Abeth

Abeth is a planet orbiting a dying red sun. It is sheathed in ice and the majority of its people live in The Corridor, a fifty mile wide region around the equator walled by ice. An artificial moon keeps The Corridor free of ice by focusing the sun's rays into it each night. The Empire is one of the major realms in the Corridor.

The Missing
Abeth was originally inhabited by mysterious peoples now referred to as The Missing. Little is known about them, although they seem to have been quite an advanced civilisation. They left behind ruins of cities and other complex construction, as well as magical artifacts and entities; Demons and Holothour are said to have been their servants. The Missing became extinct some time before the arrival of the Four Tribes. Ruins can still be found here and there, such as the forest of columns at Sweet Mercy Convent, but most now lie beneath the ice. Some people living near on the Ice-Margins, such as Nona's late father, risk exploring tunnels to raid these underground ruins for artifacts.

The Four Tribes
According to the founding myth of the people who now populate Abeth, thousands of years ago, the four original tribes of men: Gerant, Hunska, Marjal, and Quantal came from the stars. There remain a number of artifacts from this journey, such as the three known Arks and a number of Shiphearts. There are hints that this founding myth is not true, since Demons who are associated with The Missing are also associated with the Shiphearts of the four tribes. Even further back in the mists of history, the four tribes supposedly themselves descended for one god-like being known as the Ancestor.

The Ice
Abeth was a harsh world even before the sun around Abeth began dying. The four tribes of men had to intermix their bloodlines in order to breed a people capable of living there. The special traits of the four tribes are seen only rarely in the current population, and are greatly prized.

With the dying of the sun, the planet began to slowly freeze. In order to forestall catastrophe an artificial Moon, a giant focusing mirror, was placed in the sky long ago. It keeps the Corridor around the equator free of ice by focusing the sun's rays into it each night; a nightly event known as the Focus Moon. Almost all knowledge of how the Moon works has since been lost.

Today the evidence that the Moon is failing is plain for all to see, as the ice advances with the Corridor now a mere 50 miles from the northern ice to the southern ice. Five hundred years ago, it was over 200 miles wide. A prophecy predicts that a chosen one, or Argatha, will be able to open the Ark and use to power of the Shiphearts to take back control of the Moon. The realms of the Corridor exist in a state of perpetual hostility, with their northern and southern borders continually squeezed, and their neighbours providing the only opportunity for expansion.

Land
The sun that Abeth revolves around is dying, and the ice continues a slow advance, despite the warmth of the artificial moon's nightly focus. Now only a fifty mile wide Corridor around the equator separates the northern and the southern ice. The Corridor contains a number of natural geography features such as continents and seas. These include an unnamed continent that contains the Empire and Scithrowl and another unnamed continent that contains Durn, separated by the Sea of Marn.

Bloods
The humans of Abeth all descend from the four original tribes of men. The traits of one of these old bloodlines sometimes show in the current population, and on very rare occasions the traits of more than one blood. There hadn’t been a three-blood in the three centuries since Aran the Founder who carved out the Empire from the chaos of wildmen and petty kingdoms. Now, Nona Grey has been confirmed as a three-blood and Zole as a full four-blood. The four tribes are:
 * Gerant - distinguished by their great size.
 * Hunska - distinguished by their speed. A dark-haired, dark-eyed people.
 * Marjal - distinguished by their ability to tap into lesser magics.
 * Quantal - distinguished by their ability to walk The Path and work greater magics.

Sarmarians
Almost all the people now live in a 50 mile wide ice walled Corridor around the equator. There are said to be hundreds of kingdoms and realms, but travel is dangerous and knowledge of them is limited. It is said that 500 years ago Saint Devid travelled the whole circle of the Corridor. The known realms are: There are also a scattering of people who actually live on the ice, known as the Ice-Tribes. They have distinctive features and characteristics; broad cheekbones, flat eyes, and a reddish hint to the skin, as well as a taciturn and merciless manner. Little is known about how they can live in such a harsh environment. They are said to mainly eat fish from places where warm upswells melt the ice, either settling at one such oasis or ranging nomadically from one to the next. In their travels they explore tunnel systems wherever they are to be found.
 * The Empire: a crumbling state plagued by corruption, with its capital in Verity and ruled by Emperor Crucical.
 * Scithrowl: a kingdom to the east of The Empire, ruled by Battle-Queen Adoma.
 * Durn: a pirate kingdom to the west of The Empire beyond the Sea of Marne.
 * Ald: A country to the East of Scithrowl.

In addition to men, there exist mysterious entities known as Demons. Very little is known about them of any certainty. They are said to have once been the servants of the Missing, and dwell at the boundary between life and death. One or more can possess a man who spends too much time there. Demons appear to have some association with Shiphearts, since when Nona witnessed Zole and noticed "a stain, dark and purple, flowing from the hand that held the heart" and when Keot claimed that's where he originated.

Magic
Magic is a potent force in the world. the Path is a mysterious and invisible line of energy that twists and turns through the universe, from its creation, to the end of all things. At least according to the Ancestor Church, it is divine and beginning from the god-like Ancestor, who also waits at its end. The other aspect of The Path are invisible lines of energy that surround all living things, known as Threads.

Those with Quantal traits can tap directly into the power of The Path and work greater magics, from blowing the strongest door asunder, to throwing lightening, from scattering men with a wave of the hand, to controlling the wind or fire or rock, from the power over men’s minds and emotions, to temporarily preventing someone from dying. Those with Marjal traits can tap into lessor magics. The most common example is shadow-working, the ability to render oneself virtually invisible.

In order to use magic, one needs to be trained somewhere like Sweet Mercy Convent or The Academy or the Noi-Guin Tetragode. The ability to use magics, or to train people in its use, are enhanced by proximity to one of the three known Arks and to a Shipheart. Occasionally on the edge of civilisation, there are also hedge-mages who have not been trained but can still work some basic magics.

Artifacts
Abeth is scattered with ancient artifacts, whose origin is lost to history. Some are said to have been left by the Missing, while others are said to have arrived with the four original tribes of men. These include:

Pillars
Stone Circles