From the introduction: Now, this world is a little different than most, in that it is actually several worlds rolled up into one, all connected through the powers of magic. Travelers are people who have bonds with these worlds, known as Territories, and these mages can summon a whole bunch of stuff from their home turf into the Unnamed World (also known as the “main” world). Every Territory is different, with different rules for everything up to and including the flow of time. If you stay in Helgard, the Tower of Winter, for example, Time will fluctuate as a storm, sometimes a week in the Territory will be an hour in the real world, other times the reverse could be true! As if the insanity of the Territory powers being unleashed onto the world by Travelers weren’t enough, there’s a cold war going on between the only two known countries in the world: Damasca and Enosh.