Dimensions

As humans, we live on three dimensions we can perceive. The first dimension, of course, is a line:

The line has just two possible directions, left and right, up and down, or forward and back. We can’t assign any one set of our directions to it. Now bend that line and you get:

Two dimensions. Humans and other three dimensional beings are comfortable with two dimensions. We see in two dimensions, and we can easily draw in two dimensions. It is easy to move from line to line, by moving along the other axis. We three-dimensional beings can assign any two of our directions, but they’re usually left, right, up and down, or north, east, west and south. Now, take that plain, and bend it over as such:

And that is three dimensions. You now have length, width, and depth. You can’t even really imagine yourself only occupying one line, and you can move easily from plain to plain on any of three dimensions, but it can take time to move far on the same plain. You don’t know what the fourth dimension is for sure. You can sculpt in three dimensions, but it’s not easy to perceive all of a three dimensional item at once, like it is in two dimensions. Now, take that cube or whatever, and bend it again:

You now have four dimensions. There isn’t even a word for what the fourth value is. A four dimensional being can see all of a three dimensional object at once, and can’t perceive themselves as a two dimensional object without a wild stretch of the imagination. Though they can see two dimensions, they can’t portray it in four dimensions without making it a three dimensional object. They’re comfortable working with length, width, and depth. They can move easily through plains and space along any three dimensions, but moving along the same 4D region takes time. They don’t know what lies in five dimensions, and they don’t have a word for what the fifth is. Now, bend that fourth dimension. Notice I can’t even begin to draw what it might look like.

Five dimensions. They are not aware of the second dimension, and can move in any of four vertexes instantly, though moving along their fifth takes time. I think you can fill in the rest.

Now, how does this have anything to do with Emaria? Well, Gods are four dimensional beings, essentially, though they can be seen in three dimensions, it hardly encompasses all of them. The next article will explain what this means to them exactly, and will hopefully make more sense to allayalls.

Rilli

Rilli
Climate: Open grass or farmlands
Frequency: Common
Seeded Worlds: Azureus
Organization: Herd
Diet: Herbivore
Intelligence: Average intelligence
Size: Large
Danger Level: Low danger

Rilli are used as beasts of burden in Emaria, primarily as mounts and pack animals. They stand nearly two meters tall at adulthood and can easily support the weight of an armoured knight. While they are almost as intelligent as Emarions and humans, they make no resistance to this way of life because the work is easy and the food is free. That said, they’re incapable of human speech and don’t have an intricate language of their own. They can be taught languages with reasonable ease, however, and while they can’t communicate back, their gestures are enough to convey what they want to.

Combat: Rilli are used as mounts in the military because they don’t scare easily and can move much more swiftly than a humanoid walking. The Rilli themselves usually don’t fight, and if nobody is mounted on them will run away instead of battle. When cornered or defending their master or chicks they can deliver a powerful kick that can even pierce thick armour.

Habitat/Society: Undomesticated Rilli form herds of twelve to thirty on the open plains, and move as a group looking for food. Most of the time there’s a leader, who is the strongest or fastest of the herd, and who leads them from place to place. When they encounter a humanoid who wishes to capture them for domestication, all but the Alpha Rilli back away, and the hunter must essentially mount the back of the Alpha. If he succeeds, the entire herd will be loyal to that one person and usually will gladly work for him in return for good, open lands to live on and enough food to keep the herd comfortable. If the hunter fails, the entire herd will just run away, much faster than anyone could travel on foot, until they’re sure the hunter isn’t puruing them anyway. Usually a herd will have one or a few members who split off even if the hunter succeeds, and if he tries to stop them, the entire group flees as well.

Domesticated Rilli like a lot of space to run around when they aren’t working, though Rilli in the military are more content to live in a much smaller area or indoors. Rilli who are overworked tend to just stop working once they’re tired, unless what they’re doing is particularly important and time is an issue. It’s also notable that domesticated Rilli don’t reproduce, though sometimes express the wish to temporarily leave their master for that purpose. In that regard they honour the master’s decision either way.

Ecology: Rilli eat plants, mostly those which grow close to or in the ground (a common favourite being potatoes), and also enjoy fruit for a treat. They can also eat more common grasses and roots, but those taste bad to Rilli. They don’t need to eat a lot, but with a full stomach can go two full days comfortably without any food, though they do need water.

