Canticle

Canticle
by Ernanda Souza
Shards	None
Investitures	Charred, Sunhearts
Surface Gravity	0.7 cosmere standard
Radius	0.02 cosmere standard
Universe	Cosmere

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“We were the first who died on Canticle. The first to live in this land and devise the designs of flight—based on the ships that brought us here. But then we died and rose as shades. Remembering. ”

—A member of the Chorus relates the history of Canticle

Canticle is a planet in the cosmere. It is primarily populated with a group of Threnodites that fled the squabbling caused by the Evil on their homeworld to take up residence elsewhere, led by a preacher named Zellion. The planet is constantly barraged with intense sunlight which causes the land and atmosphere to heat to such levels that it burns and melts anything near it, going as far as vaporizing humans.

No Shard currently resides on the planet, and there are no perpendicularities.

Astronomy

It is unknown if other planets exist in the same system as Canticle.

Sun

Canticle orbits a singular star. This star is heavily Invested, showering the planet with a large amount of Invested light. The sun's Investiture also reflects off of the planet's rings, causing the rings to emit a low level of Investiture onto the surface even on the dark sides of the planet. It is integral to the life-cycle of various flora and fauna across the planet, to the Canticle's shifting geography, and to the production of sunhearts.

Geography and Ecology

Canticle is approximately 161 kilometers (100 miles) in radius, or around 0.025 cosmere standard, though it has an extremely large and dense Invested iron core. This iron core is not the sole source of the gravity, but it is its Invested nature that gives it a gravitational force of around 0.7 cosmere standard and allows it to retain hydrostatic equilibrium and maintain a planetary ring system despite its small size.^{[citation needed]}

The Scadrians have a couple of drones or satellites in orbit, giving them access to cameras to view the planet from above ground.

Atmosphere

The planet has a low scale height, thus the thickness of the atmosphere thins rapidly with increasing altitude, with the end of the inner atmosphere being set at around one-thousand feet (304.8 meters) from the surface. Due to this, mountains reach into outer space, and are impassible to the planet's inhabitants.

The atmosphere is unnaturally resistant to the flow of Investiture, causing it to produce these large amounts of heat via joule heating. The amount of heating is directly proportional to the amount of Investiture flowing through it, thus, the Investiture reflected off the rings on the dark (10-20 BEU/h) side causes negligible heating.

Climate and Weather

At the line following the sunset, a storm referred to as the "great maelstrom" occurs due to great changes in pressure and humidity. This storm is composed of cyclones of fire that sweep across the landscape.

by Ernanda Souza

The dark side of Canticle, depicting Canticlite Flora and Fauna, with rings visible in the sky.

Ecology

Gazelle-like creatures live near dawn; they are Invested in some way. Their lifecycle and how they survive the daytime heat are currently unknown.

Plant life, fed from Invested light reflected off of the ring system, grows rapidly in the night. The amount of Investiture reflected is approximately ten or twenty Breath Equivalent Units (BEUs) an hour.

Cognitive Realm

The Canticle subastral of the Cognitive Realm is probably violent and filled with shaking and tremors.

Geography

The geography of the planet constantly changes due to the stone melting from the intense heat produced in the atmosphere; this combined with the effect of the planet's Invested core causes eruptions of magma that drastically reshape the landscape. Due to the ever-changing geography, erosion doesn't have time to take place.

A system of impassable mountains and highlands run along the equator.^{[citation needed]}

Ring System

The planet is orbited by a system of blue and gold rings with several divisions. These rings play an important role in reflecting sunlight at the night side of the planet, keeping it from complete darkness and helping plants to grow from reflected light and Investiture. These rings have an unknown orbital inclination, as they are not centered at the equatorial region of Canticle and have a notable angle relative to the equatorial plane.

Rotation

Canticle has a retrograde spin; thus, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Its radial velocity is notably slow, at around 28.1 meters per second (62.9 miles per hour), despite this, it has a rotational period of 10 standard hours, which are rendered as 20 Canticle hours.

Culture

The natives on Canticle are primarily descended from inhabitants of Threnody that departed for the planet soon after the Evil attacked their ancestors. As such a great deal of Threnody's cultural norms persist on Canticle.

People

The natives on Canticle are primarily descended from inhabitants of Threnody that departed for the planet soon after the Evil attacked their ancestors. Many have pale skin, though nearly as many have darker skin close to that of an Azish person. Some people, although not too many, have a variety of shades between.

These people tell each other lots of stories, though all of them have some kind of moral. A lot of the stories they tell involve children being eaten by shades.

Politics

Most of the planet's cities have been conquered by the Cinder King, and the ones who haven't have been forced to the poles. The Cinder King rules via two methods. A monopoly on sunhearts and the threat of his Charred. Each city also elects a Lodestar, who functions as their Chief Navigator and leader of the city. Below the Cinder King are other officials, but it's unknown how much power they have.

Religion

People on Canticle believe in Adonalsium as a deity. They know that Adonalsium is dead and splintered into Shards. Nonetheless they believe that everything that happens is his plan.

They believe that the planet Threnody, which was once their homeland, is Hell.

They seem to fear the sun, but also have great respect for it, calling it titles such as 'the Sky Tyrant'. It is unknown however if this is a part of their religion or if it's simply a part of their mindset.

Language

The people on Canticle speak a language closely related to the Threnodite language. The only known examples of this language are: 'Sess Nassith Tor' which translates roughly to 'one who escaped the sun.' and 'Kor Sess Nassith Tor' which can be presumed to mean something similar.

They also speak in a distinct and recognizable manner that seeks to avoid offence or disrespect, an example of this is 'if it pleases you to be disagreed with' instead of simply 'I disagree'.

People in the far northern corridors speak with an accent that purportedly makes those outside of their corridor need to concentrate to understand it.

Names, like back on Threnody, are often related to an emotion, virtue, or even a concept, some examples are: Zeal, Confidence, Divinity.

Clothing

The people wear a wide variety of clothes. Officials are often seen wearing high collars that reach all the way to the chin, they also wear gloves. Most people are swathed in clothing and lots of them wear gloves. Some officials from Union wear formal white coats, with open fronts and insignias on the shoulders. The civilians wear mostly muted colors. Some women wear skirts, though many prefer long, skirtlike jackets, their fronts open to reveal trousers underneath. Many men and women wear hats with wide brims.

Cities and Ships

As Canticle's Sun kills anyone who touches its light, the people have to constantly keep running from it. To do this, they live in large flying cities, each located in a different 'corridor' (latitude). There are approximately 50 communities on Canticle each flying in parallel corridors. The largest city is Union, which has absorbed all other cities of significance or size and has de facto control over nearly every inhabitable corridor on the planet. The cities are in turn made out off smaller ships, which can link together. They have many different kinds of ships. Special types include hovercycles, farming ships, a type of ship made for sowing and harvesting crops, and prospectors, which are capable of finding sunhearts. The people on Canticle also have access to hoverbikes. Union also has some sort of Arena, although it's unknown if this is a regular thing among these cities. All ships are powered by sunhearts.

Present day, most cities of significant sizes have been incorporated into Union although a number of small towns remain. There are as much as fifty cities on the planet.

Beaconites in particular prefer lights that have a relatively low brightness.

Food

The people from Canticle grow crops in the area just in front of dawn, where a small portion of light is reflected to the ground by giant rings around the planet. This technique allows them to harvest every day, requiring only seeds and water.

They also hunt animals; but their food appears to be rather bland and lacking in spice.^{[citation needed]}

History

At some point, a very powerful being created and Invested Canticle and its sun, for a very specific purpose.

Some time after the Evil a group of Threnodites led by Zellion came to the system, and devised the flying Cities, later these people would die and become the first of the Chorus.

At some point in the recent history of the cosmere, the Cinder King found a sick Thaylen worldhopper. The Cinder King killed him, fearing that he was a demon. He then read his books and learned about the wider cosmere. After this he began killing and conquering all the other cities, with the goal of uniting the planet and having all people live in his capital city.

Either shortly before his conquest, or during it, he found the Scadrian Research Center and began trading with them. He gave them some people, who the Scadrians took heat from. And in return they gave him small tidbits of information, such as how to corrupt a sunheart and make the Charred.

List of Known Settlements

• Beacon
• Union

Manifestations of Investiture

Investiture is relatively commonplace on Canticle. The sunlight is Invested, and the planet's core is also densely Invested. The core tries to feed on any Investiture it can, but generally can't take it from people. When people are placed between the sunlight and the planetary core, the sunlight burns the bodies into sunhearts, while the Investiture from their bodies is "carried" along with the sun's Investure to the core. The sunhearts are then charged with excess Investiture produced by the process of Invested joule heating.

A lot of technology, including the floating cities, is powered by sunhearts. These Invested 'hearts' are made by people who perished in the Invested sunlight while in the direct path between the sun and the planet. Sunhearts can be recharged. Recently the Cinder King was taught how to use the local investiture to make Charred by Scadrian researchers on the planet.

Trivia

• Canticle is a word for a hymn or a chant, particularly referring to hymns or psalms taken from biblical or holy texts in the Christian faith.

Notes

References

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