Calendar of the New Earth
A day is 24 hours exactly. There are no sidereal days, and within a day, the sun rises at 6am (or the "first hour") and sets at exactly 6pm (or the "twelfth hour"). This is what the expression "eleventh hour" means, it is the hour before sunset . After sunset, the time is called Void Time, because it is not measured at all. There are roughly 12 hours here too, but aside from guards, most people are content to stop work and rest during this time.
Unlike maybe the old Earth (assuming the Gregorian calendar was accurate and all the stuff about leap years, daylight savings, and shorter and longer days wasn't made up), every year has seasons and days at the same schedule. A month is thirty days exactly, a season is three months exactly, and the calendar should be four seasons with no irregularly, but there are 5 days extra each year (theoretically 365 days). These get put aside (uncounted), and after every fifty years, there is a 250 day celebration tacked on to the end of the year.
Unbelievably, food for this festival never runs out. This forms an extra-long season known as Jubilee, where crops mysteriously produce enough to for a population everyday. Likewise fish in rivers and lakes spawn at an insane rate as do poultry. Cattle don't reproduce at this rate, but they do produce milk at this rate. After Jubilee is over, animals and plants return to their normal fertility.
The months in order are based on the Chinese zodiac, with animals based around an element grouped together like this: Sheep (January), Rabbit (February), Rat (March), Pig (April), Monkey (May), Tiger (June), Dragon (July), Rooster (August), Snake (September), Horse (October), Ox (November), and Dog (December).
The days of the week are typically seven days: Fire (Monday), Water (Tuesday), Earth (Wednesday), Wood (Thursday), Wind (Friday), Day of Rest (Saturday), and Holy Day (Sunday). Each weekday has an elemental affinity, so earth-based spells work most strongly on Earth, while fire-based spells work strongly on Fire. On the Day of Rest, spells generally are less effective or outright fail, with the exception of healing spells. The Holy Day allows all magic to work equally well.
During the years of Ambrosia's campaign against Belial, time was literally stopped. That is to say, the same year replayed again and again. This is because the Oracle of Tao exposes a glitch in reality, a visible seam that exposes the fraud of the physical world. After Ambrosia helped give birth to a more real world, time restarted.
Magic
Most magic comes from the heart, not the mind. That is to say, there is a circulation of magic through the blood stream, gathering and circulating through three sources, known as the upper dantian (ridge near eyebrows), middle dantian (heart), and lower dantian (stomach). Geomancy and alchemy use the lower dantian, psionics uses the upper dantian, but most magic uses the middle dantian. In rare circumstances, someone might use all three drawing extra energy from the lower, using the upper to focus and control, and releasing from the middle. These such casters are usually very powerful because of their energy and control, but typically students learning magic to not learn to use it this way.
Magic uses runes in order to use magic, unlike alchemy, geomancy, and psionics below. Runes are a sort of particle of written magic. That is to say, runes can be compared equally well to atoms and ink writing. Like atoms, each rune is composed of smaller runes, and runes can merge together to make magic with compound effects. Like ink writing, excessive water can wash away runes, and they typically have trouble forming underwater. Certain creatures have tough scales or slippery skin and cannot be affected when runes hit them. There are ancient techniques known as solid runes that can bypass some of these issues, though. Because of the ink-like slickness of runes, enchanting items to be magical typically requires making them permanent. Each spell made permanent locks up part of a spellcaster's power. That is, a spellcaster's mana is restored as they rest properly, but each permanent spell is a spell that is never restored.
Unlike times in Earth's past, magic in the New Earth is considered a gift from God. The idea being that God answers prayers, and magic is an extension of that ability. There are people who don't draw their magic from God but through personal effort, though. These are called sorcerers. Still others draw power from death itself, known as necromancers. Necromancy typically destroys the user though.
Long ago, in the original Earth's distant past, there was a purer form of magic known as the divine art. Knowledge of this was suppressed by demons, so it is unlikely anyone knows how to use it today.
Alchemy
Alchemy is the art of reshaping matter. It developed after the limitations of magic became apparent. That is, magic for all its power, could not create new life, while alchemy could make chimeras. Magic enchantments either weather away or lock up the magic of spellcasters, so devices that could release energy through physical or chemical means were developed. And for the most part, magic that could create matter from nothing didn't exist outside a miracle from God, while alchemy could make matter by combining raw materials.
But alchemy does have a price, and it is somewhat steep. First, all alchemy requires an Alchemist's Circle, which typically requires time to draw. Second, the energy to do alchemy is not from a magical source, so the caster needs to create it. Sometimes this involves human sacrifice, or draining from ley lines, or other processes. Third, alchemy only really restructures matter, it cannot create things from nothing. That is, you can create a chemical fire of some sort, but the flame needs actual fuel and obeys thermodynamics. Likewise, you can build a staircase our of rock, but in order to do so either stretches rock thinner (making it about as thin as glass and about as fragile) or it digs rock from nearby areas. This concept is sometimes called "equivalent exchange."
Geomancy
Geomancy is an art almost exclusive to elves, though it is probably possible for other races to learn it. While standing in an area, the person communes with the nearby ley line, channeling massive amounts of energy. Since elves as a race are most attuned to the land, aside from the fey, beings like half-elves are typically bad at producing this energy, and can only do so about once a day.
Psionics
Psionics is the pure power of the mind. Before people used proper magic, using the mind as a source of energy was tried. Such effects were able to greatly alter physical reality around a Territory, but took a great deal of mental strain. The Soulfire (or Dreamweaver as they were sometimes called) had a great deal of active and passive power, but at a great risk to self. Non-psionics can use psionic abilities, but to do so typically results in their brain hemorrhaging from mental strain. Soulfires have a great deal more sturdy brain with regard to using such powers, but there are limits. It would not be reasonable, for example, to expect most Soulfires to lift small cities without strain.
Geography
The geography of the New Earth is slightly different from most stories. This is because the geography is based on a few principles. First, as shown on maps, the New Earth is a flat hemisphere with a domed sky. As such, under normal circumstances, there is no such thing as gravity. In fact, in order to even simulate gravity, the spell Increase Density is needed, or a spell to create an object of force must drop on a target.
So how do creatures stay mostly rooted to the ground? Well, what people in the old Earth called gravity was really just the interplay between buoyancy and density. This same principle means that objects in air float or fall, depending on whether they are lighter or heavier than the air. So spellcasters can allow flying simply by altering the buoyancy of the air. However, doing so costs more magic than simply turning into a bird.
Instead of gravity, there are what are called the "laws of attraction." The laws of attraction include cohesion, adhesion, magnetism, momentum, and buoyancy. In some places, there is also subjective attraction, due to magic or some other distortion.
In addition to these rules, there are also laws of perspective. In general, the perspective of things like the sky, oceans, and distant objects is determined by parabola theory, which means that any object can be seen only in relation to living things that can witness it. Such a parabola extends farther at high elevations, and a shorter distance if there are obstructions, as seen be the picture below.
In addition to the basic implications of this, this affects the perspective of airborne object such as the sun or moon, which orbit the Earth.
Lastly, there are other worlds, but these are not planets in outer space. Instead, this is more akin to Yggdrasil, with worlds bound loosely together. Because human beings need to stand upright, all of these worlds are also flat, and many have their own sun and/or moon orbiting them, but they are more akin to parallel dimensions.
Religion
As a result of the original Earth being destroyed (actually, it mostly became part of the Void), much of ancient cultures was gone. This mostly affected technology, which became buried deep underground away from sight. The Council largely forbade archaeology, since they feared that such research might lead to self-destruction if weapons were found. On the other hand, a fairly extensive history was collected, so most people know (or think they know) much of Earth's past.
