Map of Bailach

This is the working map of Bailach. I remember very clearly the night I made it, because I worked on it while we watched Fight Club. I was tempted to name a town Tyler Durden, or some variation.

Grenya

This is the grenya, also known as the Auran Symbol. The four stars represent each of the four Elements — red for Fire, blue for Water, green for Earth, purple for Wind — and each of the five points represent the Senses, the twenty points together representing the sum of the Auran Matrix.

At the center, the representation of the light, with the four points in black to represent the four points of the the compass and the four seasons of the year. The black symbolizes the shadow and balance, always present to balance the light.

Library at Cala

This is the Biblioteca do Palacio Nacional da Ajuda in Lisbon, Portugual. It is one of several famous libraries that were the inspiration for the library at Cala, though as some readers already know, the library in Beauty and the Beast was a significant inspiration, too.

(By the way, if you, like me, love looking at pictures of libraries, Hot Library Smut is the site for you.)

Aislinn, from Cala looking east-southeast

I took this picture from the top of Astoria Column. Aislinn, like many other places in Bailach, is a conglomeration of inspirations, but the moment I saw this vista, it was the perfect visualization of what I’d been picturing in my mind for a long time. Imagine very, very high mountain peaks in the distance, and the geography isn’t exactly right, but it’s definitely the perfect idea of Aislinn.