Pleione
The continent. Seven regions named after the Pleiades sisters.
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Characters — Confirmed Facts
Fin Howland
Age 19 in Book 1. Dark loosely-curled hair, hazel/green eyes. Worn brown leather duster — heavily weathered, brass shoulder hardware, high collar, practical not fashionable. Loose dark grey cravat at throat. White undershirt visible at chest. Skylark badge at chest. Favourite colour: turquoise (would never admit it). Allowance from Howland family still arrives monthly — he hates it. Alchemical symbol: Sulphur. Dies in Book 4 with Annette. Portrait turnaround confirmed — costume details canonical.
Annette Elliston
Red-auburn hair, pale freckled skin, blue-grey eyes. Brown leather Skylark gear, brass medallion. Middle name: Andelia (family name, great-grandmother). Favourite colour: orange. Originally from Elekra; father a self-made fishing fleet captain in Maia waters. Alchemical symbol: Mercury. Dies in Book 4.
Morna Fenn Elliston
Maiden name Fenn. Skylark professional — covert operative, not merely Annette's school friend. Woman in maroon on Book 1 airbus, reading Birds and Plumage. Age ~40 in later books. One violet eye, one sightless. Face burned on one side. Favourite flower: Lilac. Prized possession: pocket knife with lilac engraving. Marries Farron in Book 2. Alchemical symbol: Salt. Disappears after Book 4 — redemption in Fallen Stars.
Farron Elliston
Annette's brother, Ant's guardian. Brilliant, distracted, deeply kind. Chemistry student at unnamed university in Sterope; later joins the Great Minds. Marries Morna in Book 2. Keeps the evening meal ritual throughout his life — it keeps both him and Ant from drifting. Believes Morna died in the fire. He is wrong.
Earskin Weatherall
Swallows programme cadet; best pilot of his generation. Experiences the world fully only in the air. Survives Elekra attack with Brint and Melanie. Builds the Swallows airborne division from the ash of that event. Worn brown leather flight jacket, gear-laden utility belt, easy confident stance. Portrait confirmed — costume canonical. Note: Book 2+ body language should carry the weight of Elekra; the ease is complicated now. Alchemical symbol: Air.
Brint Carlson
Couldn't pass the Skylark running test — has asthma. Was flight crew, not Skylarks, by technicality. Earskin's most reliable person. Lean build, warm expression, slightly watchful. Wears flight gear in a more considered way than Earskin — the flight crew aesthetic rather than the combat pilot. Portrait confirmed. The saga's quiet argument about institutional gatekeeping.
Melanie [surname TBD]
Commander Spike's daughter. Lost her father in the Elekra attack. In Book 2: housekeeper at Mr. Watergate's manor on Manor Island. Sees everything, is seen by few. Has her father's eyes. Probable dreaming ability. Civilian costume confirmed: modest grey-brown wool jacket, practical skirt, leather shoulder bag — dresses to be invisible to authority, not to Skylark scale. Costuming is deliberately distinct from Earskin and Brint's flight gear; she came from a different world entirely. Portrait confirmed.
Bruce Blackthorn (Aeleric)
Third-generation Blackthorn. Born on Stella but foreign origin invisible. Goal: find and activate the Sky Bridge beacon. Has no true self — was made, not corrupted. Fin's distrust is correct. Fin cannot prove it. Alchemical symbol: False gold — pyrite.
Victor Drazen
Former Skylark captain. Marooned by Aeluric (Bruce's father). Believes Aeluric died loyal — he has been grieving his betrayer for years. Has been communicating with Aeluric's legacy via typewriter without knowing it. Captured Book 2. Escapes with Morna's help. Burns Fin and Annette's boat in Book 4 believing it alchemical. Never knows he was a pawn.
Jim McKraken (Kenzie Darragh)
Jim to the world. Jem to people he has chosen as family. Age late 50s in Fallen Stars. Secretly a pirate. Gap-toothed grin. Ivory-handled flintlock. Boat: the Gryphon. Pelican: Pesky. Cabin boy: Skip (found begging in Stormvale). Has a wife. Raises Sydney after the boat burns. Regrets: not saving the Howland parents sooner.
