From the beginning to the great deluge, men and women lived, loved, fought, and died. Those were the days of the Vaporous Realms.
Rival clans and city-states vie for supremacy. Earthly lords war over lands of shadow and mist. Empires span vast steppes and deserts. Vicious raiders menace coastlines from the tundra to tropical isles. Conspiracies and cults abound.
In the Vaporous Realms, generations of mortals and immortals contend for power and souls across a young world. Strange and terrible beasts, and stranger and more terrible beings, roam the land. Life is fleeting, but when the kingdoms of heaven and earth hang in the balance, every breath counts.
Encompassing seven epochs and five clashing civilizations, the story-cycles of the Vaporous Realms—Dustsong, Northsong, Southsong, Eastsong, and Westsong—are epic in scope. Yet every snippet comes from a profoundly human place.
I write “clean” (PG to PG-13), somewhat dark fantasy. I’ve taken to calling it “sword and spirit”: most of the particular stories fit best in the “sword and sorcery” subgenre, but supernatural power in the Vaporous Realms is spiritual rather than magical in the usual sense. Taken together, though, these little stories fit within an epic whole—so the story-world includes aspects of high fantasy.
Vaporous Realms and Vaporous Realms at War books, character miniatures, and other products are available via links to our online shops and at in-person events.
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Free subscribers now receive a weekly post featuring 1) a brief world-building article about the Vaporous Realms story setting, 2) a quick story snippet, and 3) any reading recommendations, Vaporous Realms publishing or product updates, or Vaporous Realms event news. Posts are archived (available to paid and complimentary subscribers) after three months. You may have access to teasers of certain other paid content.
Becoming a paid subscriber (annually, for a steep discount) means you receive near-daily weekday posts, similar to and including the weekly free post. You also get access to the full archive of story snippets, serials, and other posts and the Dustsong: Len the Wanderer novella ebook as a free download. And you’ll be among the first to get a peek at new Vaporous Realms cover art! Vaporous Realms at War character profiles and stats for tabletop gaming will be integrated with the relevant world-building content, whether new or archived.
Founder-level subscribers have access to the latest, updated Vaporous Realms Vaporous Realms at War pdf books and Vaporous Realms ebooks as they’re published!
Besides new posts on this platform, my focus for the rest of 2024 is on updating and expanding the catalog of Vaporous Realms at War tabletop resources and miniatures. Revised editions of Len’s story, as well as a Kaelii novella, are on the docket for late 2024 into 2025.
In the meantime, please enjoy the new content and (for paid and complimentary members) past story snippets. Feel free to explore, comment, and join me in Chat. Send your most pressing and perplexing Vaporous Realms questions my way, and I’ll answer to the best of my non-spoilery ability.
Together with you, our readers, we'll immerse ourselves in the ever-widening array of heroic (and unheroic) folk, far-flung lands, and perilous adventures the Vaporous Realms have to offer. Thank you in advance for becoming a subscriber so we can all continue this epic journey (writ small) together!
About the Author
Vaporous Realms author M. B. Heywood is a wandering storyteller and editor from a little ways south of the Mason-Dixon. He loves his Lord, his wife, their kith and kin, coffee and pie, fantasy fiction, miniature models, and historical anecdotes.
