In my last update I talked a bit about my love of tabletop gaming, specifically D&D.  That love also makes it impossible for me to not try and figure out how to stat up characters so that they reflect those in my stories, and at the end of this update I’ll be including a 5th edition racial option which I made while in one of those kicks.  First though I’ll talk about my favorite fantasy race, Dwarves, and more specifically how they fit into my own world.

For those of you who’ve read the first excerpt which is posted on Exile, Magus’ page you’re already aware that the Thierdenvolgenlunders are dwarves, but you may be under the impression that they’re the main type of dwarf in my world.  In fact they are the least populous of the 4 types of dwarves in my world, their population existing solely on the Isle of Karpa with the exception of a small handful of exiles.

The other 3 in ascending order of population are known as Sartval, Ansvari, and the most common merely as Dwarves.  I’ll talk a bit more about these 3 in the weeks to come, but for now I’ll focus on the Thierdenvolgenlunders.

The Thierdenvolgenlunders first broke apart from the mainlanders around 10 millenia past, immediately following the conclusion of the Demon Gods’ War(also known as the Demon Gods’ Invasion, the precursor of which you can read more about here) and before the 2nd fall of the empires of Melexi and Thirosia(which you can read a bit more about here).  The exact reason for their exodus is lost to history.  Some theorize that it was their contempt for Magi and their use of magic not granted directly by the gods which caused them to leave the mainland, but others claim that some of the oldest surviving tales speak of each ship having at least one Magus.  Whether or not the Theirdenvolgenlunders’ anti-Magus beliefs arose before or after their separation from the mainland is still a hotly contested topic amongst historians.

What is known is that the lord of the Thierden family(a family which still rules there to this day) gathered together all of his vassals and loyalists, assembled a fleet massive enough for them all to cram themselves onto, and they set sail for the Isle of Karpa.  Once there they launched into a genocidal war against the native goblins and trolls, leading to the extermination of all goblins and their warbeasts on the island.  The Thierdenvolgenlunders failed to eradicate all of trolldom, instead driving them deeper underground than they had previously lived.

Since this initial invasion the Thierdenvolgenlunders have worked tirelessly to fortify their underground holdings and continue pushing forward, albeit slowly now, into troll lands in the hope of one day slaying the rest of those giants.  As such most of the kingdom’s citizens are devoted to war in some way or another, whether through constant training for combat or continuously improving their skills as smiths of both weapons and armor.  Even with the blockades which the Zaltruscan empire has imposed on the Isle of Karpa since their own founding(some say less than a century after Thierdenvolgenlund’s founding) some of the products of these endeavors have slipped out into the mainland over the milennia, causing Thierdenvolgenlunders to have a reputation as both the best smiths and warriors in the world.

I’ll stop rambling on there, and get to what the gamers among you are likely waiting for: the 5th edition dwarven racial option I designed to try and reflect Thierdenvolgenlunders as best I could.  It is only a rough version since I’ve never really gotten around to testing it, but feel free to try it out yourselves, modify as desired, and give me feedback if you feel it needs polishing.  This option does not get the standard dwarven stats, only those listed below.

• Ability Score Increase:  +1 Strength, +2 Constitution
  
• Age:  Typically reach adulthood at around 60-70 years and live up to 450-500 years(though most die in battle before this).
• Alignment:  Can be any alignment, but most commonly are LN.
• Size:  Medium, stand between 3’8" - 4’4", though on vary rare occasions there may be an individual who reaches as tall as 4’6".
• Speed:  25’.
• Dwarven Toughness:  +1 maximum HP per level.
• Armor Training:  Proficient with Light and Medium armor.
• Combat Training:  Advantage on attack rolls against creatures of Giant type.
• Weapn Training:  Proficient with Greataxes, Heavy Crossbows, Warhammers, and War Picks.
• Tool Training:  Proficient with any 1 of the following - Jeweler’s Tools, Mason’s Tools, or Smith’s Tools.
• Stonecunning:  Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
  
• Second Sight:  This is an ability largely unknown to the world outside of Thierdenvolgenlund, and it is in fact one of the secrets as to why they are such exceptional smiths.  When in complete darkness, they can alter switch to a second sight which allows them to see the energy put off by different forms of matter, both organic and inorganic.  They mainly use this to assess the strength and quality of crafting materials before employing them, and when used in this way it gives Advantage on rolls made with an appropriate artisan’s tool(if no roll is required then it instead causes the final item to have a value 10-15% higher than normal with no increase to construction time or cost).                        This can also be used to see creatures in complete darkness(other than incorporeal or elemental creatures).  Looking at creatures in this way is disconcerting due to the sheer amount of different materials moving throughout a living body, and imposes Disadvantage on all of your attack rolls.
• Languages:  Dwarvish and 1 of the following - Gnomish, Giant, Undercommon, or Common.

Well, that’s it for today.  Hoping some of you lore and gaming geeks enjoyed this one.  Next week I’ll talk a bit on the Sartval and include their racial option.

As always, thanks for your time and support.  Keep reading and enjoying!

Map!!!

Okay, maybe my initial excitement was overblown as I’m clearly not the best cartographer.  I hope that one day my topographical sketching/watercoloring skills improve, but that is not today.  At least this time its a map that none of you have seen before.

The bulk of this map covers the western half of the Zaltruscan empire.  They control most of the Sea of Serpents, the exception being the Isle of Karpa which is controlled(mostly) by Pentaz’ home country - Thierdenvolgenlund.  Pentaz’ journey first takes him south along this sea and onto the plains near the river.  During an ordeal on these plans he meets Buscidia who guides him safely around the swamp and to the city of Jacirst(you can read more about these events starting at this collection of chapters).  She continues acting as his guide and bodyguard afterwards, doing her best to improve his knowledge of the mainland and its languages on their way to Llanchland.

Llanchland(near the left edge) is also not part of the Zaltruscan empire, being an independent city-state ruled by Llargas Llanch II, son of the city’s founder Llargas Llanch and one of a long line of Llargas Llanch’s who will rule over a city which has a far larger part to play in the future of the world than one may suspect from such a seemingly insignificant city-state.  Buscidia and Pentaz go through another ordeal while under the employ of Llargas Llanch II, growing closer to one another in the process(you can read more about Llanchland and the ordeal starting at this collection of chapters).

From here they sail around the unnaturally circular island(which you can find out more about in this collection of chapters), and south off of this particular map.  They eventually find their way back to this map, heading north along the purple road you see winding through the mountains to the Calden barony, home to the Magus Baron Caldus whose family crest graces the book’s cover.  Pentaz makes his way north out of the Calden barony, into the foothills then mountains of the Frozen North, eventually reaching the tip of the Dragon’s Head Peninsula for the book’s conclusion.  The Zaltruscan empire also claims the Frozen North as their territory, but this is an entirely unenforced claim as the landscape is too treacherous and the environment a bit too hostile to easily field/garrison an army with which to truly hold the area.

Beyond this you may be able to make out the circles drawn on some of the coastlines, these being some of the more significant port towns.  There are certainly more settlements than I’ve marked on the map, but I tend to only mark those which are included in my books in an important manner.  Naming some of the unnamed features(rivers, lakes, bays, forests, etc) is among the list of "wild card" rewards that I would be willing to honor for anyone winning the referral giveaway or the preorder giveaway.  Hopefully by next week’s update I will have made a more reader friendly, bullet pointed list of rewards and how to win them.

I hope you enjoyed the map and my very abbreviated textual trek through it with you.  Keep reading, enjoying, and recommending!

Mid-week update time.  Thanks to everyone whose supported Exile, Magus so far, it has meant a lot to me.  I’m still pushing along, and now that my schedule has cleared up I’ll be able to finally focus on the campaign as fully as I want to.  For those of you who are following, but haven’t ordered I do hope you’ll take the step soon.  Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help convince you.

Also, don’t forget that the top 10 referrers will get their choice of one of the signed art prints, a book, or a wild card reward(not so wild, more a "tell me to make you something" reward) after Magus is funded, so do keep recommending to everyone you think would enjoy the book.  Once the new artwork I just commissioned as a title page for Part 11 is finished that will take the total number of rewards available above 10, so that means that if Magus funds there will also be rolls made to see which readers also get special rewards.  I plan to keep commissioning new works throughout the campaign, and will post them here when each is completed. Now on to fun stuff.

I’ve got one more map to catch new followers up on before I move on to the previously unreleased maps.  This one is the Top of the World (and is admittedly not that spectacular).  

 The world’s north pole is rumored to be a haven for the world’s oldest dragons, and among those scholars who believe that dragons have a limited albeit very long lifespan the primary  that the aging dragons migrate here to die, making the region a dragon graveyard.  This theory is entirely untested however, for fear of dragons has led to very few expeditions attempting to reach the area, and those which have tried  have never been heard from again.

