Master I makes his opening appearance in the story inside a giant Egg. The Egg is perched high up in the branches of an ancient tree growing right at the centre of Gallamar's Garden of Wonders. Master I has no memory of who he was before, yet clearly, there was a before as he is around the age of sixty. In the Egg with him is a blank book, a book that writes itself and once he works out what his name is, he sees the book and its title: “The Book of Master I” The second most important thing about Master I is that he discovers before escaping from his confinement at the top of the Tree, that he, Master I, its an Inventor!

Feather starts his life alongside Master I. To be precise, Feather is in one of the Wings of Master I and grows quickly, so quickly that he can exist beyond Master I. By being thrown into the wind where he goes on a great adventure of danger and by the time of his return several hours later, Feather is changed and considers himself important. This revelation helps him to grow things about himself that are essential to someone important: Opinions, impatience and feet.

In the stories, Feather plays the role of a truculent teenager with something to prove.

Sammsy comes into the story as a young boy with a very loud voice, but, most importantly, a good heart. He makes his first appearance in Book One as the protector of the Hills of Humble. He is introduced as Sammsy Shouter (with a hell of a pair of lungs on him). He is rough around the edges both in the way he speaks and the way he looks. His life has been hard on him, with first his father dying, then his mother before he turned 7. We see a young boy brought up by his grandfather. Albert plays a key role for Sammsy, by introducing to him the idea that the world is very dangerous and that their island has been taken over by a Merchant who Albert believes has killed their king. When in turn Albert mysteriously dies, he leaves behind “our” Sammsy. Who takes his role as protector of the island very seriously.

Eldrin’s role throughout the nine-book series is to hold trump cards over both The Merchant and his master, The Lord of the Shadows. Apart from a pre-story at the beginning of Book One, Eldrin’s appearances are always in the form of a ghost, both from the past, in letters and riddles, or arriving from the future. Throughout the nine adventures, there is a trail of breadcrumbs to help other characters navigate their journeys. His link at first with Sammsy is unclear, but there is a sense that he is existing somewhere, almost out of reach. He knows and uses three great skills: The first (and only one you’ll learn about today) comes about because he is chosen by the Mother of all Trees to make two Master Keys that can lock and unlock the Thirteen vast cups that contain the fragments of the future that take the form of the Stone of Destiny that had shattered. These keys are made from the heartwood of the Mother tree. No one else can do this carving, only Eldrin.

Syptamus lives in a little cottage called “Marsh End”, which is on the outskirts of the well-known village of Simondsbury. It was that village which was said to have been carried by giants from across the sea and brought to the Realms of Elsewhere. A great war was fought over them, and many died as The Lord of the Shadows and his children along with a great army waited on the beaches of Allensturr for the arrival of the Giants. This unknown importance was one of the first things that Syptamus became intrigued by as a boy hardly beyond toddling age. Combined with the fact that he comes from a long line of Chroniclers turns the curious Syptamus into a most fastidious yet Jolly character intent on finding and understanding the truth about the past and chronicling the present.

Vasillisa has an extraordinary story, for when she lived in the lands of Mother Russia, in the world beyond The Realms of Elsewhere, she had been adopted by the Leader of the Russian Armies, who clearly, as it turned out, had a soft spot for his little adopted daughter. He saw quickly, that unlike others, he could trust her, and also, most importantly as she watched him about his business of being a Russian. She quickly gained then surpassed his skills of being a superb tactician of warfare and outwitted him at every war game they played against each other. However, others envied him and mistrusted his little adviser and upon his sudden suspicious death, Vasillisa had to flee Moscow and found herself travelling through a tree just outside the city, whose roots led her to the charnels of the terrifying Blot the Compostuus.

In the early years of the Third Age, with the world in chaos after the shattering of the future, news comes to the King of the Northern Elves that the Daughters of Heaven wish to see him for something which they have found belonging to his Elvish nation. Thrindorrian is an upstanding and much-loved elvish king. He has a wife and son. Thrindorrian is the archetypal King, prepared to do whatever it takes for his people. His brother Glendorrian is very close to him but sees himself as a lesser King, because of the strength of his older brother's conviction.

Glendorarrin is a classic second son, but not in the way of being envious of his elder sibling, but in awe of him. Thrindorrian’s sudden death and prophesy sets up a great dilemma for the under-confident Glendorian who has to step up and lead the elvish nation away from unnatural storms wreaking havoc on the North. This became known as the Great Journey.

She is the greatest enigma in this story.

The Good Lady Herself is the eldest daughter of Heaven. She is immortal and she is perfection. She has beauty beyond all beauty.

Rule Four: All characters must have a weakness. (I call it Superman’s kryptonite clause)

The Good Lady’s weakness? That she falls in love with a Mortal Man.

Cyiafin. A wise woman and seer.

Mother of Findorian, wife of Elmdorrian, the Lost King and the daughter of Ca’ath and Orn. She is the granddaughter of Grelda the beautiful and great granddaughter of Eth the sage whose mother was Emmishmarr the Scientist. What is more; Cyiafin could trace her lineage all the way back to Elvorn, wife of the Melthornian, and was without doubt a most extraordinary elvish woman.

