Khrissalla's Journal

Khrissalla's Journal
Type	Research notes
Author	Khrissalla
Language	Elisian
World of Origin	Taldain
Universe	Cosmere

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Khrissalla's Journal is a series of pages written by the Realmatic Scholar Duchess Krissalla of Elis on the Darkside of Taldain. Khriss uses her journal to chronicle her trip to Dayside and record her observations of Dayside society and culture, as well as her experiments with the Sand mastery.

Entries

Dayside Terms

Glossary

Aisha!		An Exclamation. "Sand!" or "Sand Lord!"
A'Kar		High Priest and leader of the Ker'Reen faith.
a'keldar	pl. a'keldarin	Great sand wolf. Cousin to keldar, pl. keldarin
ashawen		Dark, pungent Kerztian spice.
DaiKeen		Family group Ker'reen members join and afterward wear its symbol on their foreheads.
DelRak Naisha	pl. DelRakin	Deep sandling that hides underneath the sand until prey steps on it.
deep sand		Dangerous areas of Dayside where sandlings can grow to massive sizes and dorim vines are too far below the sand to be used for water.
the Diem		Profession of sand masters; also the building complex they live in.
DoKall		Substance that can make a sandling carapace water resistant over time.
dorim vines		Water-filled vines found beneath Kerla sands.
KaDo and Kamo		Rare Kerztian herbs and spices.
KaRak	pl. KaRakin	Extremely large deep sandling hunted for sport.
Karshad		Language of the Ker'reen priests.
KelThrain		Main bridge that spans the distance between Kezare proper and the kelzin district.
Kelzi	pl. Kelzin	Member of Lossand's upper class.
Ker Kedasha		Tent city, capital of Kerzta.
the KerKor		Ker'reen holy document.
Kerla		Dayside expanse where life and water can be found thriving beneath the sand.
Ker'Naisha		Kerztian for "Sand Lord."
Ker'reen		State religion of Kerzta, focusing on a strict adherence to the Sand Lord and his laws.
Kerzta		Largest and most technologically advanced nation on Dayside.
Kerztian		Relating to the nation of Kerzta or those whose heritage originates from there.
Kezare		Capital city of Lossand.
Kli	pl. Klin	Title granted by the Ker'reen church and passed from parent to child.
lak		Stone coins used on Dayside.
Lonsha		Kerztian word for a person from Darkside.
Lonzare		District of Kezare built by Darksiders and Lossandins in partnership.
Lossand		Second largest Dayside nation.
Los'seen		Lenient Lossandin philosophy of honoring the Sand Lord.
Lraezare		Port City in the south of Lossand.
Napthani Flame		Expensive and hard-to-obtain explosive substance.
Nor'Tallon		Capital city of Tallon.
overmaster		When a sand masterdehydrates too much; leads to burning out their ability to master sand.
overburn		When a sand master feeds the last water and life in their bodyto the sand in exchange for one last powerful burst of sand mastery. Very dangerous.
qido	pl. qidoin	Curled, horn-like canteen.
Reven		King of Seevis.
Rim Kingdoms		Nations beyond Dayside's northwest[1] mountains.
Ry'Do Ali		Kerztian for "The Vein of Cursed Waters." River that runs through the middle of Lossand.
Ry'Kensha		"Cursed One." Kerztian word for sand master.
Senior Trackt		Like a head constable or police captain. Often addressed as "Senior."
shalrim		Plant whose fibers can be woven into soft cloth.
Taisha	pl. Taishin	A member of Lossand's governing body, the Taishin Council.
terha	pl. terhan	Sandling larger and faster than a tonk. Favored mount of warriors. Terhan shells are impossible to dissolve in water if doused monthly with DoKall.
terken	adjective	Impervious to sand mastery.
tonk	pl. tonks	Dayside beast of burden.
trackt		A constable of Lossand.
traid'ka		Kerztian word suggesting good fortune.
ZaiDon		Soft, flexible jerky made from sandlings and eaten with most Dayside meals.
zensha		Kerztian word for traitor.
zinkall	pl. zinkallin	Pneumatic dart guns used on Dayside.
Zo'Ken		Sand master game of target practice.

Taldain Astronomy

by Ben McSweeney

Top-down view of Taldain's Orbit.

Elisian Astronomers used the movement of the stars to create a model of our planetary system. Dayside scholars relied on little more than the movement of the moon (NizhDa), which left gaping holes in their knowledge.

Despite the benefit of the stars, we Elisians are still missing huge parts of the puzzle. From what I have observed, there are at least three evidences that show other unseen forces are at work.

by Ben McSweeney

Top-down view of Taldain's Orbit.

First, the astronomer Djodjen observed moons orbiting Ridos's Eye and learned of stable and unstable orbits.The Eye is in a stable orbit around the Dayside sun (AisDa), but Taldain is not. It's stuck in an unstable orbit Djodjen refers to as Wombear's Saddle - if you place a marble in a saddle, it will roll one way or the other. Taldain, however, is pulled along by the Eye instead of rolling off into a stable orbit. For Taldain to stay locked this way requires an outside force we don't understand yet.

Second, both Dayside and Darkside base the measurement of one "day" upon the orbital period of the moon. The particulate cloud that envelops the Eye on Darkside pulses once every seven days, to the second. Is it a coincidence that the time between pulses and seven of the moon's orbital periods match up exactly? It's almost as if it was engineered this way.

Third, Djodjen's observations of the moons orbiting the Eye demonstrate the peculiarity of the orbit of Taldain's moon. As Taldain orbits the sun, the moon's orbit should gradually change, and yet it does not. Like clockwork, the moon is in the same place in the sky at First Hour in Kezare, for example, no matter the day, month or year.

Taldain's astronomical arrangement seems completely normal to one who has lived with it their whole life. Yet, I cannot discount what these anomalies imply. More observation is needed.

Dayside Timekeeping

Even though Dayside and Darkside both call the same duration of time a "day," their accounting of minutes and hours differ.

Dayside divides one day cycle into fifteen 90-minute hours. A Darkside day is twenty-four 60-minute hours. In other words, a 90-minute Dayside hour equals 96 Darkside minutes.

by Ben McSweeney

Moon hand tells the hour. Other hand tells the minute.

Dayside Hour	Taishin Standard Time	Darkside Time
1st	Past bedtime	Midnight
2nd		1:36 AM
3rd		3:12
4th		4:48
5th	Ker'reen morning prayers	6:24
6th	Standard work day begins	8:00
7th		9:36
8th		11:12
9th	Midday meal	12:48 PM
10th		2:24
11th		4:00
12th	Standard work day ends	5:36
13th		7:12
14th	Ker'reen evening prayers	8:48
15th	Standard sleep time begins	10:24

It's important to note that these hours shift depending on several things, including which nation or even neighborhood on lives in, sometimes depending upon one's Profession, or even upon local moonrise and moonset. But in general, Taishin Standard Time is becoming more common, even within the nation of Kerzta, which is often reticent to adopt anything of Lossandin origin.

Dayside Coinage

Dayside coinage systems are not based upon precious metals, like in Elis and the Dynasty, where Crowns and Dynars are used respectively, but upon rare and valuable semi-precious gemstones which are sliced into round "coins" called lak.

Lak are used in all Dayside nations, to a varying degree. The Rim Kingdoms' economies rely almost exclusively on them, while the closer to Kerzta one gets, the more bartering for goods is accepted, even if lak is preferred.

I've had to get used to the Daysider habit of referring to lak by their color. If a color is not stated, then the speaker means blue lak.

1/2 lak		1 gray lak - granite
1 lak		1 blue lak - blue and white marble
5 lak		1 green lak - jade
10 lak		1 red lak - tiger's eye, or red jasper and black hematite
20 lak		1 white lak - white marble
50 lak		1 gold lak - amber (or sometimes other gold-colored stones)
100 lak		1 silver lak - hematite, a rare Dayside stone

The salary of a well-paid mid- to upper-class craftsperson is about 250 lak a day, which equates to 50 green lak, or 25 red lak. Metal and stone are valuable in the Kerla, where the ground lies buried under a hundred feet of sand. Both materials are much less rare now, mostly because of trading between Kerztians and Lossandins, but a small sack of steel can still turn a healthy profit.

Sand Masters

The nation of Lossand has eight main professions, which act something like guilds, one of which is the Profession of the sand masters, also called the Diem. "The Diem" not only refers to the sand master Profession and to the body of sand masters as a whole but also to the complex of buildings that stands as the Profession's headquarters.

The Diem is located on the Ry'Do Ali's west bank, outside of the main districts of Kezare, primarily found on the main island around which the river splits.

Once a year, the Diem gathers at a secluded location at the base of Mount KraeDa to award ranks and participate in contests to show off skill and power in sand mastery.

Sand Master Robes

Made from shalrim, a plant that grows underneath the sand. One of the main things Lossandins trade for with the Kerztians.

Qido

A curled horn-like canteen. Water fuel their art, so sand masters have water on them at all times.

by Ben McSweeney

Diem ranks, as noted by Duchess Khrissalla.

Sand Bag

For carrying freshly-charged sand.

Sash

Color of sand master's sash indicates their rank within the Diem.

Two sash colors are outside the sand master ranks. Recruits seeking acceptance into the Diem wear brown robes and sashes. Acolents were the white robes of a sand master, but their sashes are also white, indicating that they have not accepted a rank yet in the Diem.

Once a sand master is awarded a rank, it is impossible to move to a higher rank. Once a sand master in training - called an acolent - has stopped being able to add more ribbons under their control, it is thought that they have reached the extent of their powers and can apply for a rank. Here's the table of sand master ranks along with roughly how many ribbons are usually controlled by a sand master of that rank.