Astronomy

It should be noted that most of Valtuus believe in a Valtuus-centric view of the heavens, and while the Nadori knew the reality of it, that knowledge did not survive the Age of Darkness.  Astronomy is not widely accepted, except maybe in Stahlhelm, as it conflicts with many of the people’s religious beliefs.  The Church of Sidar has condemned more than its share of astronomer to exile or worse.

A Binary System

Unbeknownst to the people of Valtuus, their sun is actually two suns that just happen to revolve around the center of the solar system at the same speed of revolution as Valtuus, giving the appearance of only one sun.  The discovery of two suns would be a momentous event upon Valtuus, causing the Church of Sidar to rethink many of its beliefs.

Valtuus

Valtuus is the second planet from the binary suns and is home to the Dead Wastes.  It is one planet of three known to exist, and actually one of seven, a fact still unknown to its inhabitants.  Valtuus is primarily composed of water with three major land masses that the continent Lyrdonia is only one of.

Kulpator

The planet closest to the binary suns is Kulpator.  From what astronomers can see, it is smaller planet with constant, world covering magma flows, which causes it to appear like the red marble with orange-yellow vanes that is mined from the a quarry near Stahlhelm named Kulpator.

Asceros

Asceros is the third planet from the suns, and is half again the size of Valtuus.  It is usually covered in a dense layer of white atmosphere, but the occasional green and blue can be seen, leading astronomers to believe that its composition is much like Valtuus’.  Not much thought has been put into whether or not there is intelligent life there since it not accepted to say such things around a Priest of Sidar.

Other Planets

There are at least four more planets in Valtuus’ system; however, they cannot be seen with current technology, so they have not been recorded yet in the annals of history.  Every now and again, an astronomer will see a star blink out of existence for a night, only to return the next.  This is probably one of the unknown planets.

Moons of Valtuus

The moons of Valtuus are often called the “Sisters.”  Lucretia, the farther one, is a red planetoid, with a white swirling atmosphere; it is often associated with war, rage, lust, and iron.  Luna, the closer, is scarred and broken from an impact with what many astronomers conclude was a comet.  While many stories revolve around the circumstances of the event, the truth is beyond human memory.  The event left a trail of debris floating behind her that are called Luna’s Tears.  Luna is a grey orb often associated with magic, madness, fertility and silver.

The truth behind the Tears of Luna is that the debris was actually part of Valtuus herself.  On the far side of the known world, there exists a massive crater created by an ancient and unknown entropic entity.  Large fragments of Valtuus have broken off, but remain anchored in place by some gravitational (or arcane) anomoly.  Luna actually impacted some of this debris during its orbit, and its mass has gathered some smaller fragments of Valtuss.

Dominitus

Dominitus is the name given by astronomers to a large, irregular shaped heavenly body.  This entity seems to be approaching the world of Valtuus despite it course around the sun.  Since many of the hypotheses proposed by astronomers are considered heresy against Sidar, no one has approached the Church with this information.

What the people of Valtuus will not know before it is too late is that Dominitus is really a living organism enslaved by an alien race that is on its way to Valtuus to reap its resources, which include sentient beings.

Other Dimensions

Beyond the five dimensions covered in the previous cosmology article, some scholars also think that when people dream, their conscious crosses into the Dimension of Dreams, and if the conscious drifts too far, it enters the Nightmare Realms.

Listening To: Marilyn Mansion – Portrait of an American Family – Get Your Gunn

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