The Kingdom of Metamoor

Lets take a look at the general world of Metamoor: The language, inhabitants, weather and means of transportation. But also the few landscapes and locations that lie outside the

 city of Meridian, the small towns and earldoms that get mentioned briefly.

 

Landscapes and Locations

The way it seems, 'Meridian' doesn't only refer to the city we get to see so often. There are hills and villages, forests that, too seem to belong to 'Meridian' and then we have earldoms with a different name, probably not belonging to 'Meridian'. One of them is Idier. It is named by Elyon's council because there are protests in the town of Hely. My theory regarding the world of Metamoor is that  'Meridian' is the name for both the main city and the region it is located in. Around it are several earldoms, whose names we don't get to know apart from one. It's the only way I can imagine most of these contradictions to fit together. But I'm sure it's only one of many possible explanations.

 

Not too far from the castle, but outside the city borders is the tower of protectors. Here the council gathers to help Elyon with her rule, informing her of all that's happening within the kingdom.

 

The region of 'Meridian' appears to stretch all the way to the four knight towers, the biggest being the Tower of Grendal. Elyon decides to visit this tower in the Elyon Special since it is the highest of the four and offers a view of the kingdom beyond Meridian. It takes her three days by horse from castle to tower if she rides through a smaller forest, the village of Kedy and a group of hills. Vathek says there is a shortcut through the Forest of Mold that will save them a day's ride. The area directly around the tower resembles a canyon with sandy rocks. Under the great tower, an city has been built for refugees, fleeing from Phobos' rule. After Elyon was captured, she proved that things have changed for the better and called on the people to return to their villages.

 

The Shir Valley, a simple farming area, lies approximately half a day to a day's ride away from the castle which means it probably still belongs to Meridian. For centuries a magical prison appeared here every 20 years, staying for three days until moving on. The prison was surrounded by a thick cloud and an aura of evil, causing residents and animals alike to hide within their homes until the prison had moved on. In the Elyon and Caleb special the prison breaks its cycle, staying in Meridian longer, drawing energy from Elyon. In order to save her, Caleb sets out with the sword of the Escanor Dynasty, beats the master of the prison and frees its prisoners, giving them an uninhabited world somewhere away from Meridian.

 

Further away from the tower of Grendal, possibly already in one of the earldoms, lies the village Gohmor, sitting on the slopes of the Walvin mountains. Vathek was born there and knows the land around it and to Meridian very well. If we go through several views from the castle in Meridian, we often spot forest and mountains past the lines of houses. Either Meridian is surrounded by mountains in general, or these could be the mountains Vathek is speaking of.

 

Another name that is being dropped is the River Nut where a dam is being built, making it a considerably large river.  There is no way of knowing if it belongs to the region of 'Meridian' or not.


Inhabitants

We see a lot of different faces in Metamoor: Most are blue, orange or green in colour with bright stone-like excesses, dark spots or stripes and pointed or floppy long ears. Some residents have tails and an overall lizard-like appearance and, crawling on walls, while the gardener Daltar with his family, Galgheita and Cedric in his 'snake' form have red markings on their faces and a body that looks quite different again from the rest of the people. In the Elyon Special, Vathek says that the world belonged to the Galhot, the local populace. Question is if he meant all of the named above, if he was only referring to one of them or something else all together.

 

Then we have half-human looking characters like Caleb, his friend from the Elyon and Caleb Special (both with whisperer stripes on their faces) and a young man from Elyon's diary (spots on the neck). Theoretically these could be whisperers who rebelled or the boy could be the child of a human descendant and a Galhot. We just know they're there.

