Approximately one quadrant of the glittering plain (circled)
| “ | My first glimpse of the plain awed me. Its immensity was indescribable. It was as flat as a table forever. It was grey on grey on grey, with the road just barely darker. There was no doubt whatsoever that this was all one vast artifact. | ” |
The glittering plain (sometimes place/plateau/plain of glittering stone, often shortened to simply the plain) is a colossal supernatural plateau found in the farthest reaches in the southern continent. It is perfectly circular, with an immensity that is "indescribable," and it is "as flat as a table forever... There was no doubt whatsoever that this was all one vast artifact."
Described as "the in-between," the grey-stone plain connects 16 entirely different worlds through a series of magic roads and Shadowgates. Until the events of Soldiers Live, the plain was utterly infested by lethal shadows that had been locked within it for untold generations, but this had not always been the case.
The plain was a key location in the earliest history of the Black Company (and all the other Free Companies of Khatovar which preceded it). And, more than 400 years later, it was revisited by descendants of the Company several times, beginning several months after the end of the Shadowmaster wars in She Is the Darkness; next, at the conclusion of Water Sleeps, and finally, during the events of Soldiers Live.
Only 3 of the 16 worlds linked by the plain are visited in the Company's Annals: the homeworld of Croaker the Annalist; the Land of Unknown Shadows; and the Voroshk world. The worlds share extremely striking similiarities in geography, though each has its own unique constellations, moons, human civilizations, wildlife, and history.
The glittering plain by Didier Graffet.
Overview[]
Geography and features[]
In the homeworld, the plain is surrounded by "land [that] just gets colder and more inhospitable" the farther one travels south.
The plain itself is crisscrossed by roads which are of a slightly different grey color. Every six miles along these roads is a large circle the same color as the road, used as camping grounds by travelers. It is otherwise as flat and featureless as a table, marked only by standing stones bearing glittering, shifting inscriptions. The plain is capable of healing damage: small holes almost immediately; large fissures (such as the one created by an earthquake) in several years. Likewise, it slowly absorbs detritus and waste. In the center of the plain is a nameless fortress from which the prehistoric golem called Shivetya has oversight and a degree of control over the entire plain. However, the fortress was a later addition and does not have the supernatural healing properties exhibited by the plain itself.
Sensations upon entry[]
Crossing a Shadowgate into the plain gives people a bizarre sensation of coldness, but it is more of a psychic chill. The voice of an interlocutor on the other side of a Shadowgate sounds like it reaches one's ears "through a long metal tunnel" and having "a dampened, distant quality" despite being only a few feet away. On the plain, the world on the other side of a Shadowgate looks "kind of shimmery, as though [one is] seeing it through a curtain of heat," according to Murgen.
Prehistorical events[]
Creation[]
The plain was constructed ages in the past by mysterious builders known only as the Nef. In the beginning the plain was completely unadorned, containing only the roads which needed to be walked a certain way: all travelers must cross the circle at the center to reach other worlds. Travel was freely possible; there were no Shadowgates, no shadows, and no fortress yet.
The fortress and Kina[]
Eventually, armies of would-be conquerors warred across the plain. To put an end to the fighting, powerful sorcerers from a dozen worlds combined and erected Shivetya's fortress, staffing it with "created immortal guardians" to halt the armies.
In the next age, dimly reflected in Gunni myth, Kina began her murderous career. She was imprisoned by her enemies, and Shivetya, the Steadfast Guardian, was appointed to guard her prison chamber beneath the fortress. Shivetya may have been the last of the original guardians of the fortress.
The shadows and standing stones[]
Afterward, a mad sorcerer of very high magnitude fancied himself a god, and sent millions of followers out to conquer all 16 worlds. In response, a race of sorcerers from one world captured millions of them, and, using a mass ritual sorcery, warped their souls into the shadows. Other races built the Shadowgates and protective fields over the roads to trap the horrible entities, shutting off the plain to all but the bravest and well-prepared travelers. The standing stones described in the Books of Glittering Stone were the last addition to the plain.
Subsequent crossings of the plain[]
The lethal shadow infestation shut down virtually all traffic across the plain for many generations, as intended. Shadowgate keys were later invented to permit safe passage, but the plain remained an incredibly dangerous place. Most subsequent travel across the plain is associated with various cults of Kina. It is known that Stranglers from the homeworld crossed the plain and deposited the Books of the Dead beneath Shivetya's fortress. Centuries later, the twelve Free Companies of Khatovar and similar units from other worlds crossed the plain and squabbled amongst themselves, the last known of these being the Black Company.
More recently, the Nyueng Bao De Duang fled from the Land of Unknown Shadows and crossed the plain to enter the homeworld. Some generations later their former persecutors Longshadow, Shadowspinner, and a number of their loyalists took the same path as the Nyueng Bao.
After that, the Black Company (first led by Croaker, then Sleepy) made their numerous passages across the plain in the Books of Glittering Stone.
Out-of-universe revelations[]
In an April 2025 AMA-style interview arranged by Glen Cook's editor at Tor and r/GrimDarkEpicFantasy moderator u/JasperLWalker, Glen confirmed the suspicions of fans like Redditors u/KatarrTheFirst and u/C_frantastic that the glittering plain is connected to at least some of the other fictional universes he has written about:
| “ | The gates all lead to other places I've written about. The was the original Purpose of the Glittering Stone: a device for tying my universes together. Never got jiggy with that. | ” |
- External link to AMA interview: [1]