The Fallen – Let's Build This World Together

[thegreatone]

Hello again, everyone!

First of all, thank you for the warm welcome and the encouraging responses to my introduction. It genuinely means a lot, especially as this is my first major book and my first time sharing my work with a dedicated writing community.

For anyone interested, The Fallen: Song of the Depths – Book I: The Silver Vein is currently available for free on Amazon!

You can check it out here:

THE FALLEN: SONG OF THE DEPTHS: BOOK I: THE SILVER VEIN - Kindle edition by Joseph, Steven. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

THE FALLEN: SONG OF THE DEPTHS: BOOK I: THE SILVER VEIN - Kindle edition by Joseph, Steven. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading THE FALLEN: SONG OF THE DEPTHS: BOOK I: THE SILVER VEIN.

www.amazon.com

I'd also like to share something I'm planning for this project.

I'm going to create a dedicated Instagram page for The Fallen, where I intend to gradually expand and explore the universe beyond what's covered in the first book.

Some of the things I plan to share include:

- Monsters and supernatural entities: Drawing inspiration from real-world mythology, folklore and regional legends.
- Worldbuilding: Locations, ancient orders, forgotten histories, artefacts, mythology and the underlying cosmology of the series.
- Character sketches: Both AI-assisted visual concepts and traditional hand-drawn illustrations.
- Creature designs and bestiary entries: Their origins, appearances, abilities, weaknesses and connections to different folklore traditions.
- Concepts and lore: Ideas that might eventually find their way into future books.

The first book explores Bohemia and Central Europe during the seventeenth century, while the second instalment is planned to move into eighteenth-century England (yep there will be jack the ripper as well ) , opening up an entirely different landscape of folklore, mythology and supernatural possibilities.

There are also certain mysteries surrounding the characters, their histories and the larger mythology that I deliberately don't want to reveal just yet!

But here's where I'd love your involvement.

I don't want this to be just a page where I post things I've already decided. I'd genuinely enjoy hearing your thoughts, suggestions and interpretations.

If you come across a creature from a particular regional mythology that you think would fit this universe, a historical detail worth exploring, an interesting supernatural concept, or even something you think could be improved, I'd love to hear about it.

Some suggestions might even inspire future additions to the universe.

I'd love for this to become an ongoing creative conversation where we can exchange ideas, explore folklore and develop this world together.

I'll share the dedicated Instagram page here once it's ready.

Thank you again, everyone. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and hopefully having some of you join me on this journey.

The song has only just begun.

— Steven (SKJ)

 

[KeeGaN]

It sounds interesting. Are you going to include the DND type scenarios, or are they going to move aside for a pantheon of other creatures? It looks like the table has been set for a patina of ideas that are generally accepted as tropes, but that is where the main fantasy ends, in a more high fantasy setting. It seems to me to be ideas that you are looking for, and would generally settle deals better with a thoughtful inclusion rather than a blanket statement.

To take this further, I have not read your book, but I have read similar books. The inclusion of more-or-less is a concept that covers a great distance and includes many media. Would you rather use the general sirens of fantasy, or is it more of a pet project? A habit of going through the tropes may be fun, to see where the pattern emerges. Then there can be a shining hero, and an evil void, but there can be greater discoveries made in any case.

 

[thegreatone]

Hello! Thank you for the thoughtful critique even without having read it yet, you've hit on some great questions about how fantasy tropes are handled.
To answer your question: I definitely lean away from generic D&D style monsters or a boilerplate shining hero vs. evil void dynamic. While the setup might use familiar high fantasy scaffolding, the story subverts those tropes by grounding everything in gritty historical horror and specific regional folklore things like plague ghouls (Nachzehrer), river-spirits (Wasserfrau), and the ghostly Stilles Jagd (Silent Hunt) rooted tightly in Central European and alpine mythology.

There is no classic "shining hero," either. The protagonist, is a border guardian (Hraničník) belonging to a secretive, weary monastic order c. He's deeply traumatized, scarred by his past, and facing a violent, high action world set against the brutal backdrop of the Thirty Years' War.

As for worldbuilding, instead of generic high-fantasy empires, the politics and factions are tied directly to the harsh historical realities of 17th century Europe politics, local authorities, and shifting powers.

And regarding the antagonist yes, he is definitely a major highlight! Rather than a mindless dark void, the main antagonist is, a chilling, ancient entity wearing a human face who manipulates human flaws, grief, and desperation. There's plenty of grim action and dark violence, and the psychological cat and mouse game with the antagonist drives a lot of the core tension.

It's very much a pet project exploring how familiar patterns can be twisted into something darker and more grounded. I really appreciate you pushing on this!