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Rolfin's Orb
Book 5 - Topaz
Glossary


Glossary for 5th of 12 book series Some of the people, foods, places and things  mentioned in this glossary will be found in other books in the series. Some will not. Some are merely mentioned in passing and have no important part in story, however, I included all characters, including animals with names, into this glossary. Some will go on to be important in future books, but since they aren’t yet, they’ve been listed in the minor category column

 

Characters:

Main Characters:

Angus McAllister - Fiona’s Uncle – her father’s older brother – age 50, lives in Inveralba. Light brown hair with gray, blue eyes. Lives in a croft and has lots of cats.

Callum McAllister -10 years old, brown eyes, dark brown hair, cousin to Fiona and Elspet and lives in Inverabla

Elspet McAllister -10 years old, reddish hair and blue eyes, cousin to Fiona, artistic, draws

Fiona Isabella McAllister -11 years old, blonde hair, green eyes, daughter of Mairi and Kenneth McAllister (who is dead) and descendant of King Kegan and King Dugan and lives in Inveralba

Mairi Anna Ferguson McAllister - – Fiona’s mum, makes honey from heather and bluebell and thistle.  Sells it in the shops to tourists and also sends it off to Edinburgh and Glasgow. She also is a good cook and works part time at McKenzie’s bakery in town.  Age 35, brown hair and fern green eyes, lives in Inveralba, but born in Inverdrochit.

Drayton Steele - Descendant of King Dugan and Princess Isabella and owner of the necklace stole from King Kegan – Age 19. Son of Shardow Steele and Penelope McAllister.

Jack Thomson/ Artur - Pearl – Pretending to be a brother of Johnny. He is actually Artur, one of King Kegan’s 12 men and hid the 3rd jewel, the pearl, in Seychelles. He is from Arabia with dark hair and eyes, about 32 years old.

Jeffrey Thomson/ Kitar -  Emerald – One of the 12 men, who hid the 4th stone, the emerald, in Yukon. From Burill in Arabia, but with Germanic descent, so has blond hair and blue eyes. His mother was Arabic, but his father was of Germanic blood who came to that land. He is 39, the oldest of the 12 men.

Jesse Thomson/ Pond - Spinel -  One of the 12 men, who hid the 2nd jewel, spinel in Iceland. From Burill in Arabia so he has dark hair and brown eyes. His is 27 years old

Jimmy Thomson/Cowan – Black Obsidian -Pretending to be the brother of Johnny. Is actually Cowan, one of King Kegan’s 12 most trusted me and he hid the 1st jewel in Hydra, Greece. He is from Arabia – so he has dark hair and eyes.

Johnny Thomson/ Alroy Cathmore - Posing as a tourist from London, come to Inveralba to fish and hunt – Age 37 – He has light brown hair and brown eyes – his ancestry is Persian. King Kegan’s scribe and author of the book the children found.

Julian Thomson/ Edwi – Topaz – Hid the jewel in Tasmania, one of the 12 men who hid the 5th stone, Topaz– has black hair and dark brown eyes and is 28 years old

 

Minor Characters:

Agnes – A waitress from the café just outside of Inveralba

Anaxa – A sluagh that attacks the group as they’re camping

Creanth  - Dog, belongs to Malcolm McAllister, Scottish Deerhound

David –  Taxi driver in Hobart, takes them to the Manzanio Vineyards

Devlyn – Dog, belongs to Malcolm McAllister, Scottish Deerhound

Deyab-  A redcap that attacks the group as they’re camping

Dokomik- A redcap working for Wizard Phelan at Castle Athdara

King Dugan- Descendant of King Bartolf, evil king, who lived in Burill on the Arabian Peninsula and later moved with family and loyal servants to Scotland and built Castle Athdara. Father of Ithgar and Jorbi (birth father).

Eriya – A bean nighe or washerwoman

Fofym – A redcap who Wizard Phelan uses at Castle Athdara

Princess Gilian- Yellow curly ringlets, violet eyes, happy nature, 3 years old when killed.

Idaor – A sluagh. He interrupts Rofariir and dies.

Iriruloy – A bean-nighe that attacks the group as they’re camping

King Kegan- Descendant of King Rolfin – good king, he lived in Burill and left, taking his family to Scotland and built Castle Athdara. Married to Queen Sarmantha, Father of Isabella, Anna, Cerdic, Gelis, Rayad and Gilian. Married to Queen Sarmantha. Died at age 43. Son of King Abbasan and his wife, Queen Nadia.

