A Map of the Known World examines themes of imperialism, religion, spirituality, and the nature of time.
The central characters are: the Poet, the Empress, the Magician, the Priest, and the Poet’s friend. The plot is as follows:
A Poet loses her friend to the teachings of an ambitious Priest and her religious messengers. While searching for her friend, the Poet observes the encroaching presence of the Empress in the form of her military, whose boredom and tension reflect that of an inertly occupying force. The Poet finds a mentor in a Magician who so fully understands space and time that she has created a guide, a Map of the Known World. The Magician transcends time and space, and she is one with her Map of the Known World. The Magician knows that the Empress is looking for the map, and sends the Poet to force a confrontation. The denouement between the Poet and the Empress will involve both being absorbed into the map; the Empress to be extinguished and the Poet to become the Magician.
The Princess and the Poet
Religious Messengers
The Empress
