The world of The Solstice Chronicles was developed around 4 realms. Each realm correlates to a different season, and as such, each realm emulates what that season’s purpose is and what that season would look like. The season stays the same in each realm and the all co-exist beside each other to show the harmony of the seasons. Each corresponding solstice and equinox powers the corresponding realm for the following season and that realm’s power is the strongest during that season. Each solstice/equinox is a saying goodbye to one season and a looking forward to the next season.
It was super fun to develop each of the world’s as I wrote my Solstice Chronicles. In addition to the season-based realms, we find out that there is a Dark realm and the Mage’s realm as well (supposed to represent Heaven and Hell). Different things influenced my development of the different worlds. Since each realm is based on a different season, I wanted to capture the essence and elements from each season and build a world around that. Different movies, like the Tinkerbell movies from Disney that have the different seasons and fairies with different jobs and looks for each season, as well as some other fairy/fantasy stuff that had different realms influenced my ideas for the different realms. I also used my own imagination and tried to picture what each realm would look like. How the people would be different. What their clothes would look like. Different things like that.
For Beauty Restored: A Winter Solstice Chronicle, this one took place in the Winter realm. If you think of winter, you think of snow on the ground, barren trees, nothing blooming, everything has gone to sleep for the winter, leaving the world quiet and still. The sun is usually paler and farther away from the earth and not nearly as warm or hot as a spring or summer sun, so it’s energy is lower. Gabriel, the prince from the Spring realm, notices a major change in the sun’s energy between his realm and the Winter realm. As a creature who is used to warmth and drawing energy from the sun, he knows he will have trouble keeping his warmth in the Winter realm. Just like the flowers from his realm are delicate and their life-force can be zapped or deadened by a frost or icy blast, Gabriel has to be careful to keep his Spring blood from being touched by the icy veins of Winter’s frigid cold.
I definitely wanted to build a difference between the realms and loved used descriptions that related to that realm. The landscape is different in each realm and so are the people and the clothes even. In the winter realm, it is a barren, snow-covered winter-land. One unique thing about the Winter realm is their use of a blueish colored fire instead of the typical orange flame because they see fire as a means for light more than warmth, and the coloring matches the rest of the color scheme of the Winter realm. The Winter realm is also referred to as the Northlands and has sort of a viking/Nordic feel to it in some ways with the people being kind of hunter/warrior type people who are strong and sturdy and can withstand the cold. The kingdom where the royal palace is located is about as far north as you can get from the other realms and is called Silvania to capture the essence of the Winter realm. The commoners or non-royals wear dusty blues or grays or whites. The Snow Queen wears extravagant all-white gowns to show her status as queen and as a reflection of her vanity. Erianna and Brinn both wear more royal blue colors to set them apart. Erianna doesn’t wear cloaks at all and Brinn’s cloaks, though a thicker cloak than maybe a spring or summer cloak, are not super thick and are usually only fringed with fur, so even she doesn’t wear extremely warm clothes for being in the winter realm. Tharynn, the captain of the guard, is described as a large, muscular man with long blonde hair and rarely wearing sleeves over his large arms.
The people of the Northlands have paler skin and various shades of blonde hair and blue eyes. I thought about the concept of people living in a winter world all the time and how they wouldn’t get a lot of sun and the colors of the landscape of the winter realm lend to the more chromatic colors of blues, whites, some grays, and blonde. There is a difference between the royals and the non-royals of the realm. The royals have more of a deep crystal blue eye color with shimmering skin that looks like the shimmer of a freshly fallen snow, and their hair is a pale, almost-white blonde, or all white, to reflect the snow/ice powers they possess. In these worlds, generally just the royals have magic and so those without magic have not as pale skin, but it is still quite a contrast to the skin color of the people of the other realms, which you see Erianna think about when she is looking at Gabriel, and their hair color is more of straw blonde or blonde-blonde instead of the almost-white blonde. Their eyes are a brighter/darker blue than the royals as well.
Part of my thought process behind the realms besides just making them starkly different to capture and reflect the different seasons was founded in each realm representing their interaction with the Great Mage and Mage’s Son (my God and Christ characters) as a reflection of our world and the church as well. The Winter realm is barren and cold and isolated from the other realms. The Snow Queen banished the presence of the Great Mage and his Son years before, and so the realm has been devoid of their presence for many years. Many in the realm have forgotten about the Mage and his Son and have just lived their lives under the cold rule of the Snow Queen. Even though the realm has been lost without the Mage’s presence for many years, there is a cathedral in the woods that is a reflection of his previous presence and the ties the realm used to have to him and his presence. The Winter realm was designed to be a reflection of people who may have had knowledge of God at one point in their lives but have been devoid of His presence and influence for a long time. At the end of Beauty Restored, the Mage’s Son crowns the new Snow Queen and the kingdom’s memory of the Mage and his Son is restored to the kingdom. Erianna’s interactions with the Mage’s Son bring his presence back into the realm and kingdom and the relationship between the realm and the Mage’s Son changes going forward.
Check out some more descriptions of the Winter realm below:
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 