Information on the Cultures

Tarea (est. in year 0 of their reckoning)

Calendar 340 days in a year; 17 months of 20 days each; each week has 10 days (2wk/mo, 34/yr)

Las & Olas are special months

Kas & Kur are evil months

Seasons: Name Begin End

Spring (Hata, also North) 1 Et 5 Sin

Summer (Kata, also East) 6 Sin 10 Sas

Fall (Lata, also South) 11 Sas 15 Sol

Winter (Nata, also West) 16 Sol 20 Kur

At time of beginning of story:

Sunrise: 6 AM (0600)

Noon (1300)

Sunset: 9 PM (2200)

Hours of daylight: 16 hours

Hours of night: 10 hours

Hours in a day: 26 hours

Avelath, Alaren and Haldan (yr 657 of their reckoning)

Event Time Date Season Hours traveled

Set out 9 PM (2200) 1 Sas near end of summer 0

Cross river Noon (1300) 2 Sas " 17

Ambush 9 PM (2200) 2 Sas " 26

Stop running 10 PM (2300) 2 Sas " 27

Set out again 6 AM (0600) 3 Sas " 27

Stop for night 9 PM (2200) 3 Sas " 43

Convo about Surilt 4 Sas

Set out again 6 AM (0600) 4 Sas " 43

Travel through the night 4/5 Sas

Roithan Noon (1300) 5 Sas " 76 Edge of forest

Arr. @ gates 8 PM (2100) 5 Sas " 83

Arr @ city 10 PM (2300) 5 Sas " 85

Leave city 8 AM (0800) 19 Sas fall 0

Arr @ Tarea 6 PM (1900) 4 Olas " 111

Leave Tarea 6 AM (0600) 5 Olas " 111

Stop for night 10 PM (2300) 6 Olas " 128

Climate: Very seldom snows, usually moderate/temperate

Veldun: longest reigning king in Tarean history -- Telca

+Bertald (Bright Glory-sword)

+Malzen (Storm-sword)

+Edrild (Venerable Counsel)

+Haldan (Untarnished Sword)

- hate the Surilt/Ohaf because 725 years ago, the Ohaf persuaded the Sulethan First Wise-Men to leave Suletha on a quest, and they never returned. (this is 78 yrs before Tarea was founded)

- feel as though Surilt/Ohaf deliberately stole away the First Wise-Men to use them for their own purposes and/or murder them to spite the Sulethans

- To the date of the story, no Surilt/Ohaf has set foot in Suletha since the day the First Wise-Men left

- Before the story, Avelath sought the counsel of the new Sulethan Fourth Wise-Men. She sent Alaren, who looked like a Tarean, into the city of Suletha by night to ask the Fourth Wise-Men to meet Avelath on the Seeing Hill. The Wise-Men consented. Among those Wise-Men were Thatara and Grinal.

- The Sulethan Wise-Men hold their counsel twice every month on the Seeing Hill

- Sulethans guard the Crossroads

- Sulethans bear no ill will toward Tareans; they see Tareans as a common ally against the Surilt/Ohaf although the Tareans do not even believe in the Surilt/Ohaf.

Sulethan time as far as it really matters (although I doubt it does)

340 days/yr

10 months of 34 days each

34 weeks of 10 days each

Years reckoned from the disappearance of the First Wise-Men, although sometimes divided according to the epochs of the Wise-Men

Ihhazel

– Ohaf means "The people" in the Ihhesumil, called Surilt by Tareans (Suril is singular)

- live to be 500 but mature at the same rate as Tareans until adulthood; begin counting age over again after each century. Avelath is 124 at the beginning of the story, Alaren is 237, Naren is 375, Lordul is 208.

+ Most Ohaf families have 2 children, although the trend in the last century before the story begins is to have only one child in a family. This is part of the reason why the numbers of the Ohaf are dwindling; other reasons include a civil war fought 150 years before the story which decimated the Ohaf population and left Kavel, the rightful ruler, on the throne.

- Beliefs about afterlife: pass into the World Beyond because

• "Overspell" -- they can use too much magic, so much that it overpowers their body and their spirit and they are pushed into the World Beyond
• the first overspell happened about the time the Ohaf retreated to the Mountains of the Moon. It is usually a rare occurrence.
• battle/murder -- poisons have no effect on Ohaf unless EXTREMELY LETHAL and administered in high dosages; die as normal in battle or violent murder
• old age -- passing gently into the World Beyond, usually done in solitude and/or in nature

1. the word "die" denotes either overspell or battle/murder, "passing into the World Beyond" is used to denote those who leave the world because of old age.
2. The World Beyond is called "The World Beyond the Brightness of the Moon." The Ohaf believe it is a beautiful place where the Moon always shines, the good are rewarded for the righteousness and the wicked are not allowed.
1. The wicked are relegated to the Dark Realm (formally "The Dark Realm Where the Moon Never Shines.")
2. It is unknown whether or not those Ohaf who die of overspell go to the World Beyond or the Dark Realm, and for this reason the Ohaf have used less and less of their power as time passed.

- the Ohaf once roamed all the lands of the continent, from the Unknown South (south of the desert) to the Unknown North (north of the mountains)

• Slowly, they retreated back into their homelands of the Mountains of the Moon as they were less and less welcome (or felt that way) -- left the Desert first, then Suletha & the grasslands, then Tarea. Once the Ohaf had inhabited all the lands. They left the South first, driven out by Evil.

- the Ohaf speak a language called the Ihhesumil. They always attribute their powers to the language itself. No Tareans or Sulethans living would know whether or not it is truly the language that is powerful, and none of them question it.