About The Planet Vadu
Dispatch #1: A Brief Introduction To A Wonderous Planet
Greetings!
Welcome to The Known World, where I post about the characters, places, and things pertaining to the world setting of the same name, which will eventually be featured in a future book to be titled The Other Side of the Sun.
TL;DR: This is a brief introduction to the planet Vadu overall, and how the landmasses referred to as the Known World fit into it.
Reading Time: ~ 11 Minutes
Prologue
This article is based on a much longer post I first published on 23 December 2022. It is specifically the 1st section of that post, which discussed the planet known as Vadu, that wonderous blue and green orb on which the Known World dwells.
Some parts of the original article have been retained intact, while other parts have been substantially revised and/or extended.
So as not to unduly exhaust you, the Patient Reader, I decided it was best to split that original post into 3 sections to make it easier to read, particularly for those reading it in newsletter form. The 2nd and 3rd rewritten sections can be read here:
Let’s begin here with part one…
There Was Once A Planet Named Vadu
The world setting where The Other Side Of the Sun takes place is rather Earthlike, but it is not on Earth. It is on another planet that goes by the name Vadu.
Etymology
The official name of the planet is Vadu. It is a name that comes from a word used by the Manikins, an indigenous species of sapient metahumans found living on one of its continents, namely Glosa.
Among the Manikins themselves, the name Vadu actually refers to the entire universe, not just the planet. But to be frank about it, Vadu is sa much better name than what the humans previously used.
Astronomers on Earth first discovered the planet Vadu on 14 February 1990 AD/CE, while indulging in a bit of astrophotography using a space probe named Voyager 1. Taken aback by this unexpected discovery of a planet that had been there all along, they first named this newfound celestial body Antichthon.
However, it was soon decided that Antichthon, to use the technical term, really sucked, because although it looked fancy it was in fact more than a bit unpronounceable. Even the brainiest, most multilingual variety of scholars found themselves tongue-tied when using that name during presentations.
How bad did it suck? The name sucked so bad that when it was later presented to the various indigenous metahumans living on Vadu, it was found that none of them liked the name Antichthon much either - least of all the Dwurfolk, who believed their own word for the planet, Tal, was much simpler to use and actually sounded better… which is saying something, since the languages of the Dwurin sounds harsher than the languages of the Manikins.
Anyways… When the Earth-based astronomers took more pictures of Vadu and discovered it possessed a very Earthlike temperament, they began simply calling it Counter-Earth. That moniker stuck, and all further attempts to give it a snappier name like Nimo and Tellus II were quashed.
When the First Settlers - that is, the first wave of Earthborn human colonizers - finally arrived during the early 21st century AD/CE and made initial contact with the indigenous Manikinfolk, they readily adopted the word Vadu as the planet’s official name.
The Dwurfolk, however, being a stubborn species that didn’t always like the Manikins, still preferred calling the planet Tal.
Moving on…
General Physical Characteristics of Vadu
Vadu is slightly larger than Earth. It has a circumference of 25,088.40 miles / 40,375.90 km, and a diameter of 7964.44 miles / 12,817.5237 km. One geographic mile (that is, 1 minute of arc along the equator) on Vadu is 1.1615 miles / 1.8693 km.
This compares to Earth, which measures 24,901.461 miles / 40,075.017 km in circumference, has a diameter of 7918 miles / 12,742 km, and an equatorial geographic mile measuring 1.1528 miles / 1.8553 km.
Notable Landmasses
Only two of the 3 major landforms on Vadu have been continuously inhabited by terrestrial metahuman beings. They are:
The Avalon Islands, also called Avalonia, which is not so much a continent as it is a large archipelago; and
A pair of continental landmasses surrounded by many islands, the sum of which are collectively referred to as La Konatamondo, or The Known World.
These two landform areas have broadly similar terrain to what would be found on Earth. Because they both receive healthy amounts of rainfall year round, both places tend to have fewer desert regions than might otherwise be expected in temperate regions, although such areas do exist. Most of their terrain is dominated by forests, plains and Alpine-like mountain ranges interspersed with lush valleys.
About Landform #3 - The Other World (La Aliamondo)
There is a 3rd landmass worth mentioning here, albeit briefly: The Other World, or La Aliamondo.
