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Tread of Darkness
January, 1001 APC
Scope
The motivation behind building Tread of Darkness
The Tread of Darkness is a story I have had in my head for many years, ever since I was nine or ten. It has grown and expanded as I age and the world has changed with it. Planets that were created to simply be a base of operations soon became centers of culture with languages, plants, and peoples native to that planet. The magic systems I created became more intertwined with emotion and soul. The characters in this world and story grew into people I could relate to, with many of them reflecting aspects of my personality or mental state.
My decision to release and build this world on World Anvil came after a lot of contemplation. I started on World Anvil with two private worlds, eventually adding two more. I deleted one shortly after creating it, archived another, and finally set my world of Jerde to public in the spring of 2021. The reception to Jerde was good and following Summer Camp of 2022, during which I received lots of feedback and support, I began considering writing Tread of Darkness. I eventually chose to do so and created Tread of Darkness for WorldEmber 2022.
My goal for working in this world is to flesh out elements of my world and get feedback for things I'm uncertain about. I would greatly appreciate comments telling my what parts I should clarify or add to and advice on my writing, which I always want to improve.
The goal of the project
Feedback and support! Up until I joined World Anvil and made my first world public, I had only had support and advice from family and friends, most of whom were neither fiction writers nor worldbuilders. My family and friends were always kind and encouraging, but as I have become more serious with my creating, I find myself wanting more advice. So advice, support, and gentle criticism would be great!
I also plan to eventually release a series set in this world, as well as books set in my other worlds, so building a community of followers and interested persons on here would be amazing as well. But that's less important than becoming a better writer.
Tread of Darkness's Unique Selling point
I think that one of the unique points of all of my worlds, not just this one, is the characters. I always try to link places, powers, events, and organizations to the people involved with them and I always try to make the issues they are going through relevant in some way. The Tread of Darkness is definitely not an exception. In fact, I think the characters in the Tread of Darkness are some of the best I have ever created. From the core group of main characters in the series to side characters and mysterious mentors, I have poured so much of myself into them that I don't even think I have a single character that I can look at and say, "Yup, that one's me!"
On a more world-building note, I put a lot into creating my magic systems and how they work. The Tread of Darkness has a wide variety of magical types, with all of it linking back to the connection between body, mind, and soul. For instance, mind control versus control of the body, where the mind must be suppressed to control the body. Or Jaquean Magic, with the Law of Innocence preventing its users from hurting or killing people with magic. I'm also very proud of the Celestials, powerful beings I have created that I am looking forward to writing an article on this year.
Theme
Genre
I'd say that the genre of Tread of Darkness is science fiction fantasy. The actual world itself, with spaceships and planets and technology, is probably more sci-fi, but the story and magic are decidedly fantasy. In the actual story, there's a lot to do with legends and myths and incredible powers, but in between that, there are planetary alliances, galactic wars, spaceships, space battles, exploration, and political deals. The simplest way to sum it up is science fiction fantasy, though.
Copyright © Lilliana Casper