Worldbuilding Wednesday – The Four Stars, The Sign of the Keepers

In the previous Worldbuilding Wednesday, I referred to the four stars which not only show direction in Airthai, but is also used in the symbol the Keepers wear. These ‘four stars’ are also mentioned in the short piece about Eldarion Wharghan and the Erewhar:

The moon showed only half her face, but the light was enough to see by for the Erewhar. He glanced at the four stars that pointed south to where his people had come from so many generations before; before they had betrayed the Ahma on that fateful day – a choice that had led to their fall.

I’ll admit that I’m not very good at spotting or pointing out all the constellations of the southern sky (of Earth…), but the two which I’m at least able to spot without charts or making myself dizzy is Orion and the Southern Cross (I live in a city as well, so there aren’t that many stars visible to spot). The Southern Cross[1] has always held a special meaning to me; probably also because it is mentioned many times in local literature and music.

The Southern Cross

When I first wrote the piece about Eldarion it slipped in and I thought it worked; so why not? By extrapolating the possible different meanings I could give to these stars – working with the number 4 as well – I thought that it would make the perfect ‘static’ symbol for the Keepers. Where every house has a colour, letter or other mark to show rank and house, they needed a symbol common to all of the houses.

Sketch of the Keepers' Symbol

This sign is made up of a four-pointed star; made by linking the four stars in the constellation. In the case of the symbol of Holt Haliern’s Keepers, two h’s are added to a green star.  Not just pretty, but also practical when it comes to embroidering the symbol on a cloak or another piece of clothing.

In next week’s Worldbuilding Wednesday: The Keepers of Airthai

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[1] I’m only able to see four of the five stars with the naked eye (without squinting a lot)… and this is another world. So there can be only four stars. And four already has many other meaning attributed to it, making it a much easier choice!