Escutcheon

the northern seaboard

The homeworld of the Eldritch and the capital of their Empire. It is located in the Cradle System.

Vital Statistics (At a Glance)

Pronounced ehs KOO chuhn. Possessive is Escutcheon's. Demonym is Eldritch.

• Major Populations: Eldritch, Tams, some others,
• Type: Homeworld
• Population: Maybe 50K, maximum, at the time of Earthrise and depends on year. Very low at the time of Earthrise, population boom expect among Eldritch, and the imported Glaseagh and Hari Sar and Tam population is getting larger via emigration.
• Gravity: low (lower, in fact, than the Chatcaavan throneworld's, though "not by much")
• Native Language: Eldren with some
• Current Allegiances: Alliance Ally

The Queen's Tams have a moonbase (the Farthest Wing), so presumably Escutcheon has at least one moon. :-)

"But all the planets in the Alliance have different length years, and different length days. Your own homeworld’s days are longer than a day in Alliance Mean, even though your year has fewer of them." It is sensible: if the day is longer and the orbit about the same and the sun's gravity similar then the year would have about the same time and thus fewer days. (Sean)

Is said to have winters that are cold and dark, "and the dark came early." Suggestive of the axial tilt.

Calendar

As far as I know, the Eldritch calendar was never codified anywhere, so I am taking an arbitrary stab at it and hope I haven't contradicted myself somewhere:

• Days in Week: 6
• Weeks in Month:
• Months in Year:
• Seasons: the populated part of Escutcheon has four seasons, with hot summers and cold winters, moderated at Ontine by its proximity to the sea. In the autumn, some leaves change colors, and then drop. Late spring is described as "verdant".

Quote: Days longer than Mars: Mars=1d 0h 37m, but hard to notice that is so.

Quotes

Rose Point (Fiction):

"There are trees, they are fond of trees. And as for weather.. it's early winter, so you can expect it to be cold and gray. It has been particularly cold, there might be snow or sleet. Or freezing rain, sometimes."

"Several hours later the Earthrise achieved orbit around a world with cobalt blue seas and pale green and sandy brown continents, swirled with glittering clouds. "

"And he stepped over the Pad and into a wall of visceral memories. The smell of the dampness of a recent rain--the color of twilight, that pale grey purple sky seen beyond the silouettes of the distant buildings--the utter silence that wrapped around himn on this world absent modern technology."

"In the distance a night loon crooned."

"And the smell.. the smell was overpowering and alien: to Reese who was accustomed to the odorlessness of enclosed environments".

Geography

The river's name north of the lake is the Winewent.

Cities

• Capital
• Forecourt, the city within the walls of Laisrathera's Rose Point castle.
• Acorn

Landmarks

• Ontine, the imperial palace
• whatever I named Corel's bier
• some convents scattered across the inhabited lands
• Isle of Songs (someplace you can retreat, so it probably has convents/monasteries).

Flora and Fauna

Basilisks and Chimera, by artist AedenSolus

Fauna

Native

• Night loon, they croon, Rose Point (Fiction)

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• ice deer
• northern mist bears
• thicket boars (hunted by Lisinthir with a spear)
• crystalwings, the butterfly things Sediryl mentions at the beginning of Girl on Fire. (Also mentioned in Healer's Wedding, when Jahir takes KindlesFlame for a ride.)
• white and gray seabirds mentioned at Laisrathera; also "the far cry of the terns" , which are white-and-gray seabirds...
• colorful blue birds and smaller brown ones at Laisrathera
• chimefrogs (sing at night)
• ground martens (live in burrows)
• chimera: represented by Imthereli’s first crest, looked like four-footed serpents and had been known for their aura of paralyzing terror; they were the size of large dogs, and hunted in packs of ten or more.
• basilisks: Basilisks are twice their size, and mesmerized with their minds.

Jahir says to Lisinthir: "Their powers were not exaggerated. The chimera project terror and helplessness and despair. The basilisks can pin bodies in place, and it is not solely petrification of the mind... it has hallmarks similar to your talents, cousin."

After they met the Pelted, Modern times

• Grand Galactic Chicken
• Horses
• Goats?
• Sheep according to Laisrathera page 9

Originally at Settlement

Fauna

• Dogs
• Horses

many species that died off

Flora

• Merry-hither: Lisinthir "plucked a yellow merry-hither, and tucked it into [the Queen Ransomed's] hair".
• Winter roses at Rose Point

People and Society

See Eldritch, Eldren, Customs

Typical population breakdown in provinces is for 5% of the population to be of noble families, 5% of them to be used as guards or priests, and the remainder tenants. Of the tenants, 5-10% at any time might be involved in maintaining the estates of the noble families, and serving in their manses.

Education

• Sediryl had suffered less exacting preceptressess (than Auniira) in her youth, laboring through her deportment classes.
• Teaching methods vary throughout the populace: there are apprenticeships, and small, informal lessons, and tutors, and in the city, the only schools.
• Eldritch schools meet every other day.
• The schools in the capital teach both Universal and Eldren.
• After the reading and writing lessons there was recess. The afternoon lesson was in figuring.
• The class that Jedan and Aunal visit in the capital has twelve children in it. Their teacher is Mistress Benila.
• The school was a small building in a row of larger buildings, but it had a respectable yard with several trees for climbing, and shady spots for gatherings on blankets, and flowers and shrubs to attract wildlife.

Customs

• There is apparently a... not zodiac, but a system of predicting personalities based on birth. "The seasons, we say, influence one's temperament."