The Sun as called by the humans of Sarvonia, or the "Injèrá" (Injèrá) by the Sarvonian elves, is the main light source in form of a self-consuming fireball which circles in the southern skies of Caelereth in front of the world. It moves daily from east to west, thus constituting daytime (when above the world's rim) and nighttime (when below the rim). A complete circle of the Sun takes exactly 24 hours. The Sun is not only responsible for illuminating nearly all parts of the world, but also provides all continents with warmth and determines the changes of seasons due to its varying distance to the world's rim. Naturally the Caelereth north is the coldest part of the world, because it is the farthest away from the rays of the Sun, while the south is the hottest.

Interpretation of the role of the Sun in mythology varies from race to race. Two of the most important mythological interpretations should be mentioned here in short: While the humans for example see the Sun mainly as the Giver and Maintainer of Life, the elves interpret the Sun as a symbol of pureness and morality, as a guide to the godly virtues of Honesty, Compassion, Humilty and Love. For dwarves in general, who have chosen the darkness under the mountains their home, the Sun has only minor cosmological importance.

Picture description: Sunset over Denilou, the dwarven Iron Realm. Pic drawn by Quellion, special effect by Artimidor.

Appearance. The Sun can be described as a moving object in the form of an orb of fire, placed in front of the Caelereth world. At least the mentioned fire-form can be spotted through the complicated instruments of gnomish astronomers, however, not through the eye only. Neverthless not many exact details can be said about size or volume of the Sun, not even about the distance between the Sun and the world of Caelereth. Astronomers suppose that this distance ranges between 1000 and 2000 furlays, but this couldn't be confirmed till this day. Other scholars, who focus their examinations more on a mythological basis than on a scientific one, claim that the Sun may not even be of physical nature, as the Etherial Void can produce strange phenomenons, illusions which only resemble things we know from our own experience, but cannot be counted as part of our reality, but only as something, which influences our reality. Be it as it is, the flames of the ball one can spot through astronomical gear seem to burn in self-consuming fashion, thus maybe giving the Sun some sort of impetus to move around in circles, bringing it above and below the world's rim in regular, measurable intervals. Myth of course sees this impetus and the precise movements of the Sun given mainly by a godly force. But all these explanations are nearly impossible to prove satisfactorily as it is extremely difficult to investigate the phenomenon of the Sun from an observing position of Caelereth only, far away from the Etherial Void. What can be stated by astronomers, however, are details on how the Sun moves in front of the world and how this movement affects Caelereth.

A whole turn takes the Sun exactly 24 hours, which is usually referred to as a "day" (Styrásh daín or daín). A day can be divided into the so-called "daytime" (In'jeín, In'jeín in Styrásh, short for "time of guiding") or "nighttime" (Cor'jeín, Cor'jeín in Styrásh, short for "time of darkening"), the first representing the time when the Sun can be seen above the world's rim, the latter when the Sun disappears under the rim and with its disappearance withdraws light and heat from the lands. The time of changing between daytime and nighttime is called "dawn" when the Sun ascends (Av'jeín, Av'jeín short for "Time of Arriving") and "dusk" when the Sun descends (Un'jeín, Un'jeín short for "Time of Leaving"). There are also names for the highest and lowest stands of the Sun: While zenith (Injèrách, Injèrách short for "Sun Reign") denotes the highest stand of the Sun or midday, the lowest stand of the Sun is only named by the elves (Corách, Corách, short for "Night Reign") and occurs when the Sun stands in "zenith" upon the Netherworlds (see Myth/Lore).

As the Sun retreats from the world during autumn ("Sun-Leaving", see below), the point where she rises and sets moves towards the south, till she has reached the winter solstice and her diurnal arc (the path she takes during the day over the sky) is the smallest, her height above the horizon the lowest - the diurnal arc grows again until summer solstice. These phenomena make the days in winter, though always 12 hours long (as the nights), much darker than in summer and so many cultures, especially in the north of Caelereth celebrate the returning of the light at Yearturn (wintersolstice). In Aeruillin however it is quite contrary, the absence of the hot and blazing summer Sun is cause for many festivities.

The seasonal differences in dawn- and dusk-times are obvious when reading on the origins of seasons: The seasons indeed are another cosmological event determined by the movements of the Sun. Astronomers have found out that the Sun does not only describe a single circle in front of Caelereth, but also rotates on a three-dimensional axis in a much longer time span (or becomes considerably smaller and larger for no apparent reason, but the first theory is generally accepted). This time span between the nearest Sun position ("Cáejin'terquán", short Styrásh for "Turn of the Sun [near Caelereth]") and the position where it is the farthest away from Caelereth ("Eshya'terquán", Styrásh for "Turn of the Sun [in the Void]") is called the "Sun-Leaving" (Phár, Phár, "travel"), while the time span between the Cáejin'terquán and the Eshyá'terquán is called the "Sun-Return" (Rèth, Rèth, "nearing"). Both time spans last 180 days. The complete distance measured in time is called a "year" (Waésh'háj, Waésh'háj, "twelve-month") and lasts exactly 360 days. Exactly in-between these 180 days span in spring and autumn lie the days of the Silarjerá (Styrásh for "Moon-Sun"), where seen from central Santharia the Sun and the moon appear to have the same size.

The cosmological phenomenon of the Sun is also closely related to the Moon (Silarná, Silarná), which, though not seen as a ball of fire, but as a sphere with two different hemispheres, a bright and a dark one, rotates in a similar movement at the opposite side of the disc. However its distance seems not to vary as the one of the Sun (see Moon entry).

