The Nightstalker Saga: Origins is the first book in the epic fantasy-alternate history series The Nightstalker Saga, written by Abraham Winterscheidt, author, astrophotography passionate and undergraduate student at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
After a little more than two years, Abraham decided it's time to re-edit his first book in The Nightstalker Saga series. Origins is revolving around 10 planets and realms, therefore the author thought of having them illustrated and include custom-drawn artwork as maps in Origins' 2021 print release.
The first map presents Magisius - the planet of magic, an embassy to the Purple Realm, and home to the once great lineages of warlocks. Magisius is home to Kalet Lodus (the great home), Alphastsius (the arrow of the earth) and Larydila (the swamp lands).
The first map was an awesome project - we dived right into the unknown and developed Magisius from zero-to-hero throughout July-September 2019.
The second map is for Phyzsius, an embassy to the Red Realm, a planet filled with hostile environments and dangerous beasts. Humans are constrained to the narrow straights in the middle of the great ringed continent, lest they lose themselves in the harsh biomes to their north and south.
Phyzsius was wrapped up in a sprint (September-October) due to its lower degree of difficulty and us getting more used to and colinear with the TNSS style. It is also the most colorful map of the three we worked on in 2019.
The third planet, Tichsius, is a realm of technology unlike any other, filled with flying machines, rolling metal boxes and the drone of factories. An embassy to the Orange Realm, much of Tichsius is shrouded on darkness year-round as its horizontal rotation between two dying stars creates and elusive night in the middle of the planet.
Tichsius was unique in its complexity and level of detail, therefore the project timeline got wider - we started sketching in October and delivered in early January this year.
Each of the maps will be laid in color print on an A5 double-spread (landscape A4 size) in the new paperback edition of Origins, and as black and white images in the Kindle version.
The Nightstalker Saga: Origins is prone to publishing in 2021 and we have seven more maps to illustrate by day 0. The first three, Magisius, Phyzsius and Tichsius, were digitally drawn by one of Serchis Creative's talented illustrators - Nora Oros.
Although Origins is his first step into high fantasy, Abe manages to create a compelling story in a world where Earth has been corrupted by an evil plague, the gods have been damned, and the universe has been under the yoke of an immortal tyrant for centuries.
The Nightstalker Saga: Origins can be found on Amazon.com, Google Books,
Goodreads, Barnes & Noble and Booktopia.
Client quote: I absolutely love them, they look fantastic! Thanks for the great work!
Timestamp: August 2019
