Welcome to the first post in my new blogging series talking about the aesthetics of my current projects. I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for proper aesthetics. I have spent far more time on Pinterest than I would care to admit; and honestly one of the things that I have to figure out before I can work on a book alongside characters, plot, and romance is actually aesthetics. I have mood boards, and story themed playlists, and I can't work on stories unless the vibe is right. So I thought I would take some time to talk about the said vibe for each of my stories.
I'm currently working on four major projects now that OSaS is off getting edited (don't forget to sign up for its cover reveal!). Those stories are... Rage Like the Gods, A Tale of Gods and Glory, A Season of Subterfuge, Courtiers and War Councils, and A Matter of Curiosity. Curiously (see what I did there?) enough, these stories all take place in only two worlds with RLtG and AToGaG being connected by the common world of Ruskhazar and SoS and MoC by Amar.
I figured there was no better way to start this off than by talking about Rage Like the Gods. I feel like this may be the story I talk about the most on this blog so you are already probably pretty familiar with it. But just in case, before we get into the aesthetics, best to share what this story is even about.
Genre: High Fantasy and Romance
The fantasy world Ruskhazar is inspired by Viking and Russian civilizations as well as their myths.
I wouldn't say that the romance is a heavy element in this book but it's definitely there. And while it isn't always the main focus there are definitely parts of this story that do focus on it.
Elevator pitch: Ruskhazar is the harsh and beautiful home of men and elves. But the end of the world is coming and the living will fall to their own ancestors unless five unlikely heroes, chosen by the gods, accept their destiny and save a world that never had any place for them.
Character vibes: now this is a long one. RLtG has five main characters (the sequel will have six and hooo boy what an adventure that will be) and on top of each character having a different vibe, their POVs are also all very different in tone.
RLtG obviously has a very large cast so I'm not going to list all of the supporting characters, but some note worthy ones are... the lady knight who hates thieves but loves Eirik, a shy and kind werewolf who doesn't quite fit in with his bloodthirsty pack, a rule oriented magicker werewolf who hates the creature inside, a powerful magic user just looking for a good time, and an obstinate half-Highlander pursuing magic despite his natural immunity to it.
Setting:
This world is the bloody and snowy, home of warring classes and feuding magic systems. It has beautiful mountains and northern lights and lots of lovely things, while still being the world of necromancers and monsters and some unholy things.
In this world monsters roam and magic can be bought. It is a home to assassins, bandits, monster hunters, and mercenaries. There are vampires and werewolves, two kinds of monsters that mortal men or elves can end up becoming with a single bite. However, there are also the monsters of old... shapeshifters, krakens, and dragons that were long ago wiped out only for them to rise again in this age of necromancy. A giant guards the borders of Ruskhazar, joined only by his faithful companion, his loyal hound. The gods only rarely interfere in the mortal sphere, choosing to remain in their home of Skyhold instead.
Mountains circle around a valley and a sea surrounds the mountains. Prisoners are shipped off to work in the spice mines on islands across the sea, and the peninsula itself houses many exiles from the desert lands to the south. Its cities are in the center of the valley, with estates ruled by lords extending to the mountains, at the foot of the mountains and within them are villages ruled by chieftains in the traditional Highlander way.
Highlanders, Lowlanders, Lower Elves, and Higher Elves all live together under the façade peace.
It is the only place magic can be found and its great Academy of Magickers trains many a promising student.
To keep this post from getting too long I'll cut it off here. Obviously this is a long book and each character is very unique (for instance Meruna has a bodyguard who is a sassy warrior nun who would sell her soul for a loaf of read) so there's a lot of different aesthetics I'm missing, but if I broke all that down we'd be here all day so I thought I would focus on giving just a general view. If you're interested in more aesthetics you can check out my Rage Like the Gods Playlist and Mood Board.
Hopefully you enjoyed this, next week we'll delve into Amar. Comment below to let me know what you think of RLtG's aesthetics and this whole series I'm doing!
Also, I now have a newsletter you can sign up to that here and you'll receive a free copy of Rage Like the Gods' prequel Between Gods and Demigods.
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