Okay, I'll bite
twice. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
My protagonist's step-brother is the pawn of the villains. He is weak, whiny, vindictive, prideful, and self-absorbed. He is the one who gets totally overmatched by my strong female charater; it's a mentor/mentee relationship based on an astrological 'society' that purports to use the ancient sciences. So he is the feminine one (in a bad sense I guess) who passively accepts the leadership of the masculine power-woman.
The Society for the sciences of antiquity is, of course, an obfuscating renaissance-style magicians' coven which purports to be using real science that has lost acceptance. They say that not the stars, but the planets and moon and sun, are what influence us, and each magician has an affinity with one particular planet's influence. I'd go into specifics but I'm a little afraid of idea-theft. The thing is, in my story the stuff actually does work, but the powersource behind the efficacious spells and what-not are actually malevolent (and in some cases neutral or benevolent) entities that allow the magicians to wield their power for their own purposes, reeling them in to slavery in some cases. The moon should be obvious, the influence of which is lunacy. I have a couple insane magicians whose powers are strong, and therefore they are dangerous.
That's the "our world" magic.
Faerie magic is different, though related. The immortals tend to have areas of extra-human capability according to elemental categories: fire, earth, air, etc. - plus all the typical deity-oriented powers of mythology. This is far more organic and follows after the like of Aragorn, whose healing ability did not come from his kingship but from his elvish/numenorean background - remember, his line ran pure and he was taught by Elrond. Okay, I've rambled long enough.
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