The Nations And Serpents of Ferica

Ferica is composed of eight nations, each of which contains a primary temple for one of their eight primary deities, all represented by serpents. The names of the nations are the same as the names of the serpent holding a major temple there. The other serpents hold minor temples within each nation.

Each serpent is represented by a band of four colors and an aspect. They will be listed in the left-to-right or top-down order in which the bands are displayed. However, if the leftmost or topmost color is "cold", (meaning it is blue, brown, violet or indigo), the "proper" reading of the bands is either right-to-left or bottom-up, as appropriate.

Babue the Boa has a major temple in the southern part of Ferica, on the eastern shore near the island nation of Gaska.The display order of Babue's bands is blue, brown, red, and orange, and its aspect is angels. This is not surprising, given that Babue is home to a race of flying humans called Hirazi that resemble angels.

Gaska the Python has a major temple on the large island just off Ferica's southeast coast. The display order of Gaska's bands is green, red, brown, and violet, and its aspect is birds. The island is home to a human tribe, most of whom raise birds.

Kona the Anaconda has a major temple in the center of Ferica. The display order of Kona's bands is indigo, blue, green, and red, and its aspect is the underworld. The nation of Kona is home to the continent's Sohleugir population.

Nambi the Cottonmouth has a major temple in the southern part of Ferica, on the western shore. The display order of Nambi's bands is red, orange, violet, and indigo, and its aspect is matter. The nation of Nambi is home to numerous centaurs of various types.

Nilya the Asp has a major temple in the northeast part of Ferica, near the Aashar Desert (called the Desert of Doom by non-Fericans). The display order of Nilya's bands is yellow, green, blue, and brown, and its aspect is spirit. Nilya (the nation) is home to humans. Unlike most humans of Ferica, over half of its priests worship elemental forces, believing them to be the forerunners of the serpents.

Tsudeph the Rattlesnake has a major temple on the southernmost point of the continent of Ferica. The display order of Tsudeph's bands is brown, violet, orange, and yellow, and its aspect is the sky. The nation of Tsudeph is home to humans who are trying to learn how to fly using technology.

Vori the Cobra has a major temple in the westernmost "bulge" of Ferica. The display order of Vori's bands is orange, yellow, indigo, and blue, and its aspect is beasts of burden. The nation of Vori is home to merchants and caravan drivers, most of whom are human, although every known race (elves, halflings, centaurs, and so on) is represented.

Zera the Viper has a major temple in the Aashar Desert. The display order of Zera's bands is violet, indigo, yellow, and green, and its aspect is sentient, mortal life. The nation of Zera has no dominant race; all races are present with approximately equal frequency.

More information will be presented as it becomes available.

The Montrose Chant

If you don't know what this is, ask your fellow players:

You, betrayed by time and space
Born without a proper grace
To a world befouled and base:
Seek to find your proper place.
Though your world has made you strong,
On the whole, it does you wrong.
You know you do not belong
Where you can not sing your song.
How are you to make it right?
Should you flee or must you fight?
You will know your nascent might
Enter now the healing light.
Destiny you now must face
Run your true appointed race
Find your proper form and case:
Cross the void of time and space!

The above is attributed to "St. Montrose of Erora, Lord Wizard under the Emperor Hadrian"

Return of Bladehex: January 26, 2008

Bladehex will return to its usual Saturday spot on January 26, beginning around 5:00 p.m.

Calendars of Aropa and Hessia (with modern equivalnets)

Aropa uses a 13-month calendar, each with 28 days. As this only accounts for 364 days, one or two days are added after the 13th month, to account for missing days. These added days are not part of any week, so the months always start on Lunis. This calendar is also called the Cafren calendar.

The months are:

Empesos
Secondos
Tertios
Quartos
Quintos
Sextos
Septimos
Octimos
Novimos
Decimos
Ektos
Elos
Domos

A week-number designator is combined with the day of the week to form the day name. In cases where this would sound clunky, an "n" is added between them. Thus, the 28 days common to all months are officially, in order:

Primalunis
Primanaris
Primameric
Primatorres
Primaveris
Primanodis
Primasolis
Secolunis
Seconaris
Secomeric
Secotorres
Secoveris
Seconodis
Secosolis
Trilunis
Triaris
Trimeric
Tritorres
Triveris
Triodis
Trisolis
Quaterlunis
Quaternaris
Quatermeric
Quatertorres
Quaterveris
Quaternodis
Quatersolis

(Unofficially, certain names have been shortened, such as Primaris for Priminaris, Secodis for Seconodis.)

Dates are given as "the [day name] of [month], Year of Annos [year]". So one might speak of an event happening on the Triodis of Tertios, Year of Annos 1375.

The added days are treated as if they were added to Domos, the last month. So the day after the Quatersolis of Domos is officially called the Quinlunis of Domos. However, since there is only one month with a Quinlunis, most people omit the month. If Annos, the Year Star, rises during the Quinlunis, the next day is the start of the year (i.e., the Primalunis of Empesos). If not, the next day is the Quinaris of Domos (again, most people omit the month), and the following day is the start of the year. The Royal Observatory in Spira, the Capital of Cafren, has an enchanted roof that allows starlight and moonlight to be observed even when obscured by clouds and sun, so there is never a doubt as to when Annos rises.

As for modern equivalence, the Primalunis of Empesos is best equated with our March 1.

The Hessian calendar (also called the Xi An calendar) is based on seasons. There are five recognized seasons, each 73 or 74 days long. Leap Years, which follow the Gregorian rules, add a 74th day to the first season (Cherry).

