The Well World Page

This page is dedicated to the Well World novels, a series of 10 volumes by Jack L. Chalker, in the science-fantasy genre.

The Well World novels are centered around an artifical planet that is divided into 1560 regions (known as hexes), each of which is an artifically-maintained habitat for a different species of intelligent life. The novels, in order of publication, are:

Midnight at the Well of Souls
Exiles at the Well of Souls
Quest for the Well of Souls
The Return of Nathan Brazil
Twilight at the Well of Souls
Echoes of the Well of Souls
Shadows of the Well of Souls
Gods of the Well of Souls
The Sea is Full of Stars
Ghost of the Well of Souls

Midnight at the Well of Souls is a complete story in its own right. Exiles at the Well of Souls and Quest for the Well of Souls form a two-volume story, as do The Return of Nathan Brazil and Twilight at the Well of Souls. Echoes of the Well of Souls, Shadows of the Well of Souls, and Gods of the Well of Souls together form the fourth tale in the series. The fifth story consists of The Sea is Full of Stars and Ghost of the Well of Souls.

Finding the books

The series up through Twilight at the Well of Souls has been re-released by Baen Books, with new cover art. Presumably the rest of the series will make its appearance as well.

Setting

The action in the Well Series can be divided into two regions: The Well World, and the regular universe. The human regions of space are known as the Community of Worlds in the first five books, and as the Realm in the last two (in the sixth through eight books, humanity has not achieved interstellar travel).

Each story starts out with some preliminary action in the region of regular space inhabited by the humanity—Earth itself in one case—but the bulk of the action is set on the Well World.

The Community of Worlds

The Community of Worlds (the Com, for short) is that portion of the Milky Way Galaxy that is occupied by humanity; between the third and fourth books the humans ally with thirteen other races, of which six (Botesh, Chugach, Kafski, Milikud, Rhone, and Tarak) are named. Several features of the Com are of import in the series:

Sponge: The sponge is a non-intelligent life form found on one of the Com planets prior to any human contact with non-human sentients (aside from Well World residents). A human infected with sponge will suffer painful, rapid, and irreversible mental degradation unless he/she receives a daily dose of the arresting agent (which is a secretion of the sponge). Many planetary leaders are sponge-infected, and are under the control of the sponge syndicate. A cure for sponge addiction becomes available at the end of the third book, brining the sponge syndicate to an end.
Markovian Worlds: Throughout all explored space there are a number of uninhabitable worlds, each with the ruins of a Markovian city. Many of them have functioning Markovian gateways, which take the traveller directly to the Well World.
Genetic conformity: On many of the Com worlds the populace has been genetically modified to bring about a greater or lesser degree of conformity. On some worlds the people are identical hermaphrodites. This is known as "going Com" in the books, and is usually imposed by the ruling classes (whose own modifications leave them with a greater degree of individuality).

The Realm

The Realm is a confederacy of hundreds of worlds, consisting of over forty races, including humanity. It is the starting point for the fifth story (comprising the ninth and tenth volumes in the series). Technology is considerably more advanced in the Realm than in the Com. Markovian worlds are present in the Realm as well, but the name 'Markovian' is not employed.

The Well World

The Well World is a planet built by a now-departed race. Of it, the following features are of greater or lesser importance throughout the series:

The Well Computer: The Well Computer is a mammoth machine that comprises the vast majority of the volume of the Well World, from just beneath the planetary crust down to the core. In addition to other functions, this computer manages most aspects of the Well World.
Hexes: The surface of the Well World is divided into 1560 regions known as hexes. Most hexes are hexagon-shaped; a few consist of parts of hexagons joined together along other edges. Each hex is a habitat for a species of intelligent life designed by the Markovians. Except between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, there is no physical barrier separating neighboring hexes.
Southern Hemisphere: The environments in the Southern Hemisphere are all based on an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, a water hydrosphere (if there is one), and have a temperature range that a human being can at least momentarily survive in. Of the Southern races encountered in the series to date, all but one are based on carbon chemistry in a water medium. The atmospheres of any two Southern races are likely to be compatible, such that a denizen of one hex can in most cases survive in another without any special breathing apparatus (with the obvious caveat applying to water-breathing vs. air-breathing creatures, and those from extremely-low and extremely-high temperatures).
Northern Hemisphere: The environments in the Northern Hemisphere are alike only in that none of them have an atmosphere breathable by humans, and an environment amenable to humans would kill all but a handful of Northern races; that is just about all they have in common. Compatibility between hex environments is the exception in the North, not the rule.
The Equatorial Barrier: This is a vast wall, encircling the Well World at its equator, which acts as an impenetrable barrier between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Barrier extends beyond the stratosphere, and has proven impervious to all attempts to damage it.
Climate: The climate of each hex is maintained by the Well Computer. The Well World has neither axial tilt nor orbital eccentricity, but the Well World causes the hexes to experience seasons nonetheless. There is no particular pattern to the season that will be found in any hex; environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, atmospheric composition, and even gravity, are often discontinuous at the hex borders.
Zone: Zone is short for "Polar Zone", and there is one for each pole. Each one is a collection of artificial chambers, which may have served another function when the Markovians first built the planet, but now function as an embassy complex for those races that have the desire and ability to maintain an embassy. North Zone has 780 such embassy spaces, and South Zone has 780 as well (although in the ninth book the math is off in a couple places).
Zone Gates: In the center of each hex there is a Markovian gate that will take whoever enters it to that hex's designated space in Zone. Some hexes have more than one Zone Gate.
Well Gates: In each Zone there is a gate that will take natives entering it to their home hex.
Entries: Persons delivered to the Well World by a Markovian Gateway arrive at either South Zone or North Zone; the general rule is that carbon-based life gets sent south, and everyone else goes north, but the real rule is that races get sent to where they were based when the Markovians were designing them. They are then greeted and briefed by a representative of one of the races dwelling in their respective hemisphere and are escorted (willing or otherwise) to the Well Gate. Upon entering the Well Gate, the newcomer—known as an Entry—is evaluated by the Well computer, transformed into one of the 780 races pertaining to their hemisphere, according to factors that are fully known only to the Well computer, and transported to that race's hex; afterwards they are transported just as any native.
Technology limits: In two thirds of the hexes, the Well computer inhibits the functioning of technological devices. One third of the hexes are known as semi-technological hexes, and in them neither electricity nor anything more advanced than electricity will work. In another third of the hexes, known as non-technological, only machines powered by muscle will work. In the final third, all technology works. Finally, in Zone many high-tech weapons do not function.
Avenues: In each hemisphere of the Well World there are places where the normal hexagon pattern has been interrupted to accommodate the equator. The borders that are formed in this way are called Avenues. Where each Avenue meets the Equatorial Barrier there is a portal into the Well of Souls. These portals only open at midnight, and after the first book only open when Nathan Brazil is a member of the party seeking entry.
The Well of Souls: This is the natives' term for the interior of the planet, where the Well Computer can be operated.

The Stories

Of the Well World stories, the first (single volume) and the fourth (multi-volume) end with the arrival of all Entries at the Well of Souls. They are judged by Nathan Brazil, who sends the baddies to some awful punishment and the good guys to a second chance at doing right (or back to simply live out the lives they were already living); Brazil then goes back to being who he was in normal human space.

The second story (multi-volume, comprising the second and third volumes) does not have Brazil, although he is later revealed to have influenced some of the events in that tale; Obie assumes the deus ex machina role, although only Mavra Chang is aware of Obie's full role in the events.

The third story (multi-volume) ends with Nathan Brazil and Mavra Chang resetting the Well of Souls, deleting and then recreating the universe, repopulating it, etc., before they also return to Earth.

The fifth tale does not have Brazil at all; although he is mentioned, it is not by name, although they do mention that he is of the human species. Some of the Entries that survive return to the Realm as human beings.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: Jack Chalker thought up some rather interesting races. This series is just dying for a CGI movie.

The Bad: From time to time the characters stop to ponder or debate some social philosophy. The Watchers of the Well trilogy has this going on a bit more often than is necessary. Also from time to time the characters wear their street smarts on their sleeves.

The Ugly: A careful reading of the series reveals some irreconcilable errors in both cartography and continuity.

Races

The variety of races in the Well World series is one of the features that makes it worth reading. The races can be divided into two broad categories, which are known as carbon-based and non-carbon-based. On the Well World, the former reside in the Southern Hemisphere, and the latter reside in the Northern Hemisphere.

Although the book affirms that there are 1,560 extant species on the Well World, half of which reside in each hemisphere, less than half of the Southern hemisphere (270 hexes) is mapped, and only 58 of the Northern hexes are mapped.

Some of the Well races are also encountered by humanity in its own region of space in the Milky Way. Others managed to sneak along when humanity was first sent to populate Earth, and although these other races mostly died out, they left legends.

Race Key: Someday there will be real graphics here, but for now there's nothing.

	This race's hex is high tech; the Well imposes no technological limits.
	This race's hex is semi-tech; the Well prohibits electrical and nuclear power from working.
	This race's hex is non-tech; the Well permits only natural power sources (muscle, wind, water, and limited geothermal).
	This is a race as it exists out in the regular universe.
	This race's hex is found in the Northern Hemisphere of the Well World.
	This race's hex is found in the Southern Hemisphere of the Well World.

Achrin

Resembling a seriously overweight walrus, without tusks, Achrin are also beady-eyed, have dorsal fins, and their flippers are formed from a a dozen fingers and thumbs. They possess a kind of sonar.

Adrigal

This is the name by which the Glathrielites (q. v.) are referred to once in the first book.

Agitar

The males of this race resemble the fawn of Greek myth, appearing part human and part goat. And they're blue. The females are the opposite, being goat-like where the males are human-like, and human-like where the males are goat-like. Agitar males have the ability to develop a large electrical potential in their hands, which they can deliver to enemies, or use to power things.

Agon

The Agon resemble Ninja Turtles without shells. They smell like rotten eggs.

Akkokek

The series is grossly inconsistent on this race. In Twilight at the Well of Souls, the Akkokek are flying disks with tentacles on top and huge gaping mouths below. In Gods of the Well of Souls they have become "[o]tterlike..."

Alestol

Carnivorous plants that can emit noxious and/or hallucinogenic gases.

Alisstl/Istsstl

The Alisstl/Istsstl are sulfur-eating reptiles whose natural environment is near the boiling point of water. Alisstl is the name used in Midnight; Istsstl is the name as it appears on all of the maps.

Alkazar

In apperance Alkazarans are teddy bears; in temperament they are homocidal maniacs, kept under control by a overpowering police state.

Ambora

The females of this species are carnivorous birdlike creatures, without bills. The men are squat and wingless.

Ambreza

Ambrezans are giant beavers. At some time prior to the first novel, the Ambrezans, originally dwelling in a non-tech hex, won a war against a high-tech neighbor, using a gas that reduced their opponent to the intelligence of animals. The source of this gas changes over the course of the series; in the first three stories it is given as some hex in the Northern Hemisphere, but in the fourth series a plant specially bred by the Ambrezans is the producer of the gas. In any event, the victorious Ambrezans instituted a forced exchange of hexes. The Well computer does not recognize this switch; Ambrezan entries are sent to the original Ambreza.

Askoth

A race of giant green spiders. They cultivate wine.

Astilgol

The Astilgol are a Northern race; as adults one male and one female will form a symbiotic relationship, resembling a set of floating crystal wind chimes, surmounted by a globular cluster of blinking lights.

Awbri

Part primate, part flying squirrel, and part duck, the Awbrian reproductive process is unusual in that the females still go into heat.

Azkfru

Flying cockroaches with stingers.

Betared

Fanged, nightmarish teddy bears, with a disposition to match.

Bliston

Aquatic worms, with hands at each end of their bodies.

Botesh

A Com race. They are not described, although the reference to them in the series indicates that they are a spacefaring race when they first encounter the Com. Whether their type still has a hex on the Well World is not stated, and they are not described, so no inference can be drawn.

Bozog

The Bozog resemble a pair of fried eggs, sunny side up. They are unusal for a Northern Hemisphere race in that they can tolerate an oxygen atmosphere.

Chalidang

The Chalidang are tentacled nautali. Their society is a rather piratical dictatorship.

Chugach

This is how the Ghlmonese are known out in space; their homeworld is in the same part of the Milky Way as Earth. The books are inconsistent on their technology; in the second book, one of the Lata encountered by Mavra Chang claims to have been a Ghlmonese Entry, but in the fourth book they are not a spacefaring race when they first encounter humans (which takes place between the third and fourth books).

Clopta

Ducks.

Cobo

A bottom-dwelling aquatic species. Their physical form is undescribed, but they permit surface transport over their hex.

Creit

Giant bats.

Cromlin

Lobsters with scorpion tails.

Czill

One of the Well World's plant creatures, the Czill have the foremost research center on the planet (in the Southern Hemisphere, anyway).

Dahbi

The Dahbi resemble large white praying mantises. They have the ability to adjust their physical bodies such that they can pass through stone. An application of liquid water forces them back into their regular physical phase.

Dahir

An inconsistency in the series, here. In the second story the Dahir are large reptiles with chaemeleon-like ability; in the third story they are an arthropod race with magic powers. In the fourth tale they are large multi-colored reptiles with the ability to cloud the minds of other beings such that they will not be noticed, granting them an effective form of invisibility.

Dasheen

One of the more sexually dimorphic races on the Well World. Dasheen bulls are heavily outnumbered by the cows, their arms are jointed differently, and they require the milk of the females in order to get their daily requirement of calcium. They are also vastly more intelligent than the cows; attempts to disprove the latter have only confirmed it.

Dillia

Centaurs straight out of Greek myth, the interesting aspect of this race is that on the three occasions Nathan Brazil has visited the Well World, at least one of his companion Entries is made a Dillian.

Dlubine

The Dlubinians are a benthic species who have figured out a way to provide biochemical illumination for their cities.

Dreel

A race that is encountered off of the Well World, but not on it, the Dreel are a race of viruses that form a collective intelligence within their host, whose personality they assimilate into their own. They make their appearance in Return, where they invade the Milky Way after having achieved complete dominance over the Andromeda galaxy.

Dunhgran

The Dunhgran are a kind of flightless bird, reputed to be civilized.

