Fantasy | Maps
Map of the Earth of the Second Realm
Tales of the Second Realm
The Second Realm, called by many of its denizens The Realm of the Lady of Blossoms, is one of twelve parallel universes. There are a number of tales that come from the Earth of the Second Realm, some of which are published here on Medium, many more are not. I started making a map as I have always shared Tolkien’s opinion, which he expressed in 1954 in a letter to the novelist Naomi Mitchison:
I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit (generally with meticulous care for distances). The other way about lands one in confusions and impossibilities, and in any case it is weary work to compose a map from a story — as I fear you have found.
One tale started off as a short story, but I was so engaged by the characters that I kept on writing and I knew I would need a map of the whole Earth. The above map is the result of that endeavour.
Not all of the stories take place at the same time. The Heart of a Wyvern Rider takes place hundreds of years before some other stories, like The Treasure of Baran-Tar. However all of the locations can be found on this map.
A number of races live in the Earth of the Second Realm. Indigenous races include the Tree-folk who live in the forests, the Tusked who live in the plains, the Cave-folk, the Builders, and also Wyverns.
Through various means races from other Realms have entered. Humans come from the Tenth Realm and are often found around the Narrow Ocean. Typically they have been thrown up onshore from storms at sea that created a tear in the fabric of the Interrealm, but as Humans are found in each of the Twelve Realms it is thought that the Dragons may be responsible (dragons are hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings that have taken a liking to Human females).
A number of other non-indigenous races are found in the Second Realm, but that would require such a lot of exposition of the races of the Twelve Realms that it would be better to do a whole other piece!
Here is a List of all Second Realm Stories:
