The Cycle of Ijar, 28th cycle of the Month of the Great Sea, 1932 years after Creation / Saturday, 7th of February 6099
It's finally the weekend, and I’m free of work for two days. So what do I do today. I went for a actual hunt on Evelon II, with Avala joining me. She’s not used to weekends. The Athakarins never took breaks for entire days like that. They didn’t even celebrate holidays or birthdays like that. Sure they celebrated them, but they would still work on those days. I’m thankful that the ancient Jews had the idea of the Sabbath, that’s where Weekends Originated from what I’m told.
Anyway, the hunt was successful, and I have new meats and bones to cook with back home, as well as new furs to make products from to potentially sell. Products made from animal parts are legal in the Republic only if they are hunted or farmed sustainably and ethically. The animals must not be made to suffer in the slightest. That’s why I used a special poison that as soon as it hits a nerve, shuts down the nervous system killing them instantly.
The Athakarins have all sorts of advanced poisons, just like the Yajirans do, however the Athakarin poisons are all natural. This is because the plant life of Evelon II is amazing. Sure, the colder areas around Childya are pretty sparse of vegetation, but go only a hundred Kilometers towards the hot part of the planet, and things start to liven up for at least a few hundred kilometers before it starts getting too hot for plants.
The circumference of Evelon II is about 60% that of Earth’s, yet it has near identical gravity, hence it is denser overall. It’s tidally locked, meaning one side always faces the sun. Because of this, only a 3200 km band along the eternal sunset is more or less habitable, with it being the most habitable right in the center of this band. This also means most of the planet doesn’t have day or night, so the Athakarins instead use the concept of a ‘cycle’ being near exactly 24 hours long. However they divide a cycle into 12 ‘bell tolls’ the name taken from the way they tell time, with the village or city ringing massive bells that many times.
Yet there is an anomaly in the tidally locked aspect in that the planet’s axis is actually tilted, which is extremely rare for tidally locked worlds. Because of this tilt the planet’s pole have extreme season, one half of the year being extremely hot and sunny literally all the time, and the other half of the year being extremely cold and with literally no sun for the rest of the year. Essentially the poles are the only place with an actual day night cycle that takes an entire year to complete. Fortunately the poles are tilted in such a way that the center region of that area about eight hundred kilometers wide is more or less still extremely habitable year round, yet the areas on either side of that towards the Frozen Wastes or Eternal Fires are still somehow lived in.
The population of Evelon II is rather small around a hundred thousand people at max, with sometimes hundreds or even thousands of kilometers between settlements. However they have perfected the science of long distance travel with using beasts of burden and carts. Their roads are made out of materials that don’t break, metal plates.
Their fastest beast of burden the Syran Beast – which is a genetically modified version of a horse brought to the planet by humanity 2000 years ago – can travel sixty kilometers per hour for up to twelve hours non-stop, and only need to rest for about two hours before doing another twelve hour stint. That means that in a full cycle, which is about 24 hours long, the beast can travel 1320 kilometers which is just under half of the habitable area’s width. These beasts can be ridden or used in groups to pull carriages or sleighs.
Their strongest beast of burden, the Wrakta Beast is as strong as ten horses all pulling together (which by the way is more than the sum of its parts). They are a bit slow, but can pull non-stop for up to 10 cycles without end, going three times the distance as a Syran beast can in one cycle in that time. After that they only need one cycle of rest before continuing on. These beasts have in the past been used in groups of up to twenty to pull moving wheeled barracks across the land in time of war, and in times of peace have been used to travel long distances in quite roomy wagons without rest, with only people taking turns steering it.
These two creatures make travel relatively painless. And because the Yajixa will actively slaughter bandits, and since both Syran Beasts and Wrakta beasts are not prey animals, the roads are actually very safe. I haven’t traveled by either, but I’ve spoken with people who have.
I’ve even seen the inside of one of their two Wrakta drawn wagons. Its only about the quarter of the size of my hut used to be, but has a small kitchen, a storage loft, an ice box for storing food, a small lightable hearth, and areas to sleep. Some people actually live in those things like motor homes!
Well, that was a long entry. Tomorrow I’m going on another hunt, I need my rest before then.
~ Allan Ali / Alvaj son of Scyvaj – Rank A Agent of the EIS
This is a free work based on my book: Avala: Spirits of the Mindscapes - Book 1: Hope. If you enjoyed it feel free to check out the teaser chapter for the book here:
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Hope you enjoy, and stay safe amid COVID-19!
Caleb Teal
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, places, or events of the modern time are used in a fictional sense and have no bearing or reality, nor are they meant to detract from the real them in any way. And all characters are the complete creation of the author, any resemblance to real world people is complete coincidence.
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