News

Because of my restructuring of the site, it is now harder to tell from just looking when a new entry gets added. So, I'll be announcing these changes here instead.

Narrative Hub

This is the place to find long-form narratives about Undersided. Currently, only one such narrative exists: the Torn Notebook (~5000 words total), intended to serve as an entry point for Undersided as a whole.

Basic Context Hub

This section contains basic information regarding Undertale itself. For people who are unfamiliar with Undertale, this will be a foundation for the rest of Undersided to expand on. For those who are familiar with Undertale, it will make clear how and where Undersided connects with Undertale.

Undertale Hub

This section contains additional Undertale-specific information that isn't particularly important for Undersided's context as an Undertale derivative.

Culture Hub

This section contains a lot of information on the various cultural systems of Undersided - calendars, mythologies, philosophies, social institutions, and a strange lack of religious institutions.

History Hub

This section contains information on the history of Undersided's various peoples - the rise and fall of kingdoms, and the various historical cultures.

Metaphysics Hub

A series of exasperated attempts to describe the key metaphysical feature of Undertale's world (and thus, Undersided's) without calling it by name. People from Earth might call it... "magic".

Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed Hub

The Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed. The War of Humans and Yarov. This war was a defining moment for the history of Liruzon, as it resulted in the creation of a barrier to seal the yarov within a mountain, not to be broken until 250 years later.

Myalvi Hub

In times past, a completely foreign culture invaded Liruzon, bringing with it odd forms of authority, strange rules about families and friends, and a large amount of disrespect. Over a thousand years later, cultures have mingled and mixed, yet Myalvi still sticks out as a sore thumb against the Panavic and Ezeva context. But it is all too familiar for those who know.

Miscellaneous Hub

Extra things that don't fit anywhere else.

From Once Upon A Time

913, Rahazun

Humans and yarov

A long time ago, the world was ruled by two races: HUMANS and MONSTERS (who may alternatively and preferably be called "Yarov"). In Liruzon, they used to live in harmony with one another. However, soon, a war broke out between the two races. We don't remember the exact cause. Humans are bad at remembering tales like these. Combine that with the relative scarcity of information on Siegetev's regime. And, well, Yarzon... they've kept quiet about it for long enough. But what we do know is that eventually, the yarov of Liruzon, with nowhere else left to go (after the Great Evacuation, which led to the formation of Yarzon, was stopped by Siegetev), were forced to retreat to the cursed mountain of Mt. Ebott. It was Rahazunic Chief Engineer Altria and Prince Bennitri who proved crucial to saving the yarov from an even crueler fate they might have had; as they were the ones who proposed the creation of a barrier between the surface and underground worlds: Siegetev's original plan was, in fact, to purge all traces of Yarvant from Liruzon entirely, and then go after the Far North.

The barrier ended up being created, sparing the mere thousands of yarov that remained in Liruzon from the fate that had befallen many of their kin, but trapping them in a completely different fate.

The modern day

It has been 251 years since these events. While Siegetev's regime was short-lived, in the time afterwards, Rahazun entered a period of decadence, and the later kings and queens never bothered to fix Siegetev's mistakes, only erasing much of his reign fron history. Many refused to send anyone to Ebott at all, as the legend of the mountain's curse stated that people who climbed the mountain would never return. One might have thought it'd be Emperor Sarnelkh who would finally rectify this, had it not been for a certain incident about fifty years ago...

Khara

Late in 863 SR, a child, Khara, disappeared from the village of Ri-Ebott, close to the mountain. It was suspected that they climbed the mountain itself in an attempt to disappear. These suspicions were confirmed later, when an unsef emerged from the western entrance of the Ebott cave system and traveled to Ri-Ebott, carrying Khara's dead body. The conclusion was obvious: the yaref, Ondeli, had killed Khara, and taken their SOUL. The people of Ri-Ebott reacted with shock and rage, attacking Ondeli-Khara (Ondeli-Magzi). As with many unsov before and since, Ondeli-Khara was not in unison and refused to fight back, simply leaving the village, injured, and returning to the mountain. This started an anti-yaref sentiment that would persist in the Ri-Ebott jurisdiction, which included Ebott itself, to this day.

This also started something else: two more children disappeared from the village the following year, and four more in the following five decades, not least sparked by curiosity regarding Khara's disappearance and the later appearance of Ondeli-Khara.

From Emperors of Rahazun

947, Rahazun

History recalls one particular instance where a statue of Tomi-Rugan located in Yarhe, originally made in 647 to commemorate Tomi-Rugan and symbolize unity between humans and yarov, was discarded in a pit at Mt. Ebott in 724 during the reign of Ana-Kalvi Foster and during a major period of development and change in the city it was in. One of the people involved in the disposal of the statue, Maniri Lahok, ended up trapped in a chasm in Mt. Ebott due to the barrier; this was a sky-exposed passage largely separated from the main Underground cavern. Maniri died shortly after, and the SOUL was never recovered.

From History of Yarvant

915, Yarzon-Ebott

From "Conventions"

The "X" dating system relates to the standard SR dating system by 663 SR = 1 X (the year following the banishment of the yarov of Liruzon), so that, for example, 201 X is the same year as 863 SR.

(skipped sections)

The aftermath of the war

When we first were trapped in the Underground, we attempted to settle in the most apparently habitable places, among them Upper Waterfall near the surface, the Meadow, and the Snowdin Forest.

In Upper Waterfall, we established Starlight City; in the depths of the Meadow where it transitioned from an open meadow proper to dense jungle, we established the Town of the Wild East, and in the Snowdin Forest, we established the Forest Outpost. For a time, we made the most of the Underground's environments and resources.

A possible attack?

That all changed in 61X. We had assumed Altria's deal had spared us from further human attacks, but in 61X, the most powerful of our kind sensed something disturbing. A human had entered the Underground, and we didn't know where. There was only one logical conclusion: the humans were planning incursions into the Underground to destroy what little we had left. Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home, which we named.... "Home". (As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names.)
Home became the center of the yaref population, and although the other settlements remained, they were largely left to stand on their own.

When we reached Home, we found another entrance to the cavern, though calling it an "entrance" is rather generous - it was a pit hundreds of meters deep (or, from our perspective, high), a drop that no human could, by any chance, survive; we hardly even acknowledged it was there.

A mysterious missing human

But as quick as this mysterious human appeared, it vanished, probably having died - yet when we searched the Underground for remains or a SOUL, no traces could be found. The only thing we found was a mysterious stone statue of Tomi-Rugan, probably from the old city outside the barrier - how it ended up here is a complete mystery - more recently, we have discovered that there is a hidden crack leading to the surface that was more than big enough for the statue to slide through, but that still leaves the question of "why" wide open. Perhaps humans were trying to erase all traces that we ever existed.

The mystery, solved

It was not until several decades later in 116X that we, in fact, found the opening, and realized that that human's entry into the barrier was simply happenstance - however, both the body and the SOUL had long since decayed (even human SOULs slowly decay if not stored properly). This combined with further info on human culture led us to realize that following the war, humans in fact meant us no harm - in fact, there was a growing movement among the human population to actually free us from the Underground. As such, fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, Home. We braved harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat - but it was actually a much slower process than what one might have thought - until we reached what we now call our capital. It was still the Starlight City to start off with, but over the next century, it and many other settlements would grow dramatically, and the Starlight City would eventually be renamed "New Home". (Again, our king is really bad at names...?) Additionally, the Steamworks was built near the Meadow to power such a massively expanded domain.

From Information regarding Yahir for the Latest Generation

917, Ri-Ebott

A barrier (pg.146, Altria) is a field enclosing a region of space, which prevents beings with weak SOULs from exiting. Additional effects include:
- While within the barrier, powerful beings can manipulate timelines in a manner similar to a video game save file (pg. 236, Alfizo)
A barrier can only be destroyed by the equivalent power used to create it.
According to Alfizo's studies, an average human would not be able to cross a barrier created by ~7 souls, but this is not supported by accounts by Kaizo, who claims to have crossed such a barrier alone while being weaker than the average human in terms of "DETERMINATION" and other metrics, though due to the "SAVE" phenomenon from before, this is unverifiable.

Additionally, Kaizo claims that while within a barrier, the will to destroy, as characterized by Arfia and Alfizo's "LV" metric, has a much greater physical effect. Although this is also an unverified claim because of the "SAVE", it could explain the abnormal prominence of Khara's identity in Kaizo.

----

Citations: 
"On the Nature of the Barrier" by Senior Researcher Alfi Alfizo

From A Specification on the Properties of Yahir, and on the Historical Concepts of Hope and Determination

918, Yarzon-Ebott

Conventional wisdom

According to ancient Yarzona wisdom, humans and yarov possessed two complementary inherent qualities to their nature: "determination" in humans and  "hope" in yarov. While determination is roughly what you'd expect, 'hope' referred to a more general set of qualities including compassion, in an extreme extent. Both of these, when embodied in the same being to great extent, would unlock the potential for anything to be possible. Both qualities, according to the belief, were actually embodied in all beings, though in their opposite type to a comparatively very small extent. Notably, a term translating to "boss yaref" was used to describe yarov who were seen as having a small amount of determination, but later shifted to refer to the set of yaref types which consistently exhibited this property. Due to their nature in this model, boss yarov were often chosen as leaders for the yaref realms.

Like much conventional wisdom, it wasn't right, but not exactly wrong either. Based on the findings of Ketsukane in regards to SOUL manipulation, Alfizo et al. were able to trace the phenomenon of persistent SOULs, associated with humans and less strongly with boss yarov, to a measurable and alterable aspect of SOULs, which was labeled "determination".

A long time before, hope was noted to be simply an exhibition of a more general phenomenon regarding yahir itself, and to not be a "real" metaphysical concept.

Unsov

A being with both determination and hope in large amounts was called an unsef. Despite the obsoletion of the 'hope' model (although the characteristic power of yarov is distinct, 'hope' as a quality is inaccurate), the term in more modern times (given the obsoletion of the 'hope' model) refers to a being with both yaref and human SOULs. Unsov are possible, but rare: either a yaref has to absorb a human SOUL, or a human has to absorb a rare kind of yaref SOUL. A third, more artificial method was discovered by Alfizo, involving the physical forcing of determination into a yaref's body, but this results in extremely unstable beings. (Note that a soulless being such as a yaref reincarnated using determination can absorb both kinds of souls.) While they are technically unsov by the traditional definition, their discovery and marked differences from conventional unsov has resulted in a more precise definition of an unsef as a being with both human and yaref SOULs.

Both beings become conscious within the unsef, and this usually limits the unsef's power pretty heavily (as has happened with all unsov in history). A more  powerful unsef can suppress the motives of the other included beings, but that suppression can be easily foiled by a small amount of experience with something associated with the absorbed being's identity. This most famously happened with Ondeli, the prince of Ebott.

However, an unsef with motives fully aligned would hold unfathomable power - reality and the world would bend to their will, and pretty much anything would be possible for the unsef. It is likely that the 'SAVE' phenomenon associated with the barrier is a low-level manifestation of this, as a human picks up the ambient yahir power associated with being within a barrier. While an unsef's main actor.is able to suppress other included beings, this often takes up to 6 or 7 human souls' worth of power, and if the other beings actively fight against the unsef, this suppression is broken. 

Unsov have existed prior to Ondeli-Magzi, and in fact their presence began ramping up rapidly from the early 600s, however they all were similarly mutually checked. It is the appearance of a moderately more powerful unsef, Tomi-Rugan, from 647 to 661 that ultimately led to the Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed, where the unsef was taken as a threat, was defeated, and the remaining yarov were forced out of surface Liruzon. (It is, in fact, Tomi-Rugan, that was depicted in Waterfall.)

From The Worldbook

923, General

From "Khara":

It has been known since the beginning of Ana-hin's formal ambassadorship in 256X that the name Khara took while in the Underground was "Magzi"; this is because of the body-sharing of Ana-hin and Khara allowing the latter to interact in the world directly; the power by which this body-sharing was able to occur is unknown.

From "Myalvi":

Tur-Myalvi is a nation of Wilant located south of Rahazun and north of Hesan proper. Tur-Myalvi was founded when the wilo came across the sea from Endadvi, establishing their rule over what was once the northern realm of Hesan (ruled by Niki). They failed to understand the Panavana as a people, failing to recognize the natural place of different kinds of people in Hesanic society, while the Panavic people were... [...] ...and as a result, after the original colonial program failed, in a crude attempt to integrate with existing cultures, the nation of Tur-Myalvi adopted the Esteri deity Errai as a national symbol (while still of course continuing to worship Hierrau, their own god), not realizing that Errai in Esteri mythology was a demon of boredom and confusion, associated with Myalvi by the ezov to mock Wilant.

From Common Knowledge Curriculum - Year 2

914, Rahazun

From "Unit 3 - Months and Seasons":

There are 8 months in the year; here are their names and abbreviations:

The months alternate 37 and 38 days, and are close to (but not exactly) the lunar cycle of about 33 days. So, Ilgimer is 38 days long, then Minovi is 37 days, and so on. Not part of any month is Arvendanula, the day at the end of the year after Gazeki and before Ilgimer of the next year. In a leap year, this becomes 1 Arvendanula and 2 Arvendanula (the festivities are held on the 2nd day, with the first day being preparations similar to the role of 38 Gazeki in a normal year).