The seasons, and their modern equivalents, are:

Cherry (Jan. 19 - Apr. 1)
Lilac (Apr. 2 - Jun. 13)
Sunflower (Jun. 14 - Aug. 25)
Rice (Aug. 26 - Nov. 6)
Mistletoe (Nov. 7 - Jan. 18)

The days of the week run normally, and are ordered as follows:

Sunis
Monis
Gallis
Atoris
Falsis
Veris
Elmentis

Dates are normally given as "[day of week], [number] Day of [season], Year [year] of His Holiness". So a typical date might be Veris, 35th Day of Rice, Year 135 of His Holiness.

The Eight Paths of Hessia

Religious thought in Hessia is divided into eight separate but equal paths. Each one has a name, a symbol, and a set of four "ideals" that define it.

Each has a rite that members practice every eight months on the full moon, and are often seen doing things on the new moon of the "opposite" path. Although these are Hessian religious rites, it is more convenient to use Aropan calendar months, as Aropa has a lunar/sidereal calendar. (The new moon usually occurs in the first three days of an Aropan month, and the full moon usually occurs around the 15th day of the month.)

The path of The World will hold rites on the full moon of Empesos, 1376. Its ideals are Change, Earth, Permanence, and Water; and its symbol is a circle seated atop a square. Its opposite is the path of The Aether.

The path of The Moon will hold rites on the full moon of Secondos, 1376. Its ideals are Darkness, Fire, Permanence, and Water; and its symbol is a circle inside a square. Its opposite is the path of The Sun.

The path of The Intangibles will hold its rites on the full moon of Tertios, 1376. Its ideals are Change, Darkness, Light, and Permanence; and its symbol is a triangle pointing downward. Its opposite is the path of The Elements.

The path of Truth will hold its rites on the full moon of Quartos, 1376. Its ideals are Earth, Fire, Light, and Permanence; and its symbol is a circle. Its opposite is the path of Falsehood.

The path of The Aether will hold its rites on the full moon of Quintos, 1376. Its ideals are Air, Darkness, Fire, and Light; and its symbol is a square seated atop a circle. Its opposite is the path of The World.

The path of The Sun will hold its rites on the full moon of Sextos, 1376. Its ideals are Air, Change, Earth, and Light, and its symbol is a square inside a circle. Its opposite is the path of The Moon.

The path of The Elements will hold its rites on the full moon of Septimos, 1376. Its ideals are Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, and its symbol is a triangle pointing upward. Its opposite is the path of The Intangibles.

The path of Falsehood will hold its rites on the full moon of Octimos, 1376. Its ideals are Air, Change, Darkness, and Water, and its symbol is a square. Its opposite is the path of Truth.

Coins and Numbers in Aropa

The Aropans have developed a system of numbers based in part upon their coinage structure. The coins are standard Rolemaster quarter-ounce mint throughout all of Aropa, and follow the standard 10-1 ratio, but use the Treasure Companion ordering (i.e. Mithril coins are worth 1,000 gold, whereas aluminum coins are worth 100 gold). From greatest value to least, the coins are:

Mithril (only for ceremonial purposes)
Aluminum (rare)
Platinum
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Copper
Tin
Iron (no longer used)

In the early years of Annos (before 750 Y.A.), there were intermediate "coins" that were worth 5 of the smaller coin (or half of the larger coin). In one case (the fur piece), there was no actual coin, but referred to the value of a standard fox pelt. In the case of the eog (truesteel) and laen (trueglass) pieces, these do not exist, but the names are used as placeholders for the numeric system. (They were discovered after the basic system was in place, and represent lower numeric values than mithril, which had been discovered, even though they are worth more than mithril alchemically.) These values are:

Eog (between Mithril and Aluminum)
Laen
Zinc
Jade
Fur
Nickel
Half-copper (origin disputed, but refers either to a crude attempt to alloy copper or a practice of slicing copper coins in half to make change)
Quartz

These 17 values form the basis of the numeric system. The first letter of the smallest value (I), represents a numeric value of 1. The next higher letter, Q (for Quartz), represents 5. Each value then builds up, to the point where Mithril, the largest actual coin, represents a value of 100 million. No provisions have yet been made for larger numbers.

The Aropan system uses subtracive values similar to the Roman numeral system of Earth, but supports the concept of complex subtraction. Aropans use "IQ" to represent the number 4, just as Roman numerals allow "IV" to represent the same thing, but the Aropans allow for subtractions to cross boundaries of order of magnitude. "IB" would be 999 (1,000 - 1), a value that Roman numerals would list as "CMXCIX". Additionally, sometimes a value can be built up (using normal addition rules for numbers) only to be subtracted from an even larger number. This is seen in the current Year of Annos BCTTQNI. "B" represents 1,000, "CTTQ" represents 125, but immediately precedes "N", which represents 500. Thus "CTTQN" represents 375 (500 - 125). Combining all the results (1,000 + 375 + 1), we see that the BCTTQNI represents the year 1376.

The Bladehex Song

This song was introduced at the beginning of the campaign. With the group composition changing, it bears repeating here.

The first time this song was encountered, it was sung in Elvish. It has since been translated into the common tongue:

When the Seven accepted the One
And added Color to the Grayscale,
Reya gave of her substance,
Indagu gave of his strength
Forging the swords of the Bladehex --
A total of six were made
Vested in them were expressions
Of the elements, gods, and minds.
If ever the hilts start growing,
Dwarf, elf and man must come together.
Extending the blades to the limit --
Defeating the scions of darkness.

Lo! May this day not come, for
If it should ever arrive,
Fiends of the purest disciplines
Expect to engulf the world.
In that day, the Bladehex will respond:
Fate shall select its champions,
Harrowing deeds will be done, and
Every eye will see them.
Extending the blades to the limit --
Defeating the scions of darkness.
Extending the blades to the limit --
Defeating the scions of darkness.