Lythia--"The place of harmony"

[pixydust]

Or is it?

Lythia is a place of peace and harmony. I has two suns and six moons (only one night in spring are they all visible at once--a great holy day). It exists as a sort of Utopia where people have come together for the good of all. The technology is close to the time of the fall of Rome (about 800AD).

They're not aware of life on any other planets. Science has restricted itself to philosophy, and religion is the basis of all they do. They have many gods--more like the Egyptians than the Roman's or Greeks. And all that exists revolves around these things--therefore they are very superstitious.

*********

Here's a basis for a bit of religion...

goddess of water: ANAT--"Possibly derived from a Semitic root meaning "water spring". Anat was a goddess of fertility, hunting and war worshipped in many regions of the ancient near east. She was the sister and consort of the god Hadad."

god of war: SAVAS--means "war" in Turkish

goddess of the small sun: AZAR--"Means "fire" in Persian."

god of the large sun: VIPUL--"Means "large, extensive, plenty" in Sanskrit."

goddess of the smallest moon: ADVA--"Means 'small wave, ripple' in Hebrew."

god of the red moon (the war god's brother): SERKAN--"Possibly means "blood head" in Turkish."

god of the white moon: BAI--"Means "white" in Chinese."

goddess of the orange moon (she and SERKAN are said to be lovers as they are always seen together): NINA--"Means "fire" in Quechua."

goddess of the hidden moon (this moon seems just a shadow as it is behind BAI--when she comes to the fore, only awakening once every six thousand years the world is said to tremble and pur forth life from it's womb): TALITHA--"Means "little girl" in Aramaic. The name is taken from the phrase talitha cumi meaning "little girl arise" spoken by Jesus in order to restore a young girl to life (see Mark 5:41)."

goddess of the blue moon (always alone but for the one holy night in Spring): ALTHEA--"From the Greek name Áëèáéá (Althaia), perhaps related to Greek áëèïò (althos) "healing". In Greek myth she was the mother of Meleager. Soon after her son was born she was told that he would die as soon as a piece of wood that was burning on her fire was fully consumed. She immediately extinguished the piece of wood and sealed it in a chest, but in a fit of rage many years later she took it out and set it alight, thereby killing her son."


********

The peoples are human-like mostly, with variations here and there for the different peoples. The surface of the planet is much like earth--though the water is more clear and the mountains higher.

Just my thoughts: I think it's best if it doesn't go too far, as the reader will still need to be able to relate to the world and people and we don't want that part to get in the way of the characters and the story.

This is all I have time for right now...anyone wanna pick up where I left off?

[tk1912]

Ah, Lythia ... "The Place of Harmony." That's what they tell the tourists, anyway (if they had tourists visiting them. Ahem). But like any world, there are problems to be found.

For starters, there are the Hulad, hulking inhuman barbarians who live in the wild places yet to be tamed by the Lythians. The shortest Hulad ever seen was seven feet tall ... and her name was "Runt," so you get the idea. Partially covered in thick scales, the Hulad appear to be a cross between humans and reptiles. Their eyes are uniformly blood red (although there are the rare exceptions; these Hulad are usually revered as demigods), set deeply in massive faces that seem more teeth than anything.

Devout worshipers of Savas, the Hulad live to pillage, maim, kill, and generally cause as much mayhem as they can. They occasionally ally themselves with the warlords of Lythia, but only if they've grown bored killing each other in seemingly endless clan wars.

Most Lythians will never see a Hulad up close. More dangerous to them are the followers of Idok, the dark god. A frightening cult, most Lythians refuse to speak of this god or his followers. Very little is known about what they believe or what rituals they practice, but rumor has it that this cult wishes to see their god triumph over all others.

[pixydust]

For starters, there are the Hulad, hulking inhuman barbarians who live in the wild places yet to be tamed by the Lythians.

Oh, I like this!

[mongoose]

For realism's sake, there should be at least three nations involved. We've got two so far, as long these Hulad have the capacity to form some sort of society. I like the development of the religion, but there needs to be opposing religions. Maybe something mono-theistic. Or a derivation of the original, in which the followers claim that their gods are more powerful, or more benevolent, or something. And where's the worship of the spirits of the terrestrial things, such as you have in every tribal religion on Earth?