The Edge Chronicles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Edge Chronicles)
Jump to: navigation, search

Link title

For other subjects called The Edge, see The Edge (disambiguation).
 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2009)
The Edge Chronicles  
Author Paul Stewart
Illustrator Chris Riddell
Language English
Genre(s) High fantasy,
Adventure novel,
Steampunk,
Publisher Doubleday
Publication date 1998 - 2009
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)

The Edge Chronicles is a young-adult fiction|young-adult fantasy literature nove series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. It contains three trilogies and three additional books. Originally published in the United Kingdom, this bestseller series has since been published in the United States, Canada and Australia as well. Today, more than two million copies were sold.


Contents

[edit] The Quint Saga


[edit] The Twig Saga

[edit] The Rook Saga


[edit] Standalone books


[edit] Natural geography

The series is set on The Edge, a huge cliff like the prow of a huge stone ship which peaks onto a seemingly endless abyss.

The Edge is made up of many different environments, the first of which is the Edgelands, the very northern and southern edges of the cliff. It is a barren rocky place forever clouded in mist, where demons and ghosts live. There can be found the Gloamglozer, the most feared form of life in the Edge. It borders the Mire to the east, the Twilight Woods to the north, The Edge and the Deepwoods to the west. In the tenth book of The Edge Chronicles, there is also a terrain known as Everlasting Hills, another as, The Phraxfields, and the Silver Ravine.


[edit] Deepwoods

The Deepwoods is the forest which many woodland creatures, both peaceful and deadly, call home. It is the largest area of the Edge; a seemingly endless panorama of teeming life in many diverse forms. At the western end of the Deepwoods, after the Nightwoods, or Waif Country, is a giant cliff which leads to the Riverrise. A legend exists about Riverrise, a place at the end of the Deepwoods with water that has healing properties. During Quint and Twig's time, the Deepwoods was largely inhabited by nomadic tribes of various Trogs, Trolls, and Goblins. During the Rook trilogy, permanent settlements had sprung up in the Deepwoods. In the far future, many permanent settlements were established in the Deepwoods. Two of the three great Third Age cities were in the Deepwoods: Great Glade and Hive (The city of Riverrise was in the farther-off Nightwoods). Additionally, several smaller towns and cities were established in the Deepwoods. Though the woods were far less wild than before, deforestation became a serious threat during the Third Age of Flight, as the stormphrax trade constantly encouraged cities to grow bigger and more powerful.

Another site in the Deepwoods is the Great Shryke Slave Market. It was constructed far above the forest floor and comprised a series of log bridges and platforms built in trees. It was critical for anyone planning to visit the Great Shryke Slave Market to first purchase a white cockade, and wear it in plain view for as long as they stay. The cockade would last for three days, over the course of which it would slowly wilt and rot to nothing, at which point a new cockade had to be purchased. Anyone not wearing a cockade could be captured by Shryke guards and sold as slaves, but those wearing the cockades would be safe. Despite the importance of the white cockades, time passed quickly in the Great Shryke Slave Market due to the frenzy and pace, and many visitors forgot about their cockades until it was too late. Wig-wigs were a common site on the forest floor below the Great Shryke Slave market, as they were attracted by the commotion and the waste dropped from the market. The Wig-Wig Arena was a stadium in the Great Shryke Slave Market. Various individuals and creatures were sent into the Arena and pitted against wig-wigs, and spectators would bet on outcomes, such as the length of time that the individual could hold the wig-wigs off, or how many wig-wigs would be killed or injured. The Central Auction was the area of the Great Shryke Slave Market where visitors purchased slaves. Various enslaved creatures went to the highest bidder. During the events of Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, Twig and Cowlquape journeyed to the Great Shryke Slave Market in search of the missing crew members of the Edgedancer. They saved Goom from the Wig-Wig Arena.


