An illustrated adventure in the making. It will be a coffee-table size book about 150 pages.

Here you can read about the project. See my Instagram and youtube to followthe process.

The “Aris, divided world” has been in my mind for about 3 decades now. It started as a part of a roleplaying campaign I ran when I was 12 years old.

Over the years I have refined and added characters and stories as I saw fit. The narrative centers around certain characters, beasts and situations which we follow through several pages.

The Aris as a race originated from my desire to reimagine the wood elves. And so the Aris were born.

Over the years I have created several paintings and in 2023 I felt I had enough material to collect it all into a book.

It will be a world-building sort of book where we follow different characters, races and creatures. Some individuals will reappear in different stories some will not.

It all takes place on the plant Mons Cicatrix. A planet divided from north to south by a mountain range between 8 and 20 kilometers tall, called the Dragon´s Back.

On one side of the range, we have medieval-inspired kingdoms with very little magic and creatures.

On the other side are only a few human tribes and lots of creatures and different races such as

orcs, aris, gnomes, giants, dragons, fairies, and whatnot.

There are a few passages between the two worlds that only a few know about.

I am inspired by ancient cultures like the Mayas and like to put design restraints such as limited access to iron, in play.

Then voila, a whole story revolves around how to get iron.

The Aris are connected to nature in a way the original people of our earth were and can communicate with plants and animals.

We also follow other characters like the odd couple Yolanda and Bugeye. Yolanda, a former mercenary captain and Bugeye a thief and illusionist each riding on exotic beasts….

Yolanda on the giant sabertooth tiger Toff´ and Bugeye on his dinosaur-like bird named Beak. An adventurous couple whose story intertwines with the Aris.

The Story

The Aris live in mountain-like trees called the Iron Tree. Though it is not made of iron the tree is very hard and can only be cut by crystal.

The Iron Tree originates from the planet of OX and therefore in time pieces break of and returns to OX….just floating through the universe.

Ox is the planet on which the Aris were created by the demigods who live there. Their creators name is Aribaal.

Here is a short description of Aris history:

On the planet OX, the demigods ruled. They created animals, plants, and landscapes.

Their master creator was Aribaal. The other demigods asked him to create a race in their own image to entertain and worship them.

Aribaal did as they asked. Aris…..the name of the race was Aris, after their creator. The Aris lived in harmony with nature and created beautiful things mainly from ironwood and crystals.

The Gods were happy.

As time passed, the demigods demanded more and more worship from Aris. They became envious of the Aris´ beauty and demanded their horns cut down.

It hurt Aribaal to see the Aris suffer. The other demigods would not listen to his lamentations, so he began searching for hiding places elsewhere in the universe.

Under the guise of building a huge cathedral to the greatness of the demigods, Aribaal constructed a starship out of ironwood. He managed to escape.

The demigods were enraged! They vowed to hunt the Aris forever and bring them back into worship on OX.

Aribaal and Aris arrived at Mons Cicatrix.

The iron tree starship landed in an ancient primeval forest. Aribaal was badly injured during the landing and lost his divine powers on the new planet.

He died soon after. The iron tree grew rapidly in the New World. It absorbed other trees into its biomass and eventually became complex structures the size of mountains.

Parts of the iron tree eventually break off and find their way back to Ox……this worries the Aris…perhaps it leads the gods on their trail.

The Aris live here, they consist of 7 clans, each with their iron tree as their headquarters.

They fear the vengeance of the Gods.

Shortly after landing the Aris split into two factions….the priests of OX, feeling favored by the gods and well pleased with their status in the hirakia. They wanted to return.

Therefore they were banished and now live embittered and hateful in the mountains where, with the help of necromancy and black magic, they have kept their bodies alive for millennia.

They are called Umbaris….shadow Aris…

The bodies and minds of the mountain tribes have been corrupted by Umbaris’ black magic. The Umbaris exploit them to wage war against the Aris. With necromancy they create armies of the undead.

The “Aris, divided world” has been in my mind for about 3 decades now. It started as a part of a roleplaying campaign I ran when I was 12 years old.

Over the years I have refined and added characters and stories as I saw fit. The narrative centers around certain characters, beasts and situations which we follow through several pages.

The Aris as a race originated from my desire to reimagine the wood elves. And so the Aris were born.

Over the years I have created several paintings and in 2023 I felt I had enough material to collect it all into a book.

It will be a world-building sort of book where we follow different characters, races and creatures. Some individuals will reappear in different stories some will not.

It all takes place on the plant Mons Cicatrix. A planet divided from north to south by a mountain range between 8 and 20 kilometers tall, called the Dragon´s Back.

On one side of the range, we have medieval-inspired kingdoms with very little magic and creatures.

On the other side are only a few human tribes and lots of creatures and different races such as

orcs, aris, gnomes, giants, dragons, fairies, and whatnot.

There are a few passages between the two worlds that only a few know about.

I am inspired by ancient cultures like the Mayas and like to put design restraints such as limited access to iron, in play.

Then voila, a whole story revolves around how to get iron.

The Aris are connected to nature in a way the original people of our earth were and can communicate with plants and animals.

We also follow other characters like the odd couple Yolanda and Bugeye. Yolanda, a former mercenary captain and Bugeye a thief and illusionist each riding on exotic beasts….

Yolanda on the giant sabertooth tiger Toff´ and Bugeye on his dinosaur-like bird named Beak. An adventurous couple whose story intertwines with the Aris.

The Story

The Aris live in mountain-like trees called the Iron Tree. Though it is not made of iron the tree is very hard and can only be cut by crystal.

The Iron Tree originates from the planet of OX and therefore in time pieces break of and returns to OX….just floating through the universe.

Ox is the planet on which the Aris were created by the demigods who live there. Their creators name is Aribaal.

Here is a short description of Aris history:

On the planet OX, the demigods ruled. They created animals, plants, and landscapes.

Their master creator was Aribaal. The other demigods asked him to create a race in their own image to entertain and worship them.

Aribaal did as they asked. Aris…..the name of the race was Aris, after their creator. The Aris lived in harmony with nature and created beautiful things mainly from ironwood and crystals.

The Gods were happy.

As time passed, the demigods demanded more and more worship from Aris. They became envious of the Aris´ beauty and demanded their horns cut down.

It hurt Aribaal to see the Aris suffer. The other demigods would not listen to his lamentations, so he began searching for hiding places elsewhere in the universe.

Under the guise of building a huge cathedral to the greatness of the demigods, Aribaal constructed a starship out of ironwood. He managed to escape.

The demigods were enraged! They vowed to hunt the Aris forever and bring them back into worship on OX.

Aribaal and Aris arrived at Mons Cicatrix.

The iron tree starship landed in an ancient primeval forest. Aribaal was badly injured during the landing and lost his divine powers on the new planet.

He died soon after. The iron tree grew rapidly in the New World. It absorbed other trees into its biomass and eventually became complex structures the size of mountains.

Parts of the iron tree eventually break off and find their way back to Ox……this worries the Aris…perhaps it leads the gods on their trail.

The Aris live here, they consist of 7 clans, each with their iron tree as their headquarters.

They fear the vengeance of the Gods.

Shortly after landing the Aris split into two factions….the priests of OX, feeling favored by the gods and well pleased with their status in the hirakia. They wanted to return.

Therefore they were banished and now live embittered and hateful in the mountains where, with the help of necromancy and black magic, they have kept their bodies alive for millennia.

They are called Umbaris….shadow Aris…

The bodies and minds of the mountain tribes have been corrupted by Umbaris’ black magic. The Umbaris exploit them to wage war against the Aris. With necromancy they create armies of the undead.

Their only desire is to destroy the Aris.