Shades of the Appalachian countryside: Kenborne
The small town of Kenborne has something strangely in common with Aurora Village, even if they are over seven hours away from one another.
Kenborne is Yote Diamondback’s hometown, and where she attended Elemental primary and Elemental middle school. While she went to private schools, they weren’t any different from those mainstream private schools that are basically glorified public schools.
As for the town, while Aurora Village is based on Wintersville, Ohio, Kenborne bears more resemblance to nearby Richmond. And if you’ve never heard of Richmond, it’s fine. Even if some know about Wintersville because of its proximity to Steubenville, few would know where Richmond’s located on a map.
Richmond’s about as rural as it can get, with about 412 people living in the village as of 2020. It’s one of the most tight-knit country towns you’ll find dotting the Upper Ohio Valley, with cozy residential areas immersed within the rolling hills, and mini-mansions, as I called them, dotting State Route 152.
As for Yote and the Diamondback family, they live in one of those residential equivalents, toward the far end, where even more rows of those mini-mansions sit.
Like Richmond, Kenborne has its nuances
Whereas Kenborne has more than its fair share of upper-class families, all of whom send their kids to the private Elemental school, the truth is, most in Kenborne live modestly.
They’re a working-to-middle class bunch whose kids attend the local public Elemental school. While they bus their kids to and from school, Yote and Jett get a top-notch ride from their parents’ chauffeur.
Using a chauffeur in this world is a status symbol, and one that Jett’s not afraid to flaunt. She loves making a note of how the public school’s annex building looks like a barn, while adding that same school’s aging structure and how its interior better resembles a prison than a school.
Yote carries a dose of sympathy. Not sympathetic in the way a parasitic politician is, but in a way of genuinely making an effort to be friends with working-class kids, even if she’s also attracted to the elite lifestyle she’s grown used to.
Kenborne is also the primary setting in the first three chapters of The Arcane Prophecy. Catch Jett’s snarky quips about the public school, and get a dose of Yote fantasizing about leveling up to the Lamerth Academy before Arcane enters the picture.
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