Welcome to the official blog of the world of Kryslan! The title of this blog is Kryslan ~ The Natural History of an Imaginary World. I picked “natural history” because it encompasses everything that’s in the world. The world in this case is an imaginary one that I’ve toyed with, on and off, since at least 1982. I was (and still am) a big fan of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and was one of those who devoured the Appendices as much as the novel itself. I had contracted the conlanging and conworlding bug long before Tolkien, but his works showed me what was possible in both those realms.

I had a “land” long before I had a name for it. The name Kryslan originally grew out of a story I had to write and illustrate in a high school art class. In it, a sun-jewel named the Lanskrys (a not-too-imaginative amalgam of “land-crystal”) had to be rescued from some trolls by a young farmer. Once again, not too imaginative. But I liked the sound of the Lanskrys and switched the syllables and came up with Kryslan.

Kryslan was originally populated with Dwarves (notice Tolkien’s “v” spelling), Gnomes, Men, an elf-like people called the Elasin, and a mysterious order of wizards called the Druistan (playing off of the words “druid” and “Istari” – once again derived from Tolkien’s wizard order). Once again, please remember, I was young.

Eventually, the Gnomes and Dwarves went away and were replaced by the Tylnor. The Druistan morphed into the Drushek. I’ve kept the Elasin, but at this point couldn’t really describe them. I’ve also added other nations, mythologies, islands, languages, and such over the years.

I’m quite aware that this blog will have limited appeal; however, my primary motivation is to make myself post information and, once posted, to consider that canon. Of course, I reserve the right to go back and revise anyway.

So, for those who may read subsequent entries, I hope you enjoy the trip to an imaginary world. You should learn something of the culture of the Tylnor, Elasin, and Drushek and the geography of Kryslan. The next post will examine where that name for the world came from from an in-world perspective.

In the meantime, welcome to my world 🙂

(Note: This post is categorized under “Origins”. That category will include all information about how the world developed from an external perspective (i.e., from the “real” world perspective, not from the perspective of the inhabitants of Kryslan.)