The Old Kingdom
[1] The protagonist, Sabriel, is in her final few days at her school in Ancelstierre (an alternate history of 1910s England), when she is visited by a spirit summoned by her father (the Abhorsen), who is trapped in Death, and departs to rescue him.The protagonist, Lirael, is raised among the Clayr; but having coal-black hair, a pale complexion, and brown eyes, differs physically from her chestnut-skinned, white-blonde, blue or green-eyed peers, and additionally lacks their native precognition.Meanwhile, Lirael inherits the artifacts of a Remembrancer (a clairvoyant able to view the past) and is swiftly dispatched to fulfill a very recent vision of herself and Nick Sayre upon the Red Lake.All are attacked repeatedly and nearly overcome by Chlorr of the Mask; but they reach the Abhorsens' House, where Lirael is identified as Sabriel's half-sister and heir, and Sameth as successor to the previously extinct 'Wallmakers'.The Abhorsen's House is besieged by Dead Hands led by Chlorr of the Mask (an undead sorceress) under the control of the necromancer Hedge.The protagonists escape the siege through a well-like opening, in whose adjoined tunnel they encounter the spirit 'Astarael' (the originator of the Abhorsens' power).Meanwhile, Prince Sameth's parents, the Abhorsen Sabriel and King Touchstone, are in Ancelstierre to stop the genocide of refugees; but are nearly themselves killed by rebels and return to the Old Kingdom.Clariel's reluctant admission to an academy for the young elite and an encounter with a Free Magic creature leaves her curious about its forbidden power.Feeling restless after the events of Abhorsen and reeling from the loss of the Disreputable Dog, Lirael makes her way to The Wall to find Nicholas Sayre lying there unconscious, having woken up a Hrule — a rare free magic creature which drinks blood.Nicholas is discovered to be capable of acting as a Charter Stone, and so he and Lirael journey to the north in order to send Chlorr of the Mask to her final resting place.Per Publishers Weekly: As young, brown-skinned Terciel moves from a life of hunger to an apprenticeship as Abhorsen-in-Waiting in the Old Kingdom, 19-year-old Elinor takes to the stage and practices carnival skills across the wall, in nonmagical Ancelstierre.After surviving an assault on her home through Terciel’s timely intervention, Elinor takes a position at magic-teaching girls’ school Wyverley College, hoping to learn magic—with which she is newly acquainted—and prepare to travel to the Old Kingdom.When an incident sees her reunited with Terciel, and whisked to the Abhorsen’s House by a distant relative who reveals Elinor’s connection to a sisterhood of seeresses, she finds that she is to play a vital part in the fight against a powerful Dead creature.[1] Nicholas Sayre is sent by his Uncle Edward to a party, to observe the workings of a clandestine government organisation responsible for gathering information about the Old Kingdom.After this, the entire Wallmaker line physically became the Great Charter Stones and the Wall that separates the Old Kingdom from Ancelstierre, to prevent contamination of their descent.Examples of the Greater Dead include Chlorr of the Mask, Lathal the Abomination (ultimately destroyed by Lirael), and Kerrigor (defeated by Sabriel).Lesser Dead may be incapacitated by immersing them in running water or by destroying their physical bodies with Charter Magic or explosives; Shadow Hands are impossible to harm by strictly physical means, but may be unraveled by specialized Charter Magic spells or returned to Death by the necromantic bells.Mordicants: These are fiery constructs of clay and blood, animated by Free Magic and guided by a Greater Dead spirit able to move between Life and Death at will.The most common elementals belong to specific "breeds" (such as Stilken, Magrue, Jerreq, or Hish), while the most powerful are unique, or "of a singular nature".Of the remainder, "no truly dangerous creature of Free Magic has woken in a thousand years, save to the sound of Mosrael and Saraneth, or by a direct summons using their secret names".Certain fixtures excepted (such as a surcoat or insignia), Charter Sendings do not possess a concrete physical shape, and derive identity primarily from their function.From smallest to largest they are: Ranna, the Sleeper, prompting drowsiness in the auditor; Mosrael, the Waker, transmitting the ringer further into Death but the auditor into Life; Kibeth, the Walker, which can give the Dead freedom of movement or force them to walk according to the ringer's intention; Dyrim, the Speaker, used either to revive or annul the hearer's ability to speak; Belgaer, the Thinker, used to restore or remove memory; Saraneth, the Binder, a favorite of the Abhorsens, used to control the Dead directly; and Astarael, the Weeper, also named Sorrowful, which sends both ringer and auditor far into Death.Because Astarael appears under Abhorsen's House and Kibeth as the Disreputable Dog, it can be inferred that Ranna, Mosrael, Dyrim, Belgaer, and Saraneth became the Five Great Charters.The Ninth was strong and fought with might, But lone Orannis was put out of the light, Broken in two and buried under hill, Forever to lie there wishing us ill. Death consists of Nine Precincts divided by Nine Gates, through which a grey river flows.The Fifth Precinct is too deep to wade, and must be crossed by a thin black bridge that frequently attracts dead creatures.The water in the Fifth Precinct has strong mutagenic properties, and is implied to be partially responsible for the monstrous appearance of some Greater Dead and necromancers.The Ninth Gate, resembling a starry sky, confirms the final death of any who look upon it, except those to whom remain a native span of years.Two hundred years before Sabriel, the reigning Queen and her two daughters were murdered by Kerrigor and their blood used to break two of the six Great Charter Stones.