The Merchant is the stereotypical bad guy in the first trilogy. Every good book needs one!

His background that made him a bad guy? He, unlike Glendorrian, does suffer from second son troubles, but he is not to be saved in these novels from that weakness. It completely skews his view of his world and how he sees others. By the time he has grown into a young man, his moral compass has been shaped by believing that his elder brother will always win. He’s got everything, he’s bright, articulate, loved by everyone and if that wasn’t enough, he’s in line for the throne (he will be the Emis of Porthdromic – a kind of king)

That an evil character has a monster they have created is not a new idea, of course. But I wanted the Merchant to have power over others. He created wires that he implanted in others so that he could steal their hopes and loves, their joy and their dreams to use them to power his position and a house he had created called The House of Dark Happenings. He was also considering immortality. To this end, he created a ship that could sail beyond all things and suffer all storms and slip between vortex of time.

Thraggleyarg, for me, was the ultimate in-between character. Yet, it was not his fault. He was abused by all who came across him. I wanted this character to give the reader a sense that this is not fair what’s happening to him…I also wanted us all readers and me as well to have a dilemma over a character. A monster no of his own making.

Rafia lives in the land of convention and normal at its most extreme. Baloobalus is a Realm of Commerce, light industry and money.

In the Baloobian Life, six hats are given to you as you grow up. The first hat is put on the moment the child is out of the womb.

When Rafia’s held started swelling with ideas, his fifth hat split and he gained his final hat while still only 12. His parents were told that he was a problem and that he must contain his thoughts, his ideas and his expressions of being different. He was NOT to be DIFFERENT!

Findorian is a major character. His name means The One who Knows. We suspect at once that he has a huge role in all three trilogies. Findorian could be set beside characters such as Frodo of The Lord of the Rings or Clara of His Dark Materials, to be fundamental to the greater Arc of the story. He does not know what he knows, not yet.

From the moment his mother rides on the back of the winds in a dream to the place where the Great Silence lives, it's there that he is blessed while still in his mother's womb. It’s there, in the garden of immortality that the Seven Women of the Seven Realms create a spell, from that moment on Findorian’s life is cast. He must rise up. He must try to be his absolute best self, for if he fails, all will fail.

Threstlemarr is the one who supports Findorian. She is his grandmother. She tells him stories, passing on to him the grounding of the old stories. He’d met ghosts through her, and the ghosts of the old kings too.

She acts as the bridge for her grandson. She helps wake in him all that is possible. She begins to see why she did what she did when she was younger: why she hid the mighty blade

I see her as both the impatient and the patient grandmother. Impossibly weary at times Yet she carries on drawing out of Findorian his best self.

In the time of the Two Elvish Kings, I imagined there would be a female member of their family, related to the kings. I began to draw up the concept of a magical woman. A woman with a connection to the Gods, not a Seerer, a kind of scientist, a mathematician perhaps yet extremely creative.

As part of an agreement for the passing of knowledge to her, she would be given the task by the Gods to create maps that ave the Old Ways. These line energies would become known from then on as The Way.

The Gods foresaw a terrible time. They knew not its detail, but they saw a time when a great Shadow would fall across the world. Elsewhere would be consumed and the pathways that led each soul on their journeys would likely be obliterated. Thus Gallamarr agreed to Map the World of Elsewhere, and to do this she would use her skills, her mathematical brain, to develop symbols, equations and markers, all of great power. She was instructed to lay them in such a way, to create them in such a way, that they would be extremely hard to find and harder still to activate.

It's quite common for magical people, wizards, sorcerers, witches and so on to have a Familiar.

These creatures would be far more than just company. When I was going through the development process of ‘finding’ Gallamarr I saw that there could be a Familiar who knew many lives, who was powerful, certainly on the side of the Light.

I have always liked the tradition of Raven. He is often seen as a creator by First Nation Americans of the northern States. He plays a great role here too with Woden (Vikings) and Bran (English/Welsh Mythology)

So Grum comes from that idea of a powerful bird, a great leader of flocks. I called them Crag Crowes. In my stories, they would frequently be at war with Goblin incursions to the Northeast of Elsewhere. So Grum was formed…well almost…the next bit was a vital thing. I needed to draw this character. As a Storyteller one needs to be inside the story.

As I was writing and considering, into my head came a Tzar that was a Giant Bee! I could almost hear it coming towards Findorian as he stood on the edge of the mountain. A blizzard.

Everything suddenly fitted into place. The Bee would be the Leader of the Uprising! Of course, he would. He would be larger than life, massively good-humoured, wise and focused. And with his Proboscis he would quickly know that Findorian was no ordinary Elv, that standing before him, needing to get to the child, was the Wolf Slayer, Holder of the Blade.

So Ramasha’s character was almost drawn in words and with a sketch completed, there he was! The gentle giant, who can be both the teacher of the Humming Song to the infant bees, and the great Leader of the Bee Nations: Beloved by all.