The Lore of Peccatum
This is the official lore of Peccatum, a planet I created inhabited by furries. Although my characters exist in this lore, you are not required to have a comprehensive knowledge of Peccatum society and history in order to roleplay with me.
Please note that people from Peccatum are called a'Peccatum, which translates to "from Peccatum."
-Part 1: Peccatum and The Other Planets
Peccatum's orbit exists in what is known as the Goldilocks Zone, a zone that has the highest chance of life existing and evolving. As the name implies, it is not too close to its sun nor too far away, but instead a perfectly temperate area of space. Earth also exists within the Goldilocks Zone, however Peccatum's orbit is slightly smaller than Earth's. While it takes 365.24 days for the Earth to make a complete trip around the sun, it takes Peccatum 360 days. Clocks and calendars have to be converted when one travels from one to the other, but the possible jet lag is barely noticeable. Unlike Earth, Peccatum does not have a moon, so it has no high tides nor low tides, the water (among other things) is mostly unaffected by the gravitational pull of objects outside the planet's atmosphere.
There are 5 planets and one asteroid belt in Peccatum's system of Neros. The closest planet to the sun is Galos, named after an astronomer who speculated the existence of the planet based only upon the position and orbits of the other known planets. Galos' orbit is roughly the same speed as Peccatum's, but it lags behind slightly and hides behind the sun for an estimated 700 years. It's size is also similar to Peccatum. Galos is much like Mercury, a barren, rocky planet that is uninhabitable by any form of life, temperatures often reach 500 degrees Celsius during the day and go only as low as -120 degrees.
The second closest planet is Nerottum, which is the only planet in the system that has life besides Peccatum. In fact, it's name translates to "place with life." However, the life on the planet is not as widespread as it is on Peccatum. The poles are frigid and only get up to -10 degrees while the equator fluctuates between 110 degrees and -50 degrees, so all the life on the planet exist on bands near to the poles. Nerottum is very odd-looking because of this, the equator is a band of red, there are two bands of green above and below it, and the poles are white. The only life on the planet are plants like grasses and flowers and some microorganisms, there are no trees or animals, only fields. Even still, the life struggles to survive due to the intense heat, it's estimated that Nerottum will be completely barren in 1500-2000 years.
The third planet is Peccatum, its geography will be covered in the next part.
The fourth planet is Tekos, a blue gas giant with some reddish bands. Analysis has found that these red bands were originally moons, but something caused their orbits to become unstable. It is hypothesized that Galos had caused this disturbance when it entered the solar system, evidenced by odd crater formations on the planet's surface. Tekos' name was derived from a fruit on Peccatum. The fruit is the size of a cantaloupe and is blue with some red spots, similar in appearance to Tekos. The gas giant is rich with valuable minerals, but due to the massive gravitational pull, it would be impossible to harvest them, or at least any amount that would be worthwhile.
The asteroid belt sits between Tekos and the furthest planet in the solar system, Wyth (pronounced "W-ie-t-uh"). The asteroid belt is called Ynui after the astronomer who discovered that it was an asteroid belt and not the remnants of a planet that was torn asunder. While other asteroid belts, such as the ones in the Sol system, are very wide and often intersect with neighboring planets' orbits, Ynui sit entirely between Tekos' and Wyth's orbits, not interfering with either planet. This was the reason why they had thought that it was the remnants of a planet. They had speculated that the planet already had an established orbit, but its gravitational pull was either too weak to keep it together or was disrupted by Tekos. However, Ynui proved that not only the gravity of Tekos couldn't have had any substantial effect on such a planet, but also no planet could have such a weak gravitational pull so as to rip itself apart mid-orbit. Her book, "An Observation of The Destroyed Planet," would usher in an era of fantastic astronomical discoveries. Most astronomers of the generation after her credited her book as being the main motivator to pursue a career studying the stars.
Wyth is a planet made almost entirely out of ice. Some claim that it was named after the person who first saw it, but there are no historical records of any a'Peccatum with access to a telescope named Wyth. It is theorized that Wyth is the source of water in the solar system, as evidenced by the massive crater on its surface. Perhaps when Peccatum entered the solar system, it collided with Wyth and took much of the ice. Once Peccatum reached an orbit closer to the sun, the ice melted and formed the oceans and lakes. There is also evidence of collision on Peccatum's surface, giving credence to the theory. Furthermore, Wyth's moon, Arkos, is made of minerals very similar to the minerals found on Peccatum. Although Wyth is mostly ice, it is not transparent like small quantities of ice, but instead appears to be a very light blue, even around the poles since there is no snow.
