The land of Isdraia is the setting of our current stories about Silberheim: both the Silberheim Evolving Card Game and its fragments take place here, as do the novel Daemonion and the accompanying spin-offs. Today, we’d like to take some time to get to know Isdraia a little better - through the perspective of those who “created” it. For that, we talk with Manu and Zongi.

A quick look at the map of Isdraia makes it clear that there’s a lot to discover here—maybe even a bit too much. So let’s not get lost in the details and instead talk more broadly about mountains and rivers, climate and forests, inhabitants and cities.

The country of Isdraia lies, surrounded by the impenetrable mountain ranges of the Worlds Peak and Trer mountains, on the planet Midoa. Some time ago, a significant event occurred on Midoa during a period known as a "tide" - a common unit of time in Isdraia. This event has caused Isdraia to experience rather unusual climatic conditions. "Each tide marks a shift between an greentide or snowtide phase. When the wind comes from the west, it becomes cold and icy; when it comes from the east, it brings warm temperatures, sometimes even drought and heat," explains Manu, who has been heavily involved in the creation of this worlds and continues to be so.

"Isdraia is surrounded by impassable cliffs - that’s the Worlds Peak," Manu describes. "It isolates the land, and no one can get in or out." Within Isdraia, various other mountains can also be found. Most striking, of course, is the Zacken: the enormous mountain west of Bruck, located almost at the very heart of the country. "The Zacken is so tall that it can be seen from nearly everywhere," Manu adds.

In the east of the country, several mountain ranges stretch between the regions of Southcrest and Northlands. For instance, Nyvil in the south is bordered by the Blades Peak, and in the north by the Ring Wall. "These mountains are nearly impassable, and there are only a few passages through them," says Manu. "That’s why they are also used as natural borders between the regions."

If one ignores the few scattered hills and focuses on Isdraia’s waterways, the Elendar immediately stands out. This massive river runs the entire length of Isdraia from north to south. Its raging current and, in places, for miles breadth make it both a lifeline and potentially extremely deadly. Crossing it is nearly impossible. In this way, it divides the east from the west of the country.

Alongside it - literally nearby - there are also a few smaller rivers that flow into the Elendar. Among them, the Eimh will already be familiar to readers of Daemonion, as the paths of the novel’s characters cross this river.

Around the Eimh, one can also admire an almost endless splendor of trees. But it would be strange if there were no trees in the area of the Duskwoods. The forests of Isdraia are concentrated - almost exclusively - west of the Elendar. Why? "The people of Morgathal don’t like trees, because an enemy could be hiding behind them," Manu explains. "Further north, in Nyvil, it’s a wasteland, and up in Northlands it’s a desert." His smile reveals that he’s only telling me half the truth.

Also clearly visible on the map are the numerous cities and settlements. "There isn’t one capital in Isdraia in that sense," Manu explains. "Each region has its own center - for the people of the warrior elite, for example, it’s Morgathal; for the Fenn, it’s Kuer."

Particularly fascinating is Bruck - located on an island in the middle of the Elendar, this river city sits at the very heart of Isdraia. The second novel will take place here, so we don’t want to reveal too much just yet. The first novel, on the other hand, begins in Fennspring. This small settlement lies in the far west of the country and can only be seen with a careful look at the map. Fortunately, Zongi also created a large map of Fennspring for us - but it is… of course, top secret!

It’s probably not surprising that the Fenn live in Fennspring. However, the Fenn people don’t live only there - they are spread throughout the entire western region around the Duskwoods. If you follow the Eimh from Fennspring to Kuer, you already get a good sense of the main habitat of this people.

To the north of them, the territories where the Skuhuks - goblins - cause their mischief begin. The eastern part of the country is almost entirely occupied by humans. "The humans are also divided into different factions," Manu adds. Particularly notable are the Streamstrider - this is what the inhabitants of Bruck are called.

When I ask Manu about other peoples of the land and try to get more details, he suddenly distracts me with a bad joke: "Pirates don’t cry. They wail rum." Then he disappears, saying he “urgently needs to go get some bread.” Don’t worry, he did come back.

After taking a broad look at the many different facets of Isdraia- and after Manu has fetched the bread - we want to talk to him about something else: the fact that we’re able to describe Isdraia as it is and casually throw around all these names of cities, mountains, forests, and rivers is only possible because someone (i.e., Manu and others) once imagined all of this, and someone else (i.e., Zongi) created the beautiful map - or maps - to go with it!

