DERE-ZOR: The Zor is the fortress city located at the base of the Gate of Lydan and is one of the Five Jewels. It is home of the Stelemian Royal Army, and the legendary fighting pits. It is within this city where Rexus of Acid Lake, a legend within Stelemia and personal hero of Aemon’s, is now said to live. The generals and commanders of the army are headquartered here, though their supreme leader, Lord Laython (the Right Hand of the Priest King and wielder of the Steel Shield of Lydan) lives within the Capital Spire in the Capital.
THE GATE OF LYDAN: A huge gate protecting the main cavern in Stelemia. It is made up of five different gates and built in a zigzag pattern. Below it sits the fortress city of Dere Zor.
ABYSSAL HALL RUINS: An ancient castle and city that has now fallen into ruin. It once was a proud city, full of wealth and shrines to the Divines. Then during the First War of the Abyss, it became ruled by an evil tyrant who brought down the wrath of the then Priest King. Much of the city was destroyed in this event.
Several centuries later it had mostly been rebuilt, and returned to glory. Then an allegedly insane member of the Order of Ibilirith declared themselves the new Priest King and managed to gather a sizable army of fanatical monks and peasants to follow him. They rebuilt the defenses of the Abyssal Hall, and proceeded to expel all who did not bow down to the self-proclaimed Priest King. The real Priest King quickly learned of this, and sent a huge army to destroy the city. This event is known as the Second War of the Abyss and led to the Abyssal Hall’s final destruction. All that is left today, are blasted ruins and a few artifacts buried under the rubble.
Aemon’s grandfather Rodnie was a veteran of this war, as was Captain’s Royce’s father (a character in Dawn of a Lost Sun).
To learn more about Abyssal Hall, read the upcoming, as-yet-unnamed book about the Stelemian, Rexus of Acid Lake.
BRECCIA BONEFIELDS: So named for the many bones littering the ground among the mushroom plantations. Once a great battle was fought here against rampaging beasts from the Great Dark, and out of the bloodshed rose one of Stelemia’s greatest heroes—Ajarm, the mercenary, who led the defense of the town and single handedly slaughtered many of the beasts.
These days, the town is one of the prime food production regions in Stelemia.
CELESTIAL REST: The sacred city of Roryur is forever rained on by moisture dripping from the cavern roof that goes by the name, Roryur’s Tears. The city comprises three colossal mushroom towers growing out of a dry lakebed, and around the base of the towers spreads the rest of the city, ringed by a thirty foot high stonewall. It is within this city and its beautifully decorated streets, that the healers of Divine Roryur practice their sacred craft. Merchants buy and sell healing herbs within its markets, and outside its walls, grow the gardens where many of the herbs come from.
DEEP CAVE (the cavern): Deep Cave is the second largest cavern in Stelemia and contains large food-growing regions, mushroom forests, and is dominated by the city that gives the cavern its name. Along with the city of Deep Cave, several small towns and villages can be found. The cavern is also home to the beautiful Amana Falls and to the mysterious, and some would say insane, Covetous Sisterhood who make their home (built on a mound of trash) at Obsidian Precipice. The southern entry to the sacred Radashan Crevice can be found here, along with the eastern entrance to the Limestone Caves.
DEEP CAVE (the city): An ancient city of tens of thousands of people, ruled by two warring noble families, House Dworebyn and House Teradith, both of whom are drowning in debt to the Royal Stelemian Bank. The city was founded by Lydan’s loyal general Jharman, whose remains are interred within the legendary Iron Tower of Jharman that looms over the city. At the city’s center, stands the Shrine of Lydan, the second-largest holy building dedicated to the Shield of Heaven outside of the Temple Hold of the Shield.
This is the first city to fall to the Ancient Enemy upon its return. Read Heir to a Lost Sun to learn more about the city’s destruction.
EBON SHELF: Located to the far east of Stelemia, it is a large cavern with two major settlements (Ebon Shelf and Shump Town) and several smaller ones, the most notable being the town built next to Acid Lake that shares the lake’s name. The Ebon Shelf ends at a cliff that overlooks a vast expanse of darkness with indeterminate depth. This marks the edge of Stelemia.
Acid Lake is famous all throughout Stelemia as the home of some of its greatest heroes. Ajarm, the hero of Breccia and Rexus of Acid Lake being the most famous. The acid farmers who live beside the lake, scoop up the noxious yellowy-green liquid and pour it into large stone urns that are transported to the alchemists in the capital. These poor people live short and harsh lives, dying young from breathing the poisoned air.
Shump Town is the largest of the cities in this region, and houses a standing garrison of over five hundred soldiers, but lacks the walls and towers of the other cities in the more populated caverns.
ECHO HOLLOW: Home to the seers who claim they can see the future. It is a small town, most notable for the amphitheatre-shaped chamber.
THE PATH OF EXILE: Located in northern Stelemia, beyond the town of Sapphire Sinkhole, exiles (people who have spoken ill of the Divines) are sent down the Path of Exile and banished into the Great Dark. Few are ever seen again. A frightening place for the peasantry of Stelemia, as they are the ones who are cast out into the darkness. Rarely are the nobles or wealthy merchants exiled.
Dissident forces within Stelemia claim that the Path of Exile is nothing more than a useful tool for the Priest King and Inquisitors to remove unwanted elements in Stelemian society.
SAPPHIRE SINKHOLE: A small, walled town near the northern edge of Stelemia. It is the starting point of the Path of Exile.
THE OLD WORLD: The time period of the ancients that existed before the founding of Stelemia. Little is known about it, but some of the ideas and personalities remain important in the myths and legends of Stelemia. Many of the monsters that plague the darkness beyond the lights of humanity are said to have been made from the sciences of the old world. It is known the ancients used something called genetics to alter life in an attempt to shape it into their own image.
