Welcome to Crescent City Explained! This is a completely spoiler free Crescent City world guide that will help you understand this fantasy series so much better.
You could use Crescent City Wiki to look up character names and places, but that opens up a HUGE risk for major spoilers.
Googling ANYTHING (no matter how harmless it may seem) can lead to major spoilers. This is my way of saving you from making the same mistakes I did when reading the Sarah J Maas books for the first time.
Crescent City Explained
1) Crescent City Geography
There is a Crescent City map at the beginning of each of the Crescent City books. However, I want to cover all notable locations in this section, not just Crescent City.
The planet this story takes place on is called Midgard. On Midgard we have 2 notable continents, Valbara and Pangera.
Valbara is the home of Lunathion, also known as Crescent City. It is also home of Nidaros which is the birth place of the main character, Bryce Quinlan.
Valbara has 4 major rivers, one of them, the Istros River, runs through Crescent City.
Across the Haldren sea is another continent known as Pangera. The most notable location on Pangera is the Eternal City. The Eternal City is the home of the Asteri, who rule the entire planet of Midgard.
2) Houses of Midgard
All species on Midgard are grouped into 4 separate Houses. These houses are:
House of Earth and Blood
Members Earth and Blood are animal shifters, humans, witches, ordinary animals
House of Sky and Breath
Malakim (angels), faeries or Fae, elementals, and sprites*
*sprites were kicked out of the House of Sky and Breath and are now considered Lowers (which are creatures that aren’t deemed worthy of any house)
House of Flame and Shadow
Daemonaki, reapers, vampyrs, wraiths, draki, dragons, and necromancers
House of Many Waters
River-spirits, mer, water beasts, nymphs, kelpies, nokks
As you can see there are a plethora of supernatural beings that live on Migard, and the term for them is Vanir. Any of the beings listed above that are not humans, are considered Vanir.
3) Crescent City Politics
Midgard is ruled by the Asteri. They are god like immortal beings who each contain the power of the sun. There are currently 6 Asteri and they rule the planet from the Eternal City in Pangera.
There are 10 territories on Migard that are ruled by Governors. The Governors are Archangels that answer directly to the Asteri. Archangels are exceptionally powerful angels and they are chosen to rule by the Asteri.
In Crescent City, the Governor is Micah Domitus and the most notable governor in Pangera is Sandriel. Each governor has it’s own personal army or Triarii. in Lunathion the 33rd is the triarii of Governor Micah.
There are 7 City Heads of Lunathion who answer to the Governor and each run a different section of Crescent City.
4) Crescent City Government/Ruling
Crescent City has 7 districts and each district has a leader.
- The Central Business District also known as the CBD is run by the angels and the head of the angels is Micah Domitus (also the governor of Crescent City)
- Five Roses, also known as Firo is the main territory of the Fae, is run by the Autumn King
- Moonwood is the main territory of shifters and is run by the Prime of the Wolf shifters
- Old Square is kind of the touristy area of the city and is run by the Oracle.
- The Bone Quarter is where the spirits of the deceased lie and it’s run by the Under King.
- The Meat Market is a really dangerous area that’s known for a lot of illegal activity and substances and it’s run by the Viper Queen.
- Asphodel Meadows is where most of the humans in Lunathion live. Humans are treated very poorly in this world because they’re essentially powerless compared to all the other magical beings. As such, there is no head of Asphodel Meadows.
- And finally we have the Blue Court which is beneath the Istros River and is run by the River Queen (who mostly stays beneath the water).
As you can see even though there are technically 8 districts, the humans don’t have a seat at the table.
As far as ranking goes, the Heads of the City answer to the Governor, who answers to the Asteri, and Crescent city law enforcement is known as the Auxiliary or the Aux for short.
5) Crescent City Vanir
As I mentioned in section 2, Vanir are all the super natural beings on Midgard. All Vanir are technically immortal, however some live longer than others and they all eventually die of natural causes or being killed. Below are some notable Vanir species that are important to the story.
Fae - Fae in this world look mostly like humans except for their pointy ears. There are pure-blooded fae and half-blooded fae. They’re extremely quick healing and can even grow back body parts. The typical Fae lifespan is around 1000 years.
Shifters - Shifters are any species of Vanir that can shift between a humanoid form and an animal form. In Valbara, the most powerful shifters are the wolf shifters. They don’t have pointy ears like fae do, but they have a lot of similarities like quick healing. They can also still speak as if they were human while in their animal form. Shifters are also immortal and live on average of 500 years.
Malakim - also known as angels. The singular of Malakim is Malakh so you will hear it both ways in Crescent City. Malakim are humanoid in form and have feathered wings that can come in a range of shades from black to gray to white. They were created by the Asteri to do their bidding, so all angels are in some shape or form in service to the Asteri. The lifespan of an angel is somewhere in between shifters and Fae (approx. 700-800 years).