Effik

Effiks are yellow and green banded insects, whose feet will adhere to any surface.

Eflik

Efliks can fly. They are not otherwise described.

Ekh'l

A kind of flying ape.

Ellerbanta

Ellerbantans have tentacles. They are not otherwise described.

Erdom

A race with horse-like heads, and hands and feet that are more like hooves (especially the hands of the women). Their hex, a desert, is a low-tech world when we first see it, but is changed to a high-tech hex at the end of the Watchers trilogy.

Everod

A benthic race of giant clams with tentacles.

Forjom

An undescribed race bordering on the equator. The way the maps are drawn, it cannot be determined whether or not their hex is land or water.

Gedemondas

A race that is the basis for the Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti legends, the Gedemondas are three-meter-tall bipeds, covered in white fur. They have dealt with the Well-imposed technology limit by devoting themselves to honing their mental talents. Through these talents they become aware that out in the universe their race has died out (apparently in the very first generation); they also perceive that Mavra Chang will be given the power to rectify this, and for this reason they give her their full cooperation.

Gekir

The Gekir are six-legged cats; the front paws are prehensile. The females are tailless and colored orange and black. The males are much smaller, with tails, and are colored gray with a white mane and tail-tip puff. There is only one male to every fifteen females. Their role in Gekir society, with which they are largely content, is as gigolo, babysitter, and errand-boy.

Geldorian

A weasel-like race of the Realm, the Geldorians' bite has a hypnotic effect on some races. They might be the regular space representatives of the Orarc.

Ghlmon

They resemble meter-high bipedal lizards, with the ability to breathe fire. They are able to swim through dry sand.

Ghoma

The description of this race is inconsistent from the ninth to the tenth book. In the ninth they are a race of aquatic parasites, with two eyestalks above and a host of slim tentacles below; in the tenth book they are the regular-space representatives of the Chalidang.

Glathriel

Homo sapiens. The Glathrielites no longer dwell in their home hex; they lost a war with the Ambrezans, who have kept them in a backwards state, and have also forced the Glathrielites to dwell in non-tech Ambreza, while the Ambrezans themselves enjoy the comforts of the Glathrielites' high-tech hex. Between the fifth and sixth books they form a collective, non-conceptual intelligence. They take no part in the fifth tale.

Gramanch

A spacefaring race whose native world is in the galaxy M-51, the Gramanch resemble a cross between a kangaroo and a Pekinese. It's not apparent whether they are still represented on the Well World.

Hakazit

One of the major discontinuities of the series, in the fourth and fifth books the Hakazit are three-meter tall T-rexes, but with powerfully strong arms; in the Watchers trilogy they are large mosquitoes.

Imtre

An air-breathing, water-dwelling species. They are not described.

Itus

The Ituns have the form of large, very hairy caterpillars.

Ivrom

The Ivrom are magic-using insects. Some of them snuck along when humanity was sent to Earth, but these all died out (for which dying out Nathan Brazil takes partial credit; they weren't nice folks anyway).

Ixthansa

Somewhat like ducks, but adapted for swimming underwater (and not just paddling on the surface like Terran ducks do).

Jirmin

Bipedal ants with an ant-like society.

Jorgasnovara

Huge, flat flying creatures with gaping mouths.

Kafski

A Com race of starfish; it is possible that they are the regular-space population of the Nocha.

Kalinda

Vaguely like mermaids, Kalindans have gills, and are much less human-looking in their humanoid section than are the Umiau (q.v.). Theirs is the first high-tech water hex which receives a large amount of description in the Well series.

Kehuda

Silvery, heart-shaped water striders.

Krith

Krithians have wings. They are not otherwise described.

Kronfushun

Creatures adapted to extreme cold, Kronfushuns have the physical form of whirling disks.

Kuall

Weasel-like creatures, with long snouts, red eyes, apelike hands, and feet like their hands.

Kwynn

On Mavra Chang's third visit to the Well World, she is greeted by one of these, a fat T. Rex with spinal plates, colored mostly purple, with red spots and an orange belly.

Kyrbizmyth

Intelligent trees, which are able to swap minds with each other, or whatever creature they're in contact with.

Lamotien

Lamotiens are very small creatures, about twenty centimeters long or so, but they can change shape, grow hair at will, and combine to form larger creatures.

Lata

If you've seen the faeries in Disney's Fantasia, you've seen the Lata.

Leba

The Lebans are a vegetable race, taking the form of vines with eyes. They are hospitable to courteous interlopers.

Leeming

Leeming are large amoeboid creatures, with the ability to form specific shapes at will. They can also access the memories of people they've eaten.

Liliblod

Spider-bodied, eight-legged with pincers on the ends of each leg; their heads are more like demons with tusked, gaping mouths. They are known chocolate addicts.

Macphee/Makphee

Macphee are squid-shaped, but have fur and live on land.

