Aderyn's Cradle

A map of Anora, Aderyn's Cradle is in the top right.

Aderyn's Cradle is the land where the story of Aderyn's Cradle unfolds. It the god Aderyn's domain.

Aderian Society before the Soulfire Crisis

Aderian society consisted of four domains, each managed by a different guild. These guilds acted as administrators and law enforcement over their juristicted domains. The five guilds had internal hierarchies, each with a different guildmaster at the top. Guildmasters were appointed by the Aderian people in each domain.
For each region, there existed 5 guilds total: One for each force. Each guild is defined by crafting and arts with that force as the/a primary source of either energy or materials. Life crafting encompasses all healing, agricultural practices and woodwork/leatherwork/other raw materials originating from living creatures. Fire crafting encompasses not only flame itself, but other (non-light based) heat sources such as lava. Fluid crafting has broad applications and is often hybridized; encompasses alchemy, plumbing/bathing, and hydraulic/wind energy. Light crafting encompasses not only contained light sources (like lanterns), but also in harnessing energy from the Sun, or manipulating other forms of bioluminesence/light sources that are special to Anora (not found in our world). Earth/Stone crafting mainly involves raw materials for construction, tools, or artifacts. There are also hybrid crafts; for example, blacksmithing involves both Earth/Stone crafting (raw materials), and Fire crafting (transformative energy source).

The Alltide

Each land sends 1 guildmaster (from any of the main five guilds: Fluid, Fire, Life, Light or Stone) to represent their people. Only a Guildmaster can represent the people. At the Alltide, the Guildmasters no longer represent their individual guilds (aka, their individual fields of crafting). They only come to represent the people of their region. To refresh, there are a total of four regions: Bayou, Quarry, Iceland, and Desert. Therefore, at each Alltide, there are four Guildmasters and one Oracle.
The Alltide was an annual meetup, the place in which major administrative decisions across all of the Aderian lands were made. Emergency Alltides were called in response to disasters too great for the impacted region(s) to handle on their own, or requiring allied assistance. This would include defensive warfare, and accommodating displaced people across borders. However, regions also acted independently with their own resources prior to this meeting. The panel voted on major decisions democratically, with the four guildmasters (representing their own domain's citizenry), and the oracle acting as the voice of Aderyn (representing objective wisdom).

The Oracle

The oracle was a human who acted as ambassador between humanity and the gods for the Aderian people. Oracles serve until their death, and as reward, directly prior to their death, Aderyn releases them from service and guides them in one final, superior craft, which immortalizes the oracles through their work. Each new oracle is a craftsman that embodies the traits of Aderyn most- free will, creativity, and craft. Upon the death of an oracle, Aderyn speaks to a new craftsman, and guides them (implicitly or explicitly) to creating a great creation within their chosen craft. This crafted item acts as proof of their worthiness.
The oracle wore a sacred textile, said to be spun by the hand of god itself (Aderyn). This textile is the holy cloth the player uses to upgrade. The cloth acts as a medium by which the energies of the trinity (god/man/nature) can be focused together in unison (kind of like a lens). During the Soulfire Crisis, the last Aderian oracle escaped Aderyn's cradle in hopes of keeping a link between Aderyn's cradle and the rest of Ostia’s lands.