The four seasons are caused by the tilt of Yona's axis relative to the orbital plane. As the planet orbits, which parts of the planet get more light changes. When a hemisphere is facing the Sun, it is summer in that hemisphere and winter in the other (which is facing away). In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs on 1 Njuimer, and the winter solstice occurs on Arvendanula (though the actual dates vary back and forth by about a day due to leap years and other factors). 

In between the solstices are the equinoxes, the spring equinox at 1 Minaha and the autumn equinox at 1 Gazaha, when neither hemisphere is pointed towards the Sun and so days and nights are of equal length.

From The Panavana - Chronicles of a People

745, Rahazun

Panavic culture

The Panavana did not believe, as the Yekherabe or Ezov did, that creativity and inspiration came from within oneself. They treated the voices in their heads as higher beings, intimately connected with each one of them and calling out to them with inspiration. To the higher being, the human served as a way to transmit their ideas into the world - the presence of such a higher being (henceforth an "urbax") associated with a person is, to them, what defined consciousness. 

Iradanet

Those with powerful imaginations, often to the point of delusion, were valued within their culture, as it implied the urbax's role was much more absolute in these people than in others. One particular individual of Halaj, Iradanet, was seen as having entirely been consumed by her urbax. Iradanet lived entirely in the mental space, only acting in the real world to (barely) maintain her body, and to speak to those who came to her. She rejected basically anything physical, except an amount of food and drink barely enough to keep her alive.

Over her life, she spent more and more time within her mind, and ultimately, she died at fifty, having gone back to sleep after someone's visit and simply... not waking up, but the people who went to her compiled her revelations into a work titled The Revelations of Iradanet . Revelations described a world brimming with a chaotic assortment of wildly different ideas, beings, and structures to anything familiar to a more grounded individual.

Comparison to Myalvi

Now, it is important to note that to take as a conclusion that all Panavana wished to meet this ideal is to extraneously impose Myalvi's notion of being "neurotypical" on the Panavic culture. Of course, people like Iradanet were spiritually significant, but more grounded individuals were necessary for keeping society running, and individuals of all different mindforms found their place in society - mindform was as much a suggestion of societal role as gender was, and a much more sensible one at that.

Hesan

The many Panavic realms founded in Old Liruzon by 790 BF (in a land they called "Hesan") included Halaj, Tatak, Herm, Heksi, and Rovana. Of these, the last would grow to be particularly dominant. Hesan was ultimately united under Rovana by 767 BF, and the people of Hesan began to invade the lands to the north, driving out the native Vanki. But from the Vanki, they took stories and legends, adapting them to fit what they believed. One of these was the story of Koratar, a child who became lost in the forest and was raised by animals. Eventually, when faced with a choice of whether to return to the human world, Koratar chose to stay in the wilderness as an adventurer.

Koratar and the Gordrivi

Koratar's story came to serve as inspiration for those of the northern reaches of Hesan who were rejected by civilization - by 687 BF, they would form a new tribe, the Gordrivi (Koratar's people - the modern form of Koratar is Goradar ), living in the forest away from the established Panavana domain. While the Gordrivi as a people were subsumed into later empires, some of their practices carried on, and a revitalization effort is currently underway.

Meanwhile, Hesan expanded throughout the South, conquering the cities of Natrin and Jovel, and settling Avenur by 630 BF. 

Government and culture

Hesan was an elective monarchy, much like many of its Panavic successors. As an empire, Hesan had a central government that ruled over a number of semi-autonomous "counties", which is also a system that persists into the modern day in some form or another. Hesan referred to its own ruler as nie and the rulers of other countries (and of its counties) as niki . It is niki that is now the modern term for "king" or "queen", as few countries were recognized as true successors to the Hesanic empire.

In Hesan, and especially in the northern reaches, names were only given to legendary figures or otherwise posthumously; for the identification of individuals, simple descriptions of roles, relations, or characteristics were sufficient, which were often context-dependent and unable to formalize into a system of names consequently (except in the aforementioned case).  

Division of the empire

By 479 BF, Hesan had entered its later years as an empire. This was the year a new king was chosen to rule the nation. He was thirty-five years old. At eighty-five (in 449), this king, now known as Kari, attempted to overrule the electoral council's decision so that his son would take the throne instead. This led to a great division in the country: the electorate and the appointed ruler fled to the north, while the south remained in the hands of a now hereditary regime under Kari's son. The rulers of the North were only identified as niki (a fact that has made tracking the dynastic history of the northern realm very challenging). We have determined that the founder and first ruler, "Niki-hin", ruled from 449 to ~400 BF.

Rulers of the south

The south began to formalize names at this point, especially for distinguished individuals (i.e. the king), so tracking the dynastic history is a little easier, though names at this point were essentially formalized descriptions. The name of the first king, Ardik, essentially meant either "mountain prince" (with "prince" being -ik, a contracted form of niki ), or, according to recent reconstructions, was a northern insult meaning "little lazy one" (mainly because it is unclear how n- in niki would have been lost). We also know that this was the first of two leaders of the southern realm, with the second being called Sana. 

Sana and the fall of the south

The core Panavic region had also established an empire, Panavis, at this point, whose expansion began encroaching on Southern territory from 423 BF. The new queen Sana fought back, but this started a long war with Panavis which stretched on several decades. By 396 BF, most of the southern realm was overrun, and Sana had retreated to a small town to the west of the capital Vard. It is here where she was slain, and the war won by the forces of Panavis. Thus, the town in later times became known as Sana's Stand. Traditional knowledge holds that here she said [insert oddly poetic line], but records from the people accompanying her suggest that it was a simple expression of frustration or disappointment - essentially, "F*ck."

Myalvi and the north

It would not be long before the north, too, fell - strange hooded people from across the sea first arrived on the shores in 387 BF. They simply wished to engage in trade, but they did not seem to respect the inhabitants of the northern reaches as people, making no effort to understand the concepts we took for granted, and imposing their own customs upon us. But it came to a head in 247 BF when they attempted to directly impose their rule upon the northern reaches, which they had called Myalvi along with their primary settlement there, from which they drove out the original inhabitants. Their plans had been to establish their own "country" stretching from coast to coast, south to Rovana and north to Ester. With their superior technology, it took the forces of all of Liruzon combined to even attempt to drive them out, but ultimately the key factor in doing them in was their own instability, as growing discontent in the invading population led them to completely separate from whatever kingdom they originated from. Vilant's invasion had been halted, but at the cost of the northern realm of Hesan. While the southern territories would eventually gain independence, and, being under a Panavic rule, had been relatively unharmed, the north was forever scarred by the vilo, whose continuing presence on the continent, even if severely weakened, was terrifying to many. As a result, vilo have not been well-respected in Liruzon, though more recent attempts at resolving this have been fruitful.

From The Pantheon of Ester

917, Niki Myalvi

Ramazir

Ramazir, or Ek-Ramazir, is the god of the night sky and the giver of wisdom in Estero-Korahai mythology. Ramazir's domain naturally extends to navigation for the maritime Monteraga people, as Monteraga sailors look to the stars for guidance when traveling the seas between Montera and Ezvelan. Like the gods of Ester in general, Ramazir is treated as an immaterial yet still anthropomorphic figure.

Ramazir is associated with the brightest star in the night sky, which is called the "Eye of Ramazir"; this star is actually the "quasar" black hole at the center of the galaxy.

A supposed "individual" called "the Historian", the seemingly immortal founder of the University of Monselian, whose motive it is to preserve history and spread knowledge, works in service of Ramazir. Ramazir is the patron deity of Montera.

Katharz and Jugdasi

The Ezov believe in life and death as a cycle (including reincarnation), governed by the twin gods Katharz and Jugdasi, who may also respectively be called Haidomanz and Kainosa. There is a realm which souls pass through on their way to re-enter the world; this realm is also associated with dreams, and in myths, Kainosa often appeared to people in dreams. Meanwhile, Haidomanz interacts in the waking world.

Falaerin

Falaerin is the Mediator, carrying the concerns of the people to their gods, and likewise carrying the messages of the other gods to their followers. 

Arvent and Meren

Arvent is a mythical figure embodying compassion and togetherness, and is the patron deity of Yarzon of Ezvelan. The festival Arvendanula, held on the winter solstice, is named after Arvent. Traditions include the exchange of gifts, family activities, singing songs, etc. Usually, it is the additional role of a chosen accomplished person in the community to distribute gifts to community members; this is done in Arvent's name. 

According to the legend, Arvent's home is a hidden "City of Lights" located at the North Pole. 

In some cultures, Arvendanula traditions have been augmented with cautionary tales, encouraging children to behave lest Arvent's fallen sibling Meren arrive and take them away.

From Arvent's Blessing

838, Yarzon-Ezvelan

When those of Ramazir proposed the Great Evacuation, one would have been quick to perceive it as illogical and impractical. But we were desperate - searching for any way to save our people, and despite involving uprooting our entire kingdom and abandoning the Watershed, the Evacuation seemed to be our best option. (At this point, we did not yet know of Altria's deal.) Plus, we knew that the leaders of Montera were working behind the back of Ilant - in our favor - for the entire war up to this point, so it was only correct to go through with the plan.

And what a plan it was. Montera suspended pretty much all normal government operation to support this. It was perhaps three hundred ships total, with thousands of yarov on board each, all sailing northwards across the great Sea of Montera to reach Ezvelan. The plan had been negotiated with Ester and with the original Yarzon there, and they were willing to accept us.

It took pretty much all the time we had left for us all to make it to the Far North, and by that point, those left of us in the Watershed had surrendered.

From On the Rahazuna Educational System

901, Monselian

Schooling typically begins the first day (1 Ilgimer) of the calendar year after a child turns seven years old. The school year itself is split into four terms: winter*, spring*, summer*, and fall*. 

*Note that these do not comply with the common definitions of the seasons.

 

Each term lasts for two months, less three weeks to allow for a 24-day break between terms (school days cancelled due to weather or other concerns may be compensated for here) (totalling 97 or 98 days throughout the year). This means that there are precisely 204 school days in a given year.

 

A child graduates primary school after completing Year 8, usually at 14 or 15 years old, and then moves onto secondary education, which provides a more personalized approach to learning, allowing the child to receive certifications in a chosen field of study.

Secondary education is technically optional, but the vast majority of people attend secondary school for either another 4 or 8 years following completing Year 8.

 

At 24, an individual is considered an adult.

 

In primary school, the school day lasts for five hours (12:30 to 5:30 PM), and there are thus five classes taken in any given term. 

In every two term period, a child should take:

From U.M. Demographic Statistics, 913 Edition

913, Monselian

From "Adult Life Expectancy (Human) By Country":

Ester: 47.6
Rahazun: 79.8
Tur-Myalvi: 82.3

From On Servitude

913, Monselian

In the society of Panavis, there have historically been two kinds of worker: compensated workers and servants. Compensated workers are hired into their positions and receive compensation for their work. Servants are several categories of workers (public servants and household servants) that are socially expected to work despite not being paid, and usually originate from various defined role categories considered best suited for their purpose. Public servants include farm workers, the military, and some other mass labor, as well as various categories of public utility positions (generally serving the state), while household servants work for a single person or a household. The kinds of servants are considered the lowest class in a vertical arrangement - this characterizes their lack of authority, but also position as the essential bedrock that ensures the stable functioning of society. Also, note that there is social mobility available, especially in more recent times.

Modern support systems

In recent times, there has been a massive push for equality. As of 913, servants still exist, but they often receive large amounts of state support, in order to provide the opportunity for them to live the life they want. This includes laws about treatment of servants,  state-backed financial support, and laws protecting workers in general. Public servants are still distinct from compensated workers (who work for a particular company or person, and are paid directly from there), but in most places in modern times, household servants have merged with compensated workers (in fact, the term "compensated worker" is now rather dated in most places) - Farnitan remains an exception. 

From An Exploration of the Mechanics of Yahiric Manifestation

661, Yarzon-Watershed

...[Yarov] are manifestations of yahir (the part of the natural world relating to patterns and concepts) that are themselves not only sentient, but sapient. The yaref populations originate by the localized influence of human concepts, causing yarov to appear in the region (hence explaining their similarity to an idealized form of human sociality). This is a passive effect, as humans do not possess the capacity to directly induce yarov. But yarov themselves, being natively yahiric, do have this capability: in fact, this is the method by which yarov reproduce, often requiring more than one "parent" due to the joint effect of interacting yahiric expressions aiding massively in the generation of a new individual, which can essentially be described as the propagation of yahiric sapience. This also explains their general impressionability in some contexts to humans (in specific, when they are not opposed), and thus the large-scale borrowing of Rahazuna and Totijona cultural concepts throughout early history, and additionally, accounts seem to describe certain cases of friendly human social interaction as "an aura of peaceful DETERMINATION"...

