Unveiling Nav : The Three Worlds of Slavic Lore

The title The Wardens of Nav was one of the very last things I came up with. By that point, I had written an entire book. I had outlined the next three. I knew my characters, their creatures, their stories, their worlds, and even where each of their journeys would eventually lead. And somehow, I still had absolutely no idea what to call the series.

I didn't want a title that simply sounded mysterious or fantastical. I wanted something connected to the folklore that inspired the books in the first place. Something that felt familiar to me, but might make someone unfamiliar with Slavic mythology stop and wonder:

What exactly is Nav?

Despite what the books may lead you to believe, Nav isn't simply another fantasy continent I created. The name was inspired by an idea found in some interpretations of Slavic cosmology: three interconnected layers of existence known as Yav, Nav, and Prav.

Yav is the world as we know it. You, me, humans, animals, work, laundry and bills. All the painfully ordinary things. It is the physical world of the living, the reality humans can see, touch, and understand. For you fantasy readers it's the boring one.

Then there is Nav. And Nav is where things become much more interesting. Nav is associated with the unseen world, the realm of spirits, the dead, our ancestors, and beings that exist beyond ordinary human perception. In the world of The Wardens of Nav, I took that idea and expanded it into something of my own: a realm existing alongside ours, filled with the creatures humans have spent centuries turning into legends.

Leshy.

Vodyanoy.

Zmey.

Koschei.

And many others you probably wouldn't want answering if you called their names in the dark.

Finally, there is Prav. Rather than simply being a Slavic version of "heaven," Prav represents something much larger: divine order, with cosmic laws, fates, and the balance that determines how the universe is supposed to exist.

Three worlds.

Yav. Nav. Prav.

Existing alongside one another, separated by little more than a veil. Most of the time, that veil remains exactly where it belongs. But folklore has always been filled with certain nights and places when the boundary between worlds becomes thinner. Moments when something from one side might wander a little too close to the other.

That idea became one of the foundations of my series. Because the creatures in The Wardens of Nav are not simply monsters hiding in old stories. They belong to something older. Something humans have forgotten or never bother to understand.

And perhaps they have been much closer than we think. After all, a veil works both ways.

So if you ever find yourself standing alone in the dark, calling to something you don't truly believe exists...

Be careful.

Sometimes, it might just answer…