JANO

CHARACTERS

Every journey is shaped by the people encountered along the way.

Some become friends and companions, others teachers, rivals or enemies. Some appear only briefly yet leave their mark, while others become entwined with events in ways that may not be understood until much later.

The characters of the Sinterlands come from different lands, cultures and traditions, each carrying their own loyalties, ambitions, histories and secrets. They are warriors and sailors, villagers and scholars, the Gifted and the ordinary—and occasionally people who refuse to fit comfortably into any such description.

As the story grows across each book, so too does its cast. These pages provide a guide to the principal characters encountered throughout the series: who they are, where they belong and the part they play in an ever-widening story.

CHARACTERS IN THE BOOKS

Every book brings together its own collection of people. Some at the centre of events, others passing through for only a moment, yet each leaving something behind. Heroes and villains are rarely quite so easily defined. Wanderers, soldiers, believers, survivors and ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances all have their part to play.

Explore the books below for a glimpse of some of the characters you will meet along the way. The rest are waiting in the pages.

Jano’s journey begins among farmers, wanderers, warriors, teachers and those whose purposes are not always what they seem.

Some will guide him, some will stand against him, and others will simply cross his path before continuing on journeys of their own. Together they form a growing cavalcade of characters drawn from across the Centre Lands and beyond.

Here are just a few of the people you will meet in Book One.

Jano (true name: Hue)
Protagonist
A village boy of Truewood, second-born son of Elder Showen, marked at birth by a black caul and raised as Old Magla’s apprentice. Sent from home to reach the School of the Right at Mandor and warn the Centre Lands of a “rip in the Fabric“; charged, in an astral visitation from the travelling Master, to eventually perform the Act of Reunion. Owns the sword Jusmar, souled with Dannid’s help. Ends the book newly admitted as a novice of the School of the Right.

Old Magla
Truewood’s village Gifted
A fourth-level Gifted of the Sou’ Reaches, some 235 years old and visibly weakening. Raised Jano from infancy, recognised his power at his Attachment Ceremony, and sends him to the Centre Lands after receiving Morgan’s dying warning; spends her own strength to reinforce Jano’s before he leaves.

Elder Showen
Jano’s father
A large landowner of the district; the Showen Farm is prosperous. Proud that his son was recognised as Gifted, though it meant losing him young.

Mother Showen
Jano’s mother
Grieved Jano’s departure into apprenticeship at thirteen but took comfort that the farm was close enough for regular visits.

Elder Tance
Village elder, Truewood
Tandia’s father; hosts Jano for tea the day the Sou’ Watcher’s dying message arrives, and quietly encourages the match between Jano and his daughter.

Tandia
Elder Tance’s daughter
Jano’s sweetheart in the village, left behind without explanation when Jano departs; last seen watching him walk out into the storm.

Morgan, the Sou’ Watcher
Watcher of the Lans’ End peninsula
Killed in the book’s opening pages by a black-blue lightning bolt of evil power while trying to send a warning on the Mage Winds. His message, meant for the Centre Lands, reaches only Old Magla — the inciting event of the whole book.

Dannid (Master Dannid the Roamer)
Jano’s guardian and teacher; a Kusso master swordsmith
A giant of a man and a Roamer — his line forfeited its warrior privileges generations ago when the lord it served was defeated. Jano’s father’s close friend and the boy’s trainer in sword, bow and unarmed combat since childhood; souled Jano’s own blade, Jusmar, and later blooded it for him to wear. Escorts Jano to the Centre Lands in the guise of master-and-apprentice, dealing out old-law justice to bandits and a corrupt constable along the way. Parts from Jano at Port Set to travel north and offer his services to the Kentish Lords, sensing that his old world is sliding toward war.

Young Tulla
Serving girl, the inn at Showlans
Arranges the pair’s onward transport by mentioning her uncle’s cart to Golmin; otherwise seen waiting on Dannid and Jano at the inn.