Makiem

Reptiles which resemble large frogs. Their hex is non-tech, although some Entries have been Makiem, so out in the universe they are a spacefaring race.

Mallegestor

Thick-skinned, horned, hippo-like creatures that are one of the races of the Realm; whether this is the regular universe equivalent of the Palim (q.v.) is not stated with any specificity.

Markovians

The race that built the Well World. Eons ago, the Markovians achieved the zenith of technological advance, to the point that they had material wealth limited only by their imaginations. They quickly grew bored with material utopia, and decided that in their development they had gone down the wrong path. Their solution was to return to their primitive roots, not as one race but as thousands of races, in the hope that one would reach supreme contentment. To aid in the design of these races, and to support the universe in which these races would inhabit, they build the Well World. They created over a million races; all but the last 1,560 of these, after being tested on the Well World, were sent to a suitable planet somewhere out in the cosmos. Two Markovians remain; the rest were changed into test subjects eons ago.

The Markovians are only known by that name in the first three stories.

Milikud

This is one of the Com races. They resemble tiny whirlwinds. It is not stated if they are still represented on the Well World; if so, they are probably a Northern Hemisphere race.

Mixtim

Multi-colored insects; their form varies to enable each to more effeciently perform different sorts of labor.

Moiush

This race produces a crystal—known as a translator—which when implanted into a Southerner enables that creature to communicate with any other.

Morvath

Some of these kill a Nathan Brazil impersonator in Twilight.

Mosicranz

Birdlike, the Mosicranz have long, spindly arms underneath their wings. They are also mildly telepathic.

Murithel

The Murnies resemble large green rectangles with arms, legs, and faces. They are nomadic hunters, preying on the herding wildlife in their hex. Some of their old ones have developed advanced mental talents, including the ability to transfer souls. The Murnies have their own homeworld on a planet at the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy; the Murnies there appear no more technologically advanced than the Well World populace. However, the Dreel (q.v.) are stated as having completely assimilated the Andromeda Galaxy, so this is either another continuity glitch or the Dreel decided that the Murnies were unworthy of that honor.

The Nation

One of the general exceptions to the rule for Southern races, the Nation (also referred to as the Mechs) are not carbon-based, but are a race of robots.

Nocha

Starfish.

Ochoa

Pteradactyls which can fly underwater as easily as in the air.

Olborn

A race of large black cats, for some reason the Olbornians were given a set of stones which can be used to transform people (both Olbornian and otherwise) into donkey-like beasts of burden.

Olympians

Near the end of the third novel Ben Yulin gains temporary control of both Obie and a handful of people to work on. He uses Obie to transform the captives into his idea of the perfect woman, and alters their internal physique to make them far superior to humanity. They are freed in short order, and make their own home on an unwanted planet in the Com.

Orarc

The Orarc are like weasels.

Palim

The Palim are elephantine pacifists, weighing in at more than a ton each, which is rather small for an elephant (a typical horse weighs half a ton).

Parmiter

A race of owl-faced monkeys, the Parmiter usually encountered on the Well World are unworthy of trust.

Pegiri

Winged, feathered, monkeys.

Pia

"[E]vil characters with great brains and humanoid eyes. But they have ten tentacles with slimy, adhesive suckers and a gaping mouth with about twenty rows of teeth... They tend to eat anybody not of their own race." (Brouder from Midnight at the Well of Souls)

Pulcinell

A benthic species resembling a lobster with tentacles.

Punrett

Punretts resemble giant eight-balls (without the eight) on a pair of large, ribbed chicken legs. They have a bill, with eight tentacles and two eyestalks growing from that bill.

Pyron

The Pyron resemble large hooded cobras, except that the hoods are comprised of dozens of tentacles. In times past they had the habit of eating Quislons.

Quacksa

Slugs with a hypnotic gaze.

Quislon

Much like ugly, segmented scorpions, each tribe of Quislons is ruled by a single male; all other males are sacrificed to a volcano.

Quilst

Yet another discontinuous species, in Twilight the Quilst are bipedal with elephantine feet, large clumsy hands, and no necks; in Gods they have become "walking, talking, turnips who ate dirt..."

Rithian

This is the name of a serpentlike race, part of the Realm; their homeworld is in the same region of the Milky Way as Sol. Since they are not compared to the Pyrons, the two races probably don't resemble each other very closely.

Rhone

This is the name by which the Dillians are known in their region of space, in a section of the Milky Way near ours. The Rhone achieved interstellar spaceflight before the human race did, and it was a ship which crash-landed on earth which sparked the centaur legends of Greek myth.

Sanafe

Manta rays, with the ability to deliver an electric shock. Their society is divided up into fiercely competitive clans.

Saugril

The Saugril is the name by which the Agitar are known in the universe at large. Although they are a spacefaring race in the series, they do not encounter humanity during the novels, and there is no specific reason to believe that they dwell in the Milky Way galaxy.

