A Secret Atlas

infobox Book |
name = A Secret Atlas
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = A Secret Atlas cover
author = Michael Stackpole
illustrator = Michael Gellatly (internal map)
cover_artist = Stephen Youll (art), Jamie Warren Youll (design)
country = United States
language = English
series = Age of Discovery
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Bantam Books
release_date = 2005
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 460 pp (paperback)
isbn = ISBN 0-553-38237-3
preceded_by =
followed_by = Cartomancy (novel)

A Secret Atlas is the first in the Age of Discovery series of fantasy novels by Michael Stackpole. It was published by Bantam Books in 2005.

Background

It was set on a continent in a world that was gradually recovering from a man-made cataclysm known as Time of Black Ice, more than seven centuries before, which had dramatically transformed its geography, reduced populations, and dramatically shifted the balance of power among the different races of the inhabitants, of which human was only one of them.

The immediate cause of the catasthrophe was enormous amount of powerful magic that was generated and went out of control in a war between an Empire and barbarians from Turca Wastes north of the empire. The army led by the Empress Cyrsa included the best, known as "jaecai".

When "jaecai" fought, especially against similarly powerful opponents, magic known as "jaedun" was created. The excess magic had unpredictable and long-lasting effect on the site of the battle.

The Turasynd Campaign created a maelstorm of wild magic that devastated the north, and destroyed both sides. Nothing was ever found of the Empress, nor forces from either side, all presumed consumed by the devastations.

Years of magic storms followed, destroying much of the world. Before the Empress departed on her expedition, she divided the Empire into Nine Principalities for safekeeping. Among the long-term repercussions of the cataclysm, populations were reduced and settlements were wiped out or cut off from each other. The Nine Principalities became separate and distinct states, with some subdividing further in the wake of the chaos. Of the old institutions of the Empire, bureaucracy remained to provide order in the recovery process.

Gradually, population increased, but at the time of the story, still below pre-Cataclysmic levels. As civilization returned slowly to normalcy, explorations were conducted to re-established contacts between settlements, and to map out the world again.

Plot summary

Qiro Anturasi, Royal Cartographer of Nalenyr, had been instrumental for his family's reputation as the most reliable map-charter in the known world. Merchants and princes all sought his clan's maps, even as the House of Anturasi continued sending out expeditions to expand their wealth of information, surveying unmapped territories, making detail notes of fauna, flora and geography.

The Anturasi had been vital to Nalenyr's growing wealth and rise in power. Considered a crucial state treasure that must not fall into the wrong hands, Qiro was confined, on orders and under protection of the Naleni princes, to his estate Anturasikun in Moriander, capital of Nalenyr. There, he continued to oversee his clan's map-making enterprise, training the scions of the clan into the family trade, ruthlessly subjecting them to rigorous training and demands, for more than half a century.

Now, the family stood poised on the brink of a historical breakthrough event which could catapult their standing further and beyond the imagination of rival map-makers. Intertwined with their mission were the political ramifications for Nalenyr, the aggressive northern state of Deseiron, and Helosunde which served as buffer between the two former powers. Much of Helosunde had been under Desei occupation, and Nalenyr provided Helosundian refugees sanctuary and support to confound Desei designs on Nalenyr.

Qiro's grandsons, Jorim and Keles, were tasked with undertakings that would take them in opposite directions. Jorim was to embark on a specially commissioned ship "Stormwolf" to make accurate longitudinal charts at sea with a secret new instrument. Keles was to tasked to rediscover the lost segment of the pre-Cataclysmic Spice Route, which would take him into ground zero of the Cataclysm, a region where the ancient wild magic still raged.

Nirati, sister to Jorim and Keles, remained behind in Moriander to hold the fort, for stakes were high and there were many hidden players whose intrigues threatened her beloved brothers.

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the devastations caused by the wild magic, the "jaecai" who had not departed with Empress Cyrsa's expedition, continued the "xidantzu" tradition in their schools martial arts. Their best students became itinerant warriors who travelled the realms to help fight injustice without regard to political affiliations. Moraven Tolo was one such warrior. When hints to powerful cache of ancient weapons, imbued with magicks from their former wielders, came to his attention, the "jaecai"s became concerned that opportunistic parties would see it as an easy means of raising a strong army without the necessary ability, discipline and experience to control the power, possibly leading to history repeating itself.