Lost amongst Ao’s phlogiston is the crystal sphere of Mithrim , a realm of ancient histories, longstanding tension between its peoples, and destruction on national levels where in reside a people whom braved the odds, these people found smatterings of Humans, Elves, Tieflings, Dwarves, Drow, Goblins, and more mixed amongst them. The lands in which they called home — The Planet World of Orben — were largely a varied landscape with green fields of grass, mountain ranges that kissed the heavens, and long stretches of deserts. The people of this land were known for resourcefulness, some of them burrowing deep into the mountains and earthen soil to establish tunnels and networks interlinked with subterranean cities to be called the Underdark; largely inhabited by Dwarves, Duregar, Drow, and an unholy host of creatures that shudder at the thought of daylight.

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Sun

Mithrim shines a brilliant golden orange high above the land of Orben, often seen as a symbol of Amaunator in nature for its rich colouration and long-present positioning in its sky. The surface of Mithrim, beyond the sky of Orben, is that of a ball of fire much smaller than most suns, though smaller and usually colder, it is known for having violent flaming eruptions that eject from the surface of the sun and blast through the system till they collide with the crystal sphere and dissipate.

 

Planets

Yorghrhave (Cloud World) - 88 day rotational period - 4 hour-long day

• Cloud-covered in sickly yellow rippling clouds is the tidally locked world of Yorghrhave, a realm of fungi both sentient and savage dominate the land under the thick oxygen rich atmosphere that protects the world from the harsh bombardment of the sun. Whilst not nearly as socially advanced and more tribal in nature, the planet is populated by a xenophobic race known as the Myconid, along with several other less sentient plant-based races such as assassin vines, shambling mounds, and other hostile entities of a floral nature. Geographically uniform; beyond the intricate networked colonies of fungi that take up most of the surface and sub-surface worlds, the planet itself is predominantly ‘dead’ by Orben-standards, having undrinkable lakes of water filled with spores and algae.

• Around Yorghrhave exists a myriad of moons, asteroid clusters, a thin ring, and the planet’s sister world, all of which will be listed below:

  • Fenryx, a sparse ring of worthless rocks left over from the formation of the solar system when the moon Tra’sherax impacted the now-captured asteroid of V’Ross.

  • Tra’sherax, a fractured cluster of the remains of a proto-moon that once orbited closer to the planet. The ring of Fenryx is made up of most of its mantle.

  • Rakis, a planet of dry desert dunes with minerals in the sky granting it an orange-red hue, various sand-weathered mountains crop up through the surface of the sandy dunes. Several species of animal exist here, all of which are found to be remarkably hostile; notable species include purple worms, bulettes, giant scorpions, giant termites, and mephits. Rakis has an orbital cycle of 22.4 days.

  • Urudan, the planet-moon of Yorghrhave, is a world of tar oceans and skies so pungent that the first inhale of their air churns the stomach. Geographically uniform; outcroppings of land are in the form of cracked taupe-coloured strata. Urudan has an orbital cycle of 5 days.

 

Orben (Orben World) - 1460 day rotational period - 24 hour-long day

• The world of Orben features a late-medieval society with over fifteen sentient races which have come together to live with varying degrees of social success. Geographically varied; featuring large biomes of varying types, sizable oceans, islands, mountains, plains, and the like.

• Orben's orbit is shared between Mithrim and Evelin, accounting for its unusually long rotational period for an inner planet. It's generally believed Orben was once sister to the Saud planetoid which now orbits Evelin, accounting for this.

• Above the planet is the singular moon of Antar, a milky white barren rock whose terrain is largely that of a rock peppered with craters. Beneath the surface are sheets of frozen ice that are occasionally exposed by earthquakes that break apart the surface and release clouds of ice crystals into the atmosphere during solar eclipses. Antar has an orbital cycle of 28 days.

 

Sthara (Hellworld) - 325 day rotational period - 10 hour-long day

• Beyond the first world of Orben is the ash-choked world of Sthara, named after the daughter of the man who discovered it, it is a truly hellish planet which glows in the night sky like a red-hot coal in a smith’s forge. Geographically uniform; the world exists as a massive network of volcanoes which tend to erupt in groups of three; spewing ash, debris, and magma into the atmosphere of the low-gravity world. Due to having only one third of the gravity of Orben, volcanic activity on Sthara is immensely violent, common sights are massive gashes in the world where lava flows freely; convection having a harder time of radiating heat away from the molten slag and instead helping it deepen the crevices they form.

 

Berwald's Bane (Asteroid Belt)

• Acting as the divider between the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ solar system, the asteroid belt known as Berwald’s Bane is — when observed from space — a toroid shaped ring of icy comets and mineral-rich asteroids that glisten with their massive quantity of gold located in deposits within the asteroids. Objectively, outside of being abnormally mineral rich in both common and precious minerals, the field is no more unusual than the next asteroid belt.

• Within the belt, however, is a stationary ‘spot’ in the belt which is entirely void of light and matter, diviners cannot see into this area, telescopes see it as merely a black ‘spot’ often confused by nascent astronomers as a speck of dirt or scratch on their telescopes, the reality is unfortunately far more sinister; known as the ‘Eye of Weir’ to the more learned, the void is a dimensional schism which leads to the Outer Planes. Debate amongst those whom know of it revolves largely the question if it was artificially made through magic similar to a spell of ‘Shadow Walk’ on a much larger scale or if it is simply a natural feature of the system. Most research into the Eye is from a Bethar Garmak astronomer who discovered it named Weir; a pale man whose skills in magic are dwarfed by their knowledge of the skies.

