Lyra

Lyra
See interactive map at Map:Lyra
Type	Continent
Book Reference
Lyra Series: Shadow Magic Daughter of Witches The Harp of Imach Thyssel Caught in Crystal The Raven Ring

Description

Lyra has two moons, once before the Wars of Binding there was a 3rd moon. The 3rd moon was destroyed, how and why has been lost long before the wars, and pieces of it fell to the planet and are scattered.

Elewyth

Silver-green moon

Kaldarin

Smaller Reddish moon

Races

There are multiple races that live on this world, at times they co-existed peacefully together and other times they warred against one and other.

Neira

the shimmering, sea-dwellers. See also: Neira

Shadow-born

The Shadow-born are ancient beings, that remember old ways of magic, things the rest of the races have forgotten. No one knows their origins, if they were once men or something else

They have no physical form but are able to take over the bodies of others for a short time, but within days or weeks the host body shrivels to nothing and turns to dust. During the "Dark Times" the ruled there world and enslaved the rest, but at the end of the Wars of Binding, they were bound by the four gifts, most of them in the far North. Without servants and sacrifices to feed them, they have grown week, but greedy people still try to use their power from time to time and are in return enslaved. See also: Shadow-born

Shee

the proud, pale and the most human like. They are able to cross-breed with humans, their progeny will have a mix of characteristics between the two races but usually with stronger magic then most humans. See also: Shee

Sklathran'sy

The changed ones, often referred to as demons. They appear humanish but with gray skin and dark, pointed teeth. Their magic is tied to their true name. They are able to cross-breed with any of the four races but their progeny will have all of the traits of the other race. But they are dying out as many of them are sterile. How they came about is unknown. See also: Sklathran'sy

Humans

quarrelsome, energetic, perpetually envious of the other races ability to easily use magic. Only some humans are able to access Lyra's magic. The humans are the most numerous. See also: Humans

Wyrd

catlike, furred. See also: Wyrd

History

Before the Wars of Binding the different races lived in peace on Lyra and during the wars they worked together to save themselves from the Shadow-born.

After the wars they went their separate ways to recover

Geographical Changes

A.W.B.

The center of the main continent sank, creating an inland sea; the coastline moved miles inland in other areas; mountains rose and fell; the island of the Kulseth seafarers sank, taking with it one of the Talismans of Noron’ri and leaving an entire nation homeless.

The climate changed as well as the cold from the far north crept downwards, but thanks to the Wizards of Varna they kept the ice confined to the northern reaches of the continent.

Civilization

Civilization started to reemerge, Rathane started to expand southwards in search of warmer cliemate. Eventually creating an Empire that covered most of the Western lands of the new inland sea.

The eastern countries recovered more slowly. It was not until 577 A.W.B. (After the Wars of Binding) that Kith Alunel signed the first of the trading treaties that eventually grew into the Estarren Alliance.

Some of the people that were left homeless after the center sank and the new inland sea formed made a life on the new islands, but the majority of them went north and lived a nomadic life. They became known as the Thar. They survived by hunting and radis on the northernmost towns and villages.

All four races mingled at least occasionally throughout the sprawling trading empire, and relations among them were generally cordial. Until the aftermath of the Wizard's War.

The Wizard's War Aftermath

After the Wizard's War, the interest in wizardry reawakened among humans and relationships between the four races deteriated which cumulated in the slaughter of hundreds of Shee, Neira, and Wyrds at Darkwater in 1183 A.W.B.

In the aftermath of "Darkwater", the Estarren Alliance started to fall apart as the representatives in the senate at Kith Alunel were recalled. Members of the non-human races that were living among them, quietly left or were persecuted to learn their supposed secrets of magic.

By the time of the Half-Day War between Varna and the Neira in 1517 A.W.B., the Estarren Alliance had collapsed completely into independent, squabbling countries. Virtually all of the nonhumans had left the southern lands or gone into permanent hiding.

Myths, Legends and Stories

• “Long, long ago, when three moons hung in the sky and all the races were one race, there lived a man—”

• Nirrit, who could change his skin to become like any creature on Lyra but who was never satisfied with any of his forms, and his patient son Suranel, who had to find stranger and stranger new shapes for his father to change into.

Naming Conventions

Using Kayl Larrinar and her children as an example. Kayl was born of the Thar people and abandoned at age six and raised by the Silver Sisters.

In Kith Alunel and most places in the Estarren Alliance, the children’s last name follows their father’s family, Dara and Mark Rondalis.

Among the Thar you would be named for your mother’s family, Mark and Dara Larrian.

We of the Sisterhood make second names of a parent’s name, the father’s for a boy, the mother’s for a girl. Mark Kevranil and Dara Kaylar

The Wizards of Varna naming convention isn't explained, there is a 3-4 character name added to the middle, i.e. ker, shal, vin and the last name seems to follow the same pattern as the "Thar" and the Sisterhood, after the mother for daughters and father for sons but using their last name, i.e Larrian, Rondal. Which changes over time after they leave the Island for Alkyra.