Wraeththu - History in Print

History in Print

Wraeththu first appeared in print with The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit (1987), followed by the next two Wraeththu Chronicles books, The Bewitchments of Love and Hate (1988) and The Fulfillments of Fate and Desire (1989). The Wraeththu Chronicles are first person narratives covering an important era in Wraeththu history; the narrators are Pellaz Cevarro (who eventually becomes a kind of king), Swift Parasiel (who grows up to be a tribal leader), and Calanthe (Pellaz' lover). Beginning in 2003, this trilogy of books was re-released in revised editions published by Constantine's publishing firm, Immanion Press. In 2006 Enchantments appeared in an all-new German language edition, as Der Zauber von Fleisch und Geist, published by German publisher Zauberfeder Verlag.

In 2004, a new trilogy, the Wraeththu Histories, launched with The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure, followed by The Shades of Time and Memory (2005) and The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence (2006). These books continue the original trilogy but have a different tone, with third-person narration, a more complex narrative structure, and more concrete details on Wraeththu's abilities and origins.

Wraeththu have also appeared outside the six-book series. In 2003, Immanion Press published the first "Wraeththu Mythos" book, Breeding Discontent, written by two fans (Wendy Darling and Bridgette Parker) and edited by Constantine herself. In 2005, Constantine released a new Wraeththu novella called The Hienama: A Story of the Sulh, separate from the storylines of the two trilogies. The book follows the story of a member of the Sulh tribe who seeks a hienama, or Wraeththu shaman, for training, and gets more deeply entangled in his education than he expected. In the summer of 2005, Immanion Press published another Wraeththu Mythos novel, Terzah's Sons by Victoria Copus. A loose sequel to The Hienama called A Student of Kyme written by Constantine was expected out in 2008, along with a lengthy Wraeththu Mythos novel, Rosa Mundi by Kris Dotto.

Wraeththu have also appeared in several of Constantine's short stories, published in magazines or anthologies. Of these short stories, most notable is "Paragenesis" describing in poignant details the very beginnings of Wraeththu, featuring Thiede, the first har, his sad infancy, his flight from home and how he discovered love and loss before giving rise to the new race. There is a Wraeththu fan fiction community, which exists primarily online; in 2003 a series of fan-written short stories was self-published by fans in a booklet titled Writers of the Storm.

In 2005 the German publishing firm Zauberfeder Verlag published Wraeththu: The Picture Book, a full-color album showing off the work of photographer Marja Kettner and a group of German fans who created costumes, jewelry and makeup to great a pictorial vision of the world of Wraeththu. Almost all the models are male; many of these same models also participated in the LARP described elsewhere in this article. Information on the book is available in German and in English.