“Two understand creation is to understand the stars, the mountains, the sea and the creatures that look and marvel at these. Two understand creation, is to understand the will of the Gods.” Quote from the book of Livella by Drage Livella.
The first story of the Sundering of the Two moons focuses on the creation of the universe and the forming of the three plains. Livinden, the realm of Light. Besan Gretan, the realm that is and Agraldin, the realm of souls.
It tells of the coming of Livella the light maiden into Besan Gretan and how her sacrifice led the creation of the worlds and the seas.
In this first story the descriptions of the four Gods of the Holy Quadrant are described and the great deeds done by their vassals are explained. From Drage destroying the great demon of the North and Crio rising the dividing mountains to stop the storm of Camara, the stories of these heroes great deeds are told.
It is an easy introduction into the History of Ilmgral series. Telling the mythology and beliefs of Ilmgral, only hinted at in the Knights of Earth Saga.
The Ilma are mentioned in the Escape from Humanity but who are they? An Alien race, some good, some evil? Immortals who have great knowledge of the universe? What is their curse and why do they consider themselves the chosen people of the Universe? Who are the Graul? The servant race, now some of the most powerful beings in Besan Gretan? Briefly is the history and beliefs of the Ilma hinted at in the Knights of Earth saga, yet it is a rich history, full of tragedy, deceit, and the corruption of power. A story of the long defeat, how those chosen to be the wardens of the Gods, become vengeful Gods in their own right.
The Sundering of the Two moons is the first part of the History of Ilmgral. In this book series I will bring you the long tapestry that saw the Ilma rise to absolute power and be cursed by it. This history is told in short stories of various styles, giving an in-depth outlook into the history of Ilmgral, like the Silmarillion never could for Middle earth.
The Sundering of the Two moons, focuses on the earliest years of Ilmgral and consists of four stories:
The Beginnings of the Universe are told in the book: The Holy Quadrant. Here the three plains of existence are explained, along with the coming of the Vassals and the immense powers given to the Ilma, with their place as custodians explained.
Notes as both squire and Lord- Follows Bruska Crud, one of the Ilma as he navigates becoming a squire to one of the greatest warriors of the time, Selosa Aquitex. He witnessed some of the Key events of the middle years of the Age of Vassals, including the battle of the crossroads and the burning of Fasurasuta.
The War of the Dividing Mountains- Newly come into his Lordship, Suda Drage, relation of the Vassal Drage Livella, must defend his home from the Kingdom of Scaraden. This story, though thousands of years before the events of the Knights of Earth Saga, ties in the most of all these tales, for it is the Pledge of Suda Drage that lingered as a dark shadow over the Ilma in all their many wars and would eventually bring war to Earth, until one from the Dragor would realm would do war upon Scaraden again.
The Sundering of the Two moons- This tells the story of Morelin, a high lord of the Ilma and Lucarnia, daughter of the wood king, an evergreen of the Krun-ilma, as their love and betrayal of their duties, eventually tears the celestial bodies of Ilmgral apart.
A massive thank you to Emily Mortimer for her amazing cover work. Was great to work with her for the third time.
Welcome to Ilmgral!!!
Long before the events of the Knights of Earth Saga, the chosen Ilma were gifted powers to challenge the Gods. They were meant to be the custodian of the universe but they soon fell from grace.
The Sundering of the Two moons consists of four short stories, telling of the Ilma in the peak of their power and grace.
From the creation of the universe to the greatest tragedy of those early years, read how far the Ilma would rise, and how quickly they would fall.
He had shown her how powerful she could be and as she formulated a plan, she just hoped he was right. She could feel the steadiness within her, the calm before the storm but knew this would be her storm. She lifted her left hand and clouds began to form above her head, from within them, there were sparks and way up high the rumble of thunder could be heard.
The warriors sensing the dark power of their master, began their advance. Brilliant flashes lit up the landscape and all at once Kat’s hair stood on edge and with it Kat felt her feet leave the ground, her face was contorted with the strain of using such an enormous amount of her power.
There was a brief red burst from the sun as Kat’s storm broke the cloud of smoke from the volcano, then the sky went dark so the only the light that could be seen was from the sparks around Kat’s body, it made unnatural shadows in the darkness. This was the pinnacle of Kat’s excellence, she could feel it, this was her moment, her crowning glory and at the moment she struck her first enemy, she was the most beautiful thing in the world.
The History of Iron lake.
