a world activated by magic
a few highlights on the tour
I’m going to be fairly coy about Enam Empyeer because the first book isn’t published yet, and learning the metaphysical truths of this particular fantasy universe is part of the experience. The series is called The Elsewhere Riddle, and the world is superlatively beautiful. I mean that literally: things here don’t necessarily work the way you expect them to.
There are monsters in the wild places.
Fairy-tale tropes have more force than cynicism.
Good and evil aren’t just words, and gods take an active hand in shaping people’s fate.
Oh, and one other thing: all those cities you see? Vast, ancient, fabulous centers of learning and culture? Those belong to elves. There are humans, sure, scratching out a living in the ruins on the wrong side of the walls.
What else? Ivere is the largest city in this world; you’ll find it south of the Narrows, beside that palm tree. It surrounds an oasis at the northern edge of a dune desert. Tal Vyuroth was built upon rocky crags rising from a river where it goes over a massive waterfall. Sildes’ Anen sits on the confluence of two rivers, one white and one turquoise, which share a bed a long way downstream before they actually mix.
All of the settings are equally stunning and impractical. I didn’t want for it to feel relatable. This world is inhabited by two peoples only one of which operates according to our rules.
what lies beyond?
What you’re looking at isn’t just the outer boundary of a civilization but the body of a being: the goddess Asal who is physical reality. She is the soil and the air, as well as gravity, chronology, mortality, all the crucial nuts and bolts of existence. At her western margin lies an ocean without a far shore; to the east, two ranges of mountains open onto a basalt pan. It might just be that the goddess is growing, but so far as we know, this is as big as she actually is.
One of my parents is a geologist, and that works its way into my worldbuilding. Still, I wanted for the magical nature of this place to be reiterated at every turn. Walk off the edge of this map and you will disintegrate.
There is something beyond: Telume, who was first. Asal built herself from her brother’s essence, and his Land of Light is the origin and eventual destination of elven souls. And humans? You’ll have to read the books to learn.
As for what Elsewhere is and how its minions are able to exist at all, let alone invade, I didn’t call it a Riddle for nothing!
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