Argilla

The World of the Fourth Age

Argilla is an averaged sized world with approximately 70% of its surface covered by oceans. There are six main continents with two smaller ones and several chains of Islands.

Argilla is orbited by four moons with varying periods for each. They are Alpha, 28 days, Beta, 104 days, Gamma, 224 days, and Whirligig, 16 days.

The Land Masses of Argilla

Ah Kaktipup:
        Tropical islands in the Phasm Ocean. Ancestral home of, and exclusively inhabited by, the Fpihtet.
Fornash Plarta:
        A temperate island nation north of Mrazak rich in most minerals. Temperate climate, with cosmopolitan inhabitants. Location of the tomb of Kiralt.
Gruud:
        Island continent in the north. Temperate to sub-arctic climate; mostly evergreen forest. Ancestral home of the Kobolds.
Hoansten:
        Continent between the Northern Continent and Vallum. Its geography includes tropical, subtropical, temperate, desert, and alpine regions. Inhabited mostly by humans, but all races are represented in large numbers.
Keelbos:
        Northernmost continent in the Eastern Hemisphere, also know as the Northern Continent. Primarily temperate, though much of the interior is desert. Ancestral home of humans. Major city is Celior.
Luvad:
        Equatorial continent in Western Hemisphere. The interior and east coast is tropical rain forest, with subtropical and temperate regions around its north, west, and south edges. Ancestral home of the Elves, who still dominate the subtropical and temperate areas, and the Apuku, who dominate the interior.
Mrazak:
        Equatorial continent in Western Hemisphere. The interior is a large desert; the southern end is mostly temperate. The gods often contend with each other in this desert, so it has become a holy spot to many. Location of the Most Holy Mrazakian Shrines.
Sunnyrunnion Archipelago:
        A chain of tropical islands between Luvad and Hoansten. Shipping traffic is common among them, because they lay on the major trading route between Luvad and the eastern continents.
Torn Sea Islands:
        Archipelago west of Keelbos. The large islands and some small ones are inhabited, but communication among the islands and between the islands and other parts of the world is very rare, owing to the strong currents, plentiful icebergs, and near incessant storms in the area. Inimical weather makes travel to and among these islands very difficult. Nobody seems to know exactly who lives here. It is rumored that Elvis has been seen here.
Vallum:
        Eastern continent between Werniv and Hoansten. Very mountainous along all its perimeter except the west. Interior is very dry desert. Ancestral home of orcs and other earthbretheren, who inhabit the mountains. The foothills and lowlands are settled mainly by Dwarves and humans.
Werniv:
        South polar continent. Mostly uninhabitable glacier, but the northernmost part contains much tundra and some taiga.
Yiloah:
        An island chain north of Keelbos. Also the name of a large active volcano in this island chain.

The Oceans and Seas of Argilla

Corsair Sea:
        The ocean between Vallum and Luvad. Known for the large quantities of pirates who prey on shipping in this area.
Phasm Ocean:
        Ocean west of Mrazak and east of Northern Continent, Hoansten, and Vallum.
The Polar Sea:
        This body of water covers the north pole of Argilla. During the winter it has large quantities of ice floating in it.
Torn Sea:
        The ocean between Keelbos and Gruud. Known for its violent weather.
Unknown Sea I:
        This body of water is bounded by Mrazak to the west, Werniv to the south and Luvad to the east.
Unknown Sea II:
        This body of water lies in the northern half of the western hemisphere. It is roughly bounded by Fornash Plarta, Mrazak, Luvad and Gruud.

The Moons

Alpha:
        Alpha is slightly larger than Earth's moon. It is volcanically active, has a surface gravity of around 1/5 g. Because of the vulcanism there is an atmosphere, which consists primarily of sulfur compounds and other volcanic gases.
Beta:
        Beta is a Cloud covered body that is very dense, resulting from its surface gravity of about g. Because of the cloud cover the albedo of beta is around 90%. The high gravity allows there to be a breathable atmosphere. There is life on beta, legends persist in claiming that some of the life on Beta is intelligent. Since no one has traveled to Beta and returned, there is no proof of this either way.
Gamma:
        Is a small rock that has no atmosphere and appears as a grey speck in the sky. The surface gravity is approximately 1/10 g.
Whirligig:
        A man made satellite that is very bright due to the polished surface. There is no gravity because of the failure of the systems during the superconductor plague. It is unknown whether the air inside is still breathable.