Myth/Lore. The races and tribes all over Caelereth of course have different religious, spiritual and scientific interpretations of the phenomenon of the Sun. We'd like to mention only a few of these interpretations to give you a general overview:

• The Sun as the Injèrá (Sarvonian elven myth)
  The Sarvonian elves follow the myth as recounted in the Cárpa'dosía, which also mentions how the Sun originated and what purpose it still serves: Once the Sun stood unmovingly high above all other things. It was designed to make all things living grow and prosper - physically as well as in spirit and was a creation of the Foiros, the God dedicated to the Element of Fire. The Sun was made in the Beginning of Time as an image of the High Goddess Avá the Beautiful to the world, of Her completeness, eternal being, immortality and Her uncompared vividness which shows in Her constantly changing Thoughts of the everlasting Dream. It was made as a selfconsuming orb of fire, put in a crystal cage, so that it was safe from all the dark influences of the dark God. The encaged Sun thus is also a sign of the virtues for the races which are required to achieve and maintain inner equilibrum and beauty in order to resemble the Mother of All, and these main virtues are Honesty, Compassion, Humility and finally Love. In order to realize these virtues in everyday life, the elves are meant to follow the way of the Sun, which serves as a guide (Styrásh Injèrá, Injèrá).
  
  Although the Injèrá was originally placed above the center of the Caelereth world, Foiros saw that many of the Children of Avá became blinded when viewing the splendour of the Goddess through the strong light of the Injèrá. Therefore Foiros moved the Sun to the end of the world, away from reality, into the nothingness and possibility of the Etherial Void, which for the Children appears to be located at the south of Caelereth.
  
  Later on when Eu'reóll, the Tree of Life, caught fire under the influence of Avá's dark brother Coór and the world began to float away from its original location caused by the Eternal Darkwinds of Coór's evil minions, the Injèrá sank below the world and it became dark again like at the Beginning of all Time. However, Foiros gave life, strength and movement to the Sun so that she could counter the evil winds lifting the world above her magnificence. And since this time the Sun moves in an unceasing circle in front of the world, from the southeast to the southwest. It drowns at nighttime in the Etherial Void, only to return again on the next day, filled with new power and magic in order to teach the Children the importance of the virtues they may have forgotten when the Veil of Shadow cloaked the lands. The eternal, necessary fight of the Injèrá against the Darkwinds now is known to all the Children as the change between "day" and "night", and the gems which the Darkwinds tore from the Sun and are carried throughout open space are known to the humans as the "stars" (Miés'efería, Miés'efería, "jewel fires").
  
  Since the Injèrá moves in front of the world, not only the brilliance and pureness of the Injèrá are important in an elf's life in order to lead virtuous lives. Also the movement of the Sun and its fearlessness to confront the darkness with its guiding light has effect on the process of realization of the eternal virtues and its spreading throughout the lands.

• The Toy of Foiros (Sarvonian human myth)
  [...]

An important date has to be mentioned here as well: The Year of the so-called Vardýnnian Atonment in 1649 b.S., a time when the Sun didn't move over the world's rim for over a year, thus causing death and destruction upon large parts of the world. At least this is the commonly believed myth. The humans of Sarvonia interpret the temporary disappearance of the Sun as a sign of Foiros in order to end the horrible Dragonstorm over the territory of Vardýnn. Other cultures of course have different explanations, which often are of religious nature. Scholars of today even doubt that the Sun ever disappeared below the rim, but that during the time of Sun-Leaving either the world of Caelereth was shoved away from its predictable course temporarily or the circles of the Sun were disturbed by an unknown source. A third theory (which is currently judged as the most likely) suggests that the Darkwind movements intensified during this period of time and that the Sun was completely covered by black, heavy clouds which were ripped off the Netherworld skies and carried around Caelereth. Several sources seem to prove this last theory, especially reports of strange temporary light phenomenons during the Time of Darkness, however, it is very difficult to find an exact explanation today thousands of years after this noteable event. So far there has been only one such case, though astronomers warn that a repetiton is possible, alas it cannot be predicted accurately with the current astronomical means.

Importance. The Sun undoubtedly has a major impact on all life in Caelereth to say the least. In fact with providing all lands on the surface with light and warmth, the Sun is the cosmological phenomenon, which is mainly responsible for what the world has become and it would be impossible to remove from the skies without ending the existences of most of all living beings in the same process. The importance of the Sun as giver of life also became obvious during the time which Santharian people call the Vardýnnian Atonement (1649 b.S.), when it is said that the burning orb of the Sun didn't return above the rim of the world for a time of several months (though there are doubts about this assumption as well, see Myth/Lore section). What seems fact, however, is that the rays of light and warmth coming from the Sun, did not penetrate anymore to southern Sarvonia, thus causing a deadly coldness, afflicting the races, beasts and plants alike. Mainly the latter of course suffered severely, as they depend much more on light and warmth than the beasts and races do, who have much more possibilities to protect themselves. But as the ecosystem was completely overthrown during this harsh time, many beasts, who depended on a working flora, as well as the races, who could not grow crops anymore and had to rely on the scarce game, were affected as well.

As you can see, life without the blessings of the Sun for a longer period of time seems quite impossible, which sure is the main reason why various tribes throughout Caelereth (in general more primitive, nature based ones), see the Sun as a religious symbol and worship it above all other things existing, which they require for living.