Elder Rolan
Tulla’s uncle, a Golmin carter
Gives Dannid and Jano the lift from Showlans to Golmin; an old drinking companion of Dannid’s from a previous trip.

the innkeeper of Showlans
Innkeeper
A “money-hungry” and none-too-honest host who Dannid needles for sport over the state of his kitchen knives, then repairs anyway; plans to fleece a blind knife-hawker with the “worthless” set Dannid has in fact restored to fine condition.

the innkeeper of Golmin
Innkeeper
A warmer, more open host than his Showlans counterpart; welcomes Dannid back from an earlier visit and sends the travellers off with a packed lunch prepared by his wife.

Hawk (Convan)
Corrupt constable of Talmi
Leader of a trio of constables who Dannid publicly humiliates and injures for extorting brigand-protection money from travellers at the Talmi docks. Threatens Dannid with death before riding off; a loose thread of danger Dannid knows he’s left behind him.

Old Tanna
Stone hawker (mentioned only)
The sandstone-supplier who makes his annual run to Dannid’s forge; referenced in exposition on the Kusso sword-finishing process rather than appearing on the page.

Captain Kolmin
Captain, the ferry Elvira
A short, aloof, fair-dealing captain of the Tirrom Archipelago run; takes an immediate liking to Dannid and trades honestly, even generously, with the island families he meets along the route.

Kremer
First mate, the Elvira
Takes Jano under his wing at sea, teaching him knots, the helm and shipboard life; notes Jano is the fastest pupil he’s had. Gruff and good-humoured with the two boys; carves Jano a scrimshaw farewell gift and offers him a berth “anytime.”

Samin
Captain Kolmin’s apprentice
Orphaned young and apprenticed to Kolmin at eight; becomes Jano’s first true friend outside his family circle. The two are ceremonially bonded as blood-brothers by Dannid before Jano disembarks, using the knife Jano and Dannid made together in Jano’s tenth year.

the wharf clerk (Talmi)
Booking clerk
Refuses Dannid’s passage money after the confrontation with Hawk, explaining the other passengers have already covered it in gratitude.

Old Tonnim
Kusso master knifemaker, Greater Irom
An old friend of Dannid’s father’s generation; shows Dannid a new souling technique as one master to another. Quietly pained that his own son has gone to the Centre Lands to make Tummer-style blades for the gentry.

Travvallar
Elder, Guamaland quarry road
An old carter who teaches Jano and Samin the “you can’t eat rock” lesson about relative value, then gives each boy a piece of rare black lode as a parting gift.

the travelling Master
Unnamed Gifted/Mage, three appearances across the book
First recognised Jano’s power in infancy, on a chance visit to the Sou’ Reaches — left Old Magla the introduction scroll and told her Jano should find his own way to the School of the Right. Later appears to Jano in an astral vision at sea, naming him Hue and charging him to learn “the sophistication of the Centre Lands” and eventually perform the Act of Reunion to repair a rip in the Fabric — a death that proves transient rather than final. Reappears in the flesh at Kefa as an old flute-playing beggar, again addressing Jano as Hue and warning him that “the dark is getting stronger” before dropping back into the beggar’s guise; gives Jano an old, cracked flute. (Author-confirmed as one figure across all three appearances; the text signals the connection through the shared use of Jano’s secret name, “Hue,” rather than stating it outright — worth deciding how much further to make explicit as the series continues.)

the seeking power
Unidentified antagonist presence
A hostile, searching force, felt rather than seen. Twice reaches for Jano’s mind across long distances — once through a recovered earth stone near a ruined temple, once as he sleeps at Old Adelman’s farm — demanding to know who dares “question the power.” Not identified with any on-page character in Book One. (Author-confirmed as Marion for continuity purposes — kept out of the published index and off the page until the text itself reveals it.)

Kule of Mandor
Speaker of the High Tribunal; patriarch, House Trull
Volatile, contemptuous of his younger brother, and increasingly dependent on Marion’s counsel. Orchestrates the political destruction of House Cupins after Aldo Cupins’s duel challenge, extracting the family’s Tribunal votes by threat.

Tully Trull
Kule’s younger half-brother; a courtier
A gentle, artistic man — more at home with poetry and the zimla than a blade — publicly humiliated by Aldo Cupins and then bullied by Kule into accepting a duel he cannot win. Marion renders him unconscious and creates a stronger doppelgänger to fight in his place; the real Tully’s spirit is apparently consumed in the process. The double wins the duel and returns to the family “born on the Mage Winds.”

Marion of Ule
Mage of the Orrin Sect; Kule’s advisor
Eldest son of the Magistrate of Jandrus, a high-level Gifted who left the old teaching of the School of the Right for the more overtly powerful “science” of the Orrin Sect. Manipulates the Cupins duel to consolidate Trull power, secretly replaces Tully with a magically created double, and is working toward some larger personal seizure of control — restrained, for now, only by his residual fear of the School’s old masters.

the captain of the inner guard
Trull household guard officer
Notices the neglect of Tully’s once-magnificent Kusso sword (a Sou’ Reaches masterwork now rusting) and reflects, briefly but pointedly, on how far the household has fallen under Marion’s influence.

Aldo Cupins
Middle son, House Cupins
A skilled, arrogant swordsman who publicly bullies Tully and formally challenges him to a duel of honour, expecting an easy win and a political windfall for his family. Loses his sword hand to the Tully-double and, with it, his family’s leverage.

Lord Cupins
Head of House Cupins, Aldo’s father
Forced by Kule, after his son’s defeat, to surrender the family’s three Tribunal votes rather than risk his other son.

Destin Cupins
Youngest, most-favoured son, House Cupins (mentioned only)
Named by Marion as the pressure point Kule could use to force a rematch and further indebt the Cupins; does not appear on the page.

Raymand Desmon
First-level acolyte, the Orrin Sect; son of Roland, captain of the Crimarion Guard
Leads a gang of fellow acolytes who bully Jano and kick his dog-companion on the road outside the School walls; Jano fights back and wins, earning a parting threat of future revenge.

the man in blue (unnamed School authority figure)
A short, stout Master of the School of the Right
Breaks up Desmon’s gang, checks on Jano and the injured dog, and personally brings Jano inside the School compound, handing him to Amin to be fed and housed. Set to become one of Jano’s guides at the School and to be named shortly as the book continues; entry to be updated once that happens.

Amin
Novice, the School of the Right
A permanently cheerful, perpetually running young acolyte assigned to settle Jano in; becomes his first friend inside the School and tells him — to his surprise — that simply having reached this point means he has already been accepted.

the old dog (a golden retriever)
Companion; guide, the School of the Right
A ragged stray outside the School walls that Jano waters and befriends; reveals itself as strong and golden once inside the grounds and leads Jano through the School’s shifting, dreamlike geography to food and shelter. Set to become Jano’s ongoing companion.

Markin
Apprentice chef, Caldaro Clan court
A cheerful, guileless boy Jano falls in with on the road to the White City; gets him a bed and food at the Caldaro kitchens and walks him partway to the School gates before duty calls him back.

Master Yardman Caldaro
Head, House Caldaro (mentioned only)
Noted artist, courtier and Tribunal magistrate; his wealth and the scale of his household are described at length, but he does not appear directly on the page.

Teacher Ulona Cransma (Master Cransma)
Head chef, Caldaro court
Markin’s master; a huge, booming, big-hearted man who runs the vast Caldaro kitchens and gives Jano leave to stay until he can find the School.

Old Adelman
A small farmer near the White City
Gives Jano a night’s shelter and work in exchange for help with his herd; talks frankly about rising taxes, military build-up and the decline of farming life in the Centre Lands. Delighted to discover Jano is Gifted after he treats a lame cow.

the farmer’s wife (unnamed)
Old Adelman’s wife
Brings hot water for the cow’s treatment and packs food for the household; a quiet, warm presence in the one scene at the farm.