The Other World is a continent that is completely unknown to all but a handful of learned or exceptionally widely-traveled Known Worlders, but at least somewhat familiar to those living in Avalonia. It was void of metahuman life until humans began to build settlements there shortly after they came to Vadu. This was perhaps for good reason, because Other World is a vast, scarcely inhabitable hellscape of noxious vulcanism and terrible, bloodthirsty beasts - at least if one is to believe the cock-and-bull type stories told in pubs from Nargoxa to Delat to Avalon City by those who claim to have gone there.
Regardless, the continent is extremely rich in a wide variety of minerals, including quite an abundance of rare-earth ores. So it was perhaps inevitable that someone would eventually set about exploiting the Other World for the lucrative bounty lying underfoot.
Using labor imported from Avalonia, industrial conglomerates energetically exploit the Other World for its mineral wealth, tirelessly strip mining, extracting and processing its ores with tremendous enthusiasm. The purified output is shipped to Avalonia, where it feeds the ongoing manufacture and consumption of a variety of goods there.
Those who have visited the Other World for any amount of time tend to agree that it is a rather unpleasant, malodorous place, and one of the reasons why most folks are unwilling to work there for more than nine months out of a given year.
The Oceans of Vadu
Roughly 90% of Vadu is underwater, as compared to Earth, where water covers only 71% of its surface.
Three large oceans are found on Vadu, namely:
The Great Western Ocean (La Grandaŵesta Oceano), which reaches west from the Known World for about 1050 miles / 1690 km to Avalonia. In the minds of more than a few Avalonian geographers, the Great Western Ocean is not all that great and also located east of them; they sometimes refer to this body of water as simply the Third Ocean.
The Great Middle Ocean (La Grandamedia Oceano), a vast body of water stretching for nearly 12,500 miles / 20117 km between Avalonia and the Other World - a truly vast body of water that is rich with sea creatures great and small.
The Great Eastern Ocean (La Grandaorienta Oceano), which spans about 3500 miles / 5633 km westward from the Other World back to the Known World again - an ocean containing plentiful fishing opportunities.
The Great Eastern Ocean tends to produce strong storms that occasionally batter the eastern shores of the Known World, because incoming storms have plenty of open water from which to draw their power as they track westward. The Known World’s west coastline also sees rough weather on occasion, but they do not occur with the same frequency or severity.
The eastern coastlines of Avalonia sometimes experience strong gales and the occasional cyclone as well, but they are not as powerful or damaging as those seen in the Known World, perhaps because the Great Western Ocean is smaller and don’t offer incoming storms as much time to develop. Meanwhile, Avalonia’s western margins usually bask in milder, Mediterranean or temperate rainforest like conditions the year round.
However, the Other World’s eastern coastline has it much worse. The Great Middle Ocean is a massive body of water that regularly brings on withering mega-cyclones of such tremendous power that the Other World’s eastern ports must close down during the warmer months, in order to avoid calamity and the loss of shipping.
Outlying Islands
There are a few scattered islands to be found elsewhere around the world, but none of them are very significant in size, and few of them have sufficient resources to independently support much more than the barest existence of primitive metahuman life. Most of these places, referred to collectively as the Outer Islands or the Outlands, are occupied by industrial and/or scientific research outstations, all of which are funded and overseen by the Avalonian government.
Bioluminescence
One very unusual feature of life on Vadu worth mentioning briefly is the degree of bioluminescence found in Vadu’s plant and animal life, and its freshwater areas. At night, especially between midnight and sunrise, one can readily spot luminous lifeforms in the air, land and water. Even fresh, clean water will commonly have a slight, phosphorescent glow about it.
It took the Earthborn folk years to get used to a more bioluminous Vadu, but nowadays humans have become so accustomed to to it they seem to hardly take notice of it. Traces of the phenomenon are occasionally present in some parts of the Avalon Islands, while the Other World, which once displayed plenty of bioluminescence, nowadays is nearly devoid of it due to rampant mining and despoilation.
The Sun and Moons of Vadu
The Sun
First off, there is only one sun visible from Vadu. That’s OK, because the one sun they do have is a very nice, warm, and pleasant sort of sun.
