For three years, war has lurked in the south of Chevaladin. When one of their holy generals was assassinated, the Auris Empire laid blame at the feet of their neighbors to the north, claiming the Monarchy of Montiamon was infested by dark powers. And while their crusade marched inexorably forward, the remaining nations of the south worried if they might be next. Now the Empire turns their gaze westward; not for conquest, but for peace. With their war taking longer than anticipated, the Auran emperor demands an audience with the Western Alliance for his own inscrutable purposes and as the nearest nation of the alliance, the Monarchy of Tycortua is forced to play host. But the Aurans are not the only ones with eyes on Tycortua. Dark forces, naught but the herald of dread threats long forgotten, turn their gaze to the ancient nation. Their agents stalk the fogs that descended upon Tycortua’s capital.
In this first book of the Ember King’s Inheritance fantasy series, discover a story featuring multiple protagonists as the retainers of Tycortua’s crown princess work to uncover and stop a secret plot lurking beneath the peace talks between the Auris Empire and the Western Alliance. Allard Fortunata, squire to the elite Crownguard knight, always dreamed of adventure, but the harrowing hunt of an undead monster was not quite the adventure he imagined. Erica Greenmaiden, apprentice mage and research assistant of the princess, only ever wanted to use her magic to protect those she cared about, but schemes in human minds are not the kind of thing magic can defend against. Yet monsters and malicious plots both are nothing compared to the looming threat of an ancient evil long dead but poised to return. As Chevaladin enters the second millennia since the fall of the evil Dusk Tyrant, the heroes and villains from the pages of myth and legend may well become more and more real with every day that passes.
Setting details
This book is set in The Monarchy of Tycortua, a nation in the south of Chevaladin. Within the broader world of the setting, this places it in the Realm of Earth, on the western edge of the Lataoccas super-continent. For a brief description of what that means: the Monarchy of Tycortua is an autocracry ruled at current by King Thierry, a descendant of the Storm Warlord Zephyros. Regional governance is handled by a group of seventy-two noble families — including the royal family — which are designated as one of four ‘seasons’, a descriptor hearkening to Zephyros’ ancestral home which determines the family’s specialization.
Tycortua is part of the Western Alliance, a group of three nations in the south of Chevaladin who united largely in order to be less afraid of the Auris Empire, their neighbor to the east who very swiftly conquered a number of petty kingdoms and became the dominant power of the south. The other two nations of the Western Alliance — both originally client states to the fallen Sunfire Empire — are Perlora and Rugego. Both of them are aristocracies ruled by set councils of nobles, but Perlora historically focused more on seafaring and trade while Rugego the fields of architecture, infrastructure, and the physical arts.
Historically, Chevaladin was shaped by the influence of the Dusk Tyrant and the Champions of the Four Corners. A little over two thousand years before, the Dusk Tyrant gained a terrible power and managed to conquer nearly all of Chevaladin. He was only encountered any significant resistance when the Ember King managed to repel his invasion into the young prince’s country. From there, the Ember King gathered companions and fought back, reconquering the land from the evil king. This culminated in the Battle of Ash-star Tomb, in which the Champions of the Four Corners defeated the Dusk Tyrant and liberated the continent. That battle took place precisely two thousand years prior to the present.
Links
Below are links to pages where you can find this book.
Barnes and Noble (Paperback and ebook) : https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nocturne-of-fog-martlet-di-rotstein/1143035159?ean=9798986769202
Amazon (Only ebook at present) : https://www.amazon.com/Nocturne-Fog-Ember-Kings-Inheritance-ebook/dp/B0BV2S3GQP/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Indiebound : https://www.indiebound.org/book/9798986769202
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/142848751-nocturne-of-fog
More links will be added as soon as I can manage them.
Notes on Pricing
I would like to be fully transparent on why each format is priced as it is, so that you as an audience can understand where I’m coming from and perhaps a bit more about the situation of other authors as well. For the paperback, I settled on a price of $15.99 USD (other currencies were based around this number). The reason behind that is effectively that it was the lowest I could go and not lose money on each printing. Kind of. Theoretically, I could have gone lower but it is important to use a price ending in .99 because that’s the standard retailers prefer to use. Thus, as a new author without and prior trust established, I wanted to make sure to give a fair price to help build that kind of trust.
As for the ebook… I actually don’t exactly remember why I settled on $2.99 if I’m being perfectly honest. I was a bit stressed out by the time I got there and it’s a little bit of a blur. I know part of it is the same desire to start with a low price to build trust, but other than that? I know I had a reason for using $2 instead of $1 or $0, but I genuinely could not tell you what it was. Probably something to do with the other modified prices.