Hello once again my readers! It is almost the end of the November and wow has 2021 not flown by? Last blog post I spoke about Eileen and some of the details behind her past and who she is. I thought that this time I would broaden again and look at the Empire of Frythiel as a whole. The weather this week in Alberta has shifted from nice fall temperatures to the snowy cold so I decided that for this blog I will write about the weather in the different cities in Frythiel, not just Mordale.

As a general weather over Frythiel, snow is very uncommon in the Empire. While in real life I do not mind the snow and cold, I decided I wanted to focus on more mild temperatures in my stories with rain and storms being the focused precipitation. This also helped with my desire for the characters to have wings and the cold and snow would cause greater difficulties in terms of clothing and flight. Focusing down on Mordale, as it will be the city that is familiar to all of you, despite what you may have read in The Cardinal War, it does not rain ALL the time there, but it does provide good imagery don’t you think! Overall, the temperature is mild in this region of the Empire and temperatures range between say 10 and 20 degrees Celsius (my preferred heat). Not cold enough to get the snowy weather but not hot enough to dry the grass and other plants to much. Another interesting effect that the climate seems to have had on the inhabitants of Mordale, though it is not known why at this time (we will save that for a future book 😉) the wing colors of the people seem to be reflected in the region they are born. This mild climate as seen in Mordale does not hold true as we travel further South to Hiddar and East to Lirlen and we will see the wing colors change as well as we circle around the Empire of Frythiel.

As we move away from the river that runs near Mordale, we get an increase in temperatures, ranging as high 30 to even 40 degrees Celsius at times. This hot and dry climate causes less plant life to be available and changes the food source and water availability for the people of both Hiddar and Lirlen. While there is a mountain range dividing the two cities, there is great similarity between the two and much trade happens to support their resources. The closest large body of water to them is all the way in the North of the Empire at Ashside Lake so the two cities focus their energy on finding oasis’s and creating wells to support their needs. When looking at the inhabitants of these two regions, the colors of the wings tend to drift away from the dark colors of Mordale and shift to browns, whites, and bronze colors. These differences make it clear when people travel and trade between the cities, where one was likely to have come from. There of course is always exceptions but in general the people of Hiddar and Lirlen seem to have adapted their wings to the colors of their surroundings.

Next we drift back North of Lirlen to the city of Strongwater located next to Ashside Lake. The climate here is much the same as Mordale but there is an increase in the amount of storms and rain due to the proximity to the lake. Not always doom and gloom, the weather can be relatively mild majority of the time allowing for the outdoor markets and other outdoor activities to occur without issue. Shifting to the wing colors of the inhabitants of Strongwater, we see  more mixed color wings with the core colors being greys and silvers, as well as black and white.

Finally we head back West towards Mordale but hit the mountains along the way and a city called Orvale. Orvale is located in the heart of the Sandline Mountain range and it is much smaller with no current manors within it. I will touch on the history and specifics of Orvale in a future post but for now I will just mention that there is less color variety in the wings, ranging from light to dark browns and the wings are actually a bit smaller due to the limited space in Orvale. More rain falls here than Lirlen or Hiddar but much less then Mordale or Strongwater and the temperature seems to stay steady around 15 to 20 degrees.

Weather does affect more than just wing color, as it would also effect commerce, trade and other activities but those we be developed more in future posts as well as in future stories. As I watch the grey skies and snow covered trees out my window, I feel a longing to be in the warmer climate of Frythiel. Maybe some of you feel the same and will enjoy jumping into my creation to get a sense of the warmer weather.

Enjoy what the weather may bring you and happy reading!