Kevin – waiter at waterfront restaurant in Hobart

Angelina Manzanio – Wife of Vincenzo, who owns Manzanio Vineyards near Hobart, Tasmania

Nicolo Manzanio – Son of Angelina and Vincenzo Manzanio

Vincenzo Manzanio -  Owner of Manzanio Vineyard, near Hobart, Tasmania

Alastair McAllister – Elspet’s youngest brother - 3 years old, brown hair, brown eyes

Anne McAllister – Callum’s mother - knits gloves and sweaters, uses Elspet’s mum’s wool and sells the things she knits to tourists that pass through and stop in the village shops. 36 years old, brown eyes, mousy brown hair

Catriona McKenzie McAllister – Elspet’s mother. She has a spinning wheel and spins wool from their sheered sheep. Spins it into wool, cards it, and then she sells the wool to knitters etc. She knits things for her own family Age 29, red hair, blue eyes

Elsie McAllister - Runs McDougal’s B&B

John and Susan McAllister – Distant relatives of Callum. Drayton trashed their house while they were on holiday.

Malcolm McAllister – Callum’s father -is a gillie. When people come to the highlands to shoot grouse, partridge, or hunt a deer, or want to go fishing, he takes them and shows them where the best places are. He has a few hounds that he uses to scare out the grouse. He often brings home fish he’s caught in the loch and streams for his family and also venison. Age 38, brown hair, brown eyes.

Malcolm McAllister – Elspet’s younger brother - 6 yrs old, red hair, blue eyes, also called Wee Malcolm

Murdoch McAllister – Callum’s younger brother - age 5, dark brown hair, brown eyes

Shona McAllister – Callum’s younger sister - age 2, fair hair, brown eyes.

Mac McKenzie – Owns McKenzie’s Bakery where Mairi works

Billy McPhee – In Inveralba, the man who has car stolen outside the shop

Jock  McTavish - Man who loans angus his SUV to go camping

Wizard Phelan - King Dugan’s evil wizard, wizard of Xilia

Rabbie – Owner of the Hogshead Inn – Pub in Inveralba

Rofariir – Leader of the sluaghs, who Wizard Phelan uses at Castle Athdara

Queen Sarmantha - Wife of King Kegan, mother of Princess Anna and  Princess Isabella. Later has more children, Cerdic, Gelis, Rayad, and Gilian. Comes from Viking stock, born in Norway.  Her father, King Aluric, did trading with Kegan’s father, Abbasan, and when Kegan and she met, they fell in love. She had fair hair, violet eyes, and was 35 when she died. Her mother was Queen Finna.

Stephanie – Desk clerk at Barramundi Barracks Hotel

 

Places

Antarctica- Continent south of Tasmania where penguins originally came from

Australia- Continent/country in which Tasmania is part of. Once hooked together by a land bridge.

Barramundi Barracks – hotel in Hobart where Fiona, Callum, Elspet and brothers stay

Battery Point – An old port and maritime village of Hobart, Tasmania

Ben Iann- A mountain approx. 50 miles north of Inveralba

Burill - Name of King Rolfin’s kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula after he moved from Hadrumetum

Castle Athdara- Built by King Kegan on the shores of Loch Doon near today’s Inveralba

Crianlarich – Important train routes of Scotland. This small village lies on the western fringes of Perthshire at the junction of Glen Falloch, Glen Dochart and Strathfillan. Comes from a Gaelic word meaning ‘low pass’. It’s an ideal place for hillwalkers.

Dandelon Bridge – Spans the River Alba and is a 700-year-old stone bridge.

Dougal’s Woolens – A shop in Inveralba that sells jumpers and cardigans and other things like tartan woolens.

Hobart – Australia’s southernmost capital city, a riverside city with a busy harbor, in southeastern Tasmania.

