Welcome to the first Age of Delgard blog. Interrupting the nostalgic detours through the author's mind, we will be travelling back through the pages of Dellreigh's history to explore the geography of the continent of Celestia Gar, its pivotal eastern provinces and the borderlands defining the power and influence of the Fellensian Empire.
Covered in intimate detail will be the history of the Sylt folk, focusing on the consecutive Blighted Wars that uprooted them from the fertile lowlands – a calamity that came to be known as the Scouring. From the genesis of modern Sylt to the fall of the Sanufell, the civilisational milestones have been chronicled within the pages of Tulloch Greighspan's epic, The History of the Ancients. From Book I, Excerpt V: Realms: 2.4 – Divine Spark:
“The Empire of House Delgard was the greatest their world had ever known. At its height, her borders stretched from sea to mountain range along more than five-hundred miles of Celestia Gar’s eastern coastline.
A union of five major provinces, the political and religious heart was located high on the inland plateau. From the mountain capital of Sanufell, the line of House Delgard – blessed of ancient Aethelron – ruled over the united provinces: Royal Fellensia; ice-covered Norsteigh on its northern border; the agricultural heartland of Geldonia to the east, and distant Braythorn and Tarador, whose forces guarded the Empire’s south-western and southern flanks respectively against the hostile Kardacians – wild nomads from Celestia Gar’s rugged desert centre.
Also within the Delgardian Empire’s borders was the autonomous province of Florenmeer – impenetrable swamplands inhabited by the reclusive Spackles, a curious race of Sylt who honoured a fragile alliance with surrounding Geldonia and Braythorn.
The only area within its borders entirely outside of House Delgard’s control was Adensee, a large saltwater inlet joined to the Fathomsong Sea by a narrow channel cursed with king tides and shifting sandbanks. Ruling these treacherous inland waterways from the marshland stilt city of Adenstatt were the ferociously independent Corsairs – a tribe of seafarers whose origins were said to be linked to an unknown island continent beyond the eastern horizon.”
Included in the author’s notes is a (very) rough sketch of Celestia Gar that requires a thorough reworking before it ever see light of day. For visual context, ancient Fellensia was an east-coast Empire influenced in no small measure by the world of Robin Hobb’s Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies. North is cold, south is warm, but unlike the land of the Farseers, a great ridge divides the coastal plain from the inland plateau. The idea for the Calverslope Ridge sprung from the winding downhill drive from the NSW southern highlands to the coast via the Illawarra escarpment. From the heights, one can take in endless rolling green hills stretching to the coast (the inspiration for Celestia Gar breadbasket province of Geldonia).
Of course, it’s all too much to swallow in a single bite. Instead, the author will blog one province at a time, mining both the book content and personal notes to paint in the background picture that defines the Age of Foundation story behind The Waking World trilogy.
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