R. F. Long

Much of my writing involves the imagining of far off and fantastic places. Below are some images which have inspired these worlds. Some are places I have visited, others are simply pictures which capture the way I imagine the Holtlands, Ithian and the village and forests of Weathermere.

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• The Holtlands

(images from The Wolf’s Sister, The Wolf’s Mate and others)

The Holtlands are ruled from the Holts by the True Blood, descendants of a single family who stole magic from a distant land and found themselves cursed for all time. Each True Blood carries the taint of this stolen magic in their blood, but through selective breeding it has become manageable, though it is still viewed with distrust by many. The Scions of Jern, however, are not so lucky. In the head of their family, the ruler of River Holt, magic runs wild, consuming their sanity. It can only be controlled by use of an enchanted sword, a sword which their powers recoil from.

The Holts are primarily defensive structures, but that has not stopped the True Blood from indulging in their wish to live in places of great beauty and luxury.

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River Holt

River Holt was built by Jern, first of its True Blood Lords. Tied to the energy of the river, thriving on the trade it brings right into the Holt, under the Scions of Jern it has been both a paragon of what a Holt can be, and its worst example. River Holters remain fiercely loyal to the Scions of Jern, to the point of following them even when they are clearly consumed by their magic and descending into madness.

As The Wolf’s Sister begins, Jeren waits for her brother Gilliad to ascend to the throne of River Holt, and fears that his fragile sanity will crack when he does.

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Mountain Holt

Mountain Holt sits just inside the Holtlands, in a range of mountains known as The Mother’s Back. It is the only Holt not built by the True Blood. Though held by the Scions of Celan and their Warders, Mountain Holt was once know as Al’ran’Glas Mare, the Jewel in the Heights and was a stronghold of the otherly race, the Fey’na or Fair Ones. Celan lay siege to it for many years until one morning it was found to be empty and all that remained of the Fey’na who lived there were carved statues in a courtyard, known afterwards as The Dancers.

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Great Holt

Great Holt had not yet been built in Jeren’s time. Some three hundred years after her death, when Celtoria, Scion of Celan, seized power in the Holtlands, an act known as The Consolidation, she decided to found a new Holt, a centre of power and majesty.

Through a brutal combination of war, hostage taking and murder, she all but obliterated many of the True Blood lines, making herself undisputed ruler of the Holtlands. Not since the fall of the Kings of Forest Halls has one ruler wielded so much power with such bloodthirsty determination.

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Grey Holt

Grey Holt would have been Jeren’s home if she had married Vertigern. She would never have been its Lady, but she would have led a peaceful, if relatively austere life in this Northern outpost.

In Celtoria’s time Grey Holt was destroyed during the Consolidation.  All but one of the True Blood line were butchered as an example to the rest of the Holtlands. Once the proud guardian of the North, it stands as an empty shell, a constant reminder and a continued threat.

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Forest Halls

Once the seat of kings, now the haunt of outlaws, Forest Halls lies at the centre of a vast area of woodland known as the Cuinwoods. Though several roads dissect it, none are safe, especially after dark.

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Sheninglas

North of the Holtlands lies Sheninglas, a mountainous region which is a contrast in snow and sheltered valleys. It is here that the Fey’na still live.

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Brightling’s Dale

A fortified outpost town on the border between River Holt and Grey Holt’s lands.  It offers a safe haven for those travelling between Holts, but its people have no love for the Fey’na, nor those who consort with them.

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• Ithian

(images from The Scroll Thief)

A fiercely religious desert kingdom, once ruled by Mahailia, incarnation of the Goddess Liath, and herself known as the Goddess Incarnate, Ithian fell in the brutal war with the Holtlands which followed her murder.

Only its capital remained intact, a city state relying on trade by sea and by caravan for its survival, a brutal and dangerous place called Klathport.

But even with its seedy underbelly, Klathport clings to the memory of what it once was and though the fine buildings and palaces are crumbling, many dream of making it great once more.

Desert surrounds Klathport, and the nomads who travel it are a law unto themselves, often seen as a race apart.

The shrine to Mahailia at Selima is the last bastion of the Mahailian sect, a religious group dedicated to preserving the memory and ideas of the Goddess Incarnate, her servants in this world and a place of retreat from it for those who need it, a sanctuary.

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From other worlds to our own, from fantasy to paranormal romance, Soul Fire is grounded firmly in old Irish and British folklore, in the tales of the Sidhe or the faeries, beings not good enough for heaven, nor bad enough for hell.

• Weathermere

(images from Soul Fire)

Weathermere

The village of Weathermere lies in the area of England known as The Home Counties.

The surrounding forests are remnants of ancient woodlands from a time when the whole island was forested and the Sidhe walked freely between their world and what they call The Iron World of Men. A stone circle marks the gateway between worlds, known as the Veil and only one of the Sidhe carrying a key in the form of a golden acorn can pass through to the Realm of the Seelie Sidhe.

On the edge of this forest lives a woman called Rowan Blake, in a cottage inherited from her grandmother. Rowan doesn’t believe in magic, and wouldn’t have time for it if she did but the war between the Seelie and UnSeelie Sidhe is about to erupt right in her back garden.

All pictures (bar River Holt) courtesy of www.dreamstime.com or were taken by R.F. Long herself. River Holt is extracted from the header of this website – a Fantasy WordPress theme using Matte by Alexandru Popescu called Lost Kingdom.