World

## *Andake At Large*

Several things matter to all Andakans, regardless of their background or upbringing. These are things known by all who walk Andake, even those living in the most remote regions of the world or on the fringe borders of the continent.

### The Eight Gods

Andake's pantheon is composed of Eight Gods, a pantheon shared across the world. The gods of Andake dwell in the Beyond and are considered unaligned entities, remote and unreachable, though their existence is well documented and undeniable. Mortal folk constantly seek to curry favor with their gods, though conflicting and even diametrically opposed interpretations of omens, visions, dreams, and signs are common fare. As unaligned deities, each of the Eight possess good, neutral, and evil aspects of their respective domains.

### The Stars Are Holy

Andake’s night is considered a “second day,” due to the sheer number and brilliance of the stars. Though there is no moon in the sky, the stars illuminate enough of the world to be able to see clearly even in the earliest hours of the day. From birth, all children are taught to orient themselves through the night sky, and sailors and travelers navigate almost exclusively through the stars. In addition to the stars’ navigational significance, it is generally agreed upon that the Beyond exists somewhere amongst the stars and that the gods are most tangible in the nighttime, when their nominal constellations appear. Andakans celebrate many different holidays, festivals, and holy days that venerate the stars.

### The Weave is Magic

All magic in Andake is embodied through the Weave: the very essence of the magic all around us. Commoners are aware of the Weave’s existence, but are unable to tap into it or harness it for their own devices. The magically attuned often describe the Weave as a force that registers beyond their bodily senses, and can pull at its various threads to enforce their will upon the world. There are three officially recognized types of magic: divine, arcane, and natural magic. Divine magic is granted through a pact with a god’s emissary, or through the ardent worship and/or belief in a god. Arcane magic is the raw energy that suffuses Andake. It’s found in nature and bloodlines, and can be harnessed through incantations, gestures, and material components. Natural magic is widely regarded as a subset of arcane magic.

### The Now, the After, and the Beyond

There are three planes of existence in Andake: the Now, the After, and the Beyond. Mortals rule the Now, which is considered the Material Plane. The gods dwell in the Beyond, but their domains extend to the After, where the souls of mortals go after death. These planes are often thought of as three concentric circles, with the Now in the middle, the After around the Now, and the Beyond enveloping them both. The Ethereal Plane is the veil between the Now and the After. The Astral Plane is the border between the After and the Beyond.

## *Basic Andakan History*

There is some history that most, if not all, Andakans know.

### The Thousand Year War

The ancestors of mortals were the Titans: massive people split into two factions – gigantic mages and draconic mages. These factions were differentiated by their approach to wielding magic. Gigantic mages harnessed the Weave through tools and conduits, such as magically empowered weapons, instruments, and tomes. Draconic mages harnessed magic in its raw form, conjuring storms, moving earth, and summoning fire. Any titan could practice either form of magic. The pinnacle of achievement of a mage in either faction was unlocking the ability to shift, or transform into your fullest form. Gigantic mages could turn enormous, whereas draconic mages turned into dragon-like creatures. Gigantic and draconic mages had multiple subsets and schools of thoughts underneath them. For many years, all titans lived in peace, building together toward a utopia. Then the Thousand Year War erupted, pitting gigantic and draconic mages against each other. Andake entered a period of turmoil and rebuilding as broken magic shattered the land, as the last Titans supposedly met their end 5,000 years ago, demolished by war.

### The Gambit of Queens

The Gambit of Queens is a legendary conflict from many thousands of years ago that encompasses a period of two hundred years. After the descendants of the mighty titans arose, much smaller in stature and splintered across Andake, many groups of mortals formed dueling queendoms, city-states, provinces, and sovereign settlements that sought to conquer and dominate each other. This warring-states gave rise to the Gambit of Queens, during which the mightiest rulers of Andake, the Ancient Queens, demolished each other, using the common people as pawns.

In essence, the Gambit of Queens details three central stages: 1) the brewing war between various corrupted powers and states; 2) the wars themselves; and 3) the resolution of the war, which cements Eight heroic figures as the Paragons of the gods, who fought for the good of the people instead of the rights of corrupt Queens. The Paragons, with their overwhelming might and magic, overthrew the old, corrupt order and established a period of reconstruction, known as the Great Rebuilding.

The Gambit of Queens is well-documented in various ancient texts across all eight kingdoms, called different things. In the Court of Ravens, the Paragon War is documented in the Black Books; in Talmaad, it is documented in the Yuudhbatal; in Kheer Tal, the Davarda; in Qiulong, the Guan Zheng; in Jukai, the Agunso; in Nabal, the Kaal Kein; in Uhànahi, the Koa Pakua; and in Moroz, the Purvoyny.

### The Stranger War

The Stranger War tells the story of what happened to the Paragons after the Paragon War -- a second grand conflict. Especially compared to the Gambit of Queens, the Stranger War is fairly obscure. Many historians and researchers dismiss the Stranger War as an unreliable and exaggerated retelling of an earthly dispute, but the tale has its staunch believers as well. The tale speaks of a massive rift forming in the sky above the Badlands, through which pours dozens of terrifying monsters. In response, the eight Paragons gather once again in order to heed a call to action by their gods, entreating them to investigate the comet. When the Paragons arrive at the site of the rift, they are greeted by a horrific, indescribable monster that the texts merely refers to as *The Stranger*.

The text goes on to describe a battle of epic proportions between the Paragons and the Stranger, ending in the Stranger’s mysterious disappearance. The text ends with a description of the Covenant of the Eight -- an oath taken by each of the Paragons to protect Andake if the Stranger were to ever return. The Covenant of the Eight birthed the Paragon Prophecy, which states that only the Paragons can unite the scattered gods.

Proponents of the text claim that its naysayers would never admit that their precious, heroic Paragons never actually defeated a mythical foe. Oddly enough, there is only one version of the original “text” known to date (which further discredits it), found in an ancient, huge tapestry in Moroz. Subsequent translations of the original text’s pictorial style are found in all languages, though they are exceedingly rare and hard to come by.

### The Great Rebuilding

After the First Paragons overthrew the ancient Queens, a period known as the Great Rebuilding began. This is when Andake became *known* as Andake, and the Eight Nations drew their border lines and set their foundations for the modern world. The First Paragons spearheaded this reconstruction, leading their respective nations toward an era of great peace that has lasted thousands of years, all the way up to the present.

## *Calendar and Time*

A calendar year in Andake consists of eight months, each one corresponding to a different animal associated with one of the Eight gods. Each month consists of forty days, divided into five weeks with eight days. There are 320 days in a year. These are also the days of the week and their order of occurrence. An example for naming a date would be, “The fourth Swan in the month of Bear.”

Each month also corresponds to a different deity.

The eight months are:

1. **Hare** (Spring) - Sen
2. **Swan** (Spring) - Skaad and Nektis
3. **Ox** (Summer) - Gal Tenger
4. **Dragon** (Summer) - Mahu
5. **Tortoise** (Autumn) - Mengshen Zhidi
6. **Tiger** (Autumn) - Yuddhabathi
7. **Raven** (Winter) - Raven Queen
8. **Bear** (Winter) - Nitbuza