Mizahar Zodiac

[Alija]

Ball brought this up in his review of fortune-telling, and was interested on it. Would Mizahar have a zodiac? If so, how about we develop one?

[Ball]

A lot of the zodiacs I know of are based on star constellations or animals. I know of one constellation in Miz... So maybe we could do something animal based, similar to the Chinese/Japanese system (I think it's Chinese?)

[Alija]

The Chinese one is based on animals. What's the constellation?

[Sayana]

On chat there was discussion of making the constellations correspond to the cities of Mizahar. There was a general agreement of 24 (6 per season). I thought it would be nice to have it make geographical sense and I sorted the more popular cities by season based on their geography. If you go clockwise it would be something like this: Summer: Ahnatep, Yaheba, Taloba, Zinrah, Black Rock, Abura Fall: Sultros, Lhavit, Alvadas, Denval*, Kalinor, Wind Reach Winter: Avanthal, The Spires, Sahova, Nyka, Ravok, Mura Spring: Endrykas, Riverfall, Kenash, Syliras, Zeltiva, Sunberth Feel free to rearrange the cities within each season. Also, this is merely an idea that you can use if you like and tweak with what fits. It would be rather fitting for Syliras to be the first constellation of the year, and Ravok to be the last. *has personal biases* Edit: * Since Denval was isolated long after the Valterrian, perhaps originally Lhavit had two constellations dedicated to it and then the city decided to give Denval a constellation when it was discovered.

[Ball]

The constellation is one in Avanthal, Ice Bear I think it is called?

[Elias Caldera]

Maybe you could make a story out of it.

Seeing as constellations have a lot to do with summoning, I was looking at that for ideas when the lore reminded me humanity wasn't originally from Mizahar, which arguably gives them the most reason to assign meaning to the stars early on in their history, not to mention establishes a pretty idyllic tie in to spring as the literal beginning of their story.

The fact that they dominated the planet after they arrived would also likely attribute to why their zodiac would have become the most widely known/accepted, despite being human based.

So the zodiac could be divided up between their arrival on mizahar in spring, to their downfall because of the valterian in winter. So like, rebirth, renewal, hope, yada yada for spring, despair and ruin in winter. Stuff like that. Plus it follows the life cycle of man too in a way, which is doubly poetic. Since the gods are already so prevalent on Miz though, I figured it would feel a bit overbearing to have even more beings represent something, which is why I suggested things, or emotions instead.

The trick is just assigning the constellations to something they're remotely tied to during that time of the year. I'm gonna wikipedia it in a second here since I know next to nothing about them, but I'm assuming that's what the zodiac was loosely about.

[Pulren Marsh]

I'm not sure if this is a valid point or not, but I would rather bring it up than sit on it. Outside of the ideas of the cities an the names of the constellations, I wanted to just point out that astronomy an astrology are in the most crude of forms in 515 AV. Perhaps BV (Before Valterrian), the Alaheans and Suvanese were well versed on the concepts of space, planets, heavenly bodies and the like. Until some serious archaeology is done, we won't know. Outside of a handful of living summoners, who might have seen the planets as they are, the vast majority of Mizahar shouldn't have any idea that it is a planet. If so, why bother with Zintila and Lhavit? The belief and the dogma currently is that Zintila is the stars. Syna and Leth are living God/desses as our most natural forces.

I am not trying to detract from this at all, as I believe that Astronomy and Astrology, even in these formats, would greatly increase RP for Fortune Telling as well as Sea and Land Navigation. I just want to make sure that the general brainstorming populace remembers that very few of us IC can even conceive of Mizahar as a planet, floating around in space. It is a creation of the Gods until proven otherwise.

[Ball]

Aye, I just know at one point there was plans of making Constellations, and in the morning I will edit this with a link to the one created. I found it a little while back. I know the gods walk the mortal plane of Mizahar. However, that doesn't mean we can't have stories and legends, myths and heros (HHM anyone? Kidding...) that make these constellations up.

It doesn't even have to be that, it could be anything. Arrows, trees... People, shapes... I mean there are significance all over the place.

However, I do like Elias said about the Proto-humans and then ultimate Humans as we know it coming to Mizahar and bringing stuff along with them culture wise that managed to survive the eons and chaos that ensued afterwards. But I also agree with your Pul in that even though we ICly can't possibly know everything -- we can still create it OOCly for it's use ICly. I mean otherwise what is World Development and Lore for?

I also agree though that we need to keep in mind 515 mentality and how things are known to us as a whole, but I think we should make things understanded in terms of historical. I mean we have generations that were stuck underground and finally emerging, they had to have had SOMETHING to guide them through those perilous times. The stars were probably just as important to them, and as such were given names and stories to tell around the campfires or the children before they laid their head to rest.

At the very least, we can get a nice understanding of how things are formulated in each race's culture.

[Alija]

Thanks! You lot are amazing! Sayana: Agreeing with everything you said. Apart from maybe the first/last city. I think maybe we could come up with a good way to arrange them within the season. Perhaps doing it like a clock, going round from a centre point? Elias: I think I understand you. Of course, it can't be that all winter constellations are tied in with ruin. From what I know, usually its a mix of positive and negative things. But I did try to research it, and usually elements are associated with elements. (eg. Earth is practical, Air intellectual) IN our case, it can be seasons/locations. Maybe for winter, its about being strong/sturdy (to survive through Winter/Valterian), summer passionate, etc? Then each major trait could be condensed into smaller sections. Pulren: Valid point. Then again, perhaps knowledge of these constellations is mostly limited to "you were born then, so under...". Perhaps those with astronomy could see shapes in the sky. They would still believe that Zintila formed those stars, in certain shapes so they could interpret it. I don't know if I'm making much sense though! Ball: I guess constellations/zodiac signs could be stories and legends told over time, like you mentioned around campfires. People could know about them, but might not even associate them with stars. (an example) We can have the OOC descriptions, but also know what is IC knowledge. Perhaps some cultures would only know their constellation. I don't know. Sorry if I didn't make much sense!