Proper Secrets (39 page)

Thanks to my other beta readers, Jocelyn, and of course, my mom.
 
Loves!

And thank you to my children for putting up with the hills and valleys of a creative career.

Please visit my website for more information on books I’ve written and will write.

www.rachelfrancisbooks.com

Paranormal Fantasy

LIFE ON FIRE, Mages Book One

Map of Endland

Introduction

There will always be more than I can say about any one world that I create.
 
That being said, I felt it more than fair to the reader to explain a bit more about the parts of Endland that are not obvious or central to this particular story, on the off chance they found it interesting or confusing.

History & Religion

The religion of Endland is based on the legend surrounding the founding of the country.
 
The legend of the Four Virtuous tells us that four people, two women and two men, came upon a land they loved at once.
 
The two women were given Purity* and Honesty from the Divine Character, while the two men embodied Wisdom and Bravery.
 
The four of them chose Wisdom as their King and so Endland began.

*Purity is actually a mistranslation from Old Ender.
 
The correct word to use would be Clarity, and has caused great debate within the Church focused on the sexual nature of man.
 
Purity teaches sexual repression (unattainable perfection) a.k.a. “We don’t have sex out of wedlock because it is evil,” whereas Clarity teaches sexual responsibility (attainable self-awareness) a.k.a. “We don’t have sex out of wedlock because children are created that need the resources of both parents.”

Nobility in Endland is present at birth, but titles come from land ownership and are as follows:

King- His country

Provent- Within the Kingdom there are 10 provinces

Count- Within each province are 4-8 counties

Countylord- Lord owning more than 1 tract

Lord- Owns 1 tract

Sir- A knighted Tradesman

Military & War

The border war with the Sypass has been going on for almost a century.
 
The cause lies in the mountains that stretch from Endland into Sypass in the form of natural resources.
 
Between coal and pockets of combustible gas, each country wants the energy deposits therein.
 
Unfortunately, most of the larger deposits lie on the Endland side of the border, and at the beginning of the war, far before our story takes place, Sypass only desired to conquer the mountains.
 
Over time, hatred has grown between the two countries, or at least their respective rulers, and the Sypass are intent on conquering all of Endland now that the rest of the country has proven to be fertile enough to support a century-old war while the Sypass suffer, having all their goods and people sucked into the conflict.
 
Endland’s success has come from valuing the Four Virtuous and upholding those principles combined with fairly open trade with other neighboring countries across the Bay.
 
The Sypass trade with only select countries, and proudly refused any treaty Endland draws up that would require them to pay for any resources mined and collected by Endlanders.

I arranged the military ranks to fit the organization of the Endland war machine.

Grander Roberts - He is the head of the military and one of the chief advisors to the King

Warmaster - Very few earn this rank and the responsibility of overseeing entire regions of combat along the border

Batteran -
 
Physically stationed where they can carry out the Warmasters’ orders

Fortcaptain - The last of the officers involved in directing strategy and troops to essential locations

Fieldmarshall - Carry out Fortcaptain’s orders on the battlefield

Lineleader - Direct the front, middle, back, and reinforcement lines

Swordofficer - In charge of small squads of men

Swordtenant - Swordofficer in training

Countries

I developed more than this, but only mentioned Sypass and Tadoros in this book.
 
Sypass I’ve already given you an idea of in the War section.
 
Tadoros would be the equivalent of Spain in our Europe with a few differences here and there.
 
Don’t want to spoil the surprises that may wait for future novels, so I’ll end this here.

Conclusion

Thanks so much for reading this far!
 
I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed my alternate Europe, and Emily’s adventures.