-Part 2: The Geography of Peccatum
Peccatum has been divided into 5 different sectors based upon the largest biome in each region: Plains Sector, Alpine Sector, Desert Sector, Tundra Sector, and Oceanic Sector. Please note that the sectors are listed from most populated to least populated.
The Plains Sector is the most populated and is said to be the "focal point of Peccatum culture." Despite it's name, only 65% of the Plains sector is actually defined as plains. The marshes of the northwest coast take up 14%, the thick forests and jungles in the southwest take up 10%, the mountains to the south take up 7%, and the eastern coast which is part of the Plains Sector are the last 4%. The Plains Sector boasts a diverse ecosystem and is the origin of most a'Peccatum, only a few species originate from outside the Sector. The tallest mountain, Saratvo, is 9,192 meters above sea level, making it 344 meters taller than Everest.
The Alpine Sector sits to the north of the Plains Sector. When the Sectors were being established, there was much debate on where to draw the line between the Plains Sector and the Alpine sectors, if a line should be drawn at all. However, an agreement was made that the two Sectors should have the same amount of area. Because of this, the Plains Sector's shape is mostly circular, but the Alpine sector 'swoops' down to the west because there is much less land north of the Plains Sector. A second side effect of this is that only 52% of the Alpine Sector is alpine, 39% are plains and the remaining 9% are the northwest and mid-southern coasts.
The Desert Sector is to the west of the Alpine and Plains Sector. About 90% of the Desert Sector is desert, the other 10% is the coastline. The desert, named Kalipp, gets unbearably hot, even during the winter in some parts. Due to this, most of the cities are near the coastline, but there are a few settlements deep within Kalipp. Often the inhabitants of these inner-desert villages and towns are cold-blooded, but even they can suffer from heat stroke. Species with fur, like wolves and foxes, are advised only stay for a few weeks at a time and only if it is required of them.
The Tundra Sector is south of the Plains Sector, beyond its mountains. It is the smallest Sector and sits in the frigid zone between the Plains Sector and the South Pole. The Tundra Sector is the opposite extreme to the Desert Sector, cold-blooded a'Peccatum are not allowed to stay for extended periods of time due to the high risk of frostbite. The main reason why a person might live in the Tundra Sector is if their coats of fur are too thick for even the Marsh Sector.
The Oceanic Sector consists of the large body of water named Chortos and it is the only Sector with no permanent settlements, although they have been attempted. 99% of the Sector is ocean and its border is 100 meters off all the other Sectors' coasts, the other 1% are various islands. Chortos is very similar to Earth's Pacific Ocean, however there are only a few civilizations in Chortos. Most explorations above the surface of Chortos were either lost or returned without much additional information about the ocean. However, there have been thousands of dives which have lead to the discovery of new and interesting wildlife. The deepest point, nicknamed Basitum (Darkest place), is 9,506~ meters deep, which isn't as deep as Earth's Challenger Deep (10,902-10,929 m).
-Part 3: Early Peccatum History (0-8,000~; a'Peccatum Calendar)
Peccatum's calendar begins when the first a'Peccatum gained sentience, which is estimated to have occurred 11,000 years ago. Before this, Peccatum was similar to Earth, except without humans. Instead of one species of primate gaining sentience, as what happened on Earth, most of the species on Peccatum became self-aware and their bodies morphed into a more efficient form. This form is very similar to humans, but they still kept most of their feral features; such as the shape of their head, their hind legs, and their tail. Only two aquatic animals did become sentient: sharks and dolphins. All other aquatic creatures stayed feral, as did all insects. Some other species' also did not become sentient; such as boars and primates. It is unknown exactly how or why all the species gained sentience at nearly the same time nor why the form they evolved into is so close to humans. It is theorized that Earth may be an exception to the rule due to its diverse life and only one sentient species.
It wasn't until about 6,000 years ago when the a'Peccatum began creating societies and governments. The earliest recorded government was named "Teyn Yhlat," believed to mean "People of the Sun," however there is some evidence of possible earlier governments. Just as on Earth, none of the early governments on Peccatum survive today; they all either collapsed, were overthrown, or were taken over by another nation. It is unknown how many governments were created, however most of the known ones had very similar governing styles.
Religion, unlike on Earth, died out early on. Hundreds of documents were written at the time outlining the problems with each religion, the biggest complaint was the lack of assurance. The religions that promised prosperity in the coming days would be criticized when their predictions didn't come true; and those who prophesized of prosperity in the far or uncertain future were criticized for the lack of assurance in the people's lifetime. Belief systems failed early on in Peccatum's history, but that does not mean there wasn't plenty of conflict.
-Part 4: Novis Eu Eyhrratmus Gael, "The Era of the Great Genocide" (8,000-9,403)
Carnivores require the consumption of protein in order to survive, the default method of obtaining protein is through meat. Over thousands of years, carnivores on Peccatum would slaughter hundreds of thousands of herbivores in order to survive. They could fish or hunt feral animals, but the meat provided by one sapient herbivore would provide more meat than 20 fish or ferals. This greatly incentivized the genocide of herbivores and brought on a dark age for Peccatum. Carnivores found they could act as a protective force for a herbivore village and in return the herbivores would sacrifice some of their own to feed the carnivores. This was called "Eyhrratmus," which originally meant "equal giving and taking," however it is now the Dilitholos word for "genocide" (Dilitholos is the language of Peccatum).
Early on, this was a symbiotic relationship, with both sides benefitting from the agreement. However, the carnivores began seeing herbivores less as people and more as just food. They took advantage of their power and would request more and more sacrifices; some herbivore villages would be entirely consumed by a single group of carnivores. Herbivores keep appeasing the carnivores because they protected against rogue carnivores. While protective carnivores would only eat the herbivores, rogue carnivores would not only slaughter and consume the herbivore population, but they would also loot homes, burn down buildings, and rape females to death. Even protective carnivores would be killed and have their meat eaten by the rogues. Protection against this violent threat was of the upmost importance and herbivore villages who were able to prevent rogue attacks were given the highest respect, even from carnivores.
Herbivores needed protection at almost any cost, so carnivores would be able to set any price for their services. However, it soon became much more than food, it became the crushing of ideas. Herbivores were crammed into small homes, they were force-fed to keep them fat, and even their language was redesigned to limit their mental processes and prevent a possible revolt. But the herbivores had had enough; the decision to overthrow the carnivores was agreed upon throughout the world.
A secret language was created by the herbivores, one which required expert cryptography to even read; this was to keep their minds sharp and prevent carnivores from being able to read it. A disjointed web of secret revolutionaries sprawled across the world as one village after another suddenly saw a rising up from herbivores. A group of people pushed to the edge were fighting back. If the herbivores won, the carnivores would be turned into slaves and fed only what was adequate; but if the carnivores one, the herbivores would be given no freedoms, no happiness, and no quarter. The world would have completely changed if it wasn't for one man: Oriah.
In the year 9,403, a young fox and his wolf assistant, Jhota, were studying fruits growing in what would become the western border between the Alpine Sector and the Plains Sector. Oriah heard of a small group of carnivores living in the alpines eating nothing but fruit; the story was a myth, but he decided to see if there did exist fruits that carnivores could eat. He and Jhota gathered different species of fruits and ate nothing but those plants for two weeks, and they survived. Oriah published their findings in a Techeda (a building containing both local and global news stories), but his story came under scrutiny. Few people believed him and most criticized him for trying to undermine society.
Jhota took it to court when a journalist called them "herbivore-sympathizers [who] had tried to cause the destruction of our structured and orderly society and conversion of the natural carnivore [digestion system] into one that was more liking to plants." The court didn't want to appear soft on possible herbivore-sympathizers, but the discovery of a secondary type of food for carnivores would put an end to the revolution. Officials performed a test, forcing 15 carnivores to eat only the fruits that Oriah ate for 50 days. Two people died during the test, but only because they were highly allergic to one of the fruits. A result of 13 out of 15 carnivores surviving on the fruits was enough to prove their effectiveness. These 7* "Oriah Fruits," as they were quickly named, caused the end of the revolutions and the beginning of an era of prosperity for Peccatum.
(*At the time, they found only 7 fruits that contained protein; however there are now 12 Oriah Fruits.)
