This post was originally supporter-only and posted January 2020.
Part and parcel of expanding the Tombtown series with new content and new characters has been expanding the setting. With every book, the world gets larger and more detailed, and with every character come new challenges.
In book 2 as I’m working on it, the paladins have presented an interesting challenge. I already had a few death gods on the go (though so far only Morrin the Undying has made an appearance), but upworlder gods hadn’t really figured into my thinking much. But PARCHMENT & PALADINS brings, you guessed it, paladins. Religious warriors who need a god or gods to follow.
There are 2 paladins and 2 priests in P&P, following 2 gods between them.
These are:
The Rootfather. A nature god concerned with natural order and the protection of wildlife. The Rootfather is the god hunter’s ask forgiveness when they hunt, and is sometimes the patron of harvests and farmers. Essentially, he’s a nurturing figure and a bringer and protector of life. His symbol is a tree with elaborate roots deep beneath the surface.
Allariel. The goddess of wisdom and the vengeful tide. Patroness of paladins. She’s a frightening goddess in that she represents divine retribution, but her angle as a goddess of wisdom means no violence without forethought and no vengeance without an opportunity for forgiveness or understanding. Her symbol is an owl with tide-like wings.
And that’s the brief overview. In practice, deciding the traits of these gods came first from the kind of characters I wanted to write about and what I thought would interact in an interesting way with the denizens of Tombtown.
But while I’d like to reveal more about them as I write, I’m trying not to write down too much outside of the story because I don’t want to be pinned down.
In particular, I’d like to explore how each character specifically interacts with their god, how they view them, etc. I don’t think every worshipper should have the same relationship or understanding of their god, and that might create conflicts that will be interesting to play out in the story.
Anyway, that’s just another little snippet from my messy worldbuilding!
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Image by Sue Rickhuss from Pixabay.