6) The Drop Crescent City
Vanir are not born with full access to their immortal powers. In order to reach full maturity and power level, each Vanir individual has to perform what is known as the Drop. The Drop is really the “beginning” of the immortal life for Vanir.
Vanir are able to choose when to make the drop, but each drop is regulated and monitored by the government.
When it is time to make the Drop, all Vanir go to a government center and are monitored while they begin the descent into their full power (at this phase the person is unconscious). When the full level of power is reached, the “mortal” body dies. Each person then has about 6 minutes to return to consciousness before they die for good. The return to consciousness is called the Ascent. The 6 minute period between the Drop and the Ascent is called the Search.
When the Drop, Search, and Ascent are successfully completed, firstlight is released (which is explained more in the next section). Firstlight is generated by people making the Drop into immortality. Since the Drop is done at a government center, they’re able to bottle the firstlight and utilize it for the public (sort of like a magical tax).
7) What is Firstlight?
Firstlight is basically this planets version of electricity. Everything runs on firstlight (cars, lights, cellphones etc.) It is the raw, unfiltered magic that appears as pure light emitted by a Vanir when they make the Drop. The light that emanates from the person making the Drop happens during the transition into immortality and true power.
Since the Drop is made at a government center, they’re able to siphon off the firstlight that is emitted and use it for powering cities, but also for healing. The first glow is always used for healing, then the rest of it is handed over to the energy plants to fuel their lights and cars and machines and tech. The more powerful you are when you make your Drop, the more firstlight you will produce.
As a thank you for your “donation” of first light, each person gets to go home with a little bit of their firstlight in a jar as a souvenir for making the Drop, a thank you from the government for taxing your magic to keep the city running.
8) The Oracle/ Ordeal
If you remember from section 4, the Oracle is one of the 7 heads of Lunathion. The Oracle is especially important for Fae because all fae (both male and female) visit the Oracle at age 13. As one of the Great Rites into adulthood, the Oracle tells you what they see in your future. The other Great Rite is called the Ordeal which happens years or decades after the visit to the Oracle.
The Ordeal varies from person to person and there’s no way to know when a Fae is going to go through their Ordeal. For some people, it’s overcoming an illness or heartbreak, for some it’s a battle for your life. The greater the Fae, the more intense the Ordeal is.
There’s also not a specific order of going through the Drop and Ordeal. Some have their Ordeal first, some make the Drop first. Think of the Ordeal as fate deciding the timing, and the Drop is something Vanir have control over the timing of.
The Ordeal is something only Fae go through, but the Drop is for all Vanir.
9) The Starborn Fae
Speaking of the Fae, in this world there is a specific group of Fae (the Starborn) who are a big part of this story.
The Fae in this world are from two major territories. The Valbaran Fae live in Valbara and are ruled by the Autumn King, and the Avallen Fae live on Avallen (which is an island in the Haldren Sea).
They’re not enemies but they are considered rivals. Within each Fae territory there is a very rare type of Fae known as the Starborn Fae. Since this is a spoiler free guide, the biggest thing to know here is that Starborn Fae are very rare and become increasingly so with each generation.
The Starsword which currently belongs to Ruhn Danaan (crown prince of the Valbaran Fae), the son of the Autumn King, is a fabled sword that belongs to the Starborn Fae who are powerful enough to wield it. Think of the Starsword like King Arthur and Excalibur, you need to be worthy of the sword in order to wield it.
You’ll learn much more about the Starborn fae as the story goes on but we’re keeping it spoiler free for now.
10) Crescent City Characters
Below are the most important characters (and their species) in the first Crescent City book. This will hopefully help you keep track, and prevent you from having to Google them in any way!
- Bryce Quinlan - Main character. Half human, half Fae. Biological daughter of the Autumn King and half sister to Ruhn Danaan. Parents are Ember and Randall Quinlan (adopted father).
- Ruhn Danaan - Fae. Crown prince of the Valbaran Fae. Son of the Autumn King and current wielder of the Starsword.
- Danika Fendyr - Wolf Shifter. Head of the Pack of Devils. Daughter of Sabine (prime apparent) and grand daughter of the Prime of the Wolves. Bryce’s best friend.
- Hunt Athalar - Malakh (angel). A member of Micah’s triarii (the 33rd)
- Micah Domitus - Archangel. Governor of Crescent City and head of the CBD.
- Sandriel - Archangel. Governor of a territory in Pangera.
And there you have it, Crescent City explained! I hope this helps you on your Crescent City reading journey and keeps you from running into any spoilers.
Leave a Reply