Valéa:

Creative writing to do with Valéa

This has been collecting dust in the drafts for a while now. I wrote it when tired. It is here.

Timeline of Human Events

Shockingly, this is not a full timeline and probably never will be because that it impossible since Valéa is made up anyway.

I will add to it frequently as order things chronologically. Information here.

Background information

Pronounced "Val-aye-ah," this is a planet that I made up for fun and games. So far I have a main world map, nine main nations, some characters, a few fauna, a language system, religion, and a bunch of other stuff. The main timeline of the story(ish) is set thousands of years into the future. Since Valéa is a planet in another galaxy that has humans on it, one might ask how humans got there. Uhh space ships, obviously?? Humans had to get off of Earth (I will make no further elaborations as to why they left because it will freak me out,) and so a ship of around 3,600 people left as a last resort. After several years of space travel (though many lightyears away, people figured out how to speed up the process,) they arrived on a lush world, originally calling it "Vernland." Many people vowed not to take too much from the planet, as to not have a redo of Earth, but some could not manage living without the systems they'd grown up with. The group split into two after a couple hundred years, one side using modern technology, while the others learned to live without such resources.

Basics

Valéa is a planet very similar to Earth in most ways: size, temperatures, fauna and flora, chemicals, etc. There are big differences also, like the biomes, types of water, other intelligent species, and the fact that the other hemisphere of the world is uninhabitable due to thick and dangerous forests. Humans seem to age and mature slower on Valéa and live longer, (which may or may not have anything to do with the time, but the lifestyles.) Most/all cultures in Valéa don't consider individuals adults until age 20, while 18 and 19 are still developmental and for later years of schooling. The current year in the timeline is 3601 (which would be over 5600 C.E.) and on Valéa there are 26 hours in a day, and 10 months in a year, with about 41 days per month (the other two go to Uni); a total of 412 days a year. (Months in order: Uni [Oo-nee]- the first month, Mars- the month of rain, Verro [Vehr-oh]- the month of labor, Pothus [Poh-thus]- the month of green, Herz’a [Air-zah]- the halfway point, Laya [Lae-ah]- the month of harvest, Septary [Sep-tahry]- the month of education, Rally [Ral-ee]- the month of new beginnings, Adim [Ah-deem]- the month of change, and Edes [Ay-dees]- the month of victory.)

The Voyage

The ship which brought first 3,628 to people was called Exodus 1 and took four years, two months, and 19 days to arrive at its destination. Though no one died, twenty-seven were born on the ship: stellarborns. Post-arrival, after the human population started to expand, people began calling their elders Earthborn because of such a birthplace. Exodus 1 was basically one big space cruise ship that was also capable of landing on the planet's surface itself. (Science! it's in the future anyway, don't worry, the researchers figured it out.) Aboard were ten captains from around Earth, most being astronauts, astrophysicists, etc. People slept in pods, not rooms, to save space, and there was enough food for four years and five months. Fuel started becoming eerily low towards the end of the journey, but it's not like it was a two way trip.

Two years after Exodus 1 began its trip, Exodus 2 was sent out, followed behind Exodus 3 only two months later. One year after that, Exodus 4 and 5 were set to arrive within only three years, but ran out of fuel and oxygen not even half way through. (Yikes.) No one dared to risk another ship, and so contact with Earth was officially lost just before Exodus 3 landed.

History of the Nations

There are nine main (human-run) nations on Valéa. Many are kingdoms, some are empires, and fewer are republics. After landing on Valéa, The Founders made agreements, pacts, and wrote the book Vernlaw to try and help guide the future generations of the planet. The main takeaways from the book are: don't destroy this planet like you destroyed Earth, work together democratically, do not kill the innocent, and accept the identities of others. Knowing humans, you can probably guess that The Founders' plans didn't exactly go so straight forward down the line. As the human population expanded, explorers were sent to map out the entire continent, and were almost successful. People started moving east, creating new groups, cultures, and dialects. The first war was in the year 189 (or 189 years after landing on Valéa,) over resources. A society in modern-day Metrova wanted to branch out in industrialization, even though that went against Vernlaw code, and so fighting broke out. Modern-day Sathia was formed out of opposition to Metrova's plans, and ultimately lost after two years. Metrova remains the most industrialized out of all the states, but not as high-tech as the world we live in today. They have trains, electricity, vehicles to create large scale structures, and certain scientific/medical instruments. They prosper, but at a high cost that many other nations still look down on.

Geography/chemistry

(Disclaimer: I'm no scientist so some of this information might not be scientfically possible, but it's a fantasy world anyway so what does it matter.) The atmosphere of Valéa is just about the same as Earth, just a slightly higher concentration of oxygen. The ozone layer (or whatever the equivalent would be,) is slightly thinner as well, leading to a lot of places on and an in water having a higher average temperature, kind of like some periods of prehistoric Earth. (I'm thinking carboniferous period maybe.) The oceans are more freshwater than any other kind. There are saltwater lakes/bays in certain areas of the mainland, but aren't very common. (A lot of Inkwell borders salt ocean and the salty Eel Bay.) There are other kinds of water, some hypersaline, some chlorine, mineralized, and more. The other large continent is on the other side of Valéa and filled with dense flora around the edges for over 10km, then opens into meadow lands. Human explorers have yet to make to through the wall, and have had little contact with life on the other face of the planet. Valéa itself formed around three billion years ago and is within the solar system of Icarian, the star. There are five main planets in the system and Valéa is second closest to the sun. The sun is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Biomes...

Leaf’lands: flat or hilly areas that have large, peace-lily like leaves as the vegetation with moss and small flowers growing on the ground. Leaves can be up to twenty feet tall, but aren’t considered to be trees because they’re just really big leaves.

Grassy Dunes: basically lake michigan beach-esque grasses and sandy soil. Not to be confused with dunes which are only sand.

Sand Dunes: miles of golden-brown sand. Stereotypical Earth sandy desert but with a twist.

Yeiwinds: Open land similar to the dunes, but they have different grassy vegetation and creeks/low rivers throughout. Like the name suggests, it is quite windy and prone to typical thunder storms.

Basalt Planes: tundra-like grasslands with dark soil made up of basalt. Arid with open patches of rock.

...and Climates/Weather

Salt storms: instead of rain, there are purpley-brown crystals of salt-like hailstones that pierce through the sky.

The Nations

Kingdoms, democracies, and more.

1. Zaksar
   

Religion

Vitaeism: (“Vee-tay-ism,” Vitist,) is a polytheistic religion which revolves around the four "main" elements: Earth, Water, Light (Sun/Fire), and Botany. There is believed to be a god of each element, and each person is connected with a certain element. That element is determined during a ceremony when finishing secondary school, and guides them throughout the rest of their life. They believe in reincarnation, the idea that everything in the universe is reused and so are spirits. People make small shrines anywhere that seems to have strong spiritual energy, and do not go to temples of worship. Other religions are in the land of Zaksar by travel and immigration, but most are not even close to being as widespread as Vitaeism. All gods are referred to as gender neutral. The religion does not come from humans, but rather the Intelligent Species which was the main ruler of Valéa pre-humanity. (More on that later.) The humans gradually picked it up, like any religion, though some were desperate for something to follow and converted whole societies. (I have not yet decided whether or not I want religion to be canon, or rather just a belief system. If it is real in the world of Valéa, the gods would actually just be super over powered creatures with insane and "magical" abilities.)

• God of Light: Sol (life, sometimes weather, sun.)
• God of Water: Azu (bodies of water, ice, weather.)
• God of Earth: Terreus (rock, fauna, etc.)
• God of Fire: Ilex “Ee-leih” (heat, healing, life/rebirth more specifically, etc.)

Saints of Vitaeism: (Saints are more like spirits-like beings, rather than saints similar to/in catholicism. "Saint" is just the best word to describe them.) Each god has their own set of saints, unlike the gods they are not completely immortal, as they can be killed, but could live forever. If you kill a saint, you are thought to be tarnished and cursed for life and would probably just be exiled for any community ever. Saints usually only manifest in one form, unlike the gods which can have many forms. Saints tend to be mythical looking creatures who can speak to you telepathically if you are close enough to them and also can travel though whatever element their god is. (Ex: a saint of Azu can become the water and travel through the currents without being seen.) They can grant small wishes or prayers, and are usually bound to a certain area of land (which they protect.) There are shrines for individual saints which are thought to give them extra power, but many main god shrines also include small statues of their saints. Saints also tend to be friendlier than gods and more forgiving.

Transportation

1.) "Horseback" (Ride animals): Every region has their own primary animal used for carrying trade and getting about on, but the most widely used are the carrybird, woolenbeast, and raptors. Carrybirds are not a species on their own, but rather a descriptor for large bird-like creatures that assist in air travel and transport of larger quantities of goods. Bird helicopter. Woolenbeasts are slower and on the ground, essentially oxen, they pull carts and are used more in the south. Lastly, the raptors are another non-descript kind of bird/dinosaur creature. They can only carry one human at a time, are very fast, and are often used for sending messages.

2.) Vehicles: There are two main kinds of vehicles, "special tech" and less complex. Special technologies include: trains and motorized carts (not cars exactly.) Both are different from our knowledge of what trains and motorized vehicles are. Second, boats, blimps, and wing/paragliders are frequently utilized for traversing the sea and skies.

Masquerade

A popular festival of southern Valéan origin and the Motherworld, Masquerade is a night festival where people might dress up as animals, spirits, as royalty, or in flashy and mysterious outfits. Some people will dress up as their saint (see Religion section) to honor and thank them. People wear masks and do all kinds of performances. Ends at sunrise. Some might braid several ribbons into their hair to look like royalty, who have the streaks of color. It usually takes place in the main plaza of a town on the last day of Herz'a. It combines aspects of Mardi gras and Chinese lunar new year festivals with its own Valéan twist. At each individual festival, two people are named king and queen (or queen/queen, king/king, etc.) and are allowed to start the bonfire. The fire burns old woods and materials from the winter-like seasons and has flames of every color. For musicians, Masquerade is a time to prepare the most flashy pieces that many dance to and is a way for them to get hefty busking credits. The main colors of the fest are aquamarine and bright red, two colors which can be prominently seen in the bonfire. Lanterns, streamers, and other decorations are placed everywhere three days in advance, getting people ready for the excitement. Rather than it being a festival before dark times (like mardi gras was/is,) Masquerade (I might change the name) is a time to get rid of the old and celebrate the new and welcome in the warmer and brighter months. For most students, the festival takes place the day after they start their Laya month break, the festival being beloved by the young.

Valéan Music and Instruments

Music is very important to every Valéan culure. Even to the species native to the planet. Like humans do, music was brought from the Motherworld to Vernland. Instruments, songs, recordings, sheet music. A little bit of everything. Music was one of the ways that humanity made it through the hardships of the first hundred years. Slowly, over the next 3,600 years, instruments and music itself started to naturally change and shift to meet the requests of the modern peoples. Many of the same Earth instruments still remain, the string family, basic winds (flutes, trumpets, etc.), the piano, and other forms of basic percussion. The art of classical western music was relatively lost for a couple of centuries until people could figure out how to create and use the instruments again.

New instruments, of course, were also created. Other varients of lute and guitar like instruments, ones that use water and glass to create sound, and new kinds of wood winds made out of specific hollow logs became more and more popular, as they were also more accesible than say, a violin. New scripts were developed for writing music and new inventions were created to "store," or record, music. A "syntoir" is a device which doesn't use electric technology to record music and is similar to a music box. More on this topic soon.

Important Figures

I have a lot of characters set throughout the entire timeline of this whole world building thing. Dead characters will be written in italics, while alive are in normal text. You could also deduct by their birth years whether or not they are still alive in the canon period which I write most things in. (Current year is 3601, or 3,601 years since Exodus 1 landed on Valéa.) I will make them all bios eventually. Everyone is relavent to both the history and plotline of Valéa and the lore I am making up along the way. Character names is annoying because making them sound realistic but not too 2020s earth is difficult.

• Cyrus of Creeke, the boy with wings
• Prince Ivan of Zaksar, a Son of Sol
• Queen Vera of Zaksar, a Daughter of Sol
• Artoro (Art) Silas of Zaksar
• Councilman Rhode of Zaksar
• Reid Austen of Inkwell

"Unexplained Sciences"

Yechón was discovered in the first century of humans inhabiting Valéa. It started with small, unexplainable happenings and is thought to be the reason behind the slower aging of humanity. "Yechón" is the Herric word for the concept of magic. In Vitaeism, Yechón is a gift of the gods that can be harnessed by select individuals. Each person born with Yechón abilities usually only have one power or two. They all have baseline powers: strong and accurate intuition, a connection to the natural world, and are able to learn new skills very quickly. Other powers include, water, fire, earth, weather bending (though no where as near as powerful as the gods,) healing, strength, foresight, generic "force" abilities, enchantment, shape-shifting, and more. These powers are acquired before birth, but some have been able to tap into Yechón in other ways with lots of training. About 0.02% of the population is born with Yechón abilities. There is a school for those gifted in northern Sathia, near the site of the first Exodus landing. Yechón is not genetic, it is spread throughout all Valéan cultures and intelligent species.

Are you feeling lost?

Take the train home.

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