Here lies Arvian. Alderearth. A world brimming with Life and magic. A realm saturated with strange forces and unique peoples, where nymphs sing to the forests and lanterns sail the skies, where primal tides illuminate radiant towers and secrets hide leagues beneath the light.
Welcome to Arvian! This is the world where Thornsong: The Lantern Bearer and the succeeding books in the trilogy are set – and I will definitely set more books here in the future. I haven’t been working on Arvian for long – I began fleshing it out sometime during The Lantern Bearer‘s drafting, possibly April – but the levels of depth and effort I’ve invested here have already outstripped many of the others I’ve come up with.
Technically speaking, Arvian is a planet, slightly larger than Earth. Its land is separated into two continents, Hinter and Ateia, with numerous archipelagos and islands scattered in between. The two continents, for the most part, remain ignorant of each other at this point in the timeline.
The magic on Arvian is called Life energy, and it is harnessed in different ways by different people – most applications of Life can only be accessed by individuals of a certain race. For instance, in most cases, only the Niad (nymphs) of Hinter can use Life energy to connect to a single tree. The tree gains a consciousness and the nymph receives a small talent – and a lifelong companion. It is possible for a person to be only part Niad and still have a tree bond, although the strength of the bond fades as later generations “dilute” the bloodline. In essence, then, Life usage is hereditary. Arvian scholars call this “