Nellia sort, in the years before her darkening, a place away from the ocean. She yearned for places of still water, where at times it would snow and few violent waves threatened her work. Taking one of her ships, she travelled far up the river Arasee and she came swiftly to the lands of the Alpans. She beseeched Auradan and he created a vast bowl in the river and rose an Island within. From the north, Nellia called a great flood, and the bowl was filled, forming a lake around the Isle of the stars.
There Nellia built a city out of fair grey stone. It had many towers and great domed cathedrals, and she was content to spend winter within its walls. There she would marry and there would her husband die.
When Nellia darkened, she used the Island to launch her wars and so in the final battle of the first Iloven wars, the island was taken by Livinya, wielder of the ring of fire and using his power of crafting, he turned the city into a fortress and renamed it Iron lake.
The city featured greatly in the wars that followed and it was there that Livinya presented Hador of the Romana people, the ring of the fire before he went to end Nellia’s plots. There Bor protected Hador’s body as the hordes Nellia’s forces assaulted and it passed to the control of the Romana people in the years that followed and it became the Isle of guard, chief city and fortress in their wars against Harka the necromancer.
Of the Colossi of the Isle of stars.
Stood on the river, south of Iron lake, legs spread, and arms lifted to the sea of heaven was the colossus of Neldivine. A great statue carved in the likeness of Nellia before her corruption. The wind blowing up from the sea, seemed not to have touched it and her beauty was plain to see. Neldivine, wonder of the ancient world.
To the north stood Livdavine, built by Auradan after Nellia had moved to her fortress in the mountains of ice. In the likeness of Livnya it stood, as he was ever her chief foe. His tall frame stood in defence of the southern land and his sword was stretched towards Inargiel. In later years, his image faded, being ever beaten and eroded by the vicious wind from the north.
“The body of Nellia decayed and her armour turned to rust. The ring of water, one of the four rings of creation, cursed now as the Morgul ring, fell through fissures in the earth. It fell through darkness into deep streams far below the mountain of Inargiel and it came out into the frozen north and waited. Years passed and the Romana Empire spread, the power of the ring of Fire and the dragons it helped control, crushed all resistance until it spread towards the great plains and the Druidin forest.
Late into the second Age, the ring of water was found by Harka of the druids, as he escaped the clutches of the Romana Empire. Through dark acts he unlocked its powers and in evil deeds he became a necromancer and brought Aurdan into darkness.”
Categories
Crafting a Saga
Crafting a Saga.
At times I wonder how did I create a saga? Whenever I ask myself this question I always stop, unsure whether I could plot the path from idea to realised story, to a vast interconnecting web of narratives.
I have asked myself the question countless times during the last couple of months. How did this story come into being and how did it then become one of the largest universes I had ever created, full of many planets and millennia of unknown history?
The Thomas Lita series had it origins in one of the humblest of settings, childhood. Growing up as a fan of Tolkien, Doctor who and Marvel, I played a lot as characters in these universes. Eventually creating my own characters, with their own stories. In those games, the first seeds of the Thomas Lita universe were formed.
As I grew older and more “Mature” the games stopped but the stories did not. In my head these characters lingered, their stories growing every time my mind wandered to them and yet I had no outlet for their use. I had toyed with the idea of writing but had never gone further than hasty and outlandish plans.
In sixth form that all changed. One day, when I should have been studying, I started writing and have never looked back. Re-reading the original, handwritten, copy of The Escape from Humanity, is always a thrill. Not only was the story not particularly good, but it was also vastly different from the story I would eventually publish six years later. Then, there was no wider universe, Ilmgral was a faraway place with no real connection to the story, the Ilma had no Origin and the Graul did not exist. Thomas Lita was then a strange mix between the X-men and the doctor, with plans to match.
I had finally done it though; I had started my career as a writer. The next books in the Knights of Earth Saga formed quickly and I knew how the story would end as one series, with no prequels or sequels. Oh, how naive I was.
The Second draft changed everything, and it was one side character that brought the change. I soon realised a major plot hole in the first draft. Why would Cirtroug/Urgarak, call someone to the volcano, who had the power to defeat them.
I began to imagine another character, one who lingered in the shadows, pulling the strings of Tom’s life. The Tempter was born within the second draft. Instantly, the character fit into my already made plans and I began asking questions of his origins. Answering these questions took me down the rabbit hole of lore I would need for these stories to work.
