Ask any author absurd enough to make a living out of fabricating things, and most will tell you the same thing:
The worlds, the cities, the characters — they don't exist in a vacuum.
They come from lived experience, and The Divided Region is no different.
On Saturday just gone, we took Master Liam to London Zoo for his second birthday (a lovely outing, all things considered). But to get there, we had to cut through a particular corner of the capital that, let's just say, is…
SEEDY AS HELL.
If you’ve been in the Legion for quite some time, you’ll know I could only be talking about:
Camden Town.
Now, I'll do my best not to tread on the toes of any Legionnaires who hail from Camden, but it's one of the stranger pockets of London.
You've got punks straight out of the '80s with spikes and studs occupying every square millimetre of their faces…
People rocking the wildest haircuts and fashion choices…
Drug dealers slinging dope on every corner…
Weed carrying on the air…
And preachers doing their best to sway the large swathe of rebels.
It truly is a sketchy place that I am well acquainted with and would have avoided if it weren't for an abrupt termination of the London Underground service. Especially with two wee infants in tow who haven't yet developed the street awareness to clock what's going on around them.
I don't know what equivalents exist across the pond or down under, but Camden is one of those places that leaves a slick layer of degeneracy on you.
But it's not all grime 'n crime.
It actually sowed the seeds that sprouted into the westerly city of Westrun in Estos, also known as the City of Weak Morals.
Some of the realm's most questionable deviants descend there.
It's a place where pleasure houses run rife…
Crime and corruption are as common as trees in a forest…
Illegal traders and black market merchants flog their wares to anyone willing to look the other way…
It's also home to the utterly notorious (and deadly) assassin organisation, the Unseen, which brings me to something I'm quietly very excited about:
My first spin-off series will centre on those very assassins.
Unlike low-level bounty hunters, this is a guild of carefully chosen killers who operate under only one strict, non-negotiable rule:
They never take contracts against royalty.
Why?
I'll leave that particular thread dangling for now, but if you'd like to pull on it sooner rather than later, the answer lives inside Lore & Order: Chronicles of Estos, along with the full history of the world, the houses, and everything in between.
You'll find it here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/lore-and-order
DJJW