List of Characters in The Orphan's Tales

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Note: Don't edit or wikify this yet please, it's a draft and incomplete, for comments or suggestions please use the discussion page... --Liz Henry 10:14, 30 December 2007 (PST)

  • Aerie. The goose girl. Knife’s daughter and first child. Born in the Palace prison. Changed to a wild goose by Grandmother Bent-Bow. Fostered by the Firebird. She is the last in the line of women descended from the woman who helped the Manikarnika. She rescues her mother from the fire with her flock. She goes on a Quest to find the threads of her mother’s tale. A black mare leads her to the Cave where she meets Laakea. In the Underworld, she is midwife to Zmeya’s child. Steppes Storm
  • Almond-tree, born from Aukon’s severed testicles; he rapes Oubilette’s mother. Storm
  • Aukon, the Bull-Star, Oubilette’s father. Storm
  • Aukai, the Heifer-Star, Aukon’s sister. Storm
  • Bagdemus. The red-gold dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Sea
  • Bags. Bagdemus. Sea
  • Balthazar. The black-and-brown dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Sea
  • Barnabas. The black dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Killed by Ragnhild and his brothers. Sea
  • The Baron of Baqarah, Ismail’s father and Magadin’s, and Iolanthe’s husband. Steppes
  • Bartholomew. The white dog-headed monk, or Cynocephaloi, from Al-a-Nur. Sea
  • The Basilisk. His tongue was stolen by three snake handmaidens of the Snake-Star. Steppes
  • The Bee-Star. He named the Wolf-Star Liulfr. Steppes
  • Bent-Bow. Grandmother of Knife. She had red hair before it was grey. She was sent to a neighboring village to be taught by their witch-woman, Thurayya. She gives her starlight blood to Aerie. Steppes
  • The Black Papess. Apostate or false Papess installed by the Caliphate in Shadukiam. Ragnhild. Sea
  • The Boy. He has blond hair. Steppes
  • The Bridle-Star. Mentioned by Knife. Steppes
  • Bryony. The Poisoner. A boy raised on poison. Twigs sprout from his skin, from all the poisons he has eaten. He watches the poisoning of Hind and Hadil, the princesses of Amberabad. He cuts off the Unicorn Nevinost’s horn to make his poisoner’s cup. His parents live in a house on stilts. Storm
  • Caliphs.
      • The First Caliph. His hoofprint is referred to. (Maybe a centaur?) Declared the autonomy of Al-a-Nur. Sea
      • The Second Caliph. During their reign, Al-a-Nur was founded. I think it’s this Caliph who sent Ragnhild to be the False Papess and who was at war with the Southern Kingdoms. Sea
      • The Third Caliph.
      • The Fourth Caliph. Current when Sigrid of the Ways (or Ulla) was young. Sea
  • Ciriaco, the Hedgehog. He is turned to a golden ball by Widow, the Soldier. Storm
  • The Commander of the Varaahasind. He beheaded Zmeya. Steppes
  • Cook. The Cook of the Sultan’s Palace, where the boy is sent to work by Dinarzad.
  • The Cynocephaloi, dog-heads. Three of them come to Sigrid’s home in the north when she is a girl. White (Balthazar), Black and brown(Bartholomew), and red-gold (Bagdemus, or Bags)
  • Cveti. Presbyter of the Tower of Hermaphrodites who becomes the Papess. She takes the name Ghyfran II.
  • Dapple. A Centaur, who raced with Sorrell for the rule of the Eight Kingdoms. Steppes
  • Diamond. One of the Manikarna, the Stone-Stars. She meets Zmeya in the Underworld. Storm
  • Dinarzad. Oldest daughter of the Sultan, and the boy’s sister. She is beaten if the children of the harem escape from the nursery. She is going to be married to a prince who brings her clockwork peacocks. (Her other suitor brought golden clockwork roosters (see Folio). She gives a red fur cloak and a clockwork peacock to the girl. Steppes Sea
  • The Duke’s Son of the Eastern Duchies, who tried to kill the Leucrotta. Sent by his father, who wants the Leucrotta skin for assassinating. He was also sent to rescue a maiden in a tower imprisoned by the Wizard Omir. He was rumored to have killed a monarch in some other part of the world. Steppes
  • Ethelred, the Mathematician-King, ancestor of the Other Prince. Steppes
  • Eyvind the bartender and polar bear. He is bartender of the Arm and Trout, a tavern in Muireann. The Marsh King changes him into a man until the Virgin is devoured, the sea turns to gold, and the saints migrate west on the wings of henless eggs. Steppes
  • Fahad. A moth from Varaahasind. He comes to Zmeya and tells her of the Birds’ Tears. Storm
  • The Firebird. Named Lantern. He is a Zhar-Ptitza. He adopts Aerie for two years when she is a gosling. He met Zhajiva in her garden. Steppes
  • The Fox-Star. He is in the cave when Grandmother Bent-Bow sees the Mare and the Wolf-Star. He appears laughing when she later is killed by the Wizard Omir. Steppes
  • The Girl. She lives in the Palace Garden Steppes
  • The golden ball. Ciriaco, the Hedgehog.
