Speakers and Kings

Book excerpt: The definitions and origins of a culture inescapably mold the future of a people. The seeds sown by generations long buried grow to bear unexpected fruit in the present. What if a people, with no language and no history, joined a world already in progress? On the island of Mirabalpur, sheltered by Qaiyore's vast inland sea, the magi of Mir struggle to find a future and escape the ghosts of their past. Once a mighty empire now fallen into civil disarray, Mir finds itself confronted with grim reminders of the atrocities of its imperial history. Beneath the floating city of Annaeyana, Sinari nomads amass in the northern deserts. Believing the city to be the prison home of their god Sin-Alb, they prepare for jyhad. In the fertile lands to the south, rival kingdoms struggle for dominance and survival. Located on the Qaiyore's great rivers rich with trade and agriculture, would-be empire builders are caught in a brutal maelstrom not of their own making. Throughout Qaiyore drift the Eerith, spirit beings and living history lessons. Once a race of slaves, these normally passive ancients have begun to actand neither race will ever be the same again.