NiGHTS from Sega

This is one that can get confusing because their name is also used for the career and clothing.  The thing to remember going forward is that the Jesters here are spelled with a capital ‘J’.  Also that I won’t be talking about the other kind.  They get the name because of how they dress . . . Although, the bell-tipped caps and colorful clothing are actually parts of their bodies.  Segue into the description!

The Jesters are incredibly powerful beings that are said to have been born from chaotic magic.  As I said, they have the clothing of the mortal career and they indulge in some of the same activities such as juggling and getting laughs.  All Jesters are high energy and tend to be friendly, but they also have a curiosity that can be unnerving.  For example, one meeting a pregnant woman could open her belly up like a door and take a peek without harming either mortal.  This was actually done in a Dungeons & Dragons game that I ran and it freaked the mother out.  You see, Jesters don’t pay attention to social norms, mortal rules, and laws of physics.  They are composed of raw magic and can twist reality to some extent.  Only gods and named demons can really hold a candle to their power, which they use at their leisure.

There is no social structure to these creatures because they are fairly whimsical.  You might find several in a group for an extended period of time, but then there might be a solitary one.  Some adventurers have stumbled onto hidden colonies, which are very rare due to the amount of magic in one area.  Many Jesters wander around and search for areas that can entertain them.  It could be a temporary weather pattern or a group of mortals that they will stick with until they get bored.  Not being gods, they are allowed to interfere with mortal affairs and they will for laughs.  It is unclear if Jesters can get angry or even kill people since neither have been recorded.  They are more likely to send an enemy away or do something to embarrass them.  Being near immortal, they understand the concept of death, but find it bland and refuse to be a part of it.

Jesters will continue to be a mystery, especially after the Great Cataclysm.  Prior to this event, they were scattered about Windemere and were fairly active.  Once the chaos had ended, only the Jesters that had been trapped in magical locations remained and they lived in secret.  Various artifacts that unleashed reality-warping magic have been discovered and it is rumored that the Jesters were transformed by their own power into these items.  Others believe they were reabsorbed into the chaotic magic that birthed them thousands of years ago.  Nobody really wants to investigate in case they free something strong enough to kill the Jesters.  Because of this, they have fallen into legend and appear in bard tales to entertain children.

In my books, Jesters first appeared in Legends of Windemere: Tribe of the Snow Tiger in the form of Fortunatos.  He is the guardian of Aintaranurh, which is the holy temple of Timoran Wrath’s tribe.  People enjoyed his appearance and antics, which I had a blast writing.  Yet, this wasn’t the first time I used a Jester.  In fact, he was originally going to be a genie, but I changed it once I got to the scene.  They first appeared in that D&D game that I mentioned when I wanted a powerful being that will throw off the players.  I had a problem with them attacking and destroying nearly everything that came across their path, so I made the Jesters nonthreatening and beyond their abilities.  Even if they attacked, they wouldn’t do enough to warrant a counter.  It was the first time I got to play a wacky and curious character, which would go on to influence my creation of Yola Biggs the Chaos Goddess.  I do plan on bringing them into a few more stories too.  Haven’t fully decided on that one yet.