The World
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| Distance from sun: | 4,759,406 miles (Poseidon) |
| Length of Year: | 365 1/4 days |
| Length of Day: | 24 hours |
| Circumference: | 34,851 mi |
| Diameter: | 11,093 mi |
| Surface area: | 386,622,432 sq mi |
| Axial tilt: | understood but unmeasured |
| Number of moons: | 2 |
The World is a corner of Creation unfolding somewhere in the polyverse, a universe like and also unlike ours. It has natural laws and so forth, but they're not always adhered to the same way. Out of all the stars and planets in this universe, I've been concentrating on one planet, Yeola. I think I saw the first visions of this place in, perhaps, the mid 1980s and have been steadily exploring the place ever since.
As far as planets go, it's probably not all that exciting. The Sun rises in the morning and she passes overhead during the day and sets again in the evening; west is down, east is up; oceans are deep and wet and all kinds of whales and fish and monsters live there; light illuminates what is to be seen, and dark deluminates that which is to be hidden; apples fall off trees and bonk philosophers on the head; and when you drop things, they fall down. Usually. Sometimes they fall up. But, that's pretty ordinary: just be patient and soon enough the object will reappear and properly drop to the floor again. Just be wary when things start falling sideways. That's usually a good time to go hide in a strong walled place for a while!
The World is a faerie, an alternative to reality and a place of wonder & peril to explore. One fellow traveller on these paths, Ben, said of the place that it's like simply taking the earth and making it a bit more delightful. It's not a static place the many visions of Faerie seem to make it out to be. It has a long history, from the earliest cosmogony right on down to the final eschatogony. I guess I've probably only scratched the merest surface of the whole!
It is also something of a phantasy, as there are certainly elements of classical fantasy involved. We find some elements --- dragons and magic and wondrous palaces that are huger on the inside than on the out. And a few, even, that are, quite inexplicably, far huger on the outside than inside. And it is also something of an alternate history, for many historical events and persons that one can find *here* also exist *there*. But these things are not always in the way one might expect.
Aesthetically, I think bronzepunk and thaumpunk might be applicable terms. Surface iron is rare, so we find a world in a kind of eternal Bronze Age --- but a bronze age tempered and propelled by dwimmery such that we find a thaumologically modern world (at least in parts) but also a world without any kind of sensible science or technology as we'd understand it *here*. There may also be some threads of the classic fantastique, the merveilleux and the contes des Fées. It is, for all that, unanimously its own world and not bound by the conventions set by others, unless it wants to be.
Its history and culture take place on a planet called Yeola (or Gea), though there are several other planets in the system where kindreds of Daine and Teor live. "The World" therefore refers to the whole faerie; but for all practical purposes, to events on Yeola itself. It has some things in common with Tolkien's vision of Middle Earth, and while Tolkien has had his influence, the World has largely gone its own merry way.
Atlas -- Nothing like a few maps to help one visualise a place!
Miscellaneous Articles -- Here are some articles about the World you might find interesting: The World - A Miscellany
Music & Story -- Here are some descriptions and examples of music that folks listen to in the Eastlands of the World as well as a bit on storytelling.
A Bit of Poetry -- here is an example of Daine poetry.
Cartas: Gentle Pastime, Divinatory Science -- an article on playing cards in the Eastlands.
Languages -- Several |languages of the World have been described: Avantimannish, Talarian, Yllurian, Lucarian, Anian, Mentolatian and Queranarran.
Peoples of the World -- Many races are known in the world, including Man, but of them all, the Daine are the most comprehensively described. Others include Etuns, Gnomes and Herrw.
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