Within weeks of introducing the Tempter, I had created the God’s and the Vassal’s, realised their origin stories and how they connected to the Knights of Earth saga. I had created the Graul and separated them from the Ilma. Stories grew from their separation, like the Enlightenment of the Graul and the curse of the Ilma.
This led me to the realisation that The Knights of Earth Saga, could not stand alone. I could not answer all the questions that needed answering while still telling a compelling story. I had to tell these stories separately.
Even now, after publishing two novels in the Knights of Earth Saga, I am still learning about this world and this universe, creating more stories that my heart says I must tell.
Jacob Bower.
The first hand-written copy. 
Editing The Escape from Humanity. 
My first print copy. 
Cover art. 
Glad I finally got an artist for this. 
Really glad I had an artist for this.
One Last Page- Act 1- Scene 1
Narration begins on a black screen.
Liam: What makes us who we are? It is a question that has a thousand different answers depending on the doctors you are talking to.
Camera fades in to show clippings and pictures of Liam growing up.
Liam: Are we born with the chemical imprint of our personality already decided for us? Does it come from our family, our education or the games that only children play.
Pictures transition to show Liam as a grown up in education, and with his wife.
Liam: Or do we become who we are from the friends we have, the mistakes we make and those who hold our heart? Are we defined by our career, by the money we have or what we give back to the world?
News clippings begin of Liam’s career.
Liam: Are we made by that which knocks us back.
Press clipping of his fathers death.
Liam: The little difficulties that shape our path? Or are we left to fate alone, our paths decided by a higher power.
Clippings change to show a car accident and news clippings describing Liam’s accident.
Liam: Are all these things what make us who we are? If that is the case, does removing one of those things change us completely?
Clippings become of his recovery and worries about his last book.
Liam: What happens when memories of our childhood fade to nothing and whole pieces of our past are stolen from us? What happens when pills can steal away what we truly care about? Or the mistakes of others cost us our careers? Are we ever one person or are we just fluid strands of consciousness, buffeted around by the constant winds of a life left completely to chance? Better men than me may have these answers, those who have studied for years to understand the fundamentals of our humanity. I am not one of these men so I will do what I can… Let me tell you a story.
Camera fades out.
Over the years I have used many tools to help plan my work. Lately i have used Campfire blaze, a tool specifically designed to help plan worlds and stories. This has presented an opportunity. Campfire blaze has the option of sharing your story information, without the viewer having a campfire account. Using this tool I aim to reveal more than I can in the story.
On the Knights of Earth Saga page you can view character profiles for all of the the Knights of Earth, Members of the Agency and the Villains set on killing our heroes.
You can also check out key locations from the book. Like discovering the history of the Volcano, or gaining more information about the Agency HQ. With an interactive map of Curamber, coming soon.
You can also check out a timeline of events, with small story excerpts, allowing you to see what you are missing by not reading the Knights of Earth saga.
You can find the link on the Knights of Earth Saga page, on the website.
This page will be updated regularly, with more information added. This is a new way of bring information and any feedback of what you might want to see will be greatly appreciated. Also if you are planning on writing a novel, or are creating a world for use on table top games, then I highly recommend you check out Campfire.
Publishing:
Work is currently underway for the publication of my third novel set to be released later this year. I am happy to announce that Emily Mortimer will once again be doing the cover work.
Hopefully a post will go live shortly showcasing Emily’s amazing artwork.
Website:
The Pages for the Escape from Humanity and Vengeance of the Gods, can be found on the new page, “The Knights of Earth saga.”
The change is due to the release of my next novel, which will not be part of the Knights of Earth Saga. News and updates for the Knights of Earth saga can be found there.
Campfire Blaze:
Recently I have begun to use Campfire Blaze to plan my novels and create a coherent timeline of the events of Besan Gretan. This gives me a great opportunity to use Campfire to bring more information to readers that cannot be contained in the story.
Over the next couple of months I will be releasing a Knights of the Earth saga link to my Campfire Blaze. This will include an interactive map of the Island of Curamber, details on Halves, the Ilma and the Agency. Character profiles will also be included.
This in-depth look will help you learn more about the characters and the events that lead to the Knights of Earth’s formation.
Screenplay:
Over the last year and a half, I have been working on a teleplay in my free time. The first series of this is reaching its conclusion. I will be releasing the first three episode scripts, hopefully for free, on Kindle, for discussion and feedback.
I expect this year to be an exciting one for myself and I look forward to bring more of my work into the world.
Knights of Earth Publications 