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| Parameter | Mezia | Earth | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mass (1024 kg) | 4.36 | 5.97 | 73% |
| Average Density (kg/m3) | 5.51 | 5.51 | 100% |
| Volume (109 km3) | 790 | 1080 | 73% |
| Average Radius (km) | 5,736 | 6,371 | 90% |
| Equatorial Circumference (km) | 36,080 | 40,080 | 90% |
| Total Area (million km2) | 414 | 510 | 81% |
| Land Area (million km2) | 166 | 149 | 111% |
| Water Area (million km2) | 248 | 361 | 69% |
| Surface Gravity (m/s2) | 8.84 | 9.80 | 90% |
| Orbital Parameters | |||
| Axial Tilt (deg) | 24.7 | 23.4 | 106% |
| Semimajor Axis (million km) | 156.5 | 149.6 | 105% |
| Orbital Period (days) | 372.5 | 365.25 | 102% |
| Day Length (hours) | 24 | 24 | 100% |
Mezia is the second planet from Vix and home to all known life in the Vixian System. Of the six planets in the Vixian System, Mezia is the second largest rocky planet after Pallas, the second densest after Dymos, and has the second most liquid water after Haumea. Mezia is almost nine light-minutes away from Vix and completes one full orbit in 372.51 days. Mezia rotates about its own axis in 23 hours and 56 minutes and has a 24.7° axial tilt which produces strong seasonal variation in weather patterns. Mezia is a rocky spheroid with a circumference of about 36,000 km.
Mezia has two permanent natural satellites in its orbit, Sumar and Forod. Sumar is about a quarter the size of Mezia and orbits at a distance of 410,900 km, completing one full orbit in 35.25 days. Forod is slightly smaller, but orbits at a closer distance of 308,300 km and completes one full orbit in just 23 days. Both moons are tidally locked to Mezia, which causes tidal patterns, stabilizes Mezia's axis, and gradually slows its rotation.
Mezia is a wet rocky planet; roughly 60% of its surface is oceans and the north pole is permanently encased in thick sheets of ice which contain the majority of its non-ocean water. The atmosphere, groundwater, lakes, and rivers hold most of the rest of its water. Mezia's land covers almost 40% of the planet, consists of four continents and many islands, and hosts a wide variety of flora and fauna. Mezia's crust is composed of several slowly moving tectonic plates which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Mezia's liquid outer core generates a magnetosphere which protects the surface from destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation.
Mezia's primarily nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere sustains habitable surface conditions, protects from most meteoroids and UV-light at entry, and maintains an average temperature ideal for both liquid surface water and water vapor. Differences in the amount of captured solar energy between geographic regions drive atmospheric and ocean currents, producing a global climate system with different climate regions and a range of weather phenomena, allowing components such as nitrogen to cycle.
Mezia also has a manasphere composed almost entirely of pure mana which covers the entire planet. Mana is used by most life forms: for some it is a source of sustenance like food or water, while others use it to create magic effects for defensive or offensive purposes. The manasphere has gaps called mana scars, where mana is absent, but most mana scars are temporary. Large concentrations of mana can form a manastorm, which can produce dangerous magical effects over a large area.
Mezia, along with the rest of the Vixian System, was created around 4.2 billion years ago by the Alatua. Mezia underwent significant geological transformations for billions of years, including the formation of the oceans and beginnings of life. When conditions were satisfactory, the Alatua created mortals in their own image and bestowed them with self-determiniation, now known as the chosen species. Their populations swelled under the Alatua's protection but dropped significantly during the Behemoth Era, leaving less than 70 million alive today. Mezia's biosphere and natural resources could easily sustain all its creatures and more, but some areas have been devastated by war and behemoths.
Geophysical characteristics
Size and shape
Mezia has a rounded shape, through hydrostatic equilibrium, with an average diameter of 11,472 kilometers, making it the fourth largest planet in the Vixian System and the second largest terrestrial planet after Pallas.
Due to Mezia's rotation it has an ellipsoid shape, bulging at its equator, reaching 39 km further out from its center of mass than at its poles. Mezia's shape furthermore has local topographic variations, with generally more dynamic topography in the oceans than at the surface. The largest local variations are the Myrkur Depths (13,622 meters below local sea level) which shortens Mezia's average radius by 0.24% and Mount Bael (12,292 meters above local sea level) which lengthens it by 0.21%.
