Hi y'all.  This has taken a while, because I kept forgetting to send it to my laptop, from which I do most of my blog posting, so it languished in obscurity in a sad, forgotten folder on a different computer until I remembered to email it to myself.

But now, at long last, a little more of my latest exercise in world-building is ready for your perusal.

Spirits of the Lower Air

The Lower Air encircles the Land, marking out safe boundries beyond which the Land cannot exist.  The purpose of the Air is to provide the Land with breath.  Sound, light, warmth, shadow, cold, and flame all travel through the medium of Air.  And these are not just nameless forces, they are living things, breathed out by the Land.  They are the Spirits of the Lower Air.

Unlike the Spirits of the Land, Spirits of the Lower Air are almost always incorporeal.  They live only in their earthly manifestations, and never step beyond them.  In every shadow is a sprit of shadow, but only in exceptionally rare circumstances will the shadow spirit take any action beyond slowly moving across the wall as the sun passes in the sky.

The Spirits of the Lower Air can be categorized, but some defy easy classification.  Almost every natural occurance or element has a spirit.  The works of Man can sometimes give birth to spirits as well, or perhaps to transform the spirits already inside.  A sword of legend that has slain dragons and kings and lovers might have its own spirit that embues the sword with great power and Will, but not all swords have spirits beyond the iron in their blades.

Some philosophers even doubt the individuality of the Spirits of the Lower Air.  Does a storm spirit retire to his bed when the storm abates, only to return for a new storm?  Or does each new storm have a spirit that lives and dies within the span of the storm?  The Spirits themselves are little help in answering the question.  Their perception of time is different than that of Men.  While a spirit can understand such concepts as "wait until later" or "before this, that," it will be utterly baffled by such questions as "when were you born?" or "How long have you lived?"  In fact, most Spirits of the Lower Air can only speak of concrete, immediate things, and seldom speak at all other than to acknowledge commands.

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Gamespeak: Spirits of the Lower Air have pretty simple balliwiks.  A Fire spirit can make things burn, keep things from burning, and control fire to a limited extent.  A really powerful Fire spirit might be able to make water burn, but most couldn't.

I'm thinking that Spirits of the Lower Air will have limits to their duration.  I'll probably get into this more in the magic section, but the basic idea is that if you summon a fire spirit and take it out of the fire, it can only last so long, and as it expends its energy, it gets weaker and will discorporate sooner.

Anchoring the spirit in some way could give it longer time duration.

Spirits can only be called up within their elements.  To summon a fire spirit, you need a fire, and the bigger the fire, the bigger the spirit you could summon.  Human manufacture changes what spirits are available.  For instance, a lump of raw iron ore could be used to summon a rock spirit, but if that iron were smelted and refined and beaten into a sword, the spirit would then be a sword spirit.  If the sword were broken, the sword spirit would die (only to live again if the sword were somehow re-forged) and those particular fragments of iron might not be useful to summon anything anymore.
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Spirits of the Greater Air

Beyond the Land and Lower Air is the perfect Celestial realm.  Men cannot go there, and nothing from the Celestial spheres can easily enter the land.  The Lunar Sphere marks the barrier between the Lower and Greater Air.  Naturally, this means that on nights when the moon is dark, the barrier is weaker.  New Moons are times of portent.  Lunar eclipses are major events.

The Spirits of the Greater Air are both most and least like men above all other spirits.  They understand the passage of time as Men do, although as immortal beings they see more of it pass.  Unlike spirits of the Lower Air, the Spirits of the Greater Air are visible to human eyes, hanging in the sky.  The barrier of the Lunar Sphere separates Man from the Spirits of the Greater Air.  Men can call upon them, but cannot summon them or bind them, and Spirits of the Greater Air never touch the Land.  When a star falls, the spirit is consumed and destroyed, leaving only a shard of stone.  This stone, when found by Men, is of great power, but is no longer a spirit.

Legends say this is not always true.  Sometimes, a Spirit of the Greater Air longs so deeply for the Land that he might fall from the sky and survive, diminished in power and cast into the form of a man or beast.

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Gamespeak: as an unabashed fan of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, I am very likely to include rules for fallen stars, but I'm not completely decided.  At the moment, this is a very "human" setting.  Adding any sort of demihuman should not be done lightly.
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The Greater Air is marked by spheres encircling the Land like nested dolls.  Each Sphere is the domain of one of the most powerful spirits of the Greater Air, the Spirits who shape the destiny of the Land.  Men all recognize these Spirits in some form, although the details, and even the names, might differ.

First is the Lunar Sphere.  The Moon is one of the two Spirits closest to the Land, and the one that gives it light in the darkness.  She (although the Spirits are not bound by human sex, the Moon is almost always seen as a female spirit by the peoples of the Land) represents Life in its physical, changing aspects: fertility, birth, aging, and eventual death, plants, animals, and the like.  The Spirit of the Moon seeks to elevate mankind by bringing Man into harmony with the Land.

Second is the Solar Sphere.  The Sun is the second Spirit closest to Man, and brings life-giving light to the Land.  Without Light, the Land would be cold, dead, and unseen.  The Spirit of the Sun holding purvue over life, healing, purity, and inspiration.  His are the spiritual domains of life, and he seeks to elevate Men's souls.

Next is the Mercurial Sphere.  The Dawnstar treasures knowledge above all else.  This includes philosophy,  secrets, and languages.  It is the Spirit of Mercury who orders the Stars to reveal the secrets of the universe.

(aside: Yes, I know that the morning star and the evening star were really both Venus.  Work with me here)

Fourth is the Venusian Sphere.  The Spirit of Venus is concerned with the "soft" or "gentle" emotions, and seeks to elevate Man through love, beauty, and art.  She inspires poets and romantics.

Fifth is the Martian Sphere.  The Red Star is the star of War.  The Spirit of Mars finds elevation in conflict: constant striving, challenging, biting, scratching for advantage.  The Red Star finds Men at their best in the midst of a struggle.

Sixth is the Jovian Sphere.  The Spirit of Jove admires all forms of strength, and believes the best way for Man to ascend is through the wisdom and strength of kings.  It is by Jove's will that a Lord may rule his Land.

The seventh, and final Sphere is the Saturnian Sphere.  Beyond this, is the Abyss.  The Spirit of Saturn sets limits.  He separated the Land from the Air, and the Lower Air from the Greater Air.  He separates life from death and day from night. 

Within the Celestial Spheres, there are countless stars.  Each is aligned with one of the Greater Lights, serving and supplimenting it.  Some of these are part of the celestial chorus, singing the eternal music of the Spheres.  Others take a direct interest in human affairs, watching life play out far below.

When Men send up prayers and sacrifices to the Celestial Spheres, the Spirits hear them.  For reasons of their own, they sometimes deign to answer.

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Gamespeak: Spirits of the Greater Air are essentially gods and angels.  They don't often communicate with individuals.  The greatest of them don't even really care about countries or dynasties.  They're only interested in the ideals they represent, and exert constant subtle influence to promote those ideals.  Mars' light shines down on men and makes them dream of war and blood and glory.  Lesser spirits associated with Mars might communicate with specific men, but only rarely.  Men can pray to the gods, and by doing so can forge a slightly stronger connection to them, which sometimes results in minor miracles.

The big exception to this will be discussed in the magic section.
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So, that's it for now.  Spirits of the Underworld and of the Deep remain, and are actually not written yet.  I'm trying (futily) to do NaNoWriMo again this year, so I probably won't have time to get to them for a couple weeks, at least.