C

Find below an alphabetical list of all the character names, places and objects beginning with the letter C in the World of Astrom. I shall add to this list as more of my works are published. If an entry is missing, leave a comment below and I shall fill it when I can.

Caiasan

A man of Aranar and member of the ruling Pegasus Clan. Caiasan is not a fighter but a scribe, a scholar with a taste for arcane elven lore. He helps guide the Jeantar, Southilar, and his party on their way to the Mountain. Caiasan is jovial and over fond of wine, but his many skills regularly come in useful. See also Pegasus Clan & Southilar.

Cardanor

A noble armist of Maristonia and one of the greatest magnates of the realm, Cardanor is Duke of Arton, the ancestral heartland of the armists. Young and closely allied to King Curillian, Cardanor is a sort of protégé of the king and has developed a close bond with the Crown Prince Téthan. See also Arton and Téthan.

Cardeyn, Sir

An armist of Maristonia and a knight of the Order of Thainen. Originally from a minor noble family in the West-fold, Cardeyn graduated from the Military Academy in Mariston before returning to serve in one of the western legions as an officer. He was promoted to the Order of Thainen after distinguishing himself in the king’s eyes during one of Curillian’s campaigns in Aranar. Cardeyn was mentored by the former Commander of the Order, Sir Nostaire, and eventually replaced him. At the time of the Quest of Oron Amular, Cardeyn is the long-serving and seniormost knight in the Order of Thainen, and only Lancoir is closer to the king’s affections. Cardeyn was away from the capital on duty when Curillian’s company set out, but he returned soon after and resumed responsibility for guarding the Carimir Palace and the royal family. See also Curillian, Knights of Thainen & Lancoir.

Carea

An elvish princess of the wood-elf kindred. Daughter of King Therendir, and granddaughter of Firnar, the wood-elf progenitor, she is an exalted person even in Elvendom, but she does not behave with the aloofness fitting to her rank. She has long been a free spirit and an independent agent in the affairs of Astrom, always abroad on some personal mission or other and regularly putting herself in danger. Despite her considerable powers, she finds herself taken captive before the Quest of Oron Amular, and thus becomes entangled in the story. See also Firnar, Firnai and Therendir.

Caréysin

An armist warrior in the Eastern Army, Caréysin is a deadly archer and employed as a tracker by one of the legions. As such his special skills are called on by Curillian during the Quest of Oron Amular. See also Eastern Army & Curillian.

Carimir

The Carimir is the royal palace at the heart of Mariston, the home and court of the kings of Maristonia. It is a huge, exquisite and intricate set of buildings that serve many roles: home of the royal family, centre of the royal court, barracks, archive, storehouse and symbol of the armist nation. See also Mariston.

Carinen

An ancient armist chieftain and far ancestor of Curillian from whom sprung the namesake House of Carinen. He was the son of Armanor, the first Chieftain of the Falakai, the early armists, but he removed southward away from the Carthaki Mountains of his birth and under elven auspices founded the great city of Mariston. His became the ruling house of the armist race, and from among his descendants arose the ruling royal dynasty of Harolin. See also Harolin, Falakai and Mariston.

Carinen Peninsula

The eastern of two great peninsulas which project out from mainland Maristonia and enclose Mariston Bay. Carinen Peninsula belongs to the Central Lands and extends southward from the Armist Road to the great watch-tower of Carinor in The Watchful Straights. Eastward is Dagger’s Cove and south is the Troizon Ocean. Carinen Peninsula is rugged, mountainous and wooded, but also home to some of the finest vineyards in Maristonia. See also Dagger’s Cove and Mariston Bay.

Carion

Carion is a wood-elf prince and the father of Dácariel, Queen of Tol Ankil. See also Dacariel and Firnai.

