Solvigant Part 2: The Pilgrimage Route

Hail Solo, dear Reader!
 
The chronicler Andrew D.H. Moore and I have recovered from the release of Children of Solo, Steam and Stars Book 1, sufficiently enough that I might return to this blog to bring you part two of the history and mythology of Solvigant. Today, I want to dive into the details of peripatesis. You may remember from part one that the core of Xys throws off waves of aetherial energy. The Yazerites inadvertently destabilized the moon’s core through repeated travel between Xys and Maxon using aetherial magic.
 
I will write more on aetherial magic in the future, but for now, suffice it to say that aetherial magic relies on the transfer of life energy. Repeated massive transfers can have disastrous consequences such as destabilizing a moon’s orbit. The remnants of the Yazerites on Xys were cut off from Maxon and eventually fell to the Deniverian tribes. The tribes themselves were decimated by the geologic chaos that resulted as a byproduct of destabilization. Pockets of tribesmen eked out scant livings on the edges of the Windlass Sea, subject to the cruel whims of a wild planet.

Windlass Sea coast near Castes

​Xys existed this way from the fall of the Yazerites to the end of the Wars of Succession. Arthur Phaeton, the Sojourner known as the Navigator, enlisted the aid of Pallantier, God of Creation, and powerful lacustrine Ankhimian aetherial mages called life weavers. (Remember, this is well before the Solan Emperors outlawed aetherial magic.) Together they created twelve hieropoles, or aetherial anchors. Think of them as lodestones for aether. These hieropoles were installed in locations where the destabilizing waves appeared the least erratic.
 
Hieropoles consist of long metal rods that incorporate the dust of crushed aether gems, driven into the ground in each of the twelve locations. An Acadian bloodstone floats above it. The artifacts have a dual function. First, they function as lightning rods for aether waves. The locations chosen were the calmest, but they still experience disruption. The hieropole mutes a certain amount of this disruption. Second, they act as indicators. When the aetherial poles of the planet begin to shift, the bloodstone changes from blue to green. 

Surface view of a hieropole.

​The Archdeacon of the Temple of the Nine on Xys is responsible for monitoring the hieropoles according to the Xyssian constitution. In practice, that duty is relegated to the Sons and Daughters of Creation who in turn do this through the Order of Custodians. The Order is a joint venture between the creation priests, Xyssian bureaucrats, and the Society of Astrologia, and monitors all the pilgrimage sites, including the hieropoles. There is much that could be said of the importance of the Order of Custodians, but I will save that, dear reader, for a future post.
 
At any given time, there are multiple safe locations. Though the city proceeds through the sites in a divine order set out by Djinnar, the God of Destruction, at the end of the Wars of Succession. Djinnar did not want his twin, Pallantier, God of Creation, to gain power by claiming two moons, Xys and Acadia, and so the pilgrimage compromise was reached to limit Xys’s growth potential.
 
The duration the city remains in each location is determined by signals from the hieropoles, and Xys’s congressional delegates. (The Solan Emperor has no direct say.) In the opening of Children of Solo, for example, Solvigant is in Veria. The next stop along the route is Amar. If Amar is safe, congress could vote to move the city at any time. If Amar’s hieropole is green, then congress must wait. Thus far, the course set by Djinnar has proved dependable, meaning that the city has never had to deviate from the path. In other words, Amar’s hieropole has always been blue when Veria’s begins to turn green. The longest recorded stop was six years in Falu, the shortest four months in Argent.
 
An astute reader may be asking themselves, what is it about aetherial instability that forces whole cities to continually relocate? This is a fair question. Couldn’t a sufficiently motivated populous employ a combination of engineers, laborers, and mages to build a city durable enough to weather the shifting magical winds? The short answer is no, and not just because of Djinnar’s proclamations. Aetherial fluctuations are waves of life itself. Thus, the contain the power both to create and destroy. Those subjected to elevated levels of aether suffer side effects including physical deformity, tumescent growths, organ failure, brain damage, severe birth defects, clunker malfunctions, conjured demons, gate failure, disappearance, insubstantiation, and death. 

Waves of Aetherial Energy disseminated by a hieropole.

Scholars have written at length about the advantages and disadvantages of the various pilgrimage locales. For a full account I recommend Omar Zaff’s Religious Geography of Xys. I will provide a small summary for you, dear reader, so that you may know Solvigant better.

• Cerul: Sits at the foot of the Quiban Massif, a collection of red rock mountains and buttes that contains the highest peak on Xys, Mount Aratip. Here water seeps pool in sandstone overhangs that have been carved into cisterns. The site takes its name from a blue alga that grows in the pool due to the high salt and mineral content of the water.
• Argent: Situated south of Cerul by about two hundred miles, the locale is the most hospitable of the pilgrimage sites. It is on a wide, mountainous peninsula. To the west is the Silent Sea, the largest body of water on the moon. Beyond that are the sandy wastes. To the east of Cerul is the Windlass Sea, or the Boiled Sea, as it came to be known. The peninsula contains abundant mineral wealth, mostly in silver, which is Xys’s foremost export. The Yazerites built a mining colony, and the residents of Xys tried to make Argent a permanent home, but the aetherial waves prevented large scale development. Now Solvigantians reside amongst the ruins.
• Veria: The setting for Solvigant in the chronicler’s account of Adi Crestone’s adventures. Veria is known for its proximity to two large oases, the Umkit and Brolz oases. It is also within a short terrane ride from the eastern boundary of the Windlass (aka Boiled) Sea. Thanks to the abundant fresh water, the Custodians maintain several parks and green spaces in the area.
  
