The Dreaming Tower Archives unfolds in a world where castle walls are reinforced with encrypted wards, where threats from the digital realm take physical form, and where the disciplines of security have evolved into ancient guilds wielding both blade and sigil.
This isn't fantasy with technology bolted on, nor cyberpunk with a medieval skin. It's a world where magic and machinery developed together—where the same principles that protect a castle gate also protect the flow of information, and where the monsters that breach your walls might have slipped through a crack in reality itself.
The known world spans four continents separated by treacherous seas. Our stories focus on Cipheria, a vigilant kingdom on Valorath's eastern coast—but it is far from the only power in this world.
Understanding the World
In this world, there is no clean divide between the arcane and the engineered. They grew up together, shaped each other, and now function as a single discipline with different specializations.
A city wall isn't just stone—it's reinforced with wards that detect hostile intent, inscribed with sigils that alert the watch, and monitored by crystals that pulse with warning light when something approaches. Physical barriers and magical protections work as one system.
The dangers that plague this world aren't abstractions—they're creatures called the Glitchborne. Wraiths that steal secrets. Mimics that wear trusted faces. Corruption storms that encrypt everything they touch. Each one a physical manifestation of the threats we know from our own digital lives.
Security isn't the job of a lone hero—it's the work of specialized orders. The Wardens of the Wall defend the perimeter. The Sentinel Order monitors for threats. The Cipher Monks guard secrets through encryption. The Access Keepers control who enters where. Each guild a piece of a coordinated defense.
Data doesn't live in servers—it travels through courier networks, archive towers, and crystalline relay systems. Protecting the flow of information is as vital as protecting grain shipments, and the same merchants who move goods also negotiate the protocols that keep messages secure.
The result: A world that feels genuinely medieval—kingdoms, castles, guilds, councils—while grappling with problems that mirror our modern reality. When you read about a Mimic wearing a trusted merchant's face to gain access to the treasury, you're reading about phishing. When the Rot spreads through neglected infrastructure, you're reading about unpatched vulnerabilities. The fantasy makes the lessons stick.
Our Setting
On Valorath's eastern coast lies Cipheria—not the largest kingdom, nor the most militarily powerful, but among the most vigilant. It has earned its reputation through organized defense, collaborative governance, and the wisdom of an ancient structure at its heart.
Size
Mid-sized regional power
Population
~3–5 million
Climate
Temperate coastal
Founded
Over 1,000 years ago
The Crown City
Built in concentric rings of increasing security—a design reflecting Cipheria's core principle: protect what matters most while remaining accessible to those who belong. Population ~800,000.
At Cipheria's center stands the Dreaming Tower—an ancient, semi-sentient structure that has monitored and protected the kingdom for over a thousand years. It doesn't speak in words, but in visions and sensations, warning those who tend it of threats both present and approaching.
The Tower archives what was, observes what is, and helps prepare for what's coming. Its keeper, the Lorekeeper, serves as the living bridge between the Tower's ancient knowledge and the Council that governs the realm.
Cipheria is ruled by Queen Lyra Brightforge, who governs alongside the Secret Council—a structure born from hard lessons: coordination beats individual heroics, and diverse perspectives prevent blind spots.
In a world where threats emerge from the wilds and slip through cracks in reality, Cipheria represents proof that organization works—that learning from failure leads to resilience, and that security can enable prosperity rather than strangling it. It's not a perfect kingdom. But it adapts. It survives. And its stories teach lessons worth remembering.
More to Come
Cipheria is just one kingdom on one continent. As the Chronicles grow, so will the world—new lands, new threats, new stories. For now, the Dreaming Tower watches, the Council deliberates, and the tales continue.
The Tower dreams. The Kingdom endures. And the stories continue.