 

 

Finally we have the fully human characters (leaving the royals out for now) like the painter Elias Van Dahl, the alchemist Jonathan Ludmoor and Cedric in his human form. All three don't seem to be related by blood to the royal family, at least they never state anything that would indicate this, but all three worked for the royals. At least Ludmoor and Van Dahl were said to having been born in Meridian. There are different ideas on how they fit into the universe: They could be descendants from former royals, the brothers or sisters that did not become ruler of Metamoor but still had family. Or they could be related to one of the knights that were mentioned in the legend of Escanor, by now some generations down of cause, however I think we'd see more humans around in that case. A completely different theory is that they simply decided to look human. Galgheita, Alborn and Miriadel are capable of changing from their Metamooran appearance to a human one, just like we see Cedric change form multiple times and in issue 8 Cedric says to a group of Metamoorians that they should simply change their appearance in order to fit in on Earth.


Festivals

When everything is bursting with colors and flowers, the harvest festival takes place. Wagons come from all over the world to the capital Meridian with the 'fruit' of the land to be shared and exchanged with villagers and travelers from afar. 

The streets are decorated with flowers, garlands and ribbons, the people wear flower wreaths and dance and make music. The atmosphere is light and joyous. 

The main event is a big banquet anyone can join to celebrate the harvest. At the end of the festival anything that is left over is shared equally among all participants. Something queen Elyon introduced after taking the throne. 

 

This is the only festival we know of.


Weather, Seasons & Luminaries

The weather in Metamoor depends highly on how the world itself is faring (which makes sense if you think about it). This means that during Phobos' reign, the sky was almost always dark and cloudy, a blue gloom covering the world. Once Elyon takes the throne however, we only see sunny days, blossoming flowers and lovely orange sunsets.

 

According to Elyon's diary the temperatures are never too cold and never too warm and indeed we never see anyone wear shorter clothes or warmer ones for that matter. The only time Meridian is covered in snow is in the Cornelia and Caleb special. 

Back to Elyon's diary, she writes of two seasons: Aran and Thoron. Aran is like a warm spring where flowers and trees bloom, while Thoron is like a long, fresh autumn. 

 

One thing we cannot be sure about is whether or not it rains in Meridian. In one of the early issues, Elyon draws rain, saying it reminds her of Heatherfield, which indicates that she hasn't seen any in Meridian yet and across all issues, there is no rain to be seen. The only time is when Phobos speaks of the poverty of the people. In the pictures accompanying his description we see a Galhot wading through slick and wet mud with something that could be rain in the distance and a family with a leaking roof. Maybe the rain is restricted to a certain time of the Metamooran year?

There is definitely a source of daylight in Metamoor. As for the sun, we only see the typical bright circle in the sky once, in issue 44. It seems considerably big. Apart from that one panel, we have other indicators of the sun for example rays of light coming from the sky and there is a time towards the end of a day where the sky is painted orange and red, much like a sunset.

We never see the moon, only a dark blue sky, sometimes a few stars. In the Elyon special we see this small panel on the left, showing something like an eclipse. So the world has a moon that's blocked off by another luminary? Or is it the sun that's being blocked by one and  causes night on Metamoor in the first place?


Means of Transportation

Within the city of Meridian most people travel simply by walking, so on foot. Some of the inhabitants are capable of climbing walls so it's possible they move from one place to another like that. The royal family usually takes a white carriage with a golden crown on its top, drawn by three horses. For longer trips outside the city, the local horses are used. For the transportation of goods we see wooden carts drawn by one to two horses.


Despite these rather normal ways of transport we also find some magical ways of movement: Phobos for example can be seen floating about on several occasions. Cedric and Galgheita vanish to appear at another place again. Cedric and later the W.i.t.c.h. girls too use the big seals inside the castle to teleport into the Abyss of Shadows, a place underneath the castle. Finally, in the Elyon special an elevator. A glass tube with a floating platform that moves.

We also see Elyon and Cedric both use magic to create bubbles around people, letting them float. However they usually stand or walk beside them themselves which is curious since this would be a good way to transport goods or maybe even oneself.


Currency

 

There's no indication of an actual currency in Meridian but at least Irma manages to trade a watch from a cereal box for a map of the city. So maybe they just have an object trading system or one of services?