Soleras

**Soleras** is the world that the Starlight Company is collectively designing, and is where several of their campaigns have taken place in.

## Calendar

*Main article: The Calendar*
In Soleras, the calendar system is based on when the last Age ended and restarts with each new Age. Currently, the world is in the Age of Starlight. Each year begins with the beginning of the Spring season and lasts until winter's end. There are 336 days in a year and each day consists of a 24 hour period. There are 7-day in a week, a 4 weeks in a month, and 12 months in a year. The names of days/months come from the Ancient Soleran language.

## Continents

* **Aefhellen**: Aefhellen is a northern hemisphere continent.
* **Al'Osir**: One of the eldest and most advanced lands within Soleras. Its settlement in deep antiquity coupled with the vast regions and resources of the land allowed the continent (and its budding countries) to blossom.
* **Fidrea**: Fidrea's most notable geographical feature is its giant trees, with canopies that stretch into the skies and roots that disappear into deep shadows below. They are deciduous trees and change with the seasons of Soleras.
* **Iastrus**: The two islands that make up Iastrus are a bit smaller than Australia. The curved island to the east is the larger of the two, Corran, has a climate ranging from tropical at the top, temperate throughout most of the land, and arctic at the very bottom. The smaller, rounded island to the west, Beacan, is completely temperate.
* **Karavokrin**: Karavokrin is a continent in the northwest corner of Soleras (on traditional maps). It is mostly covered by temperate forests, steppes, and taiga, with three major mountain ranges spanning the continent. It is home to several different nations and is one of the points of invasion for the Frostfell.
* **Pulau**: Pulau is an island nation.
* **Stravica**: Stravica is a continent roughly the size of China, straddling the divide between the equator of Soleras and its southern pole. It is usually located in the center-south of Soleras on traditional maps. Its climates range from tropical to tundra, and is divided vertically into three sections by High Halletar, an imposing set of cliffs, and the Steelspine Mountains.

### The Four Oceans

The four oceans of Soleras divide the world's continents by vast stretches of water. Though not visible on the grand maps, islands, archipelagos, and more can be found throughout these bodies of water.

* The Avalice Ocean
* The Ghelsar Ocean
* The Lythandra Ocean
* The Kor'dere Ocean

### The Gateway Seas

The Seas of Soleras serve to unite two oceans, and they are often named by the adjacent peoples (rather than by global cartographers). These seas lack true borders, and the unions of the adjacent oceans typically lie in the direct center of this track of water. Sailors often refer to the “nine seas”, and will typically navigate using the seas' names rather than the ocean names.

* The Estrata Sea
* The Sea of Riish *(Reesh)*
* The Vaelian Sea
* The Yttra Sea
* The Novikk Sea
* The Mallya Sea
* The Fairwind Sea
* The Ruddn Sea
* The Thyde Sea *(Theed)*
* The Pulau Sea

## Climate and Seasons

The duration of seasons can change by 1-3 months every year. Sometimes spring could be twice as long or only be a few weeks. However, every couple thousand or so years, there is a Great Winter that lasts anywhere from 50 to 100 years. This winter signifies the end of a historical era. The duration of the time between long winters is reduced by bad things happening. The more bad things that happen, the sooner the long winter comes.

During the long winter, kingdoms are forced into preexisting magical enclaves or underground, where they take shelter from the cold. Some civilizations are accustomed to the cold and instead migrate south. Some places have enough technological advancement or magical power to withstand the winter on the surface (in a small area). Teleportation and planar travel becomes dangerous and unreliable during the winter.

After the winter ends, people emerge from wherever they went and the new era begins as they rebuild.

Portents of the long winter coming usually include weird auroras or changes in the existing auroras, although any number of things could herald the Great Winter.

### Great Winter

*Main article: Great Winter*
An extremely long winter that denotes the end of an era. This is when the white dwarf is consuming the sun unchecked. The Great Winter ends when a god dies, refueling the sun. A winter usually lasts anywhere from 50 to 100 years. Due to the variable nature of Soleras' seasons, there are often scares when a winter lasts longer than the usual three months.

## Cosmology

Soleras is a circumbinary planet. It orbits two stars, a white dwarf and a yellow dwarf, and also has a large moon of its own, Idrunia. The white dwarf, Skaz'zt the Lesser, is slowly consuming the yellow dwarf, Aetria the Greater, causing an aurora-like streak of red to fill the night sky. During the night, the yellow dwarf sets, leaving a faint blue light to bathe the planet.

### Skaz'zt

*Main article: Skaz'zt*
Skaz’zt is a white dwarf and is the smallest of Soleras' suns. It is largely a mystery. All that people know for certain is that it is feeding off of the aether in Aetria, pulling energy from it and creating the auroras in the sky.

### Aetria

*Main article: Aetria*
Aetria is a yellow dwarf sun, and the larger of the two suns of Soleras. It is powered by the deceased souls of the gods. When a god dies, their power is sent up to the sun while the body is sent to the Astral Desert. This aether is what keeps the sun bright and warm, and without this energy the world grows dim and the Great Winters set in.

### Idrunia

*Main article: Idrunia*
Idrunia is the large moon that circles Soleras. It is believed that the moon holds an entity that uses its calm and soothing energy to balance out the chaotic energy of the sun. This entity, when at full power, glows bright and brings peace to Soleras. It is drained throughout the lunar cycle, however, and as its light fades a darker energy takes its place.