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Tomorrow is the International Day of Forests! To celebrate, we are featuring a key location in the Thread of Souls series, the Firelit Forest.

The Firelit Forest stretches from north to south of Corventos. It serves as the border between the Korventine Empire and the Eleste Lands. This massive expanse of trees is visible for miles. Its name came from the many fireflies that light it up at night.

This forest has been a staging ground for many storylines in the Thread of Souls books. In Ash & Thunder, the Phantom Five travel through the forest on their journey to the capital. They visit Jade’s Druid Circle as well as the hut her late Master Galen lived in. They also have a confrontation with the spellcaster Jenkins in the middle of a ritual.

In Path of the Spiders, Wash, Unolé, Taliesin, and Ruuda flee for safety within the trees while they are being hunted by Dorian Aster of the Citadel. The book ends in a showdown between Wash and Dorian.

Historically speaking, the Firelit Forest plays a role on the grand stage of Corventos. During An’Ock’s Age of Expansion they attempted to settle it, but were unsuccessful against nature. It was decided upon as the border between the Korventine Empire and the Eleste Lands during the War for the World, as well.

Do you have a favorite real-life or fictional forest? Share below!

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For International Women’s Day, we are featuring female characters from the world of Thread of Souls, along with art drawn by co-author Ashley! It has always been important to us to bring a world to the table and the books that feels real, diverse, and with characters that have depth. This is a fun opportunity for us to showcase some of these fictional women.

Jade Moontide / Galanodel

Jade is a primary character in Thread of Souls and someone we have followed since the earliest chapters. She is a Druid, a lover of nature, a pragmatic realist, and an insightful observer. As a Wild Elf of 406 years of age, she is driven by her desire to protect her home city from destruction by a great red dragon.

Unolé

The Thread of Souls series opened up with a chapter from Unolé’s POV. This Half-Fiend grew up an orphan and lived on the streets with her little sister. After being taken in by the Shadow Guild, she made a living on theft contracts of valuable items. She is very urban, having lived in the empire’s capital city her whole life. She is materialistic and lying comes easily, but she also has a kind heart that protects her friends at all costs.

Ruuda Drybarrel

Ruuda is a Dark Dwarf that is considered a failure in her culture’s caste system. She never received a Blessing from her god, and so left her home to seek vengeance. She is a dual-wielding warrior as strong as she is fast and agile. When she left home, she was uncertain of herself and had low self-esteem. But across the first three books in the series, she has grown more confident with each monster she vanquishes and challenge she overcomes.

Jasita Yolarin

Jasita is a High Elf mage that currently works as a researcher for the prestigious Citadel. She has a talent for enchantment magic, and spends most of her evenings with a pile of nonfictional books. She is reserved and prefers to keep to herself and pursue her Citadel career. Keenly intelligent with a sharp memory, Jasita always keeps to the rules and takes no shortcuts.

Andraste Ostoroth

Andraste has aspirations of priestesshood, the highest leadership position in her home city Berenzia. Driven on by her mother in this ambition, she is heavily involved in politics. She is also a formidable demon summoner and spellcaster. She has dry humor and a cunning mind. While she can be quite amiable, her choice of career brings out the more ruthless side of her.

Viscera Dante

Viscera is a historical figure of legendary status. She led the strategy that rid Corventos of dragons and ushered in peace. She founded the Citadel and was instrumental in planar research and warding. Her descendent, Leliana Dante, currently leads the Citadel.

Elisi

Elisi, also known as the Grandmother, is the leader of the Shadow Guild. This underground criminal organization resides in the empire’s capital city. Elisi has weaved a web of contacts, favors, and blackmail, making her very feared and very respected.

Lizbeth

Lizbeth is an acolyte for the temple of the Holy Dragon. She reveres her mentors and graciously helps all those who enter the temple. She is soft-spoken and kind. Despite only being an adolescent, the temple’s High Priest sees a bright future ahead for her.

Maiathah Xanphia

High Priestess Maiathah Xanphia leads the city of Berenzia with an iron fist. Only the most foolish cross her, and she has left a trail of blood and death on her ascendency to power. Serving a malevolent goddess, Maiathah carries out her wishes to further the cult.

Quinn

Quinn is a Venator, an elite warrior that protects Citadel mages in the field. She wields a heavy greatsword and speaks little. In Path of the Spiders, we were introduced to Quinn helping to hunt down the fugitive Wash.

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We hope you enjoyed this entry for International Women’s Day! Please share your favorite female fictional characters!

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We are very excited for the first cocktail in our new line of Thread of Souls themed recipes! The Magister is a bright and refreshing drink with a nice dark purple color reflective of the god himself.

The Lore

The Magister is the god of magic, discovery, and order. He is credited with teaching mortals magic, and his symbol is a purple spark. He is often depicted as a bronze-skinned male wearing robes with arcane sigils. The Magister promotes research and discovery of the arcane as a way to progress society forward. But he also advocates for its control and using it only for good. He played an extremely active role in the Divine Wars due to his assault by the Silk Weaver. He was one of the primary deities that advocated for the Gate of the Gods and had a key hand in its creation.

The Recipe

The ingredients are: 1 cup of cosmopolitan mix, 1 oz of blue curaçao, 2 drops of cherry bitters, and ice to your liking. This would also taste really good shaved-ice style!

It is very simple to mix up. Just put ice in a glass, pour in your liquids, and mix until it is a dark purple in color.

Enjoy!

