The Setting of the new novel, ‘Chosen Wanderers’

Map of Scotland in the 6th Century AD

‘Chosen Wanderers’ - Part 1 in the ‘Z-Rod’ series

This map shows the setting for my soon-to-be published novel ‘Chosen Wanderers’, part 1 in the ‘Z-Rod’ series. This land is shared by various people groups whose proud ambitions created a land of inter-factional strife. Throw into this incendiary mix Irish saints who offer an alternative worldview and physical sanctuary from the turmoil of the times, and there’s quite a story to tell.

Scotland as a nation had not been formed at this time and the area of the Highlands on this map were peopled by 7 suggested tribal groupings of Picts (the indigenous people in the land before the Scots), named variously, as the Ce, Circinn, Fib, Fotla, Fortriu, Fidach and Cait. The map shows other neighbours: the Celtic British tribes of Goddodin, Strath Clud and Rheged. The final neighbour along the southern section of the west coast is the expansionist kingdom of Dal Riata of Gaelic speaking Scots.