Even though I made this a fiction post, it's more like an explanation of a few of the stories I'm writing at the moment. I have two chapters of a story called "The Duke of Dreven" up before this post, and in the story, it talks about some locations, cities, towns, what have you, that might confuse some readers. One of these places is Dreven itself. I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a rather ambitious undertaking I have started.

Most of my stories, finished and unfinished, I keep on google drive, just because it's easier for me. In my drive, I have a folder labeled "Tales of Edron." It contains almost ten as-yet-unfinished books that are part of a series I'm writing. Sort of a series anyway. It doesn't have a coherent plotline through all the books, but they all take place in the same world that I've created. It's like Narnia, or perhaps more like Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit, if Tolkien had written something more like ten books instead of four in Middle Earth.

Similarly, Edron is a world I've created in my head, where several of my stories take place. "The Duke of Dreven" is one of these stories. Edron is a place that houses many of my favourite original characters, and my most proud (I feel) stories. But it is a complicated place, one that I have trouble keeping track of, so I wrote myself a history textbook on the world of Edron. It's mostly behind-the-scenes lore that is only interesting or important for me, but I thought it would be fun to introduce you, the reader, to the world of Edron, before the third chapter of "The Duke of Dreven" comes out.

Edron is a place of science and magic, a world where the fantastical and the mundane mix. At the beginning of Edron, there were seven realms where the people gathered, away from the wild lands where only the creatures roamed. They built walls to keep out the darkness, but they also shut out the people of the other realms.
These seven realms were Mardos, Kethor, Andrias, Dreven, Kaur, Tekath, and Danros.

Mardos is a military-controlled realm, its army is it's source of pride. However, this means that there are few lay citizens, and those that exist are mightily oppressed by the militaristic government.

Kethor is a realm of tinkers. The economy is supported by inventions, creations made by its citizens. If a machine can be thought up, it can be made in Kethor. Their industry of mechanics and machines is the largest in all of Edron. Think of it as the steampunk realm.

Andrias is a place of anarchy. Once conquered by Mardos, the people raged against the military oppression, and overthrew the government. Until Andrias came under the rule of one of the three empires (mentioned later) it remained without a government, and was rather backward in its dealings. It mostly consisted of migrating tribes which intermingled and split without pattern.

Dreven is a sophisticated realm, with most of the population wealthy, and a large percentage of nobility, and ruled by a single duke's bloodline, the Lennon house. It almost reminds me of renaissance France, but without the ridiculous outfits or the rebellions.

Kaur is an urban realm, modern in it's technologies, and advanced in science. It also holds the largest percentage of middle-class people in all of Edron. It's mostly made of neighbourhoods and small cities, nothing like Dreven's cities, or Danros' for that matter.

Tekath is more of a mining realm. They mine metal ores, precious metals, and gemstones. They also are scientists, researching chemicals and nature itself. They also study magic, which is ever-present on Edron, and makes up a huge part of life there.

Danros is the richest realm in all of Edron, in terms of resources. It's a farming realm, mostly, but it's also an extremely exotic place. They export many products, like food, cloth, and tobacco, as an example.

Then there are the three empires, established later in Edron's timeline, which were set up in order to stop the endless warring between the realms. The empires are Dravania (rules Dreven, Kaur, and Danros), Theros (Tekath and Kethor), and Aerok (Andrias and Mardos). Dreven, as the capital of Dravania, is now where the king lives, although the Lennon bloodline still exists as a sort of area manager to Dreven's outer cities. Kaur and Danros both have their own Dukes and Duchesses to keep the peace there, and also a magic counsel in each realm.

Aerok is still a militaristic empire, and is more just and expansion of Mardos that succeeded in assimilating Andrias. Aerok did, however, become more diplomatic, with the appointment of its first Empress. Aerok's army is the most impressive and vast army in all of Edron, but is rivaled by the power of Dravania's navy. There has been tension between Aerok and Dravania in the past, but it didn't really progress into all-out war until the end days.

Theros mostly keeps to itself, sometimes trading and exporting to Dravania and Aerok, but staying out of their politics. There are rarely diplomatic or political exchanges between Theros and the other two empires, so not much is know about Theros by those who don't live there. It's a great vacation spot, though.

Also worth mentioning is that other inhabited planets exist in this universe, but there aren't any space-exploration stories in my series quite yet.

The last place I'm going to talk about isn't really a part of Edron at all, but it is vital to the progression of several stories in the universe. That place is known as Iridium. Now, Iridium is on another dimensional plane in the Edronian universe, and serves as home to the Cheshire. The Cheshire, also known as Guardians of Order and Chaos, are creatures that can travel to the dimension Edron is in, and serve as guides to the characters in various stories. The Cheshire I use the most is named Luna, and she is a Guardian of order. She has her own story, so I won't talk much more about her, but she does jump into several of my stories in order to help direct the characters. Every tale that is completed is taken back to Iridium and kept in the Great Library, where they can be read by anyone who is in Iridium.

Interesting to note is that Iridium stands outside the gates of Heaven in this universe, but the Cheshire are not allowed in until the retire, since Cheshire are immortal. Once a Cheshire retires, it cannot return to work, but none has ever wanted to, so it's really not that important. Humans, as you know, go to Heaven when they die, and, being unable to travel dimensions like the Cheshire, are allowed to visit the library in Iridium whenever they wish.

That's all I have on Edron right now, aside from a story timeline, which isn't going to be posted until all of the stories are finished. The story I plan to be working on next, after "The Duke of Dreven" is done, is called "The Mad King," and will be the first story in the chronology of Edron, and takes place before the three empires were established. I hope you found this interesting, and enjoy he rest of "The Duke of Dreven"!