Geis Basics: Races

Like the pulps, science fiction and fantasy from which I took my inspiration, the world of Geis is peopled by many races.  There are seven 'hero' races, those whom the reader will most likely identify, and two 'select' races that aren't evil per se, but whose motivations are so far beyond human experience that they are unlikely to engender sympathy from the reader.  Or me for that matter.

I created the seven races based on a sliding scale.  On either end lie magical and psychic ability, for the two abilities are somewhat contrary to each other and a race with greater disposition for one has an equally decreased disposition for the other.  Each race has three sub-races, some of which are more varied than others.

Starting with the magical side of the scale, we find the Ancilene.  These are bird people.  They have no hair, being covered with fine feathers like the fine hairs covering a Human.  They have wings and are capable of flight, bearing hollow bones.  They have no teeth, but a sort of sharp beak beneath the lips.  Their eyes are birdlike, being more rounded than a mammal's.  Originally, I depicted them in my drawings (yes, I draw quite well thank you) with bird-like taloned feet but I decided I didn't like it.  Now they have human like feet.  Both hands and feet have short non-retractable claws on them.  All Ancilene have some talent with magic.  The three sub-races are the Bubo or owl-like people, the Bueto or hawk-like people and the Aquila or eagle-like people.  The segregation of sub-races relates more to very generic size and coloration.  There is no appreciable difference between them, but those knowledgeable enough will be able to identify them.

Next is the Sroloc, the lizard people.  They have scaled skin, short muzzles, sharp teeth, non-retractable claws and no hair.  There is quite a bit of variation between the sub-races.  The Drakus are dragon-folk and they have four 'ranks'. The nobility come in three forms; the winged Aveus, the fire-breathing Phoreus and the Royal line which has both. The rank and file have neither.  They are far more intelligent than their kin and all bear some magical ability.  They can be found anywhere on Geis.  The Chamus are able to change the color of their scales at will and climb vertical and inverse surfaces.  They are generally faster than their kin and are found anywhere.  The Crocus are amphibious, equally at home on land or sea.  They are by far the strongest of their kin, being the physically strongest race on Geis but lacking in intellectual might.  Their communities are found in moist, water-filled areas but individuals will travel anywhere except the most arid of places without some sort of protection.  Chamus and Crocus both have frequent magical ability and some rare individuals have psychic ability, while the savage Crocus rarely develop them.

Grenis are the dog people.  They look identical to humans, a little leaner in build with pronounced canines and reduced sclera.  They are all comfortable in low-light conditions, have an excellent sense of smell and a pronounced sense of family.  They all have the Howl, which is a disconcerting howl that puts their opponents on edge. When a group of Grenis all Howl together, especially from in hiding, their opponents can be unnerved to the point of entering fight or flight. Psychic and magical talents are prevalent but magic runs stronger than psychic in their veins.  There is little variation in the sub-races, mostly coloring and habits, which are the Lupo or wolf-people, the Vulpes or fox-people and the Aureus or jackal-people.  Lupo tend to have more psychic ability than magical, but that is really the only variation between the sub-races.

Humanity is, like in many fantasy settings, right in the middle.  We all know what we look like.  On Geis, there is equal chance of magical or psychic ability.  They are the most prevalent race, being found virtually everywhere.  The sub-races are Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid.  With so many other intelligent beings around, there is no racial tension between the various Human races.  We've all got to stick together, a lesson I think we could all learn from.

Malacore are cat-people.  They also look identical to humans, a little bulkier in build with pronounced canines, reduced sclera and slit pupils.  They are comfortable in low-light conditions and mingle freely with other races, to the extent that there are few all Malacore communities.  While there are plenty of magic-wielding Malacore, there are more psychics among them.  The sub-races differ slightly in build and coloring, but other than that there is little variation.  There are the Lionine, the Tigris and the Pantherus lines.

Next are the Helguar, or half-people, and they have by far the most variation between sub-races.  First we'll address the Centaur.  They look like standard Centaurs, with human torsos atop horse bodies.  Their ears are pointed but otherwise human in appearance and they have no hair on the sides of their heads, instead it grows down their human-like spines not unlike a mane.  Next are the Vipak, which resemble the nagas of Hindu myth; a human torso with a long snake-tail instead of legs.  They have hair, with skin on their human torso and scales on their lower snake tail.  They have no noses or ears, instead small slits replace those organs and slit-pupil eyes.  While the Centaur live in forested hills or open plains, the Vipak sleep underground in tunnels but otherwise spend much of their time on the surface.  Many races are uncomfortable around Vipak, while they have little concern for others.  Instead they keep to themselves, preferring to live in remote areas.  The third sub-race is the Merfolk.  They look like standard Merfolk commonly found in fantasy settings except their tails resemble dolphins instead of fish, with skin instead of scales and horizontal flippers instead of a vertical fin.  They do have gills. Merfolk have the closest relations with the Crocus Sroloc, mainly due to their overlapping areas.

Of course, there are Minotaur.  Since the legendary monster in the famous labyrinth on Crete, these half-man, half-bull creatures have been a part of modern fantasy settings either as monsters or a race (Dragonlance).  I had to put them in Geis, but I added a twist.  The three subraces of the Minotaur are Ram, Stag and the classic Bull.  Personality varies greatly between them, and all have a resistance to magic although they do have frequent psychic traits, mostly untrained.  The Bull Minotaur are the least intelligent, having no formal educational training, the live mostly in herds ruled by the strongest brutes.  Note that they are not unintelligent, mostly ignorant and happily so.  Theirs is a savage culture, driven by their warlike nature. For them, might makes right.  The Stag and Ram Minotaur are more intelligent, with more developed cultures.  All three are distrustful of strangers, but where the Ram are more prone to mindless rages, the Stag tend to be more vindictive while the Bull are distrustful, vindictive and prone to berserker rages.  All Minotaur possess human torsos, thick necks and animal-like heads, and furry, animal-like legs and cloven hooves.  The Bull have steer-like faces including the long, pointed horns while the Ram have sheep heads with curling blunt horns and the Stag have deer heads with massive antlers.

Geis Basics: Geography

Geis is a world that is slightly larger than the Earth, about half of the surface of Geis is covered by land.  There are four continents: Anterre, Lothgar, Mologan and Puentas.

Puentas is a hidden land due to a powerful mystic mist that covers it and prevents anyone or anything from going to or leaving from the continent.  Very few people on Geis are aware of Puentas, knowing only the Mist.  The Mist lies due south of Anterre and west of Mologan.

The continent of Anterre was, until a century and a half ago, occupied by the Empire.  Emperor Krol ruled the land with an iron fist until his seven centuries long rule was ended by Madigan the bard and his wife, the Moragai Laurel.  Now it is gripped in chaos.  The continent of Anterre is the central location of the Harmony series.  A large island lies off the south eastern coast.  Its close proximity to Anterre made it a target for conquest by Emperor Krol but in spite of all his power and his armies and navies, he was never successful.  This island is Jiorta, and the Manitou of Jiorta has close ties to the people that live there.  It is directly because of this bond that the Emperor was repelled, for every Jiorti ever born save one has psychic or magical ability.

Due west of Anterre is the Narean Ocean, which shares borders with the continents of Lothgar in the northern hemisphere and Mologan in the southern hemisphere.  Separating Lothgar and Mologan is the Great Reef, a massive living coral reef that causes dangerous currents and is the home of many submerged people, including the Maenier fishmen and the Merfolk as well as various marauding bands.

Lothgar is the home of several nation-kingdoms, some of the best known are Bel-Aq, Wyzeria, Kailang, Dogol and Tilshess.  Three mountain ranges, the Blackrock, the Gray and the Worldspine, and the east-west running Dogol River segregate the continent.  Nestled between these three ranges is the Forbidden Forest, a living thing that is the brother and home of Sairao Goldriver, called the Wolfmage, the High Warlock and most powerful mage on Geis.  South of the Dogol River lies the Great Desolation, a massive desert that was once the home of the Beltizhan empire.  It fell due to infighting fifty-three years ago and has remained a home to nomads ever since.  The great delta of the Dogol River is the home of the kingdom of Dogol, whose lands encompass the norther border of the river until it meets the Blackrock mountains.  North of Dogol are the frozen wastes, home to the endless snows.  East of the Great Desolation are the Great Plains and the Centaur Hills.  The edge of the plains is claimed by Wyzeria while the area of the Centaur Hills is owned by Bel-Aq.  At the southern junction of the Blackrock and Gray mountain ranges is the rocky home of Kailang.

