The Cycle of Juna…

The cycle of Juna is comprise of five phases each with their own unique weather patterns.  The Junian calendar started in the first epoch, referred to as Renewal. Renewal is where there were rotations of light and dark and mostly cold or cool.  The winds were strong blowing mostly from the south into the northern hemisphere.  Most Junians did their crop planting in this cycle.  This epoch was also where most of the fresh water rains occurred.  The Junians would collect as much of the fresh water as they could to carry them through to then next Renewal.  Renewal lasted 100 rotations and ended when the ground started to heat up with the long rotations of light and shorter rotations of dark.  Renewal faded slowly over to the second epoch more commonly called Growth.  

Growth was much hotter than Renewal with longer rotations, the heat and light of the day got longer and longer as Growth moved through its rotations.  The typical Growth rotations brought little wind, unlike Renewal, and the rains were salty.  Although most of the crops on Juna thrived in both fresh and salt water there was no agricultural concerns but the Junians could not drink the salt water.  The saltwater rains of Growth were as a result of a unique geological phenomenon on Juna but this was not clearly understood by the Junians.

As the Junians were multiple humanoid species from Eloi there was one exception.  The Calparians could drink either salt water or fresh water and both quenched their thirst.  Because the Junians had intermingled much of the Calparian genetics had been intermixed and there were really very few Junians that could drink salt water.  Of course most just avoided the salt water all together as it started became a taboo to drink the rainfalls from the Growth epoch.  As Growth started to transition to the third epoch the rotations had gotten so long that there was little dark and the heat had become practically unbearable.   

The third epoch, Rage, was a dry, hot filled times of sun that lasted, as did all epochs, 100 rotations.  In the early rotations of Rage the Junians went out collect their first harvest.  They spent much of the time covering themselves from the heat and sun.   Rainfall was very rare and could either be salt or freshwater rain.  Usually saltwater rains at the beginning or Rage followed by freshwater rains nearer to the end of Rage.  After the first harvest the Junians also planted their heartier crops that required very little care but provided much of their food sources for the long night epoch that would follow. As Rage faded the rotations started to have nights again and slowly Juna moved into its fourth epoch. 

Harvest was very similar to Growth in climate except that the rains were all freshwater rains but the rains were very sparse and rarely seen.  The Junians mostly enjoyed this epoch as they had stock of food from the Rage harvest and it was warmer than Renewal yet milder than Rage.  They typically still had much of their water supply from Renewal and could see the next harvest from crops planted in Rage.  It was always a festive time in all the cities of Juna during the Harvest epoch and many of the villages exchanged and invited youths from other villages to join their communities – celebrations of life and harvest were grand events in all towns and villages.  As Harvest started to roll into the fifth epoch, the nights grew longer and colder.   The final epoch was colloquially referred to as the Oscura (the Long Night).  Oscura was just that 100 rotations of darkness.  Starting off cold and after 50 rotations frigidly cold where most Junians avoided long periods of time outside.  The successful villages that attracted youths from the Harvest parties found ways to keep warm with their newest inhabitants that brought new Junians in the epochs to follow.  As the Oscura faded the light start to return and the Long Night drifted off to Renewal. 

All in all the cycle was 500 rotations.  Unlike Eloi, where there were only 4 epochs and more moderate temperatures across the epochs – in some places it seemed like only one epoch – always sun and warm, Juna was a harsher world for a more rugged species.  Even though they did not consciously proceed with a plan, it was no coincidence that the Eloi peoples brought to Juna intermingled to get the best of the best from the Elotian genepool.  Maybe it was the Creator’s plan?

Most of the Junians lived in the middle part of the Northern hemisphere of Juna and the epochs of Juna were very similar across the globe only with some epoch shorter or longer depending on how far north or south you happen to be on the planet.  

There were both fresh water and saltwater seas in Juna spread throughout the world.  Many of the communities in Juna were establish surrounding fresh water supplies but these were too silty to drink and the Junians struggled to cleanse enough of the fresh water from the lakes to have sufficient drinking water.  The crops were hardy enough to survive on any water supply.