Ian Irvine: Alchymist

Malien: A venerable but ostracised Aachim living in Tirthrax. A heroine from the time of the Mirror (also known as the Matah). She helped Tiaan make the thapter, or flying construct. Meriwen: Daughter of Troist and Yara, twin of Liliwen. Merryl: A slave who taught human languages to the lyrm Snizort; also known as Tutor. He was kind to Tiaan. Minis: A young Aachim man of high status; foster-son of V Tiaan's dream lover who was forced to spurn her when r Aachim came through the gate to Tirthrax. He feels guilty about his treatment of her, yearns for her but is totally in the thrall of Vithis.

Mira: Yara's sister who dwells at Morgadis, embittered after the loss of her husband and her three sons in the war. She communicates by skeet with a coalition of like-minded people. Nish fled her home in fear of his life after an unfortunate liaison which ended with a misunderstanding.

M'lainte: Flydd's mechanician, in charge of balloon and air-floater construction. Mylii: Ullii's long-lost twin brother for whom she has been searching all her life. Nish: Cryl-Nish's nickname. Numinator, the: A mysterious figure mentioned by Flydd when in his cups, said to control the Council of Scrutators. Nylaitl, the: A malicious creature created by Ryll and Liett's flesh-forming. It killed Haani's aunts and attacked Tiaan. Nish destroyed it after it attacked him and Ullii near Tirthrax. Ranii Mhel: An examiner; mother of Nish.

Rulke: The greatest of all the Charon, he created the first construct.

Ryll: An ostracised wingless lyrinx who captured Tiaan and subsequently used her in flesh-forming. He was an honourable lyrinx and after Tiaan saved his life he allowed her to escape from Kalissin. He later captured her again when she came to Snizort looking for Gilhaelith, and used her in the pattemers. Seeker: Ullii. Also, one who can sense the use of the Secret Art, or people who have that talent, or even enchanted objects. Talis the Mapmaker: An Aachim and associate of Malien. Tchlrrr: A young soldier in Troist's army.

Tiaan Liise-Mar: A young artisan; a visual thinker and talented controller-maker. With the amplimet, she picked up Minis's cry for help, fell in love with him and carried the amplimet all the way to Tirthrax, where she used it in opening a gate to Aachan, to save Minis and his people. She subsequently helped Malien make a thapter in Tirthrax, departed in it, attacked the Aachim camp and later crashed near Nyriandiol when the amplimet refused to do what she wanted. Her back was broken in the crash. She was taken to Nynandiol by Gilhaelith, who began to teach her geo-mancy. When he was kidnapped by Gyrull and taken to Snizort, she followed in the thapter but was captured and put to use in the patterners, to pattern torgnadrs or node-drainers. This was only partly successful, because of her broken back, so the lyrinx flesh-formed it to repair her spine. After Snizori was abandoned, Merryl helped Tiaan to escape the pattemers.

Tirior: A manipulative Aachim clan leader.

Troist: An ambitious junior officer in the army destroyed by the lyrinx at Nilkerrand. He formed a smaller army out of the survivors. Troist became a general much loved by his troops. Nish rescued his daughters Liliwen and Meriwen from ruffians, and again when they were lost in an underground labyrinth.

Ullii: A hypersensitive seeker, used by Scrutator Flydd to track Tiaan and the amplimet. She accompanied Nish to Tirthrax in the balloon and found Tiaan, but Malien intervened. Nish and Ullii escaped in the balloon but a lynnx tore it open and they landed in the trees. The nylatl attacked and Ullii helped to defend Nish, after which they made love in the balloon. But it attacked again and when Nish was carried away on the baUoon, Ullii was devastated. Her talent failed her for a while, but subsequently she was used by Jal-Nish at the manufactory, before being rescued by Flydd and taken to Nennifer, then west to help in the war at Snizort. Flydd promised to help her find Mylii but lied to her about it, and Ullii is furious with him.

Vithis: Minis's foster-father; an Aachim from Aachan and the head of Inthis First Clan, who led the Aachim to Santhenar. When all First Clan (except Minis) were lost in the gate, he became angry and bitter. He forced Minis to repudiate Tiaan. He subsequently led the Aachim across Santhenar but did not hold to his original purpose, to seize land, instead pursuing Tiaan and her thapter across the continent of Lauralin.

Xabbier Frou: A lieutenant in Jal-Nish's army, and a long-lost childhood friend of Nish.

Xervish Flydd: The scrutator (spymaster and master inquisitor) for Einunar He is now commander-in-chief of all the scrutators'forces at Snizori, charged with defeating the lyrinx army there. Secretly, he was also required to sneak into Snizori and destroy the lyrinx's node-drainer. He, Irisis and Ullii succeeded but the device he'd been given was faulty, destroying both node-drainer and node in a catastrophic explosion. The field vanished, rendering both the army's clankers and the Aachim's constructs useless, and the soldiers defenceless against the attacking lyrinx.

Yara: A brilliant advocate, wife to Troist.

Yggur: A great long-lived mancer of ancient times.

Alcifer: The long-abandoned city of Rulke the Charon, in Meldorin. The entire city was held to have been a magical construct and it still has an aura of barely leashed power.

Amplimet: A rare hedron which, even in its natural state, can draw power from the force (the field) surrounding and permeating a node. Very powerful. Inexplicably, Tiaan's amplimet shows signs of a crystal instinct or purpose, for in Tirthrax it communicated with the node and woke the trapped Well of Echoes. It also communicated with nodes elsewhere, denied Tiaan control when she wanted to take the thapter places it did not want to go, and drew threads of force throughout Snizort, including to the node and to Gilhaelith.

Anthracism: Human internal combustion due to a mancer or an artisan drawing more power than their body can handle. Invariably fatal (gruesomely).

Booreah Ngrurle (the Burning Mountain): A large, double-cratered volcano in northern Worm Wood with a blue crater lake. It has a strange and powerful double node. Gilhaelith's home, Nyriandiol, is built on the inner rim of the crater.

Clanker: An armoured mechanical war cart with six, eight, ten or rarely twelve legs and an articulated body, driven by the Secret Art via a controller mechanism which is used by a trained operator. Armed with a rock-throwing catapult and a javelard (heavy spear-thrower) which are fired by a shooter riding on top. Clankers are made under supervision of a mechanician, artisan and weapons artificer. Emergency power is stored in a pair of heavy spinning flywheels, in case the field is interrupted.

Construct: A vehicle powered by the Secret Art, based on some of the secrets of Rulke's legendary vehicle. Unlike Rulke's, those made by the Aachim cannot fly, but only hover, and therefore cannot cross obstacles like deep, wide ditches, cliffs, very steep slopes or rugged terrain (see Thapter).

Controller: A mind-linked mechanical system of many flexible arms which draws power through a hedron and feeds it to the drive mechanisms of a clanker. A controller is attuned to a particular hedron, and the operator must be trained to use each controller, which takes time. Operators suffer withdrawal if removed from their machines for long periods, and inconsolable grief if their machines are destroyed, although this may be alleviated if the controller survives and can be installed in another clanker.

Crystal fever: A hallucinatory madness suffered by artisans and clanker operators, brought on by overuse of a hedron. Few recover from it. Mancers can suffer from related ailments.