Qirsyllviar

The World of Patria, a world on another plane of existence, is a world with five main continents, Aquilonis, Eurodon, Nekcroz, Ingodija and Marlakcor, and a large ocean Maritymir on the surface, and a smaller continent, Alfheim, flying over the equator over the course of a year. Additionally, Eurodon and Aquilonis together form a larger continent called Arqupeiro. There are also some smaller islands flying overhead. Some move like Alfheim, due to various unknown influences, while others remain stationary.

Eurodon
Eurodon is the northwestern continent of Patria; modeled after Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Eurodon forms the western half of the continent Arqupeiro.

Aquilonis
Aquilonis is the north-central continent of Patria; has the most republics than any other continent. Mostly resembles parts of Europe and Asia. Most of the south and southeast is modeled after the Middle-East. Aquilonis forms the eastern half of the continent Arqupeiro.

Marlakcor
Marlakcor is the northeastern continent of Patria. Mostly modeled after East and Southeast Asia, primarily China.

Nekcroz
Nekcroz is the southwestern continent of Patria; modeled after Pre-Colombian Mesoamerican cultures of the Americas.

Ingodija
Ingodija is the south-central continent of Patria; modeled after India.

Maritymir
Maritymir is Patria's southeastern ocean, and the largest ocean on Patria; modeled after Oceania.

Arctica
Arctica is the northernmost continent of Patria.

Alfheim
Alfheim (Zedyl: ) (Obyrt: ᚨᛚᚠᚺᛇᛗ) is Patria's smallest of continents and the main homeland of all Patrian Fairies. It is in constant motion circumnavigating the world eastward over the Grand Line over the course of one full Patrian Year. Homeland of one of the seven Lunaculi.

The Sky Cities
Capital: Skyrkraftia Government: Federated Elective Absolute Monarchy Head of State: Sky King Head of Government: Sky King Legislature: Grand Council Demonym: Skyrkraftian Currency: ???

The Sky Cities are the collective term for thirty flying island cities that soar across the skies of Patria. Together they make up the semi-borderless nation of the Pterytiko, a race of winged-elves. With a history of neutrality, they are guarded by the legendary Sky Knights.

It is said that Skyrkraftia, the capital and largest city, holds an extensive library rumored to contain every detail of Patria's history; but whether this is fact or fiction is unknown.

Each city has its own elected lord and legislative council, from either of which the king of all the cities is elected.

The cites are supported on floating "mountains" or "islands," along with smaller stones of varying size, held together by bridges. Carried by the wind as well as moved about by magical means, the cities are in constant motion and are never in one place for very long. How exactly the Pterytiko manage to locate each city when they travel between them is a mystery to all but them. The cities move so often and are so high, even dragons have a hard time reaching them.

The known cities:
 * Aborol
 * Arkolono
 * Bykcrok
 * Corondo
 * Dynasto
 * Erop
 * Ikarolok
 * Jokye
 * Keriko
 * Kyop
 * Kyzir
 * Luo
 * Lykir
 * Molpor
 * Nifica
 * Oklor
 * Orogon
 * Qir
 * Raer
 * Rivyrica
 * Ryz
 * Skyrkraftia (capital)
 * Sonoko
 * Tcono
 * Tyr
 * Ukyro
 * Wereo
 * Wokolor
 * Xylir
 * Zyrko

Lunaculi
The Lunaculi (sing. Lunaculus) (/) are a group of people native to one of each of the seven great continents. They are the seven who, through existence alone, maintain balance between good and evil. They are easily identifiable by their unique heterochromatic eyes (crimson in the right and blue in the left) like the twin moons of Patria. There are always seven, no more no less, continuously reincarnated when one dies.

