Ten worldbuilding trivia items about my books!

Hi again, Here Be Magic readers! Today I thought I’d share with you an assortment of worldbuilding details about my books, to give you an idea of the thought processes that went into building their settings. Hopefully they’ll be interesting, and maybe spark a question or two about further details you want to hear about—whether in future blog posts or in future actual books.

And so, without further ado:

Five things about the setting of Faerie Blood:

1. The Warders originated in Scotland, and from there, they’ve spread in many directions around the globe. They’re most common in places that have been settled by people of Scots descent, which is why there are high numbers of Warders in the UK, Europe, and North America. But they are by no means limited to those places.
2. Given the nature of Warder magic, and how a Warder is physically constrained to his or her pledged city, families of Warder lineage strongly encourage their young people to travel far and wide to make sure they can see the world before they commit to a city, and to improve the chances that by the time they commit to one, they’re damn sure they want to spend the rest of their lives there. This is why most active Warders are in their 30s or older.
3. Since the Warders did originate in Scotland, the Warder lineage did start out Caucasian. However, not all modern Warders are Caucasian. Warders of color exist, descendants of assorted mixed-race couplings across the world and in particular, the last couple of centuries. This will be noteworthy as the story of Kendis and Christopher’s family continues to develop.
4. Likewise, the Warders are a predominantly human lineage. But not all Warders are entirely human. See item #3.
5. The Warders and the Sidhe are not the only sources of magic in the world. Sources of magic I’ve already written about are the kitsune of Japan, and at least one known healer born to slaves during the Civil War era.

Five things about the setting of the Rebels of Adalonia trilogy:

1. Adalonia and Tantiulo are the primary countries mentioned in Vengeance of the Hunter and Valor of the Healer, but there is at least one other known country in that setting, which I’ll be visiting in a future book. Vreyland is considerably east and north of Adalonia, and unlike Adalonia, is a society where elves and humans are living on equal terms—and which also has active magic amongst the human population as well as the elves. A not inconsiderable portion of the elven population of Vreyland are descendants of the refugees of the destruction of the ancient elven capital Astàlleramè, known to humans as Starhame.
2.  Most of the people of Tantiulo worship the threefold goddess Djashtet, but Djashtet is not the only deity known to the Tantiu people. There is a smaller sect of people in that nation who worship the wind god Vo.
3. There are reasons that the people of Tantiulo have their own name for the elves: the Hidden Ones. Primarily because there are, in fact, elves in Tantiulo, another offshoot population dating back to the fall of Starhame.
4. There were once dragons in this world, but if they still exist, they’re keeping a very, very low profile. No human or elf is known to have laid eyes upon a dragon in several hundred years. That there is a particularly vicious stretch of desert in Tantiulo whose name translates from Tantiu as ‘Dragonfell’ may well have something to do with this.
5. Adalonia is smack in the middle of its industrial revolution, and technologically speaking, is one of the more advanced nations of the world. But Vreyland does a lot with magic that Adalonia does with technology, and as the history of this world progresses, its people will face a sizable clash between technology and magic as they must ultimately decide which will dictate the course of worldwide development. Or perhaps whether both will.

And there you have it! If you’ve read any of my books and have other worldbuilding questions you’d like me to address, let me know in the comments! And if you haven’t read any of my books and would like to, as always, you can find everything you need to know about them right over here.

Angela Highland, a.k.a. Angela Korra’ti, a.k.a. Anna the Piper, writes fantasy and urban fantasy, and lives at angelahighland.com. Follow her on Facebook or on Twitter!