Author's note
Been a little while since I've gotten new subscribers on my SubscribeStar (Do I need to go back to reminding people about it at the bottom of the chapter? I've stopped doing that since it started being supported on the site and I now have a button for it, but I really did get more people showing up over there when I made the manually written links and explanation of what was up.)
Anyway, time to thank ShadeByTheSea for joining the subscribers over on SubscribeStar. I appreciate every one of you, you are what might hopefully one day allow me the free time to give more frequent chapters while at the same time reducing the chance my free time will be eaten up in the future.
Eirlathion’s POV
After making his shocking announcement about the true reason behind the moving of the capital, actually using the great tree as a war platform, the changeling Sagel clumsily reached for a chair and sat down and let out a long breath. “Oh man, what kind of wine was that!? It works really fast, I’m feeling good actually.”
“It was also a spirit restoration potion, and the alcohol was slightly altered to have an effect directly on your brain in order to calm your nerves. Alcohol has that effect already, but really the only reason it had to be alcoholic was because alcohol enters your bloodstream faster and it can act as a carrier for other chemical effects if they are molecularity bound correctly.” Dryad told him, the two of them having veered immediately off subject almost the moment that big news was dropped. Eirlathion assumed Dryad’s knowledge and ability to do what they just did came somehow from the knowledge in the spirit energy they had just absorbed. That was not important now though.
“Let’s talk about mole… whatever some other time.” Eirlathion said. “Can we please go back to the part about the capital being the front line in a war? That seems like an unusually bold move for her majesty.”
“It was not the queen’s idea.” Dryad responded to him. “It seems there are some newcomers in the fey court, 11 new great faeries who were born during the Heaven’s Fall, in fact they were found by the fey dragons who went to search the site of the fall. They claim their previous lives were spent in a different world, and it seems they have a lot of incredible knowledge. They seem to have the queen’s ear now, and when they learned about the Heaven’s Scar potentially becoming a route the demons and devils could use to reach the surface a few of those new great faeries proposed this plan.”
Sagle’s face seemed to have an unpleasant expression on it when he heard Dryad’s explanation. Eirlathion couldn’t blame him. This news was… “So, these new great faeries were only just born during the Heaven’s fall? Wouldn’t that make them only just over 2 years old?” Eirlathion summed up his concerns. It’s true that unlike Elves and Humans, great faeries are born as full adults. However, being only 2 years old they would not have a lot of knowledge of the fey community yet. It really didn’t make sense that they would be trusted enough to allow such a drastic action to take place under their word.
“I only know what Everon knew,” Dryad responds. “However, it seems like the queen was very impressed with the things those 11 new faeries were able to tell her. I don’t know too many details, it seems like Everon shared the opinion you had on your first impression and only begrudgingly went along with this plan when convinced of the merits of it by one of the true dragons. He didn’t know too many details about these new great faeries themselves, but there were rumors about that some of them were already a match for true dragons after only 2 years of getting used to their faerie magic.”
“Well, this is all new information for me as well.” Sagel says, slouching in his seat in and looking somehow unconcerned with what is being talked about. “Everon did tell me a little bit about this plan being from some of the great faeries, but I didn’t hear anything about their previous lives being in another world or anything like that.”
He just seemed to be talking about this all quite easily as if it were nothing. Eirlathion doubted it was in Sagel’s character to talk so openly about such things, changelings were defined by their role as the queen’s spies after all. The secret was already out because of Dryad but he should at least LOOK a little conflicted about spilling information related to the inner levels of the fey court. It must have something to do with the strange alcohol Dryad had given him. Just how powerful was that stuff? And why is he not slurring his words if he’s become so loose lipped from it?
“Alright, I have a question for you now Sagel.” Eirlathion said, looking over to the changeling. “Would you have told us about the purpose of the capital being moved if Dryad hadn’t goaded it out of you?”
“Wait, are you saying Everon didn’t tell you anything about it!? That idiot sub dragon!” Sagel cursed the fey dragon so openly that it actually made Eirlathion feel a little uncomfortable. “How are you supposed to know how to defend the village if you don’t know you’re supposed to expect attacks from any direction!? The whole plan was supposed to be to build a ring of forts around the Heaven’s scar so we could keep them from attacking the capital by getting up from the tunnels in another part of the woods, yes, but it’s also possible they might come up from the scar or maybe already be out in the area from before the capital was moved and we don’t want them getting out in that case or if we find them they need to be dealt with at any rate.”
