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Introduction to Nature

The word "nature" is often used to refer to all life on Hydaelyn, governed by laws, elements, and phenomena of the physical world. Influential as they are, the Spoken races are but one tiny facet of the greater whole of life itself. Nature encapsules Hydaelyn's geology and wildlife, including the living and nonliving parts of the world that influence life. Plants, animals, the land, the weather, and so on are all subjects of nature.

The natural sciences refers to study of the natural world. Aetherology, alchemy, physics, biology, geology, geoscience, ecology, and many more fields of study are all considered natural sciences. I must offer a preemptive apology to any Sharlayan readers, for the contents of my journal will explore many of these topics -- perhaps in not the most systematic approach.

Chapter Contents: 1. Hydaelyn 1.1. The Land 1.2. The Sea 1.3. The Sky 1.4. The Energy 2. Life on Hydaelyn 2.1. Umbral Calamities 2.2. Spoken Distribution 2.3. Natural Resources & Land Use 3. Notes

1. Hydaelyn

Our star is a vast and blue world covered by oceans, featuring several large landmasses and countless smaller ones. Cartographers have yet to fully map out the entirety of our star, but there is a wealth of knowledge available for what has been discovered thus far.

Almost all of Hydaelyn's water is contained within her oceans, with the remainder of the surface being land. This water sustains all life on our star through Hydaelyn's dynamic atmosphere, forming clouds and moving fresh water through a cycle of rain and evaporation.

1.1. The Land

Hydaelyn's lands only cover part of the surface of the star, as it has been observed that the oceans prove to be much larger than many continents. The land surface includes many islands around the star, but most of the land surface is taken by five known major continents.

The westernmost of these three continents, Aldenard, and its surrounding islands such as Vylbrand comprise the realm of Eorzea.

The easternmost continent of Othard, the island of Koshu, and other smaller neighboring islands are known as the Far East.

The southern half of the continent of Ilsabard, combined with Thavnair and a few other surrounding islands, make up the Near East.

To the south of the Three Great Continents lies the continent of Meracydia, a desolate wasteland that seldom makes contact with its neighbors to the north.

To the west of Aldenard and east of Ilsabard lies the recently-discovered continent known as Tural or the New World.

1.2. The Sea

It could be argued that Hydaelyn possesses one "world ocean," but for the sake of navigation, cartographers across the star have designated the boundaries of different oceans according to the continents that frame them. These oceans include:

The Indigo Deep separating southern Aldenard and the New World.

The Northern Empty, bordering the northern coast of Aldenard, the western coast of Ilsabard, and wholly surrounding Old Sharlayan and Aerslaent.

The waters of Blindfrost, to the north of Othard and east of Ilsabard.

The Glass Ocean to Othard's southeast and to the west of the New World.

Among the smaller bodies of water bordering these oceans are:

The Indigo Deep to the west of Vylbrand, combined with the seas immediately surrounding Aldenard, are known as the Five Seas.

The Bloodbrine Sea separates the south of Old Sharlayan from Aldenard.

The Rhotano Sea to the south of Vylbrand and southwest of Aldenard proper.

The Sea of Ash to Aldenard's southeast.

The Sea of Jade to the east between Aldenard and some of the southern coast of Ilsabard.

The Bounty separates Thavnair from the eastern half of Ilsabard's southern coastline.

The Sirensong Sea is located to the south of the Bounty.

The Drown also separates The Sirensong Sea from the Sea of Ash.

The Ruby Sea separates mainland Othard from the island of Koshu.

1.3. The Sky

Throughout history, Hydaelyn had two moons within its orbit.

The "Silver Moon", more commonly referred to as simply "the moon" can be seen in the sky on clear nights. The moon is a relatively large, terrestrial, natural satellite of our star, and was once the larger of two moons that traversed the night sky. No longer in Hydaelyn's orbit is the "Lesser Moon" of Dalamud, which was actually a construct of the Allagan Empire and remained in the sky until its descent and subsequent destruction during the Seventh Umbral Calamity.

