Okay as promised here is the next teaser for my passion project “The Bard Files” sci-fi Novel:
Map of Sanctuary’s Main Continent – “Work in Progress”
Sanctuary, the continent depicted above, is a Pangea-like landmass that formed from a central shield volcano that now lies dormant. Yes, the world’s name is Sanctuary and yes the local Walkers also call the continent they live on Sanctuary. The originality of this naming convention is due to the fact that the locals only know of the main continent they live on. The sub continent is on the other side of the world effectively hidden from the Walkers by the shear size of the Great Ocean. Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled geography description.
Sanctuary, the continent, has a very mountainous interior with hidden valleys giving way to the rainforest highlands that radiate outward from the central mountain region. The rainforest highlands gradually give way to the lowland plains of the coastal regions. Most of our locals live in the lowland plains near the coast. Not many have ventured inward towards the mountainous central region because it rains all the time there. Plus trekking through the rainforest resembles a dangerous Walker eating environment for all but the most prepared. Yikes! Also the terrain is hard to cross due to the many swift flowing rivers that radiate outwards from the central mountain region to the coast.
It may rain all the time in the central mountain region but the local Walkers have a climate that is super stable due to the fact that the gas giant Io provides most of the radiant heat to our world. On average, the temperature hovers around an always balmy 22.0℃ or 71.6℉ with no seasons to speak off. No winter, summer, spring or fall to speak off. Just a year round tropical rainforest climate here. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Oh, it gets even better because there are no earthquakes to speak of. The world of Sanctuary has no plate tectonics to cause those pesky earthquakes. You may, however, have to run for cover if the central shield volcano decides to erupt. Luckily, the central shield volcano is dormant, so that is a relief! The only downside is no incoming or outgoing ocean tides and very little storms or clouds in the lowland plains. The central mountain region gets all the weather action. So stay away if you know whats good for you.
By now you readers are like get to what a typically day looks like, Mr. Author. All right, all right. You ready for the really weird day and, ahem, night cycle. A solar day on the world of Sanctuary lasts 114.3 Earth hours long. Yup, you read that right; A day on this world lasts 114.3 Earth hours. Starting the cycle at 0.0 hours or midnight when you or a local Walker looks up in the dark night sky, you see the full phase of the gas giant Io and maybe a few other starts depending on where you are standing on the continent of Sanctuary at the time. You can think of the gas giant Io is similar to our own moon’s lunar cycle. As time passes, Io wanes or shrinks in size throughout the day and then waxes or grows in size throughout the day just like our own moon’s lunar cycle. As sunrise approaches, Io begins to wane to half in the sky until sunrise occurs 28.6 hours later. Next at 50.6 hours later, Io wanes to a crescent as an eclipse starts. Noon time brings total darkness at 57.2 hours while Io is in a totally dark new phase. The eclipse ends at 63.8 hours as Io now begins to wax towards crescent in the sky. Sunset occurs at 86.0 hours with Io waxing towards half. Finally, Io waxes towards full and we are back to midnight again after a full 114.3 hours later. Then the cycle starts all over again. So, the basic pattern to the day follows a morning light period, to a noontime dark period, to an afternoon light period, to a nighttime dark period and then repeat.
Stay tuned for our next teaser of the other two intelligent species that share the world of Sanctuary with our Walkers …