“I think I am starting to really hate working with sub dragons. This was all a total disaster!” Sagel continues on, seeming to not realize he’s said enough. “First the idiot takes off without me! Then he completely mishandles the preparations of the village! Seriously! I looked at the preparations from overhead when I arrived, the fortifications here are AWFUL!” Eirlathion tried his best to avoid taking personal offense at Sagel’s words. It was him and Calanor who had come up with the village’s defensive fortifications, but he knew they were clearly inexperienced in the area.
More to the point, he was beginning to fear the drink Dryad had given him. For it to have this kind of effect with just one cup, already having him spilling his guts on every personal thought he has, it was not something Eirlathion ever wanted to have done to him. In fact, Eirlathion was starting to feel somehow guilty just listening to the man, as though hearing him was some kind of invasion of the man’s privacy. Thing is, he still was not done talking, and Dryad was giving him gestures to not act as Eirlathion was about to try and make the man stop talking.
“Ridiculous!” Sagel continues his rant. “He does not know at all how to lead! If it was just the bad fortifications though, it would be fine, but then all of THIS happens! If this makes that dryad turn against the fey court!”
“You mean me?” Dryad interrupts him.
“Ah! Oh, yes!” Sagel responds, seeming to have only just realized who he was talking to. “Wow, just how much alcohol was in that wine anyway!? I don’t feel drunk at all, but it seems to have made my tongue pretty loose.”
“Like I said, I made it to calm your nerves. They way it does this is by suppressing the activity of the frontal lobes of your brain, that’s the part responsible for for future planning, worry, and inhibition. So, since it targets this part of the brain specifically, it allows you to become very open with your words while still keeping the rest of your mental faculties so you are not stuttering and slurring and you still have an easy time accessing all the information in your brain that you know. It also helps you to recover from a state like the one you were just in. It’s hard to say which should be considered a side effect and which should be considered an intended effect, I guess it depends on how you plan to use it.”
“Wait, does that mean you gave this to me to interrogate me or something!?” Sagel responds with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Eirlathion begins to feel almost physically ill as his words drive home the rising fear he was beginning to feel.
Dryad has an almost coy smile on their face as he turns to look at them. The dryad, who had completely changed from the Nymph he once knew, leaned down almost seductively over Sagel and stared him directly in the eyes as Eirlathion could do nothing but watch dumbfounded at the events unfolding in front of him. “I need to see if I can trust you.” Dryad says, and then their projection circles around to lean against the counter as they start taking advantage of the fairly feminine looking body that dryads possess as they move in an alluring way while staring down at the changeling.
Sagel looks back up at Dryad with his large eyes, and then the actual “interrogation” assisted by this magical drug they had given him begins.
“So, what do you think about the girls?” Dryad asks. “Do you believe the rumors around town about them being grey elves?”
“What!?” Sagel yelps and almost jumps from his chair, beginning to sit rather uncomfortably. “I… well, the one who was brought out was definitely sick, that makes it seem like they’re just sick, but it is weird that you turned into a dryad during the attack though. It’s all very weird, I don’t know.” Sagel trails off and Dryad simply looks at him with expectation written all over their face. Eirlathion is starting to see what direction Dryad wants to bring this, and frankly he wants some answers on this subject as well. It’s not so much about what Sagel might say, but rather what Dryad might reveal during this interrogation that has him more interested.
The silence between the two continues. Eirlathion realizes Dryad is waiting for Sagel to continue, but finds it strange they are suddenly being so delicate with him as to wait for him to speak rather than goading him to go on. Given how full of fury they were just a short time ago, he had not expected Dryad to be so patient with what had already openly been described as an interrogation.
“I…” Sagel sputters, having apparently become uncomfortable enough with the silence that he felt compelled to continue. “I don’t know, I mean, your tree just suddenly started growing!” he said. “I’ve never heard of that happening during a nymphs ascension into a dryad. So, you had to use something to make that happen, right? Did that kid have something to do with it?” He looks up into the face of Dryad’s projection. “She did! Didn’t she!? Well, if she did then that makes it more likely she’s a grey elf I guess.”