In the Deepwoods there are a few settlements apart from the normal villages and tribes. There is the Foundry Glade, set up by Hemuel Spume in order to build his war machines, the glade-eaters; the Eastern Roost, which is ruled by shrykes; the Goblin Nations, a loose alliance between many different Goblin tribes against the rest of the Edge's species; and the Free Glades. The Free Glades were set up by Maris Pallitax as a haven for any lost creature looking for peace and community. They consist of The Ironwood Glade, which is next to the South Lake and the Great Lake. Near the edge of the Great Lake there is Lake Landing, home to the Librarian Knights, which is near the Waif Glen where the Reckoning takes place. Next to the Great Lake there is the Woodtroll Timberyards, and in the North Lake there is Lullabee Island. At the very edge of the Free Glades, there is a cliff, which is full of caves where cloddertrogs reside. And most important of all, there is New Undertown. New Undertown, as well as many of the villages, are only seen in the Rook's trilogy.



[edit] Twilight Woods

The Twilight Woods was a large forest east of the Deepwoods and south of the Edgelands. Surrounded by an eternal twilight glow, those who entered the Twilight Woods gradually lost their memories, senses of self, and minds, but not their lives. The glow of the Twilight Woods resulted in an eternal living death. Occasionally, someone would find their way out of the Twilight Woods after decades or even centuries of wandering. Such individuals, known as Death-Cheaters, sometimes recovered over time, but most remained insane, unaware, lost, and weak.

The Twilight Woods attracted Great Storms, and stormphrax formed there. In the Twilight glow, the stormphrax was gradually ground into phraxdust. Stormchasing voyages brought Knights Academic to the Twilight Woods to retrieve the stormphrax.

It was possible to resist the effects of the Twilight Woods if one kept one's mind constantly focused on one's identity and purpose. When Twig was lost there with the crew of the Stormchaser, this is how he managed to retain his wits long enough to escape. The Twilight Woods also had no effect on shrykes.



[edit] Mire

The Mire was a large, toxic wasteland between Undertown and the Twilight Woods. It was the dumpsite of Undertown's chemicals and was covered in bleached white mud. Before the construction of the Great Mire Road, the trip across the Mire was treacherous. The toxic blowholes and quickmud captured many an unfortunate soul. Most inhabitants of the Mire were bleached as white as the mud around them. Mire-Clams, mire herons, mire mistwraiths, mire-monsters, mud-demons, muglumps, oozefish and the white ravens.



[edit] Stone Gardens

The Stone Gardens was a region beyond Undertown, close to the farthest tip of the Edge. During the Quint and Twig trilogies, buoyant rocks grew in the Stone Gardens, pushing up rocks above and creating rock stacks. The White Ravens resided there and screeched when it was time to harvest the rocks for use in sky ships.

In the Rook trilogy, Stone-Sickness struck the Edge, and the Stone Gardens no longer produced buoyant rocks.




[edit] Undertown

Undertown was the bustling main city of the Edge. It was founded on the principle of freedom, intended to be a haven for those seeking escape from the oppressive slavery and danger of the Deepwoods. Attempting to enslave an Undertowner was an action punishable by death.

On the side of Undertown near the Mire, factories and foundries operated. The side nearer the Stone Gardens was called the Western Quays, and is dotted with large, opulent palaces. The Boom-Docks was the part of Undertown where sky ships arrived and departed. In the very center of Undertown was the Anchor Chain.

Many Deepwooders believed Undertown to be a place of harmony and freedom, where the streets were paved with gold and all races were respected. In fact, for many, Undertown was a very difficult place to live. The League of Free Merchants controlled the entire city and would control the sky that sky pirates kept open for free trade, wich devolved into a series of underhanded power struggles and sky battles.

The taverns and slums of Undertown were filled with a variety of peoples from all over the Edgeworld. The weak and slow never lasted long in Undertown.



