This is the first of my blog posts about the lore of the Triempery universe. If it is possible to tag the entries, I will eventually figure that out and tag them so readers can find them easily. Until then, I will preface each lore entry with LORE.
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While waiting for THE KHELD KING, the second book of the Triempery Revelations series, to be published in a few months, I thought readers might be interested in some of the lore that underpins the novels.
Not all readers enjoy delving into lore, though many do. Not many readers know about this blog, but if they look for more about the books and the world, they will find their way here and have something to read.
I personally devour the lore of books I love. I want to know about the characters and their world, how it — and they — came to be the way they are… why events happen the way they do. In The Lord of the Rings, the lore of Middle Earth makes sense of things like Gandalf returning from what looked like sure death or the importance of that broken sword. It makes sense of elves and orcs and rings of power.
The lore of the Triempery includes how their World was created — it is a Creation, the Second of its name — and how their gods came to be. Lore also explains the Entities that play such important roles in the story as it unfolds and erupts. It explains the villain and lays the groundwork for SORDANEON’S shattering end. Lore explains Marc Frederick and also Dorilian, and why they start as such bitter enemies even though each has never met the other. Lore expands understanding of the Khelds and the Dog Men…
“We are not dogs. No canine blood mixed with ours, despite the name they gave us,” Baran continued. “I do not know what we are, but there remains in us the curse the Aryati set in our bones. We cannot eradicate it unless we eradicate ourselves. Life is too strong for that.”
… and the immense disparities of wealth and power that drive so much of the conflict in the novels.
“… [The Rill] is what makes Staubauns rich — and it’s been making the Sordaneons rich forever. You heard what those men on the barge said. ‘Wealth without end.’ Look at this place! …. Even the King is fearful of all the ways that bastard could use the Rill against him. Any sane man would be. It can’t be stopped, and it can’t be captured. It’s a deathless behemoth that shits armies and gold.”
All the lore I will be talking about is embedded in the novels. Not all of it is embedded in SORDANEON. A lot of it is, though, and I tried to keep the lore to what readers needed to know. The exposition in that novel does a lot of heavy lifting. A story’s foundations generally need to be revealed if the structures they support are to function as intended.
Take for example the Wall. It is a minor player in SORDANEON. That novel centers on the Rill and the society greedy mortals have built upon it. But the Wall is more integral than might seem. Marc Frederick comes to question whether any person has free choice in a world guided by a Time-spanning Entity. And Dorilian’s glimpses of Wall visions — possible futures — influence him in subtle and important ways.
“… What I saw was so vivid, so real... flesh and blood real, and I knew it to be so... but only fragments. Nothing cohesive, more like paint thrown against a wall—or blood. There was no order to it, just agony. But in one of those visions, I saw myself clearly. I was wearing the full regalia of the Hierarchate, seated on the Eagle Throne, surrounded by my court. The Rill Stone was on my hand, and I was wearing Derlon’s Crown and holding the Gweroyen Sword. And I was not an old man.” Dorilian’s look beseeched Marc Frederick’s understanding of how compelling that vision still was. “Majesty, when I look in the mirror now, that is the face I see. This face”—he touched his nose and cheek—“but I don’t know how I get to that place.”
That influence becomes even more apparent, and has greater consequences, in THE KHELD KING, where the Wall is no longer a bit player but a major one.
Another foundation that needed to be revealed, gradually because it is complex, is that this World is a Second Creation. It is a second chance. A last chance. A magical race destroyed itself to make this rebirth happen. That race is gone and their sacrifice cannot be done again. So why did the magical race do such a drastic thing? And just how secure is this new Creation?
Well… therein lies a lot of lore. I will talk about some of it here. Every bit of that lore is in the books — but some of it is in the last one.
I can easily ramble on, and I might at times. Many of the stories are ones I love to tell. Amynas and The Leur (who does have a name). How Marc Frederick came to be in the World, completely unwillingly, and then became Essera’s King. Marc’s friendship with Enreddon. The destruction of the Vermillion Aqueduct and the costs of that act. Emyli running off with Erwan Cedrecson — and what really happened at Gignastha. How Dorilian acquired Legon as his loyal friend and supporter.
And, probably the best one, does Endelarin really have 100 wives?
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