Let's build a setting, one post at a time.

[Indagare Nogitsune]

The "least" of the halfling's festivals is the week-long Matron's Festival. It is sometimes called "Matron's Sun" because it occurs in the same week as the summer solstice. It is not so much that this Festival is celebrated with any less joy or eagerness than the others, but the rainbow-colored decorations and general feasting seem (to outsiders) much like any other time among the halflings.

Spoiler: Secret Sun Ceremony

An enclave of high-level halfling clerics and druids secretly meet with an enclave of high-level lizardfolk clerics and druids and, on noon of the solstice, they perform a ritual known as the Calling of the Sun. This ceremony has a dual purpose--on one hand it is supposed to strengthen the Dragon-khan so that they can keep the sun running another year. On the other, it is to try and call forth the Sun Reborn, a figure long-rumored in lizardfolk lore. This goddess is supposed to be Uol's child with Tide and she is further an actual solar deity, meaning if she ever appears there would be no need to worry about the sun dying.

Part of the lore is that this deity (sometimes called Dioul) was shunted into the other realm with Orthil and will return with it. The ritual is supposed to give her the strength to do this feat which had killed her mother. However, other lore says Dioul is Oul reborn, a sliver of her eternal life having become trapped and reborn outside her daughters.

The truth may never be known, as the high level clerics and druids avoid speaking of it, and in the long span of years Dioul has never yet appeared, but there's always hope that one day she will.

 

[TwoSix]

The most common calendars are based on phases of Nehush: 9 months of 40 days each, though each culture has its own names for the months.

The pastoral culture of the halflings is tied to the cycles of nature, and their major festivals mark the seasons.

Most cultures observe the Nehush lunar calendar. 9 months of 40 days, with a full Nehush signaling the start of each month.

However, the full rotation of the planet around Uol is only 355 days. The calendar remains based on the moons; this means that the dates of the solstices and equinoxes fall back about 5 days every year. Someone born in the depth of winter will find their birthday occurring in high summer when they are in the mid-30s, and arriving back in the winter in their 70s.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Most cultures observe the Nehush lunar calendar. 9 months of 40 days, with a full Nehush signaling the start of each month.

However, the full rotation of the planet around Uol is only 355 days. The calendar remains based on the moons; this means that the dates of the solstices and equinoxes fall back about 5 days every year. Someone born in the depth of winter will find their birthday occurring in high summer when they are in the mid-30s, and arriving back in the winter in their 70s.

However, some cultures have adopted a 10th month that occurs every 8 years, which resets things.

 

[TwoSix]

However, some cultures have adopted a 10th month that occurs every 8 years, which resets things.

The "Celebration of Waxing Life" (a birthday) is considered sacred across Herzia and Vaelos. In many nations, the 10th month is considered a cursed time; children born in the 10th month are often makred as "unlucky", and in the worst cases, abandoned.

Across cultures and history, sages have tracked the passage of time by "cycles"; however different cultures use "cycle" to mean rotations of Nehush, Xalaphera, or the solar cycle. Trying to determine what "year" something happened in the historical record is nearly an impossible task for all but the most learned scholars.

 

[Lanefan]

Warning: Math and Geography.

The planet (currently unnamed because I like the mystery so far) is about 180M sq.mi. in total surface area, slightly smaller than Earth, roughly comparable to Venus.

Herzia, the largest continent, sits between 20S and 45S latitude. It has an area of roughly 7.2M sq. mi., slightly larger than South America.

Just northwest of central Herzia, across the Straits of Vaeron, sits the large island of Vaelos. Vaelos is 900K sq.mi., slightly larger than Earth's largest island, Greenland. The shape of the coastline and the narrowness of the Straits suggest Vaelos was, at one time, part of Herzia.

Two great cities sit only 70 miles apart from each other on the Straits; the dwarven armada-forge of Vae Kolos, and Kakistocracy of Ghace, an unrepentant mercantile mecca of pirates and smugglers.

