Eterra

The Star:
Eterra is a bright blue-green star that often appears in the night sky over Landfall. At times, it is the brightest star in the sky and the first star to appear at night. At other times, it disappears completely. It drifts wildly and is not part of any constellation.

The star Eterra appears in the n'gholunir neffoth, the highest tier of the panamaris, suggesting it is actually a deity more powerful than any other known god. Notably, in the neffoth, Eterra is pictured with a smaller sister star, which has never been seen in the sky over Landfall.

The Creation Myth:
Among the people of Landfall, a common "creation myth" is the story of the "Garden of Eterra." According to the myth, the ancient ancestors of the man-kin inhabited a thickly forested utopian paradise on Eterra. The man-kin, however, committed a grave sin which has since become known as the Cayrian Folly. The Folly somehow despoiled Eterra, and the man-kin were banished forever. Today, the inherently flawed nature of humanity is sometimes called the Folly, in reference to man-kin's ejection from Eterra.

The same creation myth is mirrored in the eld-kin Hearthsong, where the origin world is called Ildsted. According to the myth, the eld left Ildsted to come to Landfall hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years before the Folly forced man-kin to follow.

Doors to the Garden of Eterra:

According to legend there is a secret magical gateway that leads back to Eterra. This is known as the Portal of Morning, in reference to the dawn of man-kin's existence. Only those who are peaceful and pure of heart may pass through the Portal, and, even then, it only leads to the "Garden of Eterra," which is not the same as Eterra itself. In some tellings of the myth, the means for returning to Eterra itself has been lost forever and will never be rediscovered.

The Garden of Eterra is said to exist "outside" the normal flow of time, similar to a fae dell. Some legends involve heroes who supposedly visited to the Garden and then did not return to Landfall for dozens or hundreds of years. Upon their return, the heroes had not aged a single day. In other stories, people have visited the Garden for mere minutes, but returned to Landfall many years older. In still other stories, villainous or selfish people who visited the Garden have never returned. Thus, visiting the Garden of Eterra would be considered a dangerous test of one's own personal worth (if it were possible to do so).

The Cayrien Order, is an ultra-secret monastic order that exists to preserve the history of Eterra. Some say the Order also guards the Portal of Morning.

See also: Eterra and Earth