Blog Hop: Geography and Climate

I’ve decided to participate in my first ever blog hop. Since this is my first, I admit I don’t know quite what I’m doing, so bear with me. I heard of the blog hop via my critique partner and a fantastic writer, Aldrea Alien, and decided that I could probably join in with the fun. The blog hop is being hosted or held or presented or sponsored (not sure of the proper term) by Sharon Bayliss.

So here we go.

Book: Thanmir War

The world itself is largely unexplored. There are several continents and islands, most of which never appear until later books. But since we are speaking of Thanmir War, we will limit the perspective down to a single continent: Chikara.

Chikara is divided into five provinces, though any given map will only show four. Each province belongs to a clan of elementals.

Air: To the north is Aerwether, with luscious fields and rolling hills. The weather remains fair with a constant soft breeze to whisk away the sweat, making for pleasant farming conditions. Orchards can be seen dotting the land. The land is the supplier for most produce and tree fruit.

Water: To the east is Halqua, hot and humid with jungle trees, tropical flowers, and majestic waterfalls. An occasional rain sprinkles, but nothing requiring shelter to endure. The area is best known for its exotic fruit and berries, the latter considered a delicacy, and boasts the finest selection of wine and drink.

Earth: To the south is Geotellus, an ancient forest shrouded in fog where trees are wider than houses and roots protrude from the ground. The area is mountainous with hard rock ridges and jutting stone peaks. Herbs and roots are their primary trade, mushrooms being a close favorite.

Fire: To the west is Embrathael, white desert stands and hot, dry temperatures. The finest spices and oils originate from nomadic tribes constantly roving across the province to forage and trade. The province had once held the greatest human population, but since the slaughter of the fire clan, it struggles to sustain the life it once had.

Void: In the center is Lumenor, a ravine sealed off from the rest of the land. Homes are carved into the red sandstone walls with a crystal clear river running through the center. Attributes of the other provinces encroach on the area, like mismatched puzzle pieces forced together with a hammer.

Even though the calendar doesn’t fit with Geography and Climate, I’m bringing it up here because there are no seasons in Chikara.

The Chikaran calendar is divided into 4 quarters based on equinoxes, each consisting of 90 days: Travad, Ruis, Mau, Braum. Chikara has three moons and one sun. The half year occurs every 180 days when all three moons align. The new year occurs when all three moons align with the sun.

Sun: Kaithren
Moon: Septra, nightly appearance, light pink in color, smallest
Moon: Spatha, aligns with Septra every 20 days from the start of the new annual, pale green in color, middle sized
Moon: Adonna, aligns with Septra every 36 days from the start of the new annual, gold in color, large sized

Time is quantified by days and then cycles, which are twenty days based on the alignment of Spatha and Septra.

The climate remains the same, no matter what cycle of the annual it is. But the change when stepping over a border is instant and abrupt. A person could stand with one foot on the stifling hot Embrathael sand and the other on the damp forest floor of Geotellus–half their body sweating, the other half chilled.

Another thing about Chikara is that it exists in four layers, stack atop each other and occupying the same space. Different beings inhabit the different layers.

At the top is the Drethamir’s home. There’ll be more about the Drethamir on Wednesday when we talk about the world’s religions and gods.

The next layer down is called the Realm. Here is where all the full blood elementals live… well, any full blood that still possesses his or her power. There are two full bloods who are unable to return to the Realm because they’ve lost their power and both have caused a lot of grief because of it. The Realm’s winding paths are shrouded in mist too cold for human blood.

Next is the mortal domain, the layer belonging to the beastkin Oazmir and shared with the humans. Oazmir are transforming beasts that have two forms, the natural form where they appear like any other animal, and the biped form, where they stand on two feet like their elemental cousins. Humans aren’t native to Chikara and the Oazmir weren’t all that pleased with the prospect of cohabitation with the humans, but they tolerate each other well enough. So long as humans don’t enter the forbidden territories.

At the lowest level exist the mines. Here is where the crafters work to create elemental pendants and keep any elemental fugitives prisoner.

I think I’ll stop there. I’ve been working on a map, though I’ve found my map making skills are quite lame. If I manage to create one before the day is out, I’ll post it.