Lianna Gourmos
Writing and Creatives
GEOGRAPHY
Travel to just a few locations in the world of my novel!
The world in which my novel takes place is called the "Opposite Side of Reality", named as a counterpart to the human world. The "OSOR" is made up of many regions, which are referred to as "Grands" or "Minis" depending on size. Direction is referred to in terms of Left, Right, Up, and Down, with "tern" attached as a suffix.
GRAND COMMUNE: Rightern OSOR.
☾
AUCULET: A city in Downtern Grand Commune, home to many Well witches. Bustling market and streets, and home of the Light Chapter. Auculet boasts beautiful gardens and abundant produce, and is a crowded town whose center is highly technologically advanced. The region receives heavy rainfall in the spring, where dark clouds pool and the sun streams through cracks. In winter, snow is plentiful. Auculet's trivial (equivalent to a mayor) is Ambrose Ripley. Auculet mass produces kips (boats), as their region is known to host many kipping competitions. Many witches live in rural homes in the Aculet Valleys, where they grow crops in their backyards. Meanwhile, Central Auculet's stores and apartments are crammed together on either side of the narrow cobblestone roads. These shops include Toggos (tech-grottos), market stands, and eateries such as Lilianne’s, a small, but quite famous, 24-hour restuarant. They are busiest during the early hours of the morning, from 12am to 5am. Auculet is busy during the day yet at night, the streets come alive, shops are lit up with lanterns. The main Gentrie (transportation) takes up an entire street, but there are stations on most corners. The Auculet Seafront is at the edge of the woods, and surrounded by the Hills on the opposite side of the populated Valley, which spill into the sea. The beach is on the other side of the rolling hills, where kip races take place. Long docks stretch over the shallow waters, reaching from the town’s crevices between the markets all the way to the beach. The city is known for their primary schools, such as Wilder & Clarke’s Witching Academy, for they are accessible and affordable. The people here are referred to as “Auculetarians”.
​
​
​
​
​
​
STELLIA: A city in Uptern Grand Commune, home to many Wealthy and Well witches, and boasts the Dark Chapter. Stellia is known to have constant rain and fog, yet thunder and lightning is rare. Gentrie production is mass in Stellia, the city being a powerhouse for machinery. Many in Stellia have devoted their lives to their studies or are settled down with plenty of savings to spare. Witches who are eligible for university live here, as well as rich folk who may work for the royals or have high paying jobs. The Well usually come live here for jobs building and testing gentries. Sharing similar street-life with Auculet, the neighboring city, Stellia gets a lot of snow in winter as well. Stellia’s trivial is Kahlo Nelipo, who is also a professor at the most famous university in the OSOR. Stellia is huge on maps and anything to do with geography. They make the best compasses and astrolabes on the Opposite Side, and the city is dripping with history. Stellia displays dark architecture, old, dimly lit shops, academic institutions, and plenty of historical statues and museums. Pawn shops are a big part of Stellian culture, as trading is always afoot. Beyond the vine-covered alleyways in between each brick building, the very center of Stellia houses a shining bronze statue of Arietta Reese, the inventor of the first robot in the OSOR. East Stellia is where the Wealthy live, in their gated mansions. The Stelliversity is also located here. The Stellia Seafront has darker waters than Auculet’s, and is all the way at the edge of the woods. Stellia is also home to the Grand Stellian Theater, as well as the Gentrie Factoport. Here, there’s always smoke coming from somewhere, and the sounds of gentries ring. The people here are referred to as “Stellians”.
MINI TUSUL: Downtern OSOR
☆
-
This is a very small Mini at the tip of the Downtern OSOR. It is made up of a cluster of tiny islands. Some of these islands are popular for vacationing, especially amongst royals, but the tiniest ones are home to islanders, and are disregarded completely by most of the population.
INIMA ISLE: The smallest island in Mini Tusul, Inima Isle is located in the Rightern. The Isle has a frequently warm climate, tropical storms being a common threat. Rough, clear waters are always crashing a little too close to the village, the people have built dams around their living spaces. The streets are crowded with fish markets, map shops and duplexes in which people live. In the hub of town is the Parlor, that has been owned by "Grandpa Paz" since he was young. His wife Edelira and granddaughters Jackie and Sam assist him at work, and are customer favorites. Everyone in town comes to the bar to sing late into the night and drink their worries away--though they barely have any, living on the secluded Inima Isle where they are unbothered by the Opposite Side's chaos. There is little education here, so children like Jackie and Sam are often homeschooled. Many wish to send their children to the mainland to be properly educated, but few get the opportunity to. On the Isle, everyone is a kipper, and though their culture can be compared to that of a pirate, the islanders refuse to use the word. The citizens are known for building their own kips, with alternate technology from that of a traditional kip. The people used to be adventurers, but many now fear leaving the Isle due to the political conditions of the outside world. People here are referred to as "Inimans".
LANDMARKS
THE CHECKER
This is a contraption hidden deep within the Shadow Origin , and is only accessible by, “flipping” the origin. The star-caped exiles created The Checker using their gifted cosmic powers, using it to keep gravity between the OSOR and space in check from earth because of the subtle differences between the two sides of Reality. Because there has been no one to keep it perfectly aligned other than Spearia in recent years, gravity in the Shadow Origin is off sometimes. The Checker is a floating beam of darkness in the light side of the Shadow Origin, which is why it is invisible when the origin is flipped to the dark side. Within the beam are 3 small conjured models: the OSOR's side of earth only (translucent in color) in the center, and the moon and sun (the moon being glowing white and the sun being glowing black) on either side of it. The Checker is a mirror of space, and to keep it in balance, someone correct for the job must put their hands on either side of the beam and center the models again so that they do not stray from the beam. If one falls out of the beam, it could be dangerous for gravity in the OSOR.
☆
PLUTO’S PAWNING MENAGERIE
This pawn shop is the busiest in all of Stellia. The shop is run by Pluto Herch Jr., a man in his mid 20s with the mind of a trickster. Always stealing from his customers, he is a cunning boy who is greedy for riches. The shop is crammed in between a very famous hotel and the apartment of an old woman. Both the woman and the hotel staff are constantly scolding Pluto to “keep it down in there!”. There are letters made of brass spelling out the shop name, and some letters are rusted or have fallen off. It appears as a shack on the outside, with a door which’s old bell screams when you open it, and store windows on either side. You can see the crowds of people blocking the glass from the inside and the outside as they wait in line to enter. Inside is much bigger than it seems, yet everyone is still crammed together. Pluto stands behind a smooth wooden counter, which has glass cases full of stolen and traded trinkets. Stools that swivel and rock are lined around the counter, where people sit and play cards with one another--or with Pluto, if they're lucky. He is considered unbeatable at any game, even as he serves his customers drinks. Pluto's black nenoc (feline pet), Samuel, roams the shop, and bites people’s ankles when he isn't perched atop Pluto's shoulder. The nenoc is constantly stealing trinkets off customers or snagging Pluto's opponent's cards from their hands. away stuff for him or snags his opponents cards.