| Green Sky Trilogy | |
| Books: | Volumes: Below the Root And All Between Until the Celebration |
| Author: | Zilpha Keatley Snyder |
| Illustrator: | Alton Raible |
| Publisher: | Atheneum |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Fantasy |
| Pub Date: | 1975 to 1977 |
| Media Type: | Print (hardback and paperback) |
The Green Sky Trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, originally published between 1975 and 1978 by Atheneum. The books feature illustrations by Alton Raible.
The story takes place on an alien world called Green-sky (although the trilogy as a whole is referred to as the Green Sky Trilogy).
The 1984 game Below the Root is a continuation of the trilogy’s plot. Unusual for a video game, its story is written by the author and is considered canon.
The planet Green-sky contains Orbora, a city built in giant trees and inhabited by humanoids known as the Kindar. They have built their homes among the branches, and can harvest food from vines and orchards found on the trees. The Kindar walk between trees where the branches overlap or connect using vines woven together like ladders. Low gravity also allows Kindar to fall great distances without being hurt and hang-glide through the air using their shuba, a silk cape-like garment something like a wingsuit that attaches at hands and feet.
The Kindar are forbidden from walking on or even looking at the forest floor, and are terrified of doing so from stories of the Pash-shan, monsters trapped beneath a web of vines at ground level. Young children who have fallen from the trees before learning to use a shuba have supposedly been captured by the Pash-shan, never to be seen again. In truth, the Pash-shan are the descendants of imprisoned Kindar who refer to themselves as Erdlings.
The Kindar live in a utopian society, free of violence and virtually devoid of negative emotions such as anger or unhappiness. Even a frown shown in public is seen as a breach in decorum. Their lives are highly ritualized, filled with chants and songs from which they derive pleasure, helping to moderate their emotions. They are led politically and spiritually by an elite group known as the Ol-zhaan, who live in a private temple and are mostly seen leading rituals or in procession throughout Green-sky. The Ol-zhaan decide each Kindar's occupation when they reach the age of 13, including two "Chosen" who will join their ranks.
Kindar children possess psychic powers known as spirit-force, although their abilities tend to fade between the ages of five and 10. Generally the Ol-zhaan are the only ones capable of using spirit-force into adulthood, and a young Kindar showing promising ability may become Chosen. The spirit-powers include: