The background for the story is ancient Sub-Saharan Africa. Indicators for the setting come from the names of places, characters, etc. Kemet, mentioned in chapter two for example, is an ancient name for Egypt. Other indicators for the setting/landscape are the animals mentioned at the start of the book. Elephants and lions are native to what part of the world? Again, Africa. The initial setting is ancient Sub-Saharan Africa.

Main Characters

Nyeusi: The antagonist, is the central character in Book One.
Ali: Head of the gold seeking expedition.
Daniel: The skeptic.
Sodom, Asfar and, Penal: Convicts seeking to improve their fortune and regain their liberty provided the expedition is successful and they return to their homeland with gold and other articles of material wealth for their king.

None of the names are without meaning or significance to the overall picture. Ali and the adventurers are from Kemet. They are Arabic, hence the reason Ali has such a name. Same thing goes for the name Asfar.

Daniel, is a name taken from a character in the Bible who was cast into a lion’s den but was not killed. Wink wink. I’ll say no more. No spoilers.

Sodom, again taken from the Bible and the Quran, is a city that along with Gomorrah was destroyed by God because its inhabitants were so sinful. I’ll say no more because again, I don’t want to provide any spoilers.

Penal as in penal colony, was a name given to him because such a colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory.

Keita, Ossouna and, Aswad: The poachers who were mauled by lions in the beginning of the book. They are Sub-Saharan people. Aswad means black in Arabic. Keita is an African name that means blessing.

Nyeusi’s people are the Shetani. Shetani means mostly malevolent spirits of East African mythology. In this fantasy series, they can traverse from the underworld/afterlife to our world.

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