Unexplored Areas
The Edge
The edge of the world has been visited a few times in the past, but the
only known accounts are third-hand (or worse) and sketchy. According to
common belief, the edge of the world consists of a ridge of hills perhaps
five or six miles across overlooking a vast drop. Beyond the rim is a plane
of mist that shrouds the sun and moon as they rise and set. Observations
from the rim suggest that the world disc is more than one hundred mile thick,
but how much thicker is unknown. The rim is rumored to be sparsely inhabited
by a race of elf-like entities, perhaps refugees of the last reformation
of the world.
The Underside
Magical surveylance has proven difficult for unknown reasons, but the underside
of the world disc appears to be a single vast roughly conical mountain.
Vague observations suggest that the underside is inhabited by vast numbers
of eerie and unfamiliar creatures. Some theories suggest that demons come
not from a metaspatially parallel underworld, but rather from the underside
of the world.
The Epicycles
The world is surrounded by at least seven concentric epicycles, which are
made from a perfectly transparent material of unknown composition. The innermost
epicycle, which revolves once a day, carries the sun and moon at opposite
poles (the "sun" and "moon" poles are on the equator
of the epicycle). The moon's light waxes and wanes on a thirty-day cycle,
dimming almost to nothing at the extreme end of the cycle.
The next five epicycles contain "planets," or irregularly moving
stars. Each epicycle rotates in a slower period (three months for the innermost,
fifty years for the outermost) in the same direction and on the same axis
as the solar epicycle. However, each of those epicycles holds an additional
or "auxiliary" epicycle at its equator, which holds the planet
itself. The auxiliary epicycle rotates in the opposite direction, making
the planet appear to change direction on occasion. Particularly keen-eyed
observers have observed several very dim stars following the path of two
planets, suggesting that the auxiliary epicycles may have auxiliaries of
their own.
The outermost epicycle, which has a cycle of one year, holds a large number
of apparently fixed stars. However, some sages have suggested that some
might actually be planets in tiny auxiliary epicycles, so distant that their
motion is invisible.
The epicycles are rumored to be the homes of celestial beings. In particular,
the planets are said to be the homes of powerful spirits, and several societies
believe that the stars in the outermost epicycle are inhabited by the souls
of the dead.
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Big thanks to the folks at GeoCities
for providing me this space.