#mokam

All my stories take place in a fantasy world called the Pentagonal Dominion. It's a collection of planes connected to Earth, but I don't include humans (with one exception). Any time I mention a year, it's that world's year, not in any way connected to years on Earth.

Please be aware that ALL my books are for 18+ only. Though they vary in the exact kind of content, you can expect them all to include some degree of violence, swearing, sexual content, or dark themes not appropriate for MG or YA books.

Map of the PD made by @dewiwrites

“I don’t know. I’ve never met a woman I was attracted to, either. I thought I was a lily because I thought you were a woman. Maybe I’m not a lily, or maybe I just haven’t met another woman who stirs such passion in me.”

Quote by Zakuro from MERCHANTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND MAGIC

Art of Zakuro is by Taenthl on Twitter

She would have overthrown him if she could and if she thought the world would be better without him. But it wouldn’t be, and that was the factor that fucked most with her mind. The world was better with Lucognidus as its God, and if he were gone, everything would go to Hell again

Quote from MERCHANT OF KNOWLEDGE AND MAGIC

"I felt Zakuro’s chest rise and fall as she let out a heavy sigh. She put two arms on my shoulders, then the other two on my back—gently, so as not to tear my wings—and finally accepted all the love I could convey through this embrace."

Quote from MERCHANTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND MAGIC

"Some sects of Spiritism emphasized the submissive part of worship. I’d been taught to be utterly submissive and humble, if only toward the Lord Mind God. I could act proud and hold my head up high around my peers and friends, but around His Holiness was no place for arrogance."

Quote by Calinthe, talking about her God, Lucognidus, pictured above. Quote from MERCHANTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND MAGIC

Hello, Tumblr. My name is Erika, or Kira. I go by either. She/her pronouns please. I’ve been worldbuilding a fantasy world for over 20 years now and writing as a hobby. I am now pursuing writing for publication and I anticipate releasing my first novel into the world late this year or sometime next year. ALL my books will take place in the world I’ve been developing, called the Pentagonal Dominion. My posts here will largely be about the worldbuilding relevant to all my books, or may be about the plot/characters of a book in particular. I currently have three books planned, but I have dozens more in my head I want to write eventually.

I call my subgenre “Rainbow Fantasy” because none of the currently-existing subgenre names really appeal to me. It embodies aspects of high, epic, dark, and queer fantasy, but leaves out some of the expectations. I will make a post about Rainbow Fantasy later.

Things you can expect in all my books:

-FANTASY

-Intense worldbuilding. I don’t skimp on this shit

-Did I say shit? Yes I did. I curse. A lot. My characters do too.

-Sex, too. My books are never full-fledged erotica, but they have erotic moments, and plenty of kinks.

-Queer characters. Cisheteronomativity was never a *thing* in the Pentagonal Dominion, so there are always LGBTQ+ characters in my world, living their best lives.

-A disturbing lack of humans. While the Pentagonal Dominion is *connected* to Terra, and there are humans who appear once in a while, for the most part, all my characters are distinctly non-human. The PD features 88 species of sapient people, some humanoid, and some most definitely not.

-Families, both biological and found/adopted. Parents who are still alive. Parents who are the heroes.

-An absolute RANGE of villains. I love writing villains, and I’ll always have one, but they range from sexist terfs who use men as chairs to wholesome fathers who are just trying to create a better world for their children.

Merchants of Knowledge and Magic (MoKaM), my debut novel, in the editing phase, is about an intersex asexual dragonfly-person, Calinthe (she/her), a merchant of knowledge. As a Mind elemental, she is forbidden from using money by the tenets of her religion. Instead, she travels the planes of the Pentagonal Dominion in search of secrets and information to trade. She is accompanied by her best friend, Zakuro (she/her), a merchant of magic. As a Godblood (descendant of the Gods), Zakuro can use magic. Specifically, she can enchant objects to ‘hold’ magic so other people can enjoy the effects. The plot focuses on Calinthe’s search for her boss’s missing demonic henchman, who Calinthe believes to have been kidnapped by the Ophidians, a nation of female supremacists who enslave anyone they don’t deem to be ‘a woman.’ As an intersex person, Calinthe risks her own freedom by venturing into Ophidia, though she has Zakuro’s illusionism powers to keep her safe.

Merchants of Light and Bone (MoLaB), in the drafting phase, is about a bisexual polyamorous lion-man, Amiere (he/him), a merchant of light with a big family. He carves sculptures out of crystals that glow for about 80 years once they’ve been mined. He has a wife Liesle (she/her) and a nonbinary, transneutral husband Su (he/him), who is a merchant of bone. The plot focuses on family dynamics and grief, as the story starts the day after one of Amiere’s daughters died in a freak earthquake accident… in a world where plate tectonics doesn’t exist and earthquakes have never happened. In fact, they don’t have a word for it, and they certainly wouldn’t call it ‘earthquake’ because they recognize “Earth” as being the mysterious land of Terra. Amiere believes the quake to be an act of the Gods, punishing him for being so proud of that daughter.