“That’s right.” Dryad admits to him simply. “And…? What do you think about that?”
“That’s incredible! Wait! Oh no! Wow! This is bad! If that baby has that kind of power, and Everon’s actions hurt her! Wow, you better do something to get justice here, if you don’t then the queen will take matters into her own hands and probably kill every single elf in this village.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve already done plenty to assure just punishment against them. The queen should find it plenty satisfying, especially after I’ve declared it as enough.”
“So, does that mean you will not turn against the court?”
“For now, let’s say I’m completely on board with slaughtering some dark elves, and maybe some of the other demon races of the underworld. Anyway, I think I’ve made my decision about you. You are very pragmatic, a true realist, but you also care about the people of a village you have only been in for a few hours. I definitely think you are someone I can respect enough with what I am about to ask of you. But, before that, I need to tell both you and my master something.”
“Wow! Master Eirlathion, you must be pretty respectable for a dryad to be calling you their master! I mean, I guess they were a nymph just earlier today, but they are still calling you master though.”
Dryad had a slight frown on their face in response to this remark, but they seemed to dismiss it as their projection’s lower half straightened out, even if it did have to phase through the counter they had previously been sitting on to do so, and then walked out into an area where both Sagel and Eirlathion could easily see them as they stood in a more authoritative pose.
“Well then, you recall how I said that there were 11 new great faeries after the heaven’s fall? Well, it could have easily been 15 instead, or maybe even more.” At these words, Dryad gave a very meaningful glance toward the floor. No, toward the room below this one, and then looked up in Eirlathion’s direction and fixed him with a gaze that seemed to be willing him to get their meaning. Indeed, realization did dawn on him rather quickly, making for one more in the marathon of shocking developments this chaotic day. Well, by this point he had about grown numb to it, but still! This was quite a revelation.
“You mean…” Eirlathion began.
“Yes, that’s exactly it.” Dryad affirmed, looking over to Sagel who would clearly not have the information necessary to make this connection. “Aerien, Gaerien, and even Levin and Rolwen are all originally from the same other world as the 11 new great faeries. And, all four of them have retained their memories despite being reborn as elves and humans.”
“Wait, what!? A human was born with the memories of their previous life!?” Sagel nearly shouts. “That’s insane! That would make the human almost like one of the upper level fey! Except with spirit energy instead of mana!”
“Sagel!” Dryad cuts him off with a harsh glare.
“What? You’re the one who gave me some drug that makes it so I pretty much can’t help but say everything I’m thinking about!”
Eirlathion was pretty impressed the guy could talk back like that given the situation, but then it was probably another effect of the drug he just mentioned. That aside, this just had… so many implications! This really would explain a lot. In fact, almost everything that was out of sorts about Aerien would be explained by this. Well, except for the chaotic nature of her energies, but then that could be from whatever cultivation she used in her previous life. After all, it was pretty much impossible to become a fey above the level of a fused spirit without having some level of cultivation in your previous life.
What about Gaerien and the boys though? They hadn’t behaved all that unnaturally. No, thinking back to the time in the nursery, the boys were always a lot more calm than the other children. Perhaps if he had known better how children normally acted he could have picked up on this a lot sooner based on that. He might have not even noticed Aerien was strange for a child if it weren’t for her unnatural energies.
Eirlathion looked up, noticing Dryad was giving him a serious look. “Master,” they said. “I want you to know, the reason I’m telling you this is only because Aerien has been wanting to tell you for a while. She has been feeling held back by the fact that you did not know about this, and the only reason she hadn’t told you before now is because she felt she did not know enough elven to convince you what she was saying was true.”
“Wait,” Sagel interrupted, “but fey dragons and great faeries are born with the memories of their previous lives all the time! It’s not that strange for a fey to be born with their memories intact.”
“She didn’t know about that.” Dryad responded, their projection shaking their head and then placing their fingers on their forehead.
“How did… Oh! Because she’s from another world! I’m still having a hard time believing that part, and wouldn’t there be fey in that world too?” Sagel continued talking carelessly under the influence of the drug Dryad had given him.
“There weren’t, actually.” Dryad responded.
