A.C. Smyth's Blog, page 2

V is for…

V is for vents

The main feature of Chandris is its mountains, most of which are the remains of cones of extinct volcanoes.

The island still has one active volcano: the mountain the Chesammos call the Lady. There is also a network of volcanic vents, with outlets covering much of the south of the island. These vents have led to the formation of the ash desert.

Vents in the ash desert give off poisonous fumes, whichrise up, mix with rain, and return to the ground as toxic rainfall. The few plants...

U is for…

U is for upper city

The city of Banunis is built into a mountainside overlooking the port of Adamantara.

It is builton three levels, with the castle at the top.

The lower city is the where the poorest live. Its occupants are primarily Chesammos and poor Irmos. The streets are cramped and dirty, and thieves and pickpockets are plentiful. By night, the city watch struggle to contain the criminal elements. There is some honour among thieves, though–the first targets are always the better off people...

T is for…

T is for Tramalick

At the time of both Crowchanger and Stormweaver, Tramalick is the lord holder of Easthill. Easthill is a holding to the north of Chandris. Since it’s as income comes mostly from hardwood. There are also fishing communities on the coast of Easthill, and they make use of natural resources for basketry and other crafts.

Ruling a hot and wet area, Tramalick is apt to find Banunis a bit cool. He is primarily interested in his trade prospects, and has few or no Chesammos in his are...

S is for…

S is for Sylas

AKA the main character of my novels (although there are a couple of novellas in the works which won’t feature him at all).

Sylas is Chesammos. His family are pretty much bottom of the social ladder in his village. His father is abusive, and despite his mother’s best efforts, he has pretty much grown up believing what his father has beaten into him: that he will never amount to anything. He has been prepared to follow his father into making ash bricks, but his mother has taught hi...

R is for…

R is for Rana

Rana is an Irmos girl who was found in a cave in the mountainside following the Destruction. Sonja,a woman from a village beneath the mountain, found her there andbrought her home. She was allowed to adopt the girl, giving her the name Rana, and raising her alongside her own son Tallon. Rana believes Sonja and Tallon are her family, until she is seventeen and her village is raided by soldiers.

In Stormweaver, she encounters Sylas, Jaevan and Gwysias in the same cave in which she w...

Q is for…

Q is for queen

Deygan has had three queens, none of whom are mentioned by name in the novels.

[In fact (small confession!), I haven't named them myself yet. I hate naming characters.]

His first queen was a love match, but didn’t give him the heir he so desperately wanted.Several of the lord holders urged him to set her aside, but Deygan refused. They were married ten years before her death.

He took five years to get over her sufficiently to marry again. This second wife gave him three sons: Jaeva...

P is for…

P is for Pietrig

Pietrig is a Chesammos from Namopaia. His father is Skarai, elder of the village. Pietrig is one of eight children, which makes Skarai of high status, even without his position as elder.

He is three months older than Sylas, and the two boys have been friends since childhood, despite the difference in their stations. Their sisters, Fienne and Aithne respectively, are about two years older than their brothers, and are also firm friends.

Pietrig was confirmed into adulthood at just...

O is for…

Another light one today! Guess I don’t have much “O” stuff either.

O is for Olendis

Olendis is the master charged with mentoring Sylas through his flying lessons. He is a relatively new master. Sylas notes that new masters generally take one of two routes. They either play the “good guy” to get novices on their side, or they establish discipline from the outset, trying to show that they are in charge. Olendis takes the latter approach. He keeps his study sparse and his students on a short leash...

N is for…

N is for Namopaia

Namopaia is Sylas’s home. It is a village in the ash desert, set up, as most of the desert villages were, as a base from which to mine linandra. Never meant to be a permanent dwelling place, its purpose changed with the coming of the Irenthi and the exploitation of both the Chesammos and the linandra deposits by the new rulers.

Chesammos villages are characterised by the beehive-shaped ash brick houses. Built somewhat like igloos, the domed houses were built this way to resist...

M is for…

M is for Miralee

Miralee is Ayriene’s daughter and second child.

Like her brothers, Miralee is a changer. She is also a talent, and at the start of Crowchanger has recently been identified as a seer.Because girls change later than boys, Miralee actually came into her changing around the same time as her younger brother Adwen did. He was also talented, proving to bea healer talent.

Since they shared a talent, Adwen became his mother’s apprentice, and they travelled widely together. Despite hersel...