Surface
Mezia's surface is the top layer of its rigid or liquid structure, at the interface with its atmosphere. Mezia has a surface area of about 414 million square kilometers. On maps, Mezia is sometimes divided by latitude into Northern and Southern hemispheres, or by longitude into Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Most of Mezia's surface is covered with liquid water, making it a water world. 248 million km2 or ~60% of Mezia's surface consists of four interconnected oceans, and a bit more of the surface consists of lakes, rivers, or permanent ice. The four oceans from largest to smallest are the Asuanian Ocean, Skebein Ocean, Dracodryn Ocean, and Bantam Ocean, which together form a world ocean. The ocean floor comprises abyssal plains, continental shelves, seamounts, trenches, plateaus, canyons, volcanoes, and a globe-spanning mid-ocean ridge system. The surface of the Dracodryn Ocean is covered by a seasonally variable amount of sea ice that often connects with polar land, permafrost, and ice sheets. The southern hemisphere produces far less sea ice, and on warmer years has no sea ice at all.
The remaining 40% of Mezia's surface is dry land, covering an area of 166 million km2. Mezia's land is mostly concentrated on four continents: Lamaris, Xersia, Artha, and Dracodryn. Many smaller islands around the globe complete the surface of Mezia. The world is full of mountains, valleys, deserts, beaches, plains, wastelands, and other terrain, much of which is covered in vegetation. The highest point is the peak of Mount Bael at 12,292 meters and the lowest dry surface is the shore of the Oldurmek Sea at -332 meters.
The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Mezia's continental surface and subject to soil formation processes. Soil is crucial for land to be arable. About 10.6% of Mezia's total land surface is arable, providing about 17.6 million km2 of potential cropland. An additional 35.3 million km2 are suitable as pastureland.
Mezia's landscape is constantly being reshaped by internal and external forces. Erosion, seismic activity, volcanic eruptions, flooding, wind and temperature weathering, glaciation, tidal forces, manastorms, asteroid and meteorite impacts, the growth and decomposition of biomass, and life itself all play a part in changing Mezia's surface.
Tectonic plates
The lithosphere, Mezia's rigid outer layer, is divided into tectonic plates. These plates are rigid segments that move relative to one another at one of three boundaries types: at convergent boundaries, two plates come together; at divergent boundaries, two plates are pulled apart; and at transform boundaries, two plates slide past one another laterally. Along these plate boundaries, earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation can occur.
Mezia has twelve tectonic plates: the Arthan, Asuanian, Bantam, Dracodryn, Guarpodri, Krum, Lamarisn, North Xersian, Ogonn, Skebein, South Xersian, and Yelkin Plates.
The tectonic plates ride on top of the asthenosphere, the solid but less-viscous part of the upper mantle that can flow and move along with the plates. As the tectonic plates migrate, oceanic crust is subducted under the leading edges of the plates at convergent boundaries. At the same time, the upwelling of mantle material at divergent boundaries creates mid-ocean ridges. The combination of these processes recycles the oceanic crust back into the mantle, which results in most of the ocean floor being less than 100 million years old. By comparison, the oldest continental crust is as old as Mezia itself.
Internal structure
Mezia's interior, like that of the other terrestrial planets, is divided into layers by their chemical or physical properties. The outermost layer is the pedosphere and ocean floor, which rest on the chemically distinct silicate solid crust. The crust is divided into oceanic and continental crusts. The oceanic crusts are made up of denser volcanic rock, and can have a thickness as low as 6 kilometers. The continental crusts consist primarily of lower density material such as the igneous rocks, with thickness between 25–45 km.
The crust and the cool, rigid top of the upper mantle are collectively known as the lithosphere, which is divided into independently moving tectonic plates. Beneath the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, a relatively low-viscosity layer on which the lithosphere rides. Important changes in crystal structure within the mantle occur between 370 and 600 km below the surface, spanning a transition zone that separates the upper and lower mantle. Beneath the mantle, an extremely low viscosity liquid outer core lies above a solid inner core. The radius of the inner core is about one-fifth of Mezia's, and rotates at a slightly higher angular velocity than the rest of the planet.
