La Isla Bonita

This week we take a closer look at the first installment of the Atlas of the World, with Volume III: Re'reke Tai. There's a lot I could say about this extremely interesting region of the world, but I think the best introduction to Re'reke Tai can be provided by the author of the Atlas in his own words. So today we'll turn the bulk of the explanation over to the eminent cartographer himself, Anah Nuka Meeuwissen.

"This world goes by many names, but the one that I am most familiar with is Rimukyr. Although this volume largely concerns the Re’reke Tai region of this world, I believe it is important to provide some context as to that region’s place in this cosmos.

"The planet Rimukyr is the second planet in orbit of its local star, Tahti. There are three other worlds known to exist within this system, but to my knowledge Rimukyr is the only one that is habitable without magical assistance. Rimukyr has one moon, Kuu, which orbits the planet once every 23 days. Perhaps someday I shall have the good fortune to embark upon an atlas of these other worlds that share Tahti with us, but for now they remain sadly beyond the scope of this project.

"I have calculated that Rimukyr has an axial tilt of just under fifteen degrees. This tilt is the primary factor responsible for the seasons as we know them. The world itself is close the spherical, with no edge. My best estimates mark the world’s circumference to be about fifty-eight thousand kilometers, and its diameter to be just under eighteen and a half thousand kilometers. The planet’s solar day is exactly twenty-four hours, though I believe that if one were to travel quickly enough, such as by teleportation, one could experience the same hour more than once. One year is three hundred ninety-seven days.

"The planet is geologically active, with regions of persistent volcanism. It has a large surface saltwater ocean, and several enormous freshwater lakes found within the interior of the continents. Oceans vary from shallow seas on continental shelves, to abyssal plains thousands of meters deep, with submarine trenches that extend even further down. The planet hosts a great deal of biological and material diversity, and its northern and southern polar regions are covered with permanent ice sheets many kilometers thick.

"Rimukyr has two primary continents and several large islands. Although the northern continent appears to be

two distinct geological entities, they are extremes of a single land mass that is contiguous under the Great Northern Ice Sheet. The major continent in the southern hemisphere occupies the majority of the eastern portion of the world. The opposite side of the planet is dominated by the ocean, with myriad islands ranging in size from tiny coral atolls to massive sub-continents. It is this section, called Re’reke Tai, that will be the primary focus of this volume.

"Although the western half of Rimukyr’s southern hemisphere may seem empty at the scale of the entire world, it is home to many land masses spread far apart, across vast expanses of ocean. Re’reke Tai can be generally subdivided into several local sub-regions, many of which are connected by shallower seas atop continental shelves. Regions connected by a shared continental shelf tend to have more cultural contact than those separated by deep abyssal plains. Re’reke Tai extends from the vicinity of the equator in the north, all the way down to the northern reaches of the Great Southern Ice Sheet. This gives the region a great diversity in climates, ranging from tropical to arctic.

"The civilizations which call Re’reke Tai home differ wildly across the expansive region, but I have observed several similarities which might indicate some level of shared heritage. Most of the region’s languages share a common root, a now-dead ancient language called Ellicean. Although these languages have diverged in isolation, they remain close enough that native speakers of one daughter language are often able to quickly achieve a rudimentary understanding of another, and learning any sister language is easier than for someone whose primary language is significantly different.

"Because Re’reke Tai is dominated by the ocean, seafaring is a vital component of most cultures in the region. The vast distances between some of the civilizations encourage a diplomatic stability less common in other regions of the world. That isn’t to say that war is unknown in the region, quite the contrary, merely that such conflicts are generally restricted in scope to those cultures with geographic proximity.

"Not all areas of Re’reke Tai have been settled for the same length of time. Although many areas boast indigenous cultures that can trace their ancestry back for thousands of years, others have been conquered by distant imperial powers. Because many parts of the region are volcanically active, some land masses are simply too young to have developed any large-scale settlement. The rest of this volume explores the many geographical sub-regions of Re’reke Tai in greater detail."

Many thanks to Mister Meeuwissen for his contribution today. More of his maps and insights will be available when the Atlas of the World gets to print. Next week we'll take another look at the Realm of Runes Card Game, so stay tuned!