Escutcheon

Current Map

Original Map with Lost Houses

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
• Type: Homeworld
• Population: ~42,000 (at the time of the palace coup, prior to Jisiensire's destruction)
• Gravity: low (lower, in fact, than the Chatcaavan throneworld's, though "not by much")
• Native Language: Eldren
• 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."

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".

The Eldritch keep time since their departure from Earth, which are called the Lady's years, and since their settlement, the Lord's years. The former calendar is used for official court events; the latter is more commonly used among the tenants and in the Church. (This has led to the short hand 'court years' and 'common years'). Once the generation born pre-Settlement was outnumbered by those who were born on Escutcheon, Lady's years stopped being used to mark birthdays, and common years are now used to describe lifespans, since Escutcheon's orbital mechanics are different from Earth's. This double calendar has led to inevitable confusion when describing or accurately dating the earliest events of Eldritch history.

Every century's first day is dedicated to God and Goddess.

By this reckoning:

• The Eldritch left Earth in 2023, which gives us 448 days before the birth of the Alliance, so 1 BA = 448 Lady's years.
• The Eldritch settled Escutcheon in 2101, which gives us 370 days before the birth of the Alliance, so 1 BA = 370 Lord's years.
• At the end of the Chatcaavan war, in 481 BA, the Eldritch were in their court year 929.

Geography

There's a note here that says the river north of the lake is the Winewent but there are multiple lakes and I'm not sure which it means. Here are the known landmarks with names:

The northern mountain range, which abuts the coast on the northwestern side of the settled continent, is known as the Feathrashoevin ("many rocks"), and it's bordered on the east by the Silaeraeid, the singing river, which splits off in the north to become two rivers that dump into the ocean: the Fiathsaduluaen ("foam's ending"), and the Lionirvaela ("winter water"). South of that is a large lake, the Eiefiiri (Goblet), and another river, the Aaeyaneraeid (the gray white river), which forms the Nathabeth (three fruits) lakes before continuing to the coast.

In the south, the lake behind Ontine is known as the Euvaela, the golden waters. There's a river south of it, the Liieraeid (laughing river), that empties into the Uetelelisaei, the "sweet golden mere". From there it splits into the manysisters rivers, the Dairimalaea.

Cities

• Capital
• Rose Point 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

• 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."

Imported

• Grand Galactic Chicken

Flora

Trees

• meringel - very tall conifers - "the Eldritch redwood"
• soralithien - short, flowering trees with low, long branches

Flowers

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

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."