“What!?” Sagel said, and the fact that he had said it so quickly was the only reason Eirlathion wasn’t joining him. How is it there were no fey in the world Aerien was from!?
“Apparently, the gods of their world had some kind of campaign to exterminate all the fey in order to eliminate magic and arcane energies from the world.”
“What!? Wh… why!? And also, wasn’t your drug supposed to keep me from feeling emotionally sick from stuff like this?” Sagel responded. Aside from the later part though, he was once again speaking Eirlathion’s thoughts exactly. He was beginning to feel inadequate over the fact that he hadn’t said a word this entire time but was now having all of his thoughts voiced by Sagel instead just due to how quick on the draw he seemed to be due to the effects of that drug.
“It only stops you from being anxious and from worrying about your future well being.” Dryad said. “I gave it to you because those effects would make it so that I could absolutely trust the words you said had no duplicitous intent behind them. As for the campaign by the gods of this previous world, as I said, the entire reason seems to have been in order to eliminate arcane energies in order to prevent devils and demons from being formed.”
“That crazy!!!” Sagel roared. “Wait, how do you know about all of this anyway? Oh! Right! Dryad and spirit energy.”
Dryad let out a sigh. “Well then, mister Sagel. How about you just get some sleep to remove the effects of the drug. I will make my request for you as soon as you have settled down. You can probably guess what it is by now, but I would like to afford you the opportunity to be your usual self when I ask you.”
“You want me to help raise these kids, don’t you?” Sagel responds, getting a smile that almost seemed to somehow be a shrug with the face in response from Dryad. “It makes perfect sense, they are babies now and only a changeling would know what it’s like to have the the mind of an adult while having to grow up as a child, we’ve all done it again and again and again. Well, if you are not going to bear a grudge against the fey court over Everon, then I will gladly make amends by helping with the children. It sounds like Aerien is a national treasure level existence anyway, so I guess it would be an honor to give my services like that.”
“Well, I guess that simplifies things.” Dryad said. “Yes, that’s exactly what I was going to ask.” Dryad smiles and shakes their head at the way the entire scenario just played out. Meanwhile, Eirlathion is still struggling to catch up with all of this.
“Well then,” Eirlathion says, “I suppose now that everything has been worked out, I should probably offer Sagel my bed so he can get your drug out of his system. In the mean time, I think I would like to take a walk in order to think and process all of this.”
“Actually master,” Dryad cut him off, “It would be better that you not go outside right now.”
Author's note
Since I am already in the mood of commenting on the subscribers, I would like to quote a comment that one of the subscribers made on this particular chapter.
"an INFO bomb fell from the sky's many were slain =P good chap yo"
-Roy
Yeah, thanks Roy. I got a good laugh out of that one. Just had to share your eloquence with everyone.
Patreon
Huh, so since those 11 are faeries, does that mean they also used to be cultivators, or did they bypass the reincarnation mechanics of this world? Could there really be that many high level people dying in that car crash?
Also, RIP all those poor suckers that were born dark elves or their slaves.
All humans from their prior world have some level of spiritual cultivation, at least in total mass quantity. Think of the human world being full of artificial industrial diamond grade souls, with the natural gems and ore attempting to form in between. Then the world they are in now having normal "geology " of souls with all kinds.
Damn, I didn't even think about those reincarnated into the Underworld.......A lot of things just got much more complicated. Sigh, if otherworlders can reincarnate into grey elves and humans, then it makes sense for them to reincarnate into dark elves and demons as well.
As a bonus, each soul likely came from Earth. This means that each soul will have an unbelievable amount of spirit energy before their rebirth...... However, it is unclear how many retained their previous personalities (regardless of gender or species change) in any way.
To make things more complicated, I fear that more than one person is going to acknowledge that the Heaven's Fall is the source of those high quality souls. Aerien and Gaerien will thus become targets if anyone discovers they were the cause and starts thinking can do it again. Mmmm, we can only hope that no one is ambitious or jealous enough to scheme against a child....yet.
