#Altuum

[wondyvillains]

Top 10 Wonder Woman Villain Moments of 2022

Trying something a little bit different this year... let's look at the top 10 moments of the year featuring Wonder Woman's Villains!

Medusa's Redemption - Medusa is one of Wonder Woman's deadliest adversaries, so many of us weren't too surprised when she emerged as a major threat on Themyscira in the pages of NUBIA & THE AMAZONS. What did surprise us was Nubia using her mythical spear to purify Medusa of her reptilian curse. Similar to Paula von Gunther in the 1940s, Medusa was ultimately invited to join the Amazons and continues to remain on Themyscira despite her past deeds. Compassion and rehabilitation have always been major themes for the Wonderverse, so it was truly a delight to see Nubia redeem Medusa this year.

The Villainy of Our Fears - One of the first supervillain teams to ever appear in comics is Villainy Inc., a group of Wonder Woman's archenemies who first appeared way back in 1948. While there has been a modern incarnation led by Queen Clea, the team hadn't been used for decades until 2022. Doctor Psycho takes command of the newest incarnation which is comprised of some… questionable members. While many of us would have loved to see the classic 8 members return, it's great to see the Villainy Inc. name live on.

Feral - While Greg Rucka has established quite possibly the best version of Cheetah in her 79 year history, subsequent writers have fallen back into the habit of treating Cheetah pretty poorly. However, the current comics by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad are showcasing Cheetah as a powerhouse and a reluctant ally for Wonder Woman. While it remains to be seen where her character is going, seeing her interact with Steve, Etta, and Siggy on a regular basis has been very entertaining, to say the least.

Dolos, the Duke of Deception - The Duke of Deception was a major archenemy from the 1940s to the 1960s, but modern Wonder Woman stories have pushed the Duke to the wayside in favor of other villains like Deimos and Phobos. 2022 saw the Duke's return, with a major addition to his mythos: he is now Dolos, a figure from Greek myths and the embodiment of trickery and deceit. Fans have long speculated that the Duke and Dolos were one in the same, but it's great to see it confirmed in the comics.

The Men of Historia - If you haven't read WONDER WOMAN HISTORIA, you don't know what you're missing. The male Olympian Gods are outraged when Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter, Artemis, and Hecate create the Amazons. Zeus, Ares, Poseidon, and several others appear as the antagonists in some of the most beautiful pieces of art ever put to page.

Dark Crisis - Several of Wonder Woman's rogues gallery appear throughout this major event. Ares is one of the first recruited into Darkseid's Dark Army, though he is later joined by Cheetah, Giganta, and Angle Man. While none of the Wondyvillains get too much spotlight, it's great to see some representation even if they're all possessed by the Great Darkness.

Giganta vs. Nubia - We're still waiting for a big, iconic Giganta story, but for now, we'll take this fun romp from DC PRIDE 2022 SPECIAL. In this segment of the anthology special, Giganta joins the Babes of Bodyslam, a group of female wrestlers, as part of her parole. This ultimately leads to a clash with Nubia, a breakout Wonder Woman character in her own right.

Trial of the Amazons - The first big major event featuring Wonder Woman since War of the Gods (because Amazons Attack should always be ignored), Trial of the Amazons is a decent story that unfortunately doesn't feature any classic Wonder Woman villains in a major capacity. While Chaos serves as the major antagonist, we do get an Echidna appearance as well as Altuum the Survivor, a new villain introduced for 2022.

Hell Hath No Flurry - Blue Snowman's had quite a year in 2021, but we haven't seen much of them in 2022 beyond this chapter of SENSATIONAL WONDER WOMAN SPECIAL #1. Byrna has been gender-bending since the 1940s, and it's fitting that they'd be the antagonist of a story about a young boy who dresses as Wonder Woman.

Gigantaur - 2022's JURASSIC LEAGUE was… a choice. Fans weren't sure what to expect… but the series ended up being quite a fun ride. Featured in the series is a dinosaur version of Giganta who serves as arch-nemesis of Wonderdon (Wonder Woman as a triceratops). Ares also makes a brief appearance.

