26 United States

Paz y Bendiciones (Peace and Blessings)

Join me on this journey where legends live and history breathes. In my universe, this is how the United States and North America appear. This is my contribution to the multiverse. After spending so much time crafting prompts for the image, I had to give up the ghost and create it myself. The hardest part was depicting the Mississippi River—wide enough to feel perilous to cross.

The Mississippi is a central landmark in The Shifting Ground. It reveals the danger of the Wastelands. Only certain narrow stretches allow passage. In colonial times, travelers from Florida or Georgia headed north to reach Illinois’s western border. They floated when the waters ran calm. That explains why the nation never expanded to what we now call California.

On my map, the river swells in the south then pinches before widening again. Farther north, past where Minnesota would stand, drifts the Mother’s Womb—an island of ice and snow. It moves like a weather pattern across the Wastelands. It has journeyed from South America to Canada. When it passes overhead, blistering cold or raging storms remind every settlement of its presence.

In this century, the Mother’s Womb occupies the northwestern section of the land we know as the USA. Small communities cling to the shifting ground. Our story unfolds in one such settlement near the heartbeat of the Wastelands. I will name the settlement soon. North of there lies Crescent Moon Pack territory, where many people live and hold stories I will reveal in future posts. When the book arrives, you will meet the Crescent Moon Pack.

East of the Mississippi lie 26 thriving states with familiar coastlines. Technology grows, homes spread across the land, and people build their lives. The river appears as a silver ribbon flowing south to north, glowing under moonlight. During slavery and the Trail of Tears, many braved its currents seeking freedom in the Wastelands. Countless lives were lost, echoing the Middle Passage of the Triangle Trade.

From such sorrow rose an Ancient. At first, this entity embodied healing water and joyful spirit. Witnessing so much death, it became enraged. Now it guards the river with fire, machetes and spears, channeling the lioness power of Sekhmet.

Trade paths and hidden sanctuaries thread through the Wastelands. Some arrive by ship from the Pacific, weaving tales of the Africas and the Triangle Trade. Many know only the Wastelands and remain unaware of the 26 organized states to the east.

Ancients and spiritual vortexes of power await discovery across this vast world. I will explore them in depth in the book. For now, I will bring this realm to life through blogs and podcasts. Everything east of the Mississippi hold stories for another day and another series.

Peace and blessings.