[edit] Screetown

Screetown was the ruins of the section of Undertown near New Sanctaphrax during the Rook trilogy. It was created when diseased chunks of the New Sanctaphrax rock fell and crushed that portion of Undertown, which included the Boom-Docks and the Western Quays. Screetown was infested with Rubble Ghouls and was greatly feared by most inhabitants of the Edge. The only civilized inhabitants of the ruins were the Ghosts of Screetown, which were a band of Undertowners who dwelled in the ruined region of Screetown.



[edit] Sanctaphrax

Main article: Sanctaphrax

An enormous buoyant rock which is the site of the scholarly city of Sanctaphrax, which teaches students a variety of subjects—mainly concerning the weather and how to predict it. There are Colleges of Raintasters, Cloudwatchers, Mistsifters, and so on. Other scholars also come here to pore over the many texts here for study. Very little use is made of the knowledge acquired in Sanctaphrax; it is largely the home of pedants, each of whom attempts to outdo or destroy his fellows. Sanctaphrax is attached to Undertown by a huge metal chain to prevent its floating away.

Loftus Observatory is the tallest tower of Sanctaphrax which houses many weather forecasting instruments including several large telescopes.

The Knights Academy the school where young scholars are trained to be knight academics. However, there are only thirteen that are chosen to be knight academics at any one time. The rest of the students become academics-at-arms: the guardians of Sanctaphrax who become catapult workers, swordsmen and a host of other positions that are required for the academics-at-arms to guard Sanctaphrax. The school consists of four main classes which teach the students key subjects to being Knight academics. These are: the Hall of Storm Cloud- subject ship building; the Hall of Grey Cloud- subject prowlgrin handling; the Hall of White Cloud- subject Stormchasing, and the Hall of High cloud- subject weather forecasting.

In Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, the chain holding down Sanctaphrax is cut, and the city floats away. It makes a return in "The Immortals", when the city is blown back to the edge and serves as the base for the gloamgloazers plan. After his demise it is once again converted into a city of peace and learning.



[edit] New Sanctaphrax

Sanctaphrax is replaced by New Sanctaphrax, a second giant rock, which in later books has given in to stone sickness, causing it to sink and almost rot away. It was supported by a forest of support beams, maintained by thousands of slaves. Its only building, as too many buildings could fall off the gradually crumbling rock, is the Tower of Night, originally intended by Vox and Amberfuce to be for everyone, but the sinister Guardians of Night used it as their headquarters instead.

The Sanctaphrax Forestthe enormous ongoing construction of support beams that holds up New Sanctaphrax. The Forest is inhabited by many dangerous creatures.

The Tower of Night, the head quarters of Guardians of Night, is the most powerful fortress in the Edge. Vox Verlix boasted its construction was so strong it could survive cannonballs and hurricanes. The tower is set on fire at the end of the book 'Vox' after being hit by a lightning bolt, shortly before New Sanctaphrax is destroyed by the Black Maelstorm.

[edit] List of main characters

See also List of characters in The Edge Chronicles



*Wind Jackal (Orlis Verginix)

Father of Quintinius Verginix and captain of the Galerider, a sky pirate ship, who is well known for his successful raids of league ships and his close friendship with Linius Pallitax, a Most High Academe of Old Sanctaphrax. His wife, Hermina Lintrax, and children Lucius, Centrix, Murix, Pellius and Martilius died in a fire that razed their palace in the Western Quays, except for the youngest, Quint.

*Linius Pallitax

Linius Pallitax is the ex-Most High Academe of Old Sanctaphrax and Maris Pallitax's father. He is introduced to us in the first book of the Edge Chronicles, "The Curse of the Gloamglozer". He is knowned for his experimets in an ancient laboratory deep in the centre of the rock on which Old Sanctaphrax was located, trying to recreate experiments concerning the creation of life. His experiments are successful, but he ends up creating the most feared creature in all of The Edge: the Gloamglozer.


