All About Ellandere

No one reading this knows anything about the world in which my characters exist, huh?

(Well, maybe a few of you do.)

Anyway, today's entry will be focusing mainly on the world of Ellandere and its primary religion.

Ellandere (pronounced ell AN dear) is compromised of one large body of land, known as Ellandere Major, and clusters of islands otherwise in the bodies of water which cover the rest of the planet. Ellandere is a part of the Vy planetary system. Other inhabitated planets within this system include Autia, Nestra, and Taak, to name a few. There are a total of twenty-one planets in the system, fifteen of which are inhabited at least to some degree.

Ellandere's single body of land is ruled by four governors presiding over four sections divided roughly by the four cardinal directions. The islands are generally tribal in nature, and operate outside of the rest of Ellanderean society. The main inhabitants of Ellandere are known as Ellandereans, but really are humans just like those on Earth. The animals which live there are also roughly the same as Earth animals; really, Ellandere is very Earth-like in these regards. The planet is also highly inhabited by Foresters, something like a "furry" or anthropomorphic human-animal. Finally, Taakins from the nearby planet Taak have also begun to settle, particularly in large cities, and it is not uncommon to find an Autian here and there, as well.

To restate more simply, humans make up roughly 55% of Ellandere's population; Foresters, roughly 40%; and the remaining five percent are "other," mostly Taakins.

Each cardinal direction governance has a capital city; the Northern capital is Poil, the Southern capital is Rinde, the Eastern capital is Stratica, and the Western capital is San Chinza.

Ellandere's primary religion is known as the Ellanderean Pantheon, and this religion is a major part of the lives of most all Ellandereans. (There are a few who follow more Earthly religions, but this is quite uncommon.) As religious legend goes, the planet was created by eighty-four deities eleven hundred years ago. Forty-two of those deities ruled over realms of light, and forty-two over realms of darkness. These deities, however, wanted to feel closer to the creatures who were to populate their planet, and so they devised a way in which mortals and deities could be connected; they each chose a mortal Prophet to represent them.

Mortals, however, are just that--mortal. When the first of these Prophets died, that Prophet's patron deity died as well, and the gods and goddesses realized their mistake: their connection was so strong that when the Prophets died, their deities would also have to die. Although the Pantheon could not change what they had previously deemed to be, they did make an amendment to the rule; they agreed that each Prophet could name a follow-up Prophet before they died, in order to ensure the deity's further existance.

This worked well... for the most part. But accidents occur, people die before they think they will, and over time, the group of eighty-four deities has dwindled to a mere eight, with the light and dark powers still in balance. The Pantheon is still as prominent as ever in Ellandere, but has changed drastically throughout the centuries.

The list of deities still remaining is as follows:

Light deities-
Aikienna, goddess of the sun
Celen, goddess of stars
Pace, god of dawn
Conlaed, god of fire

Dark deities-
Albitesh, god of the moon
Agate, god of nature
Variety, goddess of dusk
Moana, goddess of water

Each deity's Prophet is known except the moon god's; no one is quite sure who his Prophet is, although he is still alive, and therefore must have one, somewhere.

I feel that's enough explanation for one day... thanks for reading!