Soshijutsu
Soshijutsu is the term for the martial art that makes use of the ability to telekinetically manipulate the elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth and, to a rare extant, Energy. Each individual practice is given the suffix "-jutsu," and the four main disciplines are called: Kajijutsu for Fire, Kazejutsu for Air, Mizujutsu for Water, Tsuchijutsu for Earth, and Seijutsu for Energy. Most sub-techniques are also given the same suffix.

Slavery
From Serfdom to outright labor, slavery is a common practice throughout Patria. Only a few handful of nations have either outlawed it or made efforts to. Otherwise, it is a common sight across Patria. Slavery on Patria has no racial boundaries, so it is not uncommon to one race owning a slave of another race.

Feudalism
Feudalism is a form of government where the entire country, or parts of it, is divided amongst lords who swear oaths of fealty and vassalage to monarch, and the lands of feudal lords are in turn divided amongst lower lords that have sworn oaths of fealty to their liege lord as well as the monarch. This form of governance is the most common form of monarchical rule on Patria.

Realms under a feudal society are often akin to a confederacy or a federation, as they generally have some degree of autonomy from the monarch or liege they are sworn to; although a monarch and liege can have many vassals sworn to them, and a feudal lord is often sworn to both their direct liege and the monarch, no feudal lord can be sworn to more than one higher lord of equal footing, especially if the two equal-foot lords belong to different realms.

Feudal lords are often dynastic, with various titles depending on their culture, and individual families are often termed a "House," a "Clan," or something of the like. Dynastic lords pass down their lands and titles from parent to child until something ends the succession or their lands and titles are taken away for any reason. Feudal lords can also be elective, depending on the form of governance the nation employs.

Feudal lords are also obligated and responsible to provide some measure of sustenance to the realm they are subject to and to provide armies in the event of war. Of course, feudal lords can refuse to do either if they feel their rights to their lands are violated, or if they see no reason to oblige their liege's orders.

A lord who refuses their obligations or breaks their oath of fealty in rebellion is often subject to any manner of punishment, but the exact extent of punishment varies depending on the exact standing of the offending lord. If a settlement between a lord and vassal is reached, the offending lord or vassal often simply gets off with a reprimanding, but more serious offenses usually leads to the offender being branded an outlaw and stripped of their lands and titles. An outlaw landholder will sometimes try to defend his rights by waging war in rebellion if his own vassals remain loyal. And sometimes, but rarely, a rebelling lord will try to declare independence for their territory, leading to the establishment of an independent nation.

War between feudal lords is a common occurrence; whether it's a war for a right to inherit certain lands or titles, a conflict over territory or resources, or a simple squabble, feudal lords often go to war with one another for one reason or another, and the conflict usually only ends one the dispute is settled. The liege or monarch the lord is sword to can also get involved in the conflict, taking one side or the other, to bring about an end to the conflict. This is normally done if the liege or monarch sees a benefit to getting involved, and if the conflict ends favorably. But, since such wars are normally fought between lord beneath the monarch, a monarch getting involved usually turns the conflict into a civil war, and the war can get so large that other lords are forced to pick one side or the other if they can't stay neutral. In wars of such scale, when loyalty is questionable, lords will often side with whom they think is most likely to win.

A rebellion of lord against his liege or the monarch can end in several ways: with the rebelling lord being crushed, the rebelling lord's demands being met, or the liege or monarch overthrown and replaced with the new dynasty.

Republicanism
The idea of Republicanism is not a new concept to Patria, Regardless, the majority of countries on Patria are monarchical and only a handful of nations have implemented Republicanism as their form of government, fully or partially. Most notably is in northern central Aquilonis. The majority of states in that region are republics of some form, and most part of the former Salrinoa Federation was before it collapsed following the Salrinoan Revolutionary Wars.

Grand Line
The Grand Line is the equator of Patria. It is 120mi in width and has the strongest currents anywhere on Patria. The currents are so strong that even the sailors with the best of skill can't cut through them without being swept off course by several nautical miles. Fortunately, at regular intervals along the Grand Line there are a pair of currents that flow north and south independently of the Grand Line's currents. It's using these currents that make safe passage and maritime trade between the northern and southern hemispheres even possible. The main currents always flow from west to east, and their strength makes many believe that they are what drags Alfheim along as it flies across the world over the year.

