first commission solely made by him, and it turns out he has a terminal illness. He asks Violeta to turn him because he doesn't want to die, and so begins his life as a vampire.
As all fledgling vampires do, he struggled to adjust, and had killed forty-six innocent people in a haze of bloodlust before mostly getting a hold on it. The guilt gives him a compulsion to count bats to talk himself out of drinking from innocent people, however, this is more of a detriment to him than a helpful coping mechanism, and it's hard to talk him out of it.
It's unknown exactly how many children he was a surrogate father to, but he raised a child named Ilse who he found who was homeless, raising her as his own. She died of old age. He was also a soldier in the Bloodmoon War about forty or so years ago, fighting alongside vampires, werewolves and witches alike against witchfinders. Sadly, some witches turned on the vampires and werewolves to save their own skins. At one point, he was a woodworking tutor who ran his own classes.
Eventually, Oskar and Violeta (and some other vampires they'd met) retreated to the remote abandoned town of Nebelstadt ('fog town'). They often fought with the Strongs, a magical bloodline that seemed to take issue with the vampires. Many of the other vampires were killed by the Strong bloodline, one was killed by Violeta for breaking their rule and drinking a teenager's blood. Eventually, only Oskar and Violeta remained.
Meeting Áine: Oskar met Áine when he saved her from Violeta, his own friend. He let her stay at his home, which he often did to lost travellers. He didn't expect her to have such an interesting story, however. He let her stay there for an extended period of time because she was pregnant and did his best to take care of her, coming to have a paternal bond with her. Considering what happened with her biological father, Áine comes to care for him like a father, prompting him to adopt her and become a surrogate father to her, as he has to many.
Meeting Reynold: Explained in Reynold's section. He helped Reynold to learn more about his wolf side, something his biological father, an old friend and war ally of Oskar's, failed to do.
Leaving Nebelstadt. Oskar and Violeta leave to Henford. Oskar's quite scared since he can't survive the Sun, but Violeta assures him it'll be fine so long as it's cloudy outside. Violeta does art commissions and teaches classes for art, and Oskar takes on an apprentice woodworker in the form of the youngest son of Samuel Annorin, Elijah.
Meeting Eli. Oskar rolls his eyes in his mind when Eli says he hates this father...but deep down, he'll be a surrogate father to just about everyone. The two become close when Oskar brings out the best in the boy, and he gives him a fairly large share of any woodworking crafts they manage to sell. Eli comes to see Oskar as a father figure. They become a great mentor / student pair. Eli does become upset with Oskar when he greatly injures Samuel Annorin in a brutal attack of revenge for him attacking Eli, but is quick to forgive him, the father figure that genuinely cared about him.
Meeting Katlego. As explained in Kat's section, Oskar and Kat have a target in common in the form of Annorin. He visits him to tell him about how Eli's getting on, which he doesn't care about. He does manage to get himself invited, and also convinces Annorin to invite Kat so he can try and kill her at the party. He attempts to poison her tea, which Oskar's heightened vampiric senses pick up on, so he drinks the tea since it won't affect him. Kat doesn't question this, assumedly because she has assumed Oskar's made an assumption that it's been tampered with.

After Oskar helps her get back at him, he brutally attacks him in dark form, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. Katlego is furious at him for taking it too far, but the reality is that Oskar thought she wouldn't care, and also that all she said was not to kill him, which he didn't. He was also greatly angered by the fact that Annorin says to him that his parents should have abandoned or killed him for his neurodivergence, and also for what he says to him about his experimentation with gender presentation.
Figuring out gender stuff. Oskar comes to realise whilst drinking the blood of a female friend that his past feelings about women aren't an attraction to them, since he isn't attracted to anyone... but a kind of envy. Eventually, he comes to realise that perhaps he isn't wholly a man at all. Despite him still calling himself a man and referring to himself in masculine ways and with he/him pronouns, he considers himself to be partially a man and partially a woman (genderfluid, probably, if the time period had the word for it.) Screwing with Annorin at the celebration he gets invited to allows him to go in a fancy dress, which he loves, where no-one questioned a thing.
Oskar's obsessive-compulsive behaviours come up a lot, usually when he's surrounded by humans he doesn't want to drink from. His coping mechanism is to count bats, but it doesn't help him at all. Both Dinah and Eli witness this and try to calm him down. It takes a while, but they get through to him. Oskar is forever grateful for both of them being so understanding.

Oskar's dark form by the end of Act Two.

Violeta Vasile Nicolae

'I like to think that things are different now to back then, but...when I think about it, it's the same struggles over and over...'
Age: 48 (Biological) / 253 (Chronological

- A woman from a country not massively far from Henford who found a friend in Windenburg after fleeing her home country when she killed an abusive husband. She found a friend in a woodworker named Oskar, who she turned into a vampire to prevent his death from terminal illness. The two have been good friends ever since, though there is something of a mother / son dynamic between them. Due to the way the witches turned on the vampires some years ago, Violeta hates them as much as she hates witchfinders. She's not loving or approachable like Oskar is, and she only cares about him. She came to discover she has a talent for art.

