The story evolved over the years, I was introduced to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons© Game, but the, at the time unnamed, world really took a turn after one of my best friends started coming to visit, together we would hike through the trails of the woods below my old house. We talked of Colossus, and Lakes with hidden entries to caverns below wherein hid the castle of a powerful wizard. We even happened upon a tree which we had compared to an old man, and how if this oak was alive, how much wisdom it could relate from the centuries that it had seen. Being high school teens, we immediately set to taking out our drawing pads and began working on these exotic sights that we imagined. Then like all teens we became distracted with other things, he with the music scene, and I with Dungeons & Dragons. For a long time I had left these places to memory. Time went by, and I wrote stories of Vampire Hunters taking on the legions of the undead, then I created a post apocalyptic earth where the dark things of man’s past had resurfaced enslaving mankind under their godlike power, always though, there was the one thing that never changed since my mother’s issued challenge, the desire to build my own world.
The years went by and I found myself looking at the year 2001, “Earthgate” was rolling smoothly in my stories, though I had not evolved myself enough to get a computer, so all I was doing was merely filling up notebooks with adventure after adventure. One day, as I was plodding along in the midst of a story, this one line kept rolling over in my mind. “Stormwulf’s boots trudged heavily as he traversed along the Morningstar Mountains making his way toward Ballidor.” I finished the story I was working on and then wrote the line down. “Ballidor,” I thought, “Morningstar Mountains,” these names cast images of vast landscapes riddled with history, lore, magic, and adventure. All of those ideas that had been tucked away, or lost so it seemed came flooding back along with many others. Lands of ancient lore became the Continent of Loren©. The Wise Oak found a permanent home in the forest of Caer Lynd, and the lake with the hidden path, became Moonglow Lake at the base of the Black Mountains. The idea grew and a storyline formed, so I set to writing down the idea. Then on impulse, I wrote the first draft of the Creation of Areth and the First War. With this in place, I constructed the first map, detailing what is now Lorenhardt.
Ballidor has evolved even more since that time, but it still remains the home of that challenge issued to me by my mother so long ago, and the keeper of the secrets divulged between two adolescent friends. It has become the fruition of my world building skills, developed by years of trials, study, and practice. To me the world is alive, ever-changing and ever growing. But to me, as its creator and author, it is still missing the most important part. That part is people; people who will read, love, laugh, and travel Areth’s vast landscapes. People who will witness the epic battles between good and evil, light and darkness. People who are eager to hear the legends of ancient times as told by Aldwedorn, The Wise Oak of Caer Lynd, and sit by a campfire while a frogling lore master weaves tales of bravery, valor, love, and war.
Welcome all fantasy fans to Areth, home of Ballidor.
I hope you will enjoy your visit.
W. R. Frady
This is the first map that I drew for Loren in 2003/2004, I am in the process of updating the world as a whole, and hope to have more maps and artwork along with stories here soon. Please do not copy, Copyright 2003W. R. Frady
