Hear now a tale of the land of Sencriton, which boasts four
civilization-building races among its teeming varieties of life.
(Well, at least four.) Sadly, at the time this story takes place, Sencriton is in the grip of a prolonged Dark Age. The four
dominant species, once designed to be complementary, have become
estranged from one another. In the absence of the cooperation and
interchange that would put their unique talents to the fullest use,
the progress of the world has nearly ground to a halt.
Persecuted by the other races for
reasons they no longer remember, the Wigynyyn have withdrawn to
the remotest and most inhospitable pockets of the world – frozen
mountain peaks, deserts, and impassable forests. There they sustain
their bodies with hunting and their minds with mathematics and
philosophical discourse. Their knowledge of the world is deep and
their grand ideas are abundant, but few of those ideas are ever
realized.
The Krippin, in contrast, have
multiplied fruitfully, transforming the face of the land with
agriculture and primitive industry. Organized neatly into towns,
counties, and monarchic nations, they control a substantial reach of
territory and fill it with ceaseless activity. Anything that hard
work and a large number of hands can achieve is theirs for the
taking, but the mysteries which lie beyond the immediate and
practical elude their consideration.
They maintain an uneasy and often
war-torn relationship with the independent city-states of the Rynsor,
which dot the land to the east. As intimidating warriors and
inspired diplomats, the Rynsor have established a curious dual
reputation for themselves. Their sophisticated culture is constantly
in flux as forceful, charismatic mayors test new social systems and
change the shapes of the cities. Few concepts remain in force long
enough to see full development.
Meanwhile, the child-like Tirinzi
frolic among their coastlines and tropical islands, hoping for
nothing greater than to ignore and be ignored by the other races.
Ambitions, deep thoughts, and troubles are swept away by the speed of
their eager, boisterous existence. Their lives are filled with
delight, but irresponsible behavior tends to end them earlier than
might be wished.
As for the Oodavikkin … nobody quite
knows if they are even sapient. They lurk in dangerous
swamps, build no homes, and have never been observed to speak, but
appear surprisingly clever and devious for all that. The other races
hunt them for amusement on occasion, and hope they never amount to
anything.
Magical powers wielded directly by
individuals are a half-forgotten legend in Sencriton; some would
dispute whether they ever existed at all. The spiritual world and
its miracles, on the other hand, are almost universally known and
accepted. Each of the major races has a patron Spirit who may be
summoned by anyone and asked for aid – though the Spirits are
choosy and may not come. Most of Sencriton's inhabitants acknowledge
that all four arch-Spirits are good beings that faithfully serve the
Creator of the world and the best interests of its inhabitants.
However, the majority would think of summoning only the patron of
their own species.
It may take only a small event to
disrupt the balance of a world such as this. The sort of event,
perhaps, that happens when a Krippin town sees its store of resources
failing, and takes the risk of sending a mining party into Wigyn territory. Wigyn defenders attack the miners and slaughter most
of them; but Argyryn, a participant in the fight, subsequently feels
remorse. In hope of preventing future incidents, he leads his pack
on an unprecedented diplomatic mission to the Krippin. But before
this envoy can even set out, the Krippin have acquired a new set of
problems. Their younger generation, disgruntled with the
bureaucratic rules imposed by the Elders, has begun a counter-culture
revolt for greater freedom and opportunity.
Politics and diplomacy are complicated
at the best of times, but when the Spirits themselves begin taking a
hand, the results could be anyone's guess. And a solitary
monster-hunter brings a dire warning for Wigyn and Krippin alike
… a warning that could make every other conflict insignificant …
Current Status:
* Book I: Currently querying.
* Book II: Second draft done.
* Book III: First draft in progress.
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