Cliff ghasts

Did You Know?

• Angels were originally the result of condensing Dust, though other conscious beings can also become angels.
• Arctic foxes can only understand the present tense, leading to confusion when they eavesdrop.
• Spectres feed upon the Dust that makes up a person's soul, leaving the person in an immobile, zombie-like state.

Armoured bears (panserbjørne)

The panserbjørne are large polar bear-like creatures with opposable thumbs on their front paws, giving them dexterity and immense strength that makes them gifted metalsmiths. They can create and repair metal items beyond human capabilities. While they mainly speak English, they can also speak other languages. Bears are very difficult to deceive, though Iofur Raknison, the bear-king, is an exception; he emulates humans by drinking spirits, wearing expensive clothes, and wanting a dæmon, and his gullibility is attributed to his failure to act like a bear.

Polar bears' livers are poisonous due to a very high concentration of retinol, a trait shared with real polar mammals. The word "panserbjørne" means "armour-bears" in Danish. Panserbjørne are generally solitary but have a loose society centred on Svalbard, governed by a king; Iofur Raknison and Iorek Byrnison are the two kings in the books. Some bears hire themselves out as mercenaries or labourers in Arctic regions, though this may bring shame.

Becoming an outcast is the worst shame; an outcast must leave Svalbard and may be killed without punishment if he returns.

Witches

Witches in Lyra's world are exclusively female and live in the far north. They worship their own gods and goddesses of nature and the earth, and also understand the Judeo-Christian concept of "Mother Eve." Every witch is described as very beautiful, staying young for their entire lives but attaining a look of wisdom; some live to be over 1,000 years old. They dress in ragged black silk and are always barefoot.

Witch queens usually wear a crown they have created for themselves, reflecting their personality. Witches are renowned for excellent marksmanship and carry bows; they lower their bows to the ground as a symbol of friendship. They occasionally choose exceptional human men as lovers; all of a witch's sons will be human and all daughters will be witches. To a witch, the lives of sons or lovers are mere instants, and they cannot forgive anyone they love who does not reciprocate.

Witches can feel cold but are not affected by it, enduring the lowest temperatures comfortably. There is a wasteland far north where no dæmon can go; if a girl gets through it, she becomes a witch, and her dæmon can then go great distances. All witch dæmons are birds. If a witch has a branch of a special cloud-pine tree, she can use it to fly; a witch can carry another person up on the cloud-pine, but usually no one bigger than a child. In large numbers, witches and their cloud-pines can tow an airship.

Gyptians

Gyptians are a fictional ethnic group roughly analogous to Romani people; the name is derived from the word "Egyptian." They are water-travellers, living mainly aboard boats on the canals and rivers of "Brytain," and their primary source of income appears to be trading as they travel. Lyra describes them as "coming and going with the spring and autumn fairs." Gyptians pride themselves on their ability at card games.

John Faa's group comes from "Eastern Anglia," the counterpart of East Anglia. They are divided into large families, the heads of which make up the Gyptians' Council, ruled by John Faa, King of the Western Gyptians; the Council also includes Farder Coram. Gyptians sometimes gather in a "byanroping" (or "roping"), a summons or muster of families. Their society is tightly knit; Gyptian children are extravagantly loved and looked after.

The ethnic group is small enough for all Gyptians to know each other by name, yet large enough to gather 170 men for a rescue mission. Gyptians have a distinctive physical appearance, accent, and vocabulary containing "Fens-Dutch" words. Their Dutch-ness shows in their preference for drinking "jenniver" (Dutch jenever), their Dutch names, and their use of Dutch terms such as "landloper," a derogatory term for a non-Gyptian. An additional inspiration may have been the subculture of cargo narrowboat operators in 18th-century Britain.

Mulefa

Mulefa are a fictional species of sapient beings inhabiting a parallel Earth. "Mulefa" is plural; the singular is "zalif," pronounced subtly differently for male or female. These elephant-like creatures have a diamond-framed skeleton without a spine, four legs, short horns, and a prehensile trunk that functions as hands. Signing with the trunk is integral to Mulefa language.

They form close-knit communities; lacking hands, complex tasks like tying knots usually require two or more trunks. A feature of the Mulefa is their use of large, disc-shaped seed pods from seed-pod trees in locomotion; the pods fit onto spurs on their front and rear legs. They propel themselves with their other two legs. Ancient lava flows solidified into smooth rivers of rock serve as roads.

The Mulefa have a symbiotic relationship with the seed-pod trees: using the pods on the roads cracks the hard exteriors, releasing seeds that the Mulefa germinate. The three elements of seed-pod, spur, and rock formation enable the Mulefa's continued existence. Their civilization is reminiscent of the Stone Age; they live in wattle-and-daub villages, use simple tools, and do not use metal except for ornaments. They domesticate grazer herds, use trees for lacquer, and distil acid from rocks.

Their natural enemies are huge white birds called tualapi, which destroy settlements. The Mulefa appear to lack organised government, living in village groups with little contact. Their less advanced technology may be due to limited trunks or because their environment supplies everything they need.