The Compass Rose is the title of the first book in THE ONE ROSE trilogy.
The compass rose is the symbol for the magic in the story, magic based
on the cardinal points of the compass.
For the release of The Barbed Rose I thought I'd share some information about the
Adaran calendar. First off, Adara has nine-day weeks. The six workdays
are numbered, Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday, and so on. The three days
of the week's end are Graceday, Hopeday and Peaceday.
A year is 389 days long, 43 weeks plus two extra days.
Eleven months make up a year, seven of them with 35 days, four of them
with 36 days, which is the cycle of the single moon. Each month is almost
exactly four weeks long.
The eleven Adaran months are:
Miel, Norenda, Orade and Tyrell are the 36-day months.
In my art class, I decided to do my best to come up with my visualization of what the
actual Compass Rose symbol would look like.
Each person gifted with magic has only One gift. If they can waterproof cloth, they can't
bake bread that will last for a month. South magic is more common that any of the others,
West magic is very, very rare.
The painting isn't too far off what I had in mind--though I think I got the ivy
for the East a bit too twisty.
Donis
Lutis
Terris
Miel
Katenda
Norenda
Vendra
Silba
Orade
Forende
Tyrell
North magic--the lightning bolt--deals with inanimate things--earth and
minerals (mining, forging, exploring for minerals), electricity, wind, water.
East magic--the vine--involves beginnings and living things--healing, fertility of
plants, animals and humans, growth, that sort of thing.
South magic--the flame--is for hearth and home, which is why fire is South. South magic
preserves food, waterproofs cloth, even makes better tasting ale.
And West magic--the briar--is everything mysterious, from death to oracles.