Shamozan

Being creatures of high culture and sophistication, these giant spiders prefer their music symphonic, their games to be intellectual, and their dinner to be alive and kicking.

Slelcron

Another of the plant races, the Slelcronians are giant flowers. Sessile, they communicate by means of a symbiotic relationship with a species of large bee.

Slongorn

The Slonghorn have skinny bodies, broad flat feet, no arms, heads like elephants with two trunks (with fingers on the ends of the trunks), and they're fire-engine red all over. Very friendly, too.

Stulz

The Stulz have the heads of foxes, furry wings, arms, arm-like legs, and a prehensile, whip-like tail.

Susafrit

Round, with quill-like hairs all over, Susafrit can emit offending odors at will.

Tarak

A Com race of giant beavers. They are likely the regular-space representatives of the Ambreza. They are a spacefaring people.

Tilki

Ape-like creatures with bat-like wings.

Tsfrin

Crabby, both in form and demeanor.

Twosh

Pink bowling pins with two brown eyes and two prehensile limbs.

Uchjin

The Uchjin appear as airborne smears of paint. Nobody can understand them very well.

Ulik

Snakes, with six arms. One of them appears on the cover of the Del Rey edition of Quest for the Well of Souls

Umiau

Mermaids.

Verion

Will the continuity errors ever cease? In Twilight the Verionites are wormlike creatures that can burrow through solid rock. In Gods they are bipedal pigs that fly in hot-air balloons.

Wuckl

Yabbo

A vegetarian, aquatic arthopod, with a translucent carapace; they walk on the ocean floor on four legs, and have a pir of flippers behind the legs for extra speed. They have a pair of claws as hands, and not much of a head; just a pair of stalked eyes and a mouth full of small wriggling tentacles. They appear to be bioluminiscent, all the time.

Yaxa

The females of this race resemble six-foot butterflies, with a death's head face. The males are unintelligent larvae whose sole function is to mate, after which they are eaten. They are every bit as sexist as the Dasheen, but whereas the sexism of the latter is disdained, the sexism of the Yaxa is tolerated.

Yugach

Non-material, the Yugach resemble red lines of light, formed into the shape of a cloak. They are able to take control of crystalline creatures, which are grown to order.

Zazalof

The Zazalof are normally a formless plasma, but they have the ability to assume the appearance of any creature whose genetic material they can obtain. They can also blend in with almost any material background.

Zhonzhorp

Bipedal crocodiles with suction-tipped fingers.

Individuals of Note

With only a couple exceptions, the action in the series is focused on characters (mostly human) from normal space who are taken to the Well World and become Entries.

