Planet Lyra

**Planet Lyra** is the primary locale for the story of Galatune. Planet Lyra is ecologically similar to Earth, but has a significantly larger tropical zone, longer summers, and shorter winters. Plant life tends to be larger and more colorful than Earth flora. Snow is uncommon on Lyra. The planet has three continents, a super continent separated into many swirling peninsulas and large lakes and two smaller continents in the eastern hemisphere. Planet Lyra has one moon, called Pan.

## Wildlife

Flora and fauna for Planet Lyra are similar tropical zones on Earth. Compared to Earth however, Lyra is much more colorful. A good example for comparison is the horse. Planet Lyra has horses very similar to Earth horses and they serve an equivalent role in Lyric culture as they did in medieval earth. Physically, Lyric horses are nearly the same as earth horses, except they come in bright green, blue, and pink and have insect-like eyes and long pointed ears. Lyric horses are also significantly more intelligent than Earth horses.

## Technology

The majority of Planet Lyra is in many ways technologically similar to medieval Earth. However, advanced ancient technologies are scattered throughout the land.These ancient technologies are known to have been left by some long-past civilization, but very little information pertaining to them is available. Most are left in ruin and become a natural part of the landscape. However, through
the use of a rare power source called “Stars”, some ancient technology has been revived. The World Government has a legal right to all discovered Stars and therefore monopolizes advanced technologies. This technological monopoly enables the minority ruling class to retain absolute power over its citizens. Perhaps the most notable example of this is the global network of World Guards, powerful robots that enforce the laws of the World Government.

## Society

The total global populations of the dominant races on Lyra includes: 575 million Lyrics, 1.5 billion Humans, and 230 million Beastlings. Notre are not considered for citizenship and are not counted in census.

Planet Lyra is ruled by a single united government, known as
the United Lyric World Government. The World Government is a constitutional monarchy,
with the Queen and Royal Family serving as figureheads. A Court of Nobles serves the Matriarch in times of conflict and is known for their eleborant cermonies. A High Counsel of political leaders from around the planet serve as the central body for legislation. By law, all citizens have a right to fair trial, but in practice Humans are
often denied civil justice. Law enforcement is executed by a global network of Robots, called World Guards, who are controlled by the High Counsel and their system of World Judges. The
majority of the general public regards the World Government with unquestioning
trust, and admires the Royal Family.

Crown is the planet’s largest city, encompassing the palace
of the royal family and its castle grounds and supporting citizens.

## Races

Planet Lyra has several races that reside on it, all of which have unique cultures and possess different characteristics and abilities.

### Lyrics

Lyrics represent the ruling upper-class of the global Lyric society. All members of the Royal Family are pure-blooded Lyrics. Non-royal Lyrics make up the aristocratic society. Lyrics are in many ways physically similar to Humans, except for a few distinguishing differences. Most notably, Lyrics have elongated ears that come to a point. Secondly, Lyrics tend to have very fair often pale skin comparably. Lyrics age somewhat differently than Humans, retaining a youthful 20's look from maturity to death. Lyrics have slightly longer lifespans than Humans and are expected to live to around 120 years or so. Lyrics have similar eye colors to Humans, however it is interesting to note that pure-blooded Lyrics never have blue eyes. Further, Lyrics may also have magenta, red, yellow, or orange eyes.

### Humans

Humans stereotypically reside to labor jobs and make up the bulk of the working class. While the pursuit of higher education is available to Humans, only an extraordinary few can afford it. Humans are commonly regarded as being more brutish, muscular, and less intelligent than Lyrics, but this is likely more due to a lack of opportunity than to actual genetic differences. Humans and Lyrics may form friendships, but this is not the norm.

### Notre

Notre are the half-blood children of Lyrics and Humans. It is a long-standing, and pervasive taboo for Lyrics and Humans to have romantic relations. Further, romance between the two is explicitly forbidden by law. Notre are regarded as abhorrent abominations, who are denied citizenship and basic civil rights, even so far as to be classified officially as wild animals by the United World Government. It is difficult to estimate the true size of the Notre population, as most live in hiding and none are counted in census.

All Notre are sterile, lacking the ability to bear children. Also, Notre have somewhat shortened lifespans, averaging around 40. Physically, Notre inherit traits from both their Human and Lyric parents. Most Notre appear somewhat in-between Human and Lyric, but others may seem virtually identical to Humans or Lyrics. However, one constant is that all Notre have intense blue eyes. For this reason, blue eyes are regarded with intense fear, prejudice, and superstition. Even pure-blood Humans with blue eyes are persecuted, under suspicion that they might be Notre in hiding. Whereas pure-blooded Lyrics never have blue eyes. Both Human and Lyric lore depict Notre as cursed beings, and the more superstitious citizens perpetuate this belief. Much of this fear originates from mysterious attributes unique to Notre, referred to as "Notre Curse". Many, but not all Notre, exhibit unusual abilities. Each of these recorded instances cite unique powers to certain individual Notre. Notre who are discovered with a Notre Curse are by law reported and seized by the World Government. While most are imprisoned or executed, there are some exceptions. In cases where the power of a Notre is found to have some utility, the Notre is enslaved as a tool for the exclusive use of the World Government. One famous example is Notre Viz, who possesses the Curse of Intention, a unique power to discern if a person within earshot is lying. Notre Viz currently serves the World Government as a living lie-detector, used in high-profile court cases.

The World Government measures the relative threat levels of Notre using the Aberration Index.

### Other Races

Many other races beyond Human, Lyric, and Notre also reside on Planet Lyra, however their numbers are very small percent of the world population. Most of these other races resemble humanoid animals called beastlings, such as the Oiseauti bird people, the Loben wolf people, and the Lagartan lizard people. These other races live in obscurity, often in isolated villages far from central Lyric society. Regardless, the World Government does consider these other races for citizenship and census. One exception however is the Rybis fish people, who live in small undersea villages and are completely disconnected from Lyric culture and law.