Monday, February 14, 2011

Eye-kwa or I-kwa?

Today I finished labeling all the countries for HEIRS TO ESIO. I'm making progress on this project even if it's not my top priority.

Of course, my naming venture is not over even if I have completed a big part of it. I still have to give all my characters new last names (read: if you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated). But, for now, I'm satisfied with what I've come up with. And I would like to share it with you all.

As you can see (I hope) on the map, not only do I have my countries but I have a key to who lives where. Therefore, I'm going to share with you a little history about each country and the characters who live there. Enjoy (and if you don't, you really should tell me). Note: this is only the information I have so far.

  1. Kroka (pronounced croak-a) is the largest country in Esio. And that's pretty much all it has going for it. Besides one mountain, a few miles of forest, and a stretch of coastline (notice how they've managed to obtain a piece of everything), Kroka is pretty empty. The land wouldn't even be considered prairie; it's regular grass that seems to go on forever. Despite all this, Kroka is bustling with people. It's because of this that Bartemeus thinks so highly of himself. He considers his country to be the best and, while there's nothing wrong with being patriotic, his ego is quite inflated.
  2. Maetrium (pronounced may-tree-um) is a rather diverse land. It's whole length stretches along the coast, it has quite a few mountains, and even a good junk of the forests. I find my characters much more interesting though. Ivy will actually be one of my three point of view characters (and no, he's not a girl). In the fourth (or perhaps third) book in the series, he falls in love with Natiley Green who becomes possessed by the Earth Elite, Musifa. He also has to deal with his sisters (the three of them are triplets), one of whom has multiple personality disorder (poem here). So not only is she Stream, she's also River, Brook, and Sea Sea.
  3. Dizora (pronounced di-zor-a) is a country of mountains. Violet holds great pride in that. She's a lover of heights, spunky too.
  4. Vakprin (pronounced vac-pr-in) is also a country of mountains but the people fear them and stray to the few areas that are at a normal sea-level. Something lives there, and they're not nice. And it's those things that take Trixelle, Soney's younger sister. Of course, it's a horrible tragedy but the Council is relieved. The law states that a country should only have one heir unless a birth is multiple. Soney's mother is extremely protective of him and hence, he stays behind in Esio instead of going to the America with many of the other heirs.
  5. Bez (pronounced like it looks) is Esio's smallest country, and not only that, their royal line has been tainted by non-magical blood. Which is, of course, where Christopher got his name. And he is looked down on for it.
  6. Antella (pronounced an-tell-a) is the home of The Lady. Always has been, always will be. The Lady is beautiful, and no matter what her name, she is always called The Lady. And the present Lady doesn't like having a little Lady around to compete with. Which is why she agreed to let Kindle be a Hidden, one of the heirs sent to America who doesn't know they're a heir. Kindle is also one of my POV characters.
  7. Forox (pronounced for-ox) is completely covered by forest and there's more animals than people. Of course, Tamia can talk to animals like she can't talk to people. So she's fine with that.
  8. Jarzma (pronounced jars-ma) is a land both of trees and prairie. The prairie is rich with precious gems while the forest is rich with lumber. Jarzma is very profitable. Of course, Sofia doesn't care about that even if Tofa does. At birth, the Council wanted to separate the two of them; send Sofia to America and leave Tofa behind. Sofia refused to go without Tofa however, so they both got to stay.
  9. Carshai (pronounced car-shay) is all prairie and all gems. Everyone in the royal family from the king and queen themselves to the butler has the name of a jewel. Amethyst (or Amy) is not very outspoken, as a matter of fact, her magic is to blend into the background. And she's a worrier. One of her main worries is Christopher. Does he like her? Is it wrong that she likes him?
  10. Iqua (pronounced eye-kwa) is cold and icy though its king and queen aren't (even if it's heir is). After Lusio is sent away, the two long for the comfort and joy of children. So they break the rules. So the Council sends their two boys (possibly twins) off to be Hiddens.
  11. Defleur (pronounced de-floor) is Esio's only island. Many on the mainland don't know much about it. It is considered a dark, almost evil place. If only they knew that its queen didn't just die; she became the fifth Elite. And not only that, Rosalind wears the rock containing her mother's soul around her neck.
So did you enjoy it? Do tell. Did you not enjoy it? Tell that too. I'm also considering my third POV character. I'm trying to choose between Sofia, Tofa, and maybe Soney. Which do you think would produce the most conflict? I'm sorry to cut this off so short -chuckles- but I've got a lot of blog posts to read. Oh, and editing too. XD

P.S. I should probably write my articles ahead of time so I have time to edit them too. But I feel when I don't, it's more me. What's your opinion about editing posts?

13 comments:

  1. Um, I don't like it... I LOVE it! And I literally LOVE it, as in capital letters. I'm so excited to read Heirs to Esio! =D

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  2. Ahh, thanks Izzy. ^^ That means a lot. I've been worried I've been going all wrong with this.

    Hmm.. I forgot to mention the 'the face', 'the hat', and 'the body' parts of my map. Oops. Those are for Kindle. That's what helps her memorize the map of Esio.

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  3. I love seeing people's maps for their worlds :D I have some pretty intricate ones too, for my epic fantasy. which will possibly never be finished as long as I live. hehe

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  4. Is it one of the books on your WIP list on your blog? I'm thinking something that starts with an R but I may be wrong.

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  5. I love that you've drawn everything out and have a great map! I'm a fellow Crusader. Stopping by to say hello!

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  6. Thank you. ^^ I'll be dropping by to say hi to you soon. I promise! I just have a habit of reading every single post someone has ever written so...

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  7. Nice map! I love to go back while reading and study the maps. Fun! I envy people who can come up with new words and countries. Great job! Nice to meet you fellow crusader!

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  8. Nice! Heh heh, seems like you know everything about everything, huh? You've got me curious to read it, too! :D

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  9. @Madeline You think so? Because I feel like I know nothing!

    @Kerri Thanks. ^^ I like to do that too. I wish I was better at coming up with new worlds.

    Well, I better get back to reading blogs (oh, and that short story I have to write).

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  10. I always find this kind of thing really interesting, and it inspires me to get back to work on my maps! I really like your country names, especially since they're easy to pronounce and I was able to guess how to pronounce them. Seems like most fantasy books I read everything is too ridiculously hard to pronounce.

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  11. @Hildred You have no idea what that means to me! I was worried that no one would be able to understand them or that they would be too hard to remember. You've made me smile. ^^

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  12. Cool! I also have a map for my YA fantasy (though it's very much a working document at the mo - I'm still changing and adding things).

    I'm a fellow crusader, btw, and just came by to say hi (and follow you!) since we're in the same (bound to be fabulous!) Group #7!

    Yippee, crusaders!!

    xx Rach

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  13. lol I'll probably change some things too but for now, this is it.

    You're in my Group? Yay! -hugs-

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