| The World of the
Wilderking Click on a name to learn more about the people who inhabit the world of the Wilderking. Click here to see a map of Corenwald.
The
Corenwalders
have a rich, if relatively short, history. They originally came
to the wild, remote island of Corenwald because they wanted the
freedom to worship the One God and to live their lives as they saw
fit. They sought to build a nation unlike any other in the world—where
power and privilege would be used to serve the greater good, not
to lord it over the weak. The hardships of frontier life and frequent
invasion made them a rough-and-ready lot, plain-spoken, hardy, fiece
in battle, diligent in peace. Near-constant struggle focused their
attention on the task of carving a God-fearing and just nation out
of pure wilderness. They have long been a beacon of freedom and
hope for the millions who suffer under the oppression of the Pyrthen
Empire. Aidan Errolson is twelve years old when The Bark of the Bog Owl begins. He has a vivid imagination and a great longing for adventure. He feels a little cheated to be living the comfortable life of a nobleman’s son rather than the pioneering life of his forebears. But even though he believes he was born for something more than shepherding and farming, he is incredulous at the news that he is the Wilderking of ancient prophecy. As he lives the life that unfolds before him, he finds that he has what it takes—or, more to the point, he is given what he needs—to fulfill his destiny. (close) Bayard the Truthspeaker was once the great prophet of Corenwald. But when he first appears and declares that Aidan is the Wilderking of prophecy, it is not at all clear whether he is sane. He had retired to the forest twenty years earlier and has not been seen since. Throughout the trilogy, Bayard appears at those crucial times when Aidan needs to remember two bits of advice: “Live the life that unfolds before you,” and “Love goodness more than you fear evil.” (close) Lord Errol, Aidan’s father, is one of the Four and Twenty Noblemen of Corenwald. He is a widower and has raised his five sons alone. Devoted to king and country, Errol is one of the few noblemen who still keep the old ways of Corenwald. His clarity of purpose stands in stark contrast to the compromising worldliness that has begun to take root among his peers. Aidan has inherited Errol’s clarity and commitment to Corenwald’s ideals. (close) King Darrow is the king of Corenwald. Early in his reign, he was a great warrior and a great leader. But he has lost the courage of his convictions and has fallen into the habit of testing which way the wind blows before making a decision. He shows flashes of his former greatness, but only after Aidan has taken the initiative and reminded him by his own example what it means to be a “Corenwalder free and true.” In time, Darrow’s moral weakness manifests itself in cruelty to his subjects and a paranoia that causes him to worry more about Aidan’s growing influence than about the genuine dangers that threaten his kingdom. (close) The Feechiefolk are a tribe of wild swamp- and river-dwellers who have inhabited Corenwald since long before the civilizers arrived. Their population is concentrated in the vast, forbidding Feechiefen swamp on Corenwald’s southern edge, but small bands of feechiefolk traverse the rivers throughout Corenwald, usually following the movements of fish and game. They are incredibly elusive and are almost never seen by Corenwalders. Most Corenwalders, in fact, don’t believe they exist. The feechiefolk are hunters and gatherers, for all intents and purposes a stone-age people. They are short and wiry, great swimmers and climbers, and very strong for their size. They are a muddy grayish-brown in color, but this is a coating of mud rather than an actual skin color. They dress mostly in reptile skins and wear turtle-shell helmets. The feechiefolk are ruled by passions—and volatile passions at that. They fight constantly, not only because they anger quickly, but also because they take great pleasure in fighting. They cry easily and laugh excessively at jokes they’ve heard a hundred times before. Their social relations are organized around an elaborate code of loyalty and fair play that an outsider would find difficult to understand. They are not incapable of logic, but they reason from premises that are foreign to us, so their conclusions usually seem illogical. The feechiefolk will never become a great nation, but they embody a vitality that the kingdom of Corenwald is in danger of losing. (close) Dobro Turtlebane, a feechie, is Aidan’s most loyal friend and lieutenant. Even by feechie standards, Dobro is unusually reckless and wild and indisposed to follow anyone else’s rules. But his capacity for love and loyalty is enormous. Besides Bayard the Truthspeaker, Dobro is the first person to recognize that Aidan is the Wilderking. His resourcefulness rescues Aidan again and again throughout the trilogy. (close) The Pyrthens rule the known world outside of Corenwald. If the feechiefolk represent wild, uncivilized energy, the Pyrthens represent the opposite extreme—a sort of hyper-civilization. Ruthless efficiency, technical superiority, and staggering wealth have made it possible for the Pyrthen Empire to swallow up every little kingdom on the vast Continent. But though they have invaded on four different occasions, they have never been able to conquer Corenwald. (close)
|