Actually, unless Dark Elves breed human slaves, or allow them to breed (which doesn't seem all that likely with their temperament and nature), I doubt they'd tolerate raising a resource-consuming resource like an infant. Especially since they wouldn't get any real return for about 14 years. As such, I don't think anyone would reincarnate as a slave, simply because the chance to do so just doesn't exist. So far, all reincarnators have been "born" according to the natural laws of their respective races. Aerien and Gaerien had their vessels conceived, and then immediately Heaven's Fall occurred. Including Gestation, they're 2 years old. Levin and Rolwen are the same, though human, which is why they're older (shorter gestation). The "Great Fairies" mentioned are, again, 2 years old, even if they do have an adult form already. Point being, while some could have ended up as a Dark Elf or Demon, I don't think any would end up as a slave .. At least not right off the bat. It's entirely possible some *could* have been born and killed shortly afterwards, but I really doubt anyone is a "current" captive slave, unless they're from a race that matures remarkably fast.
As for a 2nd Heaven's Fall .... I think we just saw it. At least, a "baby" version (pun intended?). Although it wasn't as flashy, I think that's mostly just because it was channeled more directly into Nymph come Dryad, wasn't "activated by a god", and was a first time attempt from someone completely unfamiliar with the process.
Thanks for the chapter!!!! Oh my Gaerien!!!! I didn't think Dryad would already consolidate ways to assimilate medical skills into spirit energy usage already. I would think he would need more time to sort out the knowledge, but I guess I should expect something of this level from Dryad.
With that said, it may have been influenced by the Feminine energies from Aerien more than initially thought. I also didn't consider whether the source of spirit energy would affect its sense of identity. In a way, Eirlathion's fears are not unfounded even if you only consider this train of thought.
Still, most of all, I am shocked how Dryad revealed the matter of reincarnation to them. Well, I know that it has more knowledge and understanding of the current world, but Aerien still has misgivings about the racism and kidnapping of the elves. I am thus wondering how it will address this issue in the future.
P.S. anyone else scared to find out why Dryad is stopping Eirlathion from going outside?
I'm scared
Lulz
I think in the previous chapters it was said that the dryad was able to receive several memories? Whose memories are these aside from grandpa?
My guess regarding the Great Faeries is (just in case I'm onto something, spoiler tags)...
Everyone that died from that car crash in the beginning had their souls transferred together with Aerien and Gaerien, including Levin and Rolwen, when Aerien used (inserting the gender pronoun at the time of the car crash) his meditation technique to break through the spiritual barrier (I forget what its actual name is, sorry about that) to get to this world we're in now.
Those 11 Great Faeries are the other victims of the major collision incident. The reason why they got to be Great Faeries instead of becoming elves/humans like Aerien, Gaerien, Levin and Rolwen did, well, I'm gonna chalk it up to luck for now. It's probably not as simple as luck - it might be - but maybe there are other plot-relevant reasons why they became Great Faeries in this incarnation of theirs.
My take is probably nothing new, but it's what I think is going on here, for now.
I'm not asking for confirmation. I'd rather nothing be confirmed. I'd just like to put my take on the record and look at this comment down the line to see what - if anything - was right and what was wrong.
Moving on, great work on the novel @Jemini
. I look forward to the progression of the story 
.
Thanks for the chapter.
clumsily reached for a chair and sat down and let out - a chair, sat down, and let
he was beginning to fear the drink Dryad had given him - given Sagel (isn't quite clear that the him is referring to Sagel)
Thanks for the chapter!
11 other reincarnators huh, I can't help but feel that some of them would be villains in the future. I mean, that's what usually happens in stories with multiple reincarnators.
Well.. i hope the village+villagers will survive. Dispair does not corrupt the elves right?
So its confirmed that ALL souls hitched a ride on Gaeriens and Aeriens journey hmm? The queen should be carefull of inexpierience and missconeption of the 11 then while also considering, with the revelation of 4 others, that the demons may also have some reincarnators :0 maybe the guy that caused the mass crashing? Levins ex-brother was drunk at that time right? Was he the cause?
I could also see where this is going with Gaeriens anti fey cultivation :0
Question though: Dryad is stronger then the 11 Great Fairys right? What is the Queen then? The Dryad of the great tree? A full fey dragon? Or is the Queen its own fey class? Also why does Sagel fear Dryad going against the court? :0
I could answer those questions, but then I'd have to... Huh? Wait, wrong script, lol. Anyway, great to see the theory fodder is being picked up.