From Profile: Arfia-hin

920, Yarzon-Ebott

Arfia-hin was the de-facto Royal Scientist between 234X and 246X, continuing Gaster's research into alternate timelines.

Origin

Arfia-hin, a skeleton-like yaref, was born in 229X, ambiently manifesting in then-Royal-Scientist Maik-Mespir Gaster's lab. Gaster raised Arfia-hin after this point, and Arfia-hin quickly began to contribute to Gaster's research, befriending Alfi Alfizo who would later become the official Royal Scientist, and later on, another skeleton Kobzo-hin (who appeared shortly after Arfia-hin) and the human Okhelai would join the family group; Kobzo-hin was Arfia-hin's brother, or formally his BEST FRIEND.

Given the unusual circumstances of Arfia-hin's manifestation, as well as his unusual "karma" ability and him and his brother's unusual physiology, he had generally assumed he was from some other reality himself, and had been unknowingly transported to the world he currently resided in without his original memories (he had chosen his name, "without", in reference to this).

Gaster's death

Late in Gaster's life, Gaster spent much of his time on studying alternate timelines and parallel worlds, which would ultimately lead to his disappearance along with Okhelai's death in 234X, at which point Arfia-hin and Dr. Alfizo continued Gaster's research. Their reports showed timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting. Eventually, the models' predictions ended, revealing that an urbax at some point would have the ability to control timelines. Alfizo began to shift focus to SOUL power when she got unexpectedly appointed as Royal Scientist following the original abolition of the position.

Later life

While he doubted his original theory about his origin by this point (partially due to the emergence of a large population of skeletons in the Underground in the intervening time) he had regardless incorporated it into his personal narrative as a revelation, and as such he attempted to continue work on a machine Gaster had designed but never finished, intended to contact other universes. However, the design was fundamentally flawed and never ended up working, so he eventually gave up.

After this, Arfia-hin took two jobs: one as a sentry for the Royal Guard (along the same path as his BEST FRIEND/brother Kobzo-hin, who wished to become a Royal Guard member himself), and another as a performer at the MTT Resort.

Ana-hin

Arfia was one of the people who befriended the human Ana-hin and as a result played a key role in the breaking of the barrier in 251X. Currently as of 258X, Arfia works with human scientific organizations which share an interest in the nature of reality itself, and remains friends with Ana-hin.

Difficulty

According to Khara, Arfia-hin is "extremely difficult". This is difficult to understand, though it is likely to do with a general period of hostile revelation to Ana-hin throughout and shortly after their time in the Underground.

From Society Curriculum - Year 6

915, Niki Myalvi

The gold piece (G) is the common currency of Liruzon, which as of 915 is currently roughly valued at 0.27 Ezvelan dollars or 0.11 Tur-Myalvi shillings, such that a gram of gold costs 4,000 G (until 913, the realm of Yarzon-Ebott used a different gold piece which was valued at about half that amount); for more common-place things, a loaf of bread is approximately 20 G, a cup of tea is approximately 30 G, and a night in a hotel room is approximately 100 G.

Preliminaries

The history of the gold piece began with the standardization of currency by the empire of Niderazon in 31 SR. Prior to this, the predecessor to the gold piece was actual golden coins, which were, as ten grams of gold, roughly 40,000 modern G, and thus only used for large purchases; the use of gold in this manner predated metallurgy.

Gold and the sun

The metal gold was associated with the sun (as copper was associated with the moon; see this excerpt from Liudai's work On The Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars (497 BF, Hesan) : )

The origin of G

 The first gold coins minted by Niderazon retained the value of the earlier gold coins, but were much larger for convenience and were thus made of cheaper metals plated with gold. In the later Niderazon era as of the 3rd century, this was changed to brass as the tie to gold was changed from the direct composition of the coin to a formal valuing of the currency, allowing for the smaller coins to be valued at consistent fractions of the gold piece, most notably the penny at 1/120 G.

The king's gold

During Niderazon's decline in the 6th century, the "true gold" ( sonfodrund ) money was changed to "king's gold" ( niegadrund ), now being given value by the state as opposed to deriving its value from some amount of precious metal; as a result, its value declined rapidly over the following decades, before stabilizing in many economies at roughly 25 modern gold pieces (after Niderazon's fall, and thus as the nikigadrund or "prince's gold") and slowly declining from there. 

Modern times

In recent times, the penny was retired, and the gold piece was standardized by the major economic center Farnitan (resulting in the "common gold" or ginzonindrund ). The Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed also caused a separation between Yarzon-Ebott's economy and the general economy of the wider world, causing the value of its gold piece to drop further. However, after 913, Yarzon-Ebott adopted the standard gold piece. In Yarzon-Ezvelan, after 662 SR and the Great Evacuation, the gold piece was adopted as legal tender despite the proximity to and interaction with Ezvanta economies which use the dollar.

From Common Knowledge Curriculum - Year 4

923, Rahazun

Introduction

Many things in the world follow hard and fast rules, mostly in the realm of the very small and very large. The moon always goes around the earth, which always goes around the sun. Gravity pulls a person down to the ground, and white light can be split into a rainbow of colors.

But there are many things in the world that don't follow hard rules, but are more... general. These are the things we notice in our day to day lives. Animals respond to eclipses by preparing for nighttime. Leaves turn red in the autumn (or perhaps leaves turning red defines autumn), and snow falls in the winter (or perhaps snowfall defines winter). One might break their legs when landing from a bad fall, and a rainbow might be seen as beautiful. A cat or dog might be excited for its owner to come home, and a child might not eat their vegetables. Societies engage in alliance and warfare. People come up with ideas, and express them.

Yahir to Yarov

These things do not follow rules, but rather patterns and associations. And that is the essence of yahir . Note that many of these are the result of thought and communication (in fact, human interaction is one of the largest contributors by far to the ambient yahiric flux). Yahir is the manifestation of things based on what patterns they follow. What they're associated with. And thus it only makes sense for some of these manifestations to themselves be like humans in some regards, or like the beings humans come up with (hence a common association with " monsters ") - thinking, talking, believing, creating, caring for one another. (Note that these are not direct manifestations of human concepts, as that is an idea unique to the Ilgiric context which is unsuitable to explain yarov. Instead, think of it like waves in a pond, making interference patterns that are completely different to their original sources.)

The characteristics of yarov

A manifestation of that kind is a yaref, and its essence can be thought of as projecting from a "SOUL" contained within it, a reflection of sapience and social morality in both humans and yarov. Yarov appear as many different kinds of things, ranging from objects, to animals, to appearances that are rather similar to humans, and in general, yarov may be sorted into several dozen "types" per population. Yarov are generally much weaker physically than humans, and are often rather impressionable to humans and other things around them, taking after social environments they interact with. On the other side, if attacked with the intent to kill, they are severely injured and often die on the spot. When a yaref dies, the SOUL and its projection is lost and the remaining ambient physical matter in the form disperses into the world (although the physical matter within a yaref contains a "signature" of the yaref's identity, much as that comprising a human does).

Human SOULs

Meanwhile, human SOULs are disjoint from their physicality, and enter an inactive state upon death before gradually decaying over time, unless "absorbed" by a yaref, an uncommon but notable practice in societies where humans and yarov regularly interact. This re-ignites the human's consciousness within the same body as the yaref, and the two together compose an unsef, an extremely powerful being that, at its strongest, could bend the world to its will (though in practice, all unsov are significantly limited in their power by the presence of two minds within them). An unsef is conventionally referred to by the hyphenated names of the yaref and human(s).

This distinction - this DETERMINATION - that separates a human's SOUL from its body, when forced into yarov, causes them to, upon "death", shed the physical matter giving their forms coherence, reverting to vague, shifting, and illusory states formed by pure yahir. 

Additional notes

Yahir is also used to influence other aspects of the way people live - yarov sustain their energy by eating yahiric food, which can also sustain humans, though to an extent unsuitable for being a sole source of sustenance (though note the exceptional case of the Yahiraban), and yahir can be used to harm and heal. 

Because of the way yarov originate, and them being very naturally proficient in manipulating yahir directly, yarov can actually create new yaref individuals, and thus they can propagate their populations and act as a form of "life".

From Yarzon-Watershed

921, Rahazun

Many of the ways humans relate to "nature" relate to the nature and behavior of yarov. Especially in Panavic culture, the first full-scale cases where humans interacted with yarov as people (as opposed to phenomena, and excluding small-scale ambient manifestations) come from the lingering populations brought about by the practices of the Vanki.

These manifested at first the nation of A-Yahiraveli-Fadhmar (in modern times A-Fadami ), which eventually spread out to the numerous realms of Yarvant, as far north as A-Yahiraveli-Devarak (which we now simply call Yarzon or Yarzon-Ezvelan) and as far west as A-Yahiraveli-Lundroz (which is often rendered in modern Liruzona as "Yarzon of the Watershed"). Lundroz was the main group to interact with the Panavana. The legendary rulers Aratikent of Lundroz and Etevni of Hesan promised that they together (and thus humans and yarov together) would rule over the world, and for a time after Etevni's death, Unsef Etevni-Aratikent would rule over both kingdoms until Aratikent's death and the succession of Etevni by Nienon (and Aratikent by Porakate). Their alliance, while it only formally lasted as long as the Empire of Hesan, would continue to recur in cultural interactions up until it was shattered by the Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed.

From Guide to Common Knowledge - Preface

915, Hesan

The concept of the Guide to Common Knowledge originated in 721 in a revelation to Jezen Dekirzo, one of the major contributors to the idea of what we now call primary education in Liruzon. Jezen noticed that his child, Ravi Jezenzo, was consistently having to have basic aspects of the world and the surrounding societal workings explained to them. While this was expected for the given mindform (a literalist perceptually proficient branch), a better solution was warranted to handle that case more effectively, and so he spent many years studying the kinds of things people end up having to teach their children, observing the world from the perspective of a child who is unfamiliar with its workings, and making use of comparisons to the radically different nearby culture of Myalvi, in order to compile the first edition of the Guide to Common Knowledge, which was the basis for the very first primary curriculum. It has been revised over the years as both our understanding of the world and our culture evolved, and the modern "Common Knowledge" course found in every primary school is ultimately based on the original Guide.

From The Fort Karzen Files

267 BF, Tur Myalvi

Those already living in the lands of Myalvi do not have a firm grasp on reality as it is, often deriving knowledge from their fictions rather than from the truth. This is because their form of "consciousness" is fundamentally flawed; they think of themselves as, if they don't actually be, inherently non-conscious, receiving inspiration only from higher sources. This is reflected in how they often (seemingly irrationally) place people with debilitating mental disorders in prestigious positions. They additionally regularly violate the sanctity of sexual relations; their marriage customs are not fully understood and seem to deviate from romantic love in many situations; this implies a broken form of morality, one which does not respect any traditional form of formality whatsoever. They additionally lack any sort of reasonable structure to their leadership, answering to local lords who then answer to their greater leaders. The natives of Myalvi are a harsh, warlike people, who refuse to follow the faith of Hierrau; we have encountered resistance from native armies on all fronts during colonization, though we have managed to hold onto our fortifications near the Sevevda River (namely, Fort Sevevda itself along with Fort Karzen and Fort Ruerden).

From The Rahazuna Political System

904, Rahazun

The Emperor of Rahazun (currently Sarnelkh) rules over the empire of Rahazun. The counties comprising the Empire are each ruled by a Count who answers to the Emperor, with the Count of Rahazun County serving a replacement role if the Emperor is away or unable to rule. At the bottom level, there are the Chiefs of each city or ward, which answer to their Count and to the Emperor. This means that the Golden City itself (Ezref) has three rulers:

Emperor Sarnelkh Seransai of the Rahazuna Empire

Count Erevornu Seransai of Rahazun County

Chief Lurazi Telibaz of Ezref

There is additionally the role of "viscount", which is equivalent to a count in rank but does not rule. However, this generally only serves a transitional purpose when a county is split or merged, acting as a way for a previous ruler to shift into a new position once the change is finalized, and as a result the role is rare.

In some cases, individual counts can informally change their allegiance - an example of this is Count Dalnun of Montera during the Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed, who formally answered to Siegetev but instead supported the nation of Yarzon-Watershed during the war, and sided with Ester more generally - they couldn't directly intervene in the war, but they could make way for the Great Evacuation, allowing 99% of Yarzon-Watershed's surviving population to make it to a new Yarzon in the north. More formally, such as in cases of conquest, division, or union, local governments are essentially "snipped off" and attached to a different higher-rank government, or made independent, as was the case with Rahazun's independence from Niderazon in 572. 

The Emperor is elected by a council, which also has the right to declare an Emperor unfit for rule since 663.

From University of Monselian

913, Rahazun

The U.M. is believed by some to be the reason Rahazun grew from the small village of Rafi's settlers to the bustling metropolis it is today. In 435 SR during Rahazun's allegiance to Niderazon, a mysterious figure known as the Historian arrived in Rahazun County from the northern lands of El-Sarvin, and established the University of Monselian, which would become the most important center of knowledge for Liruzon as a whole. Many people came to the University to study, and thus Monselian, and hence Rahazun. 

