The Blood Cult/World
Toponymy of the Continents
As an introduction to the location and significance of places, it is best to work with what is most readily available: names. Most people shrug these off as being of no interest. "What's in a name?", they ask without realizing that things, people, and places are not named randomly. Deeper study can often reveal very interesting facts, indeed, by simply studying the origins of names. Let's start by listing the names of the most commonly accepted continents and landmasses:
- East Continent
- Atamara
- South-East Island
- Beluaterra (formerly known as the "New World")
- South-West Island
- Colonies
- Far East
- Dwilight (formerly known as the "West Continent")
With but a superficial glance, many elements appear very interesting. For example, why the distinction between "continent" and "island", in the names of those who have it, and what of those who don't? Why do some continents, such as Atamara and Dwilight, have a proper noun while others are named according to their geographical location or use, such as the Far East and the Colonies? Why was Beluaterra the only world to have been called "New World", and not the other new "worlds" that were discovered later? When and why was this name changed? And finally, but none the least, why is the oldest continent known to modern civilizations called "East Continent", why did it not earn its own name and, more specifically, what is it east of?
More research remains to be done, but it is believed that when compared to the other geographical elements of the continents we shall know more.
Disposition and Colonization of the Continents
Why are there no commonly available maps detailing the world as a whole? Those who specialize in cartography have managed to created relatively elaborated documents on the continents that are inhabited, as human colonization takes place. "East Continent", "South-East Island"... East of what, exactly? The Colonies? Having the colonies as a point of origin makes little sense if the name it was attributed means it was the destination of an expansion. The only other habited continent of the time is Atamara, though popular belief states it to be younger than the East Continent. There is only one explanation for this phenomenon: the ancient tribes, which pre-date any of the kingdoms and empires, came from the West (perhaps Atamara, though some evidence hints much farther west) with the notion that they were expanding eastwards. When the nations finally started growing and thriving, they kept this tradition of their ancestors of calling their lands an "eastern" one, without truly knowing why.
From this original cluster of islands that served as the cradle of modern civilization, you could find the Far East, well, in the Far East, and going westwards you would then discover Beluaterra and ultimately Dwilight. Somewhere in between Dwilight and Atamara, you would find the South-West Island in the South. Are there more massive islands east of the Far East or west of Dwilight? Perhaps, though it is hard to tell. The waters off the Far East are extremely dangerous and navigation attempts of it has been abandoned, explaining why our civilizations have yet to discover a new continent off of these shores. As for the western horizons, one cannot say, since the western stretches of Dwilight are barely colonized still.
What of the North, though? Though northern continents exist in rumours, the giant masses of ice that populate these seas make them extremely perilous. Their great numbers also suggests that whatever is up there is likely to be like the northern tundras of Atamara and Beluaterra, and so very few have deemed it worth the risk of navigating through these dangerous waters only to discover, at best, a small patch of frozen dirt or a simply larger mass of ice. However, there is rumours of numerous bodies of land up there, and also across the seas. Though they will have their own section, it is pertinent to mention the existence of the "Monster Island". This continent would be estimated at about the size of the southern islands, though perhaps a little larger or smaller, and would be of an unknown shape. However, it would be directly North of Beluaterra, rumoured to be a few days trip from its North-Eastern shores.