 

Evelin (Cloud World) - 1106 day rotational period - 38 hour-long day

• A world of fluffy teal clouds featuring various beautiful phenomena visible with enchanted telescopes from Garmak. Geographically absent; such spectacular events are the lazy motion of clouds to the mist showers as massive chunks of ice from the planet’s ice ring burning up in the atmosphere and aerating in the region, and lastly the more dangerous event such as cyclones which whip blasts of hydrogen cyanide from the planet’s equatorial regions about the cloudy sky, making the otherwise breathable atmosphere sweet scent and extremely poisonous.

• As mentioned, Evelin is surrounded by the Waziq ice disk; a massive disk of frozen water which spans the equator of the gas giant and well over 500 kilometers across and roughly two to three kilometers thick depending on location in the disk system.

• Originally a habitable world before its mother planet drifted out further in the solar system, the Saud planetoid is a large super moon riddled with asteroid impacts and now barren; it’s oceans ejected into space and captured by the gravitational pull of Evelin and frozen into the Waziq ice belt. Saud has an orbital cycle of 27 days.

 

Rayna (Rock World) - 11398 day rotational period - 193 hour-long day

• The furthest planet from the sun, Rayna is a world of rock and ice with very little in the way of interest, being devoid of minerals, life, magical presence, atmosphere, or anything to make it out-of-the-ordinary. Geographically uniform; the planet resembles that of a steppe with ice and permafrost in place of grasses and natural flora.

 

Astromancy

Both the predominate study of the heavens as well as a rather archaic form of spellcasting where one uses the heavens as components of their divination, as opposed to the more traditional verbal, somatic, and material aspects. Astromancy remains a study well-practiced among the most learned, with books, research papers, and documented theories being published en masse.

 

 As a field of study, astromancy is used to describe in comprehensive terms the occurrences of the skies and what their causes could be. One example of such is the use of astromancy to arrange stellar clusters into definitive constellations which each lend their symbol’s meaning in a philosophical and scientific medium. The major constellations are made up of eight constellations with two per month. After the major naturally come the minor, these are primarily used in scientific settings to describe astrological phenomena in short-hand through the use of the written word or pictographs, however, some are fond of interpreting them as omens to the major constellations presently visible in the night sky; an example of such is a Skull — solar eclipse — whilst the Dragon is visible, this would infer to the more superstitious that those blessed by the Dragon shan’t be in danger and those cursed by the Dragon shall face some mortal danger. Minor constellations do not have to be actually visible, merely their associated phenomena.

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Constellations, Major

• The Dragon; Gregarious but Arrogant

• The Bee; Dedicated but Impulsive

• The Centaur; Straightforward but Stubborn

• The Siren; Alluring but Sensitive

• The Hydra; Enduring but Opinionated

• The Horse; Dependable but Needy

• The Wolf; Mysterious but Lonely

• The Owl; Wise but Absent-minded

 

Constellations, Minor

• Skull; Solar Eclipse | Undeath

• Drop of Blood; Lunar Eclipse | Conflict

• Shooting Star; Meteor Storm | Wish-granting

• Sun; Coronal Mass-Ejection/Solar Flare | Good Luck

• Spear; Comet | Bad Luck

• Scales; New Moon | Death

• Maiden; Full Moon | Life

• Reading-glasses; Crescent Moon | Elderhood

• Rattle; Gibbous Moon | Childhood

• Yoke; Half-moon | Adulthood

• Equine Major [Onyx]; Strong Tide | Strong Newborn

• Equine Minor [Obzidian]; Weak Tide | Weak Newborn

• Nearby Crystal Spheres

• Er'deos; The North Star

 

Calendar

With a year of 1440 days, each lasting 26 hours, the first calendar was created by the first Human empire, breaking up the year into eight months, each represented by one of the major constellations and each containing 180 days divided into 18 weeks. Each day of the week is named for one of Orben's gods: Sunéra, Tychéra, Waukéra, Oghéra, Gondéra, Savéra, Myrkéra, Seléra, Helméra, Torméra.  most count them thumb-to-pinky, halflings are famous for counting pinky-to-thumb, thus arising the phrase ‘counting like a Halfling’ to infer someone is being difficult just to be difficult. Throughout the year, there are a number of astronomical phenomena that range from comets to meteor showers and even up into grandiose displays such as solar flares/coronal mass-ejections.

 

Starting with the first season of spring, the year begins with Mirtul, represented by the dragon to convey the thawing of things; each month is split into two phases with celebrations typically held in honour of the season held on the second phase.

• Dragon - Drákon | Spring  180

• Bee - Méliss | Spring 180

• Centaur - Tavros | Summer 180

• Siren - Seirína | Summer 180

• Hydra - Ýdra | Autumn 180

• Horse - Alogo | Autumn 180

• Wolf - Lykos | Winter 180

• Owl - Kouvág | Winter 180

 

Celebrations among the people of Orben are radically varied based on location, culture, and species. Some of the more common celebrated universally are Harvest Feasts usually between the 14th and 17th of Harvestide, New Year Dinner held on the 18th of Nightal, and the Festival of Flowers held on the first Fifthday of Kythorn.

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((By kryptius))