Stretching northwest from the Ghacian coast, 1500 miles of small atolls and narrow reefs define the archipelago of Kepuala. Relatively few surface dwellers, other than driftfoot halflings, inhabit these lands; the area (roughly 300K sq. mi. of islands) is controlled by the undersea empire of the sahaugins and merrow. Their shipping depredations make access to the Straits vital for both the Vaelosian dwarves and the Ghacian merchants, so as to access the rich lands of eastern Vaelos and northern Herzia.

The Kepualan islands terminate suddenly about 100 miles from the coastline of Xandahaal, an almost perfectly round equatorial continent of 2.7M sq. mi. (slightly larger than Australia.) Halflings, humans, and dwarves colonize the shores. The deeper jungles are inhabited by elves, lizardfolk, and tree-climbing dinosaurs known most broadly as "Yiqi".

Starting about 100 miles from the western shores of Xandahaal, the Equatorial Isles stretch the length of the globe and terminate at the northeastern coast of Herzia. Heavily populated by humans and halflings, this large area (3.1M sq. mi, or slightly more than 4 Indonesias) contains a diverse assortment of nations and cultures.

With the current math, the planet is about 8% land and 92% water. (Compared to 29% land 71% water on Earth.)

I do love the "polar ocean running through the planet core" idea; leaving most of the northern and southern latitudes (say above 45N and below 45S) as mostly landless emphasizes the alien ocean idea, I feel.

You planning on banging out a map of all this? I ask because this is one instance where a picture really is worth 1000 words...

 

[TwoSix]

You planning on banging out a map of all this? I ask because this is one instance where a picture really is worth 1000 words...

I've thought about it. I have to see if I can track down some free software. I don't want to do it in Paint.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

I've thought about it. I have to see if I can track down some free software. I don't want to do it in Paint.

Medibang might work for you.

 

[npick03]

There is so much math and geography in this thread.
I don’t understand a lick of it, but I’m happy it's here

In the Equatorial Islands is found Port Alimang, a city built on the back of a titanic crab of the same name. “Old Ali”, as he is loving called by the citizens, is one of the last of the archcrabs, a living fossil older than reckoning. The city moves as Old Ali scuttles across the shallow seas, hunting the blooms of bioluminescent foamfire algae.

Port Alimang was founded by dwarven religious dissidents, who believed imprisoning the fires of the Matron in unfeeling iron was a sin. Instead they practiced Nehüshan evocation, pyromancy, and vivimancy. Over time they expanded their reach to include other schools of lunar magic, and today the Fire Opal Conclave is one of the world's premier magical orders.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Starting about 100 miles from the western shores of Xandahaal, the Equatorial Isles stretch the length of the globe and terminate at the northeastern coast of Herzia. Heavily populated by humans and halflings, this large area (3.1M sq. mi, or slightly more than 4 Indonesias) contains a diverse assortment of nations and cultures.

Around these islands and, indeed, most places in tropical and subtropical regions there are various coral reefs. The largest region of these stretches for hundreds of kilometers and is called the Rainbow Reef because of its vibrant colors. This area is also known for pearls of fantastic colorations and sizes. It's also a place Sea Elves tend to protect against poachers.

The Rainbow Reef lies near a sunken continent exactly opposite of Xandahaal. It is thought by sages that this landmass was dragged under the sea by the same forces that reft Xanahaal from its home world. At the heart of this sunken continent are the tips of undersea mountains. These mountains act as islands, but most have sea caves and are bases for pirates and smugglers. The thickness of the mountains makes them tricky to navigate safely since there are several currents and crosscurrents. The wind that rushes through them makes them even more perilous.

Besides the Sea Mountains and Rainbow Reef, this area harbors seaweed patches and mangrove forests that seem to thrive in the salt water and are sometimes called 'Tide's Park'. Other unusual salt-water plants and animals can be found in this region as well.

 

[TwoSix]

Rough map of how I'm seeing the pieces snap together so far.

Note that the map with Herzia is to the Southeast of the map of Xandahaal. (The Kepualan archipelago connects the maps; map 1 has the southeast part of the chain, and map 2 the northwest.)

Herzia is mid-southern hemisphere, Xandahaal and the Isles are equatorial.