Gravitational field
The gravity of Mezia is the acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the distribution of mass within Mezia. Near Mezia's surface, gravitational acceleration is approximately 8.84 m/s2. Local differences in topography, geology, and deeper tectonic structure cause local and broad regional differences in Mezia's gravitational field, known as gravity anomalies. The most significant gravitational anomalies form in the presence of Aether mana, which can cause the local gravity to become extremely strong or weak.
Mezia's sphere of gravitational influence has a radius of about 1.5 million km. This is the maximum distance at which Mezia's gravitational influence is stronger than the more distant planets and Vix.
Magnetic field
The main part of Mezia's magnetic field is generated in the core, the site of a dynamo process that converts the kinetic energy of thermally and compositionally driven convection into electrical and magnetic field energy. The field extends outwards from the core through Mezia's surface, where it is approximately a dipole. The poles of the dipole are currently located close to Mezia's geographic poles, but the convection movements in the core are chaotic, resulting in the magnetic poles drifting and periodically changing alignment. This causes secular variation of the main field and field reversals at irregular intervals averaging a few times every million years.
The extent of Mezia's magnetic field in space defines the magnetosphere. Ions and electrons of the solar wind are deflected by the magnetosphere; solar wind pressure compresses the dayside of the magnetosphere, to about 10 Mezia radii, and extends the nightside magnetosphere into a long tail. Because the velocity of the solar wind is greater than the speed at which waves propagate through the solar wind, a supersonic bow shock precedes the dayside magnetosphere within the solar wind. Charged particles are contained within the magnetosphere; the plasmasphere is defined by low-energy particles that essentially follow magnetic field lines as Mezia rotates.
During magnetic storms, charged particles can be deflected from the outer magnetosphere into Mezia's ionosphere, where atmospheric atoms can be excited and ionized causing brilliant auroras in the sky.
Orbit and rotation
Orbit
Mezia is the planet with the second closest orbit around Vix, after Luteta. Mezia's average orbital distance is about 156.5 million km, which is roughly 8.7 light minutes. Vix is approximately 380 times further than Sumar and 500 times further than Forod.
Mezia orbits Vix every 372.5 days with an average orbital speed of about 30.84 km/s (111,000 km/h), which is fast enough to travel a full Mezia diameter in about six minutes. Viewed from above Vix and Mezia's north poles, both Vix's spin and Mezia's orbit are clockwise.
Rotation
Mezia's rotation period relative to the fixed stars is 86,177 seconds, therefore the stellar day is 23h 56m 17s long. However, Vix has an apparent movement in Mezia's sky of about 1°/day eastward, which is one apparent Vix diameter every 12 hours. Due to this motion, Mezia's average rotation period relative to Vix is 86,400 seconds, creating a mean solar day that is 24 hours long.
The main apparent motion of celestial bodies in Mezia's sky is to the west at a rate of 15°/h. For bodies near the celestial equator, this is equivalent to an apparent diameter of Vix every two minutes; or an apparent diameter of Forod or Sumar every 108 seconds.
Axial tilt and seasons
Mezia has an axial tilt of approximately 24.69° from the axis of its orbital plane (the ecliptic). Due to Mezia's axial tilt, the amount of sunlight reaching any given point on the surface varies over the course of the year, which causes the seasonal change in climate. Summer occurs in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere when the Tropic of Kobar is facing Vix, while the inverse is true when the Tropic of Jezzaline faces Vix. The day lasts longer and Vix climbs higher in the sky during the summer, while in winter the climate becomes cooler and the days shorter. Above the Dracodryn Circle and below the Skebein Circle there are periods in winter with no daylight at all, and in summer where Vix remains visible non-stop. At the poles these periods can last for several months.
The four seasons can be determined by the solstices and the equinoxes. A solstice is a point in Mezia's orbit of maximum axial tilt toward or away from Vix, and an equinox is when the cross section of Mezia's equatorial plane and orbital plane form a line passing through the centers of Mezia and Vix. The solstices occur on the last day of Longshadow and Sunjoy, while the equinoxes occur around the 31st of Birdsong and Treeglow.
Mezia is closest to Vix (perihelion) in Sunjoy, and furthest away (aphelion) in Longshadow. The Northern Hemisphere experiences slightly more pronounced climate effects during the summers and winters than the Southern Hemisphere because it is tilted towards Vix during perihelion and tilted away during aphelion. This effect is much less significant than the total energy change due to the axial tilt.