Some religions survived, while others were utterly destroyed, and still others merged. Christianity mostly died off, but the arrival of Jesus in Kushiyama, some attempt has been made to revive the religion. Unlike the original Christianity, its beliefs are fairly simple and lack much of its formalized dogma. Many of the Middle Eastern beliefs like Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism blended into the religion of Sakun. The Aiken religion is a mix of Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism. But all of these religions still exist as well. Buddhism has become Miroku Buddhism, and the new Buddha walks the Earth. Taoism has become a door-to-door religion (though they are not very aggressive in finding followers). There are also a number of cults. Some people worship djinn, others look for UFOs or the like.
One would think that since the New Earth is after an apocalypse, that Revelation would have happened and God got rid of people who believed in different gods. But God's main focus was not to create wind-up dolls but people free to choose anything they wanted. Grace is offered through Christ's death to all who live, whether religious people feel they deserve it or not. Instead of the events of Revelation, Belial corrupted the world before being sealed in an urn. There was no war between God and Satan, because the two are not equals. Satan works as an accuser (like a prosecuting attorney) of humans. But with much of the world following the path of Taoism, his job is largely irrelevant, since humans now have a balanced perspective of themselves and others.
Language
The New Earth has a number of written and spoken languages.
The above languages are all scripts from languages. There are other languages, such as Sanskrit and Korean, but some languages (such as Arabic) have gone extinct. Like on Earth, these many oral languages often share an a system. For example, Pictographic is part .of the Druidic language as well as Fey. The difference is that Fey can only be read by Fey and Elves, because only such creatures can translate it. Fey is based on memories, which are transferred to the reader if read. For example, the symbol A reads as "tree" but the reader can tell by reading it whether it pertains to an ash, oak, or spruce, as well as whether it refers to a single tree or a forest. Fey has no spoken language, while Druidic has an alphasyllabic language. Because of the problems of communicating with outsiders, elves have devised Elvish, a Sylvan language devised after observing the Runic and Alphabetic language families. Most dwarves that have dealings with elves have learned to write and speak Elvish. The same was done with Druidic in able to have a way for non-elves to communicate with fey creatures.
Certain scripts are so ancient that despite using them long ago in human history, they are used instead by other creatures. For example, dragons speak Draconic among each other, which uses the Cuneiform writing system. Dwarves use the Futhark, a Runic writing system. Although Runic implies the language of runes, the truth is that runes can be written in nearly any language. Still other languages are based on past history within the area, so a sphinx can usually read Cuneiform and djinn can read the Old Script. The verbal language of Graffiti is Undercommon, a type of slang language.
Of the other languages, Symbolic is typically spoken or written by creatures from other worlds such as angels or aliens. Constructs also use it, since it is a mathematical language in addition to its symbolic elements. The Dark Tongue is used by orcs, goblins, and demons (though they have the same spoken language as angels). Gibberish is known by oozes, Elder Formless, and other strange creatures.
Of these languages, three will be covered in depth. The first is Sylvan, which is used as the basis for the Elvish language. This language uses simple letters for the most part. The second is Fey, which is based on words having a specific meaning based on their pictographic imagery. Finally, there is Druidic, which uses the pictographic language, but adds sounds to make words by joining these together. Let's start with Sylvan.
Next, there is Fey, which only involves word meanings. Fey has no sounds.
Next is Druidic, which ties pictograms with sounds.
When elves use Druidic, they tend to replace the numbers with Sylvan numbers.
Politics
The world is run loosely by a political organization called the Anti-Government Council. The Council is what could be described as a worldwide anarchist supergovernment, making it extremely oxymoronic and hypocritical, if they weren't incredibly earnest about their duties. The Council attempts to prevent the idea of states by limiting the size of cities and towns. Unlike many attempted world governments, the Council does not see humans as a plague or nuisance, and there are no attempts at population control or eugenics. Nor are any attempts made to control the arms of people, their education, or their religion. Rather, the Council objects to government itself, seeing that the Great Phoenix War was fought over two great kingdoms vying for control over all lands. As such, while people can freely buy weapons, technology of the old Earth is largely kept buried.