The boost in cultural influence and social power that Rahazun County received as a result of this eventually allowed it to become independent of Niderazon, establishing its own political sphere by 572 SR. 

The Historian themself is generally taken to be an immortal servant of Ramazir, as the Historian as an identity is still existent today. Physical appearances of the Historian have been extremely rare. However, many books have been published by the University in the Historian's name. In the baseline interpretation, the Historian is a persona maintained by the University, similar to the various appearances of Arvent during the winter holidays for their respective communities.

From The Book Of Kings

915, Montera

...Only surnames which represent notable families will be shown, except for Ezva or Wilka realms that follow a strictly hereditary system.

Table of Contents

Volume I: Yarzon (High King)

The Ancient Rulers:

From the establishment of the High Kingdom by the Vanki to the fall of Hesan, the historical sister kingdom to Yarzon.

Tonoi-Damat (1154-870 BF; full lifespan)
Aratikent (870-724 BF)
Etevni-Aratikent (724-551 BF)
Porakate (551-314 BF)

The Post-Hesanic Rulers:

Kalagara (314-196 BF)
Olijan (196-141 BF)
Durama (141-113 BF)
Zoto (113 BF-3 SR)

The Dan-Ruerden Rulers:

Adur (3-92 SR)
Vodi Zbedzdern (92-155 SR)
Kendi (155-204 SR)
Ahi (204-292 SR)
Ogoni (292-343 SR)
Gasai-Vi (343-382 SR)
Balatar Zbedzdern (382-446 SR)

The Middle Rulers:

Tatsel (446-494 SR)
Sonne (494-525 SR)
Sureiba Govden (525-562 SR)
Nivuna Govden (562-593)
Alu (593-621)
Gajn Govden (621-660)
Rotas (660-661)

The Banished Rulers:

Gajn Govden (660-699)
Dulu Govden (699-734)
Rosi (734-757)
Lakhni (757-782)
Armand (782-869)

The Golden Rulers:

Yarkeji (869-present)

Volume 1.5: Yarzon (Ebott)

Ruaeli Brujgal (662-913)

Volume II: Rahazun

The Ezva Era:

Sarafi Ranzali (1-18 SR)*
Khara Ranzali (18-35 SR)
Rizman Ranzali (35-56 SR)
Toli Ranzali (56-76 SR)
Halme Ranzali (76-83 SR)
Suzi Ranzali (83-101 SR)
Volat Himeiro (101-125 SR)
Volat II Himeiro (125-134 SR)
Ahadir Himeiro (134-156 SR)
Muman Himeiro (156-173 SR)

*Traditionally listed with the Hesanic name. Korhisian name is Lumien. 

The Nideri Era:

Count Irafin Seransai (173-205 SR)
Count Igzimre (205-239 SR)
Count Ifbozna (239-274 SR)
Count Vomunt (274-306 SR)
Count Ilvosiu (306-338 SR)
Count Lolubinsi (338-373 SR)
Count Imbongus (373-401 SR)
Count Snalbi (401-435 SR)
Count Dekoven (435-464 SR)
Count Kradunofle (464-498 SR)
Count Uri (498-532 SR)
Count Gilin Seransai (532-572 SR)

The Independence Era:

Minrafi Seransai (572-604 SR)
Ojgr (604-635 SR)
Kuin (635-648 SR)
Siegetev (648-663 SR)

The Empire Era:

Karol-Kalvi (663-694 SR)
Lekusa-Kalvi (694-723 SR)
Ana-Kalvi (723-756 SR)
Salfo (756-792 SR)
Ngaza (792-824 SR)
Zorvan (824-848 SR)
Himir (848-876 SR)
Rodan (876-904 SR)
Sarnelkh Seransai (904 SR-present)

From The Kinds of Human

892, Yarzon-il-Dividar

Unlike yarov which may have dozens of kinds within the same settlement, and hundreds more elsewhere, humans only have a handful of different regional varieties, often with distinct cultures. Cultural differences between these ethnicities' respective cultures will be covered separately; for now, we will focus on the physical distinctions between them. Consult the introduction to this book for a primer on human physiology.

Vedil, the most commonly found in Liruzon, are among the taller varieties of humans, about 7 feet tall on average with a wide, heavy body type and a distinctive yellow skin tone. They are also notable for their late onset of puberty (from about 18 to 25 years old) relative to their lifespan of about 80 years.

Razil are another common human variety native to the caverns beneath Liruzon. They belong to a family of related cave-dwelling human populations that share the characteristics of pale skin tones, very short and scrawny body types, and hunched postures, including the Yahiraban native to the caverns underneath the Vana, and the Tadeleti living in Ezvelan.

Donno are the original natives to Liruzon, as the Vanki population which has been forced further east by Panavic expansion. Physically, Donno are of medium height and body type, with feline ears and tail. Notably, they mature extremely quickly for their lifespan of about 73 years.

Ezov call the snowy lands of Ezvelan home, and are well-adapted to it, with thick fur and dark skin that serve to trap and absorb heat. They are somewhat shorter than donno, but not as short as razil. They have unusually short lifespans, only up to about 50 years, and as such mature rather quickly.

Wilo, a variety native to Indadvi but now also found in Tur-Myalvi and rarely elsewhere in Liruzon, are of medium height, with skin ranging from tan to pale beige, and a medium body type, however they customarily hide their appearances with cloaks. Their lifespans are on the longer side, similarly to vedil. 

Pavriz are an example of a kind of human living in the far east of Iltezon, in the lands of Havon and also to the south in Inveri. They are very tall (8-9 feet) with a generally skinny body type, and with skin ranging from light red to light purple and dark eyes. They live up to 100 years, but are only fully grown by about age 35.

Malakiz live across Iltezon as a diaspora, in various small settlements within other cities, in traveling bands, etc. Physically, they resemble wila children (in fact, puberty/adolescence doesn't affect their external appearance at all), with reddish skin tones, and they live for about 90 years on average.

From a meeting between Altria and Bennitri

663, Rahazun

Benni: "Your goal is to get Yarvant out of your sight, correct?"

Altria: "Yes, that is exactly the case. Siegetev demands we ensure the yarov pose no risk to humanity."

Benni: "Understood. I believe that that could be made so without eradicating the entirety of Yarvant. It would pain me greatly to see Ruaeli and Nanara killed, and the haven of Yarzon-Ezvelan attacked, and while we have already sorely violated Etevni's alliance, we should not make things worse for no reason."

Altria: "As it turns out, the death of Yarvant is not what I want either. But Siegetev is like no king we have had before, and won't take 'no' for an answer. If his lineage didn't make it obvious otherwise, I would assume he is an agent of Hierrau intending to inflict its chosen leadership on our own."

Benni: "Yes, it is indeed Siegetev who is the issue. I had indeed also assumed Myalvi had infiltrated Rahazun by some manner before I saw him in person, especially given Myalvi's involvement in the war."

Altria: "That being said, though, I have been workshopping a solution. A barrier, tuned to keep yarov contained while allowing humans to pass freely."

Benni: "If it means that the remnants of the yarov of the Watershed are spared, then I will accept it."

Altria: "Yes. And again, keep in mind that whatever facsimile of service Siegetev attempts to provide is not eternal; he may claim an aspiration to purge Yarvant from Ezvelan, but this will not come to pass. Dissent is already mounting; change is soon to come. It's just a shame you lot were unable to hold out long enough."

Altria: "Oh, and one more thing, in case this is relevant."

Benni: "Yes?"

Altria: "I have been thinking about the location of this barrier. We need a concentrated space that it would be easy to coerce the yaref population into, so it needs to be a defined region relatively close to the strongholds of Yarhe. Additionally, for my purposes (and thus yours), it needs to be significantly isolated such that leading a further attack into it is infeasible. The only location that meets these criteria is Ebtaraz."

Benni: "..."

From Profile: Bennitri

920, Yarzon-Ebott

Bennitri was a human member of the Brujgal family living in Ri-Ebott. 

Bennitri was born in 636 in Ebtaraz, a village of razil located underneath Mt. Ebott which would become a ghost town over the next 25 years due to lack of contact with the rest of Raz (the last inhabitant dying in 661). Bennitri left in 646, finding Tomi and thus the Brujgals a year later, similar to Khara later on. Bennitri's time associated with the family overlapped with Tomi-Rugan's time as de-facto King of Yarzon-Watershed, making Bennitri a prince. Bennitri was an influential figure during the Invasion of Yarzon-Watershed, having had a role in the events leading up to the war, first attempting to meet with Siegetev himself on behalf of Tomi-Rugan (inadvertently massively heightening tensions). However, once the Great Evacuation was caught and halted by Siegetev in 663 as it was nearing its completion, the Brujgal family belonged to the 1% of Yarzon-Watershed's population left behind (as a large portion of the other remnants were wiped out), and Bennitri was himself able to meet with Chief Engineer Altria, and convince her to design and create a barrier to contain the yarov of Liruzon, as opposed to Siegetev's original plan of wiping out Liruzon's yaref population entirely and then going after Ezvelan. This barrier did ultimately end up being created (around Mt. Ebott, containing the yarov in the former site of Ebtaraz), but Bennitri chose to stay on the surface, wishing to leave Ebtaraz behind. Bennitri lived out his later years (722-749) isolated from civilization on the slopes of Mt. Ebott, and eventually died there in 749. 

From The Colonies of Myalvi

246 BF, Tur Myalvi

The Ruerden Colony: A description of the explored lands so far

We arrive at Fort Sevevda; to the north along Ruerden Beach lies Fort Ruerden. Further inland are the hills of Echavi, down from which flows the Rivers Sevevda in the south (leading to Fort Sevevda) and Vavyer to the north. North is the long coastal region leading to Ilbanez and the lands of the Krizhan people, who have a short stature and furred bodies like those of the north. Continuing northward and deep into the lands of the Krizhan we have our own abandoned Fort Monzeyan, from which, while it had not been lost to brutal attacks by natives, we set out to explore the north, starting with the peninsulae of Montar and Valbar. The native warriors seem to fight in a trance-like 'rage state'. 

Then, crossing the Ratavnos Bay, we reach Ratavnos proper, the snowy homeland of those first encountered in Ilbanez. The northern boundary of the Ruerden grant is the 64.5th parallel and its southern boundary is the location of Fort Sevevda at around 47.5 degrees north, which forms its own colonial region, encompassing the lands which yarov currently inhabit in both southern and northern Myalvi, which are among the largest concentrated populations of yarov known to Wilant.

The Karzen Colony: A description of the explored area of Myalvi

The region stretches south from Fort Sevevda, starting with Fort Karzen on the Karzen Beach. We approach the homeland of the yellow folk who resist our colonization, starting with what appears to be their northernmost realm, along the Sejodon Peninsula to the coast to the east. Across the bay lies Panavis, their homeland and where the Karzen grant's southern boundary is at 34 degrees north, and which sits just beyond the Dalrad Mountains that define the eastern edge of our familiar realm. The Karzen region, just like Ruerden to the north, stretches to the eastern coast of the continent, though it is unlikely given recent circumstances that this will be seen through to its proper conclusion. 

From an informal commentary on The Colonies of Myalvi

878 SR, Niki Myalvi

Dreda: "Interestingly, they seem to have used 'Myalvi' to refer to Liruzon and Ezvelan as a whole, and apparently the rest of the continent?."

Arsamitev: "Yeah, they were rather greedy back then. To be honest, they kinda still are. They don't get the fundamentals of how rulership works."

Dreda: "Also, look at these names they're using. Montar? Valbar? It's Montera! And Valvar! And it's the Alz peninsula, Valvar isn't even on it!".

Arsamitev: "I'm telling you, it's Halz!"

Dreda: "I can't make that sound! Uh, Ralz? I don't know."

Dreda: "Also, 'Sevevda' for the river Arelbanz? That's just ancient Hesanic for 'What the fuck are you saying?'!"

Arsamitev: "I mean, makes sense. Some Hesanic person saw a wila waltz up to them and ask them something in a language they couldn't understand."

Dreda: "So let's see. At least they got Panavis right. Sejodon is actually Gazivoj, and Ratavnos is Ezvelan (with the Ratavnos Bay being the Gulf of Montera)."

Arsamitev: "Haha, 'the Krizhan people'. Korhision was an empire."

From an anonymous review of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2

913, Yarzon-Ebott

The change to the new Sbeva-based production team was a bad call. The original people from Hesan understood the world of Durzir (obviously) and what stories there were to be told within it. I've seen and read a lot of other Durzir content by a bunch of different authors, and they all seem to get it as well.

But not the new Mew Mew team. It's like they took one look at Mew Mew 1 and decided "hey, let's make a sequel!" without understanding anything else about how Durzir worked. For example, they chose (or did they even choose!?) to set it not in Durzir but in this awkward mashup of Durzir and Yona where donno exist and ruin Mew Mew's unique characteristic. In fact, they ruined Mew Mew's entire character in general! Please, do some basic research. Review: Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 is neither Kissy nor Cutie. It's trash. 0 stars.

