The world is the interior surface of a hollow prolate spheroid. Gravity is a repulsive effect centering on the Sun, which a sphere at the center of the world. The brightness of the sun pulsates on several scales. The most obvious is the daily scale, wherein it oscillates between maximum and minimum brightness. Next most obvious is the 30-day minimum-brightness scale, in which the minimum solar brightness varies between dim light and no light at all. Then there is the 360-day maximum-brightness scale wherein the sun's maximum brightness varies by 50%, and finally the 365-day day-length scale. While the other three scales vary continuously, the daily oscillation does not: the sun takes six hours to transition from minimum to maximum brightness, remains at that level for a duration based on the day-length scale, then takes six hours to transition back to minimum brightness. These six-hour transition periods are based on the times of sunrise and sunset; if the day length is less than 12 hours, the sun will start dimming while it is still brightening and will never reach maximum brightness. TKTK: this needs some tweaking
Due to the day-length scale, the world has distinct seasons, though all parts of it experience the same seasons at the same time. In polar areas, weather is cool in the summer and frigid in winter; plants can only grow in the summer. In equatorial areas, weather is warm in the winter and hot in the summer; some plants go dormant in the summer to avoid the extreme heat. Summers when the maximum day length corresponds with the maximum solar brightness are particularly hot; winters when the minimum day length corresponds with the minimum solar brightness are particularly cold.
Most of the rest of the world is visible in the sky. Because of this, many people know more about lands thousands of km away than they know of lands only a few tens of km away. There are many superstitions about what lies directly behind the sun.
It is unknown what lies "outside" of the world. To some, that very question is blasphemy. Some claim that either the outside of the world is equivalent to the outside of the universe, or that the ground must extend infinitely downwards; anything else would result in the world falling apart due to gravity. Others believe that the ground has finite depth, though digging through it would be a bad idea. One fear is that digging through it would result in one falling forever through a void outside of the world. Another is that penetrating the dome of the ground would let all of the air out into the void below. The followers Kote promote the belief that digging through the ground will destroy its structural integrity, breaking it for a second time and resulting in the deaths of everyone and everything; they may like breaking things, but they aren't nihilists, so they actively persecute anyone attempting to tunnel outside of the world.
Some have sought to fly to the sun (mainly at night when it is not so incredibly hot). None is known to have succeeded, due to the strengthening of gravity with altitude and the decreasing amount of air available.
Major states and regions include:
- The Northern Plains
- The Northern Coast
- Kardy
- Elvan
- Freheit
- The Wastes
- The Dragon-Lands
- Ivar's Teeth
- Thule
- Jidan
- Thimeera
- Facci
- Babel
- Enalia
- Eosahai
- Alwet
- Canth
- The Cradle
- The Bones
- The Grave
TKTK: Isles of the Sun, outer islands, underground, wherever the Valkyr live, Reivers