Travel
Various methods of travel are used to traverse the world of Patria. The most common ways are on foot or beasts of burden such as horses, cattle, or oxen; travel by flight and sea is also common practice. Instant transportation is just barley coming into practice and is not common.

Seafaring
Travel by sea is also a common method. This is a bit more dangerous than by foot or flight, as anything can happen on the sea such as storms or sea-monster attacks (such as krakens or leviathans). The length of travel by sea can also vary depending on various natural or unnatural factors, lasting a few days or taking a few weeks or months. Sea travel by sail, current, and oar are the most common methods (often a combination of the three), but generally takes the longest: seafarers will sometimes employ the aid of magic users or soshiyuza (mainly kazeyuza and mizuyuza) to reduce the travel time.

Instant Transportation.
The recent discoveries and developments of teleportation magic have started making instant transportation, commonly simply known as teleportation, available. Instant transport, or teleportation, is just as the term implies, a magical way of moving from one place to another in an instant without any passage of time. The two most common ways of instant magical transport is warpstones and Gate Portals. Warpstones are natural rocks naturally infused with teleportation magic, while Gate Portals are stationary conduits scattered around Patria.

Some magical creatures, such as demons and angels, have the natural ability to teleport themselves without some kind of magical tool or spell. Mages are also capable of sending people around Patria without warpstones or Gate Portals.

Despite the moderate availability of instant transportation, it isn't very popular, as it can go horribly wrong; the people being transported can end up in the wrong place, or wind up with missing body parts that ended up transported elsewhere.

Gate Portals
Gate Portals are a magical means of long distance travel in an instant period of time. Gate Portals are easily recognized by the stone mosaic with four short pillars in front of it on top of a low platform.

Gate Portals can be used to travel between continents, or from one end of a continent to the other, in short periods; but, they can only be used to travel to another Gate Portal, not a random location. However, Gate Portals require a Gatekeeper to be used. Gatekeepers, as the name suggests, are the Gate Portal's operators and send travelers from one Gate Portal to another, usually for a fee.

The way it works is, the people or object being transported stand in the middle of the platform, then the Gate Portal is activated. A large, shimmering, glasslike sphere appears within the four pillars where the transported people/objects were, then the orb shrinks into oblivion along with those being transported, and the persons and objects being transported appear at the other Gate Portal. It is required for both Gate Portals to have a Gatekeeper for the transportation to work; if a Gate Portal has no Gatekeeper, the Gate Portal is inoperable and useless.

Another downside to Gate Portals is that they can't transport very large groups such as armies. This is because, not only is the Gate Portal platform relatively small, once a Gate Portal is used, it needs a few hours (often between two and five) to "recharge" before it can be used again. This limitation makes them useless as weapons of war.

No one aside for the Gatekeepers themselves know exactly how the Gate Portals work, but it is believed that mastery of teleportation magic is a requirement to become a Gatekeeper. It is also rumored that every Gatekeeper has a telepathic connection with one another so they know which Gate Portals are operable, but this isn't confirmed.

There are as many 350 known Gate Portals scattered around Patria. Some were built relatively recently while others are as old as time.

Flight
The ability of flight as transportation is not new anywhere on Patria, and is slowly becoming a popular method of travel on Patria. Flight comes natural to all Patrian fairies, and riding flying beasts isn't new either, but riding on broomsticks and magic carpets is relatively new. The most recent flight developments are flying ships called airships, made by adding flight magic to ordinary seafaring vessels. The only nations on Patria to truly master flight without magic or beast riding are Atlantis and Xotil, via use of alien technology that crashed into their respective homelands centuries ago; but Xotil's aggressive nature, and Atlantis' and strict secrecy, make it all but impossible for outside nations to even begin to understand how, or even acquire the method.