The gravitational attraction between Hydaelyn and the Silver Moon causes lunar tides on Hydaelyn. The same effect on the Moon has led to its tidal locking: its rotation period is the same as the time it takes to orbit Hydaelyn. As a result, it always presents the same face to the star.

Hydaelyn's atmosphere has no definite boundary, gradually becoming thinner with altitude and fading into outer space. Atmospheric circulation drives the weather and climate through redistribution of aetheric energy.

Places close to oceans typically have colder summers and warmer winters, due to the fact that oceans can store large amounts of heat. The wind transports the cold or the heat of the ocean to the land.

Water vapor rises from the oceans and is transported by circulatory winds in the atmosphere. When atmospheric conditions permit an uplift of warm, humid air, this water condenses and falls to the surface as rainfall or snow. Most of the water then flows to lower elevations by rivers and is returned to the oceans or deposited into lakes. This water cycle is vital for supporting life on land and is a primary factor in the erosion of surface features over time.

1.4. The Energy

Aether is the energy that permeates all of existence. All life on Hydaelyn depends on the flow of aether. When creatures die, the aether within them dissipates into the surrounding landscape, eventually returning to the Aetherial Sea. As creatures age, the density of their aether thins over time.

Living things consume food to obtain nutrients and aether. The body converts some of that energy into aether, sustaining life on multiple fronts.

Aether can be divided into six elements -- Fire, Wind, Lightning, Water, Ice and Earth. These elements govern existence on a fundamental level. For example, areas that are more "Fire-aspected" will have hotter and drier climates than those that are Water or Ice-aspected. This will also affect the flora and fauna of an area as well, affecting how a being can navigate the world, with Wind-aspected creatures being able to soar through the skies, or Earth-aspected beings having scales, like the scalekin.

In addition to these elements, there are also two poles: Astral and Umbral. The Astral is aligned with Darkness, stirring movement and action. Meanwhile, the Umbral is aligned with Light, invoking peace and stillness. Applied to the six elements, Astral and Umbral aether will change how it manifests. Astral Fire exhibits high volatility, where as Umbral Fire will generally affect dryness.

Naturally, some elements exist in a naturally Astral state, while others exist in a naturally Umbral state, creating balance between the six elements. Elements in the naturally Astral state are Earth, Lightning and Water. The naturally Umbral elements are Fire, Wind and Ice.

2. Life on Hydaelyn

According to Eorzean theology, the world was created by the Twelve, a pantheon of twelve gods and goddesses each pair representing one of the six elements. Where the advent of the other gods shaped the lands, seas, and skies, it was the goddess Nophica who filled the world with life. Since then, Hydaelyn's life has greatly diversified over time, allowing the natural world to have different biomes, which are inhabited by comparatively similar plants and animals.

Hydaelyn provides liquid water and sufficient energy for living creatures to sustain a metabolism. Plants and other organisms take up nutrients and aether from water, soils and the atmosphere. These nutrients and energies are constantly recycled between different species.

Extreme weather, such as tropical cyclones, occurs over most of Hydaelyn's surface and has a large impact on life in those areas. Many places are subject to earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, droughts, wildfires, and other disasters. In the past, natural disasters such as these have grown to unfathomable scales in events known as Umbral Calamities.

2.1. Umbral Calamities

A Calamity is a cataclysmic event in which the balance of the world is tilted too far in favor of one element of aether -- usually as a result of conflict among Spoken races. These events are extremely rare and our star has gone very long periods of time between these Calamities. The destruction wrought by them can be seen even to this day.

The First Umbral Calamity, also known as the Calamity of Wind, is agreed upon by scholars and biologists alike to be the beginning of recorded history on Hydaelyn. According to popular Eorzean creation myth, preceding this Era was the Age of the Twelve, when gods and goddesses were said to walk the land. When the Twelve were finally finished creating the world, their departure from the realm is said to be the cause of this Calamity.