[gotham-at-nightfall]

Wonder Woman #787

[tanadrin]

Sogant Raha world map

Below: the world of Sogant Raha with major landmasses labeled in bold and important subregions in italics.

And unlabeled:

Adwera and northern Rezana; to the west of Adwera is the Taicun Sea.

Démora and Tlucosse (to the east)

Altuum

Vinsamaren; the large central mountain range is the Arduinn Mountains, which meet the Kelrus Plateau in the north. The northeastern quadrant of the continent is a massive rain shadow desert.

[wonderencyclopedia]

Name: Altuum the Survivor First Appearance: Wonder Woman 2021 annual (2021) Creators: Becky Cloonan, Micheal Conrad, and Andy Macdonald. Abilities: Super strength, invulnerability, possession of a multitude of explosives. Control of a well armed stealth submarine.

Backstory: Millennia before the creation of the Amazons, the island now known as Themyscira was the home of the mother of monsters Echidna and her countless monsterious children.

The gods seeing this as a great and terrible threat, offered a second life to those most vicious of lost souls damned to Tartarus till the end of their days, granting them a second life in exchange for cleansing the island. Stepping through a doorway created by the gods which led directly to Tartarus itself.

Many would fall but eventually they would succeed in their mission. Only for the gods to reward their victory with one final betrayal, slaughtering their champions.

All but one, Altuum who through cunning and suspicion, hid away when the gods granted their final ‘reward’ surviving to see the gods going on to create the Amazons, and their eventual charge of guarding Dooms Doorway from which the children of Echidna would otherwise escape to cause untold devastation.

Swearing revenge upon the Amazons and the gods for taking the island and his people from him, Altuum would spend millenia plotting and lying in wait. Preparing for the chance to avenge his fallen brothers in arms.

[weekend-conspiracy-theorist]

I was super confused about who altuum was while I read trial of the amazons but chalked it up to how long it'd been since I read the earlier parts of cloonans run (I was missing some issues for a while and got super behind), but it turns out he was introduced in an annual that got shuffled way down in my stack 😩😩😩

[dccomicsnews]

Review: Wonder Woman #787

Review: Wonder Woman #787

Review: Wonder Woman #787[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers] Writers: Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad and Jordie BellaireArt: Emanuela Lupacchino & Wade Von Grawbadger and Paulina GanucheauColors: Tamra Bonvillain and Kendall GoodeLetters: Pat Brosseau and Becca Carey   Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd   Summary “The Trial of the Amazons” is over and Diana must not only deal with the…

[desperatecheesecubes]

I really could have done without a ‘Amazonians are colonizers’ plot line, actually.

[autisticcassandracain]

Just finished Trial of the Amazons and I gotta ask. wtf was the point of killing off Hippolyta here. I don’t know enough about Artemis to judge whether her killing Hippolyta was or was not in character and to be honest that’s not my main concern, my main concern is that Hippolyta’s death was wildly out of place in this event.

Like this event was about chaos, helped by Some Guy named Altuum who’s apparently been introduced before but who I absolutely don’t remember, escaping from Doom’s Doorway and sowing discord among the Amazons in an attempt to take them over. The contest for the guardian of Doom’s Doorway makes sense to include in this plotline, as it brings the Doors front and center, and could have been a good framing device.

But Hippolyta’s death was not, as far as we know, caused by chaos. Artemis seems to have had her own reasons for it that will probably be some kind of on-going plotline. So if it had nothing to do with the plot at hand. Why the fuck was it here.

The time spent on Hippolyta’s death could have been used to actually, you know, show the contest for the guardian in action, and give each of the potential guardians some time in the spotlight, rather than barely bringing the contest into the action and not properly resolving it despite the build-up (and also Donna got shafted here so hard due to lack of screentime). If Hippolyta’s death was either given its own event or, you know, contained to one or two series, there would’ve also been time to actually build a proper murder mystery, rather than have Cassie infodump to the audience about a bunch of evidence that wasn’t shown to us before. As is, the death is a distraction and sucks screentime away from the things that matter.