Mezia-Moon system
Mezia is orbited by two permanent natural satellites, the moons Sumar and Forod.
Mezia, Sumar, and Forod orbit a common barycenter, aligning every 3243 days (8.7 years). Viewed from above Mezia's north pole, Mezia's spin and both moons' orbits are counterclockwise, but the moons' spins are tidally locked to Mezia. Sumar's orbital plane is tilted ±4.6° against the ecliptic, and Forod's orbital plane is tilted ±9.22° against the ecliptic. Both moons have a rotation period that is the same as the time it takes to orbit Mezia, therefore the same side is always facing the planet. As the moons orbit Mezia, different parts are illuminated by Vix, leading to the lunar phases.
The moons are receding from Mezia due to their tidal interaction, and over millions of years the difference has slowed Mezia's rotation from a 22 hour day to the current 24 hour day. The moons also play a role in moderating Mezia's climate by stabilizing its axial tilt. Without its moons Mezia would likely have a much faster and chaotically unstable rotational axis and not develop a long lasting seasonal climate.
Sumar
Sumar is the larger of the two moons orbiting Mezia. It is a terrestrial spheroid with a diameter of approximately 2,800 km, or about one-quarter the size of Mezia. It is the second largest moon in the Vixian System relative to the size of its planet, after Dymos' moon Halithos. Sumar orbits Mezia at a distance of 410,900 km, completing one full orbit in 35.25 days. Viewed from Mezia, Sumar has almost the same apparent size as Forod, and looks about 10% smaller than Vix.
Sumar's origins are unknown, but some claim it is the new home of the Alatua, silently observing Mezia from afar.
Forod
Forod is the smaller of the two moons orbiting Mezia. It is also a terrestrial spheroid with a diameter of approximately 2,100 km, or about three-quarters the size of Sumar. Forod orbits Mezia at a distance of 308,300 km, completing one full orbit in just 23 days. Viewed from Mezia, Forod has about the same apparent size as Sumar, and looks about 10% smaller than Vix.
Forod's origins are unknown, but legends about the Behemoths often say they originated from Forod.
Hydrosphere
Mezia's hydrosphere consists of all of Mezia's water, most of which is in the oceans, but also includes water in clouds, inland seas, lakes, rivers, and underground. The oceans cover an area of 248.2 million km2 with a mean depth of 4,329 m, resulting in an estimated volume of 1.074 billion km3. Over 95% of Mezia's water is saline, and over two-thirds of the remaining fresh water is frozen in ice caps and glaciers. Most of the remaining fresh water is ground water, with less than 2% of all fresh water residing in surface water, permafrost, water vapor in the atmosphere, and in Mezia's flora and fauna.
In Mezia's coldest regions, snow survives over the summer and changes into ice. This accumulated snow and ice eventually forms into glaciers, bodies of ice so massive that they flow under the influence of their own gravity. Alpine glaciers form in mountainous areas, whereas vast ice sheets form over land in polar regions. The flow of glaciers erodes the surface into U-shaped valleys and other landforms. Sea ice in the Dracodryn Ocean covers an area about as big as the continent Artha.
The average salinity of Mezia's oceans is about 41 grams of salt per kilogram of seawater (4.1% salt). Most of this salt was released from volcanic activity or extracted from cool igneous rocks. The oceans are also a reservoir of dissolved atmospheric gases, which are essential for the survival of many aquatic life forms. Sea water has an important influence on the world's climate, with the oceans acting as a large heat reservoir. Shifts in the oceanic temperature distribution can cause significant weather shifts.
Mezia's abundance of liquid surface water is a feature that enables the flourishing of life. Haumea, another planet in the Vixian System, is an ocean world, and despite its smaller size likely contains several times more water than Mezia. The other planets and moons in the Vixian System may contain atmospheric water vapor or subsurface water, but lack surface conditions for stable liquid water.
