the 'ENCYCLOPAEDIA ELYDEN'
Probably the single most important part of my worldbuilding project and what I would want my legacy to be with regards to my work on Elyden, the Encyclopaedia Elyden is intended to be an in-world publication that collects the sum of all knowledge into a single publication that would be accessible to anyone educated-enough and with the means and inclination to pursue such esoteric pursuits.
VOLUME 1
the book of Reference
The main volume of the Encyclopaedia Elyden, this is an alphabetical list of articles, ranging in length from a single sentence to multiple paragraphs, regarding a great deal of subjects, including locations, personalities, religions, philosophies, events, inventions, theories, flora, and fauna, amongst others.
Everything I've ever written about the world of Elyden is located somewhere in this volume, which is currently around 550,000-words long and has close to 10,000 individual entries, though it's far from finished and never will be as I'm constantly adding entries to it. Once I catch up with formatting older entries to match the style I came up with for more recent ones, and get everything Hyperlinked, I intend on making a PDF version available to patrons and anyone interested in owning a copy.
This book is now LIVE on my Patreon page as a fully indexed and Hyperlinked PDF that is available to download to any Patron at the Acolyte Tier and higher. You can check out the download page HERE.
VOLUME II
the compilation of physical data
This is the natural encyclopaedia, detailing things like physical characteristics (astronomy, geology, continents, climate, and taxonomy of flora and fauna, as well as various miscellanea) and also contains a comprehensive timeline of the current age as well as previous ages.
Currently clocking-in at around 100,000-words certain parts of this volume are finished, whilst others are little more than place-holders so far. Most of the unfinished text belongs in the taxonomical section, that has many names of flora and fauna detailed, few of which actually have full entries.
Most of the random articles I post that are not directly related to the contents of the maps belong in here.
VOLUME III
the regional travelogue
This is the travelogue, detailing both extant and extinct nations, city-states and major cities in detail. This volume will be the most similar to the regional portion of an RPG campaign setting, only without any rules.
Currently containing about 150,000-words, this is probably the least complete of all books so far - the vast majority of entries the book are empty save the name and some regional details (like imports/exports, square-area, etc.) that I made for the smaller nation fact boxes that will feature in volume V (the Atlas).
VOLUME IV
the repository of myth and supranatural data
This is the book of esoterica, detailing creation myths, the Demiurges and their scions, extant religions, mythologies, philosophies and finally the physical rules of how the Materia Omna, the force that governs Firmamentism and Atramentism, works.
The niche subject-matter of this volume mean it's the smallest one, currently standing at only 55,000 words, though there is a lot left to flesh out, particularly in the Mythologia Elyden, which is the creation myth of Elyden, detailing the shaping of the world by the elusive Demiurges and the dramatic spread of mortal life across Elyden, ultimately ending with the death of the creator-gods.
VOLUME V
the atlas of the known world
This is the Atlas. In addition to all the atlas maps that you will most likely be familiar with, this will also contain a myriad of other maps, including climate, trade, religious, ethnic, and political maps, amongst others.
I will also be adding some older-style maps, as an exploration of the cartographical evolution of the world, from crude ancient maps, going through classical ones up to the atlas style that will remain by far the most common style of map in the volume.
This book is now LIVE on my Patreon page as a fully indexed and Hyperlinked PDF that is available to download to any Patron at the Acolyte Tier and higher. You can check out the download page HERE.
I have been slowly collating all material written for Elyden over the past 10-years or so into these 5 volumes. Everything I write goes into at least one of these books, and some entries may feature in multiple volumes in different contexts. some books are more complete than others, though each one is slowly evolving, goring as I add details to the world, though it seems as though the more I add to it the emptier the volumes are!
Having explored what the five different volumes will contain, I am beginning to realise that its beyond the scope of a single person to get any of these books ready for public consumption. To counter this I plan on publishing a single volume that's intended to be a digest version of all five volumes with only the most important information in an easily to read format - this will be the Atlas and Encyclopaedia that will hopefully be released to the public, with full colour images and modern formatting for ease of reference.
The other volumes may see the light of day (as PDFs if nothing else) once they are closer to becoming presentable.
Either way you will be the first to know of any updates.