Mhogul

The biggest defence the Necros posed against anything is their total immunity to divine magics. None of the gods can directly harm them. Though, despite their almost unlimited intelligence, it took Mhogul, the goddess of knowledge herself, to apply the logic of Occam’s Razor–that the simplest solution is always the best. After the Emarions managed to launch a skyship into the Blackness, it took less than five years for the plans for their prototype ship to reach the deepest depths of the Abyss where the Necros spend their unlives plotting the damnation of all that lives. In about D2250 the Necros managed to launch a massive capitol ship into space which, at the time, surpassed anything the Emarions had yet done.

Needless to say, the Emarions decided something had to be done to make sure that would never happen again. The gods could not help, and the Abyssian Warlord, as the ship was called, remained in the Blackness for many years after. Still, the living races could not allow the Necros to launch another ship of that size. For almost a year after, the Necros launched ship after ship, and each one was just barely shot out of the sky before it left the atmosphere, and every weapon used to destroy them was costly to fire and simply not adequate for that kind of warfare.

Because weapons crafted by the gods were also useless, the nine could do nothing but stand by and watch, warning the Emarions every time the Necros were about to launch. This would not last forever, though, and the gods, Emarions, and Necros alike knew it.

Finally, after a long, hard year of keeping the Necros grounded, Mhogul had an idea that quite possibly saved the galaxy; Weapons made by the gods could not harm the Necros, but weapons designed by the gods and built from materials they provided were mundane in the sense of divinity, yet powerful enough to keep the planet safe, and easily automated as well. Within days Azureus had ten turrets up and running that could knock any hostile out of the sky and required only basic maintenance. Her brilliant idea garnered a lot of respect from the other gods, in that it was just what the mortals needed, yet so utterly simple.

Emarion Font

At long last, here it is: a truetype font in the Emarion language. This took one evening, and is only the first of possibly two or three versions, which I hope to follow up on in the attempt to make it presentable in all cases. As of now this font is usable, but it looks really bad in smaller font sizes. This is because I’m really bad at this, plain and simple. I did this in one evening with an unregistered version of FontCreator and am more or less happy with it for the amount of effort used. Like I said, it is more or less a work in progress.

Download it here.

A few notes about the written symbols themselves; First and most obvious, there is no letter ‘c.’ Emarion makes no distinction for that letter as we know it because all of its sounds can be pronounced with other letters. A soft C is an S, a hard C is a K, a Ch is seldom used, but nevertheless present in a Tsh. Second, most of the letters are in fact from the Latin alphabet. Just like the spoken language, Emarion is heavily influenced by the Latin letters as well. I’ve been told it also resembles Russian, which I can agree with. Finally, it uses Arabic numbers, which are not the actual numbers used by Emarions. The reason I haven’t changed it is that I have yet to decide how they do their numbers. Suffice to say I’ll probably use something other than base ten numbering anyway, so I’ll have to figure out how to work that into it on a keyboard.

The spoken language, the words and grammar, will hopefully also come some day, but that will take much more than one evening.

One final note: I checked just now, and it looks okay with sizes above 14pt. Anything below looks like shit. I’ll try to amend that whenever I get the chance.

Black Terror

Black Terror
Climate: Dark caves and especially evil places
Frequency: extremely rare
Seeded Worlds: Azureus
Organization: Twin (seeing more than two together is unlikely)
Diet: Unknown
Intelligence: Exceptionally Intelligent
Size: Large
Danger Level: Extremely Dangerous

Black Terrors are considered one of the most dangerous creatures that are native to Azureus. Their capacity for arcane magic is terrifying when paired with the knowledge that they lurk in dark places. Even more dangerous is the being created from a reanimated Black Terror, known as a Necro Terror because only a Necros has the ability to raise such a powerful creature.

Combat: Black Terrors are adept in dark magics fuelled by corrupted essentia, and will unleash said magics in full when faced with combat. Necro Terrors are even worse, with spells that can outright kill all but the most hardy adventurers. Even worse is that both will actively seek combat with anyone entering their lair and will only flee if the Terror is obviously no match for its opponent.

Habitat/Society: Black Terrors are, in rare occasions, encountered in twos, making them exponentially more dangerous. This is the only known case where Black Terrors will be seen together. Necro Terrors, on the other hand, are found often leading lesser undead minions, or worse, being led by one or more Necros.

Ecology: Black Terrors are not known to eat, though meat from other creatures is assumed. Terrors of both kinds leave an evil taint in any place they occupy, and it takes powerful light magic to nullify such a taint, which has adverse effects on local flora and fauna while it remains. Luckily most Terrors are found deep in the Abyss, where evil creatures already dwell.