Regarding the Council, they are governed by a system of rules similar to the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution, only these rules bind their behavior rather than giving them rights. The Council needs a majority vote to disband Council activity (which usually reverts things to the way they were before the Council), but a unanimous vote in order to reestablish Council authority. Because of this, such a decision is not made lightly.
Each of the members of the Council is a leader in a country, having agreed to live by the rules of the Council. That is to say, the Council sets laws for kings not regular people. The kings in turn give a few laws, but Council members can displace them from the Council if they become a tyrant. Losing Council membership if something that no king wants, as they become considered renegades, and a bounty is placed on their heads. Despite its good intentions, the Council is governed only by leaders of lands that have a majority human population. That is, they don't consider elf, goblin, or gnome lands to be relevant to their decisions. If goblins try to expand to human regions, they often simply hire guards or bounty hunters to massacre them.
In regard to the everyday running of things, this system is less than perfect, but not totally horrible. The price of government is absurdly low. There are no income taxes, property taxes, inheritance taxes, taxes on gifts, and few other taxes. Anyone looking for welfare programs is for the most part out of luck, and services such as plumbing, electricity, and even roads and bridges must be privately bought outside the towns. However, there are some government businesses, such as post offices, liquor stores, brothels, bounty offices, and libraries. All of these are mostly private companies but they are set up to work by the government. That is, a library is given immunity from the effects of unpaid mortgages, and the lights are kept on, but voluntary donations are needed if a library isn't making enough to pay its employees. The lights stay on and the computers stay working (unlike other spellcasters, government employees are trained to be able to make permanent enchantments without cost to themselves, as they attend the Royal Academy), but each of these services is considered one-and-done with no upkeep done. Any repairs are done on a private basis.
Since government workers do not gain money through taxes, each town has their own creative scheme to stay funded. Some of these involve anything from sales taxes, to earning money through monopolizing wine or drugs, to actually having the town guard moonlight in prostitution. Another source of money for the government comes from the Royal Academy, since only the very rich can afford to send students there. These are the highest trained spellcasters and strongest warriors, and many of them become bounty hunters themselves if they are not eligible to be leaders.
Economy
The Council has banned archaeology of old technology, mainly to prevent such things as nuclear weapons from being in the hands of people. This is as much to do with saving lives as the idea that no one person should have absolute power and thus become a dictator.
Instead, what is called technology is either alchemy or enchantment of objects. Because of the limits of both, the economy is typically based on single purchase rather than subscription. That is, buying a car is a one-time purchase, because the magic needed to power it is a permanent enchantment. However, since permanent enchantments are so hard to do, these creates a market where such goods are either greatly marked up, or made so that they are disposable. At the alchemy end of things, items are indeed sturdy, but care must be taken, since alchemy can have an effect on the land.
Justice
The Council has two systems for ensuring that peace and justice are maintained: guards, ninjas, and bounty hunters. The guards are publicly employed, and function much the same way as police. However, they usually only police crimes against the city itself (e.g. an invasion, a nearby town annexing them, or people not paying tolls) or against the citizens from an outside force. They do not have jurisdiction except for the defense of the town. Guards also defend the leaders of towns from assassination.
Second are assassins themselves, the unlicensed force known as ninjas. Ninjas are informally called "tort lawyers" because they tend to take care of people who have not strictly committed a crime but have offended someone to such an extent that vengeance is needed for their actions. They have no concept of jurisdiction, and can use any means at all to meet the terms set by their employer, including disguise, poison, cheap pranks, scams. These terms don't always involve murder, some involve setting the target up for blackmail, or stealing from them. All ninjas are under private contract, and typically obey the terms (legal or not), so long as the employer can pay them for their work.
