World Building

In the beginning, there was the Sun.

The sun created the world, filled it with creatures and plants, and set it down. But even though the world was far from them, it grew loud and angry with its needs, and the Sun couldn’t be bothered to answer them.

And then there was the Moon.

The Moon was closer to the world, and could hear the cries of all who lived there. The Sun, who only wanted to create a world, but not manage it, gave the world to the Moon. The Moon wanted to help, but every creature spoke its own language, and there were simply too many voices. The Moon couldn’t be everywhere at once.

The Moon did two things. First, the Moon broke itself into pieces, and created six smaller moons, with itself as the largest seventh Moon. Each moon was given a task so that the Moon could focus on what was most important. Air, water, fire, earth, body, and mind.

Second, the Moon created the naalbiyols, to condense each type of creature’s voice into a singular. Now instead of billions of voices, there were only thousands, and the Moon could hear them all.

Naalbiyols are a type of spirit. Every species of (non-humanoid) animal has one. They possess the collective consciousness of all members of their species. But the most important thing about them is they can communicate with all other species, including humanoids.

Traits

-Since naalbiyols encompass their entire species, they do not have a gender! All of them use they/them pronouns and they refer to themselves as We/Our/Us

-In the daytime, they look like a regular member of their species (except way bigger), and at nighttime, they shine with starlight

-Naalbiyols do not die of natural causes, but they can be killed. They eventually return, but it’s based on how populous their species is. (Example: Say there were 50 goats when the naalbiyol was killed, 50 more goats have to be born before they return)

First things first, only royalty possess last names. In the absence of last names, people substitute their place of birth.

The exception to this is those who have earned a certain rank or title, in which case they will adopt the name of their estate as a last name, but it does not extend to their family. Use of this last name is only required in formal settings. If someone achieves a rank or title without belonging to a named estate (very rare), a name is chosen on a case-by-case basis.

It is considered very poor taste (and bad luck) to name a child after someone who is living. As such, people in small villages take care too pick unique names. In cities, they will try not to name a child after someone in their circle or same profession.

While not taboo compared to naming a child after someone living, it is considered good and proper for all those living in the same household to have names starting with the same letter, or at the very least, the same letter as one of the parents. In the very common case of parents having names starting with differing letters, one will often adopt a nickname for the sake of family cohesion.

Fun fact!

Of the main six characters, Xana is not the only one going by a chosen name, but you won’t find out who else until The Gravity of Stars.

There are two types of magic in the world: Enchanters and Chosen.

Enchanters

Enchanters are those who learn how to enchant objects. Anyone can learn this, though there are some who might possess more of an aptitude. It is learned through study, and often requires components.

The most talented enchanters can eventually learn how to enchant a living being, but because there are greater risks and much more study involved, this area is only attempted by long-lived races (Elves and sometimes dwarves)

Chosen

Chosen, meanwhile, are considered wielders of true magic. It is very rare for someone to be born Chosen. It normally happens later in life as the result of a traumatic event. Much like the name suggests, they are chosen by one of the six lesser gods (Represented by the six smaller moons). While variations exist among different cultures, these gods’ domains are air, earth, fire, water, body, and mind.

While a Chosen’s power can fall into the broader category of one of the six lesser gods, the actual results of being Chosen vary greatly. For example, someone who is Chosen by the water god might have control over water, or they might be able to shapeshift, or any number of things.

However, Chosen are extremely rare.

Keepers

While Keepers do not fall into the category of a magic user, they are related to magic.

A Keeper is a person who makes the Sacrifice for Knowledge, which transforms them into a living statue and removes their soul, their memories, and their personality.

Why would anyone do this? Immortality of their knowledge and skills. But, as its a very steep price, Keepers are even rarer than Chosen.

In the world of You Left Me the Stars, necromancy does not exist. This is because, as you might recall from my post about magic, any type of magic must be tied to a god.

But there is no god of death.

As such, when the characters are told that a necromancer exists, everyone is confused, and no one has any clue what the rules of necromancy are.

Personally, I think it’s fun to have a mix of things the readers know that the characters don’t, and things the characters know that the readers don’t. Necromancy is an example of the former.

The first product of necromancy the characters face are wraiths. Wraiths are a non-corporeal representation of a real, but dead person. They have the mannerisms and memories of that dead person, but no will of their own. They can be killed, but only by being stabbed through the heart, or having their heart removed. Once this happens, the body disappears.

Zombies, on the other hand, are corporeal living dead. The necromancer must possess the dead body in order to animate it. They do not possess any form of consciousness, and will only follow instructions. Zombies cannot be killed.

The necromancer also possesses a fun extra skill in the form of torture. Since the necromancer can reanimate dead bodies, they can also reanimate the dead cells WITHIN a body and attack that body from the inside out.

This, however, requires their full concentration, as there are billions of dead cells in a body at any given time.

Being bonded to an animal is a very rare occurrence in which two living things are born at the EXACT same moment. As a result of this, a bonded pair shares the same soul.

