The nations and regions of a world determine so much about who a people are and how they choose to live. So when I started crafting the world of Eleshar, I knew it was going to be one of the most significant pieces of worldbuilding I would engage in.
After diving into it, I began to enjoy the process of building these nations, and I admittedly went a little overboard, as you might be able to tell from the map. Still, as The Records of Eleshar series continues to grow, I’m now glad for the time and care I put into the world.
Instead of giving you a long dissertation on everything I’ve documented about every nation across the world, let’s focus on what the books have revealed so far.
The Locations of Books 1 & 2
The first two books of The Records of Eleshar series don’t sprawl across the world, but the regions and nations they do touch have a profound impact on the characters and their journeys.
Yawdawian Archipelago
Underwater land bridges, some shallow and some deep, connect the islands in this chain. None of those are deeper than the one that connects the archipelago to Kekkek Island.
The island, home of our heroine from Book 1, The Storm’s Approach, El, has the most unique culture among the Yawdawian islands. They’ve worshiped Nedon, the God of the Rivers and the Oceans, for generations and, as a result, often come across as arrogant to outsiders.
Still, they are the only people in Eleshar who have discovered a method of hunting the formidable Uklak. This enormous crab-like creature’s carapace is stronger than steel, and the goods that the people of Kekkek craft from it drive traders from all over the world to their secluded island.
The people of Yawdaw welcome outsiders and live laid-back lives, but fiercely protect their customs and culture. Some islands drive visitors away completely, while others (like Kekkek) have welcomed them with open arms.
While no one in the world would call any one of the Yawdawian villages powerful, their position between the two continents of Eleshar forces anyone sailing between them to pass through the archipelago. Many have found that the islands have become a necessary stop for resupply and rejuvenation. Many trading companies have logged fewer lost shipments after making them a permanent way-stop.
Wylsh
Wylsh is the major power of Southern Esterre thanks in no small part to their contributions to art and industry, but also through their alignment with The Church of Virtues. Their major trade port, Shyal, serves as the cultural hub of Southern Esterre, and nearly all trade to the region flows through it.
While they are a traditional feudal nation, they’re surprisingly bureaucratic. The King often spends months crafting highly detailed laws and obsessing over records collecting and storage. Many criticize Wylsh for the cold unwaveringness of this style of rule as they tend to overstate facts and completely abandon compassion in their legal proceedings.
Because of Shyal’s status as a cultural hub, many powerful organizations or foreign nations end up with a presence there in hopes of influencing Wylsh in favor of their nation’s best interests.
Fei En Ar
The hero from Book 2, Forged in the Chasms of Darkness, hails from this nation. Ask an outsider about Fei En Ar, and they’ll describe it as a savage land ruled by tribes locked in constant war. And while some of that is true, it misses some of the most beautiful things about this land and its people.
The nation consists of a collection of nearly autonomous Clans. Rulers called Ai Jels each preside over a specific area, such as law, the military, art, or city planning. The Ai Jels spend their time visiting the clans to ensure they are following the laws and hierarchies they have put in place. Most clans treat these visits as ceremonial, but the army under the Ai Jels’ command keeps them from rebelling outright, even when they are at war with one another.
Beneath this near-anarchic society lies a secret known only to the most powerful in Eleshar: The Te Et Sha. These are the most secret and powerful assassins in all of Eleshar, and while some know of their existence and often use their services, no one has ever discovered the secret behind their incredible strength and speed.
Kloren: The Most Powerful Nation on Eleshar
At the time of the books, or in the 7,190th year of the Second Epoch (The Virtuous Era), Kloren is the most powerful nation in Eleshar, both economically and militarily. It has won every major conflict it has engaged in for the last 1,000 years, and the entire world uses its currency or wants it.
To say that ruling Kloren would make someone the most powerful person in the world would be an understatement.
Kloren’s Formation
In the year 5,521, the rulers of the eight kingdoms that make up Kloren in the modern age saw their populations dwindle to nearly nothing from their endless fighting. Desperate to avoid their own collapse, they met at a neutral location in the northern mountains of Esterre and signed The Accord of Kings.
This accord became the core of what Kloren would become over the next thousand years, and while it did not stop a civil war, it kept the kingdoms together once it was over.
Kloren Governance
The Kings of Kloren who signed the Accord were not giving up power; rather, they were uniting out of necessity. The nature of that founding resonated across the millennia, making Kloren full of some of the most fiercely independent people on Eleshar.
The nation has no single ruler; instead, the Kings rule as a single body. Every year, the Kings gather in the Assembly of Kings to propose and vote on new laws or present their grievances. After the Kloren Civil War, they established the Prime as an intermediary between the Kings and the deciding vote in case of a tie. During the rest of the year, the Prime continues those same duties, though in less formal settings.
Kloren’s Rise to Power
Without the Prime to focus the Kings, Kloren was a mess of infighting and backstabbing. Although the infighting and backstabbing never truly ended, the Kings’ inability to work together greatly diminished Kloren’s power across Eleshar.
After the Kings established the position of Prime, successive Primes began building a national Kloren army and navy from conscripts supplied by each kingdom. They then established authority over international trade and relations, citing the Kings’ thousand years of failures in those areas. This eventually allowed Kloren to provide safe passage to merchants both on land and sea, making it the safest nation to trade with. It didn’t take long after these changes went into effect for Kloren to rise to prominence as a global economic and military power.
They have held that position for over a thousand years, and no one across Eleshar has been able to replicate their success. Despite that success, some believe irreparable cracks are developing beneath the surface.
The People of Kloren
While the powers that be work their machinations in their castles, the people of Kloren go about their daily lives generally unaware. Thanks to their economic strength, most citizens of the Kingdoms of Kloren live productive, fulfilled lives. Trade flows freely, and technological innovations arrive so regularly that Kloren’s citizens now take them for granted.
As for customs, each Nation has maintained their individuality through the millennia, but some shared holidays have spread through Kloren over the years. Most notable of them all is the Festival of Fire, held every seventh year when the Ded’s Comet crosses the sky, turning it bright orange and red.
While no one in Eleshar has ever called the people of Kloren friendly, they do so because they don’t understand how deeply rooted their individualism is. A Kloren would almost never help someone directly, instead offering minimal help in the form of suggestion. They consider offering more help rude because it robs the other person of their self-sufficiency.
Kloren’s Economic Impact on Eleshar
After a thousand years of growth, Kloren has become the main supplier of goods across both Eleshar’s continents. Their exports range from grain to textiles to precious metals. If goods stopped flowing out of Kloren, there would be mass famine and economic collapse across nearly all the nations on Eleshar.
Beyond that, their naval presence and trade route protections have become the backbone of global trading at large. An interruption to these protections would have a devastating impact across the world as pirates and roadside bandit groups could operate unchecked.
These are only some of the powers that readers have experienced so far. As The Records of Eleshar continues, the conflict will expand, bringing other nations and continents into view, each with their own rich history and culture. But the threads of an ancient war stretch across Eleshar, and no nation will escape them.
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