Communication, Delivery & Correspondence
Communication over vast distances has always been a problem across Patria. The various mail systems across the globe are intricate and complex.

The most common method is overland using couriers on foot or horse, which can take days or weeks to get information to it's destination. Fast Centaurs will sometimes volunteer for this job, but they can still take a long time to reach their destination.

Delivery by water is another method of communication of delivery, but this is restricted to waterways in the case of rivers or canals, and coastal towns in the case of sea; and so this method is often merely part of a relay system of delivery.

Over the recent centuries, trained birds have been used to send messages or small packages. Some popular birds trained to be used for such communication include, eagles, vultures, falcons, hawks, owls, ravens, parrots, pigeons, and sparrows. The bird chosen to make the delivery usually depends on what their carrying; smaller birds like ravens or pigeons are used for carrying messages, while larger birds like falcons and eagles are used for packages; again, chosen depending on the weight of what they're delivering. Friendly Harpies or fast Fairies will sometimes volunteer for this job as well. Couriers using flying beasts like Pegasi and Hippogriffs are another form of delivery by air, but this is not a highly popular method.

Mail by air is definitely a faster form of delivery, but mail by land remains popularly in use; but no matter what method is used, the mail can still sometimes be delayed if the courier or gets lost or off track; and sometimes the mail will never reach it destination due to the courier getting intercepted or perishing along the way.

The more recent magical inventions of "Magic Mirrors" and "Crystal Balls" has made communication across distances instantaneous, allowing two or more people in separate locations, even across separate continents, to converse in real-time. Unfortunately, due to being relatively recent discoveries, along with being extremely difficult to make, they're not very common, making them rare sights.

Piracy
Piracy is the illegal seizure of goods from civilian and commercial shipping, as well as the peacetime capture of warships.

While looked down upon by most civil societies of Patria, piracy is still a common occurrence. Most pirates operate in secret, but others take to privateering (attacking ships while under the employ of a nation) during wartime for a legal excuse to raid ships for profit.

Pirates do not usually discriminate, and are more than willing to attack any tempting prize; adding to this, they're normally also willing to let anyone join. As a result, pirates are complete with people and races from all over the world. While not on a job, or attacking shipping, pirates most usually go after rival pirates rather than raid civilian and commercial ships or coastal towns.

Not all pirates are direct threats; some adopt codes and become known for their honor, chivalry, peerlessness, and are willing to do any deed for any nation, so long they pay and its honorable. Some honorable pirates will hunt pirates that openly attack indiscriminately, and are often willing to aid those in distress. Those who follow such honorable styles, tend to earn the honorific "Chivalrous Pirates".

The Spirit World
The Spirit World, sometimes known as the Land of the Dead or the Astral World, is the land where spirits live separate from the living world. Spirits have lived there since the beginning of everything.

The Underworld
The Underworld, also known as Hades, Hell, Purgatory, Tartarus etc., is the uncharted subterranean world beneath Patria's surface. The underworld is where the darkest of dark creatures reside and only the bravest of souls dare to enter. It is supposedly the homeland of the Dark Lord that threatened Patria before the Lunaculi defeated him, and it is hence said to be the place he was banished afterwards. Whether it is fact or fiction is still unknown. The capital of the Underworld is known to all as Tenebrae, but its exact location in the Underworld is a complete mystery.

Calendar
The Patrian Calendar, also known as the Solramese Calendar, was first adopted at least four thousand years after the lifetime of the first seven lunaculi. Created by Solramese astronomers during the reign of Solram I, founder of the Kingdom of Solram, an ancient state once resting in central Eurodon, founded within a few years of the Fall of the Zedylrian Empire.

