Here you can find supplementary information on the world found in J.C. Hartcarver’s books. New information will be added as the series progresses.

Kaihals (pronounced like kales): A lonely continent at the center of an endless ocean shrouded in fog. I’ve trekked across it for the last 20+ years, hoping to uncover more of its secrets. Please forgive me that I only know so much, but will offer to share the best of my knowledge with you, adding information whenever I can. Kaihals has been divided for the last few centuries by a barrier called Hanhelin’s Gate, which divides the two major regions: the Lightlands and the Darklands. Hanhelin’s Gate has magical fortifications to keep the dangerous creatures in the Darklands (the north side) out of the Lightlands (the south side). The Darklands remain an untamed land, despite the fact that it was organized into kingdoms long ago. Today it is populated, nonetheless, by many types of people and animals. The Lightlands are well civilized and orderly, home to two different countries: the Kingdom of Sharr and the Sovereign State of Norr.

 

Humans: These folk are quite like you’d expect. They only live for about 60-80 years, are considered fast breeders, come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are not so adept at magic as other creatures can be (though most of them can learn from the wide range of styles found on the continent). They can often be homely creatures, hardworking (or sometimes not so much), and enjoy the simple pleasures of food, drink, and music. They are the most adaptable creatures in Kaihals, able to find a living in any surprising corner of the continent.

Elves: Here’s an enigmatic race of people, similar enough to humans on the outside, besides their pointed ears and fair features. The elven existence balances a refined culture of many harsh rules and laws with a primitive society and close connection to their primal instincts. As humans are always looking for new ideas and inventions, the elves feel they have it all figured out, but they have good reason for this. After suffering various hardships in their history, the elves have closed their forest state of Norr to the outside world, and only deal with outsiders in a strict, no-nonsense fashion. Aside from that, they breed far slower than humans and struggle with a severe male to female imbalance (males being the most numerous), resulting in strained situations among their own kind. This is the reason for their inflexible laws and regulations. The elves are highly disciplined in their everyday lives, favoring quality over quantity in every aspect. They are loyal, loving, and fierce in their duty and honor to their loved ones. By their own Norrian language, the males are properly referred to as saehgahn (pronounced say-gone) instead of “men,” and the females are considered faerhain (fair-hayn). Norrian law forbids the elves from practicing any outside magic. Instead, many elves are born with some kind of natural magical ability, and are only allowed to practice these abilities.

Fairies: These hard-to-fathom beings fill the unseen world beyond human vision. It is said that they come, and continue to come, through holes in the dimensional wall from which they originated. They don’t come of their own calculations, instead they “spill” through the portals, lost in their absentminded drifting. In this land which is foreign to them, they move around as independents, yet at the same time make up a whole all their own. None are old and none are new; there are only those who’ve been on the mortal plane longer than others. Though they are invisible, some humans have managed to glimpse them, while other humans have seen fairies that possess enough energy to make themselves purposely visible.

The most captivating aspect about fairies is their ability to collect energy they store within themselves and evolve into higher beings. They mostly collect energy from the mortal races of Kaihals via channels of emotional outbursts, particularly fear, surprise, and anguish, and can also collect energy from natural elements (water, fire, etc.). Names have been given to the different levels fairies have achieved and are as such, listed in order lowest to greatest: wisp, bibble, sprott, fairy minor, fairy major, and pixie. On the matter of individual names, most fairies have none. Since names are something mortal creatures give to each other, only fairies who’ve been seen by a mortal may carry the name they received from them (if such a thing occurred).

For the most part, fairies whittle away their infinite time by watching mortals for the entertainment factor and siphoning the energy expelled during each visit. Higher level fairies can find new, more hands-on ways to collect energy and in greater amounts. When they evolve to higher levels, they may also become exponentially more dangerous, but they always run the risk of using up their energy stores, so each one must act wisely.

Check back soon, there’s more to come!