Name: Josiah Ramos

Pronouns: He/Him

Order Represented: Rhacophytales

Age: Famennian, Late Devonian

Height: 6.2 centimetres

Eye colour: Amber

Magical Proclivity: Fire

Spells: Branding Bolt, Sinister Cinders

The third member of the Pioneers and intermediate in age between Jess and Jake. He's tough and skinny, with a weatherbeaten face usually half-covered by his signature bandana. Ferny filaments cover his torso and limbs, providing insulation both from extreme heat and cold.

Name: Jesse Cleese

Pronouns: He/Him

Order Represented: Zygopteridales

Age: Tournaisian, Early Carboniferous

Height: 4.7 centimetres

Eye colour: Blue

Magical Proclivity: Wind

Spells: Mesmerising Maelstrom, Twining Tendrils

Petite, slim and effeminate, Jesse is regularly mistaken for a girl, not helped by his ladylike dress sense and shortening of his name to Jess. He seems to have no problem with others misjudging his gender, but if asked, he'll confirm that he identifies as a guy.

Name: Nathair Quacey

Pronouns: He/Him

Order Represented: Ophioglossales

Age: Kasimovian, Late Carboniferous

Height: 5.4 centimetres

Eye colour: Yellow

Magical Proclivity: Light, Reptile

Spells: Snaking Script, Lizardlight, Scales of Truth, Tongue’s Fork

A tall and delicate lad, too asthmatic for physical labour, but who serves the fairy community as their librarian. His interests are exceptionally broad and he spends most of his time writing. Many of the books and scrolls in the library are his own works, covering topics from botany and ecology, to astrology and meteorology, to the psychology and medical care of fairies and other beings. His magic is entirely geared toward discerning knowledge and uncovering scientific truths, and when magic isn’t enough, he’ll conduct surprisingly arduous field studies for one so indoorsy.

Uniquely, he has but a single wing, and is therefore flightless. This wing is a large and smooth adder's-tongue fern frond, while his crown looks like the curled leaf that bears the sori of this plant. His wing displays his emotional state by drooping or perking up. His tresses are made of fine, shoulder-length rootlets, which in stark contrast to the green or yellow tresses of most fairies, are pale and white. His large eyes give him an anxious or surprised air, but his personality is relaxed and, for the most part, organised.

Name: Gawain Quacey

Pronouns: He/Him

Order Represented: Psilotales

Age: Gzhelian, Late Carboniferous

Height: 4.9 centimetres

Eye colour: Yellow

Magical Proclivity: Electric, Metal

Spells: Whirling Whisk, Cutting Bolt, Attuning Fork

Aliwen’s boyfriend and Nathair’s younger brother. He looks rather unremarkable, with wings and stringy tresses formed of Psilotum and his crown being a blunt pair of Tmesipteris sporangia. His belted plaid is ornately patterned and elaborately designed, swaddling him in cosy tartan from head to foot. He’s more taciturn than his brother and avoids being the centre of attention, but he’s not shy about springing to Nathair’s defence should he need it.

He is also the less academic of the Quacey brothers, but still nurtures a great curiosity for science, philosophy and especially magic. His own spells draw on metal and electricity, making them a useful defence against everything from plant eating insects to tropical storms.

Plant design tattoos on Pentecost Island

On Pentecost Island in Vanuatu I once asked a friend about the meaning of a tattoo on his upper arm. He said it depicted the stem of a plant, a fern called batnior in the Sa language of south Pentecost. A few minutes later as we walked through the forest, he went over to this fern and cut off a stem. The transverse profile of the stem revealed the inspiration for the design of his tattoo. Tattooing is a feature of Oceanic people and indeed all Austronesian cultures.