About Volara

While most of the information provided about Volara around the site is given in an ‘in-character’ voice, I thought there should be a section for a few of the world’s basics, things that everyone would be likely to know, things that everyone would take for granted as knowledge.

This section is still very much under construction, and this is where I would suggest you ask questions, as you are most likely to get extra information about things here (you may have questions about things that I may not have even thought about yet). I will warn you that ‘why’ questions are likely to go unanswered.

In addition, there are still some places that remain unnamed, so suggestions are welcome.

(A special thanks to G for letting me bounce ideas off him and for throwing questions my way as this was prepped.)

A Flat World

Volara’s surface is flat. Everyone knows this. There is no horizon. You can see much further than on a round world; Elves see further than humans, but obviously there will always be a limit to how far a person can see before everything devolves into a blurry mass in the distance. This means that, with an Elf in the crows nest, ships can have sight of land days, or even weeks, before arriving. As I say, the world’s flatness is common knowledge, and there is no question of its truth.

The world’s flatness has aided exploration, while equally posing disturbing problems. No one knows what shape the world actually is. Some think it’s a circle, some think it’s an oval, but there are good reasons why no one can fully explore the world. First is the Edge. Everyone knows that the end of the world is in the West. If a boat travels more than 250 miles west of the Fandrayan Islands, it is inexorably pulled towards the edge and goes over. Ships have actually been seen going over this edge. Second is the Fog. The Fog is to the East of Asuris and is both permanent and impenetrable. Few have attempted to explore the East, but those that have tried either found journeying impossible or simply disappeared. As the Fog is an essentially stationary wall, no one knows what shape the land is (if it exists) past this barrier. The third problem in determining the nature of the world are the Northern and Southern Ice-Lines. In each of these directions, there is a certain line at which the temperature drops rapidly (for no explicable reason). No one has ever been able to find a way of staying warm enough to explore the North or South. As a result, only Lawesee makes claim to (and actually occupies) any land North of the Ice-Line; it is considered the harshest training ground for the Laweseen warriors. The temperature a few miles into these regions is below zero, getting colder the further one goes.

The topic of exploration leads to the currents. All water flows West to the best of its ability. Obviously, it will meander around/down hills in the fastest routes, but there are no rivers that flow East. The ocean currents all noticeably flow West, though the central oceans have strong enough winds that ships can go in any direction that they care to go. The currents are much stronger West of Fandraya and East of Asuris (another reason why exploration in the Fog is near impossible). Despite these currents, the coasts do not seem to erode any faster on Asuris than anywhere else on Volara.

This exploration has led scholars to believe that the world is between 13 and 16 thousand miles from East to West (the Fog makes an exact calculation impossible, but most people think it heralds the Eastern Edge of Volara). For an OOC reference, the Earth is about 24,000 miles around at the equator, so Volara is close to two thirds the size of Earth, in terms of East-West distance. If there is a North to South calculation it is not widely known, but it is known that the world is about 5000 miles from Ice-Line to Ice-Line.

The Sky

The sky is wide and blue. The sky is overwhelmingly big, as there are no horizons to limit it. From hills and mountains, a person can literally see thousands of miles. From the Western mountains of Fandraya, one can see the sky past the edge of the world. From there it appears that the sky is infinite into nothingness. At night there is a total blackness looking West from Fandraya.

At night, the sky fades to a near total black. There are almost exactly 12,000 stars in the sky (they have been counted on numerous occasions); they are stationary. There is no moon (and, by extension, no tidal flux). Volara’s sky is not known to hold anything aside from these stars; all are about the same brightness as Earth’s Sirius (the North Star).

At the night’s midpoint, one of the stars begins to grow brighter than the others, eventually reaching the point that it is akin to what we know as daylight (the other stars seem less bright but remain just visible to the naked eye, even in full daylight). This star (called the Daystar) does not move across the sky; it stays stationary as the other stars, simply waxing and waning in brightness over the course of a day. This cycle, called the Daystar’s brightness cycle, varies between 20 and 30 hours; the length of daylight-equivalent hours changes on a near-daily basis, as it is very rare that the same star brightens two days in a row. Some people think there must be a pattern to the order of the Daystars, but no one has been able to figure it out thus far. The daily variance in daylight means that almost everyday shadows are slightly different, that sundials are useless (unheard of actually), and that the Daystar shines from a different direction daily. An appropriate knowledge check will reveal additional information about Volara’s sky.

