LLLife, undoubtedly, can be hard for an individual in the universe; even a civilian who is a member of the Planar Council in the best of times can struggle. Starvation, death, and horrific things can run rampant. Due to this, it is not unusual for large numbers of individuals to go on a mass exodus when new lands become known.

You would think that they would be aware of the cycle, but there is a certain level of ignorance that comes with the new, an unfounded acceptance that maybe… it is better.

Lathiir is not a bad world per se; it is quite pleasant. It is a smaller continental world with several continents separated by oceans and climate varying by latitude. The native life that is present is limited to various flora and fauna but with no current intelligent life.

Eccentricities of Time

HHHowever, it does come with some unique challenges given its astronomical position. Lathiir is a habitable moon that orbits a gas giant that natives simply call the “Host”. Many Lathiirians have a female personification of the planet their world orbits, imagining the intricate relationships of the stellar bodies involved as a sort of dance. (Though some take it too far and see it as a mating display. There is no shortage of various cults focusing on general sensuality to those concentrating on interpreting it as a woman subjugating over her potential suitors.)

“There she is, our gracious Host! Her court is packed with suitors and while there may be some that are worthy of some attention, all eyes are on her. She is the center of the dance, the ballad of which we observe from our petty places down here.”

— Seamus Ban Wu, Zuìgāo Elf Astronomer, “Journals of a Lizard-raised Elf, Page 117”

A Lathiirian Day is approximately 30 hours with the amount of sunlight being received ranging between 10 hours during the Winter to 20 in the Summer.

• Each day is a full rotation of Lathiir and is 30 hours.
• Every ten days is called a Ride (or a tenday) and marks a third of a full orbit around its host.
• Every month is three rides, or 30 days, and marks a full orbit.
• Every year is 480 days and marks a full orbit of its host planet.

An unfortunate side-effect of Lathiir orbiting a larger body is that once every month, typically during the second ride, there is a period where it is eclipsed by the Host and plunged into total darkness. Though native life has evolved to adapt to this event, life brought from other planes has difficulty. During the Shade people will typically try to stay in place. It is not a time one wants to be caught out alone.

Gone and Forgotten

WWWhen adventurers initially started traversing the surface of Lathiir, they did find some evidence that a civilization once existed here at one time. Researchers in a broad gamut of subjects flocked to Lathiir hoping to be the one to discover the secrets of the past, anything to make a name for themselves, solve the mystery of those who had once been here or claim a power that may have very well been their undoing.

It is completely understandable, then, how these beings would be overlooked and forgotten again upon the discovery of the true archaeological marvel upon Lathiir, something everyone had assumed they would never find: a fully intact, functioning, non-Trigate structure left behind by the Primogenitors.

The Tower rises into the sky, seen from an unimaginable distance. It is a landmark to all of those who reside on the island of Lanzarote on which it stands. It is also a reminder that they have no idea just how insignificant they are, a fantastic feat in itself given the massive grace of the Host as she dances across the sky.

“Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety.”

— Aesop, The Great and the Little Fishes