Julian Beard is a captain in the U.S. Air Force. While posing for a photograph, unknowingly on top of a Markovian gateway, he is taken to the Well World, where he becomes a female Erdomese.
Nathan Brazil is the caretaker of the Well of Souls, and is a major character in six of the ten books. In one book he claims to be god, in another he claims to be a human, made into the caretaker by his predecessor, and in yet another book he claims to be one of two remaining Markovians; the discussion he has with the Kraang supports this last hypothesis.
As the caretaker, he spends most of his time living as a human being of normal powers, in human society in the regular cosmos; only on the Well World does he have any significant abilities, and only in the Well of Souls can he exercise them to any great degree.
The Well Computer recognizes him as its caretaker, even when he has switched bodies during his time on the Well World (which happens all three times he visits in the series). Since the Well Computer is dependent on him for operation, it manipulates circumstances so that Brazil cannot die; no matter how extreme the apparent danger, some bizarre coincidence will happen to prevent his death, although if he is not needed by the Well, it will allow him to be crippled (from which he will eventually heal).
When he is needed by the Well Computer, it arranges for whatever circumstances are needed to ensure his arrival at the Well of Souls, no matter how implausible a circumstance is required. To accomplish this it has arranged for meteorites to strike the Earth, false distress signals to be transmitted, volcanoes to erupt to prompt him along his journey, and the Well entrance to open out of schedule. This is revealed during the course of the fourth multi-volume tale, and essentially kills the suspense of any future story based on getting Brazil to the Well.
Juan Campos is the son of a South American drug lord. He is taken to the Well World by Mavra Chang, and is made into a female Cloptan, whereupon he becomes the girlfriend of a Cloptan Well World drug lord. He arrives at the Well of Souls with Nathan Brazil, who sends him to a well-deserved punishment.
Mavra Chang is the other caretaker of the Well of Souls, after having been made one by Nathan Brazil, at the end of the fifth book. They become estranged after their return to pre-industrial civilization because Mavra, who was born and raised in an era of near-complete gender equality, cannot handle the culture shock of dwelling in a male-dominated culture. Brazil's memory of this event changes from Echoes to Shadows; in the fomer he recalls it having happened in Nineveh, but in the latter he says it happened in Babylon.
Core is the computer that runs Jules Wallinchky's household. The portion of its intelligence that it implants into Angel Kobe and Ming is extracted and made into a Kalindan.
Vardia Diplo 1261 starts out as a courier, the 1,261st clone of a messenger from her home planet's Com revolution. Upon arriving at the Well World she is first made into a Czillian. When she arrives at the Well of Souls, Nathan Brazil gives her a new start in life on the same frontier planet as Kally Tonge, whom she marries. She later becomes one of the Lata, then briefly an Olympian, before returning to the Well World.
The Diviner and the Rel are an Astilgol couple; they are the only Well World natives to enter the Well of Souls during the series. Everyone else to make it in is either a Markovian (Brazil and the Kraang) or an Entry accompanied by Brazil.
Anne Marie and Joao Antonio Guzman are a paraplegic and blind couple who agree to accompany Nathan Brazil through a Markovian gateway. The Well World makes them into a set of identical twin Dillians; although they actually enter the Well gate together (Entries are usually required to enter one at a time), it is supposed that their close relationship is the cause for their unusual processing.
Dathan Hain is a sponge dealer in the first novel. He is taken to the Well World, and as an Entry is made into one of the Azkfru.
Josich the Emperor Hadun is a Ghoma who becomes a Chalidang upon his arrival at the Well World; he is also a descendant of a Chalidang who left the Well World centuries prior.
Wu Julee is a sponge victim in the first novel, under the control of Dathan Hain. As an Entry she is made into a Dillian, and after arriving with Nathan Brazil at the Well of Souls, she is given a new life as a man, Kally Tonge, a farmer on a frontier planet. When that world goes Com, she returns to the Well World, and becomes a Yaxa, going by the name of Wooley. She is later made into one of the original Olympians, but later returns to the Well World to live out the rest of her life.
Jeremiah Kincaid is a human who has been on a quest of vengeance against Josich for many decades. He arrives at the Well World, is made into a Zazalof, and becomes a holy terror to his enemies.
The Kraang is the other surviving Markovian. He dupes Mavra into giving him full access to the Well, but before he can implement any of his megalomania Nathan Brazil succeeds in disconnecting him.
Jorge Lundermann is a colonel in the Brazilian Air Force. He poses with Julian Beard for a photograph atop a meteorite that contains an active Markovian gateway. The Well World makes him into a Leeming.
Ari Martinez is a business manager for his uncle Jules Wallinchky's not-so-illegal enterprises. He gets taken to the Well World with his uncle, and is made into a Kalindan; he shares his body with Ming.
Tann Nakitt is a Geldorian (although the books occasionally refer to him as having been a Ghoma) who is accidentally drawn into a Markovian gate. He is made into an Ochoan female.
Obie is the supercomputer constructed by Gilgam Zinder in order to apply Markovian physics. He is destroyed as an indirect result of the methods used to stop the Dreel invasion.
Gustav Olafsson is a news photographer who is taken to the Well World by Mavra Chang. He is made into a Dahir.
Serge Ortega is a former freighter pilot who enters a Markovian gateway, arrives at the Well World, and is made into a Ulik by the Well of Souls. Since Entries seem to be preferred for the post of ambassador, he is appointed such for the Ulik race. By various arts of the J. Edgar Hoover School of Getting Ahead, he acquires enough influence to become the de facto ruler of the Southern Hemisphere.
Theresa Perez is one of Mavra Chang's companions on her third visit to the Well World. For reasons not revealed until the end of the story, Terry is not physically altered, although she is mentally conditioned to match the Glathriel. She is the only major character in the series to be made into a Glathrielite Entry (aside from Brazil and Chang, who don't really count).
Renard is a librarian and guard working for Antor Trelig. After crashing in the Southern Hemisphere of the Well World, he is put into the Well Gate and is made into an Agitar. Returning with Ben Yulin's party to New Pompeii, he assists the overthrow of Yulin, and shortly afterward returns to the Well World.
Elkinos Skander is a researcher who murders seven research students in an attempt to keep the Com from gaining the secrets of Markovian physics. While trying for number eight he stumbles onto an Markovian gateway, is taken to the Well World, and is made into an Umiau.
Lori Sutton is a Ph.D. astronomer who is taken into a Markovian gateway by Mavra Chang. She is made into a male Erdomese.
Antor Trelig is head of the sponge syndicate out in the human regions of space. After his attempt to demonstrate the power of New Pompeii is sabotaged by Obie, he crash lands in the Northern Hemisphere and is made into a Makiem by the Well Computer. He is slain by Ben Yulin during the expedition to the Northern Hemisphere.
Varnett is taken to the Well World along with Elkinos Skander during the latter's attempt to murder him. He is made into a Creit. In the Well of Souls, Nathan Brazil gives him a second chance to make things better, by making him the new dictator of Dedalus, one of the most radically Procrustean Com worlds.
Jules Wallinchky is a powerful criminal who gets taken to the Well World via the Well Gate of his planet-of-residence. He is made into an Askoth, but later he is made into a Glathrielite, and sent to that hex.
Yua is the leader of the Olympians at the time of the Dreel invasion. She becomes an Awbrian.
Ben Yulin is Gilgam Zinder's assistant, and betrays him to Antor Trelig in exchange for advancement in the sponge syndicate. After crash-landing in the Northern Hemisphere of the Well World, he is made into a Dasheen bull by the Well Computer. He eventually is able to return to New Pompeii, where he is still in control of Obie; he creates the Olympian race, but is soon overthrown and killed.
Gilgam Zinder is a human scientist who discovers the principles that underlie Markovian technology. To put his theories to serious test, he constructs Obie, a supercomputer capable of applying Markovian transformations. He crash-lands on the Well World, becomes one of the Oolakash, and over the course of time acquires the ability to impose Markovian transformations on himself. With this power he travels the cosmos, living the identities of his choice. His death is presumed to occur near the end of the fifth book, but we don't have a body to show for it.
Nikki Zinder is Gilgam Zinder's daughter. She crash-lands on the Well World, but when she is sent through the Well Gate for the first time, the Well Computer, on instruction from Obie, transmits her to the New Pompeii planetoid. She eventually becomes one of the first Olympians, and remains the ruler of that race until her death (from long-delayed natural causes) in the fourth book.