  • The glass princess. See Ostraya.
  • Golod. A monster made of teeth and the lord Maciej’s hunger. He eats Shadukiam. Storm
  • The Gosling. See Aerie. Steppes
  • The governor of Shadukiam, who orders Idyll killed. Storm
  • Grandmother. See Bent-Bow. Steppes
  • Grotteschi the Red. Born from an Upas tree in the desert. The Sun is her father. A Manticore captured and put into the zoo of Hadil, princess of Amerabad. Hind rescues her and eventually sets her free. They travel together with Taglio. Storm
  • Gunde. Fiercest of the polar bears of the Bear Congress. Steppes
  • Ghyfran. A Papess of Al-a-Nur. Sea
  • Ghyfran II. Papess of Al-a-Nur who was Cveti of the Hermaphrodite Tower. 17th Papess. She sent the tongue and breasts of Ragnhild to the Caliphate in a silver box. Sea
  • Hadil. The modest and devout princess of Amberabad, who eats plain bread and prays all day and keeps a zoo. Hind’s sister. She is poisoned so that frogs fall from her lips when she speaks. Storm
  • Handmaidens of the Snake-Star. Three of them met Laakea in the Tinderbox desert. One of them kicks over the pile of Ixora pits, which go up in flames. Steppes
  • Helia. Alter ego of Knife. The Wizard Omir metamorphoses Knife into a beautiful princess with milk-white skin and yellow hair. The belt of gold and jasper fits her. Steppes
  • The Harpoon-Star. Laakea. Smells of scorched bread and copper filings. He went looking for a Firebird as a present for the Snake-Star, so was haresting the fruits of the Ixora or Torch-Trees of the desrt. He gathers them, scatters them, then gathers them again and uses them to feed the Handmaidens, piling up the pits. Then he goes to the court of King Indrajit, bearing away the body of his sister Zmeya. Steppes
  • The Heron-Star. The Marsh-King. He makes Eyvind into a man. Steppes
  • Hind. The wicked princess of Amberabad, who eats cakes and reads naughty books and likes to be serenaded. She is poisoned, and pearls fall from her lips when she speaks. She befriends the Manticore and later leaves to travel with Taglio. She leaves to go back to Amberabad, but promises to meet Grotteschi again in Ajanabh. Storm
  • Idyll. The winged Ferryman of the underworld. He is a Hsieh, or Yi, peeled from (or dressed in) the Moon. He travelled to the land of the Kappas. He built the Rose Dome of Shadukiam, and was impaled on a diamond turret by the governor of Shadukiam. He cursed the city as he died. Storm
  • Immacolata. The girl made of tea. Tea-maker and shoemaker. She was an odalisque of King Indrajit’s harem, serving Zmeya. She befriends Taglio in the harem. Her mother was Safiyya the shoemaker. Her father was Elpidios the tea-maker. She mourns terribly at the news of Zmeya’s death and is determined to give back the leaf soaked in starlight. Storm
  • Ismail. Steppes
  • Itto. The Twinned Star who plants the broken red plank. He dies on the mountaintop with Tomomo’s help. In the Underworld he has a child with Zmeya. -Sea- Storm
  • The King. (Usually means King Ismail) Steppes
  • King Indrajit. Also the Raja Indrajit. He has the 144 boar-warriors, the Vahaarasind. He abducted/married Zmeya the Snake-Star. His throne is the Throne of Teeth and he wears a Tusk-Crown. His hall is the Hall of Voices. Steppes
  • Iolanthe. Magadin’s stepmother. Mother of Isaura and Imogen, older than Magadin. She is a widow with vast lands and married Magadin’s father the Baron. Mother of Ismail. The belt of gold and jasper is hers. Steppes
  • King Ismail. Leander’s father. Son of the Baron. King of the Eight Kingdoms and Steward of the Eastlands, Autokrator of the Unified Tribes, Lord of the Thousand Caves. Steppes
  • The Kappa. Turtles with water on the tops of their heads. Gardeners and plant breeders. They invented the Upas, the Ixora, and the roses used for the Rose Dome of Shadukiam.