• Amar: Amar is nestled inside the vast Amarine canyon. The Yazerite explorer Vanyssa Nix, writes of a dying river, choked with debris and shifting sandbanks which she named the Amar after her niece, Amara daughter of her brother Malachai Nix, a member of the Judicial Tribunal, the high judges of Yazerite society. The river dried up before the arrival of the Sojourners, but the canyon’s broad majesty remains. Amar is unfortunately riven with Feverfire sickness such as that which afflicts Lady Tabitha Gambol, the Governor’s wife. Foreigners to Xys seem to be particularly susceptible, while native born Xyssian have some level of immunity.

Pilgrims on their way to Cerul, Oil on Canvas by Quintin Alar

• Gamb: Out in the broken planes, Gamb is a desert forest of juniper, mesquite, and gnaroot, a spiky low-lying grass. The area is littered with petrified wood, which often makes its way into the construction of Xys due to its strength relative to its light weight. The water here is below ground and works its way through a complicated system of wells, ducts, and cisterns maintained by the custodians. Due to the wide-open nature of Gamb, the most bitter sandstorms Solvigant experiences occur here.
• Cela: This pilgrimage site is the greenest of the twelve locales. The Mait River flows into the Ellembik Sea creating a sandy delta capable of sustaining small-scale farming operations. This helps ease the heavy burden of imported food costs it requires to feed the city of Solvigant.
• Skob: Lies only one hundred miles from Cela, making these two sites the closest on the pilgrimage route. Skob is situated at the headwaters of the Mait below the Japthal Mountains. While there is plenty of water and protection from the elements, the Japthal Mountains are home to numerous carnivorous predators including the Giant Lynx and the sabretooth cat. There is also a hostile tribe of sand mountain Ankhim. A seventy-four-year-old treaty between the tribe and Solvigant prohibits the city’s inhabitants from exploring or utilizing the higher, more hospitable reaches of the mountains.
• Virid: This site experiences the most aetherial distortion of the locales along the pilgrimage route. To the frustration of those who live in Solvigant, it is also the orbital nexus of the most gates. This makes it ideal for commerce, but it is usually the shortest stop. The two phenomena are likely connected, but the work of Richard Mance on gates and aetherial distortion fields is inconclusive and rejected by the establishment at the Society of Astrologia.
• Feld: This is a second mining facility. In addition to silver deposits, the rocky terrain of Feld produces turquoise, lapis lazuli, cobalt, obsidian, and gold. It is tough, hard-rock mining however as Feld sits on the slopes of the dormant shield volcano Mount Vescomir and the ancient lava fields make excavation difficult. Feld boasts the largest assortment of fixed structures, built from fieldstone and mine tailings. It is closer to Falu than Skob is to Cela, but the pilgrimage route requires the city to pass through Phlox first.
• Phlox: This site is situated near the ruins of Zeros, the Yazerite capital of Xys. The treaty at the end of the Wars of Succession stipulate that the modern people of Xys may not inhabit those ruins. The demigod Mahid, child of Djinnar and the mystical Seraph priestess Bellatrix Starwinged, stalks the ruins to enforce the divine decree. Nevertheless, Zeran marble fetches a high price on the black market, making it a good, if dangerous, livelihood for those brave enough to enter the ruins to steal some.

The outskirts of the Zeran ruins near Phlox.

• Falu: Much has been written about ‘cavernous Falu’ by scholars and poets alike. Situated partially underground, the cave system at Falu was carved by water and magma flowing underground. The caves provide access to the Haman Aquifer and were inhabited by the Deniveran tribes well before the first appearance of Yazerites. The cave system is extensive and, to my knowledge, has not been mapped in its entirety. The system is unstable. The Custodians spend much of their time shoring up the various caverns and tunnels, or as much as they can during the site’s erratic periods. Still, there are many accounts of collapse and numerous lives have been lost.
• Zaff: Named for the aforementioned Omar Zaff, this is the highest spot on the pilgrimage route. The Opteran Mountains, which includes Mount Aratip, tower over the Quiban Massif. Zaff is situated on the flanks of Mount Calyx beside Lake Liban. It can be quite cold in Zaff, and there are historical reports of snow before Pallantier’s disappearance and the fall of Xys into a decaying orbit. Zaff provides easy access to half a dozen aerogates and a handful of gayagates.

 
Hopefully, dear reader, the challenges and adventures of living in a peripatetic city are clearer. The necessity of the pilgrimage route makes for a hard life but provides Solvigant’s citizens with a unique lifestyle and perspective. Their grit and perseverance are the subject of many treatises and polemics on ethics and character. I enjoyed living amongst them, during my time running Drake’s Apothecary on Goldwynd Alley.