#theryl

Taverns and inns are the most common places for eating out in Theryl. They're mostly found in most major cities and towns, though roadside inns do exist for travelers and the like.

The fourth entry of the Seeker Saga, Bloodseeker, is now available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle! *Note: You do NOT need to read the other entries of the Seeker Saga to enjoy this one.

Join Odd Fleetfoot on his quest to regain his freedom, filled with revenge, (queer) romance, monsters, magic, and hidden plots aplenty!

I've touched on this before, but magic in Theryl comes from the Shayta: the ancient enemies of the Divines. It's a heretical power that bends the rules and laws of the world, perverting the natural order that Theryl's deities set it place. To the uninformed, magic can appear chaotic and utterly nonsensical, though there is a sort of structure to it. To those willing to indulge this heretical practice though, magic can loosely be broken down into three categories:

Incantations

Incantations are primarily used to summon and control monsters. They are spoken in a profane tongue that can be painful to even utter, but those willing to endure the pain can bring forth terrible creatures or even channel the beasts of the underworld through their own bodies. It should be noted, however, the monsters have an instinctual drive to kill humans; thus, one must use an incantation repeatedly to keep the beasts under control, or they run the risk of turning on the summoner.

Sigils

Sigils are symbols that have the power to apply an unnatural effect within an area. They're a difficult form of magic to use, due to the fact that they often need to be applied in advance and usually hidden from sight. Once a sigil is engraved on a surface, its unique properties slowly take effect. A sigil can force everyone in the surrounding area to sleep, create large-scale illusions, or even empower the caster so long as they remain in the vicinity.

Distortions

Distortions are the most difficult form of magic to master. They essentially bend the sacred elements of Theryl into a perverse form.

Netherfire: A pale-blue flame that burns the soul of any living thing it touches. If it consumes a victim's soul completely, that person's spirit is forever lost to oblivion.

Bloodbolts: Vicious crimson lightning. Bloodolts don't actually cause physical damage to anything they strike, but instinct bring such intense agony that nearly any living being dies within seconds as a means to escape the pain.

Glassmetal: A strange reflective material more durable that steal. Glassmetal can be summoned into just about any weapon the wielder can envision.

Murkwater: An inky-black substance that pollutes any liquid it comes into contact with. Murkwater spreads rapidly, and cannot be purified unless its caster is killed...

Hollowlight: A strange green energy that can eat through nearly anything it touches, including that which is ethereal. Hollowlight is so named because sorcerers often use it as a form illumination, even though it more-so 'consuming darkness' than actively emitting light.

Swarmshade: A curious pale substance that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Swarmshade numbs the mind and senses of anything it comes into contact with for any period of time, leaving its victims confused and disoriented.

The time has come at last! With Book 5 of the Seeker Saga set to release in the relatively near future, I've decided to finally unveil the book's cover! I actually showed this off on BlueSky yesterday, but I figured I should share it here as well.

Sorry it took so long to get to this! I missed it last week so I wanted to save this question for the next WBW.

Now, as for natural wonders... Well, two big ones come to mind. Firstly, we have the First Forest, which I wrote a short story about some time ago. This is the birthplace of the god Lespir and the origin of medicine.

By contrast, we have Sarpakāda, a great frozen mountain at the center of Hyo that is said to be where the goddess Focien came into existence. Its icy exterior hides many precious ores and metals, and serves as the hope to Hyo's capital.

Next, there are the Torman Mountains, which run cleanly through the continent of Primlan. This mountain range is the longest in Theryl, diving Hol from its neighbors to the sound: Urgaia and Elux.

On that note, there's also a region of Hol referred to as the Scorched Lands, said to have been resulted from the wrath of the fire god many years ago. Whether or not that counts as a "natural" land mark is open for debate, but since everything in Theryl is technically made by the Divines anyway, I'm counting it.

Theryl has a fair few gems and metals that exist in our world, but also plenty that don't. Probably the most common of my fictional minerals, though, is ocilite: a gemstone that emits a faint but constant light. Ocilite used pretty universally throughout Theryl as a source of illumination. While candles are a viable alternative, ocilite is by far more the common method for lighting up rooms.

Well, naturally, Theryl has a wide variety of biomes, though their relative positions to each other have very little basis in real-world logic.

For example, Primlan is divided into three (arguably four) main environments: the sandy desert to the east, the sweeping plains to the west, the mountains dividing the continent roughly in half, and then the jungle to the north that transitions into a great savannah.

There are some smaller patches of cold areas scattered here and there, but the only real tundra you'll find in Theryl is in the nation of Hyo. Similarly, the islands of Pou are your best best for a tropical biome.