A boy with a heart of gold and a nuclear-powered imagination who believes he can save the world. To him, everything is simple. It’s grown-ups who make things complicated.

A living, breathing, thinking and emotionally-charged rocket ship, that begins life as Blu’s imaginary playmate but morphs into something much more…

Blu’s mother abandons her gifted child after turning him blue. Then removes her heart to step on the ladder of corporate success.

A musically-challenged musician notable for losing his memory. His words and music will prevent the planet’s annihilation – if only he can remember the song. Not a good candidate for Name That Tune!

Two enormous stone heads, who know everything… yet nothing. Instead of protecting the Urizen Prophecy they become obsessed with backgammon – only to find that almost every move affects life on earth.

Blu’s grandfather, Professor Fullov Steme, was once the world’s expert on the effects of narcotics in large numbers of people. His daughter, Renata, now holds that exalted position. Interests include decoding ancient hieroglyphics, and beard husbandry.

A rapscallion Mayan king who steals the Mayan Calendar and Urizen Prophecy in order to rule the world and an invisible neighbouring planet.

Pictures himself as the shaman’s shaman. The title comes with a big dollop of sham because of his hopelessness as a shape-shifter. Despises his king who deserves not even the clippings from his nasal cavities.

Deputy head shaman. After accidentally murdering the king’s favourite daughter, he stumbles on a trio of alien visitors. That changes his life.

A trio of improbably tall individuals – the Elite Tribunal of Destiny. They pay an unsuspected visit to an undiscovered Mayan tribe in an unexplored area of the Yucatán. The tree-like visitors suggest the Maya make a Calendar to keep tabs on Time. The Tall Ones present their Urizen Prophecy on a crystal Star Stone. It tells exactly how Earth will end. On the reverse side is a special musical code that could save Earth from destruction.

The shortest of the trio, she stands twice the height of the tallest Mayan. Fernbrake is an adept in the art of invisibility and the complexities of propulsion, the means whereby Urizeneers manoeuvre through space and time. She is also the Defender of the Dream of Long Sleep, the art of suspended animation.

At 11’ 6”, the tallest of the three off-world visitors. Zequoyu (pronounced zee-quo-you) describes his invisible home planet as “surprisingly close to the left of your right shoulder”. The acknowledged archwizard of the leafy triumvirate is more than a match for Itzcuintli, the shape-shifting Mayan shaman.

This noble Urizeneer is an arboreal aristocrat with a gentle, professorial air. His strengths are in the sciences, mathematics, and quantum mechanics. Pronounced Yigg-dra-sill, he is kith and kin of the giant ash, through whose roots grew the World Tree. However, it is more likely that it was Yggdrasil himself who became the World Tree.

Psychotic and robotic, the Keefs first appeared in the giant airship hovering above the almond-flavoured city of Amygdala. They now control the deserted city streets, following orders issued from the tethered balloon, headquarters of GMi, the sinister global media and drugs corporation.

Despite a nasty head cold, Nosebone – half elf, half recorder, half proboscis – practises his Ode to the King Across the Water. This eponymous creature makes an appearance in Volume Two, when Blu seeks the help of King Borborygmus.

Made from the skin of a species of vicuña, an especially timid and now extinct branch of the llama family. It is unclear how the bag arrived in the Yucátan. One of the Stone Heads acquired and mislaid it. King Emanon hid the Star Stone in it. Then he lost it. NoName the musician was given the bag by a carpet seller in a Moroccan souk. He keeps his sandwiches in it. There are hidden depths to this bag of tricks.