Today’s article introduces Silvery Earth. Originally Silvery Earth (what I now call Old Silvery Earth) was the magic world of my childhood. We shall dwell on that version in a later post, since it’s not completely dead yet.
The new Silvery Earth was born on the pages of the novel called Lost&Oliver that I wrote in 1993. Until then I had written very unoriginal medieval fantasy with elves, dwarves and all the other paraphernalia found in the Chronicles of Dragonlance, since I admit I never read Tolkien.
Fast forward to 2005 when I decided that I needed only one fantasy world, and the more original the better. Hence stories (formerly in comic book format) like Kolia&Joris and The Prince and the Adventurer were rebooted to fit into the new Silvery Earth along with Belfi and other stories of the Moren Empire.
I did rewrite Lost&Oliver and its sequels and prequels as the Chronicles of the Varian Empire, as well as adding all my Amazons stories (the first was written in 1985) to the chronology (a princess of the Amazons was already in Lost&Oliver, so it was just a question of expanding the world).
The Varian Empire was therefore the first incarnation of the new Silvery Earth. But it’s a big world – a planet very similar to Earth but with different landmasses that still need to be explored – and the addition of the Magical Races. The Humans have different religions (and races, since there are Asians and Africans as well as Caucasian and other mixtures), but the true gods of Silvery Earth are the Five Immortals – Air, Water, Fire, Ether and Earth.
And before the Varian Empire in the southern part of the continent called Varia, there were the southern kingdoms inspired by India, Persia… and the Assassins the Crusaders met in the Holy Land. Who are the Silvery Earth Assassins?
Extract from the notes on the Assassins’ Guild of Silvery Earth
The Assassins’ Guild of Southern Varia was founded in Agharek at the time of Akkora, then expanded to all the southern kingdoms. The founder was a man of vast culture who loved poetry and was very curious and interested in science. He started a school with for assassins divided by level of instruction, trust and courage, from novices to the head of the guild. The courses include indoctrination and physical exercise. The members, alone or in groups of 2 or 3, are sent to kill the victim disguised as merchants or pilgrims to study the surroundings and hit the target. Sometimes the execution must happen in public with the biggest possible audience – although in that case the assassin will probably lose his life. The original guild has become a family-owned closed sect. Every big city has a seat – originally depending on the main seat at Agharek (the Akkoran towns are satellites of Agharek even if Akkora is no more – Argantael, Darantasia and Jevina are a little more independent from Agharek, but not as much as Godwalkar, that has its own rules). Later they will reach the north during the Varian Empire – and the rules will evolve.
Most famous assassins as seen in the published stories :
Kumar protagonist of Books of the Immortals – Air and father or Rahul (The Lords of War, included in Tales of the Southern Kingdoms).
Talwar and Khanda runaway members of the original guild who settled in Godwalkar.
Saif first student of Talwar and Khanda’s school in Godwalkar.
Kilig the Sword student and then lover of Saif and his son Hakeem.
Sabre son of Khopesh’s, Talwar’s cousin and rival, brought up in Agharek but joins the Godwalkar guild at his father’s death.
From Talwar and Khanda to Sabre, the stories are included in the Assassins’ Guild Box Set. And there are a couple more box sets for Silvery Earth: The Books of the Immortals and the brand new Quests Box Set.
All the quests happen between the fall of the Moren Empire and the fall of the Southern Kingdoms, long before the birth of the Varian Empire.
Besides eBooks, paperbacks and some box sets, Silvery Earth also has two audiobooks – Firebird and The Hooded Man. And it’s also the only series that has a graphic novel attached, S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. available as PDF on DriveThruComics – Omnibus 1 (chapters 1 to 5) Omnibus 2 (chapters 6 to 10) and Omnibus 3 (chapters 11 to 15).
And in December it will also have a strip, Silvery Earth Kids. You can watch a trailer or follow them on Instagram while you wait for the release of this square paperback and probably a related calendar for next year.
Almost at the same time, I will release The Wanderers – or the Silvery Earth Kids twelve years later as adults. In November I shall publish more Fairy Tales Revisited and a Taste of Silvery Earth with short stories to wet your appetite for this world – mostly unpublished.
Meanwhile enjoy the Pinterest board, the series page and follow this blog for more news! Have a great Sunday!