When a person commits a crime, usually instead of the guards dealing with it, the town sets a bounty. Bounty hunters are considered just by virtue of sincerity. That is, they have no pretensions of their job being about ensuring order, so they ignore petty thieves who steal bread to feed their family, instead going after those who have a bigger bounty. The larger the effect on society, the more likely that a bounty hunter will be involved. This system also acts against creatures and even Monsters. Creatures that become a nuisance are given a bounty notice. Typically, creatures have far higher bounties, so hunting creatures is a lucrative business. All bounty hunters are licensed.
A bounty notice or wanted poster contains the following: the wanted notification which describes the name of the person or creature, the crime, the reward, and the terms. The terms could as for the creature brought alive or dead, or for a specific action to be taken (for example, a photographer could request a photo of a certain creature). Unlike with a ninja, the terms cannot be illegal. The bounty office has more than just wanted posters though. Aside from a wanted poster are evidence forms (these are typically used by informants prior to setting up a bounty hunt), a Private Bounty (which typically involves the person themselves making the payment and doesn't show up on notice boards), and finally an Open Hunt (typically done when a hunt is too dangerous for a single bounty hunter). If an Open Hunt is not called, bounties are limited to one per town. As such, bounty hunters cannot team up or interfere with each other. Wanted posters have a peculiar magic of arrest teleportation. That is, cutting off nails, hair, or bones of a weakened is typically enough to verify that a hunt has been completed, and the creature is sent alive. The magic only works if the creature is somewhat weakened and unable to create more trouble for the bounty office. A person or creature brought into the bounty office is either treated according to the terms (for example, bounties in some cases are about finding lost children) or put into prison. The jail cells weaken creatures so they cannot escape, potentially reducing magic as well. If subject to courts, they have the right to an attorney, and cannot be tried twice. The legal system is fairly casual, as most crimes are personally dealt with by bounty hunters. As such, the court considers that the accused is neither guilty or innocent but that they wish to plea for the mercy of the court. Finally, if one is desperate for justice, it is possible to pray to God and have him send an avenging angel. Avenging angels know the guilt and innocence of both parties, and will not hesitate to guard the innocent and avenge the guilty. However, this is a risky move, as it is entirely possible the angel will determine that the one who sent them is delusional about their own innocence. This only works in instances where despite all attempts to reconcile or appease the other party, they wished them nothing but harm.
Music
The New Earth has much the same music as ours, mostly found in music crystals. The popular source of entertainment is using Crystal Mirrors, a sort of magical technology that involves adding a crystal inside a slot in a mirror. There are portable (as small as compacts) versions of this, but the main thing to remember about Crystal Mirrors is that while they can re-broadcast old shows and songs, they cannot record new images. These devices aren't animating, but rather capturing previous media on a crystal, so new shows can't be made. Music on the other hand, can be recorded, so there is some experimental sound. Classical, punk, rock, pop, metal, ska, goth, folk, and even gospel music are still popular, but because of the society, much of the music in New Earth does tend toward traditional and folk.
Woodwinds, brass instruments, percussion instruments, and stringed instruments of the old Earth are all present in the New Earth, except for electrical devices. In the place of an electrical guitar for instance are magical guitars. Such devices give new meaning to the phrase "hypnotic music". There are also new instruments, such as the omnimusica.
Certain tunes are given for an example of New Earth's music. For example, Lilith is playing the song The Oracle's Calling.
While all music from about the 16th century onward is featured, newer music is highly experimental, combining folk music with hard rock, or in some cases using dissonance. The musical theory of previous periods used a model known as the Circle of Fifths, with notes typically played due to adjacent relationships on the circle.
But over time, audiences had heard all the classical approaches to chord progression, and became bored. Much like complementary colors in the circle for art are helpful but not mandatory, musical artists began to try musical combinations that weren't part of theories of what pleased audience, making music as an artist works with colors.
History
Earth's history is very convoluted. This is due to the fact that history is written by the winners, and in some case people forgot their histories, dooming them to repeat mistakes. Worse, even God cannot give an accurate history of the world, because God is Ambrosia, and Ambrosia's knowledge of history is somewhat prone to mistakes. This is a fairly accurate timeline, considering everthing.
