Gyger (forest giant) – Also twelve feet tall, but extremely skinny, Gygers are nevertheless immensely tough and strong. Apart from their build, they are similar in appearance to the Gjoeger but instead live in large communities. Excellent hunters and trappers.
Jotun (ice giant) – Fifteen feet tall, wholly evil, and covered in thick white fur, Jotuns are the most northerly of giants and the most animalistic. Encounters with them are fortunately extremely rare.
Jutul (fire giant) – Ten feet tall but extremely broad, the black-skinned Jutul are best known for their skill at metalwork, especially in the making of bizarre and potent weapons, some of which they trade with other races for magic purposes. Apart from this trade, they live out their strange, subterranean lives by successfully ignoring the rest of the world.
Ogre (hill giant) – Nine feet tall, after the Jotuns and Ettins the ‘Stone Age’ Ogres are the most primitive of giants. With limited intellect, they live tough lives in isolated uplands, shy and fearful of – while despised by – other races. Their cultures and religions are unique, as is their shamanistic tradition.
Tusse (herd giant) – Eight feet tall, these are the most common of all giants and the closest to humans in appearance and culture. They live mainly apart from other races, roaming the wide open spaces as nomadic herders. Their society is divided into strict castes depending upon which type of animal they herd.
3 Huldres
Afanc – Strictly speaking, not a true huldre, the Afanc is the result of crossbreeding between huldre and non-huldre species. On the rare occasions they are brought into existence, the resulting offspring depends upon the original nature of both huldre and non-huldre parent, but it is always unpredictable and frequently chaotic.
Bucca – The tiniest of fey creatures, the Bucca’s powers are nevertheless both awesome and frightening. It can be found only in the most sacred depths of the most ancient woodlands, and appears to most races as a mauve daisy, though in truth this is merely an illusion.
Ganferd – The most lamentable and malevolent of huldres, the Ganferd appears as a lone, cloaked figure haunting the most desolate of places, and it will lure unwary wayfarers into some kind of trap in order to feed off their draining life-force.
Knockers – Otherwise known as fairy miners. Often heard, rarely seen, they have a reputation for spite and mockery.
Kobold – Extremely foul, lumbering, monstrous huldres, unintelligent and evil.
Nisse – the smallest and most benign of household guardians, the Nisse appears as simply a little old man, but even then only rarely, as they much prefer to remain invisible.
Spriggan – Small unseen huldres of the hills, forests and marshes. Inquisitive in the affairs of mortal races, they can be mischievous, at times even harmful.
Vardogr – The Nahovian name for the banshee, the wailing harbinger of a man’s death.
B The Creatures of Lindormyn
Adt-T’man (slough-horse) – A small, tough, independent and agile horse that lives free upon the Tabernacle Plains. Their eastern name means ‘Friend-horse’, but westerners call them slough-horse due to their moulting.
Baluchitherium – This herd beast is one of the biggest animals to be found in Lindormyn, reaching twenty feet high at the shoulder. Its leathery hide is extremely tough, and they are heavily muscled.
Bonacon – Living singly or in small herds, bonacons are bizarre-looking animals notable mainly for a foul, geyser-like anal secretion they use for self-defence, which is said to be noxious beyond belief.
Cervulus (pl. Cervulice) / ‘Vettersteed’ – Weird, bipedal creature of Fron-Wudu, part-humanoid, part-cervid (deer). Quarrelsome and aggressive, they fight with both horn and sword.
Fossegrim – The dreaded sea-wyrms of Aggedon, whose blood is reputedly the most poisonous substance in the world.
Jaculus – An extremely venomous, arboreal, snake-like creature with potent magical properties.
Knostus (‘The Faithful’ / ‘Loef’) – Warhorses of the Peladanes.
Leucrota – A huge, hyena-like carrion-eater that prowls cemeteries.
Nycra – A boneless mass that can take on many forms.
Parandus (pl. Paranduzes) / ‘Treegard’ – One of Fron-Wudu’s larger ‘multipart’ creatures; part deer and part Gyger.
C Other-Dimensional Beings
Air/Wind Elemental – Exists in the elemental plane of Air, but can be invited into the everyday world by those with the art of summoning it.
D’Archangels – Most powerful servants of Olchor.
Fyr-Draikke – Dragons.
Rawgr – Demons, the most ancient of all beings, having existed before the world was formed.
The Skela (Syr) – The Guardians of Balance.
Syr – A Skela.
True Giant (‘Second One’) – Two hundred feet tall, after the rawgrs these are the most ancient beings on Lindormyn. Extinct now, but can still be summoned into corporeal existence by the ‘Spirit of Battle’.
D Races and Religions
Aescals – Predominant inhabitants of Wyda-Aescaland.
Akynn – Bards, storytellers, the keepers of history.
Asyphe – Desert warrior-people living in the Asyphe Mountains to the south of Qaladmir.
Cynen – Polg title meaning ‘king’; also used by Vetters.
