The Worldbuilder Diaries: Fantastical Locations

Last week I discussed the worlds I’ve created, but within those worlds are some pretty unique locations. Some are based on real-world places and are scientifically probable, while others… Let’s just say magic has a hand in some of my creations.

Most of my readers have been following The Caein Legacy, so we’ll start there (but I will touch on some of the more interesting locales featured in some of my other works too.)

The Fantastical Locations of The Caein Legacy

There aren’t many featured in Exile (a couple are mentioned but not seen), but Guardian makes up for it. Most of the stops on Alexander’s journey to becoming a mage were constructs of magic; buildings and spires that would be a challenge (if not outright impossible) for a real-world architect to fabricate.

Take the Golden Stair of Oristan, for example. It’s a massive spiral staircase winding up from the city’s heart, reaching toward the sky. It ends abruptly, and stands for centuries without any tangible support structure. While it isn’t stated explicitly in the book, the Golden Stair is a construct of magic. (Fun fact: It’s also featured in The Mage War Chronicles, specifically the book titled Oracle.)

Then there are locations like the Dragonlands. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much more than an inaccessible plateau, with the only path leading inside barred by a pair of massive stone gates. But the Dragonlands were shaped and molded by magic (if you’ve read Guardian, you’ll recall Andrew’s first impression as he stands outside the gates.) While he doesn’t get to spend much time there in The Caein Legacy, this is yet another place that I revisit in The Mage War Chronicles (Wrath of the Dragon-kind)—and at that period in time, the dragons are still around. The structures featured in the Dragonlands are sized to accommodate their builders, and dragons are far larger than their human counterparts. When I think of the plateau that makes up the Dragonlands, I think of Wyoming. Some of the buttes there were definitely an inspiration for the Dragonlands’ creation.

But beyond magic, there are the Corodan lairs in the far north. The Corodan (my insectile species) have carved a warren of tunnels beneath the surface. As a kid, I was the occasional owner of an ant farm, and I took some inspiration from that to create the Corodan lairs. Their tunnels aren’t dark, either; they’re illuminated by bioluminescent roots growing in their earthen walls. I don’t state that it’s bioluminescence—Andrew wouldn’t know that term—but in the context of the real-world, that’s what it is.

The Fantastical Locations of The Relics of War

This series has less in the way of magical building (though there are a couple notable ones.) I spent more time creating natural places with an element of fantasy there, sometimes refined or embellished by the world’s craftsmen.

Stonewall Hall, as it’s known, was the home to an extinct species the modern people know only as “the builders.” They could shape stone so beautifully, their sculptures appeared completely life-like. While Stonewall Hall remains as a testament to their skill, the area isn’t without its dangers, and few people venture inside. It’s a location featured in Vardak’s story arc in The Moon’s Eye (and is the place featured on the book’s cover.) I have pages and pages of notes on the lore behind Stonewall Hall, the builders, what transpired to bring about the Undead… And very little of it actually made it into the books.

The Underground Caverns are another non-magical location featured in the series (though more so in the related works, Serpentus and The Ballad of Alchemy and Steel.) The caverns are home to the nocturnal Murkor people and feature all the natural wonder of any real-world cave system. Underground lakes, columns, stalactites, crystal formations… It’s all there. I went through a phase when I was younger where I was fascinated by caves (and I may have dragged my family into a number of the more tourist-friendly varieties when we visited South Dakota years ago. I’m not sure my parents or my brother thought they were half as interesting as I did, but those visits helped lay the groundwork for the Murkor caverns.)

I’ve always been fascinated by rain forests too. I’d never visited one prior to writing in the Felene Jungles of this series, so I based much of the descriptions on nature documentaries I’d watched. (I did finally see a rain forest in person about six years ago when we visited Costa Rica. I wish I’d been given more time to explore while we were there, but sadly, we were on a time schedule.) Anyway, the jungles of my series were inspired by my desire to visit one, and the carnivorous plant Vardak and company encountered was based loosely on a real-world plant (sundew.)

And on that note, I’ve always had a thing for plants… and this made its way into Wraith and the Revolution as well. While I’m not quite ready to share much about that book (it’s coming soon though, trust me), I can say that the planet Botanaar is as verdant and lush as any forested world could hope to be. It was also one of my favorite locations to incorporate into the story.