The Origin:

There was once a time when God’s sat atop golden thrones and ruled over Vanharlm, but their greed over mankind grew deep and … decided to cease their reign over Vanharlm and this did not go down so well with all the God’s.

They met the Æthurians after retreating back into their golden halls of Zalcamar, a pale skinned race which shone like the brightest star. They were not a violent race until Taurus betrayed Celinia’s trust and forced a war between the Zalcamainians and the Æthurians. But after days of discussion and arguing, a proposal was agreed, that Taurus and his manservant Brolgr would become the Æthurians hostages and their King Bolgrobol and his son, Fengrl would be hostages to the Zalcamainians. It was all agreed and Narskesha became the Æthurians new Queen who had later bore a child named Morgoth and bore her into the care of the Zalcamainians.

Politics:

Elves live in a community where everyone is equal but they still have Kings and Queens to help support their kin and to provide trade to other races if they require it. Humans are very much governed by their respective Kings, Queens or minor noblemen; dwarves are governed by a King but he is ruled by the major traders; and the Askara’s system of government remains unknown as their numbers are few and rarely seen by any.

People/major hierarchies:

Humans are the largest populated race in Vanharlm. They first originated from Delminia and Salmia and then slowly dispersed themselves onto Feln and The Wild Lands and other neighbouring continents. Feln was originally populated by the elves but they welcomed the newcomers with open arms and now most elves had left to wander back to their ancient lands whilst others chose to stay.

The giants and trolls kept to the mountainous regions and dragon kin had all but fled Vanharlm from the time of chaos and ruin.

With the Askara’s numbers unknown, it is hard to tell where they stand as they have grown more reclusive than before and no man or elf or even dwarf has seen an Askara in years. Dwarves are very important for their trade in weapons and minerals.

Races and cultures:

Elves – elves were the first race to be created by the Gods and to be later called the elder race. When Celinia first created them, she gave them incredible intelligence and wisdom and beauty. When the elves were given to Vanharlm and they immediately inhabited the seas, air and the forests.

Humans – humans were the second race to have been created by Celinia. They were given thought, sense and understanding. They began cultivating crops and flowers and began mining for minerals which were later used to invent tools to build villages, towns and cities.

Dwarves – dwarves were the third and last race to be created by Celinia. They were built to be short and strong to inhabit Vanharlm’s mountains, caves and underground passages. They soon began mining for minerals, metals and stones.

Askara (Dark elves) – these beings were created by Taurus who were bred with evil and hatred in their hearts. They began inhabiting caves and dark forests and soon started to learn everything about mankind and so started to transform into them in order to learn, manipulate and procreate evil into mankind.

Ur’laks – twice the size of the average man, Ur’laks are indignant to the Wild Lands and are spread far and wide in many small tribes across the desolated barrens. They completely replied upon the human government to supply them with food, tools and even weapons but the trade had dwindled as pirates had stemmed the flow of goods reaching the Wild Lands.

Magic/technology:

There are two types of magic within my world, one called ‘Phase’ and the other ‘Source’.

Phase – Phase is what magisters are taught and learnt within an academy much like the Veserie. Phase encompasses all types of magic to a certain degree. There is a fine line between the Phase and the Source.

Source – the Source was the source of all magic at the very beginning when an event caused magic to seep into the world. The Source is a more unstable but deadly form and some magisters still perform and learn it to this day.

Geography and nature:

Most of Feln is comprised of forests, fields and mountains but there are also moors and swamps. These are all landscapes that I decided to construct myself.

I’ve incorporated animals such as Firecrests, wolves (later in series), and dogs and of course horses as they play a pivotal role in transportation and farm work. Other creatures or beasts I have created using animals that we see to this day.

Faiths, beliefs and religions:

There are many faiths and beliefs that not all are named in Vanharlm. All races have their own God’s that they worship and all are named differently but all point to the same Gods. Elves perform a ritual known as Faede (meaning life) even with many of the elvish dialects this ritual was kept and named the same through all elvish cultures. Humans worship their Gods in stone temples, statues erected in town and village squares and even small stone altars are erected in homes so they can worship their Gods everyday if they must. Elves respect the Gods of others as they know that all Gods are the same.

Detailed description of my book:

The story follows Tari, an elven princess, born within her woodland home, and with the death of her mother years past, she has grown into the heir she was meant to be. With her sudden visions of a strange man, an equally strange spirit and events of a great battle long ago, that no records or accounts have ever been recorded, except for a book which is found in her father’s possession. But her life is thrown into chaos as sudden events unfold after her abduction. Kidnapped by a group of mercenaries, she learns the wealth and knowledge of human magic and that her fate is tied to an ancient creature, which until recently, she had only known in stories.

And when Tasbi, Tari’s closest friend, follows closely in her footsteps to find her, she is immediately plunged into a city that is rife with murder and betrayal. Histories, myths and legends start to reveal themselves and the fate of the mysterious Soulblade lies within the hands of an unsuspecting assassin.

With Tari’s powers growing, she is soon thrust into the unknown world of human magic and she must learn to control her powers fast in order to protect her friends and loved ones from a malicious God bent on destructive dominance.

Author:

Kirsty L Jennings

Short bio:

I was born in Norwich, and currently live near Dereham, Norfolk UK. My love of writing originally stemmed from my mother who, like me, loved writing books at an early age. Like most of us. I wrote tremendous amounts of short stories, but sadly, most of them were misplaced and lost over the years. But, it was those stories that motivated me to write my first novel (I have written a second and now currently writing the third in the series) and this helped to expand my imagination.

I studied at Easton and Otley College for 7 yrs studying various animal care course including a National Diploma in Animal Management and finally finishing off with a two year course in a Foundation Degree in Ecology and Conservation in 2012.

With my love of animals, I finally took riding lessons, which was a dream of mine, and this provided me with valuable knowledge, information and experience which I have integrated into my books.

I’ve written two books in the fantasy genre and I am currently penning my third in the series.

I decided to create a blog to a) join authors together b) to help make people aware of Inkshares and my book I have crowdfunding through them and c) to bring together a community of readers and authors in one place.

How the story came about:

In my early childhood, I wrote hundreds of short stories (much like everyone else at that age) and they were all focused on the fantasy genre from which I grew up around (alongside science fiction of course, another genre I absolutely love).

Writing fantasy as a child helped me to create and develop my creative and imaginative mind, but it also allowed me to completely immerse myself into a different world, separating me from real life (if only for a moment) but I would often dream of what it would be like to live in such a world. And, to be able to develop a world such as what I dreamed of enabled me to do this. In short, it brought my dreams to life…it made it real for me.

Several times I would flashback to those moments when I wrote those short stories, when the pen rolled along the lined paper. All my ideas, dreams and thoughts suddenly decided to pen itself onto the paper. Places, characters, technology or magic I’ve never been to, met or understood the fundamentals of.

Along those stories, I would also sketch out pictures that accompanied the story, showing a picture view of what was happening within the story. I literally come from an artistic family and background. My grandmother, grandfather, my mother and sister and I all draw with various skills and levels.

But, ever since going through high school and college, those stories seemed to have halted until a few years ago when both my mother and sister decided to collaboratively write their first book together (Dawn of the Awakening: Demon’s Bite, and now they are crowdfunding a prequel ‘Blackthorn’ on Unbound) that I thought, ‘Right, let’s pick off from where I left off,’ and by that point I had typed up 2 unedited books in the Dragon Order Series and ¼ of the third and squeezing in editing and re-writing book 1 Soulblade: Forgotten Souls all in under a year (2015).

I had kept a handful of my short stories (somewhere) but most of them were lost over the years when my grandfather moved out of his bungalow in Wicken Green in which I originally wrote them.

But, before I even wrote or typed a single letter, I had penned out who and what characters I was going to have and develop into the story, created each individual backstory for them (granted, some I had made up along the way), and also building the maps by hand before scanning them into Photoshop and defining them. once I had the history of the world, its people, places and races all mapped out, it was at this moment that I typed up my first word…my first chapter.

At this point, I hadn’t posted anything up on social media about it (I hadn’t even created a Twitter account until last year), I had only posted straight onto Inkshares, a crowdfunding site dedicated to helping authors accomplish their dreams and to also create a close network of both authors and readers all in one place. So, I began pitching and gathering followers to my work and before long I had gathered some helpful tips, good reviews and to be a part of a more than friendly community.

Links:

Inkshares:

https://www.inkshares.com/books/soulblade-forgotten-souls

Website:

https://kirstyljennings.wordpress.com/

Blog:

www.fantasyscifiwriter.blogspot.co.uk

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/kirstyj78

https://www.facebook.com/TheDragonOrderSeries/timeline

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/kirstyj7811