The World of Ismae / A Thung Toh Jig Series — Master Metadata Archive

Comprehensive lore, taxonomy, narrative tropes, mechanics, and character frameworks for the Ismae universe created by Ismae Books.

1. Series Overview & Premise

"She slipped through the streets, anonymous among the masses in the marina's grimy spring mist. Traders, sailors, dockworkers, and street people blended with the ubiquitous thieves in a jumble of commerce and chaos. Aliara drifted between the bodies, their stench dissipating with each gust of sea air. She turned down a rough, cobbled alley hidden between towering heaps of tenements and businesses too vulgar or too shoddy to populate the northern islets."

Set on the post-Cataclysm planet of Ismae, the series weaves together biopunk, body horror, underworld politics, and grimdark fantasy across multiple islands. Centuries after the collapse of a moon reshaped the world, Ismae's multiple species have rebuilt their society, relying on maritime travel and trade as well as an advanced genetic science called zoetics. Against the grubby noir backdrop of Dockhaven, morally gray protagonists, sympathetic contract killers, and desperate street thieves navigate an ecosystem where every bargain demands a pound of flesh and survival belongs to the ruthless.

Beginning in the crime-ridden, multi-islet city of Dockhaven, the series follows Sylandair Imythedralin, a hedonistic Duke haunted by childhood trauma, and his mate Aliara Rift, a lethal assassin with a scarred, altered, and bio-augmented body. While confronting the physical and psychological remnants of their past, they inadvertently get involved with saving the city from an eldritch horror lurking below them all—then move on to stop the next from creating itself. From investigating reanimated children in Things They Buried, to surviving tight-quarters heist blunders in A Good Thief, and navigating a single night of backstabbing in They Eat Their Own, the series explores survival, trauma, and loyalty in a world where morality is always a luxury.

For Fans Of: China Miéville's Perdido Street Station, Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, Foundryside, The Library at Mount Char, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & Gray Mouser, John Carter of Mars, Glen Cook's The Black Company, Joe Abercrombie's First Law universe, and the Mos Eisley Cantina—blending classic sword-and-sorcery roots (Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard), hard sci-fi elements (PKD, Count Zero), and wuxia/xianxia themes with transgressive and weird fiction, biopunk innovation, and Lovecraftian dread.

2. Series-Wide Tropes & World Mechanics

Abandoned Area

Part of the Desal Plant is abandoned due to damage. All the area below it is abandoned. Beneath the city, Club Perpetual is abandoned.

Alchemically Generated Being / Organic Technology (Zoetics)

Thanks to the science of zoetics, designer genomes populate Ismae, including the lusca (convert seawater to freshwater), chits (record and deliver messages), propulsors, lumia algae used in glowing tattoos, and bioweapons like blanch bombs.

Alien Sky & Ringed Planet

Ismae has two moons and a ring that was once a third moon (Opoli), which exploded during the Cataclysm, raining debris down on the planet.

Anti-Hero & Black-and-Gray Morality

Nearly all the protagonists, especially Sylandair and Aliara, are morally grey, unbothered by leveraging crime, theft, and murder to achieve their goals or close a contract. None of the characters are purely good.

Anyone Can Die

Characters die regularly throughout the series, including Hergis, Uuron, Rej, Nyyata, and Gletch.

Aristocrats Are Evil & Corrupt Democracy

The Dockhaven Mayor (Idra Carsuure) and City Council (such as Pitta Dobencourt), the Mucha academics, and the court in Chiva'vastezz are corrupt, snooty, and routinely involved in backroom deals, misappropriating coin, and plotting.

Bar Full of Aliens

The Bitter Barnacle tavern is filled with diverse sentient species from across Ismae.

Biopunk & Bio-Augmentation

Genetic manipulation replaces cybertech. Characters feature heavy biological modifications: Aliara has an implanted poison palm gland, Moid has a glowing lumia algae tattoo, Orono transformed into an insectoid creature, Girl and her family are mutated physically and telepathically, and Twelve has augmentations allowing wordless communication with other species.

