The Characters
— The Relics of Errus by Gordon Greenhill
Meet everyone here…
The Hoovers
Anna Hoover: The Likeable Rebel
Anna, age twelve, is the middle of three sisters. With an independent, creative, and straightforward view of things, she likes to have things her own way, and bounces frequently off Eli’s more studious personality.
Eli Hoover: The Responsible Literati
Fourteen year old Eli (El-ee) is bookish and bright, but unsure of herself, since her vast knowledge has come only from books and not real life. She both envies and is frustrated by Anna’s directness, flippancy, and common sense.
Rose Hoover: The Clairvoyant Dingbat
The darling of the family, eight year old Rose is that delightful combination of innocent impropriety and perceptive foresight. She is known mostly for her wide-eyed cluelessness, until rare but shocking moments reveal that she’s been paying attention all along and actually knows the answer.
Dr. Theodore Hoover: The Pining Widower and Erudite Scholar
Teddy is the girls’ emotionally absentee father. Since their mother’s death, he has poured himself into his research and publications. He is generally unaware of their exploits but is often manipulated by them into providing necessary historical perspective from his vast if not somewhat moldy knowledge.
Miss Heavernaggie: The Truculent Housekeeper
Miss Heavernaggie keeps a traditional English household for the many tour guests that come to see the Hoover Mansion. Thirty-eight years of having everything her own way has made her nosey, recalcitrant, and humorously out of touch with the world of the Hoovers.
The Garlandians
Brother Whinsom: The Merry Friar
One of the last priests of the old monotheism, Whinsom is a rotund cheery wiseman of unexpected depth and secrets, and the yin to his brother’s acerbic yang.
Brother Cholerish: The Irascible Ascetic
Although Whinsom’s twin brother, Cholerish is his inverse both in dour personality and desiccated physiognomy. Cantankerous but wise, he spends his spare time contemplating the ancient prophecy carved into the walls of a cavern under the temple in Halighyll.
Dr. Augustus Lambient: The Extravagant Skeptic
A mountain of a man, but apt to weep over a beautifully executed experiment, Lambient is a lumbering contradiction. He is the epitome of both the tenacious scientific mind—full of naturalistic skepticism—but also the inquisitive and innocent “child-within.” He finds himself frequently at words with the devout Dashonae over the nature of the supernatural… because, of course, such things cannot exist. And why should they when Nature alone contains enough mysteries to last a lifetime?
Sir Theodore au Dashonae: The Pious Jingoist
A devout knight of the Therran order, Dashonae (dah-SHOH-nah) is the chivalrous element of the expedition. Brave in battle and deeply embittered against northern Azhwana, he is willing to face a host of such enemies in what is for him a pilgrimage to a holy shrine of his patron deity. In this he must face daily needling from Lambient, who does not believe in the gods or even in the Well for which they search.
Sazerac the Dog: The Strong Silent Companion
Sazerac is Lambient’s no-nonsense assistant. All natives of Errus can understand animal speech, but to the girls he merely barks and yelps. He is thus a source of both fascination and frustration to the girls.
The Azhwana
Princess Ahvorazhie: The Vengeful Lover
While in love with Ragundiae, Ahvorazhie (ah-vor-AH-zhee) was given to the rapacious Tengomaniah by her impatient Father—the great Koning of the Azwhana— because Ragundiae desired to earn his honor before being wed. She is thus a character in conflict, desiring revenge on the very person she most loves. She is as conniving as her unwanted husband, but unlike him, she is clever—this also makes her dangerous.
Tara Ragundiae: The Honorable Strongman
Tara (Captain) Ragundiae (rah-GOON-dee-aye) is a strong and honorable man, who continues to defend the honor of the Princess even though she was given to his cowardly brother. He is a powerful and skilled warrior, who is more open minded than he appears… or than he knows.
Onderkoning Tengomaniah: The Suspicious Coward
Tengomaniah (teng-go-mah-NEE-ah) is the conniving, if diminutive, brother of Ragundiae and viceroy of Balungorah Province of Azhwana. Motivated only by a desire for power, he is easily and comically manipulated by everyone else in the story to achieve their ends.
The Longaevi
Finch the Fairy: The Fickle Scaramouche
Unreliable companion of Lambient, Finch is flighty in mind as well as body. While, like all the longaevi, he knows more than he says, his interests are to mercurial to be a reliable source of information. Plus he disappears without warning.
Girondin-jacobous-mochecouteau the Dwarf: The Mad Cipher
The last of his people, this dwarf has gone mad with long isolation in his underground kingdom. By virtue of his great age, he knows the real meaning of all these events but is unwilling to reveal more than tantalizing glimmers into the great things that are to unfold in the near future.
