From the Gourd of Xanth

The Gourd of Xanth in Piers Anthony's Xanth series is the headquarters of the Night Stallion where nightmares are made.

Night Stallion

He rules the Dream World inside the Gourd. Also known as Trojan and The Horse of Another Color. He does not leave the Gourd himself, except for the trial of Roxanna Roc and in Swell Foop, but sends the Night Mares to deliver nightmares to dreamers. Smash Ogre fought with him to regain his soul in Ogre, Ogre after trading it for Tandy's, which she had lost by trickery earlier. Formerly a Demon, he was stripped of this status and as penalty sent to the Gourd Realm as the supervisor. His true love is Helen of Troy.

Mares

The Mares deliver bad dreams to the deserving. They are named after maria of the moon.

• Mare Crisium
• Mare Frigoris
• Mare Imbrium: She was introduced in Ogre, Ogre and was the main character in Night Mare. She was the last of the Nextwave Kings. After her death she reemerged as a Day Mare, because her half soul, which she took from Chem Centaur as payment for taking her safely from the void, had left her too nice for bad dream work. She becomes a tree nymph in Faun & Games. She also occasionally turns up in later Xanth novels delivering daydreams to main characters.
• Mare Nectaris: In Isle of View, Chex Centaur was forced by the demon/cloud Fracto to land on Mare Nectaris' section of the moon. Mare Nectaris and Night Stallion helped Chex escape by crafting a dream so sweet that it disgusted Fracto.

Bones family

• Marrow Bones: Marrow is an animated skeleton who first appeared in Vale of the Vole, where he helped to defeat the demons who mangled the curves of the Kiss-Me-River. Marrow was a main character in Heaven Cent, acting as Dolph's official adult companion. In that novel, he meets his future wife, Grac'l Skeleton.
• Grac'l Ossian: Grac'l is a skeleton who was exiled from the realm of the Gourd for having messed up a troll's dream. Wife of Marrow, she helps Dor find Electra in his quest.
• Picka Bones:The son of Marrow Bones and Grac'l Ossian. He will star in the thirty-fifth Xanth novel, Well-Tempered Clavicle.^[1]
• Joy'nt: The daughter of Marrow Bones and Grac'l Ossian. She travels with her brother Picka in the thirty-fifth Xanth novel, Well-Tempered Clavicle.^[1]

References