The Differences In DH

The world of Dark Horizon is a very different place from our own reality, with its own history, culture, and physical laws. While other fantasy worlds often hold the human race as a default, assuming most things in the fantasy world are similar to our own, DH does not.

We do not ask our players to memorize each and every difference in the gameworld to play. However, those who endeavor to adhere to the fiction, learning the differences and using them in game, -will- find themselves with a greater advantage in-game, and a higher rate of admin approval. Put simply, learn our world, and the game will be that much more fun to play.

Here is an exhaustive list of all the pertinent differences between the DH world, and the real world.

Flora and Fauna/Science/Whales/The Sun and Two Moons/A Matriarchal Society/The Chatternights

Flora and Fauna

As a default, all real-life fruits, vegetables, plants, and insects that can be found in a warm climate are nonexistent on the new island –unless- they have been brought over from the homeland, where most do exist. Though there are animals, trees, bugs, and plants on the new island, and all sorts of foods, they are all at least subtly different from those things found in the Aiian’s original home. For those who wish to learn more about the plants, trees, animals, or whatnot that are native to the island, please read the ‘native life’ document.

Science

Science is not developed in the Dark Horizon world. There is no understanding of stars being far away, or atoms being the building blocks of matter. For as far as your characters are concerned, most modern thoughts on physics, atronomy, meteorology, chemistry and so on are non-existant. What do the Aiians believe? There are texts in-game which speak in-character on different beliefs of how the world works, but here’s a quick sample of what most Aiians know and understand to be physical law and reality.

- The building blocks of any living substance are fire, air, and water. Earth is an inert substance, created by Aiia for her people to stand on.

- A large amount of water will attract smaller bits of water. A large amount of air will attract smaller amounts of air. The air and the water wants to get back to join its greater mass. Thus, down is down because the water in your body wants to get back to the water. You float in water because the air in your body wants to go back to the air. If you lose enough air from your body (by breathing it out, being infused with water) then eventually you may start to sink, as the air in your body no longer is of a great enough amount to keep you pulled toward the sky.

- The stars are not far away in space. Nor is the sun and the two moons. They are within the air, just very very high up. The stars are not huge, but perhaps the size of a person, or perhaps the size of a large ship. They are simply very bright. Look to mythology to find an explanation of what they are. Not every Aiian will be religiously schooled enough to know, though most know the tales.

- Things burn because they are releasing the fire inside them, coaxed to do it by the presence of other fire. Things made by Aiia burn orange, releasing the energy she infused them with. Things not made by Aiia do not burn orange. It is said whale oil burns blue because it is the sky god, Ilseus’ magic that created them.

Whales

Are reputed to be angels of the sky-god Ilseus. As such, Aiians have declared holy war on all whales. This explains the Aiian’s ancient fighting styles (hook and harpoon, hook and spear), and also the skill of the society’s whalers. Nearly every good guard or soldier is just as skilled at fighting whales as they are at fighting on land.

The Sun and The Two Moons

One will discover quickly in-game that the Dark Horizon world sports two moons, a dull red one and a blueish-white one. The origins of these moons, and of the sun itself, are spoken of in Aiian mythology, and can be found in the library section of this website, under 'myths'.

The 'sun' is also called 'Esshal', 'Esshael' or 'Essy' if one feels the need to be clever and speak of the sun affectionately. The blueish-white moon is often simply called 'moon', but may also be referred to as 'Oon', or 'Oona', and is considered to be female. The reddish moon gives off very little light, and has occasionally been known to drop red shooting stars (a celestial phenomenae that often is thought of as an omen of bad things currently occuring, or shortly to occur). This last moon is called 'Lissel' or 'Liss' and is spoken of by Aiian's as 'the red guardian'. It may be referred to as male or female, and is often championed as a symbol for willful women, or those females who wish to be warriors. (traditionally a man's place in Aiian society).

A Matriarchal Society

Aiian society sees the female as more important than the male. The man is seen as a traditional protector, whose place in society is defending the female from danger. Females gain most political positions, and the regent, the head of the royal family and of Aiian politics as a whole is female.

In current day, especially in the island colony, these traditional values are often blurred. Everyone pulls their weight in the colony, or they don't earn food to live on. Though some women still laugh to see a man in politics, or pursuing a religious calling, most take on a 'to each her/his own' attitude, and simply get on with business as it presents itself.

In Aiian traditional law, a woman may not be struck. Even in contemporary law, the striking of a woman by a man carries, at the very least, a stiff fine, and perhaps some jail time. The striking of a pregnant woman carries a much more severe penalty.

That being said, a woman who picks up a weapon automatically is considered to be 'forfitting' her womanly status, and can be fought or trained with just as any man.

Husbandless Women - On Sural (the Aiian's homeland) it is not uncommon, nor is it scandalous for a woman to have children, and have never married. Though marriage is common, and most families do have a mother and father joined in wedlock, it is definitely not uncommon, especially amoung nobility or the rich, to see a single mother.

Now, in the island colony of Gray Harbor, things are slightly different. The colony has, over its hundred cycle lifespan, attained some slightly different standards than Suralien Aiian society. For instance, it is known that a new child means a new mouth to feed, and more resources consumed, so a family with one parent is often viewed as a drain on the already straining colony. Many assume they will require charity...and this is not unfounded, as low class, single parent families often do in Gray Harbor.

Thus, though a single mother might be utterly accepted, and at times a fashionable sign of prestige in Sural, it is not necessarily so in Gray Harbor. Even if the single mother is one of nobler blood, or the wealthy, where it more common and not a problem for the less endowed, ill feelings still tend to present themselves in some form or another.

The Chatternights

On occasion, when the sun is just setting and the rich light of dusk washes over the land, a most insistant sound will drift out of the forests around Gray Harbor. This phenomenae, known as the chattering, or the chatters, is an insistant, carrying, maddening sound that causes extreme distress to Aiians and animals alike.

It is not quite clear what causes a Chatternight, or why they fall when they do. Some brushers claim they have devised a sort of calender which maps out future chatternights with a good deal of accuracy. Whether this is true, or some idle boasting, none can seem to agree.

Those who suffer most, and most chronically from Chatternights are the farmers living in the northwest farming community. With untamed forest so close on all sides, they are buffeted by the chattering relentlessly, and those with insufficient means of protection (heavy enough pillows to put over their heads, or a good hay loft to lie within) have been known to suffer madness both temporary and permanent.

Brushers (Aiians who hunt and gather with frequency in the forests) are often thought of as somewhat addled, and this opinion largely stems from the existance of the Chatternight phenomenae. In all truth, this stereotype may to be valid, to a point. Many brushers have been known to grow more and more peculiar with age. Some brushers even seem to have developed an immunity toward the chattering...though those are also usually the ones who have been burned by it to the point of utter pudding-mindedness.

Though no one knows why or when the chatternights fall, there has nevertheless been recognition of a certain pattern within them. Of course, when locals almost seem to have formed a schedule in their heads, the next chatternight throws the entire hypothesis off. Only the brushers seem confidant (and occasionally eerily accurate) in their predictions.