Atmosphere
The atmospheric pressure at Mezia's sea level averages 886 kPa, with a scale height of about 12 km. A dry atmosphere is composed of 63.42% nitrogen, 34.66% oxygen, 0.88% argon, 0.67% neon and trace amounts of carbon dioxide and other gaseous molecules. Water vapor content varies between 0.01% and 4% but averages about 1%. Clouds cover around two thirds of Mezia's surface, more so over oceans than land. Atmospheric neon produces brilliant colored flashes during high altitude thunderstorms. The height of the troposphere varies with latitude, ranging between 11 km at the poles to 25 km at the equator, with some variation resulting from weather and seasonal factors.
Mezia's biosphere has significantly altered its atmosphere. Oxygenic photosynthesis evolved 2.9 billion years ago, forming the primarily nitrogen–oxygen atmosphere of today. This change enabled the proliferation of aerobic organisms and, indirectly, the formation of the ozone layer due to the subsequent conversion of atmospheric O2 into O3. The ozone layer blocks ultraviolet solar radiation, permitting life on land. Other atmospheric functions important to life include transporting water vapor, providing useful gases, causing small meteors to burn up before they strike the surface, and moderating temperature.
This last phenomenon is the greenhouse effect: trace molecules within the atmosphere serve to capture thermal energy emitted from the surface, thereby raising the average temperature. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone are the primary greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Without this heat-retention effect, the average surface temperature would be around −21°C, in contrast to the current +14.88°C, and life on Mezia probably would not exist in its current form.
Weather and climate
Mezia's atmosphere has no definite boundary, gradually becoming thinner and fading into outer space. Three-quarters of the atmosphere's mass is contained within the troposphere, the lowest layer which averages about 15 km above the surface. Energy from Vix heats this layer, causing the air to expand and rise to be replaced by cooler, higher-density air. The result is atmospheric circulation that drives the weather and climate through redistribution of thermal energy. The primary atmospheric circulation bands consist of the trade winds in the equatorial region below 30° latitude and the westerlies in the mid-latitudes between 30° and 60°. Ocean heat content and currents are also important factors in determining climate, particularly the thermohaline circulation that distributes thermal energy from the equatorial oceans to the polar regions.
Mezia receives 2031 W/m2 of solar irradiance. Solar energy is distributed across Mezia such that surface along the oribtal plane receives the most energy and decreases to the north and south. This is because at higher latitudes the light from Vix must pass through more atmosphere and reaches the surface at a lower angle. As a result, the mean annual air temperature at sea level decreases by about 0.4 °C per degree of latitude from the equator. Mezia's surface can be subdivided into specific latitudinal belts of approximately homogeneous climate. Ranging from the equator to the polar regions, these are the tropical (or equatorial), subtropical, temperate and polar climates.
Further factors that affect a location's climates are its proximity to oceans, the oceanic and atmospheric circulation, and topology. Oceans can store large amounts of heat, which can be captured and transported by wind, resulting in places close to oceans typically having cooler summers and warmer winters. Atmospheric circulation also plays an important role, producing a significantly more moderate climate where the prevailing wind direction is from sea to land. Finally, temperatures decrease with height causing mountainous areas to be colder than low-lying areas.
Water vapor generated through surface evaporation is transported by circulatory patterns in the atmosphere. When atmospheric conditions permit an uplift of warm, humid air, this water condenses and falls to the surface as precipitation. Most of the water is then transported to lower elevations by river systems and usually returned to the oceans or deposited into lakes. This water cycle is a vital mechanism for supporting life on land and is a primary factor in the erosion of surface features over geological periods. Precipitation patterns vary widely, ranging from several meters of water per year to less than a millimeter. Atmospheric circulation, topographic features, and temperature differences determine the average precipitation that falls in each region.
A region's climate is broady classified as one of five groups - arid, coastal, continental, polar, or tropical - which are further divided into more specific subtypes. A region's climate classification is most influenced by local temperature and precipitation. Surface air temperature extremes range from a maximum of 66°C in Pyre Valley to a minimum of −92°C in Dracodryn.
Upper atmosphere
The atmosphere above the troposphere is divided into the stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere, collectively the "upper atmosphere". Within the stratosphere is the ozone layer, a component that partially shields the surface from ultraviolet light. The mesosphere is the layer in which most meteors that reach Mezia burn up. The thermosphere is populated by very low density, high energy ionized molecules and is considered the boundary to outer space. Beyond these, the exosphere thins out into the magnetosphere, where the geomagnetic fields interact with the solar wind. Thermal energy at the outer edge of the atmosphere can increase the velocity of some molecules to the point where they can escape from Mezia's gravity, causing a slow but steady loss of atmosphere into space.