  • Knife. Also known as the Witch, and Helia. She is from the steppes. Her face is tattooed and scarred. Her sisters were Quiver and Sheath. She was dark, with dark hair before it went grey. Steppes
  • Lantern. See the Firebird. Steppes
  • Laakea. The Harpoon-Star Steppes
  • Leander. The Prince. He is named after the wild lions of the steppes. Son of Ismail and Helia. Leander of the Eight Kingdoms. He becomes the Maimed King. In later years he goes to Al-a-Nur to live int he Tower of Patricides. Steppes
  • The Leucrotta. The Heron or Marsh-King calls him Beast. He was once rescued by the Witch of the Glen, Knife. He brings Magadin to the village of Muireann. Steppes
  • Liulfr. The Wolf-Star. She is in the Wolf-Cave of the steppes next to the cave of the seven sleepers, the golden wolf of 3 wolves, the others white and black. Steppes
  • Lo Shen the river goddess of Al-a-Nur. The game is named after her. Sea
  • Maciej. The Hungry Lord, married to Malgorzata. Eaten by Golod. Storm
  • Magadin. The Beast-girl. She has been metamorphosed by the Wizard Omir to have claws, hooves, webs, fur, fins, and tails. Steppes
  • Malgorzata. Wife of the Hungry Lord. She sacrifices her body parts until she is entirely made of wood and wicker. Her many and distant relatives lay their own lands waste to send food for Maciej. Storm
  • The Man Dressed in the Moon. A Yi, or Hsieh. He bought the boy who became the Necromancer Marsili. He might be Idyll (or Idyll might be the other Yi killed by Jin the Griffin. Or these might be the heretic Hsieh which Idyll refers to.) Sea
  • The Manikarnika. Seven sisters, Stone-Stars. THey changed to women. Jade, Granite, Opal, Garnet, Shale, Iron, and Diamond. They tried to live in the world of men. No one would take them in until the tents of the steppes when a girl with a new baby took them in. The King’s soldiers killed them in the night, with their light pouring into the girl and her baby. Steppes
  • The Mare. The Mare is the night. The Stars were born from the light that’s her blood that seeped through holes she chewed in herself. She gave birth to the world, and people and things and animals and more Stars were her afterbirth. Steppes
  • Marsili. Formerly son of a Sultan, his body was taken by the Man Dressed in the Moon and then by the boy who became the Necromancer. Lover of the Man Dressed in the Moon. Sea
  • Mesinyane. The pig-tamer, a golden-eyed pygmy, who meets Taglio and Immacolata in Vstreycha. Her pig is her father, Femi. She was born in Varaahasind. As a girl, she sees the Harpoon-Star walking away from the city bearing his dead sister, the Snake-Star or Zmeya. She follows the stars. Storm
  • The Midwife. See Aerie. Storm
  • The Moon. She was battered by the wind created when the Stars left for Earth. Her children peeled from her are the Hsien. Storm
  • The Moth. See Fahad. Storm
  • The Mourner. See Wept. Storm
  • Nevinost. The unicorn. Her horn is taken by the poisoner boy, Bryony. She eats Oubilette’s hair. Storm
  • Omir. See The Wizard Omir. Steppes
  • Orange as the Sun. A Hoopoe, mother to many chicks, killed by the Mourner. The Mourner is at the cave composing a lament for the corpse of Tomomo.
  • Ostraya, the Princess of Glass, from the Kingdom of Glass. The Ghost-Librarian and breeder of lizards, practicer of lizard-calculus. Storm
  • The Other Prince. He was sent to kill the Leucrotta (and to rescue his sister, 50 years before Leander). Steppes
  • Oubilette. The huldra of “The Tale of the Twelve Coins” and “The Tale of the Crossing”. Her parents give her a golden ball. She is imprisoned in a house made of sod & tied by her hair, by the Hedgehog Ciriaco. Her hair is shorn by the unicorn Nevinost, who frees her. She takes the silver leaf that is the soul of the girl made of tea to Zmeya in the underworld. She finds the underworld by threatening the almond tree that is her grandfather. Storm
  • The Papess. Leader of Al-a-Nur, always a woman. Sea
  • The Pra-Ita. Hideous monsters with long bony necks and swollen heads and bellies which are enormous jewels. They are the citizens of Shadukiam, eaten and transformed by the monster Golod. Storm
  • The Poisoner. See Bryony. Storm
  • The Prince. See Leander. Steppes
  • Quiver. Knife’s oldest sister. Steppes
  • Ragnhild. The Black Papess, or False Papess. In her first incarnation she was a lover of a Caliph who sent her to become Papess. She was killed by Cveti and her army, her tongue and breasts cut away, and manacled to the ground with golden chains. She was reincarnated by a Yi or Hsieh who she then killed. In her second incarnation she wore golden chains dangling from her wrists. Sea
  • Ravhi, the new gardener, seed of Ravhija. Steppes
  • Ravhija, the gardener and pumpkin-tree girl who meets the Firebird, Lantern, steals a feather from him, and who is threatened and then destroyed by the Wizard Omir after he was rid of his iron collar. Steppes
  • Seven. The farmer’s boy, seventh son of a seventh son, who ended up in Marrow and who, in the main frame story of Storm, “The Tale of the Crossing”, travels to the underworld to find his friend Oubilette. He has one arm. Storm
  • The Seven Sleepers or Seven Sisters. See the Manikarnika. Steppes
  • Sheath. Knife’s older sister. Steppes
  • The Snake-Star. Zmeya. Concubine of King Indrajit. Steppes
  • Snow. Orphan from Ajanabh. Her family emigrates to Muireann. Her hair turns grey when they die. She is befriended by Sigrid the Net-weaver. Sea
  • Sigrid the Netweaver, St. Sigrid of the Ways. She befriends Snow. She was formerly the polar bear Ulla, who loved and was loved by Eyvind.
