Mistic Pets

Welcome to Issue 22
Created by The Mistic Pets Team

Mistica's Houses Through the Ages, Part II
Written By Valkyrie

In the last article we took a literary journey across Mistica's landscape and touched on the development of the different types of homes found there. In this article, we will look to the sky and seek out the structures found on the moons that fill our horizon. While doing research for this article I stumbled across ancient scrolls describing the landscapes and habitats for Himilia the Red, Europa the Blue, and Lysithea the Broken. Many of my colleagues argue that the scrolls are works of fiction; I will leave the descision up to you. So, make yourself a cup of tea, get comfy, and let's take a trip to the moons.

Himilia the Red is the second largest moon, visible only at night. Through a telescope you can see what appears to be large craters pocking the surface. According to the scrolls, these aren`t craters, but individual cities. Along the outer rim of each city are the personal structures/homes and the closer to the bottom you get the more businesses you find. In the center is the city hall. Dwellings are carved from solid rock, ensuring that they'll still be standing hundreds of years from now. The houses -- or rather, the caves -- are passed down from generation to generation. There is also speculation that this is where the Ahbruis originated; at night you can still hear the homesick Ahbruis howling at their long estranged home.

Europa the Blue's atmosphere is much denser and colder than that of Mistica. The Europian atmosphere supports blue opaque clouds made of corbolic acid. Unlike Mistica, Europa lacks a magnetic field. Its ionosphere separates the atmosphere from outer space and the solar wind. This ionized layer exudes the solar magnetic field, giving Europa a distinct magnetic environment. Despite the harsh conditions on the surface, the atmospheric pressure and temperature a mile above the surface of the planet is nearly the same as that of the Mistica's, making its upper atmosphere the most Mistica-like area in the Solar System, even more so than the surface of Lysithea.

The magnetic environment would require a very muscular species. They would have to learn to create homes of solid ice similar to the igloos found on Diamond Glacier Domain. These dwellings would be temporary because of the rapidly changing seasons. The surface of Europa offers very little besides ice to build with so, as the ice melts the inhabitants must chase the winter season or they risk homelessness. A multi-creature ice dwelling could take as little as one Europian day to build. These houses would last 2 weeks before the rising temperatures would force its inhabitants to move once more. Their cooking utensils, weapons and ornaments could be created from cosmic debris. The magnetic atmosphere pulls passing asteroids down. The same atmosphere smashes the debri into small pieces, leaving nothing large enough to use in construction. Perhaps in a later article we will explore more of the strange existence of the Europian dwellers.

Concerning Lysithea the Broken, there are multiple myths and legends. While this is a subject that fascinates me, we can only touch on one for this article. The story I am about to share is the only one that makes any mention of a house there. Lysithea is said to be the oldest moon in existence, the fracture that is seen so clearly by day and night occurring right after Mistica came to be. According to the scrolls this was where our deities dwelt.

Our Goddess Pandoria and her sister (who until now was un-named), Ansidoria, shared a beautiful home. The walls were constructed of azurite and emeralds; the floor made of moonstone. It was reportedly a gift from their father (whose name has been lost somewhere in history). The two lived alone in this house, gazing for centuries from the windows out at the surrounding stars with only each other as company. Inspired by their childhood teachings of mystical beings and adventures, Pandoria created Mistica. Ansidoria was enraged at the division in her sister's attention and demanded that Mistica be returned to the cosmic dust from which it was created. Pandoria refused and the sisters split their house (and in turn their planet) between them. The division shattered the gems in the walls and floors. Pandoria still carries a piece of the moonstone floor in her staff to this day.

In conclusion I would like to say that this journey has taken me further than I would have ever imagined while doing my research. I have seen volcanoes erupt and fire sweep across towns. I`ve seen jungles and deep forests, not to mention swamps. Regardless of the differences in location, I have discovered that what makes a home is the desire for a safe place to live, a place that belongs solely to a family or the individual. Whether the walls are made of reeds, cement, wood, ice or gem stones, it is the desire for a sense of belonging somewhere that drives us to challenge our environments and construct a dwelling with whatever the world provides us. So, hang a sign above your door that says, "Home Sweet Home," and mean it.

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