Talking More About Kalinia

[k_a_webb]

(Originally posted on Imzy)

There will be spoilers. Don't read this post if you don't like spoilers. :)

Okay, so the plan for these posts is that they're going to be chatty world building posts, because I like writing them. They're one of the best ways, for me, to learn more about the worlds I'm writing about, and Kalinia has a lot of history to be explored. I'm really looking forward to that.

When I first wrote about Kalinia I was writing the story of Willow, the Princess who Didn't Wait to be Rescued. I wrote it not knowing how much history there was, and how much there was going to be in Kalinia's future, because I didn't even have a name at that point. A name came later. The character, as normally happens, was the one who came first, and the setting was secondary.

So, Willow was living during a time when Kalinia was dying. The Fae, Willow's race, had been draining the world of all the magic within it, only they didn't know until it was too late that was what they'd been doing. Even when they were going through it there were plenty of Fae who didn't want to believe what they'd done, that things were eventually going to sort themselves out, and they stayed until they didn't have any other option - travelling to other worlds we'll explore later.

At the time the Fae weren't the only race to call Kalinia home. It was also home to, and this probably isn't a complete list, the Griffins, numerous different Shapeshifter races, the Mer, the Selkies and the Dragons.

The Griffins had called Kalinia home for a long time. How long is something I still have to learn. I haven't written all that much about the Griffins before they had to leave Kalinia. What I do know is that they were hit very hard by what was happening, so they were the first to leave, even though it wasn't what they wanted to do. They just knew they didn't have any other choice.

The Shapeshifter races I know even less about. A couple of them chose to follow Willow when she left Kalinia behind. It's something I want to write more about, so feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer them.

The Mer, sea dwellers that had never really connected too closely with most of the Fae, knew that they had limited options. Without getting the help of Willow's family they would have been trapped there until the end of the world. She created them a door that would take them to the same world Willow was travelling to.

The Selkies were even less connected. I'm not entirely certain how they got away from Kalinia, but they did, and they found themselves on another world. I've started writing about them, with the only story I've worked on being set on the world they travelled to, so this is another race for me to explore more.

Finally, the Dragons were a created race. Some of the Fae had the ability to create life, and, during one of their irregular experiments, the Dragons were created. Their King was, mostly, a very calm being, so I have no idea how that led to what happened on their new world. Again they're one of the races I need to explore more, both on Kalinia and one their new world, so questions will help with that.

However, these were just the races who called Kalinia home during the end of the world. There were races who came before and races who came after. Like I said this is a world with a lot of history, because of how old it is. The first race I know of that called this world home are the Artach Silva Lupos - The Silver Wood Wolves. Although I don't know how true their legend it is is believed that the first three of this races were women who were originally wolves, and they shapeshifted into human form. What I do know of them is that they were the people who created the Fae, the people who gave the Fae the ability to create both worlds and races, and the Fae weren't the first race to be given that name.

One of the other races that called Kalinia home were the Little People. During the reign of one of the Kings of the Fae (who I believe had no relation to Willow or any of the other monarchs I know of currently) the Little People found themselves under attack - because one of the Little People dared to fall in love with his daughter. The Little People made the decision to leave Kalinia behind, along with the Princess of the Fae who felt she'd caused the problems in the first place, and this was the beginning of the end. Had this not happened the Fae would never have been able to drain Kalinia, but they didn't know this.

After the end of the world came the Magicians. They're people from other worlds who have some relation to the Fae, their blood mixed with those of other races, so they can use the magics of the Fae. These Magicians are at war with the Thieves, which all started when one twin was chosen while the other one wasn't. The twin who wasn't chosen gathered together with other people who'd lost siblings, children, lovers, and parents, using their anger to try to get to Kalinia, where they thought they should be. If someone in their family had the ability why didn't they? They didn't know anything about Kalinia, or why they couldn't go there, and they didn't care. All they cared about was being able to use magic. As time passes the war gets worse, the Thieves can finally travel to Kalinia with their bodies, and lies are told to the Thieves who go to the school to learn more about what they can do.

For now I'm going to leave it there. As I said before feel free to ask questions about the races I've talked about here. I will be going back to Kalinia. There's too much there for me not to.