Tavin Roadwarden

At the beginning of Nymira's journey, he is one of the children running through the market, fascinated by the distinctive rhythm of her eight feet against the stone. To Tavin, Nymira is not a frightening transformed princess or a political representative. She is simply Nymira.

When she returns, Tavin immediately wants to know whether she saw humans, whether they were real, how large the sky is, and whether she fought anything. The questions are simple. Their implications are not.

For generations of isolated Velyri, the surface became something approaching myth. For children such as Tavin, humans, dwarves and the open sky may instead become parts of a wider world they expect one day to encounter for themselves.

As a young adult, Tavin takes on the work of maintaining the road between Ilyr-Veyn and Kharrum. He spends much of his time walking its length, and in time becomes known as Tavin the Roadwarden, or simply Tavin Roadwarden.

Many grandcycles later, an older and considerably more travelled Tavin begins setting down the stories of Nymira, the road and the city beneath the mountain. Those stories became The Chronicles of Ilyr-Veyn.