In designing the fantasy world, Felix was heavily involved alongside Manu, as were former companions from earlier days. The entire endeavor was, is, and will remain a collaborative project. And so you’ll find names, characters, and places that serve as a homage to things our wonderful worldbuilders once experienced.

Some names and terms are inspired by things as silly and unserious as whiskey, others recall past companions and trusted friends, and some were created as a joke at three in the morning. “We also wanted to incorporate our company location, Landstuhl, into the names,” Manu recalls. “Castle Nanstein, for example, is also a place in Isdraia, and we created variations based on Landstuhl street names.”

I ask him how one generally goes about creating a fantasy world. “With lots of that aforementioned whiskey,” Manu of course does not reply - now that would be shocking! Instead, he says, “It just has to make sense.” Manu’s role in shaping the lore has been particularly important from the very beginning. He had the most time, since he was self-employed and could work from home. So he came up with a great deal of content years ago, discussed it with Felix, and then the ideas were either rejected, accepted, or labeled as a problem for the future.

A mischievous sparkle glints in Manu’s eyes: “By now, many of the problems originally meant for Future-Manu have become problems for the future Art Department.” After all, a lot of lore is created there as well - especially Fiona, as the concept artist, has to (and gets to) deal with these things. Manu insists, however, that he never anticipated it would one day come to this. “For example, I once wrote that the Blue Gate looks like waves that mirror each other,” Manu snickers. “I had no idea how that was supposed to work, so the Art Department had to figure something out.”

These things don’t happen as easily anymore. In particular, because an entire team is now involved in Project Silberheim, mistakes and strange trains of thought are noticed much earlier. “If someone sees that an idea is illogical or inconsistent, the team will tell me that it’s stupid,” Manu says with delight. “And they’re right - and then we find a solution.”

Manu also admits that for some well-known and long-discovered logical gaps, there are still no solutions. He might admit that he’s been avoiding them a little. And perhaps he also adds that they aren’t meant to be revealed for a few more years anyway. He concludes: “Those are problems for future people - people we don’t even know yet. So come and apply!” He laughs wickedly.

A certain employee by the official name of Zongi not only kept the design of the Silberheim Evolving Card Game from looking a bit… unattractive, but also turned the map of Isdraia into the lovely version it is today. Unlike the initial game design, however, the earlier map wasn’t created by Karl but by Felix - and it had a bit of a “hidden object” vibe. You wouldn’t exactly ask “Where’s Waldo?”, but you would find yourself wondering “Where’s Weiler?” - and that even though Weiler was one of the locations that was still comparatively easy to recognize. And that is precisely why Zongi was tasked with bringing clarity and structure to the map.

“I was able to rely heavily on Felix’s map and mostly just polished or adjusted a few details,” Zongi says modestly. The goal of the revision was a graphical upgrade combined with improved readability. To achieve this, Zongi drew some inspiration from other map designs, but explains: “I mainly borrowed color schemes or took cues from the general look. Everything else we discussed, or I looked up in the book and its spin-offs.”

Most of the content-related changes concerned the naturalness of certain structures. In the old map version, the Worlds Peak - the mountain ridge in the far west - was still too straight and linear. The course of the Eimh around the Zacken was also too precise. Here, Zongi added a bit more realism with a few extra curves and bends. Still, she isn’t completely satisfied: “In hindsight, you always notice something you could have done differently. You learn a lot in the process - and then you know how to do it better next time.” If the current map of Isdraia were ever revised again, Zongi would, for instance, like to make the borders more distinct.

Zongi also assures me that designing the map brought her a great deal of joy. “It’s a lot of fun,” she says, “but it’s also complicated, because you have to pay attention to so many things.” Still, she adds, maps of landscapes are far more pleasant to make than city maps. With city maps, you have to consider entirely different questions - like whether to draw every house individually, or how to represent residential areas otherwise. Zongi thinks back to her Fennspring map: “In Fennspring, I didn’t draw any houses. That’s because some parts of the town are described in great detail, but others aren’t. I didn’t want to give anything away prematurely.”

At various points, we’ve hinted rather clearly that a number of secrets lie dormant in Isdraia - and you can believe us when we say there are far more than you might currently suspect. Some of these may well be secrets meant to surface only in the distant future. But that’s not the only reason why we’ve offered only a small and by no means complete glimpse of Isdraia here. There is simply far too much to report and to tell.

Rumor has it, however, that a great deal of valuable knowledge is currently being gathered and organized - so who knows?