Lightbearers – Any follower of Cuna, including:
Elder – High priest of Cuna.
Mage-priest – Priest of Cuna.
Nahovians – People of Vregh-Nahov.
Oghain – People of Wrythe, including:
Oghain-Yddiaw – The fighting corps of the Oghain.
Olchorians – Any follower of Olchor, including:
Necromancer – Priests of Olchor.
Peladanes – Followers of Pel-Adan cult; a racial religion, including:
High Warlord – Supreme leader of all Peladanes on Lindormyn.
Warlord – Leader of a Toloch.
Thegne – Leader of a Manass-Uilloch.
Sergeant – Leader of an Oloch.
Skalds – Bards.
Stroda – Men or Haugers resident in Myst-Hakel.
Torca – Pagan people of the north.
E Deities and Demi-Gods
Cuna – The ‘god’ of Truth and Light, ostensibly.
Drauglir (variously known as Daemon/ Fiend/ Hell Hound/ Night-Stalker/ Sea Wolf) – The most powerful of Olchor’s rawgrs, and the head of the Unholy Trinity of D’Archangels.
Erce – The Earth-Spirit.
Gruddna – Second most powerful of the D’Archangels. A great dragon.
Olchor – Lord of Darkness.
Pel-Adan – War-god of the Peladanes.
Scathur – Third of the D’Archangels; a rawgr in man-form.
Skela – The Guardians of Balance, of which Chance, Fate and Time are but three.
F Places
Arturan – A town in south Pendonium.
Ben-Attan – A desert town.
Bhergallia – Small forested country west of Venna.
Blighted Heathlands – Desolate and uninhabited land to the west of Wyda-Aescaland.
Blue Mountains – A wild, uninhabited range that separates Wyda-Aescaland from the Rainflats lying to the north.
Crimson Sea – Large inland sea in the west.
Crouagh Forest – Huge forest extending from Grendalin into Quiravia (far to the south-west).
Cyne-Tregva – Vetter town in Fron-Wudu.
Dragon Coast – The wild, sparsely inhabited north-west edge of the continent, extending north from Ghouhlem to the Seter Heights.
Eotunlandt – Fabled ‘Land of the Second Ones.’
Folcfreawaru River – The small river, issuing from a cliff-face, that runs west to east through Fron-Wudu.
Fram Peninsula – Large peninsula south-west of the Herdlands of the Tusse, and extending north-west into Linnormen’s Sea; the south-westernmost point is the country of Friy.
Fron-Wudu – Huge northern forest, running from Set
er Heights in the west to Ildjern Mountains in the east; to the north of it are the Giant Mountains; to the south-west are the Herdlands of the Tusse; to the south-centre the Rainflats; to the south-east the Polgrim Hunting Grounds.
Ghouhlem – The northernmost country of the Dhracus: a horn-shaped peninsula extending west from the Herdlands of the Tusse.
Giant Mountains – A range of huge arctic mountains encircling Eotunlandt.
Godtha – Southernmost of the Dhracus lands, it is a peninsula north of Hrefna.
Grendalin – Forest country of the Gygers, running along Quiravia’s northwestern marches. Nail Mountains lie to the north, Crimson Sea to the west.
Herdlands of the Tusse – Massive expanse of plain and scrubland extending to the Seter Heights in the north, the Nail and Speinstieth Mountains to the south, the Blue Mountains to the east, and to the western continental coast.
Hrefna Forest – Wild, lawless region of north-east Pendonium. Tyvenborg lies to the east, Godtha to the north.
Ildjern Mountains – Range of massive grey mountains beyond the northeast edge of civilization; Fron-Wudu lies to the west.
Jagt Straits – Arctic sea that separates Wrythe and the Last Shore from Melhus Island.
The Last Shore – Northernmost coastline of continental Lindormyn.
Lindormyn – The World (a name meaning ‘Dragon’).
Lubang-Nagar – ‘The Drake Tunnel’ of Vaagenfjord Maw that connects the Hall of Fire to the Inner Keep.
Melhus Island – Large volcanic island, most northerly in the world.
Moel-Bryn – Small town in western Pendonium; Bolldhe’s birthplace.
Moghol – The Trough of the Dead; deep subterranean chasm separating Vaagenfjord’s outer reaches from the inner.
Myst-Hakel (Edgemarsh) – Small swamp-town in the northern Rainflats. Its name means ‘Cloak of Mist’.
Nordwas – Stockade-town in the north of Wyda-Aescaland.
The Old Kingdom – Largely uninhabited forest-and-river country to the west of Wyda-Aescaland, south of the Blue Mountains. No longer a kingdom but home now to a few scattered communities of Torca, though largely given over to huldres.
Pendonium – Huge country in the extreme west; homeland of the Peladanes.
Perchtamma-Uinfjoetli – Huge, bowl-shaped, steep-sided valley in Fron-Wudu; source of the River Folcfreawaru.