Bizarre Alien Biology & Sentient Species

Chivori: Delicate, thin humanoids with grey skin, black/white hair, earlobes connecting to their jaw, and a secondary eardrum using jawbone vibrations. Promiscuous and monarchical. (Eitan are a nature-focused offshoot).
Karju: Humanoids with an extra scent organ. Includes smaller genetic variants called Minikins (e.g., Hergis).
Pukas: Small, green, hairless prey species with side-set eyes, heightened flight responses, and thickened skull bones. Telepathic variants (Farspeakers) serve as long-distance living switchboards.
Rhochrot: Four-legged species with thick skin and a single gender.
Draas: Multi-toothed reptile species living in abandoned ruins.
Voshari: Vanished precursor race—blue-skinned, four-legged, flat-faced beings who disappeared after the Cataclysm.

Body Horror

Haus has a regrown arm with lumpy flesh and exposed metal skeleton. Orono is transformed into a fleshy insectoid creature. Mutated telepathic families, graphic fight scenes, and gruesome medical trauma recur throughout.

The Cataclysm & Oceanic City

2,000+ years prior, the moon Opoli exploded, shifting the planet and causing sea levels to rise dramatically. Dockhaven is an oceanic city built across volcanic islets, connected by piers, barges, rope bridges, and compacted debris, creating harsh vertical Class Divides.

Clock Punk

During the underground theater scene, Sylandair, Aliara, and Schmalch encounter a mechanical bartender. "Cap lighting" is described as lights that need to be wound periodically to operate.

Cosmic Horror & Precursors

Underneath geopolitical maneuvering and street crime lurk those mutated by an ancient mystery and hints at a shadowy precursor race (the Voshari).

Fantastic Drugs

Includes Portent (used by Seers for visions), Themot (stimulant enhancing telepathic range), and Akka (combat stimulant turning lips/gums green).

The Ghost Guild / Guild of Assassins (Thung Toh)

A shadow organization operating through structured contracts, professional pairings, Thieves' Cant (hand signals), and hidden contract houses locked behind complex traps and physical/mental puzzles.

Magitek & Schizo-Tech

Advanced genetic engineering (zoetics) supplies everything from regrown limbs and water desalination to clock-punk wind-up "cap lighting" and bioweapons like blanch bombs.

3. Character Dossiers

Aliara Rift

"Distantly, she could hear Flark boasting of not only besting Bankal raiders, but also escaping them. She found it difficult to imagine Flark walking at a brisk pace, let alone outrunning a roomful of angry raiders."

Role: Professional Thung Toh assassin, Dark Action Girl, and Sympathetic Assassin.
Augmentations & Scars: Wears permanent scars from childhood captivity under Orono's bio-experiments. Features a bio-augmented poison gland in her palm.
Traits & Combat: Hyper-competent, quiet, silent stealth operator. Master of paired stilettos; maintains a strict personal code (targets child predators). Bound to Sylandair by shared trauma.

Sylandair Imythedralin

"Syl's expression hardened as he stepped into Dreg. 'If she does not pass safely through this jig, you will find I am not as pleasant as I appear.' He straightened the boy's coat collar and patted both shoulders. 'Now, shall we go win what we can from that insufferable puka before you end him?'"

Role: Duke of Isay, broken anti-hero, strategic Chessmaster, and patron of the arts.
Traits: Affably evil, impeccably dressed, speaks without contractions (due to cultured upbringing). Drowns deep childhood trauma in high-end drugs and alcohol. Operates three steps ahead with pistol specialization and complex political favors. Helps save Dockhaven from Orono primarily because it dovetails with his own goals.

Schmalch

"It was quiet. Really quiet. Weirdly so. He wanted to make noise just to hear something, but that might announce his presence to whatever lurked below, waiting to tear him to pieces."

Role: Illiterate alley cat thief, comic relief, Unluckily Lucky street rat turned assistant.
Traits: Compulsively pushes buttons/levers; doglike loyalty to Syl and Aliara. Cornered rat instinct—turns into a fierce brawler when trapped. Believes if he loses his kris, he will die.

Victuur "Fist" Haus

Role: Stoic Estoan Thung Toh assassin ("The Big Guy").
Traits: Covered in nomadic Estoan tattoos. Went to prison for a murder his mother committed. Lost an arm that was crudely regrown through zoetics (leaving exposed steel skeletal frame). Operates by strict faith after winning freedom in a snow tiger trial.

Idra Carsuure

Role: Mayor of Dockhaven, corrupt politician, Femme Fatale.
Traits: Former booth dancer who rose to power; leverages sexual manipulation (trading sex with Grehv for information), backroom deals, and political pot-stirring.