The Second Umbral Calamity was the Calamity of Lightning. After years and years of violent warfare among the young races of Hydaelyn, the scales tipped, and the land fought back. It is thought that the world was consumed by roiling black clouds from which violent lightning struck the earth constantly and without mercy. The surviving people of the world escaped the lightning by fleeing underground, where they prayed to their gods for mercy amidst terrible famine and plagues in their confined settlements. Modern theologists suggest that these people exhibited early stages of modern magic.

Much like the Second Umbral Calamity, the Third Umbral Calamity was the result of war and violence. The sun swelled in the sky and scorched the surface of Hydaelyn black, extinguishing all life on the surface and reducing every city to ash. This event was so monumental that it is one of the most prominent features in geological records today. Each Calamity has lingering evidence in nature, but the Calamity of Fire still proves to be the easiest to locate in the layers of canyon walls today.

The Fourth Umbral Calamity was the Calamity of Earth. The Allagan Empire harnessed massive amounts of energy from the lesser moon, Dalamud, sundering their empire and sending it deep into the earth. Earthquakes rippled across Hydaelyn and almost every town or city was devoured by the land. None were spared from damage.

Tribal legend and local folklore speak of a seemingly endless winter that brought with it bitter cold, raging snowstorms and giant rivers of ice. Without the ability to grow crops much of the population either perished, or were forced to flee to the north and it's more temperate climates. This is hypothesized to be the Fifth Umbral Calamity, also known as the Calamity of Ice.

The Sixth Umbral Calamity, also known as the Great Flood or the Calamity of Water, was an all-consuming tidal wave that destroyed anything it touched, and consumed most of Eorzea at the end of the Fifth Astral Era. It was caused as the result of the land's aether reserves being severely depleted from the "War of the Magi", causing the elemental balance to be thrown heavily towards the element of Water. This Calamity is of particular interest to me, as it was the Great Flood that caused the Elementals to distrust the Spoken people of the Black Shroud.

Finally, the Seventh Umbral Calamity was an unaspected calamity, where all of the elements had been tipped towards the Astral, or Darkness. It was the result of the Garlean Empire's "Project Meteor". The intent of the project was to bring the lesser moon Dalamud down onto Eorzea in an attempt to purge the land of primals once and for all, even if it meant untold destruction. For the rest of the star, this marked the disappearance of the second moon after thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years of prior history observing the two moons when they once shared the night sky.

2.2. Spoken Distribution

Since the dawn of Hydaelyn, the Spoken races of our star have since been migrating and, with the advent of agriculture in the First Astral Era, increasingly settling Hydaelyn's land. Distribution and density of Spoken population varies greatly around the world and from continent to continent. Furthermore, Spoken have increasingly converged into urban areas since the Fifth Astral Era.

Hydaelyn has been subject to extensive Spoken settlement, and mankind has developed diverse societies and cultures. Most of Hydaelyn's land has been territorially claimed by sovereign states separated by political borders. In Eorzea, three city-states have united to form the Eorzean Alliance, with the later addition of Ishgard following the end of the Dragonsong War.

2.3. Natural Resources & Land Use

Hydaelyn has resources that have been exploited by Spoken. Those termed non-renewable resources are only replenished over geological timescales. Large deposits of fuels are obtained from Hydaelyn's crust, including coal and ceruleum.

Nature itself produces many useful products for Spoken people, including food, wood, medicine, air, and the recycling of organic waste. Ecosystems on land depend upon topsoil and fresh water, and the oceans depend on dissolved nutrients washed down from the land.

3. Notes

With all of this prior information established as context, I will be taking a much narrower approach to studying life itself. Every flower, every landscape, every mineral that captures my imagination will find a place in these pages.

With my notes, I hope to also capture the imagination of whoever reads what I've learned. I am no master, but there is no shame in discussion from student to student.

Twelve's blessings upon you.

Kielo Brönugras

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