Maker of Fire

Since the plot is getting more complex and the geographical extent is expanding, I am including this reference section in the hope that it will keep a lid on a growing world setting.

Differences between Cosm and Coyn species of humans

Coyn are essentially Homo sapiens sapiens, i.e. modern humans. The main character Emily is short at 7 hands (4 foot 10 inches or 142 cm) and 90 stone (90 pounds or 41 kilos) when she first meets Aylem and Asgotl.

All Cosm are magical but four out of five don't have enough magic that's usable. All Cosm, even ones considered unmagical, can impress their aura onto sealing wax with contains powered left-handed quartz which can store a small amount of magic. (The quartz crystal lattice on the molecular scale has two different symmetries: right handed and left handed. Check out a rock collectors guide on quartz twins for more details.)

Cosm who are not magical are twice normal human height and average ten to twelve times the weight. Oyyuth, Usruldes' wife, is a short Cosm at 16 hands (10 foot 8 inches or 325 cm).

Cosm weight goes up by more than the cube compared to Coyn because their bone density is denser and the intercellular bonding is stronger in the fluorapatite mineral structure that makes up most mammal bones. The bone to muscle mass is higher than in Coyn and their evolved calcium budget for their metabolism is tripled on a mass basis compared to Coyn to ward off osteoporosis. This has the curious effect of Cosm craving calcium-rich foods and seasoning. They mine calcium carbonate (calcite as marble or optical calcite) and use it as a seasoning. Food prepared for Coyn must be made without calcite seasoning because it would otherwise lead to hypercalcemia, which as a chronic condition leads to kidney stones, weakened bone structure and impaired cognition.

Magical ability is approximately proportional to size though there are statistical outliers on this relationship. Magic skills have been observed in children as young as six but magical traits usually begin to display at eight in children who will develop full magic powers as adults. Full magic development has two associated physiological traits, which are the lost of melanin in all body hair and heights greater than 18 hands (12 feet or 367 cm) for men and 19.5 hands for women (13 feet or 396 cm). Cosm with partial magic develop do not show the greater heights associated with full magical powers but do show partial loss of melanin in body hair.

The Shrines

The gods originally shared the Crystal Shrine. As Foskos grew, the gods moved out on their own to establish independent but linked shrines. The shrines were founded over several millennia and are ranked in precedence by the order of their founding.

Deity Shrine Name Current High Priestess Deity Attributes Colors Priestess & Priest titles Area of Civil Authority Location

Tiki Crystal Foyuna life, light, fire, time blue, yellow skymage calendar, independent mage oversight Southeast of Queenstown

Mugash Healing Lisaykos healing, medicine grey, white, black healer healing, public health Aybhas

Landa White Fassex magic purple, black adept punishment, magic tools, charms Yant

Gertzpul Hospitable Sutsusum death, roads, bridges, dark blue, white wayfarer roads, bridges, travel Two ferry Island

Galt Fated Kamagishi knowledge, fate red white librarian, recorder, judge judiciary, history, scholarship Is’syal

Surd Restful Rakkalbos family, home, doors tan, sap green guardian Vital records, wills Surdos

Mueb Bountiful Ashansalt harvest, nature orange black ranger, forester, tiller farming Ark’kos

Sassoo Singing Senlyosart wind, music, hunt red ochre gray windshaper, voice post, news Black Falls

Erhonsay Peaceful Irralray war, peace, wisdom dark green, red defender police (guards), military Kas

Vassu Shrouded Moxsef water, weather teal, rose pink watermage irrigation, water systems Weirgos

Giltak Building Raoleer craft, commerce yellow ochre, plum artificer craft guilds Omexkel

Several shrines have titles for non-priest/non-priestess staff like shrine craftmaster, scholar, music master, warrior, builder, caretaker, etc.

Relationships between the royal house of haup Foskos

The last six kings Relationships

Imnestal Fassex’s great great grandfather; Senlyosart’s great great great grandfather

Imyexalos

Imdeseop

Imhoyep Lisaykos’ uncle

Imnokos Irralray’s brother, Foyuna’s uncle; note: Irralray is Foyuna's mother

Imstay Foyuna’s cousin, Katsa’s and Usruldes’ second cousin

Volume

1 horn is approx. 2 gallons or 7.57 liters

4 horns - 1 pail

10 pails = 1 firkin

8 firkin = 1 barrel

Weight

1 stone is approximately 1 kilo or 2.2 lbs

Distance

1 wagon-day is approximately 12 miles

1 wagon-day is 8,000 hands by the new Emily standard, 7,920 hands by the old standard

1 hand = 5 fingers (old standard) = 10 half-fingers (new standard) = approx 8 inches or 20.3 cm

Time

1 year = 360 days = 36 rotations = 4 seasons (planting, growing, harvest and cold)

1 rotation = 10 days

The midday of the planting and harvest seasons are equinoxes

The midday of the growing and cold seasons are solstices

Time during the day is still based on the position of the sun. Daylight is divided into seven bells where the first bell is at dawn, the fourth bell is at midday and the seventh bell is at dusk. Night has only three bells, at one quarter of the night, one-half an three-quarters. The timing of the quarters is based on star positions. The mages from the shrine of Tiki use clairvoyance to determine the position of the sun and stars when it's overcast, which is why the Crystal Shrine of Tiki is known for its clairvoyant farseeing and remote sensing.