Ashkar the Magnificent

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Outline
Location	Lands of the Inland Sea
Publication Details
Author(s)	Andrew Chapman
Other Details
Cover illustrator	???
First published	September 30 2000 August 1 2001 (reprint)
ISBN	ISBN 0-73-883262-6 (Xlibris) ISBN 0-95-788680-2 (Deodand)
Reprint

Ashkar the Magnificent is a novel written by Andrew Chapman. It was published in 2000 (ISBN 0-73-883262-6) by Xlibris Corporation. It was later reprinted by Deodand Publishing in 2001 (ISBN 0-95-788680-2). Ashkar the Magnificent is not a Fighting Fantasy product, even though it is set in the same world as Seas of Blood. For the complex relationship between the lands of Ashkar the Magnificent and the world of Titan, see Relationship with Fighting Fantasy and Titan below.

Background

“

When Morkain murders his sorcerer brother, Ashkar, his plan to raise himself up amongst the Gods seems assured. But that is before two weird avatars appear in his stolen domain. Prax, the sentient sword, and the mysterious beauty, L'Lan seek a confrontation that will unravel time itself.

”

Relationship with Fighting Fantasy and Titan

The Lands of the Inland Sea first appeared in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Seas of Blood, written by Andrew Chapman and published in 1985. Nothing in Seas of Blood indicated a connection between these lands and any other Fighting Fantasy setting, which is perhaps not surprising as the world of Titan was first referred to in Sword of the Samurai, published in April 1986, and was first revealed in detail in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World, published in October 1986.

The Lands of the Inland Sea were placed in the continent of Khul in Titan, and Andrew Chapman was thanked for his contribution to the Fighting Fantasy world in the acknowledgements at the front of Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World. This placement of the Lands of the Inland Sea in Khul was not unproblematic, however, since the distances suggested in Seas of Blood and the distances in the Khul map did not seem to match very well at all. For example, the villages of Fenmarge and Willowbend in western Khul are roughly two centimetres apart on the Titan (Large Format) map, which is almost the same as the length of the Inland Sea. In Scorpion Swamp, it takes less than two days to travel on foot from Fenmarge to Willowbend, whereas it takes five to six days to sail from Tak to the Scythera Desert, equivalent to a distance of about one centimetre on the Titan map.

Perhaps more seriously, it was not Chapman's original intention that the Lands of the Inland Sea should be included in Titan. Chapman revealed on the Rebuilding Titan Yahoo! group that he "had created a more extensive geography and history for that world which I used later in two other books, and also in the unpublished FF Deathlord". One of these other two books was Ashkar the Magnificent, which contains the same map as Seas of Blood. The other is the unpublished Darksoul.

Covers

The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by ???.

Ashkar the Magnificent through the years

2000	2001
Xlibris	Deodand
£?.??	£6.99

Characters

• Ashkar
• Assurians
• Balgoth
• Baws Klustre, Hetman of Kul
• Bel 'ur Sthnaktrrp
• Bizenites
• Calahites
• Casalla
• Cillici
• Dendax
• Enraki Shaman
• Furdle
• Gruth
• Gufna
• Jache
• Juk
• The barbarian Kirfmen
• L'Lan
• Lolfant the Interminable - Pirate king of Tak
• Lupi
• Malazar the Filk
• Matron Hoddle
• Mengg and the other Kishian Archimandrites
• Morkain, Auotocrat of Lagash
• Prax
• Scud
• Solden
• Spew
• Starg - Pirate captain of the Banshee
• Tabath
• Tilget
• Togend
• Toj
• Ufflemen
• Uthlak
• Vargus
• Violle
• Yelta

Locations

• Appalanx
• Assur
• Aut Haat
• Barbarian lands of Kirf
• Calah
• Dead City
• Embre
• Enraki
• The Great Avenue in Lagash
• Inland Sea
• Isle of Volcanoes
• Ixtalan
• Jje
• Kazallu
• Kirkuk
• Kish
• Kul
• Lagash
• Madam Usur's House of Pleasure
• Mantou
• Marad
• Mount Martu-Amurru
• River Parine
• Rivers of the Dead
• Scythera Desert
• Shurrupak
• Tak
• Tarjan's Emporium
• The Grueler
• The Three Sisters
• The Wall of Walls
• Uffle
• The Uphom River

Creatures

• Devilkin
• Gunderwals
• Kajn
• Giant Lagomorphs
• Mallarks
• Nereid

Further Notes

• The Lands of the Inland Sea are described as being on "Earth", but at least two moons can be seen in the sky, tiny green Peon and the larger blue Fey. Since Fey is the name of one of the moons in When All Moons Rise, also by Andrew Chapman, it may be that the two books are set in the same world.

Dedication

For my parents, Frank and Rosemary