Various Errata:

Hex Layout and the Maps

Most of the Well World books have a map of various areas of interest. These maps are somewhat in error:

One error that is the way 1,560 hexes fit onto a sphere. The way things are depicted on the maps in the books, the distance from the equator to either polar zone is equal to ten times the north-south length of a standard hex. This means that there must be 78 columns of hexes. The problem with this is that there are four columns of hexes between each pair of avenues, and 78 is not divisible by four.
The Markovians, we are told, are nutty about the number six, and it is probable that their numbers are written with a radix of six, instead of ten as is used in many human cultures. 1560 is not a round number in base six (it would be written 11120). 1,296, on the other hand, is, and given that less than 350 hexes and/or races are mapped, described, or encountered in the series, it's sufficient overkill.
The dimensions of each hex are persistently treated as if the Well World is a cylinder, and not a sphere; in order to have identical area, and still be laid out along latitude-longitude lines, the hexes near the equator would have to be flattened in their latitudinal direction in comparison to the hexes near the poles. It would have made much more sense to lay out the Well World as a geodesic sphere, with the Zones placed in the pentagonal regions that would still remain. The hexes would still have to be distorted, but to a much lesser degree. A geodesic can have 1070 or 1460 hexes (along with the 12 pentagonal regions), so it makes more sense that way.
Some of the hexes have duplicate names; there are two hexes marked Eflik, and two more marked Quilst.
The maps depict the border between water and land hexes with a heavy line; at some corners (where three hexes meet), there are three heavy lines meeting, such as at the Akkokek-Alkabong-Lukidol and Durbis-Gilcres-Morigumbe corners, while at the Durbis-Ronbondz-Zebede corner only one such heavy line meets; since a phrase in Twilight suggests that Durbis is a land hex, it's likely that the lines should be drawn with that in mind.

Continuity and Consistency Glitches

As pointed out above, some of the races change radically from one story to the next, in a manner beyond the slight evolution that happens after the third story. Most of these glitches involve races that are mentioned only twice; one can imagine Chalker stabbing a finger onto the map and using the name of that race, forgetting prior appearances. None of it affects the action going on, but it is sloppy, especially because a small stack of index cards would have prevented these inconsistencies. One can hope, with the series being re-released by Baen books, that there is some revision going on to straighten things out. I also imagine that if an author more given to elaborating the background—such as J. K. Rowling—were to have written the series, all 1560 races would have a more or less complete description.
When Entries are transported from regular space to Zone on the Well World, their clothing makes the trip. If someone throws dirt into a Markovian gateway in the regular universe, it arrives at Zone. When someone rides a wheelchair into a Markovian gateway, he/she/it arrives without his/her/its wheelchair. What's going on here?
The differences between the Com and the Realm are not continuity errors; there was a Well reset, with the later universe being somewhat larger than its predecessor; history proceeds along different lines, and at least one race (the Gedemondans) is identified as having been sent to a different planet; there is no reason to preclude a general mix-up of races.
The only real oddity about the distribution of races is that although the number of galaxies is much higher than the number of races designed by the Markovians (there are billions of galaxies and only a million or so races designed by the Markovians), there are still a whole bunch of different races (dozens) in the Milky Way alone. Either the Markovians designed many more races than the million or so stated, or they decided to throw them all into a tiny minority of galaxies.

What do you think?

Send it to me at [email protected]
(Address is spambot-protected; remove the word in caps to reply)

Back to John's Freeloading Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws