Legal & IP

Before You Continue

The North Wind is a fictional historical-literary universe. Our stories may draw inspiration from documented historical people, places, events, technologies, customs, maritime history, and other historical material. Historical facts and fictional elements are combined for storytelling purposes.

The website may include reading content, historical context, interactive discoveries, maps, journals, audio, artwork, animations, and other entertainment features.

The North Wind & The Sage of Time and The North Wind series are original, independently created works of fiction inspired by real historical events. They are not based on, adapted from, licensed from, or affiliated with any other book, game, film, series, or franchise.

Nothing on this website should be interpreted as professional legal, financial, medical, historical, investment, travel, or other professional advice.

Important: the full Terms, Privacy Policy, Copyright & IP Policy, Disclaimers, and other policies in this Legal Center control where applicable.

1. Acceptance

By accessing or using The North Wind website, digital experience, interactive features, content, or related services, you agree to these Terms of Use.

These Terms cover every site and book we publish, including KindOfAuthor.com (the Kind of Author library), TheNorthWindSaga.com and every series and book shown there.

If you do not agree, do not use the applicable service.

If you are using the service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to accept these Terms on its behalf.

2. Eligibility

You must satisfy the minimum age requirements described in our Children & Age Policy.

If you are under the applicable age of majority, use of the service may require permission or supervision from a parent or legal guardian.

3. Changes

We may modify these Terms from time to time. When material changes are made, we may provide notice through the website, your account, email, or another reasonable method.

Continued use after the effective date of revised Terms constitutes acceptance where legally permitted.

4. The Service

The North Wind provides literary, historical-fiction, entertainment, interactive, educational-context, and related digital experiences. Features may change, be added, suspended, or discontinued.

5. License to Use the Website

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the website for personal, non-commercial purposes.

You may not:

• copy substantial portions of the site;
• reproduce protected content;
• scrape the website;
• systematically download content;
• reverse engineer the service;
• circumvent technical restrictions;
• interfere with operation;
• use automated systems to extract content without permission;
• impersonate the company, creators, or another user;
• use the service for unlawful purposes.

6. Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your sign-in credentials and for activity occurring through your account. Do not share credentials where account sharing is prohibited.

We may suspend or terminate accounts involved in abuse, fraud, security violations, unlawful conduct, or material violations of these Terms.

7. Digital Content

Content may include text, illustrations, artwork, photographs, maps, audio, animations, interactive elements, historical references, fictional characters, fictional locations, fictional artifacts, and interface elements. Availability may vary by device, location, platform, or product.

8. Historical Content

Historical references are provided for storytelling and general informational context. We do not represent that every historical detail, quotation, characterization, chronology, reconstruction, dialogue, image, map, or interpretation is historically exact.

Where appropriate, the experience may distinguish Documented History, Fiction, and The North Wind Universe. These labels are explanatory and do not constitute a guarantee that every underlying historical proposition is complete or uncontested.

9. Fictional Content

Unless expressly identified otherwise, characters, dialogue, relationships, scenes, supernatural elements, artifacts, organizations, events, and story developments may be fictionalized, combined, altered, or invented for storytelling.

Any resemblance of a fictional character to an actual person, living or dead, other than historical figures expressly depicted as such, is coincidental.

9A. Interactive Story Characters

The site may let you converse with fictional characters from the story and hear them read passages aloud. Their replies are generated automatically by AI systems, in character, for entertainment only. They are fiction: they are not real people, do not speak for the creators, and are not a source of historical, religious, medical, legal, or other advice. Replies may be inaccurate or unexpected. Do not share personal or sensitive information in these conversations. Parents and guardians should supervise younger readers.

10. User Conduct

Users may not:

• harass or threaten others;
• upload unlawful material;
• infringe intellectual property rights;
• distribute malware;
• attempt unauthorized access or exploit vulnerabilities;
• manipulate rankings or interactive systems;
• interfere with other users' experience;
• use the service to facilitate unlawful activity.

11. Suspension / Termination

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate access where reasonably necessary to protect users, protect the service, prevent fraud, address security concerns, comply with law, or enforce these Terms.

12. Third-Party Services

The service depends on third-party infrastructure, hosting, authentication, content delivery, communications, and other services. Third-party services may have their own terms and policies. See Third-Party Services.

13. Availability

The service is provided on an availability basis. We do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or permanently available operation.

14. No Warranty

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the service and content are provided "as is" and "as available." We disclaim warranties not expressly provided by law, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement, to the extent permitted by law.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the company and its owners, creators, authors, contributors, contractors, licensors, service providers, and affiliates will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or related to use of the service.

Where permitted by law, the total aggregate liability arising from the service will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid to us for the applicable service during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) $100.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability; in those jurisdictions these limitations apply only to the extent permitted by law.

16. Indemnification

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the company and its owners, creators, authors, contributors, contractors, licensors, service providers, and affiliates from claims, damages, liabilities, losses, and expenses arising from your unlawful use of the service, your violation of these Terms, your infringement of third-party rights, or your intentional or negligent misconduct.

17. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the applicable laws of the United States, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

18. Dispute Resolution

Disputes arising from these Terms or the service will be resolved in a court of competent jurisdiction, except where applicable law provides otherwise. Nothing in these Terms requires mandatory arbitration or waives class actions.

19. Severability

If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect to the extent permitted by law.

20. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with incorporated policies, constitute the agreement governing use of the applicable service, except where additional product-specific terms apply.

21. Contact

1. Who We Are

The North Wind operates KindOfAuthor.com, TheNorthWindSaga.com and every reading experience published there. One account and one privacy policy apply across all of them.

2. Information You Provide

You can read guest chapters without an account. If you choose to sign in, we receive and store:

• Account details from Google sign-in: your name, email address and profile picture.
• Reading progress: the chapter and page you reached, and when.
• Bookmarks you save, including the short excerpt of the bookmarked page.
• Story progress: clues discovered, Keeper's Journal entries and map stops unlocked, chapters completed, and story choices you make.

3. Information Collected Automatically

• Standard request information processed by our hosting infrastructure, such as IP address, request time and pages requested, for delivery, security and abuse prevention.
• Basic device and browser information (for example, whether the device is a TV) so the layout can adapt.
• Preferences kept on your own device, such as text size, reading theme, music volume and TV pairing — these stay in your browser's local storage.

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use only storage needed to run the site: a sign-in session and your on-device preferences. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party analytics trackers. See Cookies.

5. How We Use Information

• to sign you in and keep your session;
• to save and restore your reading position, bookmarks, discoveries and choices across devices;
• to unlock chapter-linked content when you complete a chapter;
• to pair a TV with your phone;
• to send sign-in emails you request;
• to keep the service secure, prevent abuse and fix problems;
• to comply with legal obligations.

6. Legal Bases Where Applicable

Where a legal basis is required, we rely on performing the service you request, our legitimate interests in operating and securing the service, your consent where requested, and compliance with legal obligations.

7. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information and do not share it for targeted advertising. We share information with service providers that run the site for us (see Third-Party Services), and where required for legal reasons (see Legal Requests below).

8. Advertising and Analytics

The site does not currently show advertising or use third-party analytics.

9. Payments

Payments are processed by our payment provider; we do not store full card numbers.

10. AI / Automated Features

We use AI services to produce narration audio and to help prepare companion content (such as clues and historical notes) from the book's own text.

If you choose to write to a story character, the message you type, the recent conversation and the passage you have reached are sent to our AI service provider to produce the character's reply and, if you ask, its spoken voice. We do not store these conversations in your account; they disappear when you close the conversation. Spoken replies may be cached as audio files without your identity. Please do not type personal or sensitive information.

11. Retention

Account and progress data are kept while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards, unless you ask us to delete them sooner or law requires longer retention. Information in your browser stays until you clear it.

12. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

13. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, to opt out of certain uses, and to appeal a decision about your request. Not every right applies to every user.

Children's Privacy

The service is not directed to children under 13. See Children & Age.

Do Not Track / Global Privacy Control

Because we do not sell personal information or use cross-site tracking, there is no tracking for these browser signals to switch off.

International Data Transfers

Our service providers may process information in the United States and other countries where they operate.

Security Incident Notice

If a security incident affects your personal information, we will provide notice where required by applicable law.

Legal Requests

We may disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law, respond to lawful legal process, protect rights, property or safety, investigate fraud or abuse, or enforce our Terms. We may challenge or limit requests where legally permitted and appropriate.

Policy Changes

We may update this policy as the service, law, technology, or our practices evolve, and will provide notice of material changes where required by law.

Contact Us

What we use

• Essential and authentication storage: keeps you signed in and protects your session. Required for sign-in to work.
• Preference storage: remembers text size, reading theme, cinema mode, music choice and volume, and TV pairing on your device.
• Analytics and performance: not used.
• Marketing and advertising: not used.
• Embedded third-party content: none that sets tracking cookies.

Your choices

Because the site uses no non-essential cookies, there is nothing to switch off. You can still review the categories and clear preferences stored on this device at any time.

Original Work

The North Wind and its associated creative universe contain original literary, artistic, visual, interactive, editorial, audiovisual, and other creative material.

Unless otherwise indicated, the website and associated materials may include protected stories, text, characters, fictional mythology, names, artwork, logos, symbols, maps, illustrations, interfaces, animations, audio, original historical-fiction interpretations, compilation and arrangement, software, databases, and designs.

All rights reserved except where expressly stated otherwise.

Users receive only the limited rights expressly granted by these Terms. No implied license is granted.

Do not copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, modify, adapt, translate, sell, license, scrape, or create derivative works from protected material except as expressly authorized or permitted by law.

Fair use, fair dealing, quotation rights, public-domain material, and other statutory rights are not waived by this policy.

Independent Original Creation

The North Wind & The Sage of Time, The North Wind series, and the THE NORTH WIND brand are original works independently conceived and created. They are not derived from, adapted from, licensed from, sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with any other literary work, game, interactive fiction, film, television series, publisher, studio, or franchise.

Some third-party works may use similar words such as "north wind" or "saga" (for example, the 2016 interactive game "Saga of the North Wind" by its respective owners). Any similarity of title or common words is coincidental; no connection, association, or endorsement exists or is implied, and all third-party names remain the property of their respective owners.

Original story elements include, without limitation: the protagonists and supporting characters (including Isabella, Abuela, Captain Alonzo, Father Mateo, Braulio, Miguel, Rodrigo and Eneko as portrayed), their dialogue, relationships, arcs and fates; the Stone, the Keeper, the Sage of Time, the Gates, the Loom and the Threads, the Pool of Reflections, the Guardians of Silence, the Watcher, and all related mythology; the plot, sequence, and structure of the series; and the original artwork, maps, music, narration, and interactive design of this site.

Inspired by History — Not a Historical Record

The story is inspired by real history, including seventeenth-century Bilbao, Basque maritime and shipbuilding traditions, the age of exploration, and documented figures such as Cristóbal Colón. Real people, places, and events appear in a fictional setting; their words, actions, and motives in the story are imagined unless clearly presented as documented history. Historical facts and public-domain materials remain free for everyone; we claim rights only in our original expression, selection, and arrangement.

Historical Sources & Public-Domain Material

Some historical facts, names, places, dates, maps, concepts, documents, and other material may be in the public domain or may be derived from historical sources. No claim of ownership is made over historical facts themselves.

Our rights may apply to our original selection, arrangement, fictionalization, interpretation, prose, artwork, presentation, annotations, interactive implementation, and original research presentation. Historical facts are not claimed as proprietary merely because they appear in our work.

Notice of Infringement

We respect intellectual property rights and expect users to do the same. If you believe material available through the service infringes your copyright, send a written notice containing the information required by applicable law, including:

• identification of the copyrighted work;
• identification and location of the allegedly infringing material;
• your contact information;
• a statement of good-faith belief that the use is not authorized;
• a statement that the information is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act;
• your physical or electronic signature.

Counter-Notification

If material you posted was removed and you believe it was removed by mistake or misidentification, you may send a counter-notification containing the information required by applicable law. Where appropriate, we may restore the material as the law permits.

A. Historical Fiction

The North Wind is an original work of fiction inspired by true historical events. Historical people, places, events, institutions, customs, and technologies may be depicted with fictionalization, compression, alteration, invention, or interpretation. Depictions of historical figures, religious life, institutions, or communities are imaginative portrayals and are not statements of fact about any real person or group, nor endorsements or criticisms of any faith, nation, or people.

A2. No Connection to Other Works

The series is independent and unaffiliated. It is not connected with any other work, game, or franchise sharing similar words in its title, including the 2016 interactive game "Saga of the North Wind". Any similarity of names or titles is coincidental.

A3. Story Characters Powered by AI

Conversations with story characters and character-voiced readings are generated automatically for entertainment. Characters stay in their 1645 world, may be wrong about history, and do not give advice of any kind.

B. Educational / Informational

Historical context is provided for entertainment and general informational purposes. It is not professional historical advice.

C. No Professional Advice

Nothing on the site constitutes legal, medical, financial, investment, tax, accounting, insurance, immigration, or other professional advice.

D. Future Content

References to future events, technologies, societies, locations, historical outcomes, or imagined futures are fictional or speculative unless explicitly identified otherwise.

E. AI-Generated or AI-Assisted Content

Some artwork, narration audio, summaries, historical notes, and other materials are generated or assisted by artificial intelligence systems. AI-generated or AI-assisted output may contain errors, omissions, inaccuracies, unintended similarities, or fictional information. Human review may be applied where appropriate, but no guarantee of accuracy or originality is made solely because content has been reviewed.

F. External Links

Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party content, privacy practices, security, availability, or terms.

G. Availability

Features may change, be interrupted, discontinued, or unavailable depending on technical, commercial, legal, or operational factors.

Purchases

Payments are processed by Stripe. Passes are one-time payments with no renewals. All sales are final — no refunds. This does not limit any right you have under the law where you live.

Additional terms may apply to purchases made through Apple, Google, Amazon, or another third-party marketplace. Those transactions may also be governed by that platform's terms and refund procedures.

Current Features

The site does not currently offer public posting, comments, messaging or submissions. If such features are added, these rules will apply.

Prohibited Conduct

• unlawful content
• threats or harassment
• hate-based abuse
• sexual exploitation or any child sexual content
• impersonation or fraud
• malware
• copyright infringement
• doxxing or privacy violations
• spam, manipulation, or malicious automated activity

Feedback & Submissions

Please do not send confidential manuscripts, unpublished intellectual property, trade secrets, or personal information you do not have permission to share. Unless expressly agreed in writing, sending ideas or feedback does not create a confidential relationship. Feedback may be used to improve the service; we do not claim ownership of your submissions.

Minimum Age

The service is not directed to children under 13 unless expressly stated otherwise.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 in violation of applicable law. If we learn that personal information has been collected from a child in circumstances requiring deletion or parental involvement, we will take appropriate steps consistent with applicable law.

Our Commitment

We aim to make the reading experience accessible to as many people as reasonably possible. The site is designed with keyboard and TV-remote navigation, adjustable text sizes and reading themes, readable typography, semantic structure, accessible labels, alternative text for artwork, reduced-motion support, and screen-reader compatibility in mind.

If you encounter an accessibility barrier, tell us what happened, which page or feature was affected, and what device or browser you used.

Providers in Use

These are the outside services the site actually uses today. Each has its own terms and privacy policy.

1. Brand & Trademark Notice

THE NORTH WIND & THE SAGE OF TIME™ is used as a brand identifier for the literary, creative, digital, interactive, and related works associated with this project.

The ™ designation indicates a claimed trademark. It does not represent or imply that the mark is federally registered.

This website maintains a documented record of selected development and brand-use milestones. That record is provided for transparency and historical provenance and is not a substitute for federal trademark registration or legal advice.

2. IP Development & Provenance

Selected development and brand-use milestones approved for publication are listed below. Detailed supporting evidence is maintained privately and may be reviewed by qualified legal counsel if needed.

Loading milestones…

Brand provenance records on this page document selected development and use milestones associated with the project. They are provided for historical transparency and do not constitute a federal trademark registration, legal opinion, or guarantee of trademark rights.

3. Copyright Notice

The text, artwork, audio and interactive elements of THE NORTH WIND & THE SAGE OF TIME™ and this website are original works. All rights reserved. See the Copyright & IP tab for permitted use and takedown requests.

4. Historical Fiction / Content Notice

The stories combine documented history with fictional characters, events and mythology. Labels such as "Historical" and "Of the tale" explain the difference and are not a guarantee of historical completeness.

5. Third-Party Rights

Third-party names and marks remain the property of their respective owners. No affiliation, sponsorship, endorsement, or authorization is implied unless expressly stated.

References to historical institutions, governments, companies, organizations, publishers, platforms, museums, archives, or other third parties do not imply affiliation unless expressly stated.

6. Evidence & Records Notice

Development records, manuscripts, correspondence and other evidence are kept privately. Nothing on this page publishes confidential material, and no public record here is a legal registration or legal opinion.

7. Legal Contact

Contact

Security & Vulnerability Reporting

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information. However, no internet transmission, storage system, or electronic security measure can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please protect your sign-in and tell us about suspected unauthorized access.

If you find a vulnerability, please do not publicly disclose sensitive details before giving us a reasonable opportunity to investigate, except where required by law.

Policy Updates

Current version: 1.0.

Last updated: October 6, 2026.

• Version 1.0 — October 6, 2026

Policies may change as the service, law, technology, or business practices evolve. For material changes, we provide notice where required by law.