Mologan is an area of strife at the time of the Harmony series and the central location of the Malesk series.  It is divided in three by two mountain ranges, the Helsfont and the Belkahr.  The northeastern portion of the the continent, north of the Helsfont, is known as the Madlands.  It is a lifeless wasteland, the Manitou of the area driven off by the energies unleashed on the last battleground of the final Psy-Mage war.  Rocks flow like ice and none live on the surface.  South of the Helsfont and east of the Belkahr are the Southern Kingdoms.  Seven kingdoms united in peace, they are ruled over by the High King.  The Royal Council selects one of their member as High King after the death of the previous High King, and they surrender their throne in order to place the priorities of the Southern Kingdoms above those of any one kingdom.  The Southern Kingdoms are the front lines in the current war against the Kol Draahl, who appear to have lived beneath the Badlands these many centuries.  West of the Belkahr lies the Verdant Land, a rain forest and swampy area that runs the length of the continent.  Many live in the Verdant Land, but mostly in small groups due to the many dangerous creatures prowling the land, trees, waters and skies.  It is currently home to the largest civilization of Sroloc, that most ancient of races.

In the middle of the Gesiar Ocean, at zero longitude and zero latitude, equally spaced between the three continents and the Mist, is the Moralay Archipelago and the Chaos Current.  The Chaos Current is a swirling whirlpool that randomly changes direction, submerging some islands and raising others as the waters shift.  The recent rise of skyships has revealed that the Chaos Current has an echoing wind storm above the waters, always spinning in the opposite direction.  Sages have been at a loss to discern the cause of this for the Chaos Current has always existed in every record of history.  The Moralay Archipelago is home to many island nations, some with long and storied histories.

No moon mars the stars above Geis.  Instead there is an Arc, the remains of a satellite that are being spread to form a ring around the planet.  Because of this, there are no tides.

This is the land in which my stories take place.

Geis Chronicles

Geis Chronicles?  What's that?

Geis is the setting I created for my writing.  It is predominantly a fantasy setting but I refer to it as 'rune pulp'.

Basically, I wanted to pay tribute to those literary pioneers who wrote stories for pennies and changed the imagination of the world; the pulps.  Many writers cite JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings for inspiring their love of fantasy.  Mine was Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series.  I was in fifth grade when I picked up A Princess of Mars and admittedly, I picked it up because the cover had a half-naked woman on it.  What I found beneath that cover changed my world.  The images in my mind of John Carter's adventures on Mars, whom the locals called Barsoom, fired my imagination in a way very little has since.  One thing that I love about the pulps to this day was the fearless way the authors wrote whatever came to their minds.  It didn't occur to either Mr Burroughs or his editor that having technology mixed with magic was incongruous.  Flying ships, guns, swords and sorcery all mixed together in a beautiful story.

That's why Geis is the way it is.  Originally, it was a fantasy setting.  Kinda plain vanilla without any real innovation.  My stories were filled with tropes of fantasy writing and while I think they were entertaining, they just didn't fire my imagination.

Then, while talking with a friend of mine, I hit upon the solution.  There was no reason I couldn't have airplanes or guns or the internet on Geis.  So I do.  I had to really dig in deep to find the logical connections that would enable me to have all of that in an acceptable manner for the demanding audiences of today's fiction.  People want their escape to make sense.  That's why I'm creating this blog: to explain exactly what it is that I've created and as a means for me to communicate with my audience (which right now is about five) on my thoughts on the creation.  There is a history here, a thought process and even - dare I say it - logic to how I've set up the world.

So settle in, because I hope you find this entertaining or interesting.  Even more, I hope you find it educational after you read my stories.