Polgrim Hunting Grounds – Wide plains between Wyda-Aescaland and Vregh-Nahov.
Qaladmir – Desert city.
Quiravia – Massive southern country, forested and temperate in the north, arid in the south. The much vaunted ‘seat of culture and learning’. Largely peaceful and prosperous, but with an undercurrent of corruption.
Rainflats – Largely uninhabited stretch of wetlands between Blue Mountains and Fron-Wudu.
Ravenscairn – Cat’s-tooth-shaped pinnacle above Vaagenfjord.
Rhelma-Find – Small, corrupt country lying between Crimson Sea to the north-east, Bhergallia to the north-west, Pendonium to the south-west and Jeithrir to the south-east.
Seter Heights – Small offshoot of the western Giant Mountains, in the north-west corner of Lindormyn; formerly inhabited by Torca.
Sluagh Valley – Largely unknown haunted cleft in the Blue Mountains.
Smaulka-Degernerth – Vaagenfjord Maw’s ‘Hall of Fire’, a huge tunnel that almost entirely encircles the Inner Keep of Ymla-Myrrdhain.
Trondaran – Tiny, isolated mountain country of Jyblitt the Hauger king, between Volg’s kingdom and the Hallow Hills.
Tyvenborg – ‘Thieves’ Fortress’, on the border of Pendonium and Bhergallia.
Vaagenfjord Maw – The fastness of Drauglir on Melhus Island.
Venna – Semi-barbaric/corrupt country occupying the narrow strip of land between the Crimson Sea (to the south) and the Nail Mountains (to the north).
Vregh-Nahov – Forested country east of the Polgrim Hunting Grounds.
Wrythe – Most northerly town on the continent, home to the Oghain.
Wyda-Aescaland – Mid-sized country south of the Blue Mountains; home originally to Torca, now inhabited predominantly by Aescals but ruled by Peladanes.
Ymla-Eligiad – capital of Pendonium.
G Weapons and Warfare
Assegai – Short Polg spear with a leaf-shaped blade.
Bagh-nakh – Spiked ‘knuckle-duster’; a favourite weapon of assassins.
Bachame – A special insulating fabric made by Peladanes.
Bhuj – Meat cleaver.
Chakram – Small Hauger-made discs of metal, usually poison-coated.
Crow’s Beak staff – Short, hefty staff with a sharp ‘beak’ at the business end.
Fasces – The old alliance between Peladanes, Nahovians and Oghain that defeated Drauglir five hundred years ago.
Flamberge – Ancient, heavy sword with an undulating blade.
Haladie – Polg ‘double-dagger’.
Katar – A short, V-shaped punch-dagger designed to pierce heavy armour.
Kh’is – Mainly Olchorian sacrificial dagger with an undulating blade.
Left-hander – Heavy, wide-bladed parrying dagger.
Manass-Uilloch – A company of 2,500 Peladanes, or fifty Oloch, under the command of a Thegne.
Maul – Very heavy two-handed mace, about five feet long.
Manople – Long blade attached to an iron gauntlet.
Misericord – A long, thin, stiletto-like dagger, especially useful for delivering the final blow to a fallen armoured enemy.
Mitre – Long, mace-like weapon with a heavy, spiked ball as its head.
Oloch – A company of 50 Peladanes, under the command of a sergeant.
Pata – A short punch-dagger attached to an iron gauntlet. Assassin’s knife.
Shamsheer – The curved, five-foot-long, two-handed sword of the Asyphe.
Sword-breaker – A hefty, notch-bladed knife used to parry, twist and snap opponents’ blades.
Tengriite – A very strong, lightweight metal used by Peladanes in making armour and weapons.
Toloch – A company of 50,000 Peladanes, or twenty Manass-Uilloch, under the command of a Warlord.
Ulleanh – The green cloak of a Peladane.
Unferth – The legendary greatsword of Pel-Adan himself; also the name given to the greatsword carried by all Warlords.
Voulge – A pole-weapon with a spike extending at right angles from the main spear-tip.
Acknowledgements
Paul Frater
Jonathan Greenwood
Robert Hale
Paul Harding
Ian Hutchinson
Paul Waggot
Nigel Winters
and
James Shallow
(the fifth year)
And, for all those years of blind faith and encouragement,
special thanks to John Parker and Guy Tomlinson.
Thanks also to my parents, and to all at Pan Macmillan,
especially Peter Lavery for the careful pruning, the judicious
strimming, and not least the swabbing out of the most feculent bits.
The Wanderer’s Tale
DAVID BILSBOROUGH was born and brought up in Malvern, and spent his early working life there as factory worker, barman and van driver. Though he now lives in Indonesia, he still regularly returns to walk the Malvern Hills, the inspiration for much of his writing, and where possibly might live some of the colourful characters who feature so vividly in his story.
First published 2007 by Tor
First published in paperback 2008 by Tor
This electronic edition published 2011 by Tor
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Copyright © David Bilsborough 2007
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Maps and runes by Raymond Turvey
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