TOD: Who are those characters and where do I know them from?

EXTRAS

Some astute readers have certainly noticed relationships between Tournament of Death and several other of my stories.  Crimson is the most obvious example, but I thought I'd give a brief run-down of the connections between this story and my other Blue Kingdoms work.  Sometimes, Iike Robert E. Howard before me, I feel like I'm tapping into a vast reservoir of stories from a world as real as our own, and I just have to wait for the right time for them to reveal themselves to me.  This project, written on the fly from very few notes, felt that way a lot.

BRAK - The basilisk (lizard-man) warrior appears in "The Blood Red Isle" in Zombies, Werewolves, & Unicorns (which appears in shorter/adapted form in "Court of the Blood Red Queen" in Blue Kingdoms: Shades & Specters).

CRIMSON - The main character in "Forever Crimson," a short story collected in Martian Knights & Other Tales.  Crimson also appears in an unreleased short story (I'm shopping it around), where she meets Captain Ali al Shahar, another of my ongoing BK characters (see Martian Knights & Other Tales and Blue Kingdoms: Buxom Buccaneers).

BARONESS LINDY GRIFFENHOLT - And the Golden Order appear in my unpublished novel A Reliable Dragon.  The Golden Order has also been mentioned in BK stories by other authors.

CAPTAIN HAMMACK - Is named for my old friend & game designer, Alan Hammack.  Al wrote "The Ghost Tower of Inverness," the first D&D module I edited (and wrote some of the background for).  With the tower setting for this story, I thought it would be a nice tip of the hat to mention him.  "Ghost Tower of Inverness" is mentioned in the 2nd D&D movie -- Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God -- which is a good film, much better than the first D&D movie.  He hasn't appeared before, but I wanted to give him props here.

MIDKNIGHTS - Uldred & Erisa are the latest in a string of Midknights (amoral, mercenary knights) to appear in my stories.  There's a trio of Midknights in "Shipmates," in Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms, and two more in "The Blood Red Isle" in Zombies, Werewolves, & Unicorns (which appears in shorter/adapted form in "Court of the Blood Red Queen" in Blue Kingdoms: Shades & Specters).

REX REGUS - Is original to this story, but Al Kabar have appeared in stories by Lorelei Shannon (who really nailed her portrayal of the race I envisioned) in Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms and Blue Kingdoms: Buxom Buccaneers.  I think there might even be an Al Kabar in Robert E. Vardeman's tale, and perhaps some others, in Blue Kingdoms: Shades & Specters.

VALARD GOLDENWING - Is original for this story, but sirens have appeared in other stories, including "The Gift of the Dragons" in Martian Knights & Other Tales.

SIR WILLIAM OF AVALAND - Though Sir William hasn't appeared before, his "boss" Lord Avalard appears in the story "The Girl in the Mirror" from the upcoming Lilith anthology from Popcorn Press.