Sydney & Ant Howland
Fin and Annette's daughters. Born before Book 4. Sydney raised by Jim — strawberry blonde, age 17 in Fallen Stars, pirate, natural Oracle, appears in people's dreams. Ant raised by Farron — institutionally loyal, wants to be first woman Skylark (not knowing her mother was one).
Confirmed in canon
Awaiting decision
Correction applied
Cosmological fact
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Geography
Sterope
Capital. Most industrialised. Home of the Sky Bridge and Skylarks HQ.
Elektra
Flight country. Volatile, charged. Where Book 1 is primarily set. Cavorite research. Home of the Elekra Flight Base.
Maia
Oldest, most traditional. Maritime port culture. Knife-makers, fishing fleets. Annette's father's territory.
Merope
Least cavorite, most grounded. Rural. Peat bogs. Asphodel Valley. Looked down upon. Agron is the valley city where Fin and Annette conduct their stakeout investigation.
Celaeno
The "lost" or damaged region. Leading candidate for the covered-up Rough Years disaster site. Confirm with Allyson.
Alcyone
Commercial maritime power. The region other regions resent.
Taygete
Remote, mountainous, independent. Mentioned for fires in Book 1.
Manor Island
Close to Elektra, accessible by ferry. Where the very wealthy live. Drazen's actual residence — not revealed until Book 3. Book 2: Fin and Annette visit Melanie at Mr. Watergate's manor here.
Grand Aero-Dock
Location TBD — Sterope or Elektra coast. World wonder airship harbour, predecessor to the Sky Bridge.
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Technology
Cavorite
Stella's prima materia. Enables flight. Glows blue-green when active. Rare, gatekept, politically contested. The Mechanite harvest target.
Foot-Pedal Boiler System
How Embers-era airships are piloted. Left pedal: fuel to boiler. Right pedal: steam to cavorite array. Both: propellers. Neither: descent. Earskin's mastery of this is his defining skill.
Henson AC
Training glider. Cavorite-laced panels, steam coils, forward training gun. Twin gauges only.
Henson BAC
Battle aerial craft. Cavorite lift coils, reinforced hull, twin turret mounts. Real teeth.
Personal Flight Harness
Spike's workbench prototype. Steam pulse wings, gyroscopic leg mounts. Missing from workbench during Elekra attack. Planted seed — fate unconfirmed.
Steam Lifter Pack
Emergency personal lift device. Brass canister, folding nozzles, worn as backpack. Single activation. Used in Dissolution cove scene. Democratised cavorite lift.
Paired Typewriters
Communicate across any distance in real time. Aeluric gave one to Drazen before the marooning — framed as a lifeline, functioning as a leash. One in Skylarks evidence room.
Dissolving Agent
Byproduct of corrupted cavorite refinement. Naturally produced on the Dissolving Isle. Drazen weaponises it in Book 2. Chemistry confirmed by Farron.
H.T.T. Network
Identified by angular swan insignia. Connects to cavorite supply chain. Full name/meaning: do not assign before Books 2-3 arc is written.
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Timeline
~1810s
Cavorite ore discovered. First handlers report floating tools and strange dreams.
1810s–20s
The Rough Years. Catastrophic refinement attempts. Village(s) destroyed and covered up. Knowledge suppressed.
~1825
First working airship flight. The Ascendant Conclave consolidates control of refinement knowledge.
~1830–35
Embers of Elekra opens. Cavorite refined and controlled but rare. The Grand Aero-Dock under construction or newly complete.
1840s
The Cavorite Cartel formally consolidates. Sells lift-capacity, not the mineral.
1850s–60s
Pirate game era. Cavorite 40 years more mature. The Cartel as major faction.
~1870s
Fallen Stars. Multiple Sky Bridges. Mechanite arrival. Geosynchronous Bridge built in response and defiance.
Scope note: The cavorite upgrade arc (Stages 0–4, The Plunge) applies to the pirate game era (1850s–60s) only. In the Embers era, cavorite is fixed infrastructure — not retrofitted onto civilian vessels.
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Cosmological Canon
The Beacon Network
Built by Earth. Scattered across multiple solar systems. Each beacon is dormant until activated by the correct signal — known only to the Blackthorn family. The beacon on Stella is in the upper Sky Bridge lattice. It is not a distress signal. It is an assay report: I found something worth taking. The something is cavorite.
The Mechanites
Built by Earth as instruments of resource extraction. Purely mechanical. No malice, no awareness. They harvest and move on. Stella is a coordinate, not a home. Do not conquer — develop. Which is worse: you can fight an army but not a construction project. Accompanied by armoured human operators — the acquisition faction's surviving members.
The Blackthorn Family
Descendants of Earth's acquisition faction. Have watched one world harvested. Came to Stella three generations ago. Goal: find and activate the beacon, use the Mechanite arrival as leverage to escape off-planet. The Blackthorn chain: Aelurian → Aeluric → Bruce (Aeleric) → Drazen (twisted by, not born to it) → Morna (four generations removed, most visible damage).
The Sky Bridge — One Structure in the Embers Era
There is one Sky Bridge in Books 1-4. It is in Sterope. It is not yet a space elevator. It is a massive transit structure extending impossibly high — its upper section catches light wrong because the beacon is there. The geosynchronous Bridge (space elevator) is built in the Fallen Stars era in defiance of the Mechanite arrival. Multiple Bridges across Stella exist only in the post-Fallen Stars era.
Earth
Post-apocalyptic. Timeline: hundreds of years before Sky Bridge. Built the Mechanites as a final act — survival instinct, desperation, or something darker: deliberately ambiguous. Earth's alchemical stage: unknown. Has Earth completed the Work? Fixed as lead? Still mid-process? The saga's deepest question. Never visited, described, or confirmed until the saga earns it.
⚠️ Decision Point: Cavorite's Origin
The Bridge material glows the same blue-green as active cavorite. Does cavorite derive from Bridge material (Earth seeded the crop and sent the harvesters), or is it independently occurring on Stella? This changes Earth's role in the saga significantly. Discuss with Allyson before locking.
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Visual Canon — Locked Colours & Design Language
Active Cavorite / Bridge Material
Blue-green luminescence. Fixed across all visual development. Appears on cavorite bellies, hull coils, and the upper Sky Bridge lattice.
Brass
Dominant material tone of Stella's technology. The Skylarks, the airships, the city infrastructure.
Mechanite Accent Lights
Red. The deliberate opposite of cavorite's blue-green. Fixed. No warmth. No brass. No curves.
Mechanite Hull Material
Dark angular geometry. No wood. No steam. No hand-building, no wear, no personality.
Grand Aero-Dock / Night Glow
Amber light, copper fittings. Cavorite heating coils glow blue-green at night, visible from sea for miles.
Character Portrait Status
Fin Howland
Turnaround sheet confirmed. Costume canonical. Eye colour: hazel/green per writing — not overridden by render.
Annette Elliston
Group portrait confirmed. Red-auburn hair, brass medallion, brown leather Skylark gear.
Morna (Book 1)
Woman in maroon, arms folded. Confirmed. Dark burgundy underlayer, not full Skylark gear — correct for covert operative.
Earskin, Brint, Melanie
Trio portrait confirmed. Earskin and Brint in flight gear; Melanie in civilian grey-brown — costuming correctly distinguishes her origin from theirs.
Morna (Burns era)
One violet eye, one sightless, burned half-face, dark mourning veil. Not yet in portrait assets.
Jim, Sydney, Ant, Farron, Bruce
No confirmed portraits yet.
Visual Law for Mechanites: Everything about their design is the deliberate opposite of Stella. When Mechanites and Stella's technology appear in the same image, the contrast should be physically felt — warmth vs. cold, brass vs. dark alloy, hand-built vs. manufactured, blue-green vs. red.
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Book 1 — Planted Seeds (Status)
The Struck Name
Governor Arthur produces a partial signature: — Drazen. Fin files it. ✅ Planted
The Navigation Instrument
Technician at Sky Bridge hub mentions anomaly to colleague, waved off. Two sentences. ✅ Planted
The Upper Lattice
Fin looks up, keeps looking, past where he has always looked away. Stillness of something waiting. ✅ Planted ×2
The Oracle's Vision
Annette recounts her mother's Oracle on the Andaire crossing: ships with no smoke, lights without fire. ✅ Planted
The Cavorite Incidents
Three unexplained refinery incidents — always independent facilities, always accidents. NOT YET IN MANUSCRIPT. Must be added in Book 1 revision or early Book 2. ⚠️ Missing
Jim's Unremarked Decency
Child on the dock at Andaire. He raises one hand to her. Fin watches. Nobody mentions it. ✅ Planted
The Typewriter
Stanton: a typewriter printed alignment marks with nobody touching it. Under three locks. ✅ Planted
Bruce's Specific Interests
Navigation anomalies. Great Minds schematics. Blackthorn legacy and grandfather's Great Minds connections overheard at the Andaire dock. ✅ Planted ×2
Spike's Missing Harness
Canvas present. Harness not. One second of registered absence. Filed away. ✅ Planted (new)
The Green Marbled Paper
Final chapter: a letter arrives addressed to Annette, written on green marbled paper. From Drazen in custody. She sets it down without saying what it says. ✅ Planted — opens Book 2
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Open Questions — Unresolved Canon
🔥 Book 2 Priority
Q1What does Morna become? Active villain pursuing immortality, or broken person who does terrible things from wound rather than will?Allyson's territory
Q2Was Morna on the boat when it burned? Was she complicit?
Q4Morna's maiden name: Fenn — confirm?
Q5Who else is on the boat? Does anyone survive besides Sydney and Ant?
Q19Cavorite: naturally occurring on Stella, or seeded by Bridge material? Major cosmological decision.Discuss with Allyson
Q21Farron's chemistry institution — what is it called?
Q22Annette's middle name: Andelia — confirm?
Q23Jack and Bella — what happens to them? Do they appear in Fallen Stars?Allyson's territory
Q28Does Annette recognise the green marbled paper when Fletcher shows her the false clues?
Q32The proposal: dark cave after Annette rescues Fin — confirm this location?
–Melanie's surname (same as Spike's). Spike's full name. Confirm before Book 2.
–Captain's transition: circumstances of unnamed Captain's departure, Fletcher taking over.
📚 Series Priority
Q3What are Morna's abilities exactly? Dreaming/illusion — when did she develop them?
Q6How old are Sydney and Ant when the boat burns?
Q8Sydney as natural Oracle — conscious of ability or not? How does it manifest in Fallen Stars?Allyson's territory
Q11Jim's wife — name, role, does she know about Sydney before he brings her home?Allyson's territory
Q13Rough Years disaster site — Celaeno as leading candidate. Confirm before prequel.
Q14Aelurian Blackthorn's cover identity on Stella during/after the Rough Years.
Q15Grand Aero-Dock location: Sterope or Elektra coast?
Q17H.T.T. full name — do not assign before Books 2-3 arc is written.
Q18What exactly did Bruce's grandfather do to survive the Mechanite harvest?
Q24Earth's final status — spent its element, or does something remain?
Q25Is cavorite itself, or its raw precursor, what the Mechanites harvest?
Q35The boat's name (introduced as symbol in Book 3).
Q13 (Morning Star)What is the Morning Star organisation from Jim's character sheet?Allyson's territory
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Document Structure
Canon Index
This file. The source of truth. Both downstream documents inherit from it. When a decision is made — in conversation with Allyson, in a writing session, in a design session — it goes here first, then into the relevant downstream document. Never invent in the Canon Index — only confirm.
Saga Bible
Story concerns: characters, arcs, themes, relationships, alchemical framework, plot architecture book by book, foreshadowing architecture, what each book must accomplish emotionally. Open when writing.
📖 Open Saga Bible ↗
📖 Open Saga Bible ↗
Games Bible
Mechanical concerns: world geography, technology timeline, vessel canon, combat systems, faction structures, visual identity, item lists, game-era breakdowns. Open when designing.
⚙ Open Games Bible ↗
⚙ Open Games Bible ↗
The rule: Fact confirmed in the Canon Index → both documents inherit it. Fact invented in a downstream document → must be promoted to Canon Index before it becomes official. Facts that conflict between documents → Canon Index wins, always.