Purple for mystery, magic, and mysticism

For twilight clouds, violet nudibranchs, and a basket of mangosteens

For magic spells, demonic rituals, and secret societies

For near-omniscient gods and the one thing they do not know

For words that will fill you with awe

White for dread, loneliness, and purity

For snow, skulls, and swan feathers

For dancers praying for a better future

For the heroes and villains creating that future

For words that will chill you to your bones

Brown for warmth, solidity, and comfort

For rich soil, wood and brick houses, and chocolate cake

For a lover’s gentle touch and lusciously long hair

For found families, rescued children, and unconditional love

For words that will feel like a warm hug

Black for darkness, torture, and sin

For ebony, crows, obsidian, and coal

For the cruelest acts imaginable done in the darkest dungeons

For torture, assault, and the pettiness of powerful rulers

For words that will haunt your dreams

Rainbow Fantasy, the subgenre I invented to describe my own books, could be described as a mix of High, Epic, Dark, and Queer fantasy. Yet it also fails to incorporate certain expectations of those subgenres, hence my hesitation using those labels. Let me explain, using examples from my world:

What is High Fantasy? It takes place in a different world than ours, usually with magic, unique creatures/monsters, spirits/gods/demons, and usually pre-Modern tech. My world features a lot of that, but I hesitate to call it high fantasy because there’s a lot of science going on as well. The mortal world may not have advanced technology due to being unable to harness electricity, but they have the knowledge of how it *should* work. The Ophidians have guns, Ulinor has nuclear energy, the Takyufon and Carinians have mechanical parts, the afterlife *does* have advanced tech… and the future of the mortal world is steampunk. If I advertised my books as High Fantasy and then delivered a book that takes place primarily in Ulinor or Takyu City, with a non-magical, mortal Takyufon MC, readers would feel they didn’t get anything they expected.

What is Epic Fantasy? I feel Epic Fantasy is similar to High Fantasy, but with more allowances for tech/sci fi elements. On the other hand, it implies something, well, epic is happening. The world is ending. A war is occurring. Magic is running rampant. Many of my books are simply *not* epic in scale. They follow a single MC—who may be a normal person in their world—and the only things at stake are things relevant to the MC. If Calinthe fails her quest, the only one who suffers is Calinthe (and Zakuro). If Amiere fails, the only one who suffers is Amiere. Tynan… okay, Tynan’s book is probably a bit more epic than most lol. But that’s another thing: the label “Rainbow Fantasy” is meant to embody *all* my books. I don’t want to have to say “Well MoKaM is High Fantasy, but MoDaH is Epic Fantasy and MoLaB is… Slice of Life Fantasy?” Nah, bro, I’m just gonna say they’re ALL Rainbow Fantasy.

What is Dark Fantasy? It means there’s gonna be some pretty gritty stuff in here. Death, dismemberment, war, torture, rape, cannibalism, horror. Plus sexual elements, maybe even some kinks. To be clear, not ALL Dark Fantasy books need every one of those (I saw a topic the other day where someone had a friend who thought all Dark Fantasy needed rape. I am not implying that!) My books feature quite a bit of adult material, but I wouldn’t call them Dark Fantasy because… there are a lot of really tender, sweet moments. Maybe more so than the dark moments. Like, if I advertised MoLaB as Dark Fantasy, I’d feel like a fraud. It certainly *is* dark, especially in the later half, but that’s not exactly the part I can advertise spoiler-free lol. And if you just LOOK at it… I mean, my art for MoLaB usually depicts bright, sunny beaches, lovely merpeople, cute children. It doesn’t look ‘dark’ at all.

What is Queer Fantasy? Honestly not sure this is a subgenre at all, but it kinda feels like it? Books that take place in a fantasy setting and there’s emphasis on the characters being LGBTQ+? In any case, my world is queernormative and every book has queer people, but it’s just life as usual to them. The stories are never *about* their sexual or gender identity. It might play a powerful role, especially in stories where Ophidia is involved, but they probably won’t resonate with readers looking for stories about characters “coming out” or “going through a transition” because my characters aren’t going to experience the same kind of shame or oppression as real-world characters would.

So to sum up, Rainbow Fantasy is: a non-Earth setting, usually with magic/spirits/gods/non-human people/invented animals, but can include tech. The plots range from ‘the world is ending’ to ‘sculptor grives over his dead daughter.’ There’s some nasty shit, but also some super wholesome and loving shit. And queer is normal and accepted.