The centuries long cycle of fighting and entrenchment between the Kingdom of Garrin and the Council of the Tokkin is about to be broken by a massive Tokkin assault. The devastating aftermath will plant the fear of chaos and vulnerability. That fear is just what the victor needs to carry out their vision. The course of the continent will shift as unforeseen advancements will uproot the established order. The fractured old ways are a small obstacle against the certainty and purpose the victor offers. No one can stop the unrelenting process. Talphi is born into this rapidly changing world. He is lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the changes. But as he learns, Talphi will find himself at odds with the certainties that surround his education. His beliefs will clash with the weight of the authorities and Talphi will have to decide the worth of his belief. How far must he go to follow his own path?
Joel Dau was born in Iowa, but ended up in Rhode Island by the second grade. It was enough time in the Midwest to learn to not be afraid of traveling over thirty minutes to get somewhere, but there is little reason to go that far in New England. His real formative years came during middle school when an traumatic event drew his attention inward and amplified his introversion.
That period of social retreat was also the introductory age of PCs, anime, Magic the Gathering, and a new generation of comic books, so there was plenty to help him isolate himself. This is when the character of Talphi, the subject of his first novel, was created. Joel's imagination drew from the fantasy worlds others created, but Talphi never quiet fit into those worlds, so he stayed an imagination as his own world kept forming.
In his late twenties the repressed memory of trauma returned after a friend had teased him by playing a particular song on repeat. This was the start of Joel's trans-formative years. Remembering that pain and seeing the success of other late start authors motivated him. That's when he started preparing and writing his magnum opus, The Determined World. The work was therapeutic, but he wanted it to be read too. The character of Talphi needed a fully developed fictional world to reach readers.
