Four hexes southwest, two northwest of Alakran.
A level and clear plain, perfect for gazing at the sky, as we will do in these next two posts.
Whoever created Mittellus gave it two lights, the Sun a light of power
that makes the day full of life, the Moon a beacon of hope that shines
three weeks out of four through the night. The two proceed through the
sky at exact opposition to each other; as one sets, the other rises.
Observing
the heavens, and in particular measuring the Sun through smoked glass
or by its light-shadow cast through a pinhole, the astronomers of
Urighem were able to shake off the belief still lamentably common
elsewhere, that the celestial lights are holes in the firmament. All
evidence points to the independence of the heavenly bodies. The seasons
are caused by the Sun approaching the earth in summer and receding in
winter never deviating from its orbit. The Moon visibly follows suit,
its unblemished visible surface growing larger and smaller in concert
with the Sun. It is another astounding achievement that the ancient
Urigs could measure its tidal pull, strongest at sunrise and sunset, in
such a relatively small body of water as the Salt Sea of Ghem.
The Moon cycles through dark and light phases of 30 days, the terminus moving from side to side just as on Earth, although this Moon has no dust seas or craters to blemish its silvery sphere. The existence of five additional days at the end of the year means that the phases of the moon
proceed year on year, through each thirty-day month. In the current year
7021, for example, the full moon comes on the 20th day of each month
and the dark on the 5th. The month is divided into two weeks of seven
and two of eight days, the eighth days being potential feast or resting
days for the deserving.
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