Mystical Realms and Sacred Spaces: World Building for The Jar of Dreams
A Quick Taste: What is this Blog About?
I have lived in the Lands of Vaniya, and the mystical realms for longer than I have lived in any one place on this planet. For 24 years, I have woken before the sun to world-build, to bring each character to life, and to write The Jar of Dreams.
In this blog, I have picked some of the favourite locations of beta readers, editors and readers of the Pre-Release Edition that is on sale now. You'll get to come behind the scenes and discover the cultures, languages, geography, foods, political systems, magical systems and more.
If you love fantasy world building, this blog is for you.
The Banquet Begins Here: Some of the Most Extraordinary Locations in the Lands of Vaniya
I have been asked many times over the years whether the places in The Jar of Dreams are inspired by real locations. The honest answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no.’
The fantasy map making has been such a fun part of designing the book.
There are many of the places, people, cultures and life messages contained in The Jar of Dreams that are inspired by experiences that I have had living in the Himalayas, in Latin America, Kenya, Australia and Europe.
The Tan Kun Mountains are in part inspired by the Himalayas, where Tarun’s story first arrived in a dream when I was sleeping under a sacred peak in Garwhal, India. They are also inspired by trips to the beautiful Southern Alps (Ka Tiritiri o te Moana) of New Zealand (Aotearoa), crossing glaciers, climbing peaks and being lowered into the creaking depths of crevasses.
The Dundhai River has the feel of many great rivers that I have stood beside or travelled on: the Yangtse, Ganges, Mekong, even the Thames and the Seine.
The seed of inspiration for Khan Babangaida’s palace in Duzkah was Le Mont-Saint-Michel, before it grew into something even more fantastical.
But there are also many realms, characters and scenes that I cannot explain where they originated. After the story arrived, I woke from my sleep beside Namik glacier to write it down, then something that I had not experienced before began to happen. I would be transported from my day-to-day life into other realms and places. Places that I later came to know as The Lands of Vaniya, Naz-Djek and the Spirit Realms. It was during these experiences that the story channelled itself through me. This was how much of the first draft arrived.
I enjoyed these experiences so much that I began to learn how to access these portals between worlds. How to travel to the Lands of Vaniya and beyond. To a state of mind and being where I have no active thought. A state where I am just open to the spirit of this story showing me where it wishes to go next.
I will write more on this later if it is of interest (let me know). For now, let’s get back to some of the places in Vaniya, and the realms beyond that I have travelled to and that I am excited for you to discover.
Xhadur: Where Our Story Begins
Xhadur sits on the southern bank of the Dundhai River in the fertile western region of Yehriin. On the north bank lies the industrialised city of Hymez. Both Xhadur and Hymez are ruled over by Khan Babangaida and his money and power-hungry barons.
Illustration of Xhadur, on the near bank of the Dundhai River, and Hymez on the far bank.
Xhadur is Tarun’s home. It is a city with a complex but important history. A city that reflects the battle between tradition and modernity. This is a battle that is raging when we join Tarun at the start of The Jar of Dreams.
Xhadur was once not a city, but a close-knit community that worked to create abundance for all its inhabitants and that prioritised care for Mother Elsaru (nature), to safeguard the land for future generations.
In the Age of Tzan though, Xhadur was steadily overrun by people flooding in from nearby regions, drawn by the promise of work and wealth in the neighbouring city of Hymez. The town bloated, spilling out into the countryside. Morphing into the sprawling, messy city that we find when we join Tarun at the beginning of his story, his quest.
The Dundhai River, too, has been in a steady decline since the rise of Khan Babangaida as the overlord of Hymez and Xhadur. Once the lifeblood of both Xhadur and Hymez, providing clean water and abundant fish. The Dundhai is now sullied, poisoned by the pollution of the Khan’s factories. Its muddied, lifeless waters are symbolic of the health of the communities that line its banks. Symbolic too of the state of much of the world we live in.
There is something that breaks my heart a little every time I write about the Dundhai. It represents everything the Age of Tzan has cost the people of Vaniya. Not in one dramatic moment, but slowly, incrementally, as one small compromise followed another until the damage was done.
The Ghunali Glacier: Heart of the Great Tan Kun Mountains
Deep in the mighty Tan Kun ranges, the highest, most impenetrable mountains in all of Vaniya, lies the Ghunali glacier and the surrounding Ghunali snowfields.
A sketch of the approach to the Ghunali Glacier, with the Ghunail snowfields beneath the mountains.
Ghunali Snowfields: The Beauty and The Beasts
These snowfields are breathtaking in their beauty, but beware, they are also a deadly trap for the unaware traveller. High up in the caves that dot the craggy rock faces and peaks live the Kahraal, great bear-people who use the snowfields as hunting grounds. They do this by peppering the snow with Kahraal pits, traps that are like quicksand, all but invisible underfoot, and virtually impossible to escape once entered.
Beneath Ghunali Glacier: The Sacred Solis
Within the glacier itself lies a sacred place that has become a favourite of many readers of the Pre-Release Printed Edition of The Jar of Dreams.
The Solis.
The Solis is a hyaldar, a rare occurrence in which a fine pathway opens between the material realm of Elsaru and the spirit realms. When this happens, the energy of the spirit realm pours through the opening and forms a multi-coloured waterfall of light. Some hyaldar allow those who stand within them to catch a glimpse of their future.
The Solis is protected by Yananda, the Great Shaman, who has chosen to live beneath the glacier to protect it from falling into the hands of the dark djinn, Malazhiim
A sketch of Yananda, the Great Shaman
Within the glacier, you will also find the Caves of Ni’itya, caverns whose walls have been imbued with Mah’rai by Yananda himself. Each cave tells a story to those who enter. What is revealed in The Jar of Dreams? You’ll have to find out in the book – no spoilers here.
Duzkah: A City Built on Erasure
Duzkah is the most morally complicated location in The Jar of Dreams. This grand city is the capital of the region of Kymihz, the seat of Khan Kymihr. On the surface, Duzkah is magnificent; the Khan’s palace at its centre is said to have no parallel in all of the Lands of Vaniya. The streets and bustling marketplaces, with Ruugini, street preachers, on every corner. Food stalls serve exotic dishes like itlai doughnut-balls soaked in sweet syrup and paziz, lilac ice cream served with pistachio and edible rose petals.
It is a city full of life, colour and noise.
And it is a city built on a crime.
Illustration of Duzkah Palace and the Dragon Arch
The Jah Fai people, the traditional owners of this land, whose villages were razed to build Duzkah, whose language was banned, whose history was forbidden, now live in the poorest quarters of the very city that replaced their home. The Duzkahrans who walk past them every day regard them simply as the poor: a problem to be ignored, a people to be looked over.
To the Duzkharans, their city is a beautiful, thriving place. To them, life within the great walls is entirely normal, entirely justified, entirely good. Because that is usually how these things work. The people who benefit from an injustice rarely see it as an injustice at all.
In this complex city, a dark secret is hidden. One that threatens to change everything.
Next up: World-Building in the Details: Food, Creatures and the Magic of the Everyday
More world-building posts coming soon: Orkul-Raaz: The Ancient Name for the Ocean’s Most Deadly Secret, Where Spirit Guides Once Walked: The Lost Glory of the Citadel of Viesha and more.
An Invitation to Subscribe and Share
This world building blog series is for you if you love exploring fantasy worlds and want to discover the inspiration for the worlds and realms of The Dream Chronicles.
If you know anyone else who loves fantasy novels, please feel free to share this link with them, as it really helps me with my dream of becoming a full-time author. Thank you!
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