Questions about the Som System

[Draco Tanos]

So Battlemasterra, the planet on which the game is played, orbits a star called Som (much as our sun is formally called Sol).

Has it ever been officially established if there are other planets in the system?  Do we have one moon?  Two?  Three?  None?

[Anaris]

So Battlemasterra, the planet on which the game is played, orbits a star called Som (much as our sun is formally called Sol).

So say some.

Has it ever been officially established if there are other planets in the system?  Do we have one moon?  Two?  Three?  None?

No, because none of this is official in any way, shape, or form. It's all player-generated, and no more canon than "the Earth that the people in BattleMaster reside upon is the third planet of nine out from their sun, which the more learned among them call Sol. It has a single moon with a twenty-eight day period."

[Draco Tanos]

Then maybe there SHOULD be a "canon" for the game?  At least for simple things like that.  It'd be sort of strange to see one guy say there are five moons, another saying there are none, and a third claiming there are fourteen.

[Anaris]

Then maybe there SHOULD be a "canon" for the game?  At least for simple things like that.  It'd be sort of strange to see one guy say there are five moons, another saying there are none, and a third claiming there are fourteen.

Please see this thread: http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php?topic=2211.0

Particularly this post of Tom's: http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,2211.msg48508.html#msg48508

Personally, I've never seen anyone even suggest there's more or less than one moon.

[Indirik]

No. And like all the other things in this vein, like a world geography, and canon backstory, there is not likely to be any kind of official blessing on any particular theory.

Also that whole "Som" thing.... yuck.

[Chenier]

Wasn't Battlemasterra canonized?

If it wasn't, well, I find that pretty yuck too. Retsam or some other permutation of BattleMaster would be much better imo.

[Draco Tanos]

I have never seen anyone mention a moon period.  Though I believe I have seen heraldry that displays multiple moons.  Might not mean much, but I was wondering what was established.

While I completely understand leaving regional names up to players, as well as the names of celestial bodies, facts such as how many moons we have and hell, even the color of the sun, should be firmly established.  Such things are NOT open to cultural or individual interpretation.

And Chenier, the name of the sun isn't bad, but I agree with the name Battlemasterra.  Masterra alone wouldn't be -too- bad alone though.

[Chenier]

I have never seen anyone mention a moon period.  Though I believe I have seen heraldry that displays multiple moons.  Might not mean much, but I was wondering what was established.

While I completely understand leaving regional names up to players, as well as the names of celestial bodies, facts such as how many moons we have and hell, even the color of the sun, should be firmly established.  Such things are NOT open to cultural or individual interpretation.

All references to moon and sun, in RPs, religious lores, and heraldry refer to only one moon and one sun. For example, the Blood Cult had one moon god and one sun goddess, and Enweili heraldry depicts one sun and one moon, just to give two examples.

[De-Legro]

All references to moon and sun, in RPs, religious lores, and heraldry refer to only one moon and one sun. For example, the Blood Cult had one moon god and one sun goddess, and Enweili heraldry depicts one sun and one moon, just to give two examples.

All? My religion had several moons, they are just really hard to see

[Norrel]

I wouldn't mind having some canonical stuff, like celestial bodies, but everything else- then name of the world, the shape of the world, etc, should be up to players.

I figure having the celestial world being identical to Earth's (with the exception of the bloodstars) is a good thing to assume, so even then, a canon isn't necessary.

[Indirik]

While I completely understand leaving regional names up to players, as well as the names of celestial bodies, facts such as how many moons we have and hell, even the color of the sun, should be firmly established.  Such things are NOT open to cultural or individual interpretation.

So we can't agree on the names of the oceans,bu everyone agrees on the name of the moons and stars?

AFAIC, this is all a mass of trivialities. We've gotten by just fine for over ten years without declaring the sun to be yellow. Where is the burning need to do it now?

And Chenier, the name of the sun isn't bad, but I agree with the name Battlemasterra.  Masterra alone wouldn't be -too- bad alone though.

The name claimed for the sun, "Som", sucks. The whole thing (Som, Somar system, BattleMasterra, etc) is, for me, ridiculously immersion breaking. On the wiki, they even hotlinked "Som" to Tom's user page. I'd rather just have some artificially generated alphabet soup than that.

[Draco Tanos]

Actually, I specifically said the names should be up to the players but the numbers and colors should be firmly established to prevent nonsensical conflict of things.  Otherwise?  We are in a binary star system with three moons, blue red and green.
<.<

[Indirik]

Actually, I specifically said the names should be up to the players ...

yes, sorry, I misread.

But some of that other type of thing was still subjective, depending on culture.

[Norrel]

yes, sorry, I misread.

But some of that other type of thing was still subjective, depending on culture.

I'm pretty sure the amount of moons in the sky wasn't a subjective thing.

[Indirik]

What exactly it *was*, was very subjective. Some cultures/religions forcibly suppressed that knowledge. Assuming universal agreement about any type or nature of object seems pretty ludicrous. They routinely determined this not by observation but by logic. "It is this way because it makes a circle, and circles are perfect.", a rainbow has seven colors because someone thought 7 was a mystic number of supernatural significance, etc. So, yeah, people may agree that there is a big white object in the sky, but what is it? a moon? What's a moon? And why would we call it "the moon?" We should name it after our god's mistress.

Another reason to *not* set this stuff in stone is the way it limits creativity and RP. For example, if you set the celestial objects in canon, then the Bloodstars could never have been formed. No one can posit the existence of a second, hidden moon.