WE ARE voulhire
A great epic through a world where faith, science, and magic are the three equal governors of existence. Through the great changes brought about by these colliding elements, one nation seeks to secure its identity.
The series will ultimately consist of nine novels.
VOULHIRE EXPANDED
While the country of Voulhire, its personality and place in the multiverse, will develop organically for the casual reader, the curious may take note of a more in-depth gaze into Voulhire at their leisure. The above link will take you to a section of my website which talks more about the history of Voulhire, as well as the concepts of the multiverse in which it lies.
The Novels
a new arrival under great skies
“There’s a difference between knowing evil and seeing it, living in its midst, and sometimes, in a way, having to be part of it. It does things to the mind, leads one to doubt. As king of Voulhire for twenty-five years, I find myself surrounded by doubt.”
A humble immigrant, a refugee from a war-torn land, has inherited property in the rich and powerful land of Voulhire. He is anxious to begin his life and show his gratitude to his new land, but the kingdom of Voulhire is busy with problems that lay deep beneath its perfect surface.
In the far reaches of uninhabitable realms lies the Riva Rohavi, a host of rebels who dance in wild step as they slaughter all who contribute to the prosperity of the land they so despise.
And a few short miles south of Voulhire’s shores is an island guarded by an armada of ships. They are guarding a prisoner, who is perhaps the most powerful wizard in human history. There he waits, waiting for his perfect moment.
The king wants to safeguard his nation, but he requires the help of the Mianoran knights. But the first knight is a corrupt and pedantic philanderer who sees both the kingdom and life itself as nothing more than a game.
These are the times in which the wide-eyed and grateful refugee Galen Bray arrives by boat to Voulhire, vowing to do right by his new people, no matter what it takes.
the fires of virko
“The only discipline the people of Virko observed was industry.”
The physical world, where Voulhire resides, represents a powerful element of the human being. But as the kingdom stands on the brink of a new era, the darker side of another world awaits its opportunity to demonstrate its power. This darkness is poised in the heart of Voulhire’s technological spearhead, the industrial city of Virko, where smokestacks climb hundreds of feet into the sky as ash falls like black snow onto every street.
Meanwhile, many people in the city wish to ascend and lead Voulhire not only in technology, but toward a more enlightened form of government. The sickly lord and founder of this great city has taken charge of this cause to replace feudalism with capitalism.
But the sickly lord’s son has plans of his own.
In the midst of this turbulent transition, Galen, who is still finding his place in Voulhire, arrives to Virko, as an opportunity to serve his country is calling from the incredibly successful city.
But not all the people of Virko are accustomed to give without receiving, and it may just be that the price for bringing a kingdom into a new age is more than that kingdom can afford.
Someone else’s end
“Everything, no matter how great, is just a means to someone else’s end.”
It’s becoming clear that Voulhire was not the perfect place of legend. But it could be. The only way to truly find out is to seek the capitol of the Voulhirian kingdom, the metropolis of Soulhire. Surely there, Voulhire will show its invulnerability to the madness rising from under the surface.
The Knights of Chalethire
After a wild turbulence has thrown all of Voulhire’s progress into shock, threatening its very place in history, Galen and his friends have found themselves in Chalethire, a beautiful city on the edge of the Dire Vine Jungle.
Sporting unexplainable powers of the supernatural, the knights of this city are among the last hope for the Voulhirian heartland in these times of civil war.
But the count of Chalethire, whom these many thousands of knights obey, has taken on a darker vision of the opportunity his power offers. He and those who support him have found favor with Galen’s friends, and Galen himself is about to get caught up in these dark plans of theirs, all the while pondering helplessly how he might bring Voulhire back from the cliff it is rapidly approaching.
The Ascension of akistry
“When you talk about a jungle, you picture a green place: a canopy broken with sunlight shining through hot vapor. But the heart of the Dire Vine Jungle is not a green place. It’s black. There is no sunlight. The land dips deep into the Earth, but the canopy only grows higher. You descend further into it, like you’re sinking into the ocean. The trees grow not only taller, but multi-layered, one canopy holding up another. You descend through each layer until you find yourself in a dark land with trunks as wide as street blocks and taller than mountains. Even the lowest canopy might as well be the clouds. A torch will light your body but you still can’t navigate that darkness unless you know exactly where you are and exactly where you’re going. But the things that live there, they can navigate with no trouble at all.”
And so it was that a brief civil war was followed by an uncertain calm. But as the kingdom of Voulhire tried to pull itself back together, Galen Bray was one of very few who acknowledged the suspicion of the respite.
With the church ever in the clutches of an immoral wizard, any opportunity to unseat him would seem immoral to ignore, even if that opportunity were presented by the Emperor of Lullabies himself.
Hidden in Voulhire’s darkest and most dangerous recesses, there lives a prophet from times of old. Once a subject of reverence, years of suppression by the Church have banished his legends into obscurity.
But there are those who still remember.
The flesh of the mind
For a chance to save Voulhire, Galen must pursue an old enemy in a new world, Caromentis: a world that subsists upon the highs and lows of every mind. A universe all on its own, Caromentis is the embodiment of intellect, imagination, and insecurity. Galen must contend with the weaponization of all three if he is to survive.
But back on Earth, the vulnerable kingdom lies in the snare of more than just the obvious adversary.
The Existential Superpowers
Humbled by the exposure of its many faults, Voulhire had survived. Legendary wizards, warriors, priests, and politicians had risen, each in their own glorious hour, to safeguard their homeland. But as talented as the people of Voulhire were, surely talent of equal measure existed among their neighbors, those other human kingdoms that dotted the sea, because Voulhire needed an ally.
This was the conclusion Galen had made, and the king agreed. Thus, Galen prepared himself for a diplomatic mission to Kurgia, the second-largest kingdom of man. But inasmuch as the Kurgians might match Voulhire in power, might they also match Voulhires most grievous faults?
Meanwhile, a brave monk from the order of Joshua, tired of waiting for answers, appeased his curiosity on a voyage to the very land so feared by humanity—the home of the enigmatic empire. There, he endeavored to uncover the nature of this continent and its denizens, and to learn what made the land such a foreboding presence to the kingdoms of men.
As for Demetrius, he remained bitterly aware that his fight was far from won, and now was the enemy's turn to strike.