Triempery World Map

Full World map of the Second Creation as it is understood in the Triempery novels.

When I started writing the Triempery series of novels many years ago I barely had any concept of exactly where anything was, only vague ideas about places that I knew existed and a general notion that they were either quite near or quite far from each other.

I was 16.

By the time I was 20, I had sketched out a very crude map which, no doubt mercifully, does not survive. But by the time I was 24 I created... this.

The world was bigger. Continent-sized. I had also named some of the land areas because, well, those had appeared as locations in my rapidly growing story.

Notice that Mormantalorus is NOT on the map. That's because I hadn't created it yet. [I wrote Sebbeth in later... and even later I changed that name to Xebbeth because I had named a character Sebbord and didn't want to change Sebbord's name. This kind of name-changing thing happens a lot.]

I also had not yet created the Triempery.

The original versions of this series featured two kingdoms: the North (not original at all -- everyone named their kingdom the North) and Sordan. Only later, and long after drawing my original map, did I make these kingdoms empires. That expanded the World, made it bigger and deeper and richer, and I ran with that creation.

I added Mormantalorus when I needed a better villain... my original villain was Dorilian. He was more an obstacle-to-be-won-over kind of antagonist for Hans, which led to an editor telling me to write Dorilian's back story. So I did that. Sordaneon was born -- and with it the need for a new villain and a new map.

Mormantalorus expanded the story yet again. Magic. Rebellion. Volcanoes and Purists and Nammuor. The southern portion of my map acquired a name... and lands... and history. It also acquired purpose. If Dorilian was to be protagonist, he required an antagonist other than Marc Frederick. Sordaneon required someone else. Something bigger. More map.

The three empires of the Triempery are roughly equal in size. The early Highborn were symmetrical that way. They were trying to build a society that would last and function smoothly. That the Rill ultimately failed them was a glitch.

I like the way the Rill appears on this map, with the active portion of the system being kind of white and shimmery. It isn't truly a topographical feature aside from its tall nodes, or mounts. Many of those are also shown. Because of the size of the map, though, most are not.

I added in quite a few locations, though. As I wrote the Triempery series I created lots of new places. Like Bellan Toregh and what happened there. And Jharbala, the redoubt of the Initiates that Dorilian occasionally visits for retreats. Iverness is featured in The Kheld King, and did not exist before I wrote that book. Gignastha too was just a rumor (in The God Spear and The Walled City) before The Kheld King.

Note also the Bounded Sea and the Pillars of the World (which I might yet rename the Pillars of the Sky because I think that sounds cooler). These are mentioned in the books. Though they never serve as actual locations/settings for any of the action, they are significant features of the Second Creation.

But I can't say too much yet about that.

Here's a black and white version of the map.