Welcome to Terraeus
This is an overview of the world of Fire & Night, book one of Warriors & Mages.
Fire & Night begins in the 1573rd year of Terraeus.
An Overview of Terraeus, the World
{i.e. what you need to know in unpoetic terms}
Terraeus is roughly the size of Earth. It passes around its sun on a 320-day cycle, divided into 8, 40-day months. (Calendar shown below with further details.) Like the way we call dirt “earth” on Earth, the people of Terraeus call dirt “terrae”.
Terraeus has two moons: the silver moon and the shadow moon. The silver moon orbits on a 40-day cycle (where the months get their lengths) and at a closer distance. The shadow moon orbits on a 49.25-day cycle, earning its name due to the way it hangs behind the silver moon like a shadow in the sky. The silver moon is a bright, ivory-silver while the shadow moon is a dull gray.
Our map covers only a small portion of Terraeus’s size. There are three continents on our map: Allund (housing the Kingdoms of Wauld and Ephria), Schon (housing the Empire of Schon and the free States of Tanemisa), and the Keves Islands (an unexplored, unknown island).
Our story takes place on the continent of Allund, in the Kingdom of Ephria. For scale reference, the continent of Allund (Wauld and Ephria) is around the same size as the entirety of the United Kingdom and Ireland. You could cross it end-to-end in about two to three months.
The History of Allund
In the year 1455, a shepherd from the valleys of Estshire rose up against the tyrannical, aristocratic rule of Allund. With the help of his fellow Shiremen, this shepherd—named Tavish Ephren—drove the aristocracy out of the lower Shires of the eastern half of the continent. Over the next twenty years, Ephren and his growing troop of rebels became an Army that swept up through the eastern half of Allund and removed the entirety of the aristocracy from the land.
In the course of his lifetime, Ephren and his men destroyed the nation once called Allund, setting up a new rule in the eastern half of the continent. A new monarchial nation the people chose to call Ephria, after their beloved savior and Shepherd King.
The western half of the continent’s population was not so grateful to this Shepherd King and his uprising. Beaten back and Allund dissolved, a second monarchial nation was born: Wauld. But the Waulden people never forgot the land they’d lost to Ephren and his band of Shiremen. They maintain their rights to the land stolen from them. And in the following one hundred years, the war that Tavish Ephren began grew into what is now known as the Centurial War.
The Calendar of Terraeus
As stated above, the years are 320 days long broken into 8 months at 40 days per month. The months and seasons are as follows:
Spring: Chronos (2) and Radia (3)
Summer: Hydrae (4) and Pyra (5)
Autumn: Cyclae (6) and Terraen (7)
Winter: Obscura (8) and Galatae (1)
The months are named after the resources of life, which are tied to the old religion of the continent, Allund.
Days of the Week: {for us nerds out there who like way too much information} Primus, Secarda, Trinite, Quartine, Finte, Inexta, Septa, Eito
The Religions of Allund
This is a still developing facet of the story. While I have the trilogy written, the religion of Ephria needs more finagling. But anyway, here’s what we’ve got:
The Old Religion of Allund: A monotheistic religion based on the one Creator creating Terraeus with the resources of life and then granting the people of Terraeus the powers of their magic. An all-encompassing religion based on the concept of a heavy responsibility on the part of its practitioners, particularly amongst those with these “magical powers”. The religion became archaic and unfashionable around the 1300s. When Tavish Ephren form the Kingdom of Ephria, this religion was banned as heretical.
Deism: An offshoot of the Old Religion, monotheistic in construction and simple in practice. Deists believe in the Creator who designed Terraeus as an extension of himself, for his pleasure. This is the only approved religion of Ephria.
The Faith of Eight: A polytheistic religion based on the legends of the Mages and the resources of life. The eight deities embody the resources of life and choose to incarnate themselves into the bodies of the Terraen people to varying degrees, thus creating Mages. The eight deities are Galatae, Chronos, Radia, Hydrae, Pyra, Cyclae, Terraen, and Obscura. This is the primary religion in Wauld.