Titus Groan first catalyst is the birth of Titus Groan, the heir to Lord Sepulchrave, which interrupts the centuries-old daily rituals which are practiced at all levels of the castle's society, from the kitchens to the Hall of Bright Carvings in Gormenghast's upper reaches. Though he is the title character and integral to the plot, Titus appears only infrequently as an infant during his first two years of life. The second is Steerpike, a ruthlessly ambitious kitchen boy, whose rise drives the plot of "Titus Groan". His escape from the kitchen during the castle celebration of Lord Titus' birth introduces change into
Mervyn Peake Republic of China. His father Ernest Cromwell Peake was a medical missionary doctor with the London Missionary Society of the Congregationalist tradition and his mother, Amanda Elizabeth Powell, had come to China as a missionary assistant. The Peakes were given leave to visit England just before World War I in 1914 and returned to China in 1916. Mervyn Peake attended Tientsin Grammar School until the family left for England in December 1922 via the Trans-Siberian Railway. About this time he wrote a novella, "The White Chief of the Umzimbooboo Kaffirs". Peake never returned to China but it has been noted