veil of kings and gods

Why I’m Writing Fantasy Short Stories (And How They Expand My Novel’s World)

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

Before my epic fantasy novel The Veil of Kings and Gods releases, I wanted to open a small window into the world of Ældorra, a world of stone kingdoms, fading gods, and myths that refuse to die.

Each short story I write is its own world in miniature. They don’t rely on the main novel, yet every one of them echoes it, a fragment of history, a lost prayer, or a legend that shaped the lands my characters now walk. Some are quiet and personal; others burn with the power of the divine. Together, they breathe life into Ældorra in a way that maps and lore pages never could.

Writing these stories is more than worldbuilding, it’s a way of feeling the world I’ve spent years creating. When I step into a new tale, I discover the texture of the world again: the smell of rain on stone, the flicker of temple light, the forgotten names carved into the ruins.

These short stories aren’t just for readers waiting for the novel, they’re for anyone who loves myth, emotion, and the quiet moments that make a fantasy world feel alive.

You’ll soon be able to explore them as ebooks, see the artwork behind them, and even collect the prints.

Welcome to Ældorra. The gods don’t stay silent forever.

🎥 Watch the video

Painting the Banner of Bremyra

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There’s something special about taking an idea from the page and bringing it into the real world. For me, drawing and painting scenes and symbols from my story, The Veil of Kings and Gods, isn’t just an extra step, it’s part of how I connect with the world I’m building.

The act of painting slows everything down. My hands work while my mind wanders the streets of Castellum, hears the sea breaking against the cliffs, and feels the weight of a thousand years of history pressing through the colours. It’s not just art for the sake of art, it’s a doorway into the heart of the kingdom.

Painting is a passion I’ve carried for as long as I can remember, and it has a way of anchoring me in the work. Every brushstroke feels like a moment spent inside the world itself. I intend to keep creating more pieces like this, not only banners, but places, faces, and artefacts, anything that helps me see the story as clearly as I can feel it.

A Brief History of Bremyra

What does a crimson banner with a golden griffon really mean?

This isn’t just paint on parchment, it’s the symbol of Bremyra, a southern kingdom carved between sea cliffs and old stone keeps. They never conquered, they endured. While other kingdoms fell to war and magic, Bremyra held fast, ruled by kings remembered in silence, not in song.

The golden griffon stands for honour held through fire, and the blood-red field. It’s not for war, it’s for the ancestors who built it with bare hands. Every banner has a story, and this one? It’s only the beginning of mine.

🎥 Watch the time-lapse video here:

The Spiral

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A symbol older than the gods. A force that remembers what prophecy has forgotten.

In the world of The Veil of Kings and Gods, the Spiral is not a belief. It is not a language, a temple, or a rite. It is a force, unfolding, recursive, and alive in ways mortals and divines no longer understand.

Some call it fate. Others call it a pattern. The truth lies somewhere between what is remembered and what was erased.

The Spiral does not move forward. It returns.

🌀 What Is the Spiral?

The Spiral is how fate is written, and rewritten. Unlike the straight line of mortal will or the perfect circle of divine prophecy, the Spiral folds, shifts, and remembers. It carries every path ever walked, and every path never taken, within itself.

It is the symbol of recursion, of forgotten futures, and of change that cannot be undone. Where prophecy fails, the Spiral turns.

🔮 The Spiral and the Gods

There was a time when the gods could read the Spiral. Their visions were clear, and their voices powerful. Kingdoms rose and fell by their predictions.

But something changed.

The gods grew silent, and the Spiral grew wild. Its turns no longer matched their visions. Prophets saw overlapping truths. Some disappeared. Others fractured.

Now, only a few truly understand the Spiral. Fewer still can act beyond it.

✨ Simion and the Imbalance

Simion does not follow the Spiral. He changes it.

His presence in the world marks a thread the Spiral had not drawn before. A break in the pattern. He is not chosen by gods, nor bound by prophecy. He is the imbalance, a point where the Spiral no longer knows what comes next.

In silence, new paths unfold.

🧭 The Spiral Ages

Long before kingdoms, long before temples, there were stories.

The Chronicles of the Spiral Ages are short tales drawn from early cultures who felt the Spiral’s pull without understanding its shape. They called it a god, a storm, a curse. They carved it into sand and stone. They saw it in birth, death, and silence.

Their stories still echo.

📺 Watch: “The Spiral That Broke the Gods” – Short Lore Video
📺 Watch: “What the Spiral Really Means” – Short Lore Video

🧠 What the Spiral Represents

In this world, and in mine as a writer, the Spiral is not just a symbol. It is a question.

  • What if prophecy could fail?
  • What if fate could be rewritten?
  • What if silence held more power than a divine voice?

The Spiral appears in visions, on ruins, in sealed tombs, and in the margins of ancient texts. It does not answer. It waits.

📚 Related Posts & Stories

🔚 Closing Note

The Spiral is not a faith. It is not a prophecy. It is what comes after.

