The sun is called Liecs. A great orb called Dectura with a faint ring also hangs in the sky. A day is 30 hours long, and a month is 22½ days, and a year is 1005¼ days. Dectura is thought to be the celestial home, souls can enter only when the ring disappears (seen edge on) which happens twice a month.
In the Montierran calendar, the year is 155.
DM notes:
This world is actually Yori, a planet in the Traveller universe, but this is a fantasy interpretation set a thousand years before the contemporary Traveller setting.
A key point to understand about Dectura is that it is a gas giant and Yori is one of its moons. More information about the orbital mechanics can be found on the main Yori page but for now, know that Dectura appears 4.3 times the apparent diameter that Luna has in Earth’s sky. Skyline (Dectura’s ring) is double this.
Also, a day should actually be 29hr 26min 14sec. But that makes little sense from a story perspective, so local hours/minutes/seconds are 2% longer than normal which gives an even 30 hours for the length of a local day. A local year is 3.38 ‘standard’ years. All references to days and years mean local days and years unless otherwise stated.
Glossary:
A’chim Papers: The holy scripture of Wakshe, written by the prophet Goshau. It consolidated and unified the different sects and beliefs of Wakshe, and provided clarity and stability.
Arroyo: Also called wadis, are (usually) dry streambeds worn into the desert floor by runoff from periodic rainstorms. Frequently, they open out into broad alluvial plains called playas, made of sediments or mineral encrustations deposited by evaporating water.
Daugu: A traditional communal farmhouse. Still found in some of the more remote rural areas, the word conjures up a sense of “home”, “safety”, and “belonging”.
Dectura: The great ringed moon that the world circles. A month is almost 22½ days.
Drumsand: Also called ‘barking sands’, ‘thrumming sands’, ‘singing sands’, and ‘booming sands’. A rare phenomena found in erg terrain. Sand disturbed by passers-by is set into vibration, causing very large areas of sand to resonate and echo, creating a reverberating sound like thunder, barks or chirps, whining or shrieking, or booming; sometimes these sounds are so loud that people must shout to one another to be heard.
Dumka: Wandering star that follows a set path across the night sky … once every 2¾ years.
Dusoswa: Wandering star that follows a set path across the night sky … once in almost 6 years.
Erg: Vast, sandy wastes formed as accumulations of medium to very fine sand, and occupied by dunes. The sand may be hard-packed and firm, or quite loose and soft.
Etip: An obscure written language, originally made from marks chiselled in rock. The A’chim Papers are written in etip.
F’goa: A fortified desert encampment. Can be temporary or permanent. The most famous, among the T’Lana Esh, is on an isolated rock plateau (or mesa) near the Claw Mountains. Occupied by Kel Bon, it has come to be known as the Bon F’goa.
Forsaken, The: Outcast or de-frocked clerics.
Goshau: Prophet who wrote down the A’chim Papers. Little is known about him, save that he came from the Orlot just over 30 years ago and began travelling the world.
Hamada: Rocky desert, generally a weathered, wind-polished plateau. Hamada generally exhibits unusual rock formations shaped by wind erosion.
Jaibok: Children, or someone naive. (lit. “Innocent children”)
Kel: A tribe of the T’Lana Esh. (lit. “Family”)
Kraast: The god before Slaan. God of “cities and stuff”. Symbol = sextant.
Korkorrale: Despair.
Liecs: The sun. The world goes around Dectura, and Dectura goes around Liecs … every 1,005¼ days.
Orlot, The: Land of the Devout. Many go but few return. The prophet Gashau came from the Orlot.
Playas: (see Arroyo)
Reg or Serir: Desert surface composed of gravel (reg) or pebbles (serir), often laid down in a mosaic pattern. These surfaces are usually formed by water action and may be found as alluvial plains at the end of wadis or arroyos.
Serir: (see Reg or Serir)
Slaan: The current god. The god of truth and knowledge. Symbol = a scroll.
Taino: (1) A god, enemy of Slaan. Symbol = a gull. (2) Small moonlet circling Dectura and the world every 37⅓ days (sometimes hidden by Dectura, sometimes eclipsed from Dectura by the world.
Teth: Paradise.
T’Lana Esh: The northern tribes.
Vaothoi: A holy quarterstaff, carried by the Wakshe priests.
Vech: Hell.
Wadis: (see Arroyo)
Wakshe: The religion of the world.
Windwalker: They say that distance has no meaning to a windwalker. It’s as if they travel the air rather than the land. If a desert takes a month to traverse, a windwalker could do it in a day. Windwalking is a boon from Taino, he of the gulls. To be a windwalker is to be as one with those creatures.
Yori: Name of the world. (lit. “Oasis”)
Zud: Pit or sinkhole. Some are dangerous, others are a source of water. Some connect to tunnels and caves.
Traditions:
Community: The whole is stronger than the sum of its parts. Group members are expected to be loyal to each other, eating and socialising together. With some crimes a community may be seen as guilty rather than an individual … and the community as a whole is punished. (In such cases the punished community rarely turns on an individual.)
Education: Ignorance is immoral, knowledge is empowering, and skill is admired.
Crime is the result of ignorance. Even a murderer or rapist can be redeemed through re-education (and thereafter carries no stigma for past crimes).
Conservation: Food and water are valuable. Waste should be recycled where possible. Even in war, the destruction of enemy water or food supplies, farms, fields, livestock, etc, is sacrilege.
“Dead Water”: The dead are neither buried nor cremated. They are ground up and scattered over fields as fertilizer.
Hospitality: There is a strong tradition of hospitality, especially in desert communities. Hosts are expected to be generous and share food and water with visitors. Visitors must be gracious and not abuse the privilege, but must accept even the most humblest offering as something of high value.
Gift-giving (even simple lending) is ritualised. The item is presented in both hands with a formal stance, it should be accepted reverently and with a head bow of thanks.
Meals are typically communal buffets … guests choose first, then priests, then everyone else.
Cheating: The purpose of competitions is to prove who is better at some task. Winning in and of itself is worthless. Therefore, cheating is pointless. Life is a competition … so cheating at life is pointless.
Day and Night: Because of the heat, people follow a day cycle of 4 equal periods … work, rest, work, sleep. The rest period can be spent dozing, meditating, or quietly praying.