Santhenar

Santhenar is one of three fictional planets in Ian Irvine's The Three Worlds Cycle. It is sometimes referred to as Santh by the characters.

General Overview

Santhenar is the setting of almost all the events to take place in The Three Worlds Cycle. It is the home planet of the old humans but becomes home to all four species of human, after Rulke opens the Way Between the Worlds during the time of Shuthdar.

"Santhenar" refers to a "Part of the Southern Hemisphere of Santhenar", which encompasses the known world. The continent of Lauralin dominates the map, and is home to the highest chain of mountains in The Three Worlds (The Great Mountains) and has varying terrain and climates. In the north there is tropical Crandor and in the south the freezing island of Noom. The continent of Faranda is extremely arid and with Lauralin forms the borders of the Dry Sea (formerly the Sea of Perion). Meldorin Island in the west boasts the oldest and greatest city on Santhenar, Thurkad.

Adaptation of the Three Off-World Species

The Charon

Only three Charon ever ventured to Santhenar.

Rulke built several cities on Santhenar, including a stronghold that he and Kandor held together. The last and greatest of his cities was Alcifer. Alcifer was built over an extremely powerful node, which was in fact one of the "controlling nodes".Alcifer's was built as a city-sized "construct", designed to break the Forbidding, which kept Rulke and the other species trapped on Santh. Before Rulke could achieve this though, the Council of Santhenar (including Yggur, Mendark and Tensor) ambushed him and forced him into the Nightland.

Yalkara built her citadel of Havissard over the abandoned silver-mine of the same name. Yalkara had only a small guard rather than an army as Rulke and Kandor did. Yalkara was partnered to Shand and for an age they dwelt there. Yalkara had placed an enchantment over Havissard so as to prevent Shand, an old human, from ageing. Yalkara became pregnant and did battle with her life-long nemesis Faelamor in the ruins of Tar Gaarn. Yalkara deceived Faelamor, making her believe Yalkara had bested her, but in fact Yalakra was gravely wounded. Yalkara gave birth to Aeolior alone in Havissard and left Santhenar through a warp in the Forbidding. Moments before she left Santhenar, Shand returned to Havissard and Yalkara informed him of the important role Aeolior would play.

Kandor made the island of Katazza in the Sea of Perion his own and created a great empire. Though Kandor was the least of the Charon, in power with the Secret Art, even Rulke came to fear the great empire Kandor had formed. Rulke was said to have made the very earth move in a successful attempt to stop the flow of water into the Sea of Perion so as to dry up Kandors wealth and empire, though some say it was a natural occurrence. Kandor tried everything he knew of the Art to make the now desert bloom again, but was unsuccessful and on his way to meet with Rulke and Yalkara, was murdered.

The Aachim

The Aachim decided to go into hiding and built great, yet remote, cities.

Tirthrax is the principal city of the Aachim on Santhenar. It is located within the tallest mountain in The Three Worlds, Mt. Tirthrax. In Tirthrax every surface seems to have been carved into a thing of beauty. Tirthrax is where Tiaan Liise-Mar constructed the gate to bring the Aachim of Aachan through to Santhenar and where Matah Malien resides.

Shazmak is located along the River Garr and is the only active Aachim city on Meldorin Island (Fiz Gorgo was built by the Aachim, but was abandoned and later inhabited by Yggur). Shazmak is a place of breath-takingly thin towers, that look as if they were constructed of ice. Sweeping walkways connect tower to tower. Shazmak was betrayed by one of its own, Emmant, who was seduced by Faelamor, a prisoner there. (It is the city on the front cover of A Shadow on the Glass)

Stassor is located on the continent of Lauralin. It seems rather plain in comparison to the other Aachim cities on first glance, but as one approaches it become clear that Stassor has a beauty of its own. The Aachim tore down old Stassor after the Forbidding was broken and constructed new Stassor. When the suns rays hit Stassor a myriad of colours flow over its surface.

The Faellem

Unlike the other species, the Faellem never made a home on Santhenar.

Mirrilladell is where the Faellem chose to settle, while they awaited the opportunity to return to beautiful Tallallame. Mirrilladell was a land of swamps and bogs. It was surrounded by nature and had little human settlement (one reason the Faellem chose to settle there).

Elludore Forest is, according to Faelamor, the one place on Santhenar that could "almost" be Tallallame. For this reason Faelamor chose to use this place for her experiments with gates. A few hundred of the Faellem also dwelt in Elludore Forest after realising Faelamor could lead them home.

Tolryme is where a single Faellem man dwelt for a time. This man had an affair with one of the Fyrn line and is a distant ancestor to Karan.