*Quintinius Verginix

Quintinius Verginix is the youngest son of the great sky pirate Wind Jackal, captain of the skyship Galerider. After a brief adventure as a Sanctaphrax apprentice/knight academic, Quint later captains his own ship, the Stormchaser, taking on the sky pirate name of Cloud Wolf. He becomes well known as one of the greatest sky pirate captains ever, flying and trading across the vast expanse of the Deepwoods for many years. His son Twig later joins him, but they are parted in a stormchasing voyage, when the Stormchaser is whirled away over the Edge, with Cloud Wolf at the helm, into the heart of a Great Storm. He gives his sword and miniature painting to Twig, who later hands it down to his daughter Keris. Eventually, it makes its way into the hands of Quint's great-grandson, Rook Barkwater.

*Maris Verginix

Raised by her woodtroll nanny, Welma Thornwood, Maris is said to closely resemble her mother, Yena Vespius, who died in childbirth. The neglected only daughter of the Most High Academe, she admires very much her father, and is thus at first jealous of the attention Linius bestows on his new apprentice Quint. A bond soon develops between the pair, however, as they brave the mysteries and horrors of the Sanctaphrax stonecomb to discover the terrible secret that Linius has been harboring. When Quint takes his place on the Galerider, she follows him, and contributes to the wellbeing of the ship by setting up an infirmary. She falls in love with Quint during these adventures and kisses him near the end of Clash of the Sky Galleons. She later becomes the mother of Twig, who she and Quint abandon during a ship wreck.


*Twig (Arborinus Verginix)

Twig is the son of Maris Pallitax and the sky pirate captain Cloud Wolf. He remains unaware of this for many years, his only link to his heritage being a comfort blanket embroidered with a lullabee tree. As a baby, he is left in the Deepwoods to be raised by a family of woodtrolls, but his sense of adventure leads him to stray from the path, thereby beginning a series of adventures which eventually reunite him with his father. He later joins his father's crew and becomes captain of the Edgedancer and the Skyraider.

A natural captain of sky ships, Twig later travels across the Edgeworld from Sanctaphrax to Riverrise, and finally into the Free Glades, where he is known as the Last of the Sky Pirates.


Keris Barkwater

Keris is the daughter of sky pirate captain, Twig, and a slaughterer, Sinew Tatum. She married Shem Barkwater, son of Cal Barkwater, brother of Tem Barkwater, who was featured in both the Quint and Twig books. She is featured in the stand-alone, The Lost Barkscrolls, where she journeyed with a tribe of web-foot goblins to speak to their Great Clam, which she hoped could tell help her find her father. It sent her to the Free Glades, where she seeded one of its lakes with clamdust, and journeyed to Waif Glen for information. There, she met Maris, her grandmother, who tells her that she will find Twig. Although that never happens, her son, Rook encounters Twig during the events of The Last of the Sky Pirates.

GENERATION V

*Rook Barkwater

Rook Barkwater is the son of Keris, Twig's daughter, and Shem Barkwater, Tem Barkwater's nephew. He too is at first tragically unaware of his family, as his parents were both killed by slavers when he was a baby. Raised by banderbears during his early childhood, he becomes one of the few characters in the Edgeworld able to communicate with them. Found in the Deepwoods by Varis Lodd when he was very young, he had no knowledge of his life with the Banderbears though. Varis brought him back to the librarians' city in the sewers of Undertown, where he served as an under-librarian. He later joins an expedition to the Free Glades along with Stob Lummus and Magda Burlix (who takes the role as his potential love interest), where he studies to become a librarian knight. His destiny, however, takes him on a mission over Screetown, where a terrible crash leads him into slavery. There, he serves under Most High Academe, Vox Verlix, and figures out his plans to destroy Undertown, but he is too late, and Verlix uses a flying bomb to create a dark maelstrom which carries out his plans. Due to the destruction, Rook and the rest of the librarians, Ghosts of Screetown, and Undertowners go to the Mire, where they meet up with Deadbolt Vulpoon, son of Thunderbolt Vulpoon who was in book three ('Midnight Over Sanctaphrax'), and the rest of the sky pirates in the Armada of the Dead. They later get to the Free Glades, where Rook joins the Free Glade Lancers, bonding with a prowlgrin named Chinquix, and helps defeat the hordes of attacking goblins and glade-eaters attacking the Free Glades. By the end of Freeglader, Rook is apparently the leader of the Lancers, Captain Welt and almost all of his other comrades slain. This is established to be true in The Blooding of Rufus Filatine; he is now Commander of the Third Roost and leads the attack on the Phrax Glade. It is then revealed that he marries Magda and has several children who also have children. After the death of Magda he takes Canacress to Riverise and never returns.

[edit] Other central characters

*Xanth Filatine

Xanth Filatine was apprentice to Orbix Xaxis, sinister High Guardian of the Guardians of Night. When Xaxis received news of an expedition to the Free Glades (The same one Rook Barkwater went on), Xanth was sent as a spy to go there with the soon-to-be-librarian knights and act as one of their own. Xanth befriends Rook Barkwater and Magda Burlix during his stay, but is found out, and escapes back to the Tower of Night, headquarters of the Guardians of Night. When Xanth returns, the Skyraider attacks the tower with Captain Twig, Rook, and their Banderbear crew on board. During this, Cowlquape Pentephraxis, friend of Xanth and Twig and rightful Most High Academe, escapes from his prison cell in the tower, and goes to the sewers to join the librarians. Eventually Xanth makes a break for freedom with the captive Magda. Before leaving, he sabotages Midnight's Spike, leading to the destruction of the Tower of Night. Xanth later joins the librarians as well, after seeing the error of his, and Orbix Xaxis' ways. He is put to trial for his mistakes, during an event called "Reckoning", and is finally accepted as a Freeglader, and librarian. During the war of the Free Glades, he becomes recognized as a hero due to his leading the rescue from Lake Landing. He later becomes High Master of Lake Landing and has a son, Rufus, who later joins the Freeglade Lancers.

*Magda Burlix

Magda Burlix was selected, along with Rook Barkwater and Stob Lummus, to go on an expedition to the Free Glades. While there, she becomes great friends with her fellow librarian knights and serves as Rook's potential love interest. Later, she gets captured by the Guardians of Night while searching Screetown for Rook, who was reported as having crashed there. She escapes with Xanth Filatine, and meets up with Rook and the librarians in the Mire after the destruction of Undertown. There, she leaves on her skycraft, the Woodmoth, and is shot down. Surviving the crash, however, she finds her way to the Free Glades, where she saves Xanth by standing up for him at his Reckoning. During the war for the Free Glades, she acts as flight leader of the Grey Team, a section of the librarian knights' air forces. As revealed in The Immortals, she later marries Rook. Upon her death, Rook makes a voyage to Riverrise, never to return.

*Cowlquape Pentephraxis

Cowlquape Pentephraxis is the son of an incredibly wealthy and brutish leaguesman, Ulbus Pentephraxis, and grandson of Ruptus Pentephraxis, who is featured 'Clash of the Sky Galleons'). He was sent as an under-apprentice to the great floating city of Sanctaphrax, but when his father dies, he is left with no money to pay for his tuition. Cowlquape meets Twig just as the young sky pirate captain regains his memory, and saves his life. Because of this, Twig, under the protection of the Professor of Darkness, makes Cowlquape his apprentice, saving him from poverty and homelessness. Cowlquape joins Twig on his quest to rescue his missing crew, and in doing so, discovers Riverrise, the source of all life on the Edge. After he and Twig save the Edgeworld, Cowlquape becomes the Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax after the Professor of Darkness floats away with Sanctaphrax itself, and founds New Sanctaphrax. But his power and position is not to last, as he is ousted by Vox Verlix, who names himself the new Most High Academe. After the ascension of the Guardians of Night to power, Cowplquape is taken prisoner by Orbix Xaxis, where he befriends Xanth Filatine, his jailor. Cowlquape later regains his position as Most High Academe after Vox Verlix's demise, and joins the librarians in the Free Glades.

*Vox Verlix

Vox Verlix became Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax after seizing power from Cowlquape Pentephraxis, and begins projects on the Tower of Night and the Great Mire Road. The Guardians of Night later took over the Tower of Night on the New Sanctaphrax rock, and the Shrykes gained control of the Great Mire Road. After this, Vox retreated to Undertown, but the Hammerhead Goblin, General Tytugg, took control of that too. Fat, desperate, and angry, Vox locked himself up in his new home, the Palace of Statues, where he worked on his ultimate tool for revenge. It was a flying bomb made of Bloodoak Acorn dust to destroy Undertown forever, and was launched while both the Goblin and Shryke armies were positioned where they would be easily destroyed. After defeating his enemies, he sends for a ride to the Free Glades with the librarians, but it never comes, for his Waif assistant, Amberfuce, took it in his stead, behind his back. Vox Verlix dies in his Palace of Statues with Hestera Spikesap, his servant.

[edit] Sky Pirate crews

[edit] The Galerider

The Galerider is an old and durable sky pirate ship- at least sixty years old in Clash of the Sky Galleons. She is also one of the finest of all sky pirate ships. By the time she is lost to Open Sky, she has seen at least four captains- Hurricane Razorflit, Rain Quarm, Wind Jackal and finally Cloud Wolf.

[edit] Stormchaser

The Stormchaser was originally built for Quint when he became a Knight Academic and was assigned to chase the next Great Storm. However, thanks to Vilnix Pompolnius's policy of banning stormchasing, she was unable to fulfill her true purpose for twenty years. During this time she was captained by Quint, now Cloud Wolf. Her first Stormchasing voyage was to be her last, as the storm was more powerful than any other since the arrival of the last Mother Storm. Cloud Wolf ordered his crew to abandon ship but stayed on board, and was carried out into Open Sky and the Mother Storm itself. There, she and her master were slowly absorbed by the storm.

[edit] Edgedancer

Paid for by Mother Horsefeather and built to Twig's own specifications, the Edgedancer made only one ill-fated voyage. Twig flew it over the edge and into Open Sky in search of his father. But shortly after he discovered Cloud Wolf, the Mother Storm destroyed the ship. The wreckage bombarded Undertown and the crew were scattered across the Edgeworld. Twig later became captain of the Skyraider.

Other famous Sky Pirate Ships include the Cloudbreaker, captained by the mighty Ice Fox, the fast sailing Maelstrom Seeker, the Windspinner, known for its uniquely powerful catapult, the Drifcleaver which was known for its powerful ram, the Fogscythe which was equipped with several curved blades, and the Thundercrusher, which boasted a huge wrecking ball.

[edit] Villains

[edit] Quint Trilogy villains (in order of appearance)

[edit] Twig Trilogy villains

[edit] Rook Trilogy villains

  • Vox Verlix
  • Orbix Xaxis
  • General Tytugg
  • Mother Muleclaw the Second
  • Amberfuce
  • Mother Muleclaw the Third
  • Hemuel Spume
  • Hemtuft Battleaxe
  • Goblin clan chiefs: Lytugg; Grossmother Nectarsweet; Rootrott Underbiter; Megmewl the Grey
  • Guardians of Night
  • Shrykes
  • Goblins

[edit] Allies

[edit] Animals and plants of the Edge

One of the elements the series is known for is its interesting array of plant and animal life, described in such detail and accompanied by line drawings.

See also: Animals of the Edge Chronicles and Plants of the Edge Chronicles

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


v • d • e
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Main series
Other books
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_Chronicles"