Solar System in Santonian
Because of the
already historically well-developed Santonian astronomical sciences and community, Saintonge did not participate when the planetary system bodies were divvied up to be
named. Many of these celestial bodies had common names that were already in use; the
Galtics and Umbrials were historically seafaring and utilise their extensive knowledge of the night sky to navigate, to determine the seasons and the right time for agriculture, and even tell fortunes. (There are some famous Santonian astrologers, even though the Santonian National Church frowns upon such activities.)
Consequently, all bodies within the Eras planetary system (
système solaire) have their own names in Saintonge and Santonian, approved by the
Académie royale des sciences astronomiques (Royal Academy of Astronomical Sciences). This explains each of the names, their equivalent, and