Every writer starts out with a blank page. But a fantasy writer also starts out with an empty world. I could not begin to write Errabundis until I had a world to write it in. De Turk and Lingensmith needed a culture to be part of, a society to act in and react to, and a history that defined them.
East to West
The world of Errabundis has a significant east-west orientation. This matches my own personal orientation. My family was part of the great post-WWII migration to Southern California. We traveled from Massachusetts along Route 66 to Los Angeles County. My childhood was full of references to “back East” or “out West”. Every family in the neighborhood where I grew up was from somewhere else, somewhere east, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Pennsylvania. Every family from a different place, bringing their own set of values, customs, and culture to our three or four blocks. But for everyone the sense was the same, that the West provided an opportunity lacking in the places they originally came from, just as it did for us. So the motion of the story from East to West was profoundly important to me.
The principal action moves from the Rhillim capital of Nyilynn, which anchors and dominates the eastern reaches of the continent, west to the river trade city of Wehrle then further west to the small Catadhi caravan town of Errabundis. Once all the major characters depart Nyilynn, the story does not return there. Once they depart Wehrle, the story does not return there, either. From the great capital of a powerful empire, to the scheming wealth of a riverine city, to the insignificant, local pleasures of a small society, all the action flows from east to west.
Geography and Plot
Geography is a significant plot element in Errabundis. There is great distance between Errabundis and the rest of the world. There are difficulties of time, of information, of movement because of this distance. Characters exist in different spheres and have a different level of understanding based on where they are situated. And once they are in Errabundis, they are cut off by geography from any easy escape or ready rescue. Geographical elements provide specific barriers that characters must contend with in one way or another.
There are seven noteworthy elements to the world of Errabundis. As the story developed, they changed somewhat, morphing slightly, taking on more significance, changing boundaries, but remaining essentially in the places I originally put them.
In the story, the Rhillim Empire rules. I wanted the Rhillim to be well-situated, in a rich, but confined homeland, forcing them to push beyond their borders. To serve the interests of the story, they needed to be very powerful, so powerful that they felt free to ignore what did not immediately interest them and to feel in control so long as they profited. The Rhil is a great, river-laced valley, bordered on the west by high hills and the Nebbegaard River, to the south by a desert, to the north by barbarian encroachments, and to the east by the sea. Their capital, Nyilynn sits in the northeast at the base of the Mountains of Ny, straddling the River Lynn. Nyilynn reflects the wealth of the Rhillim Empire, but it also reflects its ignorance.
The Nebbegaard River
The Nebbegaard divides the world, east from west, the known from the unknown, the knowing from the unknowing. There is no doubt that seeing the Mississippi River greatly influenced my thoughts on this. I grew up in Los Angeles, where rivers run in concrete channels. Standing on the levee in Louisiana and peering across the Mississippi’s great expanse to the distant bank impressed on me the power of the river and how it has shaped American life. And it was only then that I understood how important, actually and psychologically, it had been for American pioneers to cross it. So, the river came to divide my world into those with a safe and comfortable life and those who lived with uncertainty and desperation.
Cantum Pale
A great flood plain surely deserves its own story, but in Errabundis, Cantum Pale plays the gateway, not the destination. Long and narrow, it is the sole wedge of the Catadhan readily accessible to everyone. Yet, it gives away none of the Catadhan’s secrets. Not even its great trade city, Wehrle, admits to the realities. It is a facade, pretty and inviting, that tells nothing about the bricks and mortar behind it. It is a comfort zone. One can safely cross the Nebbegaard, one can trade in Wehrle. One has been to the Catadhan and mingled with the strange Wehrlic Catadhi. One has learned nothing of importance.
The Ringerrige Mountains
The fortress walls of the Catadhan bar all from entering its heartland. Passage through the Luminia Gate is restricted to the months when snow does not block the pass. It is not possible to casually decide one is going to Errabundis. Plans must be made well beforehand and the time of the year considered. One doesn’t make such a journey on a lark. It is a formidable undertaking that will consume a year or more of one’s life. The barrier of the Ringerrige gives weight and importance to the journey to Errabundis. Getting there is no small thing and no one should imagine it is.
The Catadhan
The Land of Dreams, peopled by the Children of Light, whose deep engagement with the legends and myths of their existence forms their world. The Catadhan is a vast and unknowable land, from the banks of the Nebbegaard River to the the Edge of the World, it encompasses more than can be easily grasped. For the purposes of the story, the Catadhan needed to be fabled, too big to fit on a map, too diverse to be readily understood. Mysterious and cloaked, hiding whole tribes of civilized people never heard of. Yet, the Rhillim Empire needed to think it ruled the Catadhan, when it knew nothing at all about it.
The Plain of Ode
Ode is the heart of the Catadhan and the piece that has been sacrificed to the Rhillim Empire to keep the rest safe. The Plain itself is a force, exerting pressure and demands that have formed the motivations of a major character. It is a sweet land of open plains and rolling hills, containing both wandering horsemen and rooted farmers. The major aspect of Ode, the great rains, also come from my childhood. Los Angeles is a desert and exhibits the rain patterns of a desert. When it rains, it rains great drenching downpours that flood the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley. Water rises quickly, too quickly to be handled by the formidable systems developed to deal with them. Streets become rivers, intersections become lakes. The dry channel of the Los Angeles River becomes a raging torrent that threatens to overflow its concrete walls. I gave Ode these great rains of my childhood that flush away the heat of summer and saturate the ground with the promise of renewal that greatly influences the behavior of the people of Errabundis.
The Sanguine Innundare
The valley of blood is the most historically important place upon the Catadhan. It is here that Errabundis is situated, at the very place where the last great battle against evil domination was won. The blood of those who fought for freedom permeates the ground. And it is here that everyone hopes the promise of the future will be realized.
The Edge of the World
Every bad thing happens at the Edge of the World. And every good thing. It is the ultimate place, where great evil and great good meet in a titanic clash destined to change the world. Every character in the book is impacted by events at the Edge of the World, whether they realize it or not. The Edge is far away from Errabundis, beyond the Plain of Ode, over rivers and mountains, but it is ever present in the lives of those who have been there. It is both real and ephemeral, a construct of the mind and an unavoidable destiny, a place of death and revelation, where the forces that form the substance of life battle ceaselessly for supremacy.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief tour through the landscape of Errabundis.