2.  WORLD


    This information might not be known to every inhabitant of Plynck, but it is certainly knowledge that every adventurer would have picked up, or learned from her studies.  It is very general; detailed knowledge in any of these areas will require either skill points or explicit learning.

    Contents of this chapter:
2.1 Geography
2.2 Astronomy
2.3 Weather & Climate
2.4 Politics
2.5 Land Rule
2.6 The Deadly Tropics
2.7 Measurements

2.1  Geography

    Plynck is a normal universe type world: spherical, orbiting in the liquid water range of a small main sequence star.  Continents and bodies of water share the surface of Plynck in a rougly 1/3 to 2/3 ratio.  Mountain ranges, river systems, deserts, swamps, untrackable forests, planes, tundra, rolling hills; plus oceans, seas, islands, bays, currents, lakes.  Underneath, there are rumored to be extensive caverns, tunnels, and elaborate cities.  But whereas it is at least theoretically possible for someone to explore all of the surface; vernturing down more than a short distance underground is not something that's open to most surface dwellers.  And those who themselves do live beneath the surface tend to be very parochial.
    The continents, rivers, islands, mountains, oceans, etc., all have names: frequently a different name for each set of peoples who have discovered it.  Some standardization has been established, promoted mainly by merchants who need to be able to describe trade routes to each other.  Finding out about anything more than the local names for local features requires learning in Knowledge::Geography.

2.2  Astronomy

    The two most noiticable attributes of Plynck, as seen by a hypothetical visitor to its solar system, are that Plynck has no axial tilt, and does have a Ring.  Plynck also has two moons - known collectively as The Shepherds - one inside and one outside the Ring.  All three orbits are centered over the equator, with the Ring between the Outer Shepherd and the Inner Shepherd.  Irrespective of any folklore regarding intelligent, directed actions on the part of the moons, the physics of their orbits does keep the particles - which make up the Ring - contained into a fairly consistent orbit.  Both moons always maintain one face towards Plynck.  The Outer Shepherd completes one orbit - from new, waxing to full, and waining back to new - in exactly one month.  The Inner Shepherd has an orbital period exactly one-half as long as that of the Outer Shepherd's.  These periods will have a noticable effect on tides.
    At the equator, the Ring prevents any sight of the Outer Shepherd; or, for that matter, of the sun.  From the higher latitudes, North and South, one can see past the edge of the Ring and observe the Outer Shepherd.
    There are other Wanderers orbiting the sun (called "Sun") with Plynck.  However, how to find them, what their names are, and the significance of their relative locations, as well as those of the constellations (other than the zodiac), requires a minimal investment in learing in Knowledge::Astronomy.
    As with Earth, but to a much greater degree, the orbit of Plynck around its Sun is not perfectly circular.  Also as on Earth, this results in the distance from the Sun being a major factor on Plynck's seasons and weather.  In particular, with no axial tilt, seasons are entirely due to the distance Plynck is from the sun.  And, following standard gravitational rules, Plynck shoots past its closest approach to the sun over a relatively short time, then seems to dwaddle while it is further away. 
    Also: if the Ring shadow were much wider, the entire world of Plynck might have turned into an iceball.  As it is, it is only because Plynck's sun  is hotter than Earth's that the temperate regions receive enough sunlight (and heat) to offset the cold on both sides: pole and equator. Plynck's icecaps and arctic regions are smaller than Earth's.  And water and air currents keep even the center of the Ring's shadow from freezing.
    Affected by each other and by the mass of the Ring itself, all three objects wobble slightly back and forth of orbiting exactly over the equator at all times.  As the Ring shifts, this moves borderlands in and out between the sunlight and the penumbra of the Ring's shadow.  But while the umbra also shifts slightly, the center of the shadow never shifts very far away from the equatorial line.  Because of their own wobbles, conjunctions between the moons and the sun (eclipses) are more rare than they are on Earth.  They do, however, occur. Because of Plynck's own non-circular orbit, the totality and duration of the eclipses also varies widely.   Some people claim to be able to predict when, what kind, and how long such eclipses will occur.

2.3  Weather & Climate

    Seasons are an arbitrary division of the year by people.  As such, they are discussed below, under Time.
    Weather on Plynck differs from Earths in one major manner: there are almost no hurricanes.  Because of the shadow cast by the Ring on the tropics of Plynck, its tropics never reach the scalding temperatures which Earth's do.  As Hurricanes are 'heat engines' driven by the energy difference between the heat absorbed by tropical waters and the arctic cooling of temperate waters, and these differences simply never build up on Plynck, there are almost never any hurricanes at all. 
    To make up for this, it seems, there are nearly continous violent storms near the Shadowlands penumbra, on both sides of the equator, and over both land and sea.
    Otherwise, the weather and climate on Plynck are very similar to that found - in all its variety - across the temperate regions of Earth.

2.4  Politics

    With the exception of  the Deadly Tropics, people live in most parts of Plynck: sometimes very sparsly, sometimes in quite dense clusters.  Humans congregate in cities, towns, villages; but also follow nomadic practices, or dwell in such marginal regions that several square miles are needed to support just one person.  Dwarves and Gnomes are rumored to also range from metropolitian clustering to hermit-like isolation; but since they are usually silent about their backgrounds, and few people are allowed to visit their countries, little is known about that.  Elves have a tendency to live in small clusters, but with a closely-knit relationship which allows nearby clusters to rapidly come to the aid of one in trouble.  Half-elven wistfully pass around "urban myths" of a society of their own; but it was always "what someone told my third cousin that they heard while sailing to that other continent".  Most half-elves are resigned to living not quite in sync with one or the other of their engendering races.  Half-orcs do not have even a legondary place to pretend is home.  Many inhabit the marginal regions, explicitly to not have to have contact with anyone else.  Halflings are especially nomadic, appearing everywhere, some of them staying in one place for generations, but never developing any halfling-dominated societies.
    Countries as political entities vary in size from city-states to an entire (admittedly small) continent.  While most tend to claim all of the land up to each adjacent country, in truth there are often large tracks of land which never see any officials from any of the countries near it.  Inhabitants of a country do tend to have a common tone: similar religious alignments; a more common than not outlook on what constitutes proper behavior; more or less equal freedom (or lack thereof) among all but the highest levels of society.  Nearby countries are frequently in competition for raw goods, and sometimes for land; but usually this does not extend into violent clashes, let alone wars.  Countries with vastly different outlooks do upon occasion go to war, but logistics minimize the effectiveness of this except when the countries involved are also near neighbors.  Thus far there has not been either a world- (or even hemispherical- ) -war, or an even moderately successful conqueror.
    Most peoples are farmers, hunter-gatherers, fishers, or other near substanence workers.  In the more developed societies there is a lower middle class with professions such as miller, blacksmith, shipwright, butcher, woodcarver, etc.  The "middle middle" class is mostly made up of artistic professions such as woodcarver, jeweler, bookbinder, and the like.  Upper middle class are mostly merchants, or those very closely tied to merchant activities, such as navigator, legal solicitor, banker.  The highest of the middle class are richer and more powerful than the lowest nobles, although that does not usually provide them with any more of an access route to the nobility than that enjoyed by their less well off 'cousins'. 
    Almost all countries are administered - or at least run (admittedly: sometimes misrun) - by a hierarchial set of nobles.  Frequently the highest nobles - the royalty - in a land will all be devout worshipers of the same Deity, if not actually all in religious orders to some degree.  Those countries which have a patron Deity are rumored to be especially looked after by their Deities; and it is known that the King or Queen of a country is granted LandSense powers by their Deity which tie the country to them, and vice versa.

2.5  Land Rule

    The major political reality on Plynck is the Land Rule.  This gives a King or Queen near infiinite power over, and almost complete feedback from, the land she or he rules. It is a very demarcated power -- it extends to exactly the boundaries of the country at the time of the bestowing of the heirship.  When the Ruler of a country declares an Heir (or when a new ruler appears ungently from outside, or inside), there is a special ceremony at which the patron God(dess) of the country establishs this tie between the Heir and the Land.  Upon the ascention of the Heir to the Rulership (immediately, in the ungentle cases) the new King or Queen gains powers equivalent to an avatar of the patron Deity.  Effectively, the Ruler 'feels' how the whole country is faring, can tell where a drought is; that an earthquake is coming; when the fields are ready to harvest; or that the grass and ground are being flattened under the boots, hooves, and wagon wheels of an invading army.  And in return there is the ability to make the land respond as if it were an extention of the Ruler's own body, changing the course of a river; causing an earthquake; communicating, through those most attuned to Nature, with the wide-spread inhabitants of His/Her country.
    Since all this power is localized and not mobile, it becomes purely defensive in terms of inter-country politics.  Attempts to misuse it have been known to cause a country's patron Deity to remove the Land Rule from the current Ruler and pass it on to the Heir immediately.  (The normal ways for the Land Rule to pass to the Heir are for the current Ruler to step down -- voluntarily abdicate -- or for the Ruler to die.)  (If St. Cuthbert is sufficeintly upset at the misuse of the Land Rule -- even in, perhaps especially in, lands where he is not the patron Deity -- he might even start, for the third time, a holy war against the abuser.)  But with this much defensive power available to a country, it is hard to imagine another country attempting to conquer through force of arms; and even harder to imagine it succeeding.

2.6  The Deadly Tropics

     The previously mentioned inability to conduct Astronomical Studies near the equator is pretty much a moot point. The almost continous lack of sunlight makes the tropics an ideal breeding ground for undead, and thus a good region for normal people to avoid. 
    Countries near the "Shadowlands" are continously having to repel influxes and invasions of undead.  There is a correspondingly higher instance of undead encounters on Plynck than on most worlds.  Even evilly-oriented countries tend to have rulers who want to remain alive -- even if they don't care particularly about their people -- and sufficiently forward-looking to realize that containing the undead near the tropics is ultimately beneficial to them, no matter how far away their own borders are.  Thus most countries adjacent to the Shadowlands can expect to receive aid, favorable trade agreements, a minimum of need to turn their army's attention away from containment, no matter how closely, or not, their neighbors agree with their orientation, attitude, and internal policies.
    Travel between the two hemispheres is also limited.  For all practical purposes, no land routes exist.  Travel by sea is possible, but more hazardous than usual (consider undead kraken).  At the levels of government diplomacy, religious hierarchies, and various guilds (e.g, mages), communication between countries or branches in the Nourth and South hemispheres is conducted by teleportation.  This is much too expensive for effectively all commercial activities.
    Because the Ring is made up of  a huge number of separately tumbling rocks, chunks of ice, etc., there is a small chance that sunlight will actually make it through the Ring and strike Plynck's surface in the Shadowlands.  Adventurers are cautioned to not expect this to occur as a dei ex machina salvation, should they venture there.

2.7  Measurements

    For simplicity in playing, almost all measurements are (coincidentally) the same as they are on Earth.  This applies not only to the physical dimensions such as distance, weight, and volume, but also to time.  However, there are some minor differences, in time's units, between Earth and Plynck.

2.7.1  Time

    The year on Plynck has 336 days.  Each day has 25 hours.  Each hour is the same length as the Players are used to on Earth.  This means that the elapsed time for a Plynck year is almost exactly the same as the elapsed time for an Earth year; and therefore characters of a given age on Plynck would be the same "years old" if they had lived on Earth instead of Plynck.
    The year is divided into twelve months, corresponding  with the new phase of the Outer Shepherd (see Astronomy).  Each month is divided into two Fortnights -- corresponding with the new phase of the Inner Shepherd -- or four weeks.  Each week has seven days.
    The year begins on the day of the Large Sun solstice (when Plynck is at the closest point in its orbit to its sun).  By an amazing coincidence the previous night was a new moon for the Outer Shepherd, thus the first day of the year is also the first day of the first month.
    Because of the lack of axial tilt, plus the elliptical orbit of Plynck, the seasons are the same for both of  the two hemispheres. Also, there are no days with greater or lesser daylight.  Then, because of the ellipitcal orbit, the seasons all have different lengths.  Fortunately for life on Plynck, its sun is hotter than ours, making its liquid water belt much broader than that in our solar system. The intense heat inflicted on the planet at its closest is largely absorbed by the oceans, which then keep the entire planet reasonably warm for the outward half of its orbit.  By the time this buffer has worn off, the planet is again approaching its sun, but so slowly that there is ample time for winter conditions to establish themselves.  These in turn act as a partial shield against the heat from the next close passage.
    Originally, the months had names relating to the agricultural backgrounds of each area's peoples.  This created a lot of difficulties when merchants, governments, religious organizations, guilds, etc., began working together across a wider domain than a single country.  For example, each tribe, clan, or village had a month whose name meant "sowing", and another for "harvesting", reflecting a more purely argicultural past on all parts.  But those names were entirely local.  Attempting to create a single, common nomenclature required that the decision makers (or more likely their astronomical advisors) come up with region-neutral names for the months.  Accordingly, the months are named for shared astronomical events -- constellations, which can be seen on both sides of the equator.  And which, while they might also have local names, are common enough that no existing country has a claim to them.  In particular that constellation which is just above the eastern horizon before dawn, provides the name for the current month.  (These constellations thus make up Plynck's zodiac, and are known to almost everyone.)


2.7.2  Calendar

    Here are the months of the year, and their corresponding seasons.


 MONTH SEASON
1
 Mountain
 winter
2
 Archer winter
3
 Throne
 winter
4
 Leopard
 winter
5
 Plow spring
6
 Priestess
 summer
7
 Pail
 summer
8
 Dragon summer
9
 Sword
 fall
10
 Beggar
 fall
11
 Tree
 fall
12
 Cygnet
 fall


    Each month is divided into four weeks of seven days each.  The weeks have descriptive names, relating to the actions of the moons, with the Inner Shepherd (as always) mentioned first:
             Double Grow
             Shrink Grow
             Grow Shrink
             Double Shrink

    However, these are a holdover from that earlier argicultural phase in the growth of civilization, when events were much more tied to the phases of the moons.  Now that so many lives are now tied to towns and cities -- and these may be a minority of all the people in each country, but they're the vocal and powerful minority  -- the tendency is to eliminate the cumbersome month/week/weekday designation, and replace it with one consisting of  month/day-of-month (e.g., Dragon 26).
    The days of the week each have individual names, and these are still in common usage, because of their traditional religious and commercial  associations.  In order, the weekday names are:
             Godsday   --   religious observances
             Lordsday  --    for honoring the nobility (also paying taxes in Double Shrink)
             Freeday    --   a day off (except, of course, for peasants, slaves, farmers, etc.)
             Plynckday --    honoring the earth
             Ringday     --    honoring that astronomical object
             Sunday      --    honoring that astronomical object
             Moonsday --    honoring both moons (Inner is always new or full)

    The day starts at dawn and runs until the next dawn. 
    Each watch is five hours long.
    Each day is divided into twenty-five hours, consisting of two daytime watches (for traveling, exploring, and so forth), and three nightime watchs (including evening camp setup and dawn camp strike).
    Each hour is divided into sixty minutes, which are in turn divided into sixty seconds.  Hours, minutes, and seconds are exactly the same as on Earth.

    For combat purposes, a round is six seconds; thus there are ten rounds in a minute.

    For adventuring purposes, traveling usually takes up two watches a day, with meals, camp chores, sleeping, and meditating (or praying) taking up the other three watches.

2.7.3  Weights

    Plynck uses a measurement system equivalent to Earth's English: that is, miles / yards / feet / inches instead of meters; gallons / quarts / pints / cups / ounces instead of litres; and pounds instead of  grams. 
    However, there is a significant difference between Plynck's measurement system, and that of other AD&D worlds.  On Plynck, a gold piece weighs 1/100 of a pound.  [Idiot WotC designers ignoring decimal system; rant, rant.]  This is known as the gold piece weight "gpw". 
    Coinage from other metals - copper, silver, plantinum, mithril, adamantite - are all set such that a single coin is always 1 gpw.  This means that copper and silver coins are about twice the size of gold coins; pp are slightly smaller; mp are 1/2 the size of gp; and ap are 1/10 the size of gp.  [Very rarely will these sizes have any effect during the run.]
    A carat - measuring the size of a gem - is 1/1000 of a gpw.

2.7.4  Volumes

   Liquid measurements, as mentioned in passing (in Weights), are exactly the same as the English system on Earth.
    However, for carrying capacity purposes, it will be useful to have a conversion method between volume and weight.  This allows each character (horse, boat, beltpouch, etc.) to track only a single measurement -- weight -- and not have to also track a second limitation of volume.  For comparison, on Earth a cubic foot of storage will hold: 60 pounds of liquid, 200 pounds of stone, 1,000 pounds of metal, or 25 pounds of anything else. 
    For simplicity, on Plynck a cubic foot of anything weighs 100 pounds; treat fractions accordingly. 

2.7.5  Distances

    As stated in passing earlier, all distances use the English system, and all such named measurements are exactly the same length as they are on Earth.