Jonah Sdao
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jonah.nelbrea.com
Jonah Sdao
@jonah.nelbrea.com
69 followers 280 following 69 posts
🌵 Los Angeles 🌵
🐍 Jrpg inspired high frontier fantasy 🐍
💀 The Relic In The Fortress coming soon! 💀
Co-creator and writer for @nelbrea.com
Writing with @rob.nelbrea.com
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jonah.nelbrea.com
This is not writing related at all, but it's been an ongoing project for many years, and truly won't ever stop. This is my Green Lantern collection, organized, and filed for the first time ever.
#comicbooks
#greenlantern
#collection
#comiccollector
#comics
November 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
At the end of Book 1, Peter starts assembling his party. The story is an ensemble, even if it takes a while for the whole group to arrive. At the end of the first book, four of the nine are together, and the stakes grow monumentally higher.
#novmemeber
#fantasywip
#foundfamily
#ensemblewriting
November 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Global doesn't appear at all in The Relic in The Fortress, so I've chosen this passage here that discusses a map in Bishop Dredd's office. The world of Nelbrea is quite large, and we've visited very few of the locales on it. This passage, early in book 1, hints at the scope.
#wipsnips
#fantasyauthor
Bishop Eulisses Dredd stared down at his desk. The surface of the ornate wood was pocked with burn marks, scorched around the edges, and coated in a thin layer of soot. A sheaf of paperwork smoldered in a heap on the floor beside it, curling into ash. A thin trail of gray smoke rose toward the ceiling, then drifted lazily out the single open window that overlooked the training yard. Hands clasped behind his back, Dredd’s breathing was deep and measured, and he counted silently as he inhaled, held the breath, and exhaled again. This was happening more often these days- losing control of his magery, succumbing to the cloying voice in the back of his head that demanded rage from him and nothing more. This was the third desk he’d had hauled up to his office in the past year, and it would need replacing again. Managing his own power was becoming quite a chore for Bishop Dredd. He turned and stared towards a map, hanging from a fraying length of twine. It was a map of the whole of Nelbrea, from the Western Expanse to the Island Nations, from Frozen Collinglee to Darulia. Parze was a minuscule speck in the Bluegreen Sea, dwarfed by the Gran Sel Sals to the east and an enormous swath of nothing to the west. The map was embarrassingly out of date- Darulia hadn’t been included on a map in ten years, yet this one still showed it, far to the south. The surface of the old wayfinder was pricked with small iron tacks, noting all of the Liminal Order’s holdings across the world, but they too were out of date, over half of the Fortresses across the map now either lay destroyed or in the hands of those who would challenge the Order- the Breakers, the Feullans, or the tenacious Lancers. The Fortress on Parze was denoted by a pin twice as large as the island itself; however, it had rusted in place and bloomed out into a crimson stain on the linen.
November 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Nelbrean firearms, or "magearms" fire bullets propelled by dense affinity infused crystals. Peter's is red, Feummic, and has loud, concussive, damaging slugs. In this scene, we see Peter say the line that inspired this entire section.
#wipsnips
#fantasywriting
#fantasyweapons
"Well, well, well." Peter said, raising his voice. "If it isn’t the Lizard of Crimsa." "How dare you!" Loren spat, his eyes shooting so wide, Peter thought his eyeballs would roll out of his head. Loren flicked his wrist- Peter drew, and fired. The explosive crack of the Feummic Affinity crystal in the Pioneer further unnerved Loren, and before he could even form a thought past the insult and the gunfire, Peter had nailed him. It was just a flesh wound, but enough to blow Loren’s concentration. Loren fell from his levitation, crashing through a wooden table with a crunch and a thud.
November 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Peter is a genuinely nice guy.
#fantasywriting
#wipsnips
#fantasyauthor
November 22, 2025 at 3:21 AM
jonah.nelbrea.com
You guys wanna see my Green Lantern collection? It's a little dusty and crowded these days, but I love it.
#greenlantern
#collection
#comiccollection
November 20, 2025 at 6:59 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
If cats feel important in Book 1...
#Novmemeber
#fantasywriting
#fantasyauthor
#catsinfiction
November 20, 2025 at 4:50 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
In addition to The Relic in The Fortress, we are quietly working on a cookbook featuring recipes from Nelbrea, titled "The Affinity of The Hearth". The kitchen is a special place to both myself, and @rob.nelbrea.com, when we aren't writing together, we are cooking together.
#WIPsnips
#fantasywriting
The doors to the kitchen were quite grand in comparison to the plain wooden doors found throughout the rest of the Fortress- two large paneled doors, hinged to swing freely in either direction with a push, wide enough to pass two folks abreast through each of them, and tall enough that Peter could carry Paul standing up on his shoulders, and they still would barely brush the top frame. The kitchen held a special significance throughout most of Nelbrea, in many ways considered the most important room in a dwelling. Peter, who bore the burden of an unquenchable sweet tooth, would agree with that sentiment. He pushed the carved wooden doors open and stepped into the warmth of the kitchen. The scope of the room was such that Peter marveled at it every time he visited. The room was a large dome, lit by a persistent magelight at the apex of the ceiling. Against the walls, rows of enormous affinity ovens sat, stoked by the cooks, who channeled their magework into the fires. The sweet smell of burnt sugar, caramel, and arbornuts wafted off of the ovens- the smell of Latiran and Feummic Affinity burning away. The combined Affinity of the cooks and bakers mingled together in the base of the enormous ovens, swirling into a unique type of magery, warm and comforting. It was no surprise that the kitchens were the heart of a Nelbrean home. The Affinity of the hearth soothed anyone who came close enough to it.
November 20, 2025 at 4:43 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
I decided to share the rest of Peter and Auri's conversation today. I think it's a nice moment for Peter, and the punchline makes me laugh every time. Auri is charming.
#fantasywriting
#fantasywip
#writing
#writingexcerpt
November 19, 2025 at 11:53 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Is it funnier if I don't put any context? Deeoh the cat isn't the only animal member of the Premiere Lancer's. Padget commands the Desert Squorrels. This pack of magically inclined rodents turn the tide of Nelbrea's history with their heroic actions in Sel, and beyond.
#fantasywriting
#novmemeber
November 19, 2025 at 6:41 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Basic, but an absolute classic of the genre. #BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
November 19, 2025 at 4:40 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
This is one of my favorite chapters/exchanges. I've cut it off here before Peter gets really philosophical, but the rest of this conversation is some of our better writing, I think. Peter is not a dogmatic man, and his philosophy deals with the stories folks leave behind.
#WIPSnips
#fantasywriting
November 19, 2025 at 4:03 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
This is a tough one, and not a word that appears in The Relic in The Fortress. I've chosen to use the word "downgrade" here for *vibes*. This is an excerpt from the very beginning, the prologue of the story which sets up the cosmic stakes of Peter's story.
#WIPSnips
#fantasywriting
#writesky
Ephariam and Phaia watched from nearby. Ephariam tilted her head, arms crossed over her chest. “Where once was a Lancer, now is a…cobbler?” Phaia did not look away from the table, the glyphs still shifting nearly imperceptibly. “No, my sister. A Chobbler.” “A Chobbler,” Ephariam repeated. “Indeed.” Ephariam frowned, the corner of her lip twitching. She narrowed her eyes at her twin. “That’s not a word.” “It’s a name, you charlette. By the cosmos, ‘Ephariam’ is no more a word itself, is it? And yet…” He smirked and gestured towards Ephariam with an open hand, as if presenting evidence of his case. “Well, suppose it doesn’t take?” Ephariam peered over the surface of the table, “There’s but a short window for a new name to find a home.” “Then it will be erased like the others that didn’t take.” Phaia raised a small brown notebook and scanned the open page, his eyes shifted from purple to blue, to green, the colors breathing in sequence. “Be patient, Ephariam.” Ephariam exhaled slowly. She tucked a loose strand of blue-black hair behind her ear and rubbed her temples. “It was a Lancer.” “And now it’s a Chobbler,” Phaia replied simply. Ephariam waved a hand at the table, her brow furrowing. “That’s a downgrade, surely?” Phaia scoffed out a laugh but did not answer immediately. He reached up, adjusted his spectacles with the practiced grace of someone who did not, strictly speaking, need to wear spectacles. “In what sense?” “All of them!” “You, of course, remember a time when it read ‘Wanderer’,” Phaia said, his voice lowering as he whispered the final word as if he’d been forbidden to say it aloud. “Don’t remind me.” Ephariam rolled her eyes, dismissing the thought with a wave.
November 18, 2025 at 4:35 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
You know what I love, is masks. This one is a 3D print that I painted over the last few days. Love how this turned out, and it makes me want to do fifty thousand more.
#mask
#menpo
#artsandcrafts
November 17, 2025 at 6:34 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
I never hear anyone talking about Saberhagen's Lost Swords series. A story about twelve magic swords, each with unique and powerful abilities, and the cosmic game being played by the gods to gain control of them. Such an awesome ensemble, and really amazing relics/magic system at play.
