The Fantasy Frontier: An Introduction to Horizön

The sci-fi western is a familiar concept, combining the scope and look of sci-fi with the themes and tones of the western. From Firefly to Trigun to The Mandalorian, space has been just as much of a frontier as the Midwest. But one day I asked myself, "Why is there no such thing as a fantasy western?" A Reckoning of Dragons, my novel in progress, is my humble effort to address this discrepancy. The following is a primer on the world this book is set in; note that this is worldbuilding for a work in progress and may be altered, changed, or rewritten at a later date.

Horizön, a fallen land of danger and opportunity, brimming with myths and monsters

The land of Horizön was once a land of myth and magic, where cunning wizards worked spellcraft and brave knights battled horrible monsters. Human nations flourished alongside those of the wise elves, stalwart dwarves, and peaceful halflings. But over time, the non-humans came to resent the humans. In spite of their short lives, the humans held many positions of rulership and caused many wars to break out. There came a time the humans would call the Year of Bloodshed, where non-humans rose up and overthrew the human rulers, exiling all humans from Horizön. The humans were sent across the Shield Mountain range that formed the eastern border, in hopes that their absence would allow Horizön to finally know peace.

Many humans died in the journey, and those who survived found themselves isolated in the untamed wasteland called the Star Territory. With harsh terrain, sparse farmland, and vicious predators, the diverse cultures of humanity didn't take long to start fighting each other over meager scraps of land. Over time, these groups of humans coalesced into five Clans. Over the next century, these five Clans fought in a long series of battles called the Territory Wars. These wars allowed humans to discover the Star Territory's greatest resource. While lacking in farmland, the Star Territory's ample mineral deposits allowed humans to develop steam power, dynamite, and most importantly, gunpowder.

These inventions allowed humans to survive and fight until the day a party of dwarves came from under the mountains. They had once been subjects of the Mazun dynasty, but had tunneled away from Horizön into the Star Territory after the land of Horizön was razed by the great dragon Incem and his brood. The news of the dragons' return spread quickly, and regardless of heritage all humans feared the dragons. Over the next couple of years, the Clans came together to form the Republic of the Single Star, uniting all humans to stand against the dragons.

The Republic formed a front line at the edge of the Shield Mountains, all of their resources being funneled into the warfront. But after a month of preparing and sending scouts through the tunnel the dwarves had dug, the scouts reported that the dragons were nowhere to be found. The old kingdoms had fallen, the people descended into barbarism or hiding, and scores of monsters roamed the land, but the dragons had disappeared. The Republic, seeing an opportunity to take back the land they had been forced out of, set out west into the frontier of Horizön...

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I'm planning to start a series of posts about the setting of my novel-in-progress. I also plan to do some flash fiction, to set some anthology stories in this world to practice my writing and explore the setting. Let me know in the comments what you want to know about the land of Horizön. Next week, I'll be discussing the dwarves and how they contribute to railroad travel...

Image Credit

Background is "Gaucho in a Wild West Sunset Landscape Vector" from Vectors by Vecteezy
Dragon Silhouette is from Clipart Library