0. God's existence before the Moment of Creation.
1. God creates Light (the Moment of Creation)
2. Ancient Earth (Begin to roughly 2,500,000 BC). Earth is created. There are also hidden advanced civilizations, such as Atlantis and Martians, also time travelers regarded as "gods" by early humans. During this time Pangaea exists, and most ancient religions are developed in response to secular wars.
3. Humans and other life are destroyed by Belial (2 million BC). Earth expands and the Middle Earth is created as the ice caps melt around the North Pole, creating a second arctic rim.
4. Life forms on the Middle Earth (roughly 450,000 BC to 200,000 BC).
5. Humans and other life are destroyed by Belial (200,000 BC). Hhey have no religion, and spend all of their time fighting wars, eventually using magic to destroy themselves. Earth expands and the Earth is created as the ice caps melt around the North Pole, creating a third arctic rim. Ancient Earth is now on the outer rim, while Middle Earth is on the middle rim, both devoid of higher organisms.
6. The Suppressed History (13,000 BC to 2000 BC) - There is a nuclear war, around 2000 BC where there is seven years of famine, due to nuclear fallout. Hindu records confirm this. The pyramids and other ancient structures are actually secret technology. There are organizations that cropped up after this, and replaced most history with nonsense about cavemen, while occupying major government systems. This marks the beginning of the State.
7. History Starts (2000 BC to 2001 AD). During this time most of what is read in history books is true, but with noticeable omissions. Most history books, for instance will not talk about secret technology, magic, evil organizations, and all the rest.
8. Great Revision (2020 AD). God alters the state of reality. First Soulfires appear.
9. Conditioned Opinion Viral Immunodeficiency of 2019 (2020 AD)
10. Move towards increased globalization and overall corruption (2001-2030 AD). During this time, pollution from Statues of Darkness begins to spread throughout the Earth. A thousand years of dormancy follows this event, as Belial is sealed away in an urn. Statues of Darkness are destroyed but their taint remains.
11. Age of Human Evil (3031-3075 AD). UN and EU become active again. Religious and political-religious groups try to take over and control/kill.
12. Last Christian martyred on Earth (3075 AD)
13. Religious zealots surrender to angels, origin of Sakun (3075 AD)
14. Rapture of remaining Christians (3080 AD)
15. Ungorr the Untamed rises to power (3080 AD)
16. Wormwood meteor found (3081 AD). Ungorr becomes an evil immortal
17. EU and UN support move to support spread of Immortality research (3081 AD)
18. Zombie False Apocalyse (3081-3088 AD)
19. Jewish Apocalypse (3088 AD). The dead rise, and purify these zombies with holy touch. Temple rebuilt and Messiah comes.
20. Buddhist Apocalypse (3200 AD) . Miroku Buddha comes and teaches pure dharma
21. Other Apocalypses (3201-3700 AD). Earth begins to darken from influence by Belial
22. The Great Intersex Revolt (roughly 3778 AD). Men become less able to grow facial and body hair.
23. Taoist Apocalypse (3990 AD). Lao Tzu appears and says the Earth is restarting, people start joining Taoism
24. Atheists saved directly by God (3999 AD). Some people stay behind on ruined Earth, which becomes the Void.
25. Earth split into New Earth and Void (Roughly 4000 AD)
26.Humans are imported to New Earth (4001 AD). Dead are reborn without memories to balance the New Earth.
27. Town of Fitzxembor burned to the ground (4605 AD)
28.Great Phoenix War (5105-5115 AD)
29. Anti-Government Council formed (5116 AD)
30. Lich King of Ghobli (5600-6199 AD). Undead attack until stopped by Exorcist Yuriel
31. Present Era (7000+ AD)
This model of history is what Elias read that shocked him so much. It lacks any content about dinosaurs, and it has a history contrary to the official one with regard to governments and other groups. It also mentions the Middle Earth, which is unknown to most humans. Overall though, this history is also subject to error.
