When the world of Ceon began to take shape in my mind, somewhere around the year 2006, it was more of a primordial place, all raging storms, boiling lava and barren wastes. It took many years for it to settle down and become stable enough for me to go explore its vast lands and seas. The collection of short stories and poems that became this book, is the result of my literary wanderings through this magic-touched world.

So why short stories?

Throughout the years, Ceon has become a vast, complex world with fascinating features of nature, civilisation and culture. There are entire novels to be written about any of the world’s myths, demographics, botanica, and everything in between. But for the purpose of introducing an audience to the world of Ceon and its colourful inhabitants, a word-dump of several hundreds of thousands words is frankly unsuitable. Cruel even. Wading through pages upon pages of expositions on the intriguing mechanisms of magic, history or politics is —while fascinating— rather tiresome. When presented in bite-sized bits, each piece gets the attention it deserves, from both author and reader.

Thus having decided to embrace the medium of short stories, I looked at another of my passions for guidance: video games. As a fervent gamer, particularly of adventure RPG’s, I drew inspiration from the wonderful in-game stories that some of the more immersive games provide. Every of the many fantastic universes out there has extensive lore, history and myths. While these are absolutely necessary to make the setting immersive, it is impossible to present the player (and reader in this case) with all of it at once. Through the concept of in-game books, the player has access to additional information on the game’s universe that does not extent past a few thousand words a piece. The diverse formats of these writings keeps them engaging, while their conciseness allows for them to be read with minimal letup in your virtual adventure.

I took the idea of in-game books and made it my own. The explorer in me pounced at the concept of diverse formats and I experimented profusely with any and all forms of writing that I could mould into what could still qualify as a short story. The journey was as tremendous as the place it arrived at.

If I had to name one thing these vastly different works have in common, it would be that none of them turned out the way I expected them to when I set out to write them. The resulting pieces surprised me in every respect. No matter what part of the world I chose as the setting, or what native peoples’ voices I borrowed to tell the story, I was blown away by their profoundness.

Existence comes with hardships. That goes for every world. Ceon, too, must weather every storm. While the Axioms, the fundamental forces of nature, work their hardest to juggle it all, the elemental balance hangs by a thread. With the world teetering on the edge of destruction, the influx of saba (elemental energies) is all that keeps the last shard of planet Ceon aloft.

On its surface, the peoples are not faring much better. Between famines, wars, floods and volcanic eruptions, the numerous native folks struggle to live their lives in peace. Limited resources, devastating acts of nature and an upward trend in violence and censure, leave no one unaffected.

When at the dawn of the Sixth Era a central government was established, the world breathed a sigh of relief. Surely united, the peoples could stand strong in the face of adversity. However, the Convocation, while presenting themselves as the voice of the people, slowly closes its grip around the throat of the world, silencing anyone with ideas above their station. A cunning darkness spreads among the people, for whom only the nature of suffering has changed.

Still, the Ceonians make the best of it. They sing, they dance, they explore foreign lands and craft magical objects of powers beyond imagination. They laugh, they cry, and they tell stories around the campfire. This anthology offers an insight in the lives and minds of dozens of Ceon’s most intriguing individuals through as many different types of writing.

The world of Ceon really comes to life in the detailed map, and through the cover art made by the staggeringly talented illustrator Barbara Lucas, we get a glimpse of this magical world through which we wander, page after page.

Safe travels!

S. L. Farlow