French-speaking author Jeanne Perrin sets the scene for the world of Ajia in the first volume of “Nuit nimraokhen”. In this medieval fantasy universe inspired by life-size role-playing games, the protagonists Yna and Loene, united on a mysterious list, are in search of the truth.
“In the early hours of June 23, 2178, a list of twelve names appeared throughout the world.” Layna Derth Balbo, known as Yna, appears in first position; Loene N. Firit occupies eighth place. Neither of them, nor even anyone, knows the reason for their presence on this mysterious list. If Yna considers that this matter is not her problem, Loene, on the contrary, has good reasons to want to find out what truth is hidden behind this magic. Despite their differences, the night alone they spend in Qold Nim Roa will reveal that their destinies are inexplicably linked.
His memory caught up with him, he remembered the nimraokhen night, the Long Silence, the discussions, the killer who came from Hectambos. His memories were muddled. Since he was dead, he probably had his skin.
Life-size role play
“I’ve been working on it since the end of the 1990s,” says Jeanne Perrin in the QWERTZ podcast on December 3 about this project created in collaboration with Antoine Boegli from the Jura association “Jeu est un autre”. First imagined as a life-size role-playing game – that is to say with participants disguised and playing in existing places – the scenario aroused in the author a strong desire to develop it in the form of stories .
Of the habits of role-playing, Jeanne Perrin kept some traces in her novel: the presence of incongruous objects in a fantastic medieval world (like lighters, meatballs in white sauce or train carriages) and the ability to be resurrected (because in a role-playing game, it’s less fun when you die straight away). But above all it has retained a particular narrative form, inspired by the role of Game Master and which translates into a narration in “we”, addressing a “you”. And of course, a fantasy novel must have its pantheon of gods: in “Nuit nimraokhen”, they emerge from the brush of the first of them, Mathurin.
At the beginning there was the canvas, white and immaculate, and the painter Mathurin who was meditating, his colors within reach. The painter seemed to hesitate. He drew mountains, trees, nameless creatures.
Open world
From the immense freedom offered by this open world, Jeanne Perrin structures, traces narrative paths, sows a few seeds that she will germinate in future volumes of “La Noire Essence”, this black magic which underlies the world of Ajia. Readers will be able to discover its real nature through novels which will be published – if all goes well – every six months for two years.
Between each novel, a short story interlude is planned, which will develop an event or character from the saga. And as the whole is published under a free license, everyone can, according to their desire, add their touch to this palette where their own imagination is the only limit.
Ellen Ichters/ms
Jeanne Perrin, “Prime number of the Black essence – Nimraokhen Night”, ed. PVH, October 2024.
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