-Part 5: Pyhrepta Peccatum Tunya Gael, "The Era of a Scientific and United Peccatum" **(9,403-11,052)**
Immediately after the discovery of the Oriah Fruits, people wondered why carnivores could survive off of them. Oriah, Jhota, and a team of scientific researchers began studying and analyzing the fruits, trying to find a connection to meat. However, due to their limited technology, they wouldn't be able to find a connection. It would have been impossible for anyone at the time to definitively prove the two were connected, but the research proved valuable and kickstarted a scientific revolution. At roughly the same time Earth was entering the Middle Ages, Peccatum was having its Renaissance. Oriah founded an institute where scholars could study and teach the youth. This is commonplace today, but on Peccatum, there had been a definite line between teachers and scientists before Oriah's institute.
While Oriah wanted to stay in the city of Tyret to continue studying and teaching, Jhota travelled across the world to construct new institutes. Because of this, Jhota is considered "the Mother of Education." Their institutes filled the youth's minds with knowledge and became so influential and popular, people who chose not to educate themselves further found it hard to get a decent job. Higher education into the sciences was no longer seen as frivolous, but instead necessary. If science could stop a world-changing revolution, what other miracles could it bring?
When humans began their Renaissance, Peccatum's technological level far surpassed even 21st Century Earth. Many of the other social problems had also been solved, such as hunger, poverty, and even slothfulness to an extent. By 11,000 (2000; Terran Calendar), scientists had discovered a way to travel to alternate universes and, soon, humans and a'Peccatum would meet.
-Part 6: The Discovery of Humans (11,053-11,094 [Today])
On the 14th of Jaelous 11,053 (October 6th, 2053; Terran Calendar), two a'Peccatum explorers, Nhon and Feyt, entered a portal and found themselves on a grassy plain next to a sea. They didn't know it at the time, but they had arrived at the southern coast of France. Turning around, the two saw houses and people. They walked up to a woman to peacefully introduce themselves, but she was immediately frightened, ran inside, and called the police. Once authorities arrived, Nhon and Feyt tried to establish some kind of communication with the officers. The explorers had a translator device which was able to learn and decode a language by listening to conversations, but it needed several hours of almost non-stop talking in order for it to be most effective. Still, the little communication it received seemed to be just enough for basic communication, and the officers were startled when they heard their native tongue being spoken by the strange beings.
After some discussion and a fully-effective translator, the police had been mostly convinced that Nhon and Feyt came in peace. They gave a broadcasted speech that went viral all over the world. There were many, many people who tried to debunk it by studying the video and even the individual frames and pixels, but the little evidence they managed find wasn't enough to prove the whole thing was fake. It took some time for the people to get out of the mindset that aliens want to take them over, and the next few years helped with that effort.
Dozens of both human and a'Peccatum diplomats crossed through the stabilized portal and spent countless hours in discussion about many subjects, and one question constantly came up: Should Peccatum give humans their technology? Peccatum had no real right to keep such a positive boon away from another sentient species, but humans didn't understand the full scope of what it would mean. Although a'Peccatum rarely engaged in warfare, it wouldn't take a lot of effort to think of the multitudes of ways their technology could be used as such. It was then agreed that Peccatum would slowly and gradually bring Earth up to their level, technologically and socially. Some things would be granted to humans immediately, such as Peccatum's advanced encryption technique, but the vast majority of Peccatum technology will remain on Peccatum. It is estimated that Earth will be about the same as Peccatum in 2353.
-Part 7: Peccatum Society and Culture
The a'Peccatum engaged in few wars, and those wars were very bloody by their standards (All wars on Peccatum had less than 100,000 casualties). The main reason for this was the rise in higher education. As Peccatum moved more towards the sciences and the humanities, they moved further away from brutality and destruction. As soon as they had a common goal that would boost everyone, to make Peccatum a paradise for all, there was no need to engage in destructive actions. War still happens on Earth, even with Peccatum's influence, because war has become part of their culture. Almost every a'Peccatum sees each and every moment dedicated to war as a moment dedicated to self-destruction and the wasting of resources because the victor will always be worse off than when they started. However, on Earth, war boosts public morale even if they have to make sacrifices (The United States during World War II is an excellent example). Humans are capable of realizing what war can do; even still, the religious and cultural differences between the nations of Earth make war inevitable; it has become a necessary evil. Despite this, most humans are optimistic that Peccatum's efforts will change Terran culture to make it less violent.