Emarion Marriage

Most civilizations have at some point had a custom for the joining of two people in various regards. Marriage in Emaria, unlike some customs, has little legal hold on either party, however. Taxes are payed jointly by both, and that’s about the only bureaucratic ligature it has.

More important to people is the custom itself, and the ceremony that goes along with it. Ceremonies are usually small, with only immediate family and close friends attending, normally fewer than twenty people. The ceremony, which traditionally takes place outside, is often conducted by one of the parents, a priest, a town’s mayor, or in some very rare cases even a god.

The people attending all gather on a lush hill or whatever’s available. They sit either on the ground or on benches or other seats set up for some degree of comfort. Last to arrive is the couple getting married, who walk to the centre of the group. The others turn to greet them and give their full attention. One from the couple, usually the husband, relates the story of how they first met, and some stories about the times they spent together up to that point, usually leaving out the method and place he (or she, if the wife did) proposed the marriage. The other then speaks briefly about their plans for the future, where they plan to live, how many children, et cetera. In the case of same-sex couples the explanations can go either way.

The couple then speaks vows to each other to support each other, have no other romantic links and other such promises which, in older times before and shortly after the Dragonian War, the attending family and friends were actually expected to hold the couple to those vows. The couple then sits together in the middle of the group and everyone eats a large meal. As people finish eating, they give their best wishes to the new couple and leave the wedding. When everyone but the couple and the person conducting the ceremony have left, the conductor presents both of them with a piece of jewelry to signify their marriage, usually rings or amulets.

The jewelry is usually silver or gold with gems that either match the others’ eyes, or are the favourite gem of the wearer. Once they’ve donned the jewelry, the conductor leaves the ceremony as well, leaving the couple alone, who then sit together and just enjoy the company of the other for a while before leaving as well.

Abomination

Abomination
Climate: Warm caves
Frequency: Rare
Seeded Worlds: Azureus, Eterna, Entrega, Ifavi (extinct)
Organization: Colony
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Average
Size: Medium
Danger Level: Tough to Very Dangerous

Abominations typically come in three types: Shamanic, magic-users who patrol cooler caves in the Abyss; Savage, which possess a large horn and prefer hotter climates; and Clan, which always travel in fours and have no preference of climate, even being seen above ground in rare cases. All three varieties have the ability to float in the air as if levitating, and even sleep while doing so.

Combat: Shamanic Abominations, when faced with combat, will normally cast spells until the opponent gets close, then attempt to bite it. Savage Abominations bite and try to impale anything living they run across except other Abominations, and will continue to attack until the enemy is dead, even if it runs away. Clan Abominations are much smaller and tend to avoid combat with larger enemies, unless they are hungry, in which case they will attack anything human-sized or smaller. They have weak magic they can cast, and large teeth compared to their size, but their main form of attack seems to be slamming headfirst into enemies to knock them down, then bite down on the throat.

Habitat/Society: Other than Clan Abominations, they are rarely seen in any societal roles, though they tend to ignore each other rather than attack, as they do any other living creature they run across. Clan Abominations are almost always within ten meters of each other, and don’t openly interact with each other, indicating they may be connected by a hive mind with each other.

Ecology: Abominations are rarely seen eating, and waste doesn’t seem to be a problem, leading many to speculate that Abominations don’t actually exist entirely on this plain. Only Clan Abominations seem to require food, and most of the time they just eat whatever they kill, until danger draws near.

Onyx Crawler

Onyx Crawler
Climate: Caves, grasslands, and forests
Frequency: Very Common
Seeded Worlds: Azureus, Eterna, Oastanai
Organization: Nest
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Animal
Size: Medium
Danger Level: Low

Onyx are a type of creature appearing in two forms. Crawlers are the workers, defenders, foragers, and diggers for the nest. Queens are the hive mind connecting them all, laying new eggs and directing the current Crawlers to better the nest. Onyx are one of the most common semi-dangerous animals on the face of Azureus and Eterna, and are slightly less common on Oastanai.

Combat: When faced with combat, Onyx Crawlers will attack with their front two legs, and often their tail. They will only ever run from battle if the nest is low on resources and can not easily afford to lose Crawlers. If they are caught in a battle in the queen’s chambers, they will do everything to protect her, sometimes just blindly rushing the opposition in hopes it will slow it down. That said, the exoskeleton on an Onyx Crawler leaves much to be desired, and they are easily killed if provoked or looking for food.

