Character guide

Larry O'Keefe

major

Also known as Larry, O'Keefe, Lieutenant O'Keefe, the O'Keefe

Larry O'Keefe is the soldier-protagonist whose easy wit and Eton-Harvard polish mask a deep-rooted Irish mysticism he can neither explain nor dismiss. He has heard the banshee twice and seen the green people of Carntogher woods, yet he faces war and danger with a grin, making him both the most modern and most superstitious man in the expedition. His willingness to follow the uncanny where others hesitate makes him the natural partner for Goodwin's scientific inquiry and the pivot on which the story's descent into Muria turns.

Yolara

major

Also known as XIII Yolara, O Yolara

Yolara rules the Council of Muria alongside Lugur, wielding her beauty and her voice as instruments of control over both her people and the strangers who fall into her realm. She is drawn to the Norseman Olaf with a cold, predatory curiosity, and her laughter at his grief reveals a cruelty that unsettles even her allies. Her authority and her caprice shape the political landscape the protagonists must navigate, and her interest in them is never benign.

Lakla

major

Lakla moves between the world of the Silent Ones and the human strangers, serving as both guide and beloved, her voice soft with fear and devotion. She brings Larry tidings that he must not fight, a command that wounds his pride but reveals the depth of her care for him. Her connection to the Three and her role in the coming confrontation make her the emotional and spiritual center of the story's middle arc, where love and duty collide.

Rador

supporting

Also known as This Rador

Rador is a soldier of the ebon pit caught between obedience to Yolara's Council and a growing bond with the strangers he is ordered to deliver. He kills a fellow guard to save them, then flies the corial through the collapsing Shadow, proving his loyalty is to something beyond rank. His knowledge of Muria's history and his willingness to risk everything for Lakla make him the protagonists' most valuable ally and a man whose divided heart mirrors the story's central conflict.

Olaf Huldricksson

supporting

Also known as Olaf, Huldricksson, the Norseman

Olaf Huldricksson is a giant of a sailor whose tear-filled eyes and silent endurance mark him as a man hollowed out by loss. He feigns ignorance before Yolara and Lugur, controlling his rage with a discipline that surprises even Goodwin, and he forges a massive mace in preparation for the coming battle. His personal vendetta against the Shining One gives the expedition a raw, human stake in the cosmic struggle, and his fierce joy in the coming fray makes him both tragic and terrifying.

Edith Throckmartin

supporting

Also known as Throckmartin, Miss Edith

Edith Throckmartin is the woman whose disappearance with her husband's party first drew Goodwin into the mystery of the Moon Pool, her absence a wound that never quite closes. She exists in the narrative as a haunting presence, her name a caution and a goad, and the symbol of the rosy walls of the Moon Chamber is tied to her fate. Her story is the emotional engine that propels the early investigation and the reason the protagonists cannot turn back from the abyss.

Lugur

supporting

Lugur belongs to the ruling caste of Muria, a realm where ancient science and moon-driven forces shape daily life. His authority is absolute and his methods are merciless, which puts him at odds with anyone who questions the established order or threatens Murian secrets. As the heroes descend into the underworld, Lugur becomes the human face of its menace — a reminder that the deadliest dangers below may be those who wield power with calculation rather than mere brute force.

Marakinoff

supporting

Also known as Comrade Marakinoff

Marakinoff moves through the expedition with the quiet confidence of a man who always knows more than he reveals. His scientific expertise is genuine, but so is his willingness to pursue knowledge for its own sake — or for whatever advantage it might bring him. In a story full of wonders and terrors, he represents a different kind of danger: the intellect that refuses to be awed and may prove impossible to trust.

Dr. Walter T. Goodwin

major

Also known as Dr. Goodwin, Goodwin, Walter

Dr. Goodwin is a respected man of science who finds himself chronicling events that no scientific framework can contain. His training demands skepticism, yet the testimony of his friend Throckmartin and the things he witnesses himself leave him no room for disbelief. As narrator, he is both witness and interpreter — and his struggle to reconcile evidence with reason gives the story its intellectual spine.

Dr. Charles Stanton

supporting

Also known as Stanton, Charles

Stanton was part of Throckmartin's expedition, a colleague whose scientific curiosity led him toward the Moon Pool's secrets. What he found there transformed him into something between victim and prophet — a man marked by an experience that shattered his grip on the ordinary world. His fate, glimpsed through Throckmartin's account, raises the stakes for everyone who follows and gives the Dweller a human face it has already claimed.

Da Costa

supporting

Da Costa is a working sailor among scientists and dreamers, a man whose competence lies in ropes and wheels rather than theories. He is superstitious enough to shrink from the uncanny but loyal enough to stand his ground when it matters. His presence grounds the expedition in ordinary human courage, and his rapport with the stricken Norseman Huldricksson shows that he understands grief as well as he understands the sea.

The Shining One

major

Also known as Shining One, One

The Shining One is no mere monster but a cunning intelligence that promised the Taithu dominion over Earth in exchange for its release from the depths. It taught them to build the Moon Pool and the seven lights that channel moon flame into a gateway it could traverse, and it has been growing stronger with every sacrifice it takes. Its radiance is inseparable from its menace — those who behold it are filled with rapture and horror at once, and its influence shapes everything the heroes encounter below.

Thora Halversen

minor

Also known as Thora

A strong-willed woman from the surface world, connected to Olaf.

The Silent Ones

supporting

Also known as Silent Ones

The Silent Ones belong to the older, submerged world beneath the Nan-Matal ruins, a counterforce to the luminous Dweller that Throckmartin and Goodwin pursue. Their refusal to speak makes them unnerving allies or enemies, and the scientists can only infer their intentions from what they do not say. As the expedition descends toward the Moon Pool, these figures embody the story's central question: whether the forces behind the pool are human-made, inhuman, or something stranger still.

Dr. David Throckmartin

minor

Also known as Throck, Dave

The vanished scientist whose disappearance starts the adventure.

The Taithu

minor

Also known as the evil Taithu

A hostile race of beings in the underworld.

The Three

minor

Three enigmatic figures central to the Silent Ones' power.

Akka

minor

Also known as the Akka

Frog-like servant creatures of the Silent Ones.

The Ancient Ones

minor

Legendary beings referenced in the lore of Muria.

Cairill mac Cairill

minor

Also known as Cairill Swiftspear

A legendary figure from Irish myth mentioned in the story.

Songar

minor

A servant or guide in the underworld realms.

Siyana

minor

A female figure associated with the Murian court.

Nak

minor

A minor Murian character.

Sorgar

minor

A minor figure in the underworld.

The Murians

minor

The subterranean race ruled by Yolara and Lugur.

The Afyo Maie

minor

A group or entity in the Murian world.

The Chamats

minor

A type of creature or being in the underworld.

The Shadow

minor

A mysterious dark entity or phenomenon.

Moss Death

minor

Also known as Death

A deadly fungal or plant-like threat in the caves.

Kra

minor

A creature or being in the Murian bestiary.