As I’m still waiting on feedback from the Beta team, I thought I’d discuss something else, the world which Through the Fire and the majority of Sisters of Radiance is set it. I named this world Senkar, though that name is a relatively recent invention. Originally I called the world by the name of the primary continent I was focusing on, but that no longer felt appropriate, so I named the world.

In many ways, the setting of Senkar is going to feel familiar to readers of Ancient Dreams, and there’s a good reason for that. Originally, I began building Senkar as a setting for Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder roleplaying games about eleven or twelve years ago, the most recent of various projects attempting to do so. Like most of the others, I expected that it would eventually prove terribly flawed and vanish into the dustbin of my computer’s trash (not really, I keep all of them), but that didn’t happen. Instead the setting began to shift more and more from its roots, and I would guess that three-quarters of the stories I’ve attempted to write since then have been set in Senkar, on the continent of Kavarn.

When I began writing Ancient Ruins, I didn’t care about the rest of the world. I had a concept of who, what, Sistina was and simply began writing it. When I finally realized that what I had was going to be a decent novel and that I was going to finish it, I had a decision to make, because it broke many of the rules I’d set for Senkar, and the Godsrage could not have happened there, not with the slightly different nature of deities. I could choose to make the world a sub-plane of the setting, another world inside the same expansive multiverse, or I could make it an entirely new setting. Instead I chose to do something slightly different, I kind of chose both.

For a long time I’ve used the following statement in the history of Senkar.

When the world came to be, the Primal Gods were there first. The Maker forged the planes in perfect alignment. The Mother gave life to them. The Destroyer allowed things to be changed in ways beyond the Maker’s vision. Nature’s Court gave defined shape. The Timekeeper gave things perspective. The Weaver gave magic and the ability to fulfill wishes. And Death allowed things to come to an end. These are the primals, unmatched in power, and unassailable by mortal hands.

These deities are the ones who created the laws which Senkar abides by. They allowed all things to be. So is it all that surprising to think that they might make another world? I thought it made sense, especially since in games I ran in the world the player had encountered hints that a world had come before this one, that life had ended and begun anew.

So I chose to make Ancient Dreams another world made by the Primal Gods, one which was a predecessor of Senkar and which was slightly less refined in many ways. Gods could be more easily killed, thus the Godsrage occurred. Magic was less refined and polished, though artificing was more of a science in Ancient Dreams. Dungeons existed as living beings, and more. So, in some ways think of Ancient Dreams as a blurry reflection of the world which I’ve been trying to bring to life for a decade.

I don’t know if I’m going to succeed. I’ve spent so much effort on Senkar over the years, but in many ways I feel I’ve only barely scratched the surface of what could happen there. Still, I’m going to try my best to convey a sense of the world which I’ve poured a huge part of my life into.

I can’t wait to share the dark elves… too bad only two are in the plot of either book series I have planned, and both are secondary characters. That means I have plenty more stories to tell, though, which is a good sign.

Alright, I’ll share some information about Senkar next week. Feel free to ask any questions you might have, though I know I didn’t give you a lot to work off of in this post. I rambled a bit, hmm?