Habitat: Onyx Crawlers thrive under the open plains. Many nests have dug complex cave systems and established hives where survival is relatively easy. The Crawlers are connected via a hive mind to the Onyx Queen, which can order them around up to a hundred kilometers away. In some cases rogue Crawlers can be found, which usually means the Queen was killed or the distance between the two was great enough for the connection to sever. In these cases the Crawler will generally just search for food and try to survive on its own, but with a limited mind of its own, this generally proves ineffective.

Ecology: Onyx Crawlers forage for food wherever they can find it. Being omnivores, this means fruit if they can find it, herbs if they can’t, and meat on the rare occasions they manage to swarm something before it has the good sense to run away. Onyx Crawlers are more often than not found alone or in groups of two or three, because Queens generally want to cover as much ground as possible at any given time. Onyx Crawlers tend to be good for the natural environment, providing fertility to soil when they die and maintaining a manageable population. The caves they dig are sometimes home to other creatures and they don’t eat too much so their impact is minimal.

Bestiary

Creature Name: The name of the creature, present in the title
Climate: The basic terrain the creature is encountered in
Frequency: How rare the creature is
Seeded Worlds: What planets or systems the creature is located on
Organization: The word used to describe groups (tribe, pack)
Diet: Carnivore, Herbivore, or Omnivore
Intelligence: How intelligent the creature is, if at all
Size: The size of a singular creature
Danger Level: In a word, how difficult the creature is to kill

Description: A basic description of the creature

Combat: Describes the behavior of the creature when faced with combat

Habitat/Society: Describes the general organization of the species, and how it lives, etc.

Ecology: Describes the creature’s impact on the environment, including its main source of food

Lyndor

The Lyn are a subrace of humans, the immigrants to Viridia who landed in the northwest and build a flourishing country for themselves where other races had little interest in travelling. They established their capitol in Ironmark, and set up other forts in the mountains and along the Ashen Coast. There were also smaller established villages in the mountains, and two larger cities with no accompanying fort.

Physically, the Lyn have little variance outside of facial structure. Their skin is uniformly fair, and the only naturally occurring hair colour is brown, sometimes with a bit of red. Their eyes boast a larger variety of blues, browns, and greens. A lot of Lyn dye their hair different colours through dye, magic, or the odd magic dye.

The people of Lyndor make their livings in enough varying ways to render the country completely self-sufficient, but almost every man, woman and child has some role in their main source of entertainment: one-on-one swordfights between some of the best swordsmen in the world. This form of entertainment draws crowds (including non-humans) to the Lyndor forts every year for a large organized tournament.

Traziun besting an opponent

The competitors use the flats (or in the case of one-sided weapons, the backs) of their swords when fighting, and due to the high amount of skill in the professional fighters, injuries worse than the expected bruising are rare. In organized fights, the competitors stand about ten meters apart, and when the start of the match is signalled, quickly close the distance and lock blades in an attempt to gain an advantage on the other. The match is usually over when one of the warriors surrenders, which doesn’t normally take too long given the amount of pain involved with getting hit in the side by a broadsword.

Naturally from this sport celebrities rose out of the best fighters, including a man who held the tournament’s championship for five straight years, Traziun, who was the favourite at nearly every tournament he entered, including his first. In his sixth year holding the title, Traziun was defeated in the championship match by a Connor Gibbs, a first-year competitor who had bested every combatant in record time leading up to the match.

The fight was spectacular, lasting hours instead of minutes, and in the end Traziun lay defeated, only losing when he lost consciousness. It took a month for both warriors’ wounds to fully heal, and when all was said and done, both fighters retired, leaving the title empty for the first time since the tournament began. Ten years later, both warriors entered the battlefield one more time, facing each other to give the audience a long-awaited encore. Their second fight ended an hour later, with Traziun left standing this time, and while the match was shorter than their first, it was by far more intense.

There was no bitterness between the two afterwards, because like good warriors, they respected their opponents too much. Fans of both cried for one final match, to settle the tie, but even Connor admitted that Traziun was by far superior and declined the tie-breaker. Neither warrior fought in another structured match after that, but Traziun went on training new swordsmen, ending in several championship-holders before the end of his career.

Upon Traziun’s death, a statue was erected in Ironmark to honour his memory, while Connor eventually faded from memory, happy enough of what he had once accomplished.