This thesis is an exploration of my imaginary world through a short narrative with a focus on placemaking in fiction. The narrative follows Dengar, a civil servant estranged from the central government, as he investigates disappearances occurring in the edges of the empire, uncovering secrets related to the empire’s past and the past of the conquered people of Thron. He must navigate a bitter, cold landscape and a dangerous resistance group as he learns more about the real reason behind why he was sent there. Schemes are uncovered and foiled as he makes his way into the core base of the resistance, a towering mountain called Diran. Following the narrative, I explain my inspirations and analyze my narrative from the perspective of placemaking, referring to placemaking scholars such as Basso and Whitridge.

The Man Behind the Sun is an unfinished manuscript that is 114 pages long. The goal for this thesis was to focus on writing forward through a story. Previously, this manuscript was a short story that turned into a bigger project. Mostly, the manuscript deals with the mystery of light and the light-waves our human eyes can not see. The research and writing of this hopefully will be novel is being continued even after the defense.