Anyway, I have put a fair amount of work into the way the fey nobility work. For now, I'll just say it's quite different from the human nobility which is based off of IRL historical nobility. For the details, you'll just have to wait and see.
Arcane energy is what corrupts them, as long as they don't start throwing spells around, they should be safe.
The person who caused the crash was the truck driver that didn't pay attention. Levine's brother wasn't drunk, the music was to loud and he wasn't paying attention to the road. I guess he and his friend are likely to be reincarnated too.
I am worried about aerien's granddaughter if others crashed into his car after the healed her, she might have still died.
You didn't read the lore chapter, did you? The queen should be the highest class of fair dragon, everon was the lowest, which are the strongest fair being of all. In the chapter where the capital was moved, we saw a huge dragon going in circles at the capital and from the way it was written, it sounded like that was the queen.
Dryad is said to be the second strongest dryad. Talking about a war at two fronts.
For the fair court if 11 two year old can join it, then it is unlikely to work on history and more likely to work with strength. But I don't think jemini would make it that easy.
@anteopta Huh, maybe i should reread everything again since i got so much wrong :0 i blame all the different stories i am reading~
I doubt Aeriens granddaughter was in any danger anymore though, from what i recall Gramps carried her to savety before atempting to save her. Would suck if the reason everything was kicked off for is void.
I wouldnt assume the court is strength based however, maybe its potential or expierience based as the queen was impressed by the knowledge? „Great fairies" also dont sound that strong if the strongest fey are supposed to be dryads and dragons. We'll have to wait for that to clear up though.
I wonder about the difference between the four born reincarnators and the 11 others though who straight up just formed themselfs as fey and didnt go the process of being born. That said, what age are Levin and Rowell again? 1 1/4? since the twins are around half a year old and the heavensfall happened 2 years ago? Tbh, they strike me as older, with levin being ~1 as he was kidnapped :0
@KaiKai The heaven's fall was 2 years and, for the best Aerien can figure, 6 months ago. There is a little impreciseness because the long-lived elves do not count months, only seasons and years. Calendars to chop up the year into smaller and smaller pieces are a human concept. (Although the evles have picked up the concept of weeks for convenience sake, they just don't count them.)
They will keep saying 2 years until the same approximate period within the same season the fall happened passes again, at which point they will say "I guess it's been around 3 years now."
@Jemini Im sorry if you cleared it up somewhere already but is the timeflow the same as for earth in that world? Meaning 24h a day, 30 days are a month and 12 month a year? For the readers convenience ~
Im just intrigued by the idea that maybe not all souls hitched a ride with gaerien and aerien afterall
but well you answered my question, bummer :D
@KaiKai I haven't actually clarified any of the stuff you just mentioned, but since it's not of significant plot relevance I suppose I could spill on my thought process on the subject of time flow.
Time flow between worlds has never been specified. This may come up though, so I was going to make time flow dependent on the power of the world in a similar manner to how gravity and speed affect time flow. (That said, I'm going to have to brush up on the basic public version of the theory of relativity in order to find a good approximation of how much the time difference would be and, more importantly, in what direction.)
EDIT: *goes to look up article on time dilation* (So, yeah, stronger gravitational fields = slower time. As such, stronger energy also = slower time, and Earth has energy of so much power that just a momentary gap in the barrier burned a hole in the crust of this new world. So, time on Earth will move MUCH slower than it does in, well, pretty much most of the other worlds.(I'll try and get a handle on how much slower after I have developed some kind of unit for overall world power.))
That's far in the future though, so nothing really solid and worked out yet. As for the calendar, I only said the elves don't have a culture of tracking exact days of the year. However, by the time they interact with the human lands and learn the real calendar, it's not going to be the same as ours. Day tracking is based on the movement of stellar bodies, so it's not realistic to suppose they move the same as ours. (Although it is realistic to suppose life sustaining planets would have similar conditions and orbits.)
I am actually kicking around the idea of having 2 different types of years. Our Earth has an axial tilt cycle (which generates the 4 seasons) that synchronizes perfectly with our solar year, but that doesn't necessarily need to be the same for this world. I might make them two different things. The completion of the axial tilt cycle will still be called a "year" because that's what the cast will understand it to mean due to old-earth assumptions, but what they are having described to them will be different from a solar year.