It is said to be a region of impassible mountains formed mostly of jagged, blade-like rocks jutting up out of the ground.  At its center lies a hole ranging from 20-30 miles across which is said to run all the way to the south pole, also known as the Bottom of the World.  Just how this seemingly impossible feature came to be lies with the conclusion of the legendary Demon Gods’ War.

With his fellow demon gods defeated, their leader Cirdresse stood astride the Top of the World and challenged the most beloved of the twin elven goddesses, Saereiscia Lataria.  During the struggle she was nearly overwhelmed, but ultimately prevailed when she flung her Gem of Power, thought to be one of the 12 Shards/Stones of Creation, into him and released its power to destroy him.  The resulting explosion of magical energy was cataclysmic, causing significant changes to the world such as the hole through it, the formation of Lake Moiyrthan and the World’s Cleft River as well as the eruption of a 10 mile high wall of flame around the continent opposite of ours.  Unable to be fully destroyed, the magic of the Gem lingers and sustains these features, and holds the planet together despite of the new hole through it.

Some of the more ridiculed theories about the hole claim it to be a gateway to Hellish realms, or to even be its own world with populations much the same as in the rest of the world.  These are assumed to be mere flights of fancy on the part of storytellers, however.  What actually lies beyond the rim is an ongoing mystery.  Most of the bard songs agree that if one where to look down through the hole that they could then see the stars of the night’s sky on the other end.  If there is any truth to this it would seem to disprove the other theories, as a portal to hell or light from cities would obscure the view. 

If you want to know a bit more about the build up to the Demon Gods’ War you can read the prequel of sorts to it here at my blog.

That’s all I’ve got for today.  Again, thanks for your support!  Keep reading and enjoying!

A bit later than intended, but I’m finally posting that map I promised.  Those of you who’ve been following the project for a while probably remember this one, but since there’s been quite a few new followers over the past two week I decided to share this one again.

Forgive the poor quality, I’m not the best map maker.  This is Pentaz’ homeland, or rather what lies above it, and thus is the starting point of his journey in Exile, Magus.

Known best on the mainland as the home to the reclusive dwarven nation of Thierdenvolgenlund, it was not always so.  Its original inhabitants where goblins and their troll masters.  The surface and closest caves were reserved for the goblins, whereas the trolls dwelt entirely in the cavern complexes beneath the island down to mid-depth.  The deepest depths were the uncontested abode of horrors which even the monstrous trolls dared not challenge.

This balance changed with the coming of the dwarves loyal to the Thierden family nearly 10 millenia ago.  They were quick to claim the island for themselves, both the surface and the caverns.  Both goblins and trolls were quickly pushed down into the depths, with the goblins being entirely eradicated within a few decades.  The trolls lasted longer, but after over a century of warfare they were forced to flee into the depths they had previously feared.  The dwarves presumed their troll enemies to be extinct as well for over 500 years until the trolls returned to harry them.  Their absence had turned them into an even more savage people than before, as survival amid the horrors of the deepest depths had forced them to both become more physically powerful and more fully turn to the worship of their god and supposed creator, Father Death.  The war between dwarves and trolls has continued intermittently ever since.

The dwarves have continued pushing forward, albeit slowly since the return of the trolls.  Their settlements are built into existing caverns, following the natural formations as a foundation and guideline for their carving out of homes and other structures.  They have only one restriction to their delving:  none can dig into or settle beneath Father Mountain, the highest peak in the known world which rests at the center of the isle.

While surface dwellers assume them to be two separate islands, they are actually a single landmass.  The channel between is strewn with rocky outcroppings, the peaks of underwater mountains with caverns running throughout to connect the two parts of the island.  Few dwarves live under the channel or eastern portion, so that this region has become the primary area settled by the trolls once they started returning to mid-depth caverns and above.

I hope you enjoyed that little bit of history from the world of Exile, Magus.  I plan to continue telling you a bit more about the background as the campaign progresses.  As always, thanks for your time and support.  Keep reading and (hopefully) enjoying.

Unplanned update time!

When I got home and checked my email last night I was quite excited to see that I had been chosen this month for the Epic Fantasy Syndicate.  Beyond being a boost for Magus’ order number it was a huge boost to my confidence.  We still have a long way to go though, so keep referring others to Magus and order if you haven’t already.