The Night Sky of Argilla

There are many notable objects visible in the night sky. The four moons are the most widely known and visible objects. By no means are they the only ones.

The Planets

Six of the other planets in the Argilla system are visible with the naked eye. Three of these are rocky bodies similar to Argilla, the other three are gas giants similar to Jupiter or Saturn. There are four other known planets and two asteroid belts that are not visible with the naked eye.

The Argilla system does have an Ort cloud that sends comets into the inner system on a frequent basis. These comets rarely pose any threat to the inhabitants of Argilla, but do provide very interesting displays in the night sky.

The Constellations

The night sky is divided into many different constellations. Thirteen of these form the equivalent of the Zodiac for Argilla. Each one of these is associated with on of the months. Below is a list of these constellations:

Constellation           Month
The Monkey              Monkey
The Hound               Dog
The Fires               Flame
  This is a collection of red and orange stars that illuminate a diffuse nebula that glows a reddish orange. Some people associate this with  Nustar.
The Harp                Bard
  This constellation appears as a lyre.  This is associated with Zeugma.
The Lovers              Lovers
  Associated with Davrina.
The Skull               Bones
  Associated with Barnack, Lord of the Dead.
The Fox                 Fox
The Bear                Bear
  Associated with Urs.
The Rat                 Rat
The Bee                 Bee
  Some people associate this constellation with Ynar.
The Stag                Stag
  For various reasons some people associate this constellation with
  Oghmart.
The Dragon              Dragon
The Mountain            Mountain
  Associated with Grabben.
 

There are also several constellations that are associated with the gods. Below is a list of all the gods and the constellations associated with them:

Anulto              none
  Since the symbols of Anulto, the moons, are almost always visible in the night sky, there is no constellation associated with Anulto.
Avilix              The Orb
  An open cluster of stars that reminds people of a crystal ball.
Barnack             The Skull
  A constellation that appears to be the skull of a human.
Coriol              The Storm
  This is not a constellation, but rather it is a spiral galaxy that is visible with the naked eye, much as the Magellanic Clouds are from Earth.
Davrina             The Lovers
  Two figures commonly drawn in loving embrace.
Drak                none
  There is no constellation associated with Drak.  Mainly because the constellations were named before Drak rose to power.  In recent years a dark area of the sky, a nearby dust cloud, has been associated with Drak because it is said to contain secret worlds.
Faviid              The Anvil
  An anvil shaped collection of stars.  Is thought to be Faviid's Anvil.
Gazlar              The Mace
  A cluster of stars with a line of stars trailing away to one side.  Is seen as the Mace of Gazlar.
Ghu                 The Rune
  This constellation appears as a simple rune.  Some people say it resembles the first rune on the stone at Morrow.
Grabben             The Mountain
Hydor               The Waves
  This is a diffuse nebula similar to the Fires except the color is blue-green.
Itis                none
Kiralt              The Hand
  This hand shaped constellation is seen to be the healing hand of Kiralt. It is also associated with White Barnack.
Maxwell             The Hammer
Mir                 none
Navanya             The Tree
Noegnud             The Ladder
  This group of stars appears as a ladder and some think it to be a visible manifestation of the Ladder of Torment.  It is eight stars in two parallel lines.
Nustar              none (The Fires)
Oghmart             The Hunter
  This constellation is similar to Orion as seen from Earth.  It is located near the Stag.
Phed                The Scroll
Random              none
Rastalic            The Crown of Rastalic
  This is a ring of bright stars that circle the north pole.  It consists of twelve stars equally spaced around an even brighter central star.
Semerh              none
Solm                The Scales
  These are thought of as the scales for balancing justice.
Urs            The Bear
Xod            The Sword
Ynar           The Sickle
  Representing the tools used to harvest the fruits of Ynar.
Zeugma              The Harp
 

The Stars

The night sky of Argilla has as many stars as the sky of Earth. There are many bright stars that have been named. Some of these have distinct color and may be associated with a particular god.

Named Stars:

The Hounds Nose
        The nose of the constellation The Hound.
The Tip of the Crown
        This is the north pole star.
The Heart of Flames
        A bright red star in The Fires.
The Dead Eye
        The star that is one of the eyes of The Skull.
The Mace Head
        A cluster of stars that forms part of The Mace.
The Eye of Avilix
        the central star in the Orb.
The Pommel
        A bright star at the pommel of the Sword

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- 1996 by Eric Rosenberg, Robert Lacey and Mark Isaak