From a commentary on Myalvi culture by an unknown author

284, Niderazon

The way of Hierrau confounds me. Not only does it insist that marriage can only derive from irrational attraction and romance (implying that romance is a prerequisite for procreation, and thus restricting romance to opposing genders), and that BEST FRIEND relationships are exclusively among siblings, cousins, or parents to children (forbidding any strong relation outside the family unit), but it also attempts to impose those norms not just on its own followers but on US, the "vedil" who have nothing to do with their practices or culture.

What do they make of it (and, if we choose to follow, what should we make of it) when two married people turn against one another, or when their pairing is found unsuitable for raising their child? They have no choice but to leave the child or the family unit as a whole to be brought to harm, with no framework for polar pairing or child transfer, and no formal sense of responsibility on the parents. And this would happen far more with their strange impositions on romance; irrational relationships are much more volatile. Despite this, they insist on stretching out family units for long enough that they are distorted into unrecognizability.

And it is also confusing that romantic relationships, which realize similarly to BEST FRIEND relationships (differing by their origins and underlying emotions), are seen as an entirely opposing category - to confuse them is to commit a minor inaccuracy, but it is seen as almost offensive to those of Myalvi for no apparent reason, especially when describing members of a family.

From a compilation of the entries of Dr. Gaster

908, Yarzon-Ebott

The following is a compilation of lab entries by our dear old Royal Scientist, Dr. Gaster! They provide some exciting insight into the construction of the CORE, and reveal that those grey folk might not be telling the complete story.

What happens next? Geheheh! Who knows?

There was only ever one more entry...

After that, it all stopped.

From a flyer for the Gaster Followers

907, Yarzon-Ebott

THE GASTER FOLLOWERS

We have the solution to all the universe's greatest mysteries!

Memories that you can't explain? It's GASTER!

Mysterious calls from nowhere? It's GASTER!

Inconsistencies in behavior? It's GASTER!

Strange voices in your head? It's GASTER!

Where do baby yarov come from? It's GASTER!

Strange encounters in disappearing rooms? Guess what - It's GASTER!

Call the GASTER FOLLOWERS today at YZ-4-6666-6666 to get answers to your biggest questions, such as "who created the CORE?", "Who was the smartest person to ever live?", and most importantly, "who's listening right now as you read this very flyer?"

From a statement by Karol-Kalvi

664, Rahazun

Siegetev and the war resulting from his actions are detestable, and I would see to it that his legacy is erased from Rahazun's future, such that it may not be further corrupted by his influence. My reign will be focused on helping Rahazun recover from Siegetev's corruption, and on repairing our relationship with Yarzon-Ezvelan. However, we must take care to avoid inciting additional enmity with Tur-Myalvi beyond what we already have since Siegetev was cast from his position. We are not in a political state where we can defend against Myalvi at the moment, and we do not have many allies.

P.S. We will review the situation with Mt. Ebott shortly. Altria appears either unable or unwilling to reverse the barrier creation; four of the seven people in the barrier creation group refused to continue working after the end of Siegetev's regime.

From On the nature of the recovered humans

919, Ri-Ebott

From Dr. Alfizo's discoveries regarding DETERMINATION animating inanimate objects if there is a pre-existing identity attached to them (Ondeli, for instance), and Ana-hin's experiences regarding Khara "attaching" to their SOUL and DETERMINATION, it has been determined that a dead human can be brought back to life given their SOUL and original body. Mt. Ebott's 'True Lab' has been converted into a research facility to study this. The process involves extracting the DETERMINATION from the human's SOUL, and adding it to the human's body. This transforms the body into a being which resembles the human but has an incomplete mental state, lacking certain capacities or motives. This being, because it is technically neither a human nor a yaref, can then absorb the original SOUL, fully reinstating the human's identity. Note that the resurrected being has major differences from a normal human; while it can move and interact, it almost functions as if the body is being "puppeted" by the consciousness, and most autonomous biological functions are entirely absent. This is an extremely unusual type of being; an established term does not exist for it; we are simply calling these "resurrectives" for the time being.

The first successful case of a human being brought back to life in their original body was Waishan, a human with a yellow SOUL who fell into the Underground and died shortly after, several years before Ana-hin's journey through the Underground, who was brought back at the behest of the Ketsukane family and former Royal Guard member Mazali. This resurrection was complicated as the SOUL was already unusually low in DETERMINATION, so special care had to be taken to preserve it.

This process is still in its early stages of development, and is unlikely to become widely available any time soon; the only facility currently capable of handling the process is the True Lab, though work is underway by Arfia and Dr. Alfizo to construct a secondary facility in Ri-Ebott.

... (Section omitted)

P.S. The explanation for this is not, in fact, 'Gaster', despite what a small group of people insist. Neither Kobzo Gaster or Dr. Gaster are relevant here.

From Arfia-hin and Dr. Alfizo's speech on the "Level of Violence" system

917, Monselian

[Non-diegetic note: much of this entry has been transcluded from dialogue lines in UNDERTALE by Toby Fox, and exists within Undersided to provide context for those unfamiliar with UNDERTALE. As such, it is not under the license that the rest of the work follows. Please credit Toby Fox when using this text.]

Arfia-hin: "Well."

Arfia-hin: "We will begin with the exposition of the model of EXP and LV." 

Arfia-hin: "What is EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for 'execution points'. A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LV increases."

Arfia-hin: "LV, too, is an acronym. It stands for Level of Violence. People acting in bad faith have stated that it stands for 'Love', but this is simply a deception. LV is a measurement of someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt, and the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others."

Origins

Dr. Alfizo: "Ooh! Ooh! And it's called EXP and LV because you know, like, i- it sorta works like games where you kill things and gain experience and level up! But here it's like, a darker messed up version because killing people is bad!"

Arfia-hin: "yeah. me and alfi came up with this cuz she was obsessing over humans and how differently people like siegetev acted compared to people like okhelai and magzi, and after hearing of that attack by that other human on that one snowdin kid I was wondering what it would take for something like that to happen for real."

From a speech given by the Storytellers of New Home

913, New Home

[Non-diegetic note: much of this entry has been transcluded from dialogue lines in UNDERTALE by Toby Fox, and exists within Undersided to provide context for those unfamiliar with UNDERTALE. As such, it is not under the license that the rest of the work follows. Please credit Toby Fox when using this text.]

Khara and Ondeli

A long time ago, a human, Khara, fell into the RUINS. Injured by their fall, the human called out for help.
Ondeli, the king's son, heard the human's call. He brought the human back to the castle. Over time, Ondeli and the human became BEST FRIENDS. The King and Queen treated the human child as their own. The Underground was full of hope.

Khara's death

Then... One day...
Khara became very ill. They had only one request - to see the golden flowers from their village, Ri-Ebott.
But there was nothing we could do. Several days passed before Khara died.
Ondeli, wracked with grief, absorbed Khara's SOUL. He transformed into an unsef, a being with incredible power.
With the human SOUL, Ondeli-Khara crossed through the barrier. He carried the human's body into the sunset, back to the village of the humans.
When Ondeli-Khara reached the center of the village, he found a bed of golden flowers. He carried the human onto it.

The fate of Ondeli-Khara

Suddenly, screams rang out.
The villagers saw Ondeli-Khara holding the human's body.
They thought that he had killed the child. The humans attacked him with everything they had. He was struck with blow after blow.
Ondeli-Khara had the power to destroy them all.

But...
Ondeli-Khara did not fight back. Clutching Khara's body... Ondeli-Khara smiled, and walked away.
Wounded, Ondeli-Khara stumbled home. He entered the castle, collapsed and died. His dust spread across the garden.

The kingdom fell into despair.
The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The humans had once again taken everything from us.
The king decided it was time to end our suffering. Every human who falls down here must die. With enough souls, we can shatter the barrier forever. It's not long now.

Hope for yarov

King Ruaeli will let us go. King Ruaeli will give us hope. King Ruaeli will save us all.

You should be smiling, too.

Aren't you excited?

Aren't you happy?

You're going to be free.

From The Century, annotated

762, Yarzon-Ebott

[Non-diegetic note: much of this entry has been transcluded from dialogue lines in UNDERTALE by Toby Fox, and exists within Undersided to provide context for those unfamiliar with UNDERTALE. As such, it is not under the license that the rest of the work follows. Please credit Toby Fox when using this text.]

Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every yaref[a] just to equal the power of a single human SOUL. But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death. If a yaref defeats a human, or a human simply dies, they can take its SOUL. A yaref with a human SOUL (an 'unsef') - a horrible beast with unfathomable power; this was commonplace with ages past, but the humans' new king was terrified of the prospect, for one simple reason. It is almost always the case that the extreme power of an unsef is restricted by the conscious independence of its constituents. However, the unsef Tomi-Rugan, formed in 647 SR upon the human Tomi's death, displayed a considerable amount of internal harmony, almost as if it was a single consciousness, meant to be...

This is the power that the humans feared.

This power, however, has no counter. A human cannot take a yaref SOUL, because when a yaref dies, its SOUL disappears, and an incredible power would be needed to take the SOUL of a living yaref. 

There is only one exception. The SOUL of a special species[b] of yaref called a "boss yaref", whose SOUL is strong enough to persist after death, if only for a moment. A human could absorb this SOUL, but this has never happened, and now it never will.

The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy. In the end, it could hardly be called a war. With the disappearance of Tomi-Rugan, the humans were too powerful, and us yarov too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, countless yarov were turned to dust, and countless more fled to the furthest north to save themselves and Yarzon - but that left us behind, hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives. We surrendered to the humans, and seven of their greatest artificers and technicians sealed us underground, with a barrier which anything can enter through, but only a being with a powerful SOUL can leave.

There is one known way to break this barrier and free the yarov of Ebott - if a huge power, equivalent to seven human SOULs, attacks the barrier, it will be destroyed.

Annotations

[a] Probably meaning in the Underground; a yaref SOUL is between 10[1] and 95,000[2] times weaker than a human SOUL by various metrics, and the Underground's population was 104,013 as of 61X[3], when this was written.

[b] There are, as of 913 SR / 251X, multiple species of yaref in Liruzon with boss characteristics[4] - Mimigas (the species referenced here[5]) are only one example.

Citations

[1] "The Effective Power System", P. S. Gelin

[2] "The properties and specification of barriers", Altria

[3] "Yarzon-Ebott Census, 61X", Ruaeli

[4] "The Integrity Files", Chujin, disclosed by Ceroba

[5] "The status of the kinds of yarov after the war", Bezgazni

From Welcome Back, Yarvant!

913, Jezen Company Website

Accessed from website: gnet:info/jezencompany/ebott/913/07/15

WELCOME BACK, YARVANT!

The yarov of Ebott have been freed!

Ana Kaizo

While the government was bumbling around and bumping into itself to work out what to do with Ebott (seems Ebott truly is cursed after all), it ended up being one determined individual, Ana-hin Kaizo, who took matters into their own hands and decided to do what the higher-ups somehow never ended up doing. With the help of the friends they made, and a certain Prince Ondeli, Ana-hin broke the barrier separating the Ebott Underground from the wider world, allowing Yarvant to populate Liruzon once more (this also served as a symbol to the yarov of Yarzon that it was safe to return home).

Ana-hin had known of the plight of Ebott since first learning about yarov in primary school, and had always wanted to do something to help them. It was only after completing primary school, though, that Ana finally felt independent enough to go out on their own to journey to Ebott. They didn't know what would lie in store, or even what would be left of the yarov when they arrived, but they were determined to do something about it by any means possible. And they succeeded, and are now slated to become the official ambassador of Yarzon-Ebott to the humans. (Kobzo Gaster, one of Ana-hin's close yaref friends, is the official mascot!)

The return of yarov

But now, as for the main topic of today's announcement, a short primer on yarov! You likely learned about them in primary school, but a good portion of you have probably never seen one in person (especially since the recent restrictions on travel to Ezvelan), and it would be beneficial for you to get to know what they are like, since you'll most likely soon see them in everyday life.

Yarov are people (like you and me), but instead of being made of blood and flesh and bones, they're... more vague and expressive (a kind of yahiric manifestation). The most direct expression of whatever the yaref seems to be, with just enough physicality to enable its manifestation (and not even that, in the case of what Dr. Alfizo has termed 'amalgamates', but that's a subject for another time), resulting in exaggerated poses, proportions, and behaviors, inconsistent physical details, and rapid healing and recovery. They eat, and sleep, and talk, and feel pain, and joy, and have families, but they do not have stomachs, nor brains, nor lungs, nor nerves, nor hearts, nor reproductive organs. 

Yareva diversity

As a result of all this, yarov are intensely diverse beings, with hundreds of different kinds recorded in just the comparatively tiny population of Ebott alone, ranging from animals to abstract shapes to elemental beings to types that could pass as human races if not for that distinct expressive nature, and from mere centimeters tall to huge beings the size of human buildings.

