Tier

"Behold! From this moment, the Isle of Tier is like no other island in the Silver Sea. From this moment it can move where it wills, and devour other life wherever it finds it. Now it can take revenge on the ordinary mortals who betrayed me. And the Staff that gave it life, the Staff that cures all ills, cannot be taken from me by any man or woman alive."

- Tier

Tier was a half-turtle man born to a sorceress who lived on the island of Two Moons. He was the creator of the Isle of Tier and the fabled Staff of Tier, and wielded strong magic.

Early life
Tier was born to a sorceress on the small island of Two Moons. He and his mother lived in the swamplands. When his mother died, Tier stayed in the swamp, living peacefully and moulding amber mud into living, moving shapes.

Exile
As Tier man grew older, larger and stronger in magic, some of his neighbours began to fear him and wish him ill. The people of Two Moons were afraid to kill Tier, fearing that he would haunt the island as a ghost. Instead, on the appointed night, a woman Tier trusted lured him from his work. She sang to him and gave him strong drink made of swamp orchird seeds, which made him fall into a drugged sleep. While asleep Tier's enemies bound him with iron chains and dragged him to the shore, where they set him adrift in the sea on a raft of logs, and told the tide to take him far away from Two Moons.

Tier woke on the open sea. The living mud of his home still covered his hands. He remembered the songs of the woman he trusted, and cursed her name. He unsuccessfully tried to break his chains. In addition their iron, and the salt of the sea, weakened his magic. Tier cried out for help. Great turtles from far and wide heard his call, came to him and bore his raft through the sea. After three days and three nights, the turtles steered the raft to a black rock island. The salt of the sea had rusted Tier's iron chains, and he broke them.

To thank the rock from freeing him from the sea, Tier smeared his mud-caked hands on its surface while murmuring magic words, and at once it bloomed, transforming into a green paradise which Tier named the Isle of Tier. In order to take revenge on the people who had exiled him, Tier crafted the Staff of Tier by taking handfuls of sand from the island's shore and pressing it between his hands. He poured all his magic, grief, passion and rage into the Staff, and then he went to the heart of the island, and plunged the Staff into the earth, causing the island to come alive and making it able to move where it willed and devour other life where it found it. Ships, monsters of the deep and even smaller islands were consumed by the "Hungry Isle."

Word of the Hungry Isle spread throughout the Silver Sea. Curious sailors came to the island, meaning to only spend an hour on it, but they never left. Becoming enraptured by the magic Staff, they stayed to worship it and its Master. Even when they died, they remained on the island as wraiths, forced to do Tier's bidding, so sailors learned to fear the Hungry Isle, and when it was sighted on the horizon ships changed course.

Death
Tier lived for centuries, but life ceased to have flavour for him and there came a time when he gladly welcomed death and let himself die on the Isle of Tier.

Legacy
While Tier died the Isle of Tier lived on, a danger to everyone sailing the Silver Sea, until a pirate named Bar-Enoch came upon the Isle of Tier and through trickery defied Tier's spell and took the Staff of Tier for himself. He wrested it from the island's heart and took it away to aid him in his plundering and bloodshed. As a result, the Isle of Tier was no longer able to move and feed until the Staff was rediscovered by Dare Larsett. Mikah brought it back to the Isle of Tier, resurrected the island, and became the King of Tier.

Physical appearance
Tier was half man, half turtle. He was implied to be relatively tall, and was described as having mighty, horny hands and a great, humped shell on his back that glowed in the sun.

Abilities
Tier wielded strong magical powers, inherited from his sorceress mother. Over time his powers grew stronger, to the point where his neighbours began to fear him. His magic, however, was weakened by iron and salt like the magic of the Fellan of Dorne. Tier could shape and create life from the living amber mud on Two Moons, creating "goozli" among other things.

Star of Deltora

 * Shadows of the Master

Trivia

 * Since Tier's magic is weakened by salt and metal like the magic of the magical Fellan of the island of Dorne, it is possible that Tier is half or at least part-Fellan. Perhaps his mother, who was a sorceress herself, was a full-blooded Fellan or part-Fellan. It is also possible that magic in general is weakened by these things, or perhaps certain unrelated magic-wielding beings share an identical source of magic.