Pathfinder (novel)

Ram

The first several paragraphs of each chapter deal with Ram. These tell the story of how the humans got to Garden. Ram is a pilot of a ship meant to help keep the human race alive. It is the ship chosen to make a jump through space and land on the new planet. Another ship is heading to the same or similar planet, it is not very clear. Because of something special about Ram when the make the jump the ship is sent backwards 11,191 years into the past, the date the calendar of Garden begins on. The ship is also divided into nineteen copies, times two as nineteen of them are going backwards in time. The first several Ram sections deal with one of the backwards moving ships. It deals with this Ram trying to figure out what went wrong, only he discovers nothing went wrong and they are on one of the backward moving ships. After it deals with the backwards moving ships it goes to a Ram on a certain one of the forwards moving ships and explains what happened. Ram than orders for all the other Rams to be killed, unfortunately he isn't fast enough and the another Ram gets to stay alive. This Ram must define what is human, so the expendables can fulfill their function correctly. He also gets to name the planet. He comes up with the decision to build the walls. After all he has done is needed he goes into stasis. He gives the expendables one last command, that they have control of the colony until someone becomes intelligent enough to get through the wall. In which case they will have to become subservient again.

Rigg

Rigg lives with his father, trapping animals and being educated extensively for purposes unknown. One day Rigg finds his father dying, apparently impaled by a fallen tree. As he dies, he tells Rigg to go to the ancient city of Aressa Sessamo and find his sister Param and mother, and that the innkeeper Nox has incredibly valuable jewels for him that he will need on his journey. After evading a band of pursuers after being falsely accused of murder, he finds Nox and gets the jewels and some money. Rigg heads out of the city, but his childhood friend Umbo follows and demands to join him. During the journey to Aressa Sessamo, the pair learn that with Rigg's pathfinding skills and Umbo's ability to slow the perception of time, they can interact with the people of the past by focusing on specific points on their paths. Umbo is affected by the changes they make (for instance, when the time travelers accidentally create legends after being seen in the past, he remembers them), but Rigg is not, remembering things as they were before the past was altered.

After coming to Leaky's Landing, a small river town, they meet a former soldier by the name of Loaf. He agrees to take the boys to a city called O to sell one of the jewels for money. The city is along the way to their final destination so they agree. When the trio reaches O, they are arrested by General Citizen of the People's Republic. Rigg is accused of impersonating the lost prince Rigg Sessamakesh. Rigg infers from this that he actually is the prince Rigg, and was stolen at birth by the man he called his father, for purposes yet unknown. They are taken on a boat to Aressa Sessamo, but Umbo and Loaf are able to escape back to Leaky's Landing so Umbo can practice his ability to travel through time. The pair soon returns to O. Upon reaching Aressa Sessamo, Rigg meets his mother and sister for the first time. It is also revealed that the man that died under the tree, his mentor, was not his real father and his actual father is also dead. He finds that his sister, Param, has the ability to skip through time, making time pass much more slowly for her. While she is doing this she turns invisible, but she can be greatly harmed or even killed if something goes through her. Royals are clearly unliked by the current government of Aressa Sessamo, who overthrew royal rule long ago. Because of this, royals lives are highly restricted and only Rigg and his mother know that Param is still alive. She spends almost all her time invisible.

After associating himself with the city and getting to know how things run while he is in captivity, Rigg decides to become a scholar and studies in the libraries for long hours every day. He befriends Olivenko, a city guard, and spends a lot of time with him at the libraries. Rigg's mother the Queen, now stripped of her rights and authority by the People's Republic, sets into motion a scheme to restore herself to the throne and have General Citizen become the king. They must have Rigg and Param killed to prevent them from competing with their claim. Meanwhile, Umbo and Loaf have made their way to Aressa Sessamo from O by land. They reunite with Rigg, Param, and Olivenko and escape the city together just in time. Traveling across the land away from the danger of Citizen and the Queen, they decide the only way to truly get away is to cross the wall, an invisible field which encircles the known world and drives all those who enter it insane. With their time manipulation powers they travel backwards to a time before the wall existed, although the ability to go back to the present rests with Umbo, who therefore cannot travel with them. Param, with her time-slicing ability, helps him escape with General Citizen and his soldiers at their backs.

The group sets out for food and water in the unknown region beyond the wall, but meets a man identical to Rigg's adopted father from Fall Ford. He reveals that himself and Rigg's father were robots (expendables), and that all the humans were descendants of colonists from Earth. He then says that the humans from Earth would be sending another ship shortly to make contact with them, setting in motion the plot of the next book.

Wallfold

Sometimes called the World-Within-The-Wall it is a Europe sized area that is impossible to leave do to the nature of the Wall. Currently the People's Revolutionary is the empire that rules it. It is a so called "republic" but is corrupt. The People's Revolutionary overthrew the Sessemoto, the reigning monarch in the wallfold. They did this because some were unhappy with the empire and others only frustrated with the female-monarch only law.

Stashi River

The story begins near Fall Ford, a far north town on the Stashi River near the falls and the source of the river. The book has the main characters going down the Stashi River to Arressa Sessemo, most of the book is on or near the river. The Upsheer is the name of the waterfall.

Leaky's Landing

Named after Loaf's wife, it is where Loaf was introduced in the novel.

O

The city Rigg attempts to sell one of the jewels, inadvertently revealing to the People's Revolutionary Council that he is still alive. It is the big city and used to be the seat of a long gone nation. It is one of the oldest known cities in the World-Within-the-Wall.

Arressa Sessamo

The seat of the once great empire. It is now ruled by the People's Revolutionary Council. The royals still live but mostly so the Council can embarrass them. It is a big city in a swamp. Secret passages are spread throughout the city and Rigg is able to discover them because of his power.