I want to share a map now, but I’m on my phone so that will have to wait.  Look for it tomorrow. 

Thanks for all of your support, and keep reading amd enjoying!

Time for my first real update of this campaign/contest.  First off the progress report.  Preorders have been going well, but unfortunately not well enough to prevent Magus from slipping out of the top 10 today.  There are still a lot of you following the project who haven’t ordered yet, so even if only even a few of you were to hit that order button we could get back into the top 10 easily enough.  Now on to other news.

Now on to the art.  Magus has an episodic structure, due to my original vision of it as serialized short stories following Pentaz as he struggles to make a life for himself.  My dream has always been for each of the 13 parts to have its own title page featuring full page art to either capture a scene, character, or idea from that part.  The cover which Magus has been sporting for the past several months is one of my favorite scenes from part 4 (Llanchland) where Buscidia prepares to defend Pentaz from an inscrutable enemy made of cogs(aside from its hair and beard of cables).  I’ve always thought of it as "Buscidia vs. the Cog Monster", and the scene was captured perfectly by the incredibly talented Lizzy Perez. 

As much as I love that as a cover, I always knew that it wouldn’t remain there.  For the outer cover I’ve long wanted something which encompassed the entire story more fully, and a few months back I finally decided just what that would be.  The Caldus family plays a large role in Pentaz’ life, being at the center of the two of the three events which occur in Magus to shape him.  So it’s only appropriate that their family crest would serve as the symbol for the entirety of Exile, Magus.  I’ve been sitting on the reveal of that family crest for a couple of months now.  The art below was done by Rachel Donne(you can check out more of her work by clicking on her name), and her interpretation of the crest I described was even better than I imagined. 

Just a quick one for now.  Prior to my campaign I had stated that for every 50 followers I would upload a new chapter, and this first week of the campaign/contest has seen me sprint past 350 followers.  That means I’ll be uploading at least 1 chapter tomorrow.  I’d also been debating with myself whether or not to continue uploading chapters since I already have quite a large amount posted.  Truth is that I like sharing my story and world too much not to keep uploading.  Since I’m now in a campaign though, from this point on I’ll be basing chapter uploads on number of new people who’ve ordered rather than number of followers.  For every 25 new readers I’ll upload a chapter, and since we’ve already hit 25 readers that means I have a 2nd new chapter to upload.  I’ll be uploading those tomorrow.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Look for a real update on Tuesday, and as always thanks for your time and keep reading!

Hey everybody!  I didn’t expect to be saying this for at least another 3-4 months, but Exile, Magus is live and in funding mode!  When I saw the G&S contest announcement, it was too good of an opportunity for me to pass up.  I’m now in that somewhat panicky "I wasn’t ready for this" first day of campaign launch mode.  Its both an incredibly nervous and highly energized feeling.  I’ve already gotten a pretty good start, so now its just up to me to keep up the momentum.  I’m hoping you’ll join me in that endeavor as well.  That’s all I’ve got for now, expect to hear from me every Tuesday or Thursday from now until the end of this contest with updates on our progress as well as other fun "things" I’ve been doing my best to save up to share with you all.

The weeks continue to be hectic, so going to be another quick one.  First off if you haven’t checked out the short story collection I’m a part of "Too Many Controllers", then be sure to do so before the contest and funding end in about 3 weeks(just click the title above to go there).  Also, while I’m on the topic of projects other than Magus, I recently went on a bit of a spree adding idea pages for some of the other books both in the Exile series and not, that I’ve got at various fragment or even draft stages, so feel free to take a look at those and follow any that interest you.

As for Magus, my art search is currently on standby due to the lack of both time and money, but it will by the middle of July or beginning of August most likely.  I’m still undecided on just when to start the campaign.  Originally I was thinking mid-August or early September for a start time, but now I’m thinking it might be better for me to wait until the start of the year.  I plan to go more into my thinking on this in my next newsletter, as well as to have a poll there so I can get some insight into all of your thoughts as well, so to read that and give feedback be sure to sign up for the newsletter here.

Finally, I’ll be doing a takeover of the "Too Many Controllers"  twitter account tomorrow (6/26) starting around 2pm Eastern time.  I plan to give a bit of insight into both my writing processing, gaming interests/habits, and just the general scattered nature of my brain, so be sure that you’re following @Inkvengers on Twitter if you’re interested in getting such a glimpse into my head.

That’s all I’ve got for this update.  Enjoy the rest of your weekends!