Synopsis

Rendaraia is a realm where nature, magic, and civilization have long lived in harmony. Its five Great Nations stood for centuries as strongholds of culture, magic, science, and military strength. When, one by one, the Nations fall—each destroyed in a day, with no time for word or warning—the intrepid scholar Jan’Ka’Zian sets out to record a complex network of intertwined cultures on the edge of oblivion. From mighty airships powered by bioluminescent microorganisms to a city of gleaming towers built around colossal trees, the Great Nations of Rendaraia are rendered as part of a fully realized fantasy world as complex and inventive as those of Tolkien and Lewis. Jayel Draco’s gorgeous illustrations present a vivid picture of elaborate cityscapes and mountain vistas, vast sky- and seafaring fleets, and fantastic flora and fauna. While epic in its own right, Jan’Ka’Zian’s tragic story is just one small thread in a larger universe of Children of Gaia, in which the destruction of the Great Nations is an early sign that Rendaraia is under attack from brutal and mysterious invaders from a land called Terra, an imperial society driven by its own rapacious needs and the demands of its politically divided home. As war rages, hundreds of cultures of wildly varying technologies, traditions, and species fight to preserve their way of life. But Rendaraia and Terra are linked more deeply than anyone had ever imagined...