Even before the sudden darkness, the Heartlands kingdoms were not the only places where strange things were happening. Several decades prior to 240 Age of Kingdoms, the Goddess of Knowledge had begun behaving erratically—even by the standards of eccentricity to which she was already held—and had tasked her servitors away from their usual scientific duties. Instead, she had them monitoring the God of Law and his knights.
History 13: The Nemesis, the Long Darkness and the Rise of the Phoenix Light
Posted in History, Legends, Magic, Religion, World Info
Tagged cosmology, culture, fantasy, history
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Cover Work Process #2
Book 1’s cover is still in the works, and though I’m itching to get the book out there in the self-publishing world, I don’t want to gnaw on my friend’s head like a carnivorous barrette, so I am being patient. Anyway, I have more pics to show the progress!
Posted in Art, Worldbuilding
Tagged art, cover art, d. d. phillips, fantasy, spirits, worldbuilding
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History 12: The Masks and the Plagues
What followed the death-throes of the northern empires was a time of insularity, when all the new subdivisions that called themselves kingdoms isolated themselves from their neighbors as much as was possible. The east once again fell out of contact with the west, and the north fell out of contact with the south, as every new regime struggled to shore up its holdings against the deleterious forces of chaos.
Tinkering with Globe Maps
As a detail-obsessed individual who always liked geology and took a few courses in college, I’ve always tried to make the tectonics of my world somewhat realistic. Since I started making the properly-to-scale maps of the main continent, however, I realized that the ‘known world’ is just a small portion of the planet…and that made me want to map out the rest of it.
So I made some global maps.
History 11: The Slow Collapse and the Age of Kingdoms
Though Altaera and Ruen Wyn had ceased to exist as formal empires by the end of their war, the Age of Empires was not officially considered over until twenty-three years later. The time in between marked the disintegration of the north, as Altaera’s holdings fell apart and the former Ruenic provinces struggled individually to regain their freedom.
History 10: The War of the Lion and Eagle
By this point in history, the Rift had been surmounted by magic and engineering, though it remained a significant obstacle between east and west. Over a span of five years, the northern empires of Altaera and Ruen Wyn collaborated on a large construction project called the Rift Climb: a snaking, partially open tunnel that ran up the side of the Rift in switchbacks, meant to allow pedestrian and wagon-traffic between the two empires.
Cover Work Process
My friend Deb is still working on the art for the simplified cover, but as seems to be the way with us, the ‘simple’ version isn’t actually simple. Still have inking and all the colors to do, but she’s sent me some more samples. Since we’ve traded some ideas back and forth, I thought I’d show the process.
Posted in Art, Worldbuilding
Tagged art, cover art, d. d. phillips, fantasy, spirits, worldbuilding
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History 09: The Flame of Chaos and the Owl Emperor’s Fall
As the new southern empires solidified, the new northern empire–Ruen Wyn—traveled a rocky road. Its policy of electing a new Emperor upon the retirement of the old, rather than allowing the crown to be passed to a son or chosen successor, led to years of political infighting, threats of secession and attempted coups. The beast-spirits bickered over the subject as well, and often tried to drag the Ravager into their quarrels because of its proximity in the Garnet Mountains.
Book 2 (and 3) Map
I know book 1 isn’t even out yet, but I do have book 2 being beta-read at the moment, so I made a map for it from the base world-map (as I did for book 1). As book 3 takes place in the same general space that book 2 does, this doubles as a book 3 map as well.
History 08: The New Empires, Part 3: Ciritheen
In the wake of the Seals, the southeastern landmass that had been known as Shangal, or the Dragon Coast, found itself riven by quakes and inundated by the Rillian Ocean. Where it once had been connected to the northeastern landmass by the Great Swamp, there now lay a broad arm of the expanded Atharine Sea, which extended the threat of the haelhene wraiths that dwelt on the White Isle at the center of that body of water.
The War of Memory Project 