Hobart Zoo- Located in Hobart, Tasmania

Hogshead Inn- Pub – In Inveralba, Scotland

Inveralba- Village in northern Scotland/highlands, where Fiona and her family and friends live

Let’s Make Scents- A shop in Inveralba that sells soaps

Manzanio Vineyards- Located North of Hobart, Tasmania

McKenzie’s Bakery- The bakery in Inveralba where Mairi works

McKeon Distillery – Located on the outskirts of Inveralba

The Perfect Bee- Located in Inveralba, the shop sells Mairi’s honey and sweets from the Highlands

River Alba – Flows through village of Inveralba into Loch Doon (where does it start and end)

Roderick’s Campground- Located on Ben Iann 50 miles north of Inveralba

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens- Located in Hobart, Tasmania

Tasmania – Australia’s most southern state, an island

Thistle and Heather Hotel - In Inveralba – Drayton stays there

Xilia - The place where the wizards come from. The rivers look like gold when the sun shines because they are filled with tiny bubbles of air. The leaves are perfect shaped and no insects eat them. The flowers are brilliant and the birds sing perfect melodies. All animals live with the wizards in peace and harmony and it is a land of fruit and honey on every table.

 

Things:

Balmain bugs - Balmain bugs, also known as slipper lobsters and shovelnose lobsters, are distributed throughout the southern half of Australia from Queensland to Western Australia. Balmain bugs are  characterized by their broad, flat shaped bodies and large carapace. They also possess broad but short, flattened antennae and five pairs of legs, are is reddish in color and its flat shape enables it to partly bury itself in exposed soft sediments. They feed on small crustacea and algae and are active at night.

Barramundi - Inhabit a wide variety of habitats in rivers creeks and mangrove estuaries in clear to turbid water.  They feed mainly on smaller fish as well as crustaceans and smaller crustaceans and aquatic insects. Australia’s finest eating fish.                  

Bean-nighe – also called Washer at the Fords - She wanders near deserted streams where she washes the blood from the grave-clothes of those who are about to die. It is said that Bean Nighe are the spirits of women who died giving birth and are doomed to do this work until the day their lives would have normally ended.  She is thought to have one nostril, one big protruding tooth, webbed feet and long hanging breasts. A mortal who is bold enough to sneak up to her while she is washing and suck her breast can claim to be her foster-child. The mortal can then gain a wish from her.

Bunya nuts – Comes from a cone growing on the bunya tree and can be eaten raw, roasted or pounded into flour

Burdekin plum – Purple black fruits have a large woody, pumpkin shaped seed. One type has red flesh, the other has green flesh.

Daddy long leg spiders – Will kill redback spiders, aren’t really spiders, but called that, have four pairs of long legs and a grayish-red body.

Fairy Penguins – The smallest of all penguins, flightless seabird, breeds in colonies off the southern coast of Tasmania, eat small fish, squid and krill

Lilly Pilly –Succulent fruited trees, rainforest trees native to Australia, purplish fruit, crisp, pithy or fleshy

Quandongs – There are 3 types, the desert, the blue and the bitter. The blue one is used in this story. It grows beside streams and mountainous rainforests, is sour and insipid

Redback spiders –Found throughout Australia, in same family as the black widow, eat crickets and lizards and other spiders, female bite is poisonous and can cause death.

Redcaps – Are among the most vicious and terrifying of all Scottish fairies, ugly, haunt ruined castles and towers and dye their caps red with the blood of their human victims

Sand Niarts – Winged insect, half an inch in length, glowing green eyes and coal black body, non poisonous, but have sharp stingers that cause severe pain

Sluaghs – Spirits of dead sinners, troublesome and destructive, fly in groups like flocks of birds and they try to take your soul away, always fly from the west.

Snags – Name for sausages in Australian

Tasmanian devils – Has spine chilling screeches, black hair, bad temper and fierce, carnivorous marsupials, only found in Tasmania, scavenger eating carrion, nocturnal and lives in groups

Tasmanian Tiger – Native animal of Tasmania, declared extinct in 1986, looks like a large dog with stripes like a tiger, usually mute, good sense of smell and don’t do well in captivity, meat eater, ate rabbits and wallabies,

Witchetty grubs - Witchetty grubs are the larvae of moths and beetles which bore into and eat the wood and sap of trees and shrubs. Small piles of sawdust around the base of a plant can indicate an entrance hole. The Grubs were eaten raw or cooked tasting like scrambled eggs and peanut butter with a crispy chicken skin coating.

Yabbies - The name "yabby" is sometimes used to refer to any freshwater crayfish species in Australia. Yabbies are active burrowers and are very hardy, able to withstand poor water quality and long periods of drought. Yabbies are excellent eating.  They can be simply boiled for a few minutes in salted water or prepared in a variety of ways.  They have a very sweet meat and the claws of larger specimens are particularly succulent.


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