There are a total of six luminaries, including both the sun and the moons. All together the luminaries emit the six colours of healing. Orange is the colour of the sun. While each moon's radiance is tinted with their respective hues--red, yellow, blue, green and purple--from which come their names. When mixed their colours make the pure white light that is the primary colour of healing and healers.
The moons are said to be the five daughters of Brigitta. (She has only one son.) They are exact duplicates of herself. Pieces of that were cast off as a defense (and in the hope that at least one of herself would survive) during the rape by the war god Og, from which the godling Ares sprung. The five moons seldom appear in the sky all at one time. It seems the sisters quarrel constantly, arguing over whose errant husband the sun truly is. Therefore, the Renegade's sun doesn't set as much as it hides from the relentless pursuit of the five amorous moons.
Death is a constant companion while magic which leaks in from the other planes is living and well--if a little unruly--and human belief in it is strong. Like everything else, sorcery's use is tightly regulated by the Wizards' Guild. It is taught only to the talented, which is thought to be hereditary. Talent is considered exclusively a male trait, often associated with a big nose, weak eyes and (for some unknown reason) a small bladder. Apt apprentices must first have attended an approved preparatory school, and to gain entry to the college, the student must be sponsored by a member of the craft. In practical terms this means, that potential pupils were restricted to family members of the guild or those nobles or merchants who have sufficient gold coin to bribe a guild member.
Master wizards are employed by courts, but occasional "freelancers" will work for political causes or hire out to guilds. Access to skilled wizards and wizardry itself are denied to the poor. However, most villages have their witches who, despite prohibition, are mainly females. The village witch is held in high esteem. These women are the doctors, the lawyers, the midwives, the marriage brokers--and sometime plumbers--for their community. They say they can cure anything from the common cold to warts, claims that not even the Healers make. If caught practising their craft, they are tried by the Wizards Guild, a messy process usually involving pins, hot pokers and other instruments of torture. If convicted--and once tried few are not convicted--witches are burned at the stake. Because village witches are a valuable commodity the peasants protect them, hiding them from the prying eyes of the gentry and any itinerant guildsmen who happen to come along to investigate a magical disturbance.
Generally the position of women is poor. On both continents women are property, owned first by their fathers and then by their spouses. And there is a lively slave trade in little girls even outside the slaver state of Quattara. Independence is a trait which is frowned upon, and any woman who lives alone is immediately suspected of witchcraft. Polygamy is common on the southern continent of Daklha where women are segregated into terems. In all countries, save Shalop, their legal rights are nil. They cannot own or inherit land. If wronged, a woman cannot bring the perpetrator to justice. Instead, they must rely their male relatives' desire to seek vengeance, usually dependent on whether the woman in question was permanently scarred which would decrease her market value.
Only in one area do woman reign supreme--the healers craft, such being considered a suitable occupation for a woman. (Most wizard vanish at the merest whisper of contagion.) Those men who join the profession must give up their "manhood" and become eunuchs in order to protect the purity of the other initiates. Predictably, male healers are rare.
Like pre-Arthurian England, little people, elves, dwarves, pixies, etc. still exist. It is believed that in times past Earth's realm was open to all true elementals, or fairy folk, but as man's population swelled the doors between the planes closed. Only a few elementals chose to remain, and most other elementals who found man's earth boring rarely visited. Through the aeons that followed, the descendants of elementals evolved, achieving mortal mass and becoming mortal also, albeit long-lived by man's standards. These are the trolls, the goblins, pixies and dwarves (earth elementals), and the many different kind of elves (earth, air and water).
Man fears and distrusts the elves and dwarves, although when it comes to business the groups do trade. With few exception, man elf and dwarf alike keep to themselves in their separate enclaves. Humankind are jealous of the more long-lived species for obvious reasons. Their magical ability far exceeds that of puny man. The smallest babe can perform feats with a fart to which human sorcerers can only aspire. Not all interactions are peaceful, for the goblins make occasional forays into human settlements to harvest the more tender women and children, who will grace their kettles eventually.
The jinn is unique to the southern continent of Daklha. Reputed to be fire's scion, the jinn is totally. Notably it hates the wet northern climes and lives in lamps. It is a further point of interest that none of the elementals, even the fire elementals, are willing to claim the jinn as one of their own. It is often forgotten that elemental earth likewise resides on earth, but it's not unheard of to have a mountain pick of move elsewhere along Eubonia's bony spine.
The Martyr's Bush and the Starflower are in a category by themselves. It is believed that they are the original earth elders who have sacrificed their immortal being to defend time's gates. The Martyr's Bush, the male, is limited to Daklha while the Starflower, the female, guard the portals of the north.
Time is measured by the disappearance of the sun and the progression
of the planets around the "mortal" celestial map
.
This is a very important concept because time varies from plane to plane.
In man's realm, the terms day and rotation, or rota, are used interchangeably.
The nearest equivalent to a week is a `tenday'. The "days of the week"
are usually designated by number: Oneday, Twoday, Threeday, etc. The `year'
is gauged by the revolution of the five moons and the planets overhead.
It is usually referred to as a turn. Height is measured in handspans and
the unit for measure weight is called simply that: "a weight." A single
weight is equivalent to a ten Imperial pounds or about four and a half
kilograms.