An, Land of Conquest

Out of all the lands, An is the nation with the most violent and bloody history.  At one time it was three separate lands An, Aum, and Hel; however, both Aum and Hel were conquered by An.  These three nations are now the three portions of An.  An, as it is at the beginning of Riddle of Stars, has existed for six hundred years.  This is when Oen of An conquered the nations of Aum and Hel.  The capital of the Three Portions of An is Anuin.  Hel is known for its pigherds, while Aum is known for its cornfields.

If Hed is the least taxing when it comes to being a land-ruler,  An is the most.  There are various bindings that demand the constant attention of the land-ruler of An: the binding of the spell-books of Madir, the binding of the ancient, rebellious lords of Hel in their graves, and the binding of Peven in his tower.

The Land-Rulers of An are descended from Kale, Oen, the witch Madir, and the Earth-Master Corrig, and the half Earth-Master Ylon.  Earth-Master blood was introduced to the family of the rulers of An in an attempt by the Earth-Masters to disrupt that family and their land-law.  The shape-shifter Corrig sired Ylon with a queen of An.  This means that the land-rulers of An are not descended from Oen who believed Ylon to be his son.  This unique ancestry granted the land-rulers of An a number of abilities, such as shape-shifting.

CROWN OF AUM

The crown of Aum was worn by the ancient kings of Aum. Peven of Aum had the crown with him for the past five hundred years. He offered it as a prize to any who could win a riddle-game with him. The great center stone of the crown is colorless and reflects the colors of its surroundings. The crown also has pearls mounted on it.


PAST LAND-RULERS


AN

• Awn of An - King of An who deliberately burned part of An to keep it from his enemy. He lost his land-rule and hung himself.
• Fenel of An - He was an ancient king of An.  He lived sometime in the two hundred years after Oen's reign.  It is said he was almost to busy fighting to sire a land-heir.
• Hagis of An - He was the King of An and grandfather to Mathom of An. Hagis died in Peven's tower for the lack of a riddle.
• Kale of An - The first king of An.  During a battle, over despair of the enemies numbers, he used the Great Shout.
• Oen of An - King of An who conquered the kingdom of Aum six hundred years before the events of the series. He built a tower to trap the witch Madir.
• Ylon - He was an ancient king of An. He was the son of a queen of An and the shape-shifter Corrig.

AUM

• Ustin of Aum - He was the king of Aum.  He died in sorrow over the conquering of Aum. The strings of his broken harp were used by Deth to make his harp.

HEL

• Acor of Hel - He was the third king of Hel.  He brought through force and persuasion the last of the bickering lords under his control.
• Evern the Falconer - An ancient king of Hel.  He trained hawks for battle against men.  He died with his falcons, defending his home.
• Farr of Hel - He was the last king of Hel.  His skull hung over Lord Hallard Blackdawn's hearth in east Hel.  
• Nemir of the Pigs - An ancient king of Hel.  He could speak the language of both men and pigs.  He had for his pig herder the witch Madir.  He lived either before the time of, during, or sometime in the two hundred years after Oen of An.
• Ohroe the Cursed - An ancient king of Hel.  He had seen seven of his nine sons fall one after another in seven consecutive battles between Hel and An.

CURRENT LAND-RULERS

• Cyone - She was the wife of Mathom of An and the mother of Duac, Rood, and Raederle.
• Duac - He was the land-heir of Mathom.
• Mathom - The current king of An.
• Raederle - She is the daughter of Mathom of An. She has a pale, high-boned face and a long, fine mass of red hair. Her eyes are amber-colored. Raederle is known as the second most beautiful woman in the three portions of An.  
• Rood - Rood is the second son of Mathom of An. He studies at the College of Caithnard. He took the Gold of Intermediate Mastery faster than anyone save Morgon.

Minor Characters of An

• Auber of Aum - a descendent of Peven of Aum. He went to the the tower of Peven to try to win back the crown of Aum and found the crown gone. Auber told Mathom of this.
• Bri Corbett - He is the ship-master for Mathom of An.
• Col - Col is a lord of Hel. His harpist owned one of the five surviving harps of Uon of Hel.
• Cyn Croeg - He is the lord of Aum with lands in east Aum. He is a descendant of the kings of Aum.
• Elieu of Hel - He is the brother of the Lord of Hel. He came to Isig two years before Morgon first travels to Isig. He trains under Ash Isig. He has recently begun to do inlays, designs.
• Hallard Blackdawn - He is a lord of An, with lands in east Hel.
• Hegdis-Noon - A pig in the pig herds of Hel at a time when Nun tended the herd. What made him special was his ability to talk.
• Madir - She was a witch who stole the pigherds of Hel and set them loose on the cornfields of Aum. She had in her possession books of wizardry that once belonged to the Lungold wizards. Oen of An built a tower to trap her.
• Map Hwillion - He is a young lord with lands in south Aum.
• Mara Croeg - She is Cyn Croeg's wife and the Flower of An, the most beautiful woman in the Three Portions of An.
• Peven - Peven was a Lord of Aum. He was bound to his tower, by Oen of An and has remained bound by the Kings of An for the past five hundred years. Peven was forced to wander the earth as a ghost after he killed seven of his sons with misued wizardry, and then himself in sorrow and shame. Peven had a standing wager going that no one could win a riddle-game with him. If he were bested in his riddle-game the challengers reward would be the crown of the Kings of Aum; however, should the challenger lose they paid with their lives. Many from the three portions of An, and even some riddle-masters from Caithnard have challenged him and failed to defeat him. Morgon of An is the only person to ever have defeated Peven. Morgon even told him the names of all his sons, since Peven could no longer remember them all. Peven took most of his knowledge from books of wizardry that had belonged to Madir, and before that to the Lungold Wizards.
• Raith of Hel - He is described by Rood as having a "face beaten out of gold and a heart like a rotten tooth."  
• Re of Aum - He offended an ancient lord of Hel, and in trying to insure his safety, allowed the lord of Hel to trap him on his own estate.
• Thisten of Aum - He is the current Lord of Aum. He is described by Rood as being "soft as a bay and too old to climb into be without help."
• Uon - Uon was a harpmaker in Hel three centuries before the events of Riddle of Stars. Only five of his harps survived to the current day.