Dreg

Role: Arrogant, bloodthirsty rookie Thung Toh operative.
Traits: Middle-class kid turned gang member who relishes killing. Conceals knives in his boots and uses a needler pistol. Extremely ungrateful and glory-seeking; deeply resents Syl for saving his life from a zoetic propulsor.

Supporting Cast

Lady Orilausko: Exiled Seer/mystic who served the Empress; uses prophetic visions and memory manipulation.
Hergis Savesti: Minikin zoetics expert, rational smart guy, keeps a surgically tamed Tatumi creature. Ignores Aliara's pleas until promised access to Orono's lab.
Sviroosa: Grounding domestic maid and moral anchor/love interest for Schmalch.
Nihal Savesti: Hergis's sister; hides pragmatic villainy behind a harmless facade. Has a visible notch on her nose bridge and turns Tatumi on her brother.
Kluuta Orono: Mad scientist, former captor of Syl and Aliara. Transformed himself into a massive, fleshy insectoid horror in pursuit of eternal life via the Book of Omatha.
Flark: Wealthy, ruthless puka slumlord and collector who funds raiders and implodes tenanted tenements for profit.
Callen Onpuur: Gang lord owner of Dockhaven's skin trade and Idra's former boss.
Mintryl Marthoth: Terrifying syndicate boss who hosts the annual pleasure barge festival.

4. Book-by-Book Narrative Reference

Book 1: Things They Buried

"If this was the price to be paid so the masses could enjoy indoor plumbing, crankless lighting, and replacement limbs, Haus would gladly go back to shitting in a hole in the dark and wiping with his one remaining hand." — Victuur "Fist" Haus

Under the dirty streets of Dockhaven, an old nightmare is stealing the city's children. When Sylandair and Aliara escaped Kluuta Orono years ago, they thought they left him behind in a ball of blue flame. But as children disappear near the Desalinization Plant, their suspicions turn to the predator they believed dead. They recruit Schmalch—a twitchy, boozed-up street thief—to be unwitting bait as they delve into Dockhaven's twisting underground. After learning Orono's true fate, they bring Aliara's fellow Thung Toh operative, Victuur "Fist" Haus, along for a jig that goes horrifyingly awry. Separated and faced with unimagined horrors, they work together to end Orono's hold over the city, recruiting an unscrupulous doctor, visiting a gray-market vendor, and disturbing a long-dead speakeasy as they speed toward a disastrous autumn fete.

Key Tropes: Be Careful What You Wish For (Orono's quest for immortality), Boom Headshot (Rector killed by bolt to brain), City Noir, Collateral Damage (fete attendees killed), Cracking the Safe, Cryptic Vision (Syl's vision of Omatha), Deadly Hug (Tatumi's death squeeze), Eaten Alive (Uuron gutted), Eldritch Abomination (Orono's regenerating, gas-emitting form), Escaped Captive, Friend in the Black Market (Twelve), The Hermit (Luugrar), Humanoid Abomination & Inbred Mutant (Girl and Boy's mutated attic family), Lawn Party Disruption, Medical Horror (Aliara's memories of waking brain surgery and amputations), Mind Rape & Suggestive Telepathy (Girl's psychic whispers), Mutant Enemy, One-Paragraph Chapter, Opening Scene Murder, Our Ghouls Are Creepier / Zombie Children (skulls smashed, controlled by implants), Pronouncing My Name for You, Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil (Orono's abuse of young Syl), Redshirt Ensemble (Abog Union mercenaries), Run the Gauntlet (puzzle-locked Thung Toh house), Sadistic Choice (Syl choosing between killing Orono or saving Aliara), Semi-Skilled Beast (Tatumi), Sequel Hook (Syl's artifact swap plans vs Nihal's plans for Book of Omatha), Soul Jar (Orono's glowing core glass), The Tavern Start (Bitter Barnacle), Unadvisedly Urban Experiments, Wallowing in Self-Pity, Was Once a Man, You Can't Go Home Again.

