THE
SUN
("INJÈRÁ") |
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.
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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.
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.
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