The Worlds of Nathan Pedde: Agersolum

Years ago when I first started this journey as a writer and an author, my wife and I started to worldbuild. As a fan of David Eddings, I thought you needed to create a world in its entirety to write a story set in it. Eddings did it, and Tolkien did it. So I figured I needed to do it. I was wrong and my other worlds don’t have the level of worldbuilding as this one, but that is a topic for another time.

This started the journey. My wife and I used to stay up all night creating cultures, religions, magic systems. I drew a map, and we started creating characters. This process took years to do with as much thought to each culture, how they interacted and the stories to be told in them as any story I have written.

But what is Agersolum?

Agersolum is a fantastical world where magic is a gift of the Gods. They use it with the aid of runes tattooed to the body. The cost, as all magic needs a cost, is pain. Everything is painful. Tattooing, casting, and learning all cause pain. Magic users grow high pain tolerances quickly or die as a result.

But the world is much more than a magic system. Each culture, from the Aurrians, Ta’arqians, Ekorians, Mal Kovians, Nahikians all have a different culture, religion, history. They have hates and desires. Things that make stories sing.

Stories set in the world of Agersolum are about the people inhabiting the world. Not all the people living there are good people. There are thieves, swindlers, and smugglers mixed in with soldiers, merchants and nobles. Maybe they are the same people.

I have one series out in the world, with another being written. Felix the Swift is a thief, turned slave, turned Master of Magic. He is called to a higher calling himself as the Gods order him to save magic itself. There are two books published with a third on the way.

The book being written now is Eloc the Bronze Ax. Eloc the serf is conscripted into the Grandanorian King’s Army. He must fight his way for a monarch who had no interest in his well-being, who viewed him as property. There is more to Eloc than meets the eyes to most, as he has a greatness he needs to grow into or risk having the nation fall into ruin.

If you wish to pick up these books, here are the links to the two books out and the pre-order of the third.

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free in Kindle Unlimited. I have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Worldbuilding and Logic Rant

This is a ramble that I had late one night on social media. I thought it was interesting and that I should put it here.

Rant

I write my books in two main genres, which are Science Fiction and Fantasy.

The reason I do this is that they both scratch a different itch.

I enjoy science fiction cause I am a futurist. I enjoy telling stories about what I think the future could look like. I’m the type of person who wishes we had flying cars by now.

Science fiction is the question of what can happen. When it comes to creating my science fiction stories, I never choose the best choice for what could happen. This means that it is not the most probable or most straightforward. I choose what will happen based on what will cause the most conflict in the story. Conflict equals stories, and if there is no conflict, then there is no story.

I still try to figure out how to create the world, so it makes plausible sense. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to have some type of internal logic. Without any logic to the world, then the actions of the characters don’t make sense.

The starships should act in a certain way. Gravity still exists, and no matter where the characters are in the galaxy, they are in orbit around something. Either a moon, a planet, a star, or the center of the galaxy. The ships will act in a certain way.

I imagine it like being on the ocean. The wind and the currents dictate what a ship will do. A sailing ship has to move a specific way, or else it won’t move very fast. With diesel engines and the like, it allows ships to ignore some aspects of sailing on the open seas. Now, they don’t care what the wind does. But they listen to the currents. It is why there are shipping lanes. Having a ship go with the current saves on fuel.

In space, the same thing exists. Right now, we are in the equivalent to the sailing ship. We don’t have the energy to go against gravity and planetary movements. We have to ship things on long trips using gravity slings to get things where they need to go. If we figure out more efficient energy sources, then we may be able to take quicker routes. But like sailing on the ocean, taking routes where the aid of the gravitational force in travel will be a thing.

With fantasy, it is the question of what could have been. History is rich with stories and conflict and having some type of fantastical story set in a world that never was interesting to me. Back in my twenties, I did the Tolkein, and I had created a fantastical world complete with a map and different cultures. This was cause I was told that was the best way to do it. Create a map and peoples to inhabit said map.

I’ve refrained from doing that craziness to my later worldbuilding ideas. But there is still logic to it.

No matter what Hollywood tells us, swords won’t cut through metal armor. Battles in the middle ages resulted in very few casualties from combat. Most soldiers died of disease on a campaign than a sword blow. In battle, it was considered a massacre if ten percent of the soldiers died. Battles were about breaking the morale of the enemy, rather than slaughtering the entire enemy.  These aspects are just some of the logic used with creating a fantasy story.

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