Book Update – 06/08/2019

Hello everyone! I hope you’ve all been well. It’s been over a month since I last touched base, so allow me to fill you in! Let’s get the important stuff out of the way first, shall we? Here’s Zoya encouraging me to write more by providing me with “creative juice”.

She has kept me busy lately, especially during the last few weeks of June when she got sick. I’ll spare you all the nasty details but she’s back to her normal, crazy self again. Owning a cat, or any pet for that matter, is like raising a child. Seriously parents – how the HELL do you do it?!

The Fall of the Son

Some of you might’ve seen this post around mid-July. I mentioned a while ago I was working on “The Eternal Monologues”, a collection of shorts written by Bruce Boward, a famous Sarcadian writer/singer/drunkard.

This post is the first of many more monologues I’m currently working on. I’m hoping to complete the full series by the end of September. Once they’ve gone through a polish, I’ll be posting them weekly throughout the rest of 2019. If you have read the Fall of the Son I hope you enjoyed it – and I hope you’re looking forward to reading more in the future!

Map Making

The cartography of Sarcadia continues though it has been slower than what I have anticipated. Over the past month I’ve been working on Alibrium which is the second largest continent in Sarcadia. I didn’t think it would take me so long to complete, but I’m happy to advise I completed the map on Saturday!

And yes, Zoya’s generous gift of wine did help a little bit.

Here’s what Alibrium looks like!

Though the map took a long time to complete I’m happy with the result! It isn’t quite finished yet as I’ll going back to naming some of the major cities as well as adding to the growing lore of Alibrium. I’ve spoken about the continent in previous posts but for those new to my series here’s a quick summary about Alibrium.

Alibrium was once divided into thousands of provinces run by many families – known as the Alibrii Houses. Over time the number of Houses would narrow down to two hundred and thirty-three and they formed the Alibrii Senate to rule the country as one.

The title of “Imperatur” was created by the Alibrii Senate with the belief one house could better guide Alibrium’s future. The Senators served as advisors to the Imperatur, who either happily listened to their suggestions, or expelled and executed anyone who disagreed with them.

The Imperatur role frequently changed hands between Alibrium’s four major houses: House Victerri, House Andorio, House Carlacaria, and House Pedios. Eventually all four would rule Alibrium equally as part of the “Imperii Council”. Their tyrannical rule would continue for many centuries until Darius Aventis and the Cardinal defeated them in the Alibrii-Aventis War.

As a result of the war, Alibrium was divided in two:

North Alibrium was given to the Imperii Council. They would take all land from the northern Alibrii houses to better strengthen their positions of leadership. Currently North Alibrium is ruled like a dictatorship and is riddled with corruption and crime.

South Alibrium was taken by Darius Aventis, who readopted the old Alibrii Senate using the southern Alibrii Houses. Darius also enforced strict laws in his country which has allowed coexistence between humans and vampires. As a result, South Alibrium is regarded as being one of the most prosperous and safest countries in Sarcadia.

What’s next?

With Alibrium completed my focus will be on the largest continent in Sarcadia – Rykhart. I’m going to aim to have the map completed by the end of August so stay tuned for an update. Trust me, it’s going to be a HUGE one!

In the middle of mapmaking I’m going to get back into some writing. Along with the Eternal Monologues I’m going to look at writing up some short stories based in Sarcadia.

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading and thank you for your continued support.

Until next time, be safe and take care!

W.F. Thorne