the backstorY

This synopsis contains spoilers for The Wolf In The Blood.

An Earth like ours, with one major difference…

Magic existed but is gone from the world, drained away after two unknown catastrophes, first in 1886, then again in 1916. Magic is not secret - anyone with sufficient will could use it, though it was difficult to do so and often had adverse consequences, and no one trusted anyone because of it. The understanding of magic at each point in history was consistent with the civilisation of the day - modern humans understand it scientifically as a physical force or natural phenomenon, while older civilisations understood it mystically or through religion. Magic could be stored in everyday objects, often jewels, called artefacts, and used to enchant other items to perform specific tasks, called tools. Magic runs out, and when it is gone the artefact or tool glazes over with a glittering red-brown rust.

Earth is but one of many worlds known to humans since antiquity, which could be reached through natural holes in reality called rifts, controlled by magical stone circles called gates, raised by ancient magicians to prevent people falling through rifts accidentally - and magical creatures coming the other way.

The monsters from myth and legend are real, biologically explicable through evolution, and often native to a different world than Earth. Their existence is unremarkable. Magical creatures were badly affected by the end of magic and in 1986 are either extinct or critically endangered on Earth. Some magical creatures are intelligent part-humans, like mermen, centaurs, harpies and werewolves, but for each intelligent race, there is a type of the same creature which is not intelligent, more akin to the animal than the human side. Many of the intelligent creatures on Earth were persecuted to extinction in pre-modern times. Attitudes have changed however, and by 1986 they are tolerated and cared for - to a point...

Humans have colonised many other worlds, often with different human cultures finding their way to the same world through different rifts at different times in history. Some worlds got cut off from each other as gates failed throughout history, and every world was completely cut off from each other in 1916, when all gates locked themselves for good.

On the world called Shambhala, first discovered by proto-Tibetans and named after the Hidden Kingdom of legend, humans eke out an existence in a difficult and unforgiving world, dominated by vast forests. As well as Tibetans, Shambhala has been discovered independently by several other peoples, including German tribes in antiquity and pre-Russian lords and serfs in the Dark Ages. Shambhala has been cut off from Earth since the late 1300’s, and has retained a largely mediaeval culture. It is at war with itself, suffering endless low-level conflicts throughout its history. Human society is dominated by the Bastion, a fortress in the far south, and the Anvil, the mountain retreat of the main religious group on Shambhala, the monks led by the reincarnating universal avatar known as The Constant.

In the deep forests of Shambhala, packs of intelligent werewolves live apart from humanity, worshipping the moon and fearing nothing but silver, the only thing that kills them. Silver is almost unknown on Shambhala, the little there is brought from other worlds and worth far more than its weight in gold - but far, far less than the price of magic.

Werewolves avoid humans, humans avoid werewolves. But sometimes their paths cross…