> When the Orb has been active, citizens "know" the time based > on the master Imperial Clock. If Dragaera is a spherical > planet, then local time (i.e. dawn, dusk) will vary with > longitude around the planet. Thus a more eastern location > might already be in daytime at the seventh hour of the > morning (by the Orb), while a much more western location > might still be in darkness. > My question is: "Does this show up in the books?" Some of this is has already been said in reply to this email, but here's some relevant text: The Intro to Dzurlord - "The continent on which the Empire rests is roughly the shape of Europe, but twice the size, and the Empire encompasses (at the moment) more than half of it." Book of Taltos pg 189 - "I'm going to be leaving for a while ... Across the great salt sea. Out past the horizon ..." Book of Taltos pg 194 - "There are stories of whole lands beyond the sea. Or beneath them ... Beyond the Malestrom ... we have charts that show only the Grey Rocks on one side, and the Spindrift Lands on the other." Book of Athyra pg 285/286 - "[Northport is] so far north of the equator [and] the Kanefthali Mountains start only a few hundred miles away" [Vlad is aware of the equator] Sethra Lavode pg 15 - "[Zerika] wished to send an envoy to the Queen of Landsight, she did not, at this time, have access to a ship that was able to make this journey" [transoceanic sailing?] Sethra Lavode pg 303-305 - "Morrolan was more than a little startled to discover, upon returning to Castle Black, that it was only a little past the hour of noon ... He was still attempting to calculate an explanation for the odd behaviour of the Furnace, which he could tell (being above the Enclouding) was far higher in the sky than it ought to be ... He was greeted by Lady Teldra" M - "how can it already be late afternoon in Blackchapel, and just barely noon here?" T - "Well, my lord, you must remember that Blackchapel is east of us--considerably east of us. You cannot have forgotten how many leagues west we journeyed, in addition to no few leagues south." M - "And so, if it is east--" T - "Then dawn occurs there before it occurs here." ... T - "My lord, this fact is well known among the Orca--that is, those Orca who sail. When they sail eastward, the day starts and ends noticeably sooner; sailing west, when wind and currents permit, why, the day becomes longer after starting later." M - "What accounts for such a thing?" T - "There are many theories, my lord, that account for it, but, so far as I know, none have been proven." ... M - "Are there calculations that explain how a certain number of leagues of easting will result in day beginning so much earlier?" T - "Well, yes, my lord, but traveling north and south also has some effect." ... T - "I have heard ... That among Orca who take long voyages to the south, such as trading expeditions to Landsight, when one travels far enough south, it is just as if one were traveling north." [Landsight is in the southern hemisphere] ... T - "I will find the tables and charts that explain it, my lord, and I will have them put in the library so that you may look at them at your leisure." Bryan