Furthermore, it also makes the pacing really goddamn weird towards the end. Artemis is revealed as the killer, shows no remorse, and then chaos breaks out, and immediately everyone goes ‘yeah ok nevermind lets get artemis to help us fight it’. This is AFTER Cassie interrupted the emergency at hand to reveal Artemis as the murderer. Like I get needing more firepower, but a) this fast pacing didn’t give us the time to reflect on the revelation of Artemis as the killer, and by extension, it had no impact when she was busted out of jail, and b) in this particular case, when the main conflict is Amazons being turned against each other, do we REALLY want help from someone who just proved to be willing to murder them? Like I’m sorry. This makes no damn sense.

Also idk what the fuck was up with Antiope and Atalanta but I think they could’ve explained that better if they didn’t have to spend time on Hippolyta’s death.

[dispatchdcu]

Wonder Woman #787 Preview

Wonder Woman #787 Preview #wonderwoman #dianaprince #amazon #wonderwoman1984 #wonderwomanfan #DCEU #dccomics #comics #comicbooks #news #dcu #dcuuniverse #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews

  Wonder Woman #787 Preview:  Spinning out of Trial of the Amazons…What lies in the treacherous waters surrounding the island of Themyscira? Wonder Woman takes a deep dive into her culture looking for answers to Altuum’s claims of living in paradise before the Amazons ever arrived at the request of the gods. Could the legends told in her childhood all be lies? Written by BECKY CLOONAN, MICHAEL W.…

[esonetwork]

The Earth Station DCU Episode 291 – The Jurassic League

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/the-earth-station-dcu-episode-291-the-jurassic-league/

The Earth Station DCU Episode 291 – The Jurassic League

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs travel back to the age of dinosaurs to witness the birth of the Jurassic League. The Bat Walker hunts Jokerzard, Supersaur helps the humanoids, and Wonderdon flies away from her island on a new mission in The Jurassic League #1. The Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes members are scattered throughout time in Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #3. Naomi teams up with Cyborg to search for Dee in Naomi: Season Two #3. Hadiyah gives Jace a unique perspective on his new adversary and renews his mission in I Am Batman #9. Babs is a prisoner of Spellbinder while the other Batgirls take on Tutor in Batgirls #6. When Batman tells John that Jay Nakamura is connected to a group of violent Extremists, John confronts Jay about it in Superman: Son of Kal-El #11. Diana learns the truth about Altuum and Dr. Cizko makes his first move in Wonder Woman #787. All this plus, DC News, DC TV, Shout Outs, and much, much more!

————————

Table of Contents

0:00:00 Show Open

0:01:17 DC News

0:14:21 The Jurassic League #1

0:18:34 Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #3

0:22:49 Naomi: Season Two #3

0:27:46 Batman: Urban Legends #15

0:39:10 I Am Batman #9

0:44:32 Batgirls #6

0:49:14 Superman: Son of Kal-El #11

0:54:02 Wonder Woman #787

1:07:35 The Flash S8 Ep16 – The Curious Case of Bartholomew Allen

1:18:06 Superman & Lois S2 Ep12 – Lies That Bind

1:33:19 Show Close

Links

The Jurassic League #1

Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #3

Naomi: Season Two #3

Batman: Urban Legends #15

I Am Batman #9

Batgirls #6

Superman: Son of Kal-El #11

Wonder Woman #787

The Black Monday Murders Vol. 1 (Cletus’s Read More Comics Pick)

Earth Station One Tales of the Station

Earth Station One Tales of the Station Vol. 2

The Chameleon Chronicles: Colors of Fate

The Chameleon Chronicles: Sisters of the Thorn

American Hauntings

Season 5 Ep13 The Black Dahlia Murder Part I

Season 5 Ep14 The Black Dahlia Murder Part II

True Crime Garage

Black Dahlia Part I Episode 44

Black Dahlia part II Episode 45

Black Dahlia Part III Episode 46

If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 564-9133 (remember long distance charges may apply) or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

[wondyvillains]

Altuum's origin is revealed, from WONDER WOMAN #787 (2022)!