One of the most notable characteristics of yarov is their ability to fluently do lots of simple things (such as making a fire) that humans have often relied on technology to do for them, depending on the kind of yaref and other factors, as well as making all sorts of other yahiric manifestations as part of their expressive capabilities (which is what one book means by 'bullet patterns', in case you see that term in the wild).

From a short essay on Montera

901, Kan'fi

The history of Montera was defined by periods of unrest, prosperity, and a good helping of sneaky politics.

Montera's story began as a province of Korhision. "Montera" as an independent nation was established by 330 BF and gradually became a maritime power in the Ezeva cultural region, trading across what would come to be known as the Gulf of Montera to the north. Montera was visited by Tur-Myalvi colonists, who noted the Ezeva berserker warriors from the region.

Val-i-Roria and Montera's rise

However, early in its existence, by 77 SR, Montera would come under the rule of the king of Val-i-Roria, which additionally happened to be one of the few realms that would later adopt the Vainadiv, a set of Donnana practices that ended up horribly unsuited for Montera's environment and people. Many politicians from Montera were key players in the plot to topple Val-i-Roria, covertly attacking its king's legitimacy from several directions. Its true status as a local power did not begin until 202 SR with its autonomy and later full independence, and when it at that point even outclassed states like Halera, Valvar, and Dejat as the primary center of Korahai culture. 

Cultural creep

However, the Korahai culture as a whole was being beaten back by two external forces throughout the following centuries: the first was the rise of the empire of Lucorshi in the east, subjugating and spreading its Donnana culture to surrounding regions, and the second was the slow creep of Panavic culture up the length of Liruzon, accelerated by the nature of the recently free Rahazun's cultural influence as of 572. While at the point of Montera's location, Lucorshi's influence was but a healthy cultural mingling (unlike with Valvar and Dejat), by 633, Montera was reformed into a county within the Rahazuna realm after a political crisis in which a count allegiant to King Ojgr was placed on the throne of Montera. 

Siegetev

Siegetev, the king of Rahazun from 648 to 663, would make several organizational changes to Montera, utilizing its unique position of power to expand the Rahazuna influence throughout Korhision, and then carving Montera up to conform to Panavic organizational structure. Montera ultimately played a pivotal role in the war for Yarzon-Lundroz, the High Kingdom of yarov which Montera had allied itself with due to trading relations with the lesser kingdom of Yarzon-Ezvelan. As it was obvious that Siegetev would not cease with the brutality of the invasion, Count Dalnun worked behind the back of Siegetev to facilitate the evacuation of a large portion of the yarov of Lundroz to Ezvelan, sparing them from the terrible fate that Siegetev had ordained for them. This, as a result, established Yarzon-Ezvelan as the synthesis of the two realms, and thus the new High Kingdom (the only time the location of the High Kingdom has changed since the establishment of the concept in times ages past). 

Modern times

In the aftermath, the following kings would leave the issues of Montera to fester; it was only after the problems associated with Ana-Kalvi's rule that an emperor would be chosen, Salfo, who would actually address Montera. Salfo and the following rulers were of the type who respected Rahazun itself as originally Ezeva; while its Panavic politics remained, a lot more support for Korahai expression was established. In the meantime, Lucorshi slowly fizzled out, as decreasingly restrictive policies on constituent nations induced by cultural strife within its borders resulted in its loss of authority. The state of Lucorshi technically exists in the modern day, but simply as a social and economic association between various Vanki, Donnana, and Ezeva realms.

Recently, the ruler Sarnelkh - a Seransai - has offered to the newest Count Ahadiran of Montera to fully relinquish Rahazuna political influence over Montera.

The patron god of Montera is Ramazir, the scholarly deity of the starry sky and navigation.

From the Torn Notebook (annotated)

Commentary

Ol' King Fluffybuns gave me this thing one day a while back. Said it belonged to a human. I'd say that was the human living with Dr. Gaster, before he died. After all, it's got the old fool's strange handwritin' in it! I've tried sellin' it off to folks who might want it, but it always just appears right back in my shop! It's definitely somethin' mysterious, I'll tell you that. Here's my transcription - hopefully you can learn somethin' useful. Wahaha!

(Non-diegetic note: This is Volume 1 of the Torn Notebook. The remaining volumes will be released as other entries.)

P.S. Some pages were damaged or torn. My reconstructions will be in [square brackets].

I called the Yarzon number, there was no response.

Content

Conclusion

And that's where we'll leave it for now! But this tale isn't over. There's a whole 'nother half of the book waitin', but we'll have to leave that for next time. Wahaha!

From the Torn Notebook (annotated) (Part 2)

From correspondence between Dini and Sonaza Bokelzidrej

914, Bokelzidreja-Evunzo / Farnitan

Dear "Count Grandma",

How have things been since I last sent you a letter? Is your leg doing better now? Did anyone stop by? Caught any cool bugs?

As for me, Year 3 is going well! I've met someone new recently. A grown-up, to be clear. Their name is... Well, it's Mr. Viratas, my math teacher. But "Falairos" subbed for my art class while Ms. Kalvi was out sick, where Falairos is Mr. Viratas' alter ego or something, someone else in the same body. But what's cool is that Viratas CREATED Falairos. Apparently Viratas liked pretending to be Falairos, but soon enough, he just... didn't have to pretend anymore.

Falairos is a badguy. He says that but doesn't actually seem to want to hurt anyone, just to "RULE FARNITAN!!!". (Maybe in your infinite comital wisdom you could lend a hand? ;) ) He's really cool, and reminds me of when we go to see Ira-Zedav every so often. I mean, makes sense that he's teaching art and Viratas is teaching math. He seems to treat his "evil schemes" as a form of art.

Sincerely,

Dini

 

Dear "Chief Dini",

My leg is doing alright. I got the folks at Parzon City to send a doctor over. And yes. I caught this really colorful one, can't wait for you to come and see it!

Well, Falairos is interesting. I'm excited to meet him, and I know you two are gonna get along rather well. Did you know? I know someone like that as well! The shaman at Parzon City, Iramandal, has hundreds of people in their head, who all came from her internal world and were brought into reality through her form. I bet you'll learn about this soon at school as well.

As for being "Count Grandma", I've gotten to hang out with a lot of the higher-ups in Farnitan! I might take you to meet the queen at some point in the future. Falairos can come along as well.

With love,

Grandma

From Razila Realms

914, Malfoy

There is a notable difficulty in accurately characterizing the environments of the Underground as a whole, or the people found within them. Because of its enclosed nature, locations in the Underground tend to exist on a much smaller scale than locations on the surface, even outside the small part reserved for the monsters of Liruzon (for which this effect is most extremely apparent). However, the small size of Liruzon as a location means restricting our focus to it will make the characterization of its Underground much more bearable. In many places, the Underground's open caverns take up much of the space below the surface and above the lower crust. Our exploration of the Underground's environments will start with the southern Underground and work northwards. The Underground is very dark, with only ambient yahiric light shining through and dimly lighting the place, and even then in not all parts of the cavern system. Its caverns are also extremely large, often getting larger as you go deeper, on the scale of tens of kilometers across and a kilometer tall for a single cavern (enough for it to have its own weather system if there is water present).  

The Underground's fundamental nature means that the chief large-scale variation is between various rock types making up the ground, and thus various sizes and shapes of caverns formed within them. As mentioned before, the largest caves are beneath mountains, and more tectonically stable crust can thus have very narrow and fewer caves. There is such a separation beneath Kan'fi and Lestn, separating the southern Underground and the Yahiraban homeland from the northern Underground, except for a few passages and various tunnels built to connect isolated cavern systems to the two main regions, as well as isolated, maze-like cave systems.

The people found here are as a rule not unified nations but collections of smaller nations and tribes which share common characteristics across each region.

Thariel Region

It is underneath the mountains of Hesan that the extreme scale of the Underground is most apparent, as the Underground generally makes itself the most present beneath mountains and other tectonic hotspots, current or former. There, we find the Brevo Seas, a network of large caves and smaller passages filled with large bodies of water, which ultimately connect to the side of the continental shelf leading into the ocean floor, meaning that there is a "sea level" to Brevo that all of the lakes flow down towards. There are internal water cycles and many various water features. With little solid ground to build on in most of the terrain, the Razil here (known as the Thariel people) build their settlements into the sides of natural columns and into cave walls. This area also contains one of the primary entrances from the Underground to the surface, the caves of Yan-Urden, including the "Thariel Cleft", a long vertical gap in the terrain located above the upper levels of the Brevo region, into which has been diverted the flows of a former tributary of the Arelbanz along with the rivers that flow into that place naturally; the waterfall has historically powered the city of Pharelzolde which is located within the chasm. Three-dimensional or otherwise vertical city and architectural layouts are a common sight throughout the Underground as a whole for larger settlements, given the dearth of flat ground to build on in caves. 

Robanagari Region

Regardless, in the caves beneath Rovana proper and beneath Sbeva, there is of course the western extension of Brevo, but there is also a general, drier open cavern environment, containing some "special" areas like forests and large crystal caverns (which are also found occasionally throughout other Underground environments), as well as the extremely dark depths of the cave. The Razil of this region are the Robanagari, who regularly interacted with the Panavic nations of the region during Hesan's height, but since have isolated themselves from surface contact. It is from them, however, that the precursors of Ilgiric metaphysics originated, before the Thariel brought the ideas to Ezvelan in the 4th century.

Sharila Region

Various isolated Razil communities exist beneath Kan'fi and Lestn, inhabiting the narrow, maze-like caverns in the region of "Sharila-fi", and carving their cities to follow the natural course of the caves. In recent times, many of these caves have become connected by great tunnels constructed as part of mining projects or as part of engineering projects by southern and northern Razil attempting to connect the two halves of the Liruzona Underground, allowing their inhabitants to interact other than via surface connections (many of which have not been used in a long time), which has led to a lot of cultural clashes. Of course, while mining makes up a large part of all Razili economies, it is particularly emphasized in Sharila-fi culture, with mines often doubling as other useful structures, partly due to the low amount of free space in the area also leading to very compact living.

Shinarazi Region

The middle Underground follows the general pattern of Ebott's Underground, which used to even be home to a small Razila community. Large (but not too large) caverns, housing distinct environments. However, not as distinct as in Ebott itself, which has been amplified by the effect of the barrier. There has been consistent tension between the surface nations related to Liruzon and the underground communities (the Shinarazi) beneath. This can be chalked up to disputes over resources and to cultural differences (the Shinarazi tend to have a strong sense of hierarchy, prestige, and social standing based on previous actions, a concept which is completely foreign to Rahazun, and even to Myalvi, which insists on a shallow form of equality) This is also the region of the Underground other than the Vana with the largest percentage of yaref population, even ignoring the remnant population of Yarzon-Lundroz trapped within Ebott for a time. The middle Underground also contains the Ebott volcanic complex, a hot area with lava and a very strong ambient power which overrides standard reality at some parts, known as the Static or once you go deeper into it, Yardyune, a site used by the ancient Vanki people for various purposes.

Kalivri Region

And in the far north, we reach Val-i-Kalivri. The Kalivri people heavily take after Vanki culture due to historical Lucorshian occupation of the region (hence the very Vanki-patterned name), and influence from previous Vanki populations which were forced out of the surface region by Ezeva nations (there are even a large number of donno in the underground area), and are the group with the strongest contact with the surface world except the Thariel group which even then maintains a good sense of independent cultural identity.

Vandrazli Region

In eastern Ulrike, from Lestn eastward, underneath the highlands are a network of wide, large tunnels which often open to the surface causing large sinkholes and the extreme topographical nature of Vana and its western parts. And of course, the upper part of the underground becomes rather overtaken by the Vana as it is the brightest part of the Underground. The culture here is actually an extension of the culture of Lucorshi and other western donna cultures into the subterranean Vana, though there are many members of the Yahiraban/Razil ethnicities here.

Yahiraban Region

In the far east, in the depths of the caves below Vana's reach, live the Yahiraban, who will not be covered as strongly here but are a human race who have induced a somewhat yaref-like physiology in their own kind, influenced by the well-known yahiric Vana phenomenon leading to many of its environmental extremes such as the Kavento region.

From AN UNDER'S TALE?

920, Ri-Ebott

Intro

There's this myth going around that all the kids who disappeared up Mt. Ebott just didn't know what they were doing and stumbled upon the cave. That could not be further from the truth - at least for me. While my descent wasn't exactly as... controlled as I had planned (I had brought the equipment to climb down with a rope, and ended up tripping and falling instead), I at least knew what I was doing. Knew that there were yarov there, knew their history, knew the war, even had some theories as to why it happened in the first place. 

My reason for climbing Ebott was also not that of curiosity (what drove several of the other humans here). It was determination. Determination to save the yarov of Ebott in some way or another, since neither Ri-Ebott nor Rahazun otherwise would. After all, six humans already disappeared here after the sighting of an unsef in Ri-Ebott, and the barrier keeping the yarov all trapped there took seven SOULs' power to create.

I had finished primary school a couple quarters early, and chose the 50th anniversary of the original date of Khara's disappearance as the date for my mission. Objective: free Ebott.

