Thank God It's Toby: Highlights

The world is changing. At irregular intervals, whole swathes of the world meld into one another, creating completely new landscapes. Where there were mountains yesterday, now a great forest resides. Where sweeping plains existed, now a great canyon plunges into the deep. Where there were hills, steep mountains rise. Rainforests turn to desert and deserts into grasslands, all in a matter of minutes or hours. There is no telling when a meld will come, or what causes it. Only certain signs can be read, that normally lead to a meld happening, but not always. Such as raindrops hanging still in the air, or sound echoing where it should not. Smoke will no longer rise, but drift. Water no longer flows but remains static. This all is highly erratic and you have to see it to believe it.

In this world, most peoples are nomadic by necessity rather than choice. There are some who attempt at sedentary lives, but when a meld catches them, they are forced to flee and start over, or join those who spend their existence on the move.

“The society” our hero belongs to is not sedentary nor nomadic, instead they are of a unique sort that combine the best of both worlds, living in houses that are built on wheels. They hold livestock and use their animals to move their villages around when the quillers and soothsayers report a meld could be imminent. In this society, they have a religious system that deals with predestination and prophecy. Every member of this tribe knows these prophesies and treats them as fact. The Hierophant is the head of the religion, and is said to have seen beyond the merging worlds into the one-ness that is all. His officers, the heads of the church are called soothsayers, and their subordinates again are called seers.

The leader of the society is called the magister, and is the head of a circle of important figures who lead the society together, called the council. Its members are councilors, but hold different offices within the council.

Everyone in the society gets an education from the seers and soothsayers. This makes the society literate and educated. They can read-write and keep records, traditions and religions. This is why they produce quillers as well.

The father of James Reed, named Christopher Reed, is the assistant-quiller of the council, a very important man within the society.

James Reed’s mother, Emma Reed-Crawling, is a seer, so both parents hold some standing within society.

James' older brother is called Chris Reed. He is seen by most as the chosen one of one of the prophecies. This caused him to walk beside his own shoes. In fact, Chris can talk and boast a lot, but not much more.

When Chris was young, he survived a very brutal meld on his own, in the wild. And came walking into town without a scratch on him, two days later. Which caused him to be seen as the one.

Beside the society, there are many other groups of people in the world. Many have been heard of or have been encountered, as a world that changes greatly makes for very mobile societies. Most societies try to find their way in the world as well as they can, dealing with other societies in trade and knowledge exchange. While there are some tribes who prefer dominance and violence: The Seekers are one of those tribes, and they are a bane to the society as much as to any other tribe out there.

Highlights from Toby's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests.