Glossary

Calendar

The Lustro calendar is split into four months, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, with each of them being thirteen weeks long. Satyrday, Solsday, Moonsday, Martsday, Iathday, Eathaday, and Tria are the names for the seven days. Each god is said to look after one month, and the day that marks their feast day is tied in with their day of the week. Mart’s feast day, for example, is on the Third Martsday Spring, and Iath’s day is Fourth Iathday Summer.

When stating a specific day, it goes week, day, then month. Chickadee’s birthday is on Fourth Triaday Winter. This means his birthday in the fourth week of winter, on a Triaday.

Each of the minor kingdoms used one variant of the calendar or another until they were unified as the country of Lustro. The first King of the Fogbloom family declared that one measure of dates be used, and marked that as the year zero. The first volume of the story takes place during the summer of 764.

Education

Children are first enrolled in school at the age of five. At eleven, children begin to be filtered out into different forms of education. The most prestigious are boarding schools, such as Petalmist, Starsons, and Grand Temple, otherwise, they enter the local public school.

Noble families are in the habit of sending their daughters to be raised within another household. They’ll work as servants, while being mentored in the ways of etiquette. This mentorship can last until they are an adult, when they should be making their entrance into society, or until an arrangement is made for their marriage. Then their husband’s family will resume responsibility for their education.

Standard schooling ends for most students at seventeen. They will either join with the military, begin an apprenticeship, or apply for university for higher education. Some students begin apprenticeships as young as twelve or thirteen, such as with squire programs. These programs start around twelve, and teach the basics of combat, battle strategy, and physical education.

The age of adulthood is twenty. Those in university may choose to stay an additional two to four years to finish their education, but the majority of those at this age will be starting their careers. Due to the short amount of time that children have to choose their professions, the choices are often made for them by either the demands of society or their parents.

Lustro

Long ago, Lustro was once several separate kingdoms. The first king of the Fogbloom family unified them into one nation, and the kingdoms became different regions with each being ruled by a duke or duchess. After the Clay and Coral Regions started a civil war in a bid to declare independence, the Coral Region split off to become its own nation once more.

We’ll go over two of the regions which this story takes place, the Crimson Region, ruled by Duke Rubire, and the Gilded Region, ruled by Duke Sickleson. Each of these regions are divided into a series of smaller sections headed by barons, who are responsible for keeping the duke informed to what is happening.

The Crimson Region is home to Carapace, which was once known as the Eastern Capital. Settled within the eastern mountains, it profited from the merchants who passed to and from the Sky Region. Carapace is not only comprised of the outerland and core, but of several clusters of settlements that are located within the nearby valleys and mountains. At its peak, the city had a population of a quarter million, but those numbers have dropped to less than half of that over the past two hundred years.

Trade through the city greatly diminished when the Sky Region separated from Lustro. Legislation made to protect the forests and mountains from destruction restricted lumber and mining within the area, further driving down jobs. Carapace continues to shrink in size, relying heavily on tax incomes from the rest of the region to survive.

Water for the city is provided for the core. Having a population just shy of 8000, most of the core relies on what resources it can provide for itself. Mages born in the core are expected to go in the water trade. They work with tinkerers to purify city waste and bring water up to the outerland citizens, who store it in large jars or barrels within their homes for later use. There are several nobles who argue that the population within the core is a health hazard, and wish to remove everyone not working in the water trade.

East of the mountains are several evergreen forests that supply paper and lumber for half of the kingdom. Those in the trade work at replanting forests, and harvesting them after a few years, making the lumberjack business a nomadic trade. Rivers in the area are used to float the logs to Timbervale, where they are further processed for goods.

The Gilded Region focuses on agriculture. It’s the largest region in Lustro, but has a low population due to the majority of land being focused on farms. Along the broad northern coast of the region, crustacean farming has become popular due to their use in dye making. Fishing has become a necessity as well.

Towards the center of the region, the shape of it becomes thinned out before broadening again, like an hourglass. Part of this area is traditionally overseen by the headmaster of Braytons, who acts like their baron. Lady Till, a long standing member of the barracks, is the newly elected head of the barracks.

Braytons is a self sufficient fort. It receives taxes from Tilrey, as well as a flock of sheep for wool production, and several farms and orchards. The magic that enchants the fort is older than the country itself, having been made when Brayton established the fort nearly a millennium ago.

Religion

Up until the Fogbloom family succeeded in uniting Lustro, the four gods had an active role with humanity. Afterwards, they resigned themselves to let humanity flourish on their own by having a smaller role. Each god claimed a section of Lustro for themselves and established temples dedicated to their worship.

The Violet Region went to Mart, Eatha claimed both the Gilded and Crimson Regions, Iath conquered the Clay and Coral Regions, which left Tria with the Sky Region. Since the gods are siblings, their powers are also similar. Their acolytes are all capable of healing magic and shields, but then the differences branch out from there.

Mart is the god of Spring, medicine, fertility, and water. His clerics are often workers within the medical profession. They are easily identified by their shields, as striking one will produce a musical note. Their healing magic is also the strongest, with some being able to create surgical tools out of mana.

Iath is the god of Summer, battle, law, and fire. His paladins are large, muscular, and sometimes described as brutish. They serve as the moral background in Lustro, obeying the will of church ethics. Training is fostered at a young age, with some paladins being fully initiated by age twenty. Their professions range as advisors, teachers, to soldiers. Their healing magic is strongest when healing themselves, but they are unable to heal others as well. Their fighting capabilities tower over all but the necromancers.

Eatha is the goddess of Autumn, love, happiness, and wind. Her priestesses focus on occupations that involve counseling or homemaking. Out of all of the acolytes, their fighting spells are the weakest. They do possess magic that can sway emotions, which makes them effective in therapeutic professions. Abuse of this magic is illegal, and serious action is taken against any priestess who breaks this law.

Tria is the goddess of Winter, balance, blood iron, and stone. Though many also refer to her as the god of death, she doesn’t place it as one of her titles. Her acolytes are referred to as necromancers, or as brood. Nearly all of their spells require an equal cost, but are also considered to be the most powerful out of any group. Many of the spells they possess have uses outside of death, leading to some to view them as a necessary evil, but they remain outlawed outside of the swamplands.

Church services are held every Satyrday. They are either hosted by a single acolyte or a group of them. Hosts will go over their own personal relationships with the gods or read from the scriptures. It’s more focuses on working towards bettering one’s life and relationships with others rather than focusing on worshiping the gods themselves.