Shandranar, as I’ve mentioned, was a huge floating island in ancient Tellest history.  It was the home of Icarus Callatuil and his family, and a mecca for many of the elves of the planet.  It was also the bastion of protection for the wind crystal, which was also responsible for the flight of the mighty island.

Shandranar’s iconography marries a lot of different tenets.  It displays the floating island itself, as well as a tree, denoting the elves affinity for nature.  Finally, it shows the wind crystal in the boughs of the tree, demonstrating that a certain harmony is required for everything to work in order.

The Shandranarian tapestry feels strange to behold.  Since Shandranar doesn’t exist anymore, this serves as either a point of pride, or a long forgotten memory.  Perhaps it existed in some distant place as a keepsake to an elf who once visited the floating continent.

While there are only a few old residents of Shandranar that we have seen (or their distant descendants), it doesn’t seem like we’d see this tapestry put to use as a battle standard anytime soon.  The old ethereal-winged tribe of elves have likely integrated into other sects as the world spread them apart.

Here we have a more traditional canvas flag.  It looks like something you might find in an old, buried chest somewhere, although if a character found it in Tellest’s modern era, it probably wouldn’t have held up this well.

Anyone who could remember the ancient sigil might be able to reproduce it.  Maybe that’s what we have here in this case with the painted version.  Perhaps someone is trying to send someone a message to another survivor of that bygone era…

And of course, no sigil post would be complete without an phone background version!

We’re down to our last sigil, which we’ll show halfway through next month.  Keep your eyes peeled!

The post Ancient Sigil – Shandranar appeared first on Tellest.

I’m especially interested in this subgenre lately because a lot of where we’re going for our next few Tellest features are to the seas south of Draconis.  I get a lot of awesome inspiration from pirate tales, and stories of sea monsters.  It’s just a swashbuckling good time.

Rex Sumner is a bit of an interesting writer.  He’s prolific, for one, but he’s led such an thrilling life that its hard not to want to chronicle some things.  And when you spend your time spinning yarns to your children, you’re well on your way to becoming a fantasy storyteller.

In Search of Spice is the first novel (of epic proportions, I might add) in Sumner’s Harrhein series.  In it, we follow the adventures of the crew of The Queen Rose.  It’s an ensemble piece that flows deftly from page to page, and catches your interest from the very first turn.

In Search of Spice is an epic historical fantasy romance, set in a world similar to 12th century Europe. The Queen Rose is the first deep sea ship built in Harrhein, a country cut off from the rest of the world by snow and ice to the north and pirates to the east. In every other direction is endless ocean.

Captain Larroche is the veteran master of the carrack, charged with finding a new trade route. He wants to find the fabled land of Hind and proposes to sail over the edge of the world. No wonder he has trouble finding crew.

The young people he assembles, strengthened by a squad of frontier veteran Royal Pathfinders, are more than a match for known enemies.

How will they handle people of another colour, with strange habits, peculiar food, treacherous officials, different languages and customs that defy belief?

Will they escape the pirates? Will they find trading opportunities? Will they ever return?

What will happen to Harrhein during their absence?

Sumner has been working his tail off for some time, and you can tell that In Search of Spice is the fruit of his labor.  If you’re interested in a good swashbuckling tale, you could do a lot worse than this gem. Check it out on its launch page, or hurry to purchase it from Amazon.

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