[longerbox]

The Altuum retcon feels like course correction from a new writer but it’s not.

[tanadrin]

Biomes of Sogant Raha: Altuum

[Top: biomes of Altuum. Bottom: Major geographic subregions of Altuum labeled for reference.]

Altuum is by far the largest continent on Sogant Raha, containing both some of the planet's most densely populated regions and its most inhospitable environments.

Beginning in the southwest, Awlei and Nebressa are verdant subtropical regions that represent some of the oldest areas of human settlement on the planet. Prevailing winds off the Nebretzi Sea create thick forests on their western coasts, while the eastern half of these regions, sheltered by low mountains, are a little drier. The great inland sea keeps inner Altuum far more moderate in climate than it would otherwise be, and gives the large island of Iranda a fairly hospitable environment.

The northwestern and northern portion of the continent are dominated by a large cordillera that stretches almost to the north pole; these mountains create a large rain shadow in the inner regions of the continent. The Kurskanda Desert is particularly harsh, cut off from both the north and south coasts by high mountains, and is one of the driest regions on the planet. On the far side of these mountains lies the peninsula of Jenosha, which is by contrast wet and heavily forested.

The Conn Plain and East Altuum not only lie under the dry, high-pressure zones of the descending convection currents from the upper atmosphere, but are sheltered from rain-bearing prevailing winds by smaller mountain ranges. These factors together contribute to the formation of a large steppe region, which is historically a major barrier to the movements of peoples between western Altuum and the inland sea on the one hand, and the eastern coast of the continent on the other.

Most exchange of people and goods is, instead, by sea; prevailing winds in the tropics carry ships from Nebressa and eastern Vinsamaren east, while further south winds in the opposite direction carry ships west, particularly to the cities of southeast Vinsamaren and the Gelar Sea. The whole oceanic region enclosed by the bulk of Altuum to the north, the Windlands to the east, and Vinsamaren to the West thus forms a major network of cultural and commercial exchange, almost entirely irrespective of the era of Sogantine history in question.

The Windlands themselves have a subtropical climate not too dissimilar from the western coast of Nebressa; ports on the leeward coast connect to trade routes that span the whole eastern coast of Altuum, and which connect to western Karei, and ultimately to southwestern Rezana, on the far side of the Ehyran Ocean.

Note that East Altuum is home to a unique biome without parallel elsewhere on Sogant Raha, or on Earth: the mountain-forests of the Dappese.

[tanadrin]

[Map: the belligerent parties of the Saihan War, in the primary theater of the conflict surrounding the Saihan Sea--known to later geographers as the Nebretzi Sea or Sea of Nebressa. Dark brown indicates the member states of the Fourth Thalassocracy, and lighter shades states that aligned with them as the war expanded. Red indicates states of the Continental Alliance, with lighter shades indicating states that aligned with them as the war expanded. Yellow indicates dependencies of Thalassocracy states, and purple dependencies of Continental states. Green and blue indicate factions of the parallel Kotrian War, which later became part of the Saihan War. States that maintained neutrality are marked in gray. The Tashket Confederacy switched sides no less than three times, and so is given its own color.]

The Saihan War (also known as the War of the Fourth Thalassocracy, or the Archipelago-Continent War) was one of the last great wars of the Varonar Period, the final phase of unified global civilization on Sogant Raha before the Burning Spring.

In the centuries since human settlement on Sogant Raha, complex and densely settled states had developed in the oldest inhabited regions of western Altuum, the so-called "ancient cities." Since the end of the last attempt to bring political unity to human civilization (the Great League of Harraska, also called the "Third Thalassocracy"), the larger states had fragmented under centrifugal political pressures and struggles to maintain central administration in the face of long-term economic decline. The economic and cultural center of gravity had shifted further westward, and now lay firmly in the isles; Izhar was now the largest city on the planet, while the Arevassan Grand Captaincy had trade networks that spanned nearly the entire globe.

