None of the information contained in these notes is essential to your reading of the book, so you may ignore it quite happily. If however, you are the type of person who likes to know a little of the background of the world you visit, then it is provided here.

The story takes place on a planet fairly similar to our own. There are differences; the flora and fauna are often identical but occasionally wildly different. Some common names have been given to things that resemble our own but are merely similar. This is in much the same way that the British Robin and American Robin Redbreast differ. None of this affects the plot in any way.

The calendar is markedly different from our own. Each week consists of six days, five of these are named after the five gods and the last is known as Allgods or end-week. There are five weeks to a month and eleven months in a year. There is an additional five days in the sixth month. This brings the total to 335. The additional days are treated as a festival week throughout the planet and are dedicated to each god in turn. There is a reason for there being five gods but you won’t learn about it in this book.

The day is actually 25 hours and 58 minutes long by our measures. However it is split into 24 sections called ‘hours’ that are roughly five minutes longer than our own. In practice this means that our year and their year differ only slightly.

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The technology of the planet is roughly that of Britain before the industrial revolution. Most work is done laboriously by hand and therefore takes much longer. The majority of the planet is poorly educated, the exceptions being the nobility, the priests and the wealthier merchants. At the time of this book, one country is in the process of utilising a recently discovered effect.

Every person on the planet speaks English. The dialects vary as widely as say a Texan drawl and a South Island New Zealander but are still understandable. This is not for the convenience of the author or the reader but rather for a reason that again will not be explained here.

Each place name in the book is given as the Setherland version. The natives of the place may, and in some cases definitely do, have a different name. This is true for countries as well. The aim in writing the story was to keep things consistent. However if you were to visit this world again and meet a different native, they might name things differently.

The planetary population is in the millions rather than the billions. Although there has been some emigration to the other continents, the majority of the people live on the one continent. Even on this continent the population is not evenly distributed but rather highest in the countries named. It falls fairly rapidly as you move away from these central countries. If I said that I wouldn’t explain this in the book either, you wouldn’t be surprised.

Generally the summers are slightly warmer and the winters colder than ours. This is due to an axial tilt of 25°. It means also that weather generally is slightly harsher around the world. However, both Setherland and Nothering are partially protected by a large range of mountains to their west. These mountains are particularly high and difficult to cross, so most population expansion has been north or south. The sea prevents too much expansion to the east.

The population is much healthier than would be expected for the level of medical care available. Life expectancy is about eighty years, the priests say this is a gift of the gods.

In all other important ways, life in the countries you will read about, could be the same as life in the temperate regions of our own world.