A Mighty Fortress by David Weber
Tellesberg Krakens— the Tellesberg professional baseball club.
Testimonies, The— by far the most numerous of the Church of God Await-ing’s writings, these consist of the firsthand observations of the first few generations of humans on Safehold. They do not have the same status as the Christian gospels, because they do not reveal the central teachings and inspiration of God. Instead, collectively, they form an important substantiation of the Writ’s “historical accuracy” and conclusively attest to the fact that the events they collectively describe did, in fact, transpire.
Wire vine— a kudzu- like vine native to Safehold. Wire vine isn’t as fast-growing as kudzu, but it’s equally tenacious, and unlike kudzu, several of its varieties have long, sharp thorns. Unlike many native Safeholdians species of plants, it does quite well intermingled with terrestrial imports. It is often used as a sort of combination of hedgerow and barbed wire by Safehold farmers.
Wyvern—the Safeholdian ecological analogue of terrestrial birds. There are as many varieties of wyverns as there are of birds, including (but not limited to) the homing wyvern, hunting wyverns suitable for the equivalent of hawking for small prey, the crag wyvern (a small—wingspan ten feet—flying predator), various species of sea wyverns, and the king wyvern (a very large flying predator, with a wingspan of up to twenty- five feet). All wyverns have two pairs of wings, and one pair of powerful, clawed legs. The king wyvern has been known to take children as prey when desperate or when the opportunity presents, but they are quite intelligent. They know that man is a prey best left alone and generally avoid areas of human habitation.
Wyvernry—a nesting place and/or breeding hatchery for domesticated wyverns.
A Note on Safeholdian Timekeeping
The Safeholdian day is 26 hours and 31 minutes long. Safehold’s year is 301.32 local days in length, which works out to .91 Earth standard years. It has one major moon, named Langhorne, which orbits Safehold in 27.6 local days, so the lunar month is approximately 28 days long.
The Safeholdian day is divided into twenty- six 60- minute hours, and one 31- minute period, known as “Langhorne’s Watch,” which is used to adjust the local day into something which can be evenly divided into standard minutes and hours.
The Safeholdian calendar year is divided into ten months: February, April, March, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November. Each month is divided into six five- day weeks, each of which is referred to as a “five- day.” The days of the week are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The extra day in each year is inserted into the middle of the month of July, but is not numbered. It is referred to as “God’s Day” and is the high holy day of the Church of God Awaiting. What this means, among other things, is that the first day of every month will always be a Monday, and the last day of every month will always be a Friday. Every third year is a leap year, with the additional day—known as “Langhorne’s Memorial”— being inserted, again, without numbering, into the middle of the month of February. It also means that each Safeholdian month is 795 standard hours long, as opposed to 720 hours for a 30- day Earth month.
The Safeholdian equinoxes occur on April 23 and September 22. The solstices fall on July 7 and February 8.
Table of Contents
Maps
SEPTEMBER,YEAR OF GOD 893
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OCTOBER,YEAR OF GOD 893
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NOVEMBER,YEAR OF GOD 893
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FEBRUARY,YEAR OF GOD 894
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MARCH, YEAR OF GOD 894
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APRIL, YEAR OF GOD 894
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MAY, YEAR OF GOD 894
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JUNE, YEAR OF GOD 894
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JULY, YEAR OF GOD 894
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AUGUST, YEAR OF GOD 894
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SEPTEMBER,YEAR OF GOD 894
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OCTOBER,YEAR OF GOD 894
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NOVEMBER,YEAR OF GOD 894
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Characters
Glossary
A Note on Safeholdian Timekeeping
David Weber, A Mighty Fortress