Human civilization had continued to expand. This process of colonization, though it took place primarily by sea, did not much resemble colonialism as we think of it now; the colonies that states like Arevassa founded were not intended specifically either to create new markets, or to furnish goods for the industries of their metropole; nor, of course, were there large overseas kingdoms to be conquered. Rather, they were small settlements founded generally by associations of private individuals who hoped to acquire new land, or to establish new communities for specific political purposes, and which retained only loose ties to their founding states or cities. Nonetheless, the connections they had to their metropoles facilitated long-range trade networks once these colonies became self-sufficient, and there was a common cultural inheritance that generally facilitated durable political ties. Colonies made often-expansive claims of land which could rarely be enforced against competing colonists, but which were still often used for the purposes of negotiation. By this time, humans occupied every continent on Sogant Raha, though mostly only in scattered coastal enclaves.

Land-based expansion, as pursued by the larger states which had emerged at the frontiers of the original region of colonial settlement, was slower and more expensive. In part this was simply because it was expensive to move settlers and goods by land, unless there were navigable rivers available. But it was also because the regions of organized states were surrounded by diffuse populations living in stateless societies that resented the expansion of their ambitious neighbors, and had no desire to be integrated into their political or economic systems. A few, like the Tashket Confederacy, ultimately responded by organizing themselves to oppose outside encroachment, and eventually evolved into something like fairly decentralized states anyway; most resisted in a more unorganized fashion, or fled.

It was apparent to the rulers of most Saihan states by now that war was a far better bet when it came to enriching the state than trying to invest in local infrastructure; it was harder and harder to maintain the sophisticated infrastructure needed for the advanced manufacturing methods the original colonists had brought with them, and most industry had already shifted to cruder but more reliable technologies. But even then, there was a looming energy and materials crisis that would soon make even many of those technologies impossible to maintain; states like Rabal and Arevassa hoped through exploration to find the necessary resources to maintain these systems. States like Sabar, Aynan, and Yanaan (along with Sedesh, the core states of the "Continent" bloc) hoped to maintain their prosperity through other means--in the two centuries prior to the war, each passed laws binding certain classes of laborer to their place of residence and work, in effect creating new classes of serf, and Aynan in particular began to conquer independent peoples along the frontier and to use the captives thus acquired for public labor--essentially creating the first slaves on Sogant Raha.

Naturally, this horrified many of their neighbors; new treaties of mutual defense were hammered out, modeled on both the Harraskan League and the principles of the Second Thalassocracy. It was felt that the prevailing international norms that had effectively discouraged large-scale war for so long were no longer effective in the face of the ambition of these new expansionist states. This assessment was largely correct: although the legitimating principles of state power for the Continent continued to be, as for most large states, the upholding of the ideals and legacy of the founding colonists and the (nebulously applied) dream of working together for the prosperity of Paradise, the Continent states were facing a particular problem beyond merely the economic. They claimed to be particular inheritors of the legacy of the original colonists, but in fact their territory mostly lay outside the Ancient Cities. The Cities were now divided among dozens of small states which were wealthy and would in theory be tempting targets for conquest, except they had banded together and were under the protection of the new alliance, which self-consciously styled itself the Fourth Thalassocracy, and which considered the Continent mostly upstarts and ruffians. If the elites of the Continent states wanted to maintain their authority, and remain competitive against the likes of the Izharans and Arevassans, they had to demonstrate that they were the dominant force on the ancient mainland.

For about a century and a half in local years, this conflict was a simmering cold war, mostly carried out through diplomatic strong-arming, threats and bribes, and the odd act of assassination or sabotage; but both sides expected war and prepared for it well in advance. The Continent hoped it could force a quick surrender through a quick strike to seize a few cities like Izhar, demoralizing their enemies, and isolating those like Arevassa that were too far away to invade directly. The Thalassocracy prepared for just such an eventuality, terrified they might succeed. When the hammer fell, it was quite a blow--a combined force attempting simultaneous naval invasions of Alrun and Izhar, followed by a land invasion of the Thalassocracy members along the coast. Disunited as they were, the nominal advantage in manpower and production that the Thalassocracy states had seemed to matter little at first--they barely endured the first assault, and initially lacked the ability to counterattack, turning the war into a conflict of slow attrition.