(Yeah, my world building is detailed. I basically think the same way as the great 70s and 80s sci-fi writers, except applied to fantasy. Let's take this and that assumption of how the world works and play with it.
)
@Jemini Mmmm, I am just amazed that they use solar years. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they also believed in the Heliocentric Theory and/or used lunar calendars still. It may just be my prejudice though
@Truth Actually, I'm not even sure if they would have solar years yet. As I said, their concept of a "year," or rather what Aerien and the others will understand in their language to mean a "year" anyway, will refer to an axial tilt cycle. Not sure yet how this world's axial tilt cycle compares to the solar year, or whether or not the inhabitants of the world are aware of solar years. (My world building gets in depth, but that doesn't mean I've worked out every little detail at this point. I'll work on that closer to the point where it becomes relevant.)
@Truth Oh, interesting fun fact, the original measurement of an hour was based on the time it takes the planet to rotate by 15 degrees. (Which actually can be measured quite easily with bronze age tools just by tracking the movements of the stars in the sky.) This means that, while this world will have the concept of hours, minutes, and seconds, that doesn't necessarily mean they are the same length as ours. It will be a 24 hour day, but that doesn't mean it's the same amount of actual time as our 24 hour day.
Note, I said that an hour WAS based on the planet's rotation. They have changed the measurement standards just this century to be based on something related to the vibrations of atoms. I think a second is based on some kind of atomic vibration, and then it is multiplied upward through minutes and hours instead of divided downward as it was when the concept of hours, minutes, and seconds were originally developed.
(Not going to confuse people too much with this one though. It is almost a given that the day will have 24 hours as soon as the concept of hours is derived, but minutes and seconds don't necessarily have to be divided into units of 60. It could be units of 10 or 100. I'm going with 60 though, because it is entirely reasonable to presume the people who derive the concept of hours will be mathematicians with a heavy knowledge of geometry, and while I'm not so big into math (the universal language) to know the exact logic behind it, I'm sure there is some mathematically logical reason why divisions of 60 were used for minutes and seconds.)
@Jemini Sometimes i wish there would be notes with your thought process on your world building. That said i love your level of attention and detail! though it makes me feel stupid... BUT i love it, so slap me with your facts!
Anyway, your updates cannot come fast enough but my fear over a writer block/burnout is bigger, please dont overwork yourself... i realy want to see the end of this story. With how „slow" the story advances i can easiely see how it would take years to finish it wich in turn means a bigger possibility of it being dropped for various reasons :/
Sorry i'm just voicing my fear since nobody can predict the future and nothing can be done about it. its just that basicly every webbovel of that caliber ends up in the deathgrip of „hiatus"
@KaiKai @Jemini that is a nice idea to make it a subscriber bonus, the notes i mean
@KaiKai Well, it will probably be included in one of the lore chapters eventually. There's still more immediately relevant lore to get through, but I will probably include a lore chapter that mentions a lot of the things just discussed here. Probably after I've worked out the exact calendars that the human nations use.
@anteopta Oh, thought process notes in general you mean? Hmm... That's worth thinking about, but it would also mean more work. XD
@Jemini believe that i read somewhere that the origin of 60 for seconds and minutes is religous. Something about mooncycles and 12 being an important number. Something similiar could also go for the week and 7, but dont pin me on that info :0
Anyway, yes thought notes or previous story concepts would be cool if its not to much work as a higher subscriber bonus i believe :)
@KaiKai I see. Well, I will consider it once I have all the other side projects in relation to this series done. I still have to add more buffer chapters, add more chapters to the subscriber levels in the first place, and get some re-writes done. One I have all that cleared off my plate I will start thinking about getting down the inspiration and concept notes.
The interesting thing is just how much of it is subconscious. I actually had to have someone point out to me that the way that I handle the god ascension is from Shinto, and the way the fey feed on energy bears a strong resemblance to some types of Japanese Yokai. There are a lot of the concept inspirations that I didn't even realize was the origin of some of my concepts until I sat down and thought about it.
@Jemini Well, to be honest, the act of Ascension by using the collective emotions/acknowledgment/emotions of others has been mentioned in some old books of Greek Mythology. There are even implications that the gods feed on this "faith" to strengthen or sustain themselves. As such, I wasn't really surprised when I say some light novels start mentioning this.