The Forge System
by John Nairn
The Forge universe is a hard magic progression fantasy where warring divine pantheons wage cosmic conflict through mortal champions. In a cosmos fueled by collective belief, ordinary humans must master the sacrifice-heavy BOB (Benevolent Omni-Benefactor) system to forge their own fate. The universe spans multiple isolated clusters—Veridian, Kethara, Moana, Thalassia, and the Ironclad Islands—each featuring unique geographical challenges, cultural identities, and divine patrons. Stories follow unlikely heroes who exploit the rules of reality itself to challenge gods, from village builders to refugee drifters to system exceptions who break all the rules. Core themes explore mortal agency versus divine control, the cost of power, found family, and the reconstruction of society after catastrophic divine wars.
Series (8)
Misfit Awakening
8 books
For centuries, The Islands have known peace. Nobody remembers the last war. Nobody remembers the enemy.
The Statless Saga
4 books
In a world where divine Selection Day assigns everyone a class that determines their entire life, one young man receives the ultimate curse: no class at all. Cast out as an "unclassed" - social untouchables with no rights, no future, no hope - he must survive in the wilderness while discovering that
The System Outliers
8 books
**"The Forge: Edge Cases"** - An anthology series exploring system exceptions in The Forge universe.
The Sunken Realms
9 books
After sacrificing themselves to close the Master Gate in *The Tempering*, Ash, Bob, and Sylvara were not destroyed. The vibrational disruption of the gate's closure *ejected* them from The Forge's realm cluster entirely, depositing them in a distant cluster: **The Archipelago**.
Ironclad Wars
9 books
Twenty years after the Hollow King's defeat, the continent has grown comfortable and complacent. The heroes are in their prime but retired, the military is well-trained but untested, and a new generation chafes against peace they didn't earn. Then the Ironclad Empire attacks—but the raiders are only
The Dustwalker God
8 books
Wayne Mitchell, a long-haul truck driver from modern Earth, dies in a massive bushfire while trying to evacuate his property. Smoke and ash obscured the road; he crashed into a gully and the fire overtook him. He wakes as a god—specifically, the newly manifested God of Travellers, summoned into exis
The Settlement System
8 books
A military survival instructor from Earth awakens in a fantasy world with no memory, powered by a desperate nature goddess who needs him to rebuild her dying village. He has one unique gift: he can be any class, but must choose at dawn and stick with it for 24 hours. Armed with instinctive survival
The Oath Bastion
8 books
War gods dominate the region and carve up Cindara, forcing mortals into endless conflict to feed divine devotion. Mara Holt, a war-averse medic and combat veteran, serves Korrath to survive, but uses those missions to seed a hidden refuge inside a mountain crater where a dead hearth goddess fell. Re