The first of our main characters from A Dagger in the Winds is Otylia, a szeptucha sorceress serving the goddesses Dziewanna and Mokosz. We were able to do a photoshoot for both Otylia and Wacław (the story’s other protagonist), so the photos below are our live-action version of her (photos by The Kindly Midwest).
Determined. Untamed. Alone.
Otylia dreamed of becoming a szeptucha her entire life. These whispering channelers of the gods are the chosen few to serve a particular god for as long as they live. None have been chosen by the wild goddess Dziewanna before—none until Otylia.
But it isn’t the power she now wields that haunts her.
Four years ago, just moons before Otylia had been initiated as a szeptucha at twelve-years-old, she wandered the woods with her best friend, Wacław. The hesitant cast-out son of the High Chief annoyed her at times, but her saw more in her than just a girl running through the wilds. Well, he did before that night.
Wolves attacked them, tearing apart Wacław as she watched, helpless. Then a power surged from her. It sent the wolves flying just in time to save her friend’s life, but channeling sorcery before being chosen was forbidden…
As the daughter of the High Chief’s rival, High Priest Dariusz, neither her father nor Wacław’s approved of their interactions. Her channeling was the final stray. After that night, Wacław turned away from her forever—just like his father wanted. He’s avoided her ever since.
To make things worse, Otylia’s mother died just weeks later, taken by the illness known as Marzanna’s Curse. For the first time, she was truly alone. The tribe called her a wild witch in the years that followed, and her father never cared like her mother had. Now, four years later, she’s accepted she needs no one. Serving her goddesses—Dziewanna and the Great Mother, Mokosz—and protecting the wilds are all that matters.
When Mokosz shows her a vision of what is to come, however, Otylia will be forced to face what she’s lost. It will be up to her whether to trust Wacław again as they face lands cursed by demons, witches, and dangerous beasts.
I absolutely loved writing Otylia. There’s no other way to put it. Between her stubbornness, sarcasm, and passion, she is a weapon to deal with, and pulling apart her backstory really made her an interesting character to create. She has so many conflicting interests within her. She’s internalized the lies people have told her, and dealing with that pain forces her to be vulnerable. She hates that.
Writing her little quips with characters like Wacław and Narcyz was my favorite part. She can take jabs and deal them just as quick. Because of the walls she’s built between her and others, there as so many layers to her conversations depending who she’s willing to trust (which is few people), so adding that complexity has been an amazing challenge to create.