Fifth Series - Thaddeus 'Tad' Pyrestark

With a name like Thaddeus Augustus Winslow Holofernes Pyrestark, I think you can tell that he’s one of the poshest, most cowardly Mages around. He has no real idea what politics govern the world, barely understanding anything beyond his own existence.

Though he starts out as the victim of a poorly-planned kidnapping, within a short space of time, and partly through some Stockholm syndrome, he comes around to helping Humanity. In fact, it is through him that the group discovers the mysterious ‘Pact’, the one secret which their whole crusade rests on.

Despite the fact that they refer to him as ‘Tad’, he still manages to slowly come around to liking the group. But he’s still a Mage, even if he is a fairly useless one. He often argues against causing trouble or excessive violence toward the Mages, but also reminds everyone that most Mages aren’t aware of how bad the situation is.

He is extremely selfish and nasty, often being more trouble than he’s worth, especially when he’s first kidnapped. It is only when he’s truly made to understand what sort of terrible things his father and the other Arch Mages are up to, that he comes around.

The name Thaddeus, and the shortened ‘Tad’ had been going around my head at the time that I imagined the Fifth Series. Much like the Stratigent Jep and Hermes, it was just one those odd words that had been bouncing around my head for a while, that I had been desperate to indulge. The rest of his name was just a bit of fun silliness. 

Fifth Series - Mark Route

Mark has been friends with Jack Pinnacle for as long as he can remember, with the two of them never being far apart. Also being deaf for as long he can remember, Jack acts as a convenient translator, seeing as he’s the only person beyond Mark’s parents, who can perform sign language. Mark only needs help explaining himself, seeing as he is an excellent lip-reader, so long as he can see the people speaking, he’s never left out of a conversation.

Passive as he is, joining the fight for humanity isn’t his idea of fun. Certainly, if Jack wasn’t involved and hadn’t roped him into it, Mark wouldn’t be there. As a minor pessimist, he would always be ready to remind everyone that their plans are full of holes and likely to fail.

A naturally thoughtful and reserved person, Mark is often the one who has to reign in the more extroverted Jack, or occasionally sign to him that: ‘It’s not worth it.’ Though that’s not to say he’s a coward, or he’d run from danger. Moreover, should harm come to the people he cares about, Mark will be one of the first to react and fight back.

I always look to Mark as an interesting character. The decision to make him deaf was two sided. On the one hand, it was something I had never worked with before and thought it would be a new challenge. Also, at the time that I conceived the Fifth Series, I had garnered an interest in learning sign language. I was going to implement this into the Fifth Series, giving it some authenticity and give Mark a way to communicate universally as they travelled the world.

But to my dismay, I discovered that sign language is not a universal language, and varies from country to country. As of this moment, I am still undecided as to whether I should invent my own version of sign language, or attempt to learn British sign language again, and implement that.

Fifth Series - Jack Pinnacle

Jack Pinnacle is a fairly likeable, if somewhat cocky and arrogant, fifteen year old. Unlike some, growing up in a world where the Mages treat him as little more than dirt, hasn’t jaded him one bit. He manages to keep upbeat and happy almost all the time.

He was the victim of a terrible house-fire when he was very young, which left him orphaned and with permanently blackened thumbs. He was taken in by the family of his best friend, Mark Route.  

With regards to wider politics and the state of the world, he’s obviously not thrilled with the way the Mages run everything, and will often be one of the first to raise his voice and let it be known – for better or worse.

But at the same time, the argument could certainly be made that, to some degree, he is all mouth. Sure he can be confrontational, but he’s not stupid. However, when the moment comes, he’s very accepting of where life has taken him and is ready to do his part.

Jack serves an important role  within the group, often drifting between de-facto leader and motivator, encouraging the group when things appear most dire. Obviously he is very close to Mark, having known him his whole life. On occasion, he’ll but heads with both Emma and Tad, and going so far as to call out Mrs. DeRage whenever she becomes too passive.

In a way, I like to contrast Jack with Sam, from Spirit Rider, in that they both share a sort of similar role in their respective series, being teenaged heroes. One of their key differences is both their level of confidence, and their opinions of their destiny. Whereas Sam has a tendency to put himself down and is never really happy about being the Spirit Rider, Jack throws himself into the fray headlong, infinitely confident that he can save the world – and let me tell you, that is his biggest weakness.

Fifth Series

In the not too distant future, an event occurs which returns the forces of magic back into the world. Overnight, two thirds of the population become Mages, gaining terrifyingly powerful magical abilities. But the powers come with a curse of corruption. No matter how they fight it, the Mages unconsciously seek power and conquest. They destabilise the planet’s governments and take the world for themselves. Most Humans give up and accept their fate, though some fight back – but they are quickly annihilated. All the technology in the world can’t save you from men who turn the air itself, into fire.

Those Humans who survive are forced to live under the Mages, at best as second-class citizens, at worst, as slaves. Over time as the generations of Humans begin to die out, the Mages slowly rewrite Human history, stating that they have always ruled. They destroy all trace of technology and Human advancement, forcing them to live in the ruins of their former cities, with no knowledge of technology.

It is several centuries later, that Jack Pinnacle is born into this world. He lives amongst the Humans in the north of England, with the only exciting event in his life being an explosive house-fire that killed his parents. At the age of fifteen, he spends most of his time hanging around with his friend Mark, and attending occasional school classes.

In his spare time, Jack collects any random scraps of technology he can get his hands on – obviously not knowing what they are. Small trinkets like spark plugs and remote controls that the Mages either missed or overlooked.

One day, Jack chances across a mysterious light bulb, which seems to be able to power anything technological, regardless of its natural source of fuel or power. From there, he and Mark become embroiled in a plot to kidnap the son of an Arch Mages, joining forces with the semi-legendary Emma Derage and her grandmother.

Together, they discover a secret that could once again remove magic from the planet and must set out on a journey across the world, going after one Arch Mage at a time.

This whole series sprung from one very simple phrase: “There’s no such thing as magic.” I thought it would be interesting to imagine that phrase reversed. A world of magic, where something as prevalent as technology itself, exists only in legends and bed time stories.

At the same time, having a world with magic gave me a chance to create a whole new magical system, seeing as I didn’t want to just reuse the one from Spirit Rider. Do you want to know about the seven different kinds of magic? Ok!

Green magic is the power to change one thing into another and is used through touch and physical contact. Its Arch Mage rules Britain, Ireland, and Australia. Dark magic is designed specifically to cause harm or pain and requires the user to offer a sacrifice. Its Arch Mage controls the rest of Europe. Purple magic can control the mind and create illusions, being cast via sight and eye contact. Its Arch Mage rules Asia. Blue magic is based around convenience and transport, working via speech. Its Arch Mage holds power in Africa. White magic works to heal and improve health, being cast with writing. Its Arch Mage controls the North and South Poles. Red magic is used to control the weather, being accessed via rituals. Its Arch Mage rules North and South America. Finally, Silver magic is mostly an unknown force, yet holds cataclysmic powers, being used simply with the power of thoughts. It is only used by Theophilus, the ruler of the Mages and one who brought magic back into the world. His seat of power is on the resurfaced continent of Atlantis.

At the moment, I'm having some trouble deciding on a series title, for these books. Obviously I imagine I'll have one by the time it comes to writing the series, but until then, I'll refer to it as 'The Fifth Series'.

Each book will follow the group as they go after one brand of magic at a time, travelling the world and giving humanity the faith to rise up and rebel.

The titles of each of the books are all common sayings based colours. 

Interestingly, early on we see a meeting between all the Arch Mages, with each of them putting on an act, seeing as they all hold a secret of some sort. Each of titles describe how the Arch Mages appear to be, but could really do with a question mark after each of them.

At current, the titles are:

- Green With Envy

- Dark Times

- Purple Haze (not even sure if that is a saying, but I couldn’t find anything else for purple)

- True Blue

- Light At The End Of The Tunnel

- Red Alert

- Clouds With Silver Lining

Wonderland - The Unfit Kingdoms and the Skinster

The Unfit Kingdoms are an extension of the Kingdom of Hearts, which we see in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Partially thanks to Alison the Kingdoms of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades, have all been unleashed upon the world.

Each Kingdom is composed of a King, Queen, Knave, and ten Soldiers, of varying strengths. The Kingdoms all have their own individual plans for Earth and all go about their business in their own ways. The Kingdom of Hearts is often very passionate and violent. The Kingdom of Diamonds is much more conniving and intelligent, preferring not to get their hands dirty. The Kingdom of Clubs is far quieter, but by degrees the most deadly, always having a thirst to cause harm. Whilst the Kingdom of Spades is an odd exception, certainly appearing to be kind and peaceful.

But as each of the Kingdoms’ plans unfolds, someone else is always present. The Skinster is a dark and vicious monster, who acts as an advisor to all four of the Unfit Kingdoms, but at the same time, seems to profit from their destruction just as much as Alison and Wonderland’s denizens do.

He is a particularly gruesome character who often appears as a man covered in bandages – seeing as his name is really something of a cruel joke. He is a man of flesh, but lacks any form of skin. He leaves bloodstains where he walks and though he likes to assume an air of elegance and benevolence, it is really an act to cover the fact that he is little more than a wild animal.

I thought that the Unfit Kingdoms would be the logical extension of the Kingdom of Hearts we get to see in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. It seemed only natural that there should be kingdoms for the other three suits in a deck. For a while each of the Unfit Kingdoms took turns to be the main villain, but over time I came up with a secondary plot, and invented the Skinster. Being a skinless man, he’s definitely my most gruesome character and I like to reflect this in his viciousness when provoked. A few alternative names for him were: the Flesher, the Court Magician, the Court Jester, and the Skinless.