Interactive Map

The VAULT OF HEAVEN is set in the vast world of Aeshau Vaal. Book One takes place in but a portion of the map below, which is itself only the eastlands of Aeshau Vaal. I actually commissioned the map below. Tor liked it so well that they¹re using it in the book. Though, I believe, it will be black and white in the book, which looks good, but I like the color version better. I admit, the map is hard to read, but there are clickable map tags that will give you more info, if you feel like exploring a bit. Over time, I¹ll add more history, more detail, and greater visibility into the world beyond the Bourne and past the Rim.

RECITYV

The capital of the nation of Vohnce, Recityv is the seat of the regent, who has historically held influence with many of the nations in the Eastlands of Aeshau Vaal. This influence came principally through the Convocation of Seats, wherein the regent called kings and rulers together to issue both the First and Second Promise. A call to War.

Recityv is likewise the home of Descant Cathedral, where the Song of Suffering is sung to keep the veil strong against the nightmares held captive inside the Bourne. It is also where the Lieholan are trained in the use of their power to create with song.

SAECULORUM

The great mountain range at the End of the World, which borders the abyss, where the roots of the Cloudwood (the great sentinel forest) till matter and energy together to create new life from nothingness. The Saeculorum is inhabited by creations dark and bright and utterly unknown.

The far side of the Saeculorum, where the mists of the abyss churn, is known by many names: Tillinghast, the End ... Restoration. It is the return of every and all. It is quiet and eternal. And the place Tahn must find before hope is gone.

SHADOW OF THE HAND

A dominating mountain range in the northwest of the Eastlands, marked by five towering peaks like a great hand with towering fingers clawing heavenward.

The Hand (as it is sometimes called) is also the place where the veil wears most thin, and where Quietgiven are said to most often escape the Bourne. The term (Shadow of the Hand) is also sometimes used to describe generally the dark influence of the Bourne as it stretches over the land.

Throughout the history of Aeshau Vaal, it is from the Hand that war has most often descended.

WIDOWS VILLAGE

Consisting mostly of women, Widow's Village is a dreary settlement where surviving spouses of Sheason reside. These spiritually impoverished few have been robbed of the Undying Vow, which ensured their marriages beyond death.

But the widows here have had their eternal unions severed by Velle (Quietgiven) wielding dark authority from one of the Great Fathers, Quietus.

These poor souls will now go into the world beyond the Narrow Way (death) ... alone. The sacrifice and service they made in life by joining themselves to a Sheason has been made as nothing. They have little use even for the names they took in life.

THE BOURNE

When the First Ones sealed Quietus away, they did so beyond the Pall, and created a vast unknown region they named the Bourne. Here, with all his dark and malefic creations, Quietus and those given to him in name (Quietgiven), canker in their malice and scorn.

The Eastlands of Aeshau Vall are held separate and safe from the Bourne by an unseen veil that keeps the nightmarish races wrought at Quietus's hand eternal prisoners in the dark backward that is the Bourne.

The Bourne also lies beyond the Rim. And it is said that in the deeping of the Bourne Quietus has continued to create ...

THE PALL

A long, treacherous mountain range at the northern border of the Eastlands of Aeshau Vaal. The veil is thought to exist somewhere in its heights. But the mountains themselves house dangers that make their passage impossible, veil or none.

Some stories tell of races escaped from the Bourne that live within the Pall. Other tales suggest that the Pall will serve as the staging place for the last great conflict of the world.

It takes its name from the common belief that it sits like a dark drape that will open and fall upon the lands of men like a death-shroud.

THE HOLLOWS

The Hollows is a town nested deep in the Hollow Wood, at the northern border of the nation to which it hails, Reyal-Te. Far from mercantile centers like Myrr or Kali-firth, and virtually hidden from seats of power like Recityv or Maerd, the Hollows harbors unknown hope‹and a history few can recall.

For it is in the obscurity of the Hollows that a forester, a farmer, a would-be mother, and a servant find themselves asked to bear a burden they could not have anticipated.

Their journey and choices will either prove or condemn more than their own lives.

SEDAGIN

The High Plains of Sedagin rest on a raised steppes, sheer in its rise from the surrounding plains. A vast tract of land, it's inhabitants—the Sedagin—are isolationists in the Eastlands. Once known as the Right Arm of the Promise for their defense of the First Promise of men, they now live in reclusion.

The Convocation of Seats—a union of kingdoms and nations—betrayed the Sedagin, sending them into battle with a promise of reinforcements that never came. They were nearly annihilated.

The Sedagin are legendary for great mastery with a greatsword, and are often called Longblades. They live by the principles of the First Promise, and are loyal unto death.

STONEMOUNT

An abandoned city, near the Valley of Lesule, that is almost entirely constructed of stone: granite, marble, and other indigenous rock. In a state of ruin, it nevertheless stands against time with regal splendor, if slightly chipped at the edges.

History records that the inhabitants simply vanished, no war or disease accounting for their disappearance. It is as though they simply transcended. Legends grow about where they went and what may come of their return to the Eastlands of Aeshau Vaal.

TABERNACLE OF THE SKY

Held safe deep within the Divide (a great mountain range near the Mal Lands), the Tabernacle is akin to a grand theater in the heart of the mountains there. It is believed the First Ones (known also as the Great Fathers) sat in council at the Tabernacle to call the world into creation.

The oldest stories hold that it is also at the Tabernacle where the First Ones Whited Quietus, condemning him to eternal life in the company of his own dire and hateful creations.

The whereabouts of the Tabernacle are unknown, leaving some to speculate that it is little more than myth.

NALTUS FAR

Deep in the Soliel Stretches near to the Saeculorum Mountains, lays the city of the Far—a mythic race thought to live abbreviated lives with one secret purpose.

Naltus rests on vast plains of inhospitable shale, and awaits a time when its people (the Far) may have to fulfill their one, last commission.

But to those few who have heard of and believe in the Far, it is rumored that they are a dying race, and that the ageless secret they bear will die with them, leaving man in a helpless, hopeless world.

THE SCAR

A great, barren tract of land devoid of any real life. It is much as a desert, the land itself fallow and robbed of energy. It became thus as a horrible consequence of The Battle of the Round.

During the War of the First Promise, the Sheason and Quietgiven met in a great final confrontation where the Scar now exists. They warred and the Quiet stripped the very essence of matter from everything in sight for leagues.

It is now a desolate reminder of sacrifices past ... and present, as it is the home of an Exile who resides there with cast offs, whom he trains and teaches...

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Check out the earlier draft of the map here.A few folks have asked if they can buy a print of the map of Aeshau Vall. The answer is yes.
Just send us an email, and we'll get 'er done.