Flowerbed

The landing in the Underground was, as I had said, not a very clean one. I think I was out for a little bit. Luckily, the golden flowers I fell onto broke my fall and prevented me from getting hurt too bad. Those are the same flowers from the village, and those got brought over by Myalvi colonizers - how did they get here? Anyway, after leaving the cave I woke up in, I entered an area where a talking flower - Bejburi - greeted me... and tried to trick me! I got hit by these glowing orbs of light that he called 'friendliness pellets'. At the same time, I heard a voice claiming to be 'Magzi', the new identity of Khara after their disappearance. Magzi claimed that I had helped them realize their purpose, even though I hadn't even done anything except get tricked by a flower. I've always experienced things like strange voices and detachment (Ira-Labri says that my urbax isn't really attuned to the world as a 'reality'), but this time was weird, especially given how... weirdly intrusive Magzi seemed? As if there was a past life where we had destroyed the world or something.

Ruins

Someone named Onider intervened before the flower killed me, and immediately insisted on taking me in as her child. She took me through the "Ruins", the old capital of Yarzon-Ebott, where I met some interesting yarov who told me about using mercy. I got into some fights, but the way the yarov acted sorta seemed like they weren't really intending to hurt me. I had honestly not really even considered violence as an option, though looking back I can understand why one would, especially after hearing about Paiklo from Waishan. 

Anyway, Onider had to do some stuff after a while, so I made my way over to her home myself. She let me stay for a bit, but I had a mission to accomplish, and she was making that a lot harder than it needed to be. She insisted I stay with her, and she only let me pass after I proved that I was capable of surviving her fire attacks. I learned that 'Ruaeli' would be actively trying to kill me, unlike the other yarov I had encountered who basically ended up attacking me on accident. So, wary of Ruaeli, I continued outside of the Ruins. 

Snowdin

Oh, and one more thing. I could "SAVE" while down there and shortly after leaving, like a video game. At least I didn't have to worry about dying while down here. And it also seems that Onider didn't know about this, otherwise they wouldn't worry about Ruaeli. Someone who did seem to know about this, however, was the next person I met - Arfia, who was a skeleton who lived in the forest. He said his brother Kobzo wanted to capture a human in order to join the Royal Guard in order to have someone be his friend. In the end, we skipped straight to being friends. In other words, Kobzo showed off their fun puzzles and contraptions, I got slobbered on by a dog, Kobzo showed me their "GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR" (which they built over a rock that they painted to look like a bridge), I spent some time in a nice cozy town which was obsessed with Arvendanula (probably for the better), and I went on a date with Kobzo (????).
Anyway, Kobzo is a really cool dude. I still talk to him a lot. I saw Arfia a couple more times throughout my time in the Underground, most notably just after this when we had lunch at a restaurant called Grillby's and Arfia revealed that Bejburi - that flower - was manipulating Kobzo! 

And one more thing, I learned that this town's Arvent was "Mr. Brujgal", the king of Ebott, who was a rather kindhearted person and would likely just let me leave. But not only did I have more stuff to do, I had to learn what the hell my part even was in all of this.

Waterfall

Going past Snowdin Town, I entered "Waterfall", where I met up with a kid who was obsessed with "Odai", the hero of Ebott and the captain of the Royal Guard. The Royal Guard, for context, is what that dog from earlier was supposedly a member of.

Odai - that is, Londin Odai (as I would later meet a certain 'Ger Odai') - herself couldn't be more different. She started off as this menacing presence, but after she was done trying to kill me, I actually ended up getting to know her as a friend quite well. She's wound up confusing Hesanic fictional media for real-world history. Easy mistake to make, I've done it a lot, since they never seem to specify.

However, Odai also revealed to me that Ruaeli WAS Mr. Brujgal. It was Mr. Ruaeli Brujgal. In retrospect, of course. Of course there would be people with complex motivations.

Hotland

Next, in "Hotland", I would meet Dr. Alfizo, the nerdy 'Royal Scientist' who had a robot ghost TV star friend named Merabor who kept trying to kill me - until he revealed that it was an act for a TV show and then ACTUALLY tried to kill me in order to bring his fame to the surface world, since he needed a human SOUL to cross the barrier. We managed to get the ratings high enough that Vinibor, his cousin who I had met earlier, called him, and all his other fans convinced him to stay and to let me through the "CORE" - the power source for Ebott as a whole - to "New Home", the capital. I also learned that a human couldn't actually exit the barrier on their own, unlike what I had thought. Only a being with the combined power of a human and yaref SOUL could.

The End

In New Home, the yarov told me a story about what actually happened to Magzi and "Ondeli", the prince. Ondeli-Magzi  was the unsef who showed up at our village 50 years prior, and Magzi  simply died due to sickness. The choice of Ri-Ebott to assume the worst... was what led to Ruaeli's stance on killing humans to begin with.

So I met Ruaeli. Of course, he had collected 6 human SOULs so far, and needed my 7th in order to break the barrier and declare war on humanity. This was what all the talk about mercy was about - Ruaeli didn't accept it. He wouldn't proceed until I attacked. Did he... want to die? I of course didn't want that either, so when he finally was willing to accept my mercy, I of course spared him.

But that damn flower didn't. Bejburi killed Ruaeli, took the SOULs he had collected, and transformed into a horrifying monstrosity that would make standard unsov look like cute muffins in comparison. This thing dragged me across the barrier and took over my ability to SAVE , absolutely destroying me several times over and over until I was finally able to call to the SOULs for help. Ultimately, me and the SOULs brought it down and I got my SAVE back, but at that point I felt kind of... unfulfilled. I had finished my time in the Underground, but I hadn't actually done anything to help the yarov in the meantime. Their king was gone, and I received a call a couple days later from Arfia about what had happened.

But I wanted to actually do something different, and I realized that I could just... go back and do that.

The End, Again

So I went back to my SAVE, from right before the fight with Ruaeli. And I went back to talk to Dr. Alfizo, who I had known had been looking into alternate ways of breaking the barrier. But then I got a weird call. Kobzo had told Odai to deliver a letter to Alfizo, but Odai couldn't stand the heat of Hotland, so she had me deliver it. 

And then one thing led to another, and I ended up going on a date with Alfizo (that's the second time!), which Kobzo and Odai got involved in, and then Kobzo told me to go to Alfizo's lab.

From there, I descended into the "True Lab", the basement where Alfizo kept the 'amalgamates', these yarov which Alfizo had experimented on regarding "DETERMINATION". As an unfortunate side-effect, they ended up melted together, and at that point I suddenly understood why Alfizo always seemed like she felt guilty about something. I also learned that Magzi's death was actually part of their own plan to free yarov (and maybe possibly also kill everyone in Ri-Ebott). Also, Alfizo was responsible for creating Bejburi. After restoring power, I went back up out of the Lab, but the elevator went to New Home and ended up blocked with vines. I got a call from... Ondeli, seemingly.

After reaching Ruaeli, Onider actually interrupted the fight. Onider was the original queen of the Underground, and left Ruaeli after Ondeli-Magzi's death. Ruaeli seemed happy that Onider came back, only for Onider to tell him off about the "killing humans" thing. Anyway, everyone else came here, but as it turns out, Kobzo had been told to bring everyone here...

by Bejburi.

Ondeli

Bejburi took not only the six human SOULs, but all the SOULs of yarov in the Underground as well! And then Bejburi became... Ondeli. It turns out that Bejburi was Ondeli the whole time, and was so desperate for "Magzi" to stay with him that he actually attacked me. I guess he saw Magzi in me or something and his mentality as a soulless flower kicked in. 

The fight felt like when I would playfight with my friends at school and we would pretend to have overpowered abilities, but actually real. It was kinda fun. I couldn't access my SAVE, but I ended up being able to "save" Ruaeli, Onider, Arfia, Kobzo, Odai, Alfizo, and ultimately, with Magzi's help, Ondeli himself, who used his power to destroy the barrier and free the yarov of Ebott. 

The Surface

I've decided to float between living with my established family and living with Onider, and I have also chosen to be Yarzon-Ebott's ambassador. Working stuff out with Rahazun has been going well - we've gotten a county established for Yarzon-Ebott, but Ruaeli didn't want to rule, so we've joined forces with the royalty of Yarzon-Ezvelan (which the people of Ebott actually called "Northernlight", completely differently to the surface convention). Additionally, Magzi has been exhibiting a significantly increased degree of control over my body (full-on dual identity levels) since I left the Underground, and has been dropping various hints about 'consequences' and the world being destroyed or something. They even (through my body, of course) crossed out the faces on a picture me and my friends took. I'm not sure what all of this means, but it sure is ominous.

Conclusion

I learned about a prophecy while in the Underground, one saying that an 'angel' who had seen the surface would return to free the yarov of Ebott. People have been saying it's Ondeli-Magzi, or that it's me for the SAVE thing, or even Magzi alone (for some reason?). But I think it really doesn't matter who this angel was. According to Okhelai's notebook, it could have been anyone. What matters is that this was the right thing to do. Not only is the world better with the yarov freed, I made a lot of new friends as well, and I made my mark on the world. And of course, always remember to stay determined!

 

- Ana-hin

From The Cycle of Creation

915, Anshi

The Vanki believed that the world originated only shortly before their traditional history began, in 1321 BF. More generally, they believed in a cycle of the world being destroyed and a new world emerging, with elements carrying over from the previous. So in that regard, 1321 BF was not the beginning of their mythological history, but just of the current cycle. (In fact, in many places, the Vanki calendar counting years since 1321 BF was used before the standardization of SR starting in Siegetev's reign.) In fact, the previous cycle is used as the explanation for a lot of aspects of the world. Most notably, yarov. It is said that in the previous world, yarov were the primary inhabitants of the world, with humans or other more physical races being rare and rather occasional, and that the current cycle's yarov are a combination of the appearance of that world's yarov with a dreamlike essence. The previous cycle ended in an apocalyptic event that caused dreams to overtake reality. The predecessor of the "Delta Rune", the emblem of yarov in Iltezon and especially of Ebott, is known to predate written history as a Vanki emblem, and it is thought to be a symbol of the previous cycle as a whole.

Other details of the previous cycle that were believed in by the Vanki included the existence of different kinds of powers usable in different parts of the world, and a powerful kingdom called Cyri whose inhabitants are in modern interpretations of the previous world linked to various deities.

The world of "Delta Rune" was picked up as a secondary world by Hesanic creatives and authors, elaborated upon as a version of the real world with parts rearranged and new dynamics in play. Additionally, the world became heavily interlinked with the Ilgiric context. 914 saw one of the major contributions to this secondary world, elaborating on some of the major figures within it. However, Vanki cultures have refused to accept this version of that world, preferring instead to continue with their own reconstructions, which have diverged somewhat from the Hesanic take.

It is supposed that the current cycle will end when a single individual gathers enough power to erase the world. This particular philosophy ended up acquired by Magzi, which serves as a partial explanation for some of their strange supposed experiences. The next world that originates from the destruction of the current one will contain many of the same aspects, but contextualized differently.

Along with focusing in detail on the previous world, one can instead look at the large-scale "meta-history" of the worlds, and see that (albeit with the small amount of detail reconstructed about this) although a couple things stay very persistent, any given world in the succession is essentially unrecognizable to that before it.

In modern times, due to findings indicating an existent chronology prior to 1321 BF, the original Vanki cycle context has commonly been ignored, otherwise reconciled by incorporating aspects of previous cycles into reconstructed continuous histories, or continued to be adapted into Hesanic fiction.

From Summary: Ezeva Creation and Metaphysics

854, Ester

In the beginning, there was Ektir: the world itself, undifferentiated. Nondescript yet encompassing everything. It was Ektir alone and nothing else. But for there to be any meaning in the world, something else must have come to exist; Ektir could not be compared to itself if there was indeed anyone to do the comparing. To consider Ektir a person would be to imply there was something other than Ektir that was an inanimate object. To consider Ektir red would be to imply there was something other than Ektir that was green or blue. To consider Ektir powerful would be to imply something else that was powerless. But there, by nature, wasn't. Ektir simply was. 

And Ektir split into two beings - two fundamental essences of the world, giving it meaning, as now they could be compared. They were an opposing pair - what else could they be? Mind and matter. Dreams and reality. Animacy and inanimacy. Spirit and body. In the Ilgiric interpretation, light and dark too originated from this fundamental distinction, hence why at night we sleep and dream, yet at day we wake and engage in reality.

But these were not yet "gods" in the conventional sense, as they were not agentive beings - rather, they defined the very thing it meant to be an agentive being, and thus anything else was: Instead, from there, further distinctions arose. The material world split into earth and sky; their spiritual counterparts followed suit. Earth became land and sea. Sky gave the air and the heavens. 

And the interactions between their spirits - the first "gods" - would give rise to phenomena which could then in parallel become their own gods. 