It goes by different local names, including Lasuno, Ra, or Bask, but to be honest it’s not much different from our own sun. Vadu isn’t the only planet circling it, but other planets are not readily visible from Vadu, at least not to the naked eye.
Avalonian astronomers, of course, have a much greater understanding about the sun and local solar system, having accumulated so much knowledge about it through space travel. Nonetheless, sages of the Known World realize that Vadu revolves around the sun and not the other way around, and savant Manikins and Dwurfolk figured this out long before humankind came along to confirm it.
Vadu and Earth share similar, low-eccentric planetary orbits around their sun. Vadu is slightly larger than Earth but rotates at a slightly slower rate while moving through space at roughly the same speed. This gives Vadu roughly the same level of gravity as Earth, although Vaduans can in fact jump slightly higher and farther, and projectiles can be thrown or shot a slightly greater distance there than on Earth. This discovery certainly impressed the First Settlers and other newly arrived Earthborn, but subsequent generations, having no obvious means of comparison, now take this difference for granted.
Vadu completes its revolution around the sun in only 364.10 days per year as compared to Earth’s 365.25 day cycle. Thus, a leap day is added to Vaduan calendars every 10 years, rather than every 4 years as is the case on Earth.
Both planets complete their respective axial rotations in 24 hours.
The Two Moons
There are 2 moons orbiting Vadu. Both moons are tidal locked - which is to say, one side of each moon is always facing Vadu. However, each moon has their own, distinct lunar cycle.
Serena
Serena is a larger, pale white sphere that follows a precise 28 day lunar cycle, turning full 13 times each year. Named for the Duryan demi-goddess of calm and serenity, Serena is about 3/4ths the size of Earth's moon, and rises in the east and sets in the west. Because Serena orbits closer to Vadu than the moon does to Earth, it appears larger in the night sky, and is brighter than the Earth’s moon (Luna). Thus, when Serena appears in its fuller phases, it lights up the nightscape more than Luna does.
Kaprica
Kaprica is a smaller, pale blue-green sphere that follows an exact 91 day cycle, turning full only 4 times each year. Named for the Duryan demi-goddess of caprice and change, Kaprica marks the arrival of each of Vadu's 4 seasons, turning full during each of the four annual festival weeks. Despite the folk beliefs of many in the Known World, Kaprica’s lunar cycle and the turning of the seasons are entirely coincidental, but this coincidence is nonetheless quite helpful to farmers and the like. Kaprica is slightly more than 1/3rd the size of Earth's moon. It rises in the east and sets in the west as well, but takes a more distant orbit above the world compared to Serena. Thus Kaprica appears to be much smaller, although its distinctive coloration still makes it easy to spot on clear to partly cloudy nights.
Lunar Impacts On Tides and Such
The effect of the 2 moons on tides is complex, but in layman's terms the tides on Vadu are not as substantial as they are on Earth. However, its high tides and low tides occur about twice as often - roughly every 6 hours, instead of 12.5 hours as on Earth. Serena probably has a bigger effect on tides than Kaprica, due to Kaprica's smaller size and more distant orbit. But who knows? I’m not an astrophysicist.
One thing is likely, however. Someday, perhaps 100,000+ years in the future, Kaprica is expected to drop out of its orbit and either slam into Serena, crash into the planet Vadu itself, or take off and suddenly acquire asteroid-like characteristics. Astronomers have reached a consensus and agree that such an occurrence will be quite a traumatic event of catastrophic proportions.
Neither moon is inhabitable by metahuman life without the aid of artificial life support.
Epilogue
Our next Dispatch (Dispatch #2) will discuss the two continents and surrounds that comprise the Known World. We’ll also give one more quick look at Avalonia.
Dispatch #3 will discuss the measurement and passage of time within the Known World, as well as the calendars used there.
Future dispatches thereafter will move on to many other matters, among them overviews of the various metahuman species inhabiting the Known World, their languages and writing systems; a reintroduction to the Kingdom of Bryn and the Meldûn Borderlands; and of course a reintroduction of the various characters living there.
As we like to say hereabouts, more will be revealed…
This concludes today’s Dispatch. Thanks for reading!
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Until next time, safe journeys to you and yours!
— B.E. Turpin