The Chronicles of the Seven

Overview

Sadalmelik---known to us as Alpha Aquarii---is a yellow supergiant star that has its own solar system. The planets in order of distance are Karshak, Selissa, Auris, Absor, Ethera, Beraflan, Antedeus and Da'Kantu.

Karshak is so close to Sadalmelik that its surface is almost molten and its orbit is just outside the star's Roche limit meaning the planet is tidally locked to the star. Selissa is a rocky planet of similar composition to our own Mercury. Auris is one light hour from Sadalmelik and is Earth-like except its geography is more similar to Azeroth (from World of Warcraft) than Earth and anthropomorphic animals live on its surface. It also has a moon. Absor is a rocky planet that has red and black copper dusts coating its surface and it has a moon named Gronag. Ethera is a blue liquid giant that has a nitrogen atmosphere and is completely aquatic. Beraflan is a gas giant similar to Saturn, but it has a lot more rings. Antedeus is a mid-green gas and ice giant with a system of moons in which the largest is named Aranda. Da'Kantu is a rocky ice planet with two moons named Maklagar and Wezal.

Because of Auris' distance from its sun, the star's actual position in the sky is one hour ahead of its apparent position. Auris has three continents: one in the western hemisphere named Aura, one in the eastern hemisphere named T'ai Ch'ing and one floating continent named Methkaas that floats north/south between the two continents and over the poles in a biennial cycle, making its path known as the Path of Methkaas. An underwater city named Thalassati is located where the Equator and the southern Path of Methkaas intersect and an archipelago of volcanic islands known as the Ring of Fire is located at Thalassati's antipodal point. The residents of Aura and Methkaas generally live under rulerships and the denizens of T'ai Ch'ing live under oriental empires.

Everyone born on the floating continent Methkaas has avian wings unless their species/race already has wings in which case their flight stamina is enhanced. Their culture is parallel to Aura's. The continent itself is in actuality a 500,000-year-old dragon elder that became a continent on his ascension to elder status at 99,919 years of age. Methkaas flies south over Thalassati and north over the Ring of Fire. Because of his flight path, the seasons on Methkaas depend on his position---spring and autumn/fall occur when Methkaas is in the temperate zones, summer occurs while he's in the tropical zone and winter of course occurs while he's at the poles, making that particular time either midnight twilight or total darkness even during the day and north and south will flip-flop annually. Only two countries occupy the draconic continent separated by a mountain range that goes from the head to the tail tip known appropriately as the Spine of Methkaas---Avitar on the left-hand side of the Spine and Skyra on the right. Because of the fact the continent is a dragon elder; the "ground" is comprised of fertile scales instead of dirt.

Aura is subdivided into six countries made up of various topographies and natural borders (i.e. rivers and mountain ranges). The Teeth of Auris is a mountain range that is located in the northern temperate zone of Aura ten degrees of latitude south of the Arctic Circle and traverses the continent between the east and west coasts. To the north of the range, the continent extends almost to the North Pole and is tundra that is frozen in winter. The country known as Nyet occupies this frozen wasteland and is home to savage all-female amazons that are hugely built and almost feral in terms of society.

Dal'Vesta is the largest country in Aura and is the most populous in the continent, extending from the Teeth of Auris all the way to the Larian River to the south and the swamp to the west. The country is separated into three provinces: Barbaria, which occupies the Teeth of Auris is home to a lupine race of warriors that is namesake in nature; Laria, which occupies the northern bank of the Larian River and the southern quarter of Dal'Vesta; and Dal'Vesta Proper. Over half the people of Dal'Vesta have combat experience, making an attack on that country suicidal. The capital city is called Dal'Vesta City.

The Orc Wastes is a swamp that occupies the western coast of Aura south of the Teeth of Auris and borders with Dal'Vesta to the east and the desolate Caryda to the south. Various nomadic clans of orcs (green-skinned people resembling warthogs, wild boars or peccaries) live here and the only place that a city and farms can be built is at the Carydan border where the land is fertile. Caryda is a desert in the southern third of Aura that has few oases including the border with the Orc Wastes and the nomadic Carydans have adapted to the point of only requiring half the normal amount of water to live. Its eastern border is the Dominion Range.

Minervia extends from the southern bank of the Larian River to the desert of Caryda in the south and the Dominion Range to the southeast. Despite all the conspiracies and espionage going on in the country (to the point of it being part of their culture), ironically it is the most peaceful country in Auris.

Dominion is a country that occupies the mountain range in the southeast of Aura and on the outside it's a peaceful country of farmers and merchants, but is actually a dictatorship with its ruler plotting world domination.

T'ai Ch'ing is mostly a plain with two peninsulas (one in the west and one in the east), two main mountain ranges and divided into three countries. Ni'Pon occupies the southern sixth of T'ai Ch'ing and extends from the southern coast to the Dragon Back mountain range to the north. The people there live in a Japanese culture including samurai and ninja warriors.

Han'Kon occupies the eastern peninsula of T'ai Ch'ing and foreigners to that country will consider the locals weird because everyone there knows Kung Fu, making a domestic quarrel look more like a deadly fight.

S'un Ch'ing occupies the rest of the continent and is even larger than Dal'Vesta, making it the world's largest country. It is like an oriental version of Dal'Vesta except its four provinces are in the four directions of the compass and is under an empire rather than a monarchy. Two mountain ranges surround a larger mountain in the centre of the country, making it known as the Lotus Ridge. The Phoenix Province to the north is known for its iron mines; the Tiger Province to the west is T'ai Ch'ing's trading centre; the Dragon Province to the east is perfect land for farming and the Turtle Province to the south is where the Ch'ing army trains. The people there live in a Chinese culture and some of the oriental dragons come from there.

The underwater city of Thalassati is the oceanic trading capital and various marine races live there along with people of land or aerial races lucky enough to be born or enchanted with water breathing abilities.

The Ring of Fire is an archipelago made of a group of volcanic islands surrounding a much bigger volcanic island known as Haua'i---a tropical paradise island on the exact antipodal point of Thalassati. Haua'i may be sacred to the firedrake race, but other races are welcome to visit. Various tropical bird races live in tribes in the Ring of Fire and salamanders populate the volcanoes.

The people have domesticated galli---large Chocobo-like chickens that eat plants and insects---for various foods and services. The galli's physiques reflect their purpose---riding galli are as fast and hardy as horses and are also used as beasts of burden; war galli are like their riding counterparts except they're trained for combat; sprinter galli are a wingless quadrupedal version for the vertically challenged races that are as battle-ready as the war gallus, but easily grow attached to their owners and food galli are the source of meat and eggs on Auris and are generally fatter for that reason. Because galli refuse to be milked, the milk comes from ladies of mostly herbivorous mammalian races that make quite a bit of money from selling their milk.

If there is one thing all the cultures of Auris have in common, it's their attitude towards sex both public and private. Aurians see sex as casual and some magic users are known as genomancers because it is an integral part of their magic. STIs don't exist and pregnancies can only occur during breeding seasons. Each race has various durations and frequencies of breeding seasons and such times will often turn lesbians toward bisexuality. Atavisms are rare, but not unheard of. They are genes that resurface after many generations and they come in the form of features such as feral genitalia, multiple breasts or the more common atavisms like recessive genes from several generations up the family tree.

Telecommunication is achieved through the use of blue crystals known as telecrystals, but if one tries to use it for marketing, it will explode in their hands, leaving the victim wounded by the shrapnel. Cooking in the kitchen is done either by wood stoves or pyromantic (fire magic) heating crystal stoves. Refrigeration needs are met through the use of vacuum insulated containers lined with permafrost.