Manasphere
Mezia' manasphere is a layer composed almost entirely of pure mana which covers and permeates the entire planet. Mana can be found as deep as the Myrkur Depths and above the summit of Mount Bael. There is no definitive conclusion to the limits of the manasphere. Some mages theorize the manasphere extends through Mezia's core and ends somewhere in the thermosphere, while others believe Mezia does not have a manasphere and is instead enveloped in the mana of the Vixian System. Gaps in the manasphere, where mana is not present, are called mana scars. Mana scars typically persist for 1 to 3 days, though some last much longer. Prolonged exposure to a mana scar can cause a various negative side effects, including heightened anxiety, hallucinations, and even death.
The manasphere interacts weakly with the hydrosphere and atmosphere, mostly as a result of manastorms. Sudden changes in the concentration of mana, such as at the edge of a mana scar, can cause pure mana to rush in and spontaneously elementize, resulting in unpredictable and potentially dangerous magical effects, including rifts in space and time. Manastorms typically trigger atmospheric effects and can alter weather patterns up to a few hundred kilometers away. If multiple manastorms form close enough together, they can merge into a superstorm with multiple elemental properties. While natural manastorms are generally uncommon, they can be triggered by large battles where the local mana has been depleted through the use of many spells.
The interaction between Mezia's biosphere and manasphere is far more substantial. Most of Mezia's life forms use mana as a source of sustenance or for defensive and offensive purposes. To do so, they often convert the mana from pure mana into another element. Elemental mana is unstable, and once is has been spent will quickly decay back into pure mana. This cycle keeps Mezia's mana flowing and prevents wide scale mana crystallization.
Biosphere
Mezia is the only planet in the Vixian System known to harbor life.
Life on Mezia began a few hundred million years after the planet's formation, when the Alatua chose Mezia as their home. Mezia's liquid water creates an environment where complex organic molecules can assemble, interact, and gain sufficient energy to sustain a metabolism. Life started as simple water-bourne organisms and has shaped into the billions of organisms inhabiting every available ecosystem, forming Mezia's biosphere. The biosphere interacts with and significantly alters Mezia's hydrosphere, atmosphere, and manasphere. Plants and other organisms take up nutrients from water, soils and the atmosphere. These nutrients are constantly recycled between different species.
Mezia's tremendous diversity of life form the various biomes, separated by changes in elevation, temperature, humidity, and other conditions. Mezia's species diversity and biomass peaks in shallow waters and with forests, particularly in equatorial, warm and humid conditions. Freezing polar regions, high altitudes, and extremely arid areas are relatively barren of plant and animal life. Mezia's high oxygen content allows creatures on land, sea, or sky to grow to tremendous sizes.
Extreme weather occurs over most of Mezia's surface and has a large impact on life in those areas. Many places are subject to blizzards, droughts, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, landslides, manastorms, tornadoes, tsunamis, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and other calamities and disasters. Particularly severe effects can result in long-term impacts such as erosion, loss of vegetation, pollution, soil degradation, or species extinction.
Chosen Species
Mezia is inhabited by many different creatures. Some are strong, some are fast, some are intelligent, but only a few were chosen by the Alatua to become the custodians of Mezia in their absence. These fourteen species are: drevoz, dwarf, elf, gnome, gravellon, hefili, human, kumimanu, lillit, orc, tamberji, veistra, vizyama, and zorrah.
The chosen species are broadly characterized by their high intelligence. They all have a large, complex, and highly developed prefrontal cortex; which is associated with cognitive abilities such as episodic memory, flexible facial expressions, imagination, introspection, private thought, self-awareness, theory of mind, theories on existence, transfer of knowledge, and volition.
The chosen species are highly social and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. As such, social interactions between chosen species have established a wide variety of values, social norms, languages, and rituals, each of which bolsters their societies.
The combination of high intelligence and sociability has allowed the chosen species to thrive in a variety of environments and led to a desire to understand and influence the world around them. This has motivated great advancements in art, culture, language, mythology, philosophy, politics, religion, science, technology, trade, and more. Advancements are further accelerated through interactions between otherwise isolated groups, especially along consistent trade routes.
