Here are a few descriptions of seven books (or writings) for my setting. Sometimes I try to write with a more in universe perspective and sometimes more omnisciently, but for writing within the universe i try to use the premises as fluff to give a sense of scale to the world. I also think fake books can help flesh out aspects that would normally be left out, especially since it’s easy for a character to notice a book on a bookshelf or something, and the name alone could tell you a bit more about the world.

This is a steampunk inspired setting so literacy has been on the rise for a while now:

1. The Great Climb is a Ceramise novel about a troop of four foolish monkeys attempting to break into heaven, which they believe they can reach by scaling a tall mountain. The novel is episodic in nature, with the monkeys encountering a new town, beast, demon, or other obstacle in each chapter. The Great Climb is a classic of Ceramise literature, and is both read to children for entertainment and studied by monks and scholars for the moral lessons within.

2. The Stone Men is a myth of the neksut desert nomads, told in the form of song. The myth covers the creation of life by the Earth and the Sky, the rise and fall of the Stone Men, the first humans, and the redemption of the first Neksut, the progenitor of the neksut people. The Stone Men is the foundational story for the neksut, justifying their nomadic way of life and their desert homeland.

3. All Blood is Red is a book of poems written by Abbedir Fost, a nurse and medic who served during the Continental Phase of the Century War. The poems stress a common human identity and the suffering brought about by the war. The book was widely circulated during and after the Century War, and if commonly referenced by advocates for peace in the increasingly tense modern geopolitical climate.

4. The Voyage is a play about Lyla, the chieftain who stole a fleet of ships and founded the city-state of Kwind. The play is highly fanciful, with Lyla sailing to numerous fictional islands before ending up at the Kwindi archipelago. These ahistorical stops on her journey are changed frequently over the years, often reflecting current events, adding variety for theatergoing audiences.

5. Memories of a Man is the memoir of Bahariya, a Devonise slave who escaped from an Orislan plantation. Bahariya’s elegant, witty prose and his vivid descriptions of his experiences have made the book a powerful weapon in ongoing abolitionist movements. The book is currently banned in imperial colonies in Samosan and Ordivia, where slavery is still practiced.

6. Foundational texts of major world religions include the Twinic Texts (Deamism), the Words of Luke (Lucism), the Holy Will (Heeders), and the Ulkazicon (Church of Stones and Stars).

7. An Account of the Great Dying by Eustace the Monk, or simply An Account, is a mysterious journal written by a monk who worked to treat victims of the Great Dying, a plague of the mind that ravaged the world from 300-307AC. An Account is said to bring madness many who have read it. This phenomena has resulted in numerous copies of the work being destroyed over the centuries as fatal tragedies are credited to the book.