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This character feature for Thread of Souls is centered on Unolé, the stealthy rogue who loves her little sister, bags of gold, and adventure.

Unolé was raised in An’Ock, the capital city of the Korventine Empire. She grew up in an orphanage with her little sister, Unatchi. Both are Half-Fiends, a race that has a touch of the Hells within them. This presents itself as horns, a tail, sharp incisor teeth, and unusually colored eyes.

When Unolé aged out of the orphange, she and her little sister ended up on the streets. Due to their race, no one would take them in. They learned how to steal, how to deceive, and how to remain out of sight. One day, Unatchi tried to pickpocket a young man named Fade. Fade belonged to the Shadow Guild, an underground organization led by the ruthless and mysterious leader known as the Grandmother. Impressed with their skills, Fade vouched for them to join the Guild.

Unolé’s years in the Shadow Guild were spent learning how to fight, improving her stealth skills, and harnessing the innate magic her Hellish bloodline gave her. She took on multiple thieving and spying contracts for the Shadow Guild, earning a good reputation. But what was most important to her was a stable home for her little sister.

During the prologue of the Phantom Five book, we join Unolé and Unatchi on one such contract just outside of the city. But this contract turns deadly. Unatchi’s body drops, but Unolé can’t be sure if she is lifeless or unconscious before a giant creature swoops from the sky and steals the body away.

Unolé joins together with the wise and calm coatl named Teshuva to track down her sister. The two of them travel the planes, searching for this monster and for answers as to why her little sister was targeted. Unolé will not rest until she can bring her sister back home, and along the way she makes friendships, defeats monsters, and accumulates gold in hopes of one day leaving the Shadow Guild behind.

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The known Planes play an integral role in the Thread of Souls stories. From the in-between “white world” Teshuva and Unolé venture to, to the undeath-filled Gloomdwell of Path of the Spiders, there are many diverse locations to explore.

The history of Corventos is built heavily on interplanar fears. Ever since the Day of Sealing, when dragons were sealed away into other planes, planar travel has been deemed illegal. The Citadel closely guards its own research and discoveries about what else is out there beyond the Material Plane.

The Material Plane

This is the plane in which Corventos is. It is called such because of the mortals that live there, as well as the more material state of objects and beings. It was a thriving place for the gods before they left, and was a primary battleground for the Divine Wars.

The Hells

It is not known why the Hells is referred to in a plural sense. Perhaps this plane is unending, perhaps there are many versions of the Hells, or perhaps there are multiple circles of it. This plane is the prison to the deity known as the Hoofed King, although he considers it his home and thrives there. His creatures are the devils that live in the Hells. This plane was visited twice in the books so far. Once in Phantom Five, and once in Ash & Thunder. Devils take on a variety of forms, but any mortals venture into the Hells to make deals, or they are sold as slaves.

The Gloomdwell

The Gloomdwell was a starring location during the events of Path of the Spiders. This is the plane of undeath, where bodies rarely stay at rest. Lady Raven’s Sable Mausoleum is also located somewhere on this plane. The third book in the series saw Unolé, Wash, Ruuda, and Taliesin finding a way to escape the Gloomwell and return to the Material Plane.

The Chasm

Deep within the wastelands of the Gloomdwell lies an entrance into another plane of existence: the Chasm. The home of demons. It is also the prison of the goddess Aranese. It is a terrible place filled with violence, torture, and the monstrous races of demons.

The Wilds

We know very little about the Wilds so far. We know it is a plane of fey creatures and rugged wilderness. During the Second Age the city of Eleste’si traveled back and forth between the Wilds and the Material Plane before the Citadel put a stop to it. In so doing, they trapped part of Eleste’si and its denizens forever within the Wilds.

The Elemental Planes

It is known that there are planes of pure elemental magic that exist, though they have not been visited in the books. These planes were created and refined by the Blight Dragon herself, turning them into chaos.

The Celestial Plane

This is the plane of most of the benevolent deities. While some are scattered across other planes, the majority of them live here. It is said to be a beautiful and peaceful place.

The Spirit Plane

This is more of an in-between rather than an actual plane of existence. It is a realm of passing spirits, ghosts, and those that are teleporting to a different location. Those that travel through it often see themselves in a foggy, unclear version of their own world.

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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! In honor of the month of love, we created fun Valentine’s cards for four of the Thread of Souls characters. Enjoy!

Ruuda’s card references her culture’s Blessing system, where each child is given a Blessing by the god the Forge King. This is proclaimed by a priest or priestess. However, in all her 100+ years of life, Ruuda has never received a legitimate Blessing. While this has forced her on the run to avoid mounting debt, she still thinks you could be her special Valentine’s Blessing!

Taliesin’s card references an event that happened in the third book in the Thread of Souls series, Path of the Spiders. Taliesin is a Cleric and thus closely tied to the goddess he chooses to worship. But for how special you are, he will let you be his new deity to worship!

Jade the nomadic Druid loves all things nature. With her deep magical ability, she is easily able to grow flowers and make them blossom into beautiful displays. Jade has a rough edge to her, with her ability to transform into the elements and her pragmatic way of solving problems. But she still has a soft spot for the prettier things in nature, as well as for her Valentine!

Sen is a carefree pirate captain beloved by his crew. When he is not fighting for coin or sailing the seas, he loves to relax and drink some rum. In fact, there are few things in life Sen loves more than rum. But he is a fiercely loyal friend and will always be on the front lines of battle, especially for his Valentine.

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