Eventually, the Arevassan fleet won a decisive victory at sea, enabling the reinforcement of armies in western Altuum; the Continent roped in new allies like the Mawri Patrimony with promises of land at the expense of Thalassocracy colonies and allied states, and from there the war spiraled outward. Taking advantage of Rabali and Arevassan distraction, the Kotrian states attempted a land grab in their backyard; this side conflict eventually drew in the Oram Principality and the Neriam Mercatoria, bitter rivals that had been convinced to keep the peace only due to Arevassan and Rabali threats.

The war ground on for almost twenty years in the end; but finally, it was a total victory for the Thalassocracy. With the help of the Tashket Confederacy (whose loyalties had gone back and forth, but which eventually sided firmly against the Continent when Sabari plans for partition were made public) Sabar, Aynan, and Yanaan were fully occupied; Sedesh collapsed into civil war. The three northern Continent states were partitioned and integrated into an expanded treaty system; their co-belligerents were either disarmed, or (in the case of the Kotrian states) made into dependencies. The new political order was one, it was hoped, that could remain stable for generations. One troublesome detail stood out: after the victory, the combined Sabar-Aynan fleet had been interned at Karrha Flow, a naval base in Arevassa, awaiting a decision on its fate. Skeleton crews of Sabari and Aynan sailors manned the ships, and were loathe to contemplate the great battleships of their nations being divvied up among their enemies. The admiral of the fleet, a hardheaded and deeply patriotic Sabari sailor, ultimately led a rebellion that resulted in capturing the ammunition stored on shore, the fleet managing to shoot its way to freedom, and eventually, in one of the most daring acts of Sogantine naval history, to fight its way out of the Saihan Sea entirely into the Eastern Ocean, roaming the world as a pirate fleet, planning one day for their eventual return.

The view of the Thalassocracy was that the peace was harsh but necessary to prevent future warmongering. Unfortunately, it misread the facts on the ground: the occupation and peacekeeping forces necessary to safeguard the Fifth Thalassocracy (as the expanded treaty system was known) were expensive and required a great deal of manpower; the populations of the victorious powers did not have much enthusiasm for maintaining large militaries now that the conflict was over; the rulers of the new states were drawn from the old elites of the conquered states, in a move that it was hoped would pacify them but in reality left them plotting how they might regain their former power. And even after the occupation armies were eventually withdrawn (more than twenty years after the war's conclusion), a new narrative began to spread in mainland Altuum that depicted the Thalassocracy as oppressors and not defenders of peace, one that also found purchase in some of the cities that had in fact been fighting against the Continent when the war broke out.

Thus, the Saihan War was unfortunately not the last war of the Varonar Period. In its ultimate consequences, it was not even the most destructive. For although the Saihan War involved many more states and mobilized far more soldiers than the Orcalan War which followed, the latter would ultimately lead directly to the Burning Spring--leading ultimately to the complete collapse of human civilization on Sogant Raha, and a dark age which would last for thousands of years.

[tanadrin]

After uniting the Hamaran-speaking states in western Altuum, the prince Ghwailan engaged in a program of prestige-building that included promoting the Hamaran language and literature; to that end, he brought to his court Khnimor ja Damras, the renowned polymath, and charged him with creating a native orthography for the Hamaran tongue, to replace the clumsily adapted southern letters that were until then used in the (rare) production of Hamaran-language documents.

Khnimor set about the task with enthusiasm; he tried first a logographic system (as most aspiring lettersmiths do); finding it clumsy, he then tried a syllabic system, then an alphabetic one. He was determined to create for Ghwailan a system of surpassing usefulness and elegance, and he was something of a perfectionist. Eventually, he decided that he needed to embark on a program of study to understand the nature of sounds in language at the most basic level. He spent years studying phonetics, comparing the orthographies of various languages, and producing and discarding one system of writing after another.

Finally, at the end of this project, he produced what are called now the Khnimoran Lettters. They were an attempt to create a writing system capable of phonemically representing every language in the world, or at least every language Khnimor knew of. Individual symbols, which were clearly distinguishable but quick to write, could be composed together to indicate place and manner of articulation, voice, and other features; and by the study of basic elements, one could learn to represent hundreds of unique sounds.

