What is Akralon? Part I

When people ask what the Akralon books are about, I find it difficult to give a short answer and do the books justice.  Akralon is about two things, primarily.  First, it's about self-discovery and finding purpose in life.  Second, it's about the power of imagination and creativity.

The reason the characters span the globe is to show many different lifestyles and circumstances, but also to show how most people define themselves by their job or their family or their culture.  We all do it, to some respect.  But who are you without those things?  With no job, no family and no culture, what is left? 

We have all these societal norms that regulate our behavior that we never really stop to think about.  I like to use the old elevator example.  There are unspoken rules about etiquette inside an elevator.  You step in, you turn around, you stare at the doors or watch the changing floor light.  Nobody wrote these rules down, we just sort of adapted into this group behavior.  But imagine how people would react if you stepped inside the elevator and did NOT turn around, and instead stared forward.  What if you just walked to the back of the elevator and stood silently facing the corner?  Technically, you wouldn't be doing anything wrong, but something as simple as which direction you're facing is enough to make people freak out and think you're crazy!

All that, just in an elevator.  A household, town, city and country have a million more of these unspoken rules of how we ought to behave. But what if you took people out of their society, out of their country - out of their world?  What if you put them in a different world where none of those rules applied.  How would they react?  What would they think?  Without culture, family and friends - how would they now define themselves?

Now imagine, after some time, they return home, to all the familiar things.  Would they be any different - changed in any way?  Would they simply revert back to their old habits and ways of thinking?  No doubt, depending on the shortness of the time away, most people would settle back into their old ways.  It's what they've been doing the longest.

But what if they could, periodically, go back and forth?  How would they deal with two separate realities?  The human brain doesn't like not having everything on the same page, so it would try and adjust, somehow bring the realities together.  This means the person would have to develop a stronger, more defined way of viewing the world/s and his or herself. 

Throw in the extra spice of having abilities not available in the real world and you have a formula for making heroes and villains.  Some people will find strength to overcome their circumstances, to learn and grow and be better people.  Others will fall victim to their darker natures and downward spiral into infamy. 

So, in a sense, the world of Akralon is a test for the soul.

Fey - The Ancient Peoples

Firbolgs were the first to inhabit the forests of Fablemyr. While they are fierce and barbaric, they lived in peace and harmony with the surrounding wilderness.

When the Tuatha de Danann arrived, they felt intruded upon the mysterious and haughty elves. A war ensued, and large and strong as the Firbolgs were, they were outmatched by the cleverness and spellcraft of the elves. Upon losing, they were pushed to the outskirts of the forest.

Now the Firbolgs dwell in the surrounding hills and mountains, venturing into the forest only when food runs scarce. Untrusting and quick to anger, some say Firbolgs have giant’s blood in them. They stand over eight feet tall and are usually thick with muscle and coarse hair. Despite their immense size, they are excellent hunters and can move silently through tree and brush when necessary.

The militant and merciless Fomor are a ruined race of deformed mutants, immune to normal weaponry.  Their pale flesh resembles melted wax, oozing over brutish malformed bodies.

The Fomor invaded Fablemyr after the Tuatha de Danann, defeating and enslaving them.  For long years they ruled with an unyielding iron fist. Lugh Lamfada eventually led the Tuatha de Danann in an uprising.  With the aid of the Four Treasures of Ireland, the Tuatha de Danann brought down the mighty Fomorii leader, Balor, and banished all Fomor from the boundaries of their realm.

The Fomor have recently began turning up in various places in Fablemyr, plotting the vengeance that has been festering in their souls for the entirety of their banishment...

The Tuatha de Danann are the magical and mystical race called elves.  After a successful campaign to drive out the Firbolgs, they indulged in music making and celebrations. They first battled and defeated the Firbolgs and later fought the foul and mean-spirited Fomor... and lost.

Despite the beauty and grace of the elven culture, they were no match for the sheer numbers and brute force of the relentless Fomor.  It took the combined strength of four great treasures and an inspirational leader to rally them to overthrow the heavy yoke of their militant slavers.

Flourishing for a thousand years in Fablemyr, in tandem with the Fey kingdoms.  They spread out and forged four great cities.

The first two cities were Murias in the west and Finias in the east.  Murias was a twilight city of water and healing.  These elves became the Lunaire, or moon elves by common tongue.  They practiced the art of moon magic and studied lunar cycles, curative and calming powers.  A soothing city of smooth marble, flowing streams and serene ponds, Murias was the first city to be abandoned.

Finias, nearly the opposite, became a city of light and illumination, of knowledge and research.  They built tall spires to bask in the sunlight and became the Syldaer, or sun elves.  They spent time harnessing the powers of sunlight, filtered through various precious gemstones to offer the powers of revelation, divination and restoration.

In the north, they founded Falias.  Here the elves delved deep into the earth, diving into the darkness where strange molds and fungi grow.  They took a strange fascination with herbalism and toxicology.  Eventually they began experimenting with shadow magic.  This obsession is what led to the title the Dreyth, or shadow elves.  Eventually, their experimenting became too radical and severe and they were cast out by the other factions of elves - banished forever from Fablemyr.

Last, in the south was Gorias.  Here the elves cast off their fine clothes and jewelry as well as their refined customs and mannerisms.  They chose to admire both the beauty and order of nature and the wild chaos of fire.  Hence they became the wild elves, or the Wildryn.  They hunted and foraged much in the way of the Firbolgs before them.  Their tools were of bone and wood, stone and flora.  They did not tame the animals around them, as the other elves did, but befriended them in their wild and savage state.

In the end, all the elves had gone.  Men came and drove them out with cold iron.  Or perhaps they left of their own accord, seeking growth and expansion.  There are many explanations and stories, but the only thing beyond debate is that the four cities are but ancient relics, ruined and overrun by the Fey.