One of the most blindingly obvious differences between Peccatum and Earth culture is how their cultures view sex and nudity. Humans see sex as a very intimate action only performed by people who deeply love each other and public nudity is illegal in most Earth countries. However, sex has become almost engrained in Peccatum culture, and it has even been accepted as a form of greeting, while nudity is perfectly acceptable under the premise that the natural body should not be hidden if it doesn't need to be. a'Peccatum do sometimes wear clothes, especially if they are involved in jobs such as surgeon or constructor, but most clothes one will see are provocative and sexual in nature. This higher sex drive does not mean they cannot be intimate or that it is diluted, instead, surprisingly, relationships between a'Peccatum are actually more intimate than relationships between humans because of their higher sex drive.
Despite the sheer amount of sex the a'Peccatum have, there are rules and regulations governing sexual actions. The most protected rule concerns a'Peccatums under the age of 18; they cannot have sex nor be exposed to anything sexual. The youth are so heavily guarded entire cities have been built for children to grow up in; these cities are called "Sanctuary Cities." In a Sanctuary City, all people must wear clothes when in public and all sexual actions must be performed in private. Young a'Peccatum can be told about sex before 18 and they can even, as humans would put it, 'play doctor' with one another, but nothing explicitly sexual between someone above 18 and someone under 18. The punishment of pedophilia is severe; even touching a 15 year old's crotch can cause a person to spend 20 years in prison. What's more, pedophiles are unable to leave prison until they serve their whole sentence, which are often decades. Despite all the protection, there is one city where pedophilia is accepted; the 'Sanctuary City' of T'laith in the Tundra Sector. However, anyone who leaves T'laith will be arrested and sent to prison for the remainder of their life.
Surely with all the casual sex going on, the typical a'Peccatum body must be riddled with all kinds of diseases, right? This is not the case, and, in fact, there have been almost no STI's in Peccatum history. The reason for this is an organ that a'Peccatum have called a khoun. If the body is infected, white blood cells are brought to the infected area, just as they do in humans, but the khoun produces blue blood cells which extract the DNA of the infection and bring it back to the khoun. Once there, the organ will 'study' the DNA and try to find a weakness, either a flaw in the DNA or a substance the body can consume or produce. For all intents and purposes, the khoun makes a vaccine right inside the body that gets distributed immediately. This means that once an a'Pecctum is infected, they will get better quicker and will never have the illness ever again. Any and all STI's the a'Peccatum have encountered have already been cured.
A visitor to Peccatum will notice the lack of actual currency. This is because the dynamics of how objects are produced differs greatly than how they are produced on Earth. It is no secret that energy and matter are interchangeable, the most famous human equation, E=mc2, proves their connection. The a'Peccatum have invented a device that can turn energy into matter and vice versa, kind of like the replicators on Star Trek. This means that any junk matter can be converted into energy and that energy can take on another form, such as food or building material. This, coupled with generators that already pump out nearly endless amounts of energy, has lead to a society that has no need for currency. Instead, Peccatum works on the quality of a person's employment, meaning that hardworking individuals can 'afford' more things than lazier people. This ensures that everyone who wants good housing or good food is willing to also contribute to society.
The language of Peccatum is Dilitholos, which is actually a mixture of two different languages. Before the discovery of Oriah Fruits, the language that carnivores taught herbivores was called "Dilithi." It was a very simplistic language, similar to Newspeak from George Orwell's 1984, and the carnivores designed it that way. The carnivores also spoke Dilithi, but their tongue was the 'full' version while the herbivores were taught a simpler version. During the revolutions, the herbivores created a complex language called "Bolos," which is actually a combination of the Dilithi words for "hidden (boki)" and "danger (kholos)." Once the revolutions were over and the carnivores and herbivores began living in peace, they combined the two languages into Dilitholos. Since that was over 1,500 years ago, the language is now completely different, just as any language would be.
The way the year is recorded on Peccatum is also different from how humans record the year. Humans divide the year into 12 nearly equal parts called months, while Peccatum divide the year based on seasons. Since seasons are longer than months and can be unwieldy for day-to-day use, there is a greater emphasis on weeks. In fact, Peccatum have words for "next week" and "the previous week."