Despite the variance in the Daystars, there are almanacs commonly available (for people who care about daylight hours) that provide an easy way of identifying which star is the day’s Daystar and what that star’s brightness cycle will be. While these almanacs obviously cannot predict which star will be shining, they provide a handy reference for people who want to know when the sky will begin to dim. Farmers are the most likely to have these almanacs, and most inns will have one as well, for travelers’ convenience. Most businesses simply open an hour after full light and close an hour at full dark.

Weather & Seasons

Volara does not have the four seasons. Areas that are cold are always cold, areas that are hot are always hot. There is, however, one odd group of exceptions. No one knows why, but everything within 150 miles of any of the major deserts experiences strange seasonal-like weather patterns. These are the only places that experience any drastic changes in climate during the year. These regions can experience everything from humid summers to freezing winters. Despite the changeability of the climate, or perhaps because of it, these regions are among the most fertile on Volara, though they are almost abandoned when winter comes. There are rumours that some governments have used these areas in winter to attempt to develop means of surviving in the much harsher cold in the North and South, though if they’ve had any real success, it has not become public knowledge. The deserts themselves are all barren wastelands, and experience no seasonal variances.

Days, Months, and Years

The Volaran year has 400 days divided into 10 months. The number of days in the year dates from before the War of the Gates, so no one knows exactly why the year is that long. Each month is further divided into 5 eight-day weeks. The origins of the months’ names are lost in antiquity, but the days of the week are named after the eight representatives who ratified the Treaty of Praneya. The days of the week have full names and common abbreviated names.

The ten months are Charam, Meced, Voram, Gatsau, Bercort, Ranj, Ilyun, Tembres, Piral, and Rafer.

The eight days are 1) Bertoltsday (Bertsday), named for Bertolt Proctor I, king of Praneya; 2) Ilfallarsday (Illsday), named for Ilfallar, the East Kafreen ruler; 3) Onsallarsday (Onsday), named for Onsallar, the West Kafreen ruler; 4) Andriensday (Ansday), named for Andrien Daslar, representative of Cremaia; 5) Anshinsday (Shinday), named for the last Haiconian emperor; 6) Morindasday (Morsday), named for Morindas El’shalim, representative of Asuris; 7) Modrocksday (Docksday), named for Modrock Ironhelm, the Dwarven ruler; and 8 ) Endalansday (Ensday), named for Endalan, the Elven representative.

Major Cities

Volara’s ten largest cities are Danreay (the capitol of that country), Thereala (the capitol of Eltherean), Marken (a city-state), Te’ralyn (the great northern coastal city of Llafanwyr), **** (the major trading center of Heion), **** (Xiangbai’s major port), Praneya (capitol of that country), Dollon (Tinabir’s capitol), **** (Sendousha’s capitol, and the only non-port on the list), and **** (just North of Dofmariel’s border with Gochanrall). These ten cities are the most important cultural and economic centers of Volara. The largest, Te’ralyn, is a major port for most ships on intercontinental voyages. It has a population estimated to be approaching one million. It is also a key center of learning, with the University of Te’ralyn being the largest university on Volara, housing the second largest known library (the largest known is in Salinar).

The Underground

While it is commonly known that the surface of Volara is flat, no one knows how deep Volara is. Everyone knows that most dwarves live underground, but no one is completely certain what else lurks beneath the surface. There are rumours of strange monsters of all descriptions, along with conspiracy theories about forgotten cities and lost treasures.

The dwarves have limited surfacer’s access to the Underground throughout recorded history, but in the years following the Second War, they became increasingly paranoid about people traveling to the subterranean areas. The dwarves have not proven themselves evil in this, as they are always courteous with those who find their way to the Underground, but they are equally firm in their pronouncements of doom for those who journey too far down. They will not use force to prevent prepared groups from descending, but they always warn against it. Since, at most, 1 in 100 of those who journey to the deepest parts of Volara returns, it is generally thought that the dwarves are not acting selfishly. Though the more cynical suggest the dwarves themselves are responsible for the deaths, those few who have returned (still in their right minds) tell of encountering horrific creatures unknown to the surface world.

The “Uncivilized” Races

There are some races and creatures that prey on the common folk. Orcs, goblins, gnolls, hobgoblins, hill giants, ogres, and kobolds are all intelligent races that live outside normal society. They live in more secluded areas of many countries, but will sometimes raid outlying farms or small villages for food or gear. Some people think that these races consist of nothing but evil monsters intent on destroying everything else. Others think that they simply have different views of what is right or wrong. Some of each of these races can be found as productive members of society in most of the world’s major cities. Only three nations have large contributing groups of any of these races. Both Dofmariel and Gochanrall in Northern Asuris have close to half their populations made up of these races. Lawesee in Kafre’en also has a large percentage of the “uncivilized” races.