Taira

**Taira** is the officially recognized name of the planet we call home. A vast and diverse temperate planet, it holds a vast array of climates and ecosystems covering it's surface. With almost three/fourth's of it's surface being land it is also home to massive sprawling deserts that make travel around the globe difficult. It's diverse climates allow for an assortment of plant and animal life to flourish.

Sentient species are also equally as varied with a wide array of races calling Taira home. Over time they have learned to live together, though even in modern times bad blood still exists. While much of the world has been charted and mapped, there still exists a plethora that remains unknown to even the top experts in the field. With populations remaining clustered across the planet it allows for countless miles of untouched wilderness which may hide secrets yet to be discovered.

Taira is orbited by a large, shattered moon named Cada. A massive chunk of the moon drifts nearby as fragments create a tail that, eventually, will form a slight ring around the planet. No one knows what shattered the moon but many believe it was an asteroid impact, narrowly missing the planet as their final line of celestial defense took the brunt of the impact in it's stead.

## History

It is impossible to know how old, exactly, Taira is. Many estimates put it as several billion years old, though recorded history only extends a few thousand years making this as much a guess as anything. The history of Taira that we do know of is filled with strife as it's earliest entry mentions that of a great cataclysm that shook the planet. No records exist prior to this catastrophe with what records have been recovered being very vague as to what took place.

At some point, some 2,000 - 3,000 years ago the entire world was shook by disaster that wiped out whatever civilizations that existed at the time and essentially reset progress. There is no mention as to what this catastrophe was, with many doubting it ever even happened. Since that time it is a tale of civilizations growing, prospering, and collapsing only for something new to take their place. The world flourishing over the centuries, the relentless march of progress carrying the people from nomadic savages to enlightened civilizations that now span the globe.

## Geography

Taira is a mostly land-locked planet with massive seas serving as it's oceans. With these massive oceans mostly cut off from one another by landmasses it makes circumnavigating the globe by sea almost impossible save for a very long channel joining the two main oceans of Santipa and Sagara together. These separate seas have had a large impact on the climate of the planet with deserts claiming a significant portion of the planet's landmass.

Covering it's surface are five large continents by the name of Aitala, Araka, Prasanta, Bharata, and Dakhani. Linking these continents together are a myriad of island chains cross-crossing the seas as well as massive formations where the continents come together allowing for easy, if out of the way, travel between them. Aitala and Araka are collectively known as the Central Continent with Aitala being the southern portion and Araka the northern portion. This continent is home of Sarathal and the Peninsula of Araal which houses both Velhellyiah and Calaes. Across the great seas to both the west and east of the Central continent lies the massive continent of Prasanta. Massive as it is much of it is inhospitable desert with only a few lakes providing a perilous route through the center of the landmass. Between Prasanta and Araka lies the northern continent of Bharata with the North Pole being the fifth continent known as Dakhani, a frozen wasteland to which no country lays claim for it's lack of any tangible use and inhospitable environment..

## Races

Main article: Races
Taira holds a staggering amount of different sentient races that call it home. While this caused much divide and conflict in the past, in modern times it's fairly common to find a wide assortment of people calling any land home. From assimilation to immigration the various races of Taira have melted together over time, though there are still hold-outs of more ethno-centric cities and countries.

## Flora and Fauna

The vast and diverse lands have given birth to an equally vast and diverse assortment of Flora and Fauna. This diversity has given rise to two categories being used with more benign creatures being referred to as animals. This would include the likes of dogs, cats, sheep, cows, bears, and countless more. The more dangerous and outlandish creatures are referred to as Monsters, these include beasts such as basilisks, dragons, leviathans, and a host of others.

These terms are not set in stone with different creatures being labelled differently over time and cultures. Such as bears or wolves being regarded as Monsters to tribal ancestors or Orcs and Harpies being regarded as Monsters. In modern times it's roughly split as creatures that display no sense of magic alterations or utilization are regarded as Animals while creatures that have been altered or can utilize Aether in some capacity are regarded as Monsters with all sentient species being kept separate from the two.