#fantasy
November 17, 2025 at 5:48 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Something is eating at Page Paul. Can Peter figure out what it is before it turns into something far more deadly? Spoiler alert: No, he sure can't.

#writingcommunity
#Wipsnips
#fantasywriting
#worldbuilding
#allpaulsfault
November 17, 2025 at 4:59 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Folks in Nelbrea don't do much running, not yet at least. Peter ambles a lot, and sometimes he moseys. When it's time to fight a gang of Ustaen pirates, though, he thinks about running, at least for a moment.
#WIPSnips
#fantasywriting
#fantasyauthor
#fightscene
#nelbrea
”Now hold a minute, tørn va tørn-” Peter shouted. He was too far away to make any kind of run at the old goblin. He thought diplomacy might defuse the situation, and as he registered the Ustaen language, the chief’s eyes snapped to Peter, and narrowed. Paul seized the distraction, and took aim with his Proclaimator, but when he squeezed the trigger, the chamber turned and clicked- empty. The sound of the dry magearm drew the brute's attention back, and he lunged towards Paul, swinging the saber in a wide, aggressive arc. Paul stumbled backwards, the tip of the blade grazing the hem of his shirt. His feet tangled up in each other, and he tumbled over falling hard onto his back, his head whipping against the ground with a loud, hollow thud. He winced, groaning in pain, and curled into a tight ball, as the Ustaen loomed over him, the saber poised for a decisive strike.
November 16, 2025 at 5:21 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
For a story that is distantly adjacent to progression fantasy, and inspired by JRPG's with progression mechanics...this is the only instance of the word progress in the whole manuscript. Here we join Peter in chapter 1, as he observes a group of pistoleers in training.

#wipsnips
#fantasywriting
Across the training yard, a new cohort of recruits fumbled through morning drills. Peter had advanced out of the Page class three years ago, and with that, he was no longer responsible for training the recruits, but he still liked watching the progress of the younger folk. The newest batch of conscripts, however, had seen little improvement over the past few weeks, and they seemed to be trying to embarrass themselves on purpose at this point. One kid had his holster strapped on backwards. Even in ranks, they were a tangle of elbows and knees, awkward and clumsy.
November 15, 2025 at 6:04 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Not that fucked up, but one of my favorites. Peter is fighting defensively in this fight, he's not trying to kill the Ustaen refugees . A simple slick of conjured water leads to an injury that made me cringe as I wrote it. I imagine it sounds like dice rolling.

#writingprompt
#fantasyauthor
With a flick of his wrist, Peter conjured a burst of flame from his palm, not hot enough to do any real damage, but enough heat to knock the Ustaen to the ground. The goblin cowered, crawling backward away from Peter as the magework faded into sparks. He looked too pathetic to hit again, and Peter spun around just in time for another fast little goblin to dart in from the side. He made a lunge at Peter and attempted to stab him with a shiv of some sort, long and jagged. Peter reacted just quick enough, deflecting the blade with the pot lid shield while backpedaling. He clenched his fist, conjuring a jet of water at the goblin’s feet. The sudden slickness underfoot made the goblin stumble, and lose his footing. He fell face-first into the stone. His front teeth popped out of his gums and clattered away.
November 14, 2025 at 7:20 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
Uncover the magic of Nelbrea, in the upcoming novel "The Relic in The Fortress"! Follow Peter Chobbler, a defiant cowboy soldier, as he battles a tyrannical Order & wields ancient relics in an original fantasy frontier world. Intense magery, betrayals, & unlikely allies. #Fantasy #WritersofBluesky
Peter Chobbler, a tan skinned man, with blonde hair tied behind his head in a bun, stands proudly in a black uniform, with leather armor on his legs, and a leather belt with bullets on it. His arm is extended, and he holds a handgun with esoteric arcane modifications ot it. In Peter's other hand he holds a round golden shield with a long, thick blade extending from the bottom. Peter wears a white scarf around his neck and shoulders, with a gold fringe, and a white hat with arcane embellishments.
July 29, 2025 at 9:17 PM
jonah.nelbrea.com
What really keeps me up at night is that I can write an entire fantasy/western novel, set in a militaristic, but hopeful desert world with years of robust worldbuilding, a cookbook, and a TTRPG sourcebook, but I can't figure out the words to say to tell people about it. So this is Nelbrea.
July 29, 2025 at 8:28 PM