A.C. Smyth's Blog, page 3

L is for…

L is for lord holder.

The Irenthi are divided into houses,among which are the nine ruling houses, each headed by a lord holder. Initially, the head of the assembly of lord holders on Chandris was known as the high holder. For many years, the high holder of Chandris was the lord holder of Lucranne. This holding controlled most of the linandra supply of the island (a gemstone on which much of the island’s economy depends) and was therefore the wealthiest of the houses.

This continued until the he...

K is for…

Another lean day today, unless you want to know about another poisonous plant. For some reason, I have plenty of them!

K is for Kael

Kael is the betrothed of Sylas’s sister Aithne. They are married part way into Crowchanger, and Kael saves Sylas’s lifeshortly after.In Stormweaver we get news of Aithne and Kael, but don’t actually see them, but they put in a reappearance in book 3.

K is for kye

Kye are the entities that link the changers to their bird form, and which provide the changer talents. E...

J is for…

J is for Jesely

Jesely is a master at the Aerie, and a member of the Aerie council. Ethnically, he is Chesammos, but he has not always felt comfortable within that culture.

He was born and raised at the Aerie, as were his parents. One grandparent on his father’s side was a changer, and both on his mother’s. Although Chandran social/cultural divides effectively don’t exist at the Aerie, Jesely has grown up in a largely Irmos environment. He learned Irenthi from infancy.His grandparents spoke Che...

I is for…

I is for Irenthi.

The ruling race in Chandris are the Irenthi, who conquered the island centuries ago, in a near-bloodless invasion. Since the Chesammos are a peaceful people, the invasion went largely unresisted. The Chesammos also saw in the fair-skinned, blond-haired Irenthi the Lady’s “first people” of their creation myth, and welcomed them with open arms. Even under theoppressive regime of the Irenthi, the Chesammos would not rise up against the Lady’s people, and the more the Chesammos a...

H is for…

So H is one of *those* letters. I’ve struggled a bit with H, so there will be three short ones today. Back with a bang with I tomorrow, though. That one is going to be easy!

H is for Hollin.

At the time of Crowchanger, Hollin is one of the members of the Aerie council. He has a very logical and analytical mind, and a flair for organisation and logistics. One of his main tasks is arranging the wagons which take food and other supplies out to the Chesammos villages.

Hollin did not survive the Dest...

G is for…

G is for Gwysias.

Gwysias is a changer master at the Aerie. At the start of Crowchanger, he has the unenviable task of trying to get Sylas’s writing up to scratch. Sylas has had no formal education and his only experience of reading and writing before the Aerie was what little his mother could teach him. On top of that, he is left-handed, and struggles to use the brush and ink with which the changers write.

Some of the changer masters are of the opinion that Sylas has no future at the Aerie, an...

F is for…

F is for Fienne.

Fienne is a Chesammos girl from Sylas’s home village of Namopaia. She is of an age with Sylas’s sister Aithne, and Sylas is best friends with her brother Pietrig, so the two families are bound by friendship.

Their families are very different in other ways, though. Fienne’s father is the village elder, and she has six brothers and sisters (another two siblings died young). Pietrig is being groomed to follow his father as elder, and their family is held in high esteem. When your...

E is for…

E is for esteia.

The first mention of esteia comes in Crowchanger, when Sylas is telling Casian about the plants he has drawn–all over the handwriting practice he has been set by Master Gwysias!

“Esteia. Another desert plant. That flower forms seed pods about so big.” He showed Casian the length of the first joint of his index finger. “The seeds look like nuts—tempting if you’re out in the desert and short of food—but they’re deadly poison. Eat one of them, or just lick your fingers after picki...

D is for…

D is for Deygan.

King Deygan is head of House Banunis, and king of Chandris.He has threesons (Jaevan, Marklin and Rannon, all by his second wife) and one daughter (Wenna, by his third). Although something of a reformist in his youth, Deygan has settled into the pattern of his predecessors of exploiting the native Chandrans. His eldest son, Jaevan, has many of the more liberal tendencies Deygan displayed in his youth, before he became hardened to the harsh realities of kingship. Deygan has work...

C is for…

C is for Chesammos.

Chandris is home to two main races–the Chesammos and the Irenthi–and a mix of the two, known as Irmos. The Chesammos have always lived on Chandris, although their creation myth speaks of an earlier race, who left the island. When the Irenthi invaded, they believed them to be that race returning, and welcomed them as the Lady’s “first people”.

To an outsider, this would be regarded as a mistake, since the Irenthi conquerors have all but enslaved the peace-loving Chesammos. Th...