Kelewan

Kelewan
Planet type	terrestrial
Created by	Raymond E. Feist
First appearance	Magician (October 1982 (1982-10))

Kelewan is one of the fictional worlds described by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. Kelewan was first described in his novel Magician though it is not described in any detail before the Empire Trilogy.

According to Pug's viewing on the tower of testing (which according to Hochopepa is very "Grand do opera"), Kelewan is an old world that was once inhabited by intelligent beings very different from the Tsurani, of which only the Thūn and Cho'ja survive. Most of the metal ores were mined before the arrival of the Tsurani, although very small amounts remain; as a result of this the inhabitants use lacquer-covered cured hides and wooden weapons which have roughly the same strength as their metal counterparts but which are easier to manufacture on their world. An everyday metal Midkemian item, such as a key, would be worth a man's life. Also methods of torture not needing metal - but quite as painful as those used elsewhere - were developed, involving the application of caustic material to a prisoner's skin.

While Midkemia is modeled after European (per Middle-earth) high fantasy myths, creatures and influences, Kelewan has a strong Asian-Indonesian-Pacific scent. Some of the names mentioned are very clearly modelled after Nahuatl names, others Japanese, showing some of Feist's influences.

It has been acknowledged by Feist that the Tekumel setting from M. A. R. Barker's Empire of the Petal Throne was the source for much of Kelewan. The original D&D campaign which he based his books on had an invasion of the Midkemia world by Tekumel. As a result, much of the background of Kelewan - the Tsurani Empire, the lack of metals and horses, the Cho'ja, the pantheons of 10 major and 10 minor gods - come from Tekumel. Feist claims to have been unaware of this origin when he wrote Magician.

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