Carmen

Carmen is an armist and the Queen of Maristonia through marriage to King Curillian. Not of noble descent herself, they met by chance during Curillian’s exile and fell in love. Together they managed to win back the crown of Maristonia for the rightful Harolin dynasty. After some initial doubts the nobility of Maristonia welcomed and accepted Carmen as their queen. Carmen is a good moderating influence on her husband and regularly deputises for him in a regency role when he is abroad or touring the frontiers. Carmen prefers the life at court in Mariston and likes to stay close to her young son, Crown Prince Téthan, in whose education she takes a keen interest. See also Curillian, Mariston & Téthan.

Carthak

Carthak is the ancestral dwarven homeland, a vast and magnificent subterranean city and kingdom that only a few non-dwarven eyes have seen. It is from this mysterious underground realm that the entire mountain range takes its name, though Carthak itself is located in the north-western part of the range. From there, however, the dwarves maintain their power and vigilance throughout the mountains. After ruinious ancient wars with the elves of Maristonia, Carthak has since forsaken events above ground and its folk rarely emerge from their hidden halls and now maintain an uneasy peace with their armist neighbours, though there is still occasional contact between the races. See also Carthaki Mountains, Carthaki Wars and Maristonia.

Carthaki Mountains

The Carthaki Mountains is a great chain of mountains running through the spine of Maristonia and extending almost two thousand miles from southwest to northeast. It contains some of the highest peaks in Ebinnin and its namesake citadel Carthak, the city of the dwarves. It acts like a shield, sheltering the Maristonian heartlands from the outside world but also cutting off easy communication between the inner and outer parts of the realm. See also Carthak, Ebinnin and Maristonia.

Carthaki Wars

The Carthaki Wars were a great conflict between dwarves and elves towards the end of the Second Chapter and a defining event in the history of Maristonia, marking the beginning of the transition from the elven to the armist monarchy. The war was won by the elves, but only at great cost, and the result was that their power receded and never recovered, whilst the dwarves shut themselves underground and forsook their old ties above ground with their neighbours. See also Maristonia.

Celagien

A network of magical shafts that link different parts of Oron Amular. Singular: celagin. Meaning ‘from far’ literally in elvish, they allow wizards to move swiftly and unseen between far removed parts of the Mountain. They were originally designed and installed by High King Avatar, the first Keeper of Oron Amular, and throughout their history were reserved for the use of senior mages. See also Avatar & Oron Amular.

Centaur

A temperate, low-lying region of south-eastern Ciricen, named after the fabled half-elf/half-horse creatures which once populated it in ancient days. Now it is a domain of men and home to the seat of Earl Culdon. See also Ciricen & Culdon.

Central Army

One of five standing armies in Maristonia, the Central Army is composed of eight legions which garrison the vital heartlands of Maristonia and key cities like Mariston, Remel and Orton, as well as Delarom Pass. The other four armies, the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Armies, guard their respective frontiers. See also Maristonia & Delarom Pass.

Central Lands

The central region of Maristonia and the heartland of the kingdom. Marked by Delarom Pass in the east and the Orthon River in the west, the Central Lands are the territory between the Carthaki Mountains and Mariston Bay. Consisting of a series of valleys east and west of the capital city, Mariston, they formed the core of the original kingdom of Maristonia before it grew greatly in size to encompass the lands beyond the mountains and to the south. See also Carthaki Mountains, Delarom Pass & Maristonia.

Chamber of the Pool

The loftiest part of Oron Amular, a rarefied natural cavern high up in the Mountain. It contains the Pool of High Magic, from which it takes its name. It is a holy and sanctified place, seldom visited by anyone other than the most senior mages. It is a perilous place to stray unattended or to linger too long, but it is the source of the League of Wizardry’s power, and accessible only by a dizzying celagin shaft of great height. See also Celagien, League of Wizardry & Pool of High Magic.

Charger Clan

One of the major clans of Aranar, based in the north-east of that realm. Although not as large as the biggest clans like the Pegasus, Hawk and Unicorn, the Chargers were still a major force in Aranar and were often in the running to win the Hamid Tournament. See also Aranar and Hamid Tournament.

