Canticle

Canticle
by Ernanda Souza
Shards	None
Investitures	Charred, Sunhearts
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 vaporising humans.

No Shard currently resides on the planet.

Geography

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 a planetary ring system despite its small size.^{[citation needed]}

The planet is orbited by a system of 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.

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), and it has a rotational period of 10 standard hours.

The geography of the planet constantly changes due to the stone melting from the intense heat produced in the atmosphere, and the radiation of its Invested core.^{[citation needed]} This intense heat is produced by the atmosphere being unnaturally resistant to the flow of Investiture, causing it to produce large amounts of heat via joule heating. Due to the ever changing geography erosion doesn't really take place.

The thickness of the atmosphere thins rapidly with increasing altitude, with the end of the atmosphere being set at around one-thousand feet from the surface.

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.city. Below the Cinder King are also a lot of officials, but it's unknown how much power they have.

Language

The people on Canticle speak a language very close to the language Threnodites speak. The only known examples of this language are ‘Sess Nassith Tor’ which means something like ‘one who escaped the sun.’ and ‘Kor Sess Nassith Tor’ which probably means something similar.

They also speak in a distinct and recognisable manner, an example of this is 'if it pleases you to be disagreed with' instead of 'i disagree'.

Names, like back on Threnody, are often related to an emotion 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—both men and women—wear hats with wide brims.

Many had pale skin, though nearly as many had darker skin like his. A smaller number had a variety of shades between. '

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^{[citation needed]}, each located in a different ‘corridor’ (latitude). The cities are in turn made out off smaller ships, which can link together. they have many different kinds of ships. Special types include farming ships, a type of ship made for sowing and harvesting crops, and Prospecters, 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.

Present day, most cities of significant sizes have been incorporated into Union although a number of small towns remain.

All ships are powered by sunhearts/slivers of sunhearts.

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.

List of Known Settlements

• Beacon
• Union

Magic

Investiture is relatively commonplace on Canticle. The star is invested and Canticle’s core is also invested.

The floating cities on Canticle are 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 learned how to use the local investiture to make Charred from 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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