The Planet and the Moons

Astronomy lesson time. Father made sure I learned this properly, can’t have the heir embarrassing the family by not knowing basic celestial mechanics. Arcanthea’s got two main continents: Orin, where most of my spectacular failures occur, and Drachenland, where I once hid in a fountain while challenging an Aegis Frame to single combat.

The Three Moons

Arcanthea’s moons are not just pretty lights in the sky. These bastards literally determine your magical potential before you’re even born. No amount of training, prayer, or bribing can change what they decree. I should know; I’ve tried all three.

Chronos

The largest moon, silvery white and completely unforgiving.

  • Associated with time, fate, and prophecy—basically everything that makes seers insufferably smug
  • Full cycle takes exactly 30 days, making it the basis for our calendar
  • When brightest, every fortune teller in the continent suddenly becomes “blessed with clearer visions”
  • Dwarves use its precise movements to calibrate their machinery, which explains why their clockwork never breaks while mine constantly malfunctions

Mystra

Medium-sized with a blue tinge that makes it look perpetually melancholy.

  • The magic moon—responsible for most of the arcane bullshit I deal with daily
  • Erratic 24-day orbit, because apparently consistency is too much to ask
  • Mages get all excited when it’s full, like moths to a particularly dangerous flame
  • High Elves built their sky islands to be closest to it, which explains their superiority complexes

Animus

The smallest moon, golden like expensive wine and twice as troublesome.

  • Life, death, spiritual energy—everything that makes philosophers wax poetic about existence
  • 36-day cycle that influences emotions and dreams
  • Every time there’s a particularly vivid nightmare involving my parents’ disappointment, I blame Animus
  • Important in religious ceremonies, which means lots of very serious people taking it very seriously

Other Celestial Bodies Worth Noting

  • The Twins (binary stars) - One red wound, one blue ice. Romantic until you realize they’re locked in eternal gravitational combat
  • Halcyon (Merchant’s Light) - Yellow beacon that every lost ship navigator swears by. I’ve used it to find my way back to civilization after more disasters than I care to count
  • Moorindal - Distant ice planet visible only through telescopes. Father has one. I’ve never been allowed to touch it
  • Kerlin (The Veiled Lady) - Ringed gas giant that looks mysterious and beautiful until you remember it could swallow our entire planet without noticing
  • Aether - Mystical nebula that glows softly, like dying starlight. Poets love it. I find it ominous
  • Zyphyr - Decade-comet that shows up to herald upheaval. Last time it appeared, I started my adventuring career. Coincidence? Fyrie thinks not

Fyrie ascending chord progression: She’s pleased I remembered my astronomy lessons

Languages

I speak several languages fluently, which sounds impressive until you realize I’ve also managed to accidentally insult people in most of them:

  • Vaillan — Common tongue across Orin. Native to Vaillancourt, where I learned to curse creatively
  • Aerathir — High Elven, which I speak with perfect pronunciation and cultural confusion since I was raised speaking it
  • Reichsprache — Kaiserreich’s language. Useful for challenging Aegis Frames and ordering schnapps
  • Primal Tongue — Ritualistic language from Yuria. I know enough to not accidentally curse myself when talking to forest spirits
  • Old Aetherian — Dead language from lost Aetheris. Only the oldest High Elves speak it fluently, and they’re all insufferably condescending about it

The Continents

Orin

The larger eastern continent, consisting of many kingdoms that can’t agree on anything except that I’m probably trouble.

I’ve been to most of Orin’s major locations, usually because there was a quest board posting or because I was running away from something I’d accidentally broken. The diversity is impressive: you’ve got everything from frozen wastelands where I nearly died of hypothermia to sweltering forests where I nearly died of heat stroke.

Notable features of Orin I’ve personally experienced:

  • The Grey Marches — Where Free Orcs survive through sheer determination and excellent marksmanship. Visited twice, nearly shot once (not by Orcs)
  • Great Yuria Forest — Home to Wood Elves and Ajin tribes. Beautiful, dangerous, and full of spirits who find my identity crisis amusing
  • Adamantine Range — Mountains that make excellent backdrops for dramatic sword poses, less excellent for actual climbing

Drachenland

The smaller continent to the west, entirely consumed by Kaiserreich’s imperial claim.

Unified through conquest, which honestly shows. Everything runs on time, everyone follows orders, and somehow they still found room in their bureaucracy for a drunk Dark Elf to challenge their military equipment to single combat. Say what you will about Imperial efficiency, they have excellent prison cells and surprisingly understanding military tribunals.