  • St. Sigrid of the Nest. The original St. Sigrid. Sea
  • Sigrid (the doorkeeper) Sea
  • The Sorella. Pangiota, Steppes
  • Sorrell, Centaur King of the Eight Kingdoms. He ruled the Palace between the white and black rivers, served by the Wizard Omir, before Ismail killed him. Steppes
  • The Stars. There are stars who are the holes full of light in the Mare’s side, who scorch wherever they walk; and other stars who don’t and who were born from the Mare as actual children. Steppes
  • The Sultan. Dinarzad and the boy’s father. Sea
  • The Sultan marrying Dinarzad. Storm
  • Taglio, a Gaselli, with gazelle-hooves. He dresses in green. The Gaselli lure humans to their doom and drink their blood and perhaps eat them. Taglio castrated himself out of devotion to the Heifer-Star. He travels pulling a caravan with Grotteschi. He worked as a eunuch in the harem of King Indrajit and meets Zmeya and the woman made of tea, there. Oubilette and Seven travel with him. He’s looking for the entrance to the Underworld so he can bring Immacolata’s leaf to Zmeya. Storm
  • Thurayya. Teacher of Grandmother Bent-Bow. Steppes
  • The Unicorn. See Nevinost. Storm
  • The Varaahasind. The Teeth of the Boar. The 144 warriors of King Indrajit. They feast on the corpse of Zmeya and are destroyed by her. Their bodies vanish each into a single tooth (Boar’s teeth) Steppes
  • Vhummin of Marrow, third daughter of Orris, formerly of Shadukiam. She worked in the Asaad, the Great Market. She was eaten by the monster Golod and became one of the Pra-Ita, and a foreman of the Mint after the ruin of Shadukiam, telling her tale to Seven and Oubilette. Storm
  • Wept. A harpy. She guards the cave entrance to the Underworld and exacts a price from Oubilette and Seven. She wears a hoopoe’s beak. Storm
  • Widow, the Soldier. A farmer girl. Her two older brothers go off to become mercenaries in war, and later she follows them. Her lungs and skin are destroyed by chemical weapons. She is stationed in the Kingdom of the Hedgehogs, and turns the hedgehogs into metal balls. Storm
  • The Witch Steppes
  • The Witch of the Glen Steppes
  • The Wizard. See the Wizard Omir Steppes
  • The Wizard Omir. The conjuror. Omir Doulios. Son of carrot farmers. The boy who found Death. A tall man with grey dreadlocks and an iron collar, and blue and brown robes. After he is rid of his collar at the death of King Indrajit he visits Ravhija and steals a Firebird feather; then his neck is pale, he wears red clothing, and controls a blue flame in his palm. Seeing the Harpoon-Star and the Snake-Star together obsessed him, as did metamorphosis. He kept the Firebird in an ivory cage, but sold him and his feather to a man in Ajanabh. He wore long red robes and had no collar when he came to the race of the Centaurs of the Eight Kingdom and bargained with Sorrel, becoming his doulios or slave and collared again. Steppes
  • The other Wizard. King Indrajit’s wizard before Omir, a short man who calls himself Death to the young Omir. (Or am I confusing something?) Steppes
  • The Wolf-Star, Liulfr. Steppes
  • Yashna. Papess of Al-a-Nur when Ragnhild returned, in Sigrid’s youth.
  • Yaya. The Nursemaid of Prince Leander. Steppes
  • Yazo-who-was-born-at-the-bottom-of-winter. A Kappa who was a great engineer of plants and who proved that tipping out the water of kappa skulls was a bad idea. Yoi’s friend.
  • Yoi-who-was-born-in-the-evening. A Kappa who bargained with Idyll, trading cucumbers for nearly-immortal roses. Yazo’s friend.
  • Zmeya. The Snake-Star. She is captured and married to King Indrajit, and has 14 sons and daughters, infant stars who die just before she dies. In the Underworld she gives birth to another child, child of Itto and perhaps of Immacolata’s leaf. Steppes Storm
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