One of the things I love most about fantasy is the worldbuilding. Give me a story with rich, thought-out, complex worldbuilding that requires a map at the front of the book and like thirty pages of glossary at the end and I’ll be the happiest person on the planet.
And while I do understand that not all fantasy books have—or should be, for that matter—Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time levels of detail, I still believe that some planning needs to go into making your world believable. That all leads us to Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros’ romantasy novel that took the bookish side of the Internet by storm when it was published in 2023.
The worldbuilding of The Empyrean Series has some great ideas but it’s generally pretty paper-thin, with a whole series of questions that are left unanswered. Then again, one could argue that it’s really not the main point of the story. When you pick up Fourth Wing and its sequel Iron Flame—and the soon-ish-to-be-released third installment of the saga, Onyx Flame—you’re expecting dragons and romance. And boy oh boy are they there.
Still, if you’re like me and want to dig through any and all kinds of fantasy worldbuilding, or if you’d like a handy navigation guide to go back to as you make your way through the series, here’s a deep dive into the world in which Violet Sorrengail, Xaden Riorson and the other cadets at Basgiath War College live.
The Fourth Wing map explained: Navarre
The story is set in the Known World, of which we have so far only seen one continent. Bordered by the Arctile Ocean to the South and the Emerald Sea to the North, this continent hosts two different nations—as well as a sort of desert no man’s land on its easternmost side.
The Kingdom of Navarre—the one where all main characters are from—is the largest of the two nations, divided from its neighbor Poromiel by the Tage and Esben mountain ranges. These mountains are also the ones along which Navarre’s famed magical wards, repelling gryphons and maybe something else, run.
Navarre is divided into six unique provinces, called Luceras, Calldyr, Tyrrendor, Morraine, Deaconshire, and Elsum. Some provinces have been better explored than others in the course of the books, so not much is known about the Luceras, Deaconshire, and Elsum provinces—the other three however have a bit more details to them.
Calldyr, for example, is the home province of the royal family—which resides in its capital, Calldyr City. Morraine is where the Vale and Basgiath War College are located, right on the Iakobos River which continues its run towards the Emerald Sea.
And then there’s Tyrrendor, the largest of all Navarrian provinces, naturally protected against Poromiel by the steep Cliffs of Dralor over which gryphons can’t fly. Tyrrendor has had a very significant role to play in Navarre’s recent history—and continues to do so, with its capital city Aretha becoming one of the main locations of the story as it progresses.
All these provinces used to be independent kingdoms before The Great War—a terrible conflict fought over six centuries before the start of the story by the famed First Six, the first six humans to become dragon riders. At the end of The Great War, the Kingdom of Navarre was formed and unified and its borders were defined, with dragons claiming the lands on the West of it and gryphons the ones in the East.
This unification has made Navarre stronger but it also led to the inevitable loss of cultures and languages that were unique to each of the six provinces. And then there was the Tyrrish Rebellion led by Xaden’s father—which brought him and all the other children of Tyrrish rebel leader to be conscripted into Basgiath.
The Fourth Wing map explained: Poromiel
Given that all the main characters are from Navarre and have been immersed in its propaganda since birth, not much is known about Navarre’s neighboring kingdom Poromiel except that the two have been at war for four hundred years by the time the story begins.
Poromiel consists of three provinces that have maintained their unique local cultures, so much so that it’s said in the book that Poromish people might identify as being from their province first rather than from their nation like the people in Navarre. So far, our protagonists have visited the Cygnisen province, which is the northernmost of the three, and they have fought a harsh battle in Korvla, all the way in the South. Not much is known at the moment about the Braevick provinces, standing right between Cygnisen and Korvla, except that it’s where the Poromish equivalent of Basgiath, the Cliffsbane Flight Academy, is located.
The vast majority of lands in Poromiel are said to be grasslands and marshlands, and so the kingdom relies on grain and textiles to keep its economy going—as well as little gems that are capable of amplifying minor magics. Trade between Poromiel and Navarre had been steady before the war—and a trading conflict is actually the false reason that has been given for centuries as to why hostilities started—and it’s been held up by the Trade Agreement of Resson, where Poromish cloth and grain are exchanged four times a year at the outpost in the town of Athebyne for Navarrian meat and lumber.
The Fourth Wing map explained: The Barrens
On the easternmost side of the continent are the Barrens, a piece of arid desert with no notable cities or other geographical features that most people believe to be completely empty. In fact, dragons and gryphons fought against the armies of the Barrens in the Battle of Gianfar, which took place during the Great War—that’s where the Barrens have gotten their name from since venin take their magic directly from the earth rather than have it channeled through them by a dragon or a gryphon.
After their victory, dragons and gryphons and their humans abandoned the Barrens and thought that all venin were destroyed. But, of course, we wouldn’t have a story if that happened. The Barrens are still where the venin and their wyverns reside—and from there they strike out against the neighboring Poromiel, dealing heavy damages each time.
(featured image: NBC/TMS)