We'll eventually learn a bit more about Violeta's backstory, but she was a seamstress before she was turned in a surprise attack in her late fourties. It pained her for years knowing she'd never reach the milestone of 50, but she eventually stopped caring.
Meeting Oskar: Described in Oskar's section. She didn't trust him at first, but now she considers him one of the only men she's ever truly trusted. She sees him not just as a friend, but as her son. Turning someone into a vampire means a lot of responsibility, and she's done her best to raise him from a fledgling to an experienced vampire.
Meeting Áine: Violeta tried to kill her when she entered Nebelstadt. She didn't even feel bad when Oskar told her she was pregnant, saying it was just another witch that would try to harm them. Violeta eventually realises that she's thinking of the witches of the past and taking that out on the witches of the present. To no-one's surprise, Áine still hates her and has not forgiven her for what she did. She just wanted to protect Oskar more than anything.
Moving to Nebelstadt: She moves to Nebelstadt along with Oskar, where she becomes an art teacher. For the first time in years, she begins to feel some joy from it, and it's actually working to distract her from her bloodlust. She's concerned about these feelings, but Oskar tells her to be vulnerable on occasion or she'll never feel joy again if she keeps suppressing the rare moments of genuine emotion.
The 'Annorin' fiasco. Violeta had told Oskar to just kill him, and was a bit annoyed and concerned for him to find out he hadn't done and that he'd given into Katlego's demands. This caused something of a minor rift given Violeta very rarely didn't agree with Oskar's decisions.

Violeta's Dark Form.

Side Characters and Minor Characters

Characters who appeared a fair bit (or a lot) but had not much of a PoV, or no PoV at all, or otherwise had significance.

Elijah Annorin- Samuel Annorin's youngest son and Oskar's apprentice. He doesn't have magic in his blood.
Owen Annorin- Samuel Annorin's oldest son. He's been in San Myshuno for five years selling his father's cures. He comes back and realises that his own father is an embarassment and a fraud, and is horrified to find out he hurt Eli.
Samuel Annorin- Patriarch of the Annorin magical bloodline, represented by the gryphon. He's a talented physician and alchemist, but also his cures are wildly expensive. His justification is that it's cheap by San Myshuno standards, where most of his clients are from. He will do anything to get what he wants and considers even the smallest of healers to be competition. He has cured some once-incurable illnesses, and he keeps these under lock and key unless someone is willing to pay horrific amounts.
Iris- Leader of the Glimmerbrook coven that Kat was a part of for a while. She's from near Mt. Komorebi, and Iris is not her real name. We don't know much about her yet, but she did help out Katlego before they clashed.
Dinah- a sex worker who lives in Henford who became friends with Oskar due to a funny misunderstanding on his part. She eventually fell in love with him. The two are good friends still, despite her feelings, and she lets him drink her blood if he aboslutely needs to. Though he hasn't needed to, he's promised to protect her if witchfinders come her way, though she says she can defend herself.
Alistair Morgan- We only saw him in the flashback chapter 'Untouchable', but he's been spoken of. He was Reynold and Clementia's father, who didn't teach Reynold much at all about his werewolf side...and look what good that did.
Eleanor Aguwegbo- Katlego's girlfriend. She's a friendly Practical witch, and much like Kat doesn't like conflict.
The Strong bloodline- the Strong magical bloodline family were created by 108sims for a challenge of theirs, and the only Strong character we see is in the modern stories. They are only mentioned here. The Strong bloodline in this story are essentially just power-hungry witches who seem to have some problem with vampires, and in the modern stories are responsible for wiping out a lot of them. In this time period they have killed many of Oskar and Violeta's friends from the past. It's thought that this in some sort of revenge for something vampires did to their lineage in the past. Oskar and Violeta were both powerful enough to keep fighting them off.

When Oskar and Violeta left Nebelstadt, the Strongs took it over entirely. They have a lot of knowledge of vampires that have mostly died out with the vampires, most of whom are dead either because of them or the Bloodmoon war.

Glossary

Bloodline- A magical bloodline is a descendant from the true witches. Their magic is not as powerful as a true witch's magic, and is usually the result of lineages not wholly being magical on both sides. The Annorin, Strong, Charm, and Viridis families are all magical bloodlines descended from witches.
Lunvinchenaîné (luh-von-shen-ay) - Mooncasters. Means 'moon-shackled'.
Bloodmoon- This either refers to the war that ended about thirty years ago, between vampires and werewolves and witch-hunters, or it refers to the pact formed between vampires and werewolves to always be there for each other no matter what. It's a part of why Oskar helps out Reynold despite barely knowing him.