The calendar was first adopted several years after the inauguration of the Kingdom of Solram, a state that emerged out of the chaos that resulted in Zedylria's destruction, and uses the widely acknowledged year of Zedylria's end as start year, marking the first year and all years after as AFZ (After Fall of Zedylria), thus making years prior BFZ (Before Fall of Zedylria). The creators of the calendar viewed the Fall of Zedylria as a major turning point in history, and so used the year the empire fell as the base for the calendar, thus marking the year Zedylria fell as 0AFZ.

The most accurate of any previous calendar, this calendar was at first only used by the Solramese Kingdom, but has since been adopted by the majority of Patria. Even while the Kingdom of Solram has ceased to exist, it remains the most trusted calendar of Patria.

The Patrian year lasts 373 days. There are twelve months ranging 30-32 days and weeks last for seven days.

Months;

 * 1) Lanayan, 31 days
 * 2) Haneyan, 30 days
 * 3) Trisca, 32 days
 * 4) Yuisk, 30 days
 * 5) Windoni, 32 days
 * 6) Rasanova, 32 days
 * 7) Gopaco, 31 days
 * 8) Jesoran, 31 days
 * 9) Canagyr, 30 days
 * 10) Opesagyr, 31 days
 * 11) Nomagyr, 32 days
 * 12) Lassagyr, 31 days

Days of the week;

 * 1) Goddya
 * 2) Rerudya
 * 3) Yuldya
 * 4) Leodya
 * 5) Kiomidya
 * 6) Eardya
 * 7) Hoderdya

Stories

 * The Chronicles of Patria: The Silver Bat
 * The Chronicles of Patria: The Secret of Garvis
 * The Chronicles of Patria: Princess Isabella

Notes & Trivia

 * Patria is a world on another plane of existence from earth.
 * The current political maps of Patria are of the mid-46th century by the Patrian Calendar, after the conclusion of the Great Northern Aquilonis War and the Soleilian Civil War.
 * Despite the apparent century, life on most Patria, particularly throughout most of Eurodon, and northern and parts of southeastern Aquilonis, mimics life in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. A few places mimic life in slightly earlier or later ages.
 * The age of gunpowder, referred to by its early name "black powder", is also only just barely starting to come play. Fireworks are a common sight across all of Patria, but the same cannot be said for black powder weapons. Many nations have either yet to officially acquire such weapons, or have simply rejected them outright, preferring to rely on the sword. Hence, early guns are almost nonexistent; as such black powder weapons such as fire arrows and lances are the only type of firearms used on Patria, and are only starting to come into common use, while primitive cannons are barely in use at all. The use of grenades is just becoming common practice as well.
 * The Printing Press has also been invented, and is widely used all across Patria, particularly in the northern hemisphere, and colonial countries in the south.
 * Ship designs are a combination of sails (usually one or two masts) and oars, mostly resembling galleys from ancient or medieval Mediterranean civilizations, but outward designs can differ from culture to culture. Some designs will do away with one or both sails, relying solely on rowing, to make room for an artillery piece such as a ballista, trebuchet or catapult. The front of ships will also sometimes have a ram, but it isn't relatively common practice.
 * "Patria" is the Latin word for homeland.
 * Arqupeiro, the term for Eurodon and Aquilonis combined, is a portmanteau of the Latin word "Arquus," which means "Arch," and and Greek word "Iperio," which means "continent."
 * Despite what's shown on the map, the actual boundary between Eurodon and Aquilonis has always been subject to debate among geographers.
 * Patria is smaller than Earth. If you place the maps side-by-side (3 columns, 2 rows), then going by the scales, from the west equatorial end of Patria to the east end, the circumference of Patria is 19,800mi (31865.011km). Earth's circumference is 24,901mi (40,075km). Thus, Patria is 5,101mi (8209.264km) smaller than Earth, that's roughly 1/4 the size. Despite the difference in the size of the planets, the length of Patria's days is the same as Earth's, 24 hours, and the gravity is the same as well (that's because, the despite the difference in size, Patria is the same mass as Earth).