Why is Sentries spelled incorrectly in Sentrys of Terrene?
Sentrys of Terrene contains what may look like a typo when you look closely at it, but it’s by design. So, why is Sentrys apparently misspelled?
If you checked out my Sentrys of Terrene trilogy, you may’ve noticed something strange. If you haven’t yet caught it, Sentrys is spelled incorrectly. It’s not written as Sentries, the way your English teacher probably taught you how to spell the term.
So why is that? There are two reasons. One comes from my own recklessness, and the other, from the work’s lore. When I first penned Sentrys of Terrene, I made a typo in the spelling, ending the plural version of the word with a ‘ys,’ instead of ‘ies.’ When I corrected it, I couldn’t stand the way it looked, so I reverted Sentries to Sentrys, giving it its unique, albeit incorrect, spelling.
But, with every unconventional approach, I needed a method behind the madness.
Enter the Sentrys of Terrene lore…
I reveal the reason for this in Book III of the trilogy, Rise of the Sentrys, but if you just can’t wait to get to that work, I’ll let you in on the secret now. And if I’m drawn out, my apologies in advance.
See, the Sentry Order is an ancient organization comprising Elementals who can control one of the nine elements. But, instead of calling them Elementals, as is the case in Elementals of Nordica, Chronicles of Rondure, and Terrian Chronicles, they’re Sentrys in Sentrys of Terrene, just as they’re called Mages in Catenarian Chronicles.
But with the Sentry Order acting a little differently from other organizations in my other series – I write in a shared universe, just so you know – they like holding on to old trends. And that means, in terms of the lore, old spellings.
The Sentry Order historically used Sentrys as the plural form of the word, even when spelling it as Sentries became the preferred use throughout the rest of the World of Terrene. They never changed the spelling, so the spelling stuck, but only when referring to the Order.
Any other oddities in the Renegades Epic?
Oh, there are so many of them that I’d be writing another book just to cover why the word elemental is lowercase in the World of Eidolon (Elementals of Nordica and Cymraeg Tales), or why each of the Five Worlds has the ‘W’ in World capitalized before their name except for the world of Catenary.
There are other quirks, but those are the only two I can name off the top of my head. So, if you’re a fan of odd words and complex reasons why you see some inconsistencies, know that it’s by design and intentional.
That said, the one I get the most inquiries on is, you guessed it, Why is it Sentrys and not Sentries? Anyway, if you’d like to check out this strange lore for yourself, live and in action, go get your copy of Book I.
