Cities of the Kayrstaran Empire
Having spent the past couple articles talking about general writing themes, I thought it might be time to return again to the world of “Tears from Iron” and the empire…
Quotes: Memories of the Great War
While the series that “Tears from Iron” begins is called “Memories of the Cataclysm,” the Cataclysm was the second of two devastating events that struck Isfalinis. It was immediately preceded…
The Aestarin Alphabet
Last week, we looked at some background on the languages of the Aestari and humans, particularly concerning the names of peoples and places and how they interrelate. Now, let’s take…
A Look Behind the Languages of Isfalinis
The world of Isfalinis, much like our own world, has many languages. In “Tears from Iron” the most readily obvious language is that of the “Words of Power” used in…
Behind the Pages: Fritten
Not a heroic figure like so many among the Kalilaer and Scions, Fritten is, in his own way, the most worthy of our pity. Captured at such a young age…
Behind the Pages: Tazil
Tazil, High Lord of Raefi’ernyn, is an example of a character who grew to become much more than I’d originally envisioned. Other examples of this phenomena include Chostir and Talikae.…
Divisions of the Aestari
Alone among the races, the children of blessed Ainii avoided the curse of aging death. In the dawn of the world before time began, she shaped the Aestari as a…
The Pilgrimage to the Boards
One of the great joys in writing is when the story surprises you. Usually, this epiphany happens in the moment of writing, but sometimes it is only a thing you…
Mapping the World Part II: Redrawing Isfalinis
With this article, we come to the end of my eight-part series on how the world of Isfalinis, home to “Tears from Iron” came to be. We began by looking…
Mapping the World Part I: Lost Age to Modern Era
The first time I sketched a fantastical world was in 7th Grade Social Studies. We were given a large sheet of paper, perhaps 24” x 20” and told to draw…