For example, as Nuven, the Air, and Chuya, the Sea, interacted, they saw the clouds take form, then rain, and then thunder. Nuven and Chuya wished both to separate these essences out into their own beings. The eventual result was Kaemar, the clouds and rain, who would facilitate the exchange of water between Sea and Air, and who later allowed Yurei to become her own being and then many (albeit retaining herself in the spiritual for the purpose of continued interaction with Kaemar), the Rivers guiding water from Earth back to Sea. Most known are the Nine Naiads, the gods of the nine great rivers of Ester: Lielber, Lesikha, Addeon, Aryami, Rikram, Elserik, Nemazo, Nashan, and Harliko. And from thunder came Valther, who would later acquire the identity of a deity of rage and warfare.

The Earth brought forth life, and life diversified rapidly. The origin of the consciousness of humans is directly attributed to the dedication of the essence of Maurat to embodiment in a non-godly form, allowing yet another distinction to be made. Maurat lives in all of humanity, and represents the collective will of humans as a species. Yarov are as well derivative of Maurat, but exist independently of any pre-existing available physical manifestations (and thus they form their own). 

But such a distinction resulted in the emergence of the immaterial part of any individual human. Due to the nature of the Mauratic essence available, when a human died and its SOUL eventually decayed, the essence of the human would be taken to the realm of dreams, where Kainosa governed the human's life after death, and Haidomanz prepared it for rebirth into a new body. At the same time, a human body's inhabitant spirit would imprint on the body itself, leading to other observed phenomena. And this was why the Panavic practice of SOUL absorption was looked down upon.

The day and night came as the heavens brought the moon Merdu, the sun Sinyo, and the stars Ramazir. And in general, the story of the world's creation is marked by the establishment of these fundamental concepts from which the modern world and the gods that take form from it derive.

The essential point being made is that the identities of gods are not static. They have evolved and changed over time, and they often incorporate other domains into themselves or otherwise reorganize and split as a result of their interactions and observations of the world. For example, Ramazir eventually merged with a god of navigation, Zairami, to form the modern Ramazir, and Kainosa and Haidomanz formed from the divergence of Ky-Helan. 

Of course, the gods also have had various encounters with one another and interact with each other as people. Ramazir's merger with Zairami was motivated this way, as were several other perhaps unintuitive associations or distinctions. In this way, people and gods can be compared, but it is a mistake to say that the gods are as anthropomorphic as in Pavrona culture. For example, Kainosa and Haidomanz are like twin siblings.

The set of twelve deities considered supreme by the Ezov are the modern embodiments of what they consider to be the most fundamental aspects of the world and have the strongest roles in their own culture.

- Walther, the god of thunder and warfare, who is associated with the "berserker" warriors of Ezeva cultures, and by extension other altered mental states. Panavis is strongly associated with Walther as well.

- Kainosa, the god of death, related to remembrance and legacy, and the effects of time. Kainosa shows their face directly in dreams.

- Haidomanz, the god of renewal and rebirth, sibling of Kainosa. Haidomanz prefers to interact in signs in the waking world.

- Falaerin, the god who serves to mediate between the primary deities and the people of Ezvelan.

- Ramazir, the god of knowledge, navigation, silver, and the night sky.

- Yaseo, the god of ice, the cold, the mountains, and the windy heights.

- Andzej, the god of the sun, gold, and fire, having acquired Sinyo in recent history.

- Serzo, the god of the ocean depths, the bay, and ocean storms and winds.

- Kristin, the god of togetherness, community, and the home. Arvent and Meren were originally part of an identity which also contributed to modern Kristin.

- Dani, the god of art, in the sense represented by music and poetry, who also acquired the identity of a playful trickster deity ("Vuto"), hence the more common name Dani-Vuto.

- Marzo, the god of the forests, crops and harvest.

- Heljun, the god of the moon and copper (by most accounts formed from the merger of Merdu with another deity), whose domain also relates to craftsmanship and innovation.

Inconsistencies in the exact nature of the metaphysics (largely, exactly how anthropomorphic the gods are and how they relate to, define, or are defined by their domains) are, to the disappointment or perhaps intrigue of Hesanic scholars looking to build a framework, often present; that is simply how Ezeva myths tend to go. Similarly, there are various conflicting accounts of the relation of the modern major deities to those of the world's creation.

And also, Errai is the lingering essence of Ektir, which wishes to erase the distinctions between things in the world that give it its nature, returning it to a nondescript nothingness. Errai is significant in that Errai's name was used to denounce the colonial practices of Myalvi after several raids on Ezeva settlements, but those of Myalvi misunderstood the accusation and started associating with "Errai" themselves.

In conclusion, the conflation and evolution of gods as mythological concepts is near universal in cultural contexts that include gods, but Ezvelan uniquely bakes this phenomenon into its own metaphysics, perhaps due to the short lifespan of ezov (on the scale of 45 years) hastening cultural development, or perhaps by complete coincidence.

Other notes: in general, the domains tend to follow Ezeva cultural or historical associations. The copper age was recent enough that its beginning is well within written history, hence Heljun. The ezov navigated by the stars to cross the great bay, hence Ramazir. The cold is a major environmental risk even for the rather hardy ezov, hence Kristin (and hence Arvent's festival in the winter). And the sun's golden light is associated with the metal gold, hence Andzej. 

From Fun Factz: The Solar System

915, Rahazun

[Non-diegetic note: The format of this entry is heavily based on the Usborne book "The Solar System". As such, it is not under the license that the rest of the work follows.]

Introduction

Yona is a planet. It's a massive ball of rock floating in space. Yona and four other major planets travel around the Sun, along with several minor planets. The Sun, together with everything traveling around it, are called the Solar System.

This is what Yona looks like from space.

[A planet with blue oceans, bluish-green and reddish landmasses, and large white ice caps.]

The Solar System

The planets in the Solar System move around the Sun on circular paths called "orbits". Orbits are like the curved path that a ball takes through the air when you throw it. If you threw a ball fast enough, it would orbit in a circle around Yona.

There are two kinds of planets: major planets (which orbit the Sun and were known to ancient astronomers) and minor planets (the Moon, along with the planets which were discovered more recently). As well, there are pieces of rock called asteroids orbiting the Sun.

The planets are shown close together so you can see them. Actually, they are extremely far apart.

How it started

The Solar System formed 3 billion years ago. It started as a spinning cloud of gas and dust in space.

- A force called gravity (the same one pulling you to the ground) pulled the gas and dust together.

- The gas in the center of the cloud got so close together that it began to heat up, becoming a very hot ball of gas. This became the Sun.

- Over millions of years, the gas and dust orbited the Sun, and joined together to make the planets.

The Sun

The Sun is a massive ball of very hot stuff called plasma. It is the source of light and heat for all the planets.

The Sun looks big compared to other stars because it is much closer to Yona. This is what it looks like close up.

[A bluish white star.]

The Sun is a very old star. That means that it's actually smaller than a lot of other stars that are about as hot.

Large explosions on the Sun are called solar flares. If one of them hits Yona, it could make electrical devices stop working.

The Sun doesn't have a surface. Instead, what we see is the part where light can't pass through it because there is too much gas.

Never look straight at the Sun! Its light is so bright it could damage your eyes.

Moving planets

Each planet takes a different amount of time to orbit the Sun. Yona takes about 301 days to go all the way around; this is one year.

As each planet travels around the Sun, it also spins around, causing different parts to have day or night. The half of Yona that is facing the Sun has daytime because the Sun's light is shining on it. The half of Yona that is facing away from the Sun has nighttime, because the Sun's light cannot reach it.

Zia

Zia is the planet closest to the Sun.

It has the most metal in it of any planet, and is also the smallest. This was due to another small planet crashing into it and knocking off the outer parts, leaving only the metal core in the center.

Zia's rocky surface has many large holes called craters. They were made when rocks from space crashed into the planet.

Zia is known as "Haida", the Morning Star or Evening Star, because it can be seen just before the Sun rises, or just after it sets.

This photo shows dark patches on Zia's surface called "seas". They don't have any water in them, but they were made when ancient volcanoes erupted while the planet was still forming.

[A gray, cratered planet with large dark patches on its surface.]

Yona

Yona is made of rock, has water on its surface, and is surrounded by air. It is the only planet where organic life (like humans) is known to exist.

Yona has the right amount of air, water, and heat for organic life to exist.

The atmosphere, a layer of gas surrounding Yona, gives animals air to breathe.

The Sun provides light for plants to grow, and animals eat plants.

More than half of Yona is covered in oceans of water, which plants and animals need to live.

[The landscape of the Vana forest, showing tall, twisting trees and deep canyons with rivers flowing through them.]

The Moon

The Moon is a big ball of rock that goes around Yona. It is a minor planet, and it is the brightest thing in the night sky.

[A reddish cratered planet.]

As the Moon moves, the Sun lights up different parts of the surface.

When the side facing Yona is lit up by the Sun, the Moon appears as a bright reddish circle.

When the side facing Yona isn't lit up by the Sun, the Moon appears dark.

Sometimes, the Moon moves in front of the Sun and blocks out its light. This is called a solar eclipse, and it looks like nighttime.

[The Sun's light blocked out by the Moon, which is about twice as large in the sky.]

The first people to land on the moon were a crew of yarov in 823. Soon after, a base was set up there for yarov to live in. The first humans landed there in 872.

Falari

Falari is a cold, rocky planet and the third major planet from the Sun. It is almost as big as Yona, and has rings made of small rocks and dust circling it.

Falari used to have a small asteroid orbiting it.

Gradually, the asteroid got closer and closer to the planet.

The asteroid eventually got ripped apart by Falari's gravity, turning into a bunch of dust.

The dust flattened into the shape of a ring.

[A picture of Falari, a rocky planet with a small ring system orbiting it.]

Yaseo

Yaseo is the biggest planet in the Solar System, which is made mostly of gases, with a rocky core at the very center. It is the fourth major planet from the Sun. It has several minor planets, called "moons", orbiting it, and hundreds of asteroids. All the minor planets are made of rock and ice. Yaseo also has rings, like Falari does.

Yaseo has many different cloud systems and storms. 

This photo shows the different stripes and bands on Yaseo. The black line is the shadow cast by Yaseo's rings. The dark spot is the shadow cast by one of Yaseo's moons.

[A banded gas giant planet, in false color to exaggerate the stripes.]

Andrae

Andrae is the farthest major planet from the Sun. It has a distinct blue color caused by the gases that make it up. 

It is very cold and stormy.

It isn't that bright on its own, but it has very large, bright rings which we can see from Yona, which is how ancient astronomers were able to see it. 

[A blue ice giant planet, with very large and bright rings]

Minor planets

Along with the major planets, there are numerous minor planets besides the Moon.

Some of them are the moons of Yaseo. The largest moon of Yaseo, Vazlek, is also the largest minor planet, slightly larger than Yona's Moon and much larger than Zia. It's large enough to have its own atmosphere. One moon of Yaseo named Yoko has a shell of ice surrounding an ocean of water on the inside.

Andrae also has a moon, named Erkei, which orbits beyond its rings.

There are also several minor planets orbiting the Sun. These planets aren't big enough to be considered major planets, and orbit in belts around the Sun. The largest, Yalura, is a ball of ice orbiting beyond the orbit of Andrae, and only slightly smaller than Zia.

Figuring this out

Scientists find out about outer space by looking through huge telescopes that allow them to see things that are very far away. A telescope is a tool that makes distant objects look bigger.

By taking pictures through the telescopes, scientists can gather data about the planets and the Sun. Some telescopes have special cameras that can see useful things about planets, such as what they're made of.

Then, scientists come up with theories and models to explain what they see. This book explains some of the most up-to-date models. 

In some cases, yarov have gone to space to learn more about it, such as to a space station (a special research building in orbit around Yona) or a base on the Moon or Falari. Unlike humans, yarov don't need air to breathe, so they can live in space.

[The space station, orbiting Yona.]

[A base on the Moon.]

Guides

DISCLAIMER: This is not an in-universe source; this content is not diegetic unless explicitly specified otherwise.

Undersided Wiki

Undersided Glossary

Character Name Guide

Undersided uses some replacement names for many Undertale characters.

Sans - Arfia
Papyrus - Kobzo
Alphys - Alfi Alfizo
Undyne - Londin Odai Dalevzo
Toriel - Onider
Asgore - Ruaeli Brujgal
Gerson - Ger Odai Gerzo Unzvel
Napstablook - Vinibor Lugi
Mettaton - Merabor Lugi
Frisk - Ana-hin Kaizo
Chara - Khara/Magzi Brujgal

Welcome to Undersided!

"Undersided" is a project by Vector Graphics detailing the world of ʏᴏɴᴀ. The project is an expansion of the setting of Undertale by Toby Fox, and from the perspective of that community it can be seen as an AU. The official media for Undersided largely consists of excerpts from in-universe documents. It's a good idea to start by reading the Torn Notebook!

The site has recently received a major rework! Please click on the links to the left to read the story, or click on the section headings to be taken to "hub" pages.

Additionally, check the NEWS to see if there are new entries!

(Note: entry numbers are out of order due to corresponding to AO3 chapters and the chronological order of addition to the website.)

Conventions

The documents here are translated from the original language they are written in (often modern Rahazuna or Nideri) into English. To do this faithfully, several conventions have had to be chosen.

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