Tabat

Tabat is the fantasy seaport in which I’ve based numerous short stories and a novel, The Moon’s Accomplice. Tabat exists in a steampunk magical world where intelligent beasts such as unicorns and dragons exist but have no legal rights. Their status is in part a reaction to the depredations of the sorcerers who created many of them in the Shadow Wars, which destroyed an entire continent.

Tabat started as a proposal for an area for an online game my friend James was creating in the mid-nineties. I wanted to do a seaport, and I was inspired by the building system that James had created, which allowed one to add conditional descriptions to a room, ones that would only appear if certain conditions were met, such as it being high tide, or spring, or some combination of similar factors.

The game never came to pass, but several years later I returned to Tabat. At the time Armageddon was closed to players every Saturday in order to allow the staff to coordinate and conduct maintenance. I suggested that a MUD set in a very small area would allow the players to socialize and roleplay, and set about recreating the city. That project also never was completed, but finally in 2004 I began writing stories set in Tabat, because I knew it so well.

As I’ve written in it, it’s continued to grow in clarity and new landmarks have appeared, such as the Piskie Wood, the Great Tram, and the waterfall in the Duke’s Plaza. Its growth has been shaped by my interest in and reading of early American history. I’m very fond of Tabat, and I’d like to see it reach the heights of other fantasy fiction cities, such as Ambergris and Lankhmar.

Here is an updated version of the chronology of Tabat included in Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight.

The Shadow Wars

• Love, Resurrected (appeared in BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES)
• A Twine of Flame (available in EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)

Early Tabat

• 99 Statues (in progress)
• How Dogs Came to the New Continent (in circulation)

Modern-day

• The Bear (appeared in AIOFE’S KISS)
• The Bumblety’s Marble (appeared in PAPER CITIES and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
• Dryad’s Kiss (appeared in GRYPHONWOOD)
• Events at Fort Plentitude (appeared in WEIRD TALES and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
• The Ghost-Eater (in circulation)
• I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said (appeared in CLARKESWORLD and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
• In the Lesser Southern Isles (appeared in BLACK SAILS and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
• THE MOON’S ACCOMPLICE (novel)
• Narrative of a Beast’s Life (appeared in REALMS OF FANTASY and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
• Sugar (appeared in FANTASY and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)

Legends and Fairytales

• The Dead Girl’s Wedding March (appeared in FANTASY MAGAZINE and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
• A Key Decides Its Destiny (appeared in SAY… and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)