THE DEAD CITY: This is the city where Arden (Kara and Semira’s father) discovered the artifact that comes to be known as the passkey. This adventure is related in the book, Fall of a Lost Sun.
The Dead City was a vast ruin made by the ancients. It is unknown what happened to its inhabitants, though it is clear a battle was fought there. As Kara discovers, the city is named Annbar, and is the place where the ghost woman in her visiondreams told her a great library can be found.
A mysterious voice can be heard beyond one of the doors of this city, and below it, lives a metal man, though it is unknown if this metal man is the famous one from the children’s tale.
SINJAR: A mysterious ancient fortress city, deep in the Great Dark. It is unknown what happened to the inhabitants of the city, as they seem to have disappeared without a trace. A strange unexplainable glow illuminated the very air of Sinjar. Deep underneath the streets is a vast manufactory and supply room. Within these rooms, the metal child, Pilly, makes his home.
To find out more about this city and the character Pilly (along with his mysterious parents), read the book Ruins of a Lost Sun. References to this city can also be found in Dawn of a Lost Sun.
THE ANCIENT HIGHWAY: A road running from Annbar (Dead City) to Ebon Shelf in Stelemia. It is assumed the ancients made this road with technologies long lost to Stelemia.
THE METAL MAN: The name of the protagonist of the children’s tale about a lover of Ibilirith’s who stayed behind when she ascended to heaven. He waited many long years for her return, but she never came back to him. In great despair, he turned himself into metal so he would live forever and be alive when she returned, if she ever did. Then he locked himself beyond a metal door to wait. It is said his voice can still be heard calling out for her if you chance upon his door.
The story is told so children understand that love can
change the nature of a man.
Kara is told by a man named Wrynric, that Arden, her father, foresaw that she would journey to the Dead City to speak to this Metal Man and that he would help her in the Final Battle to end humanity’s exile. When Kara defeats the Ancient Enemy in this battle, humanity will be able to return to the Light of the Lost Sun.
THE COVENANT OF THE LOST SUN: Possibly founded by Radashan, the same man who founded Stelemia (according to Radashan himself in a conversation in Dawn of a Lost Sun), this Covenant is located in an unknown location in the Great Dark, or as the people who were born in the Great Dark call it, the Nether. The Covenant is home to Arden, Semira, Liana, Meridia, Wrynric and Erinie.
The covenant believes humans came from somewhere high above their cave home and once lived under the Light of the Lost Sun.
Up until its almost complete destruction at the hands of the traitorous Semira, along with the Knives of Dwaycar, this covenant had survived the many years since the evacuation of Annbar, to the present time. It is a covenant of humans called scions, special people with the ability to enter visiondreams, and as Kara and Aemon discover, people created from the sciences of the old world.
The covenant’s sacred oath is as follows...
Verse 1
We who are chosen to carry the lineage of the scions, through the ages of the future untold, must keep the bloodline pure, protect those who are of the blood and preserve the knowledge handed down to us from our ancestors.
Verse 2
For one day, all three will be needed for the time of darkness, when the Final Battle to end humanity’s exile will be fought. When humankind is victorious, we will emerge from the darkness and into the blessed light of the Lost Sun.
They preserved much knowledge of the old world on their computers and in their vault. Some of the ancient languages they were able to decipher, while others remained unreadable to them. One such unreadable language was that of the Ancient Language of Ibilirith, which only the Order of Ibilirith can understand.
SUNHOLM: The home of the scions. It is located in the Nether (Great Dark), and is completely unknown to the Stelemians. It is the home of the scions, along with some of the normal humans who live with them. It is also a trade hub for the disparate communities of the Nether. The town was largely destroyed after Semira and the Knives of Dwaycar attacked it.
THE LIBRARIANS: This is a sub order in the covenant of the Lost Sun and they reside in the Repository. Erinie is a member of this order. It is a librarian’s task to preserve the knowledge of the old world and to study new and mysterious items found out in the Nether. They also study and categorize new species of monsters that the scion patrols encounter. After the slaughter at Sunholm, Erinie is the last surviving librarian.
SAFEHOLD: The secret location of the Covenant of the Lost Sun that the survivors of the slaughter fled to after Sunholm was destroyed. It is now the home of Erinie and Meridia. The location is nothing more than a hidden series of small passages, with a few chambers to store supplies and to live in.
THE WATCHER: The Watcher is a giant skull of an unknown creature. It sits at the edge of Stelemia and the Great Dark, in an exit leading from the cavern containing the city of Celestial Rest. Many explorers and members of the Covenant of the Lost Sun leave offerings around the skull, and it has become somewhat of a sacred place.
It is believed that if you leave an offering to the Watcher, it will bless your journey into the dangers of the Great Dark and you will return home safe.
THE WORLD OF THE VISIONDREAM: This is the world scions enter during a visiondream. Up until Kara, it was believed that scions could only experience visiondreams where they merely saw images and felt feelings. Yet Kara, a half-blood scion, had visiondreams of a far different nature. She was transported to the visiondream world and could interact with it. Within this world, she met the ghost woman, and was hunted by a hideous flying monster named the Great Shadow.
Within the world of the visiondream, Kara learns what the artifact she carries around her neck is, as well as what she must do to save her people.
The ghost woman speaks of the code making up the visiondream, so it is possible all is not what it seems in that world. Perhaps the whole thing is nothing more than a construct made by the sciences of the old world...
The Lost Sun Series Box Set 1: Books 1 and 2 (Lost Sun Box Set) Page 73