Unfortunately, the result was not especially useful for Hamaran, and Ghwailan had become incredibly irritatd with Khnimor's perfectionism; he charged a different court official with implementing a basic spelling reform, and Khnimor's letters were never used in Hamara, or anywhere else in his lifetime. The linguists of the south rediscovered the letters a generation or two later, however, and found them an excellent basis for a phonemic orthography, for use in the study of languages; over time, they became the scholarly standard in Nebressa, Sayyedhu, and many other places for phonemic representation of languages, and the basis for more elaborate systems of phonetic representation.

In respect to the International Phonetic Alphabet, the Khnimoran Letters have some deficincies. They cannot represent some very fine phonetic details: they do not indicate relative features like "less rounded" or "more rounded;" they do not distinguish different kinds of release, or syllabicity; linguolabial sounds cannot be represented, and taps, flaps, and trills are all written with the same symbols. Some of these limits are down to the more limited aspirations of Khnimor, who was not trying to create as detailed a phonetic scheme of representation as the International Phonetic Association of our own world; others, due to limits in languages known to him and to later scholars--clicks and implosivs were known to Khnimor, but not complex tone systems.

The core symbols of the Letters are meant to be easily recognizable and quick to write. The consonants are abstract, being largely unrelated to their meaning; the vowels, however, are loosely based on a representation of where they are in the perceptual vowel space, represented as a two-dimensional grid. The primary features represented are place of articulation (bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal) and manner of articulation (plosive stop, implosive stop, click, lateral click, ejective stop, nasal, tap/trill, fricative, ejective fricative, lateral fricative, approximant, and lateral approximant). A place or manner symbol can stand on its own for any sound of that class. Additional marks can distinguish voicing (unvoiced, voiced, breathy voiced, creaky voiced), or features like labialization or palatalization.

The current standard of the Khnimoran Phonemic Alphabet (as it is now called) is maintained by the University of Presh, lightly altered and slightly extended. The main KPA chart shows the base symbols and ligatures for regularly encountered combinations; marginal or impossible groupings are omitted. The version shown here adds the specifically voiced forms of the consonants to show where the voicing diacritic is usually positioned, and the vowels in both their short and long forms. Rounded vowels are marked using the labialization sign.

Khnimoran Letters (consonants)

Khnimoran Letters (vowels)

The most commonly encountered diacritics, shown below, are labialization, palatalization, velarization, and pharyngealization (shown above the main character); aspiration and nasalization (shown below), and additional voicing marks (here, creaky, breathy, and unvoiced).

[tanadrin]

Biomes of Sogant Raha: Subpolar Biomes

[Above: northern and southern subpolar climates. Subpolar boreal/austral forests are shown in dark green; subpolar boreal/austral woodlands and scrublands are shown in light green; semiarid subpolar deserts in tan.]

The cool circumpolar winds and the warmer air of the mid-latitude Ferrel cells converge at about 60 degrees north and south; on the windwards coasts these prevailing winds support cool subpolar forests. These forests are not as dense as their subtropical counterparts: insolation is much weaker at high latitudes, and the cooler air bears less moisture. Evergreen trees and shrubs prevail, but not to the extent of terrestrial taiga. Sogant Raha's subpolar forests are neither as dense nor as extensive as Earth's taiga, nor do they reach similar extremes of temperature.

Because the cooler polar air carries less moisture inland, the subpolar forests soon give way to subpolar woodlands or scrubland, which are characterized by smaller and much more dispersed shrubs and trees, and are home to numerous grazing animals. Together these biomes have supported large numbers of nomadic and semi-nomadic hunters almost since the beginning of human settlement on Sogant Raha, and the creation of distinctive circumpolar cultures which extend along the coasts and islands found in both regions.

In the immediate rain shadow areas, predominantly in northern Altuum and Sarial, extensive cool, semiarid deserts have formed. These regions support minimal human population, but are notable for several unique varieties of lichen found nowhere else on the planet.