While these two are not required by any means to live in each other’s company, they are drawn to each other, and in most cases, as soon as they can move they will find each other.

The great thing about being in a bonded pair is that only one of them needs to eat, drink, and relieve themselves.

The downside is that they feel each other’s pain, and if one of them is killed, both die.

They cannot directly communicate (Either verbally or telepathically), but they certainly have a sense for each other. Their emotions and thoughts tend to bleed through the connection, and as such, direct communication is largely unnecessary.

Fun fact!

Atariel and Ember are not the only bonded pair, and while the other pair is hinted at, it is not confirmed until A Void of Stars.

As much as I love the ‘ol slap them with a glove, I wanted to start duels with something a little more visceral and symbolic.

So in this world, duels are started by purposefully getting your blood on someone. (Usually slicing your palm and placing it on their chest or face.)

After the duel has been accepted, the instigator will name their terms. Time, weapon, and the challenge.

The duel acceptor will then counter those terms.

Then, an arbitrator (automatically the highest ranked person present, not including either of the duelers) will formally decide the terms should they not be congruent.

Immediately following the terms, seconds must be declared.

Seconds will fight in the case of the dueler being killed before the duel starts, or if they take ill.

They do NOT fight if the dueler refuses or runs away before the duel. In those cases, the duel is forfeit. The duel is also forfeit if the dueler fails to obtain a second.

If the duel is forfeit, either the dueler who failed to obtain a second, or a second whose dueler has run away will face the consequences of the challenge THEY posed, NOT the challenge their arbitrator agreed on.

For example, if Dueler A calls for a duel to go to first blood, and Dueler B calls for it to go to the death, and the arbitrator decides on first blood, Dueler B will be killed if they fail to obtain a second.

Humans

Human family structure resembles white, western family structure. Aka, living with parents until you become an adult, and then raising your children, if you have them, with your partner.

Elves

Elves, being long-lived and usually having fewer children than other races, tend to have generational homes. Most end up living out their lives in the home they were born in. When partnerships are created, they choose the home with fewer residents, more space, or greater care-giver need.

Halflings

Halflings are much like humans, except they are not expected to leave their family home until they have children of their own, and even then they often choose to stay in their family home for the first few years of their childrens’ lives. Overall, halflings have the most flexible and varied structure.

Dwarves

Dwarf children are not raised by their parents, instead, all the children are raised together. Every parent, no matter what their job/position, is expected to take their turn tending to the cohort of children. But only parents. Childless dwarves are not allowed to oversee the children.

Elves

Elves celebrate the solstice by bathing in the ocean, followed by bonfires on the beach while elders tell stories. Children are often given sweets, especially those that can be roasted over a fire. Sometimes gifts are exchanged, largely textile-based ones.

Humans

Humans, given that they are the most widespread race, tend to have regional celebrations on the solstice with a large variety of names and customs, but there are a few pervasive traditions. Such as a festival in which merchants sell wares and dancing takes place, and the decoration of homes with evergreen boughs.

Halflings

Halflings refer to the solstice as Hearth Day. They celebrate by thoroughly cleaning out their hearth, and then starting a new fire, usually with birch wood. They often write wishes for the new year on pieces of paper and burn them in the inaugural fire.

In times past, a paste was made of the ashes cleaned from the hearth and painted in symbols on bodies, but this has fallen out of favor.

Dwarves

Dwarves call the solstice “Hibernation Day,” and they celebrate it by... doing exactly that. This is the one day a year that dwarves break into family units, though this is applied loosely and can include close family friends. The entire family spends 24 hours in a single communal bed/pile of blankets and pillows/fort, with plenty of fatty and filling snacks.

If you know me, you know I have a degree in biology and specialized in animal behavior and evolutionary biology. I am very interested in the ongoing debate of what makes a species, a species, and where the line is drawn.

One of the most widely used definition of a species is that they must be able to reproduce, and more than that, reproduce viable and fertile offspring.

The most common example of this definition working is that of donkeys and horses. They can indeed produce offspring together, mules, but mules cannot produce their own offspring, which means that horses and donkeys are separate species.

Of course, nothing in biology is set in stone and there are species that are pushing the boundaries. For example, polar bears and grizzly bears are considered separate species, but the rise of fertile “grolar bears” in their habitat overlap is bringing this defnition under scrutiny.

But, this definition of species comes into play in You Left Me the Stars. In this book, characters who are any type of “half” are infertile, and this includes Atariel, being a half-elf.

I had three different reasons for Atariel and other halfs- being infertile.

• Plot reasons (Mostly for the 3rd book)
• A personal pet peeve of mine are books that include M/F sex scenes and don’t offer any sort of explanation for birth control (It doesn’t have to be a big thing, just throw in a “drank a special tea,” but please mention SOMETHING.)
• The most important reason, for me, is wanting to have a FMC who is infertile and have it not be a tragedy. It’s overdone, lazy, and frankly, unrelatable. Yes, for some people it is a tragedy (And there are characters who explore this), but it isn’t tragic in every single scenario, and I wanted to represent that.