Book 2: They Eat Their Own

"Opinions make enemies," the Duke had told Schmalch. "If you want the advantage, listen to theirs and keep yours to yourself. They will assume you agree." — The Duke

A new year has begun, and the annual Sower's Festival gala is brimming with Dockhaven's elite. While some attend for the spectacle and exotic indulgences, Sylandair and Aliara arrive to play high-stakes opening moves—him sitting down for a dangerous game with the ruthless slumlord Flark, and her testing whether her newly remade body is ready to handle a Thung Toh contract—especially one alongside a cocky chivori upstart named Dreg. Packed into a chaotic one-night, this second Thung Toh Jig novel is a sprint through a massive pleasure barge, a towering penthouse, and a garish yacht, that spirals into a frenzy of bathroom ambushes, flesh-eating bombs, and drunk target-shooting.

Key Tropes: 24-Hour Party People, Artifact of Doom (smiling, vibrating Voshar death mask), Bang Right Between the Eyes (Flark shot in face), Bathroom Attack (Syl ambushed in stateroom), Bloodthirsty Veteran (Aliara taking contracts out of boredom), The Catatonia (Idra shutting down), Cheating the Cheater (Flark called out), Clean Up the Crime Scene (zoetic blanch bombs destroying target DNA), Contract on the Constant (contract placed on Syl), Concealed Cargo (Nimomyne false wall), Collector of the Strange (Flark's puka miniatures/chivori porn and Pitta's voshari tools), Cryptic Vision (Aliara sees Saxelyt), Deadly Game & Gamble for Your Life (target fruit shooting match), The Employer (Syl revealed as client), Festival Episode (Sower's Festival), Fictional Game (Lyntyyl cards, Billidoc dice, Sleebach marbles), The Forgery (Pitta holding original stolen artifacts), Frail Mortals Mysterious Gods (Saxelyt visitation), Functional Art & Psychological Horror (Jetsam's meat grinder scale model of childhood mansion), The Gambling Hall, Gloom Doom and Dread, The Heist (rooftop penthouse break-in), Hive of Scum and Villainy, Honey Trap, Huge Guy Tiny Girl & Interspecies Romance (Idra & Grehv), I Know a Guy (Traus taking contracts in restaurant booth), Killed Mid-Sentence, Near-Death Experience (Dreg caught in propulsor), One Gender Race (Javit the rhochrot), Opening Scene Murder (Nimomyne raid), Pleasure Barge, Raider Culture (Yenderot clan), Rooftop Insertion, Scuttling the Ship (sinking Flark's yacht), Self-Destructive Behavior, The Slumlord.

Prequel: A Good Thief

"Shadows were a lot like people, you couldn't be sure what was hiding inside--and it wasn't easy to know which ones to trust." — Schmalch

Surviving on the streets of Dockhaven took quick hands and the instincts of a gutter rat. Schmalch was a good thief, just not a lucky one--spending his days nursing cheap drinks to stay out of the downpour, sleeping under overturned rowboats, and picking pockets just to afford a hot meal. If only he could earn a spot on a crew, he wouldn't have to spend his life scrounging, but every opportunity he had went keel-up. When a simple pickpocketing goes awry, two strangers offer him another shot at a crew: a high-security break-in at a zoetics lab orchestrated by Mallow Malpockey, the cold sister of Schmalch's street rival. Paired with a volatile couple whose relationship is rapidly disintegrating, Schmalch's uncanny luck saves him from all the ways everything manages to go wrong. Left with a fancy pistol, an unwanted prophecy, and a less-than-loyal girlfriend, Schmalch is headed straight to his fateful meeting with Aliara in Things They Buried.

Key Tropes: Arch-Enemy (Sigrin Malpockey), Cop Killer (Tig kills City Corp), Crapsack World, Destructive Romance & Dysfunctional Duo (Tig & Rothis), The Dragon (Mallow Malpockey), Foreshadowing (Schmalch's experience with Mallow explains tolerating Syl and Aliara), Gold Digger (Ooda), Grim Reaper Corpse Cleaners (Keepers of the Brine), Gray-and-Gray Morality, Grotesque Emergence & I Ate What? (swallowing and puking up zoetic sample under threat of torture), Gutter Rat, The Heavy (syndicate boss Marthoth), Hedge Wizard (Keepers of the Brine mystic reading natural detritus), The Heist (Integrated Zoetics break-in), Killed Mid-Sentence (Rothis shot by Marthoth), Looting the Dead (scavenging Behaani's pistol and knives), Prequel, Prophetic Twist (mystic predicting Schmalch sent back to sea by people who love him), Quack Doctor (Helik), The Syndicate (Marthoth's inter-island shipping/gang operation).