Ciricen

One of the great realms of Astrom, Ciricen is one vast peninsula jutting out from the mainland at a narrow mountainous isthmus on the borders of Dorzand. Its entire western seaboard faces its larger and more powerful rival Hendar across the Firth of Ciricen, whilst on the east it faces the Troizon Ocean. It is one of the colder realms and wilder owing to recurrent civil wars between the Lordai and Sordai and orc incursions from both Dorzand and Urunmar. Its past is troubled but its folk are very valiant. See also Hendar, Dorzand and Firth of Ciricen.

Ciroken

Ciroken is one of the two great regions of Astrom, covering the entire northern half of the continent. Stretching north from the River Vanri it is held to comprise the realms of Aranar, Ithrill and Hendar, besides the great Goragath Mountains and Firwood Forest. Ciricen and Kalimar stand somewhat apart, being reckoned as neither part of Ciroken or Ebinnin. See also Hendar, Ithrill, Aranar & Ebinnin.

Clan Knight

This is a rank of nobility in Aranar and common to all the clans, great and small. The Clan Knights are the most senior warriors and noblemen in a clan, second only to the Clan Lord himself. There are several ranks of knight below Clan Knight, and many overlaps with various knightly orders, but it is a position that all young Aranese boys and squires aspire to. A small clan might only have one or two Clan Knights but there can be dozens in the largest clans. Clan Knights are permitted to compete in nearly all of the events of the Hamid Tournament, meaning that they can and sometimes do succeed in becoming Jeantar without first being a Clan Lord. See also Hamid Tournament, Jeantar and Aranar.

Comangen

Comangen is an old armist in the employ of the King of Maristonia. He works in the Royal Library in the Carimir as an archivist with a particular specialty in elven lore. He is short-sighted, wheezy and perpetually runny-nosed. He is frustratingly slow in unravelling his thoughts but he does have hidden stores of knowledge not known to others. See also Carimir.

Corsairs

Corsairs is a generic term for the piratical tribes that populate the coasts of Lurallan in the extreme south of Astrom. Strictly the corsairs represent only the more lawless segments of Alanai society, but the term is used indiscriminately by Maristonians to refer to all coastal dwellers in Lurallan. The great corsair cities of Urundair and Caulrir further west are hives of villainy to be sure, but also major trading metropolises with great wealth and strains of high culture and sophistication. The true corsairs are the pirate warlords who operate their ships, and sometimes whole fleets, out of these ports and whose influence runs far and wide in southern Astrom. Unlike the merchant princes who trade with the armists, the corsair captains and warlords are the sworn enemies of Maristonia, their enmity going back countless centuries. See also Alanai, Urundair and Lurallan.

Culdon

A man of Ciricen and Earl of Centaur. Culdon is a powerful nobleman in Ciricen, a dour fighter and a grim man. Yet he is a formidable leader of men and at the forefront of the struggle of the noble Lordai in their struggle against the forces of darkness in Ciricen. See also Ciricen, Centaur & Lordai.

Curillian

Curillian is King of Maristonia and lord of the armists. He is married to Queen Carmen and Crown Prince Téthan is their son and heir. From his youth he has been a legendary figure, having been exiled from his home and performed great feats during the Second War of Kurundar, and his stature has only grown since reclaiming his throne after that conflict. In a dynasty of venerable kings he is often accounted the greatest monarch Maristonia has ever known, not only for his exceptional martial prowess but also for his even-handed justice and strong faith. He is by no means a perfect king, for he is restless and easily bored by affairs of state, but perhaps his greatest virtue is the ability to choose and retain capable and loyal officials whom he can safely deputise to. At the time of the Quest of Oron Amular Curillian has lived an extremely long life and ruled in relative peace for centuries, but he is still hale and keen for adventure. See also Harolin, Maristonia, Second War of Kurundar, Carmen & Téthan.

Cyron

An armist and member of the Third Cohort of the Royal Guards of Mariston. Cyron is a brave warrior and devoted to his talismanic king. See also Royal Guards.