The Old Kingdom

the Old Kingdom (original Title: The Old Kingdom) is a cycle of Fantasy of the Australian writer Garth Nix which includes/understands three volumes: Sabriël , Liraël and Abhorsën .

Characters

Hero of the good

  • Abhorsën : Father of Sabriël. Its name goes like a title and appoints a necromancian with the service of the good having for mission of returning thealive ones in Death instead of bringing back some.
  • Sabriël : Eighteen year old young girl having grown far from the world of the magic, in Ancelstierre. She nevertheless inherited all the gifts of her family and it will return to him to succeed his father by incarnating new Abhorsën.
  • Gwynplaïn : Behind this name which is that of a buffoon, hides the last one representing of the royal family. It remained unconscious in a tomb during nearly two centuries and was brought back to the life by Sabriël. It enters a state of Berserk each time time that it is moved, in particular when it attends the crimes of his Roggir brother.
  • Mooggëtt : Familiar of Abhorsën. Able to change aspect, it appears under a different identity with each one of Abhorsën which it serves. For Sabriël, it east is an inoffensive white cat. But under this appearance, Mooggëtt hides actually a very old elementary force which is retained under its current form only by the collar that it carries and which imprisons it. When this collar is removed to him, it becomes again immediately the creature which it was formerly, avid to make pay” the price of blood” in Abhorsën which maintains it in slavery.

Characters démoniaques

  • Kerrigor : Death-alive major which bore the name of Roggir formerly when he was still an eminent member of the royal family. He exchanged his heart against immortality and assassinated his own mother. Plusior generations of Abhorsën baited himself to banish it without success. He returns unceasingly because its body, hidden in a secret burial, is used to him as anchor in the world of the alive ones.

Attributes of Abhorsën

To help it in its fight against the forces of the evil, Abhorsën has two major attributes: its engraved sword of runes magic and its cross-belt on which two money keys are drawn.

the magic sword of Abhorsën is engraved on its blade of runes of the Charter. Its Quillon is made of bronze and its pommel is decorated of a frosted emerald. The runes of the blade post usually the message “Abhorsën is my Master. For him, I was created. In its Nm, I pourfends thealive ones. ” But they can also post different messages and in particular the strange ones predict.

the cross-belt consists of broad band of maroon leather, slightly curved, and of seven tubular cases spaced as on a cartridge pouch and of increasing size. Each case contains a bell which is, of smallest with largest:

  • Ranna : That-which-plunge-in-the-sleep. It is smallest of the seven bells, “That whose song, soft and light like a lullaby, left only silence in its wake”;

  • Mosraël : That-which-wake up. Noisy and capricious, Mosraël should never be used because it actuates the bell ringer in Death while bringing back that which it had charmed in the Life;
  • Kibeth : That-which-put-in-movement. “Difficult and disobedient like a rebellious child”, it can return to a late spirit faculty to be driven or just as easily to involve it towards the next door;
  • Dyrim : Mélodieuse bell a “with the limpid and harmonious song”. It can return their voice to dead or make conceal the too talkative spirits;
  • Belgaër : That-which-dominate-the spirit. The bell that the majority of the necromancians scorn to use because it can return to a death its memory and its faculties to think;
  • Sarameth : That-which-controls. The dominating one, it subjects deaths to the will of that which holds up it;
  • Astaraël :That-which-banishes. The ultimate bell which envoit that which listens to it, including the bell ringer, to the borders of Death.

To help it in its displacements, Abhorsën has a marvellous plane, Gynoptère , able to control the winds and to lead it where it wishes it. This magic object was created by the forty-second Abhorsën and Sabriël destroyed it as of the first use. Fortunately for it, the secrecy of its manufacture was not lost because it was still held by Clayrs which could thus build others of them.

Varieties of death-alive

The malefic creatures of the Old Kingdom are, in general, of the varieties of death-alive, manufactured by one nécromant, and in which are locked up the spirits of human recently died and reduced in slavery. They need to regularly absorb great quantities of vital energy in order to be maintained far away from the limit of Death. These creatures can be banished in beyond thanks to the magic and fear only two things: the light of day and running water of a river.

  • Zombies : Commonly called “the Arms”, they are creatures of the mean extraction having had the body in the process of putrefaction of an human being;

  • Mordaut : Death-alive of lower row, Mordaut is a parasite which clings to the back of its victim and leaves it from time to time to go to aspire the vital force of the living beings;
  • Gorecrows : In the beginning, they are completely ordinary corbels. Captured and killed according to a precise ritual, they are then revived thanks to the spirit split of human;
  • the Shades : Very dangerous incorporeal creatures;
  • Mordicant : Extremely powerful, Mordicant is a made creature of peat and human blood inhabited by the spirit of a man recently deceased and called upon by a necromancian. Able to pass at will from Dead to the Life, he vomits torrents of flames around him.

See also

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