Compendium: Character Sheet - Fulk and Anna

Sons of Rome Compendium 

Character Sheet: Fulk and Anna 

I've talked before, both on the blog and on other social media sites, about the fact that Fulk and Anna were some of the very first characters designed for this series. They date all the way back to my high school days of scribbling story notes in the margins of my algebra homework, and suffice to say they've gone through several transformations since then. At their cores, though, they've always been them, and I was delighted to finally bring them onboard to this series. 

I gave them a joint post because we meet them together as the series begins. They've been married...a long time. And they are inseperable. Soul mates in every sense of the word. 

Fulk is British; there was a real First Baron Strange of Blackmere, and his name was truly Fulk le Strange, though I admit to my character being a fictional creation. In the series, Fulk is much older -  in an immortal sense - than his wife, Annabel, who is a reluctant Southern Belle whom he met during the American Civil War. 

There have been hints that their initial meeting was not exactly love at first sight:

“Darling,” he said, achingly sweet. “All I’ve ever wanted, from the moment I met you, was to call you mine and keep you safe.”

“The very moment? ‘Cause I spit on you that day. More than once.”

He chuckled. “And tried to stab me with my own knife, if I remember correctly.” 

And in Dragon Slayer we learn that Anna has a sister, Lily, who is a mage. 

She lifted her head and sent a small, uneven smile toward Anna. “Hello, sister.”

Annabel folded her arms and braced her shoulder against one of the (rather creepy) angel statues that had been cleaned up. “Trust you to find the one growing thing here.”

Lily turned her smile on the plant and dusted invisible dirt from her palms. “It was doing fine. It just needed a little help.”

“Help I didn’t ask for.”

A sigh. She lifted her gaze again. “Anna–”

“Why are you here?”

“Why did you seek me out if you just want to argue?” Lily countered, but calmly.



Of all the romantically involved couples of this series, Fulk and Anna are the ones modeled on a classic, Gothic Romance relationship. The stern, dour, seemingly joyless baron, alive for too long, jaded, and cold; and his impertinent, quick-tempered, spitfire lady love. Theirs is a love that has aged like fine wine; characterized by boundless support, and an easiness born of long acquaintance. They're perfectly happy to sit in silence. They do argue, sometimes viciously, but they have one of the deepest bonds of any two characters in the series.

I'm intending to tell the story of their first meeting in Book Five, the title of which I'm keeping a secret for now. Expect to see lots more Fulk and Anna as the series continues.Without giving away too much about what we'll learn in future books: Fulk was turned in his mid-twenties, and Anna was turned at nineteen, almost twenty. Fulk is the only wolf of known record who's ever managed to turn another wolf without the help of a mage, a feat thought impossible by other immortals. He was at one point in possession of "the wolf book," the ancient Latin volume that contains the summoning spell necessary for a turning. In "The Stalker," he tells Dr. Talbot that he sold it to "a Frenchman headed for Moscow," which was Philippe from White Wolf. In this small way, Fulk had a hand in Sasha's turning.

Fulk is considered an alpha wolf, and Annabel his alpha female. In the presence of other wolves, this natural dominance would make them the de facto pack leaders amongst wolves of more timid personalities. It would also mean that another alpha male could be seen as a rival.

For most of his life as a wolf, Fulk served as Familiar to a vampire who was an English duke - who we'll meet in book five. His fellow Familiar, the mage Liam Price, known as the Necromancer in immortal circles, was never a friend, and is now looked upon as an enemy. He distrusts all mages now, perhaps unfairly, and dreads the idea of his wife, always free, becoming any vampire's Familiar.

The quotes used above are from Dragon Slayer, and the wolf couple has a big part to play in the story to come.

First appearance: "The Stalker"

Fun Fact: In my very, very early drafts, Fulk was a demon rather than a wolf shifter. I'm glad I decided to make him a wolf instead.