The Awakened World
DARYATLA
The Tidal Kingdom, ruled by the Sea King
Daryatla
(pronounced DAIR-ee-AT-la, like dairy + atla)
Daryatla is the Tidal Kingdom, ruled by the Sea King. In the four main books in the Awakened series, the king is Seidon, who has already been ruling for centuries.
Daryatla sits on the eastern coast of the largest land mass in the Awakened world. Think of it as the Atlantic seaboard of North America, which is what it’s based on, but in a post-cataclysmic world. Here, we have a coast where mountains meet sea (as if the Appalachians are now oceanside), where there are barrier islands called the Barrier Banks, and where island dwellers regularly dive down to the ruins of the Ancients to collect artifacts for trading.
In Awakened, the story is set primarily in the capitol city, also called Daryatla, where the Tidal Palace reigns over the coast. Described as a massive, gorgeous palace of marble and crystal, it gleams like a pearl in the sun and has direct access to the waters of Darya Sound, the body of water between the mainland and the Barrier Banks.
The Sea King
Seidon is only the fifth ruler of Daryatla, thanks to the long lives that the Awakened enjoy. He’s turning 275 at the beginning of Awakened, but still looks about 25-30, and has already been ruling for 200 years. The magic of the Awakened is control of the water. Mostly the sea and rivers, but Seidon has been training to reach into the storms too, and bring rain where it’s needed…and keep it from where it isn’t.
Thanks to this growing strength, he’s been able to bring stability to more and more of the continent, which means Daryatla, formerly only the lands on the coast, keeps growing and expanding inland, reaching now into the prairies that border the wastelands.
Seidon is a man of deep faith in the Triada, and though he’s suffered many losses over his long life, at this point, his deepest desire to is to serve his people, to honor his God, and to build a family.
Whenever the king is in residence, there’s a ball on his birthday, known as the Blue Ball. This gathering has one simple rule: everyone has to wear blue, Daryatla’s color. It can be any shade of blue, from sky to turquoise to sapphire to navy.
So when Arden, the heroine of Awakened, is given a dress more white than blue to wear to the ball, she thinks there’s been some kind of mix-up with the palace tailor and she’s going to get kicked out before she even makes an appearance.
Which, come to think of it, would suit her fine. Evening gowns are not her thing.
Faith System
Daryatla is predominately a Christian kingdom, though we never use those words. God is called the Triada (which means “trinity”), and His son is referred to as the Once and Coming One.
One of the most beautiful demonstrations in this world is the Mercy of Waters. In the cathedrals throughout Daryatla, the main arch that separates the pews from the altar area are made of crystal. When the king kneels to receive the Thanksgiving, if he is still the Triada’s anointed, then waters will rush up the columns in a sort of dance. These waters are beyond the reach of the king and any other Awakened, so whenever they move, it is recognizes as a miracle given by the Triada, meant to show his favor.
One of Seidon’s good friends is Enoch, a friar who runs the friary and presides at the cathedral.
Magic System
Water Magic
The magic system in the Awakened world is the same in all kingdoms, though there are unique qualities to each. “Beauty follows magic” is a truism in the Awakened world, and magic not only grants one control of the given element, but also long life and good health. The known magic is control of water, and water is a key element in the Awakening Ceremony, which is the foundational, most sacred ceremony in the kingdoms.
It begins with a crystal bowl of water—usually salt water in Daryatla or the Sunken Kingdom—and a curved blade called the Awakening Blade, made of titanium.
Only someone already Awakened can preside over the ceremony. They wield the Blade, making a small cut in the finger of each young person and spilling a single drop of blood into the bowl of water. If they have dormant magic waiting in their veins, the drop of blood won’t just make a red cloud like normal blood does, but it will make instead a subtle flourish…though it sometimes takes a trained eye to see it.
This is referred to as priming the blood. The Blade does something to the blood, though what, exactly, is a bit mysterious to the people. Seidon’s scientists have finally isolated nanites that live in the blood of every Awakened, which kill off disease and keep them young, but they don’t yet have technology that allows them to see how these nanites are reacting to the Blade.
What they’ve long known, however, is that a second step is required to fully Awaken someone, to make the latent potential into something active. They need a drop of blood from someone already Awakened.
So when the one conducting the ceremony spots that telltale flourish, they will then cut their own finger and lower both it and the still-cut finger of the other person into the bowl. With the water as a conduit, they send their blood out, toward the other person’s finger. When the magical blood encounters the wound, it Awakens the nanites in that second person’s blood, which feels like a zap of electricity to the newly Awakened individual.
But as with any magic, any strength, it has its weaknesses too. Awakened blood has no natural clotting agent and requires something else to help it clot. In the case of water magic, it’s water… for those in Daryatla and the Sunken Kingdom, it’s specificially salt water; though fresh does work, it’s not as fast and only works on small cuts. So if they get a papercut, they can just suck on it…but if they get a knife wound, they need to submerge in salt water or they’ll bleed out.
Magic only occurs in the meeting of people from two different worlds. In the case of Daryatla and the Sunken Kingdom, one must have blood from both land-dwellers and mer. Two Awakened can also have magical children, and they are often more powerful than either parent. However, the more powerful the magic, the harder it is to have children; Awakened couples often go decades without conceiving and have many years between children. King Seidon has never fathered any surviving children; his magic is too strong for an Unawakened, and he’s never found and Awakened strong enough to match him either.
Sky Magic
Each book will introduce a “new” magic as well. In Awakened, we learn that the mer are awaiting the advent of “sky magic,” which would give the holder power over air or wind. They’ve interpreted the Writ in a way that promises this but do not know what it will look like.