And it has already begun to turn.

Simon J. Phillips
Author of The Veil of Kings and Gods

Why I’m Returning to YouTube | And Why It Starts with This Book

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

There’s a difference between going quiet and being absent.

For a while, I stepped away, from videos, from updates, from showing anything before it was finished. It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t burnout. It was the slow realisation that I didn’t want to just “upload” things. I wanted to build something worth showing.

And for me, that something has always been The Veil of Kings and Gods.

It’s the novel I’ve rewritten, expanded, and quietly carried through drafts and worldbuilding documents while the rest of life kept moving. But now, it’s taking shape and with it, so is the purpose of my YouTube channel.

✍️ What You’ll Find on the Channel

This isn’t a general author channel. It’s not a catch-all for whatever I feel like filming. It’s a focused space for one story, The Veil of Kings and Gods, and the creative journey behind it.

Here’s what I’ll be sharing:

  • Novel updates: where I am in the process, what’s being edited, and what’s coming next
  • Behind the scenes: life as a writer, both the structured and the slightly chaotic
  • Art: drawings, AI-assisted visuals, and map explorations that bring the world to life
  • Book reviews: quick, honest thoughts on books that inspire or contrast with my own
  • And eventually: readings, lore explainers, and maybe even glimpses into the writing process itself

All of it will centre on The Veil of Kings and Gods, because if I’m going to share something, I want it to matter.

🧾 The Chapter in My Hand

In the video below, you’ll see me holding a printed chapter from the novel. That was intentional. There’s something about seeing words off-screen that makes them real again.

This is me picking them up, literally and creatively, and deciding to let others see the journey.

📺 Prefer to Watch?

Here’s the full video version of this post, where I explain the relaunch and what’s coming next:

Thank you for reading. Whether you follow through these posts or through the videos, this is where the story begins.

Simon J. Phillips
Author of The Veil of Kings and Gods

The Veil of Kings and Gods

/ Author Simon Phillips / 4 Comments

When the gods go silent, prophecy fractures. What rises next cannot be foretold.

This is the novel that shaped the foundation of everything I’ve written since.

At its heart lies a world left in silence. The gods once spoke clearly, shaping kingdoms through chosen bloodlines and divine rituals, but that time has ended. Now, the echoes of their will are fractured, fading, or dangerously misinterpreted. The world remembers their presence but no longer hears their voice.

The Veil of Kings and Gods follows the slow unraveling of that world, and the people who remain in the absence of clear power.

It is not a story about chosen heroes or golden prophecies fulfilled. It is about those left behind. Those who were not supposed to rise, and did.

📖 The Story

The kingdom of Bremyra stands at the edge of collapse. Its kingship is fragile, held together by tradition, prophecy, and military legacy. Beyond its borders, tensions rise between faith and silence, legacy and rebellion, loyalty and doubt.

At the centre of the story is Simion, a quiet figure born without divine favour, yet carrying something far more dangerous, imbalance. Not the kind that disrupts order with chaos, but the kind that shifts the Spiral itself. His presence begins to fracture the remaining threads of prophecy.

As kingdoms struggle to interpret the gods’ absence, and as the Spiral reveals patterns not foretold, a deeper magic begins to awaken, one that predates the divine voices altogether.

This is a world where silence speaks, and power is no longer sacred, but claimed.

🌀 Core Themes

  • Divine Silence: The gods no longer answer, and mortals are forced to act without them.
  • Broken Prophecy: Destiny unravels as old visions contradict what unfolds.
  • The Spiral: Fate is not a line or a circle; it folds, forgets, and returns.
  • Inheritance and Rebellion: Bloodlines, loyalties, and faith all come undone.

🧱 Structure and Tone

The Veil of Kings and Gods is a slow-burn epic fantasy, grounded in character, world-building, and psychological tension. Dialogue is intimate. Action is rare but decisive. Power grows quietly, then reshapes everything in its path.

📍 Where This Novel Sits in My Universe

This book is the central thread in a larger mythos. Other stories connect to it, some in the past, others in forgotten corners of the world. The short story series Chronicles of the Spiral Ages explores myths, cultures, and echoes that ripple into the events of this novel.

Characters from other works will trace their bloodlines, curses, or destinies back to the moments first seen in The Veil of Kings and Gods.

This is where it begins.

🛠️ Current Status

  • Draft One is complete
  • Draft Two is in progress
  • Lore posts and short stories connected to this world will continue to appear on the blog
  • AI-generated artwork and map reveals will be shared via YouTube and site updates

🖼️ Visions from the Realm

🔗 Explore Further

✍️ Closing Note

This page will update as the novel progresses. As more fragments fall into place, through short stories, videos, or lore posts, they will be gathered here.

The silence continues. The Spiral shifts. The Veil has only begun to lift.

Simon J. Phillips
Fantasy & Sci-Fi Author
https://authorsimonphillips.com