Welcome to Maldene, that world situated “in the center of Space, at the Doorway to Time, on the precipice of Fate.” You’re here for the tour; we’ll just be covering the highlights today, but as a precaution keep all limbs inside the transit bubble.

First we have Tedelnosho, aka The Great Whirlpool, or if you want a literal translation that would be “really big hole in the ocean”. A whirlpool 1500 miles across, at the northern edge of the Sea of 1000 Islands just below the Southern Tropic, it’s been going for thousands of years and no one knows why. There are rumors of people traveling to other worlds by traveling across it, and creatures coming out from elsewhere. But those are only rumors.

Below that is the aforementioned Sea of 1000 Islands, though some of those islands are little more than rocky shrapnel. That famed race of sailors, the Thirdocians, call these seas their home, though of course that doesn’t stop them from sailing the world. There is a legend of how the Sea formed when one great wizard stood up to fight that dread evil Miro. Before that battle, the Sea used to be a part of the continent of My-Thov. The wizard, by the way, lost, and Miro still haunts our collective nightmares.

Just north of the equator, at the southern shores of the continent of Cenivar, is The Harbor of the World.  Picture a harbor about the size of your Gulf of Mexico, where the entrance is about the distance from the tip of Florida to Cuba.  Cultures from all over the world pass through and live here, and it is said that a million ships ply these protected waters.  The coastline here is basically one big stone city encircling the entire perimeter of the Harbor and for a couple hundred miles inland.  Of course no one’s insane enough to hold a war here, but the streets have their other dangers, as well as excitements. There’s even a certain bar that Eldar recommends. (Sorry, he paid me to put that in.)

Far to the south, nearly to the Southern Wastelands, is the little continent of Puj, home to some of the weirdest creatures around, but also said to be the homeland of that mysterious gold-skinned human race called the Vina. Nothing we can confirm on that latter though. If you do go there and sit down on a rock that then starts to crawl away, don’t be surprised. This place is weird.

North of Puj are the Elven Islands, though a bit bigger than regular islands; we call them ‘faultes’. This is a land of elves and fairy folk, with perfect weather, calms seas, and mild temperatures. They love visitors and any excuse to party. Of late, though, there has been some concern about the siting of some mysterious black ships and their crew of souls.

This area is bordered to the east by My-Thov and the left by Frecaloth.  While Frecaloth is home to the tallest mountains anywhere, it is also home to Traugh and his dragons so we’ll just avoid that area for now. My-Thov is a lot more interesting anyway. In it you’ll find The Great Desert where the Destir live, Cho Tehïr with its thousand-foot trees, and the open plains where the Plains Riders rule from the backs of their horses and occasional bear-cat. My-Thov is by far the largest continent– or ‘dalnmar’ as we call it– in the world.

Finally we come to the dalnmar of Degaloth, home to amongst other things the King with his glittering six-pointed star-shaped castle; the only leader trying to form up some resistance against whatever evil plans Miro is brewing. If you need a safe place to come, this would be it; of course, it might also be a target for Miro’s minions, but then again when it comes to Miro no place is ever truly safe.

That has been your quick little tour of our Earth-swallowing world. It’s a pretty big place, large enough that one of its three moons is about the size of your Earth. Oh yeah, and there’s stories about those moons as well, and the question of why their orbits are so perfect: anywhere in the world you will always see one and only one moon; as one sets another rises on a different horizon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief tour, and please come again and maybe next time we’ll have time to visit The Farlands, Tricity, and Po-Adar’s little home in the Freelen Sea (helpful hint… never go near that crazy old wizard’s place; it’s far safer to perform your own appendectomy).