Research peek: Raybearer's worldbuilding

Hey, Patreon maintenance crew! Sylvan here, with a little peek into the video research process. This week, we're getting ready to release a video about the book Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko, so I wanted to share a bit of the cool worldbuilding in Raybearer.

This book is chock full of interesting worldbuilding, starting with the setting itself. Here's a map:





It looks like this is an alternate Earth, where either the continents move differently or the land masses are completely different. Whatever the case, it's a massive continent with a ton of seemingly pretty flat land. No wonder this has been an empire for centuries.

The ground is hardly the focus of the story, though. Much more central are the people within it -- not all of them human. One important character is an alagbato, a spirit who represents and protects a certain resource or region, Alagbatos may protect savannahs, rivers, forests, or larger areas. The one we meet in the book is tied to grasslands, and he is a fierce guardian of everything living in the area. In fact, his dedication gets him into quite the predicament...

The last bit of worldbuilding I want to talk about is the redemptors. Every year, 300 children are born with blue tattoos on their skin. These tattoos make up a map to the Underworld. It's a blessing within a curse -- when they reach age ten, they are to be sent into the Underworld as a sacrifice. Most of the redemptors die down there, but a few resourceful children can use their bodily maps to navigate the Underworld and make it back out. Though the sight of winding tattoos is an interesting one, they represent a horrifying reality, an unjust system that desperately needs to be changed.

These details are some of my favorite in this world, and knowing them will give you a little extra context for events that'll be described in the video. If you'd like to learn even more, or this world sounds interesting to you, check out Raybearer! It's such a good book.

Are you interested in Raybearer? Read it already? Got any knowledge about how the shape of continents affects how civilizations develop? I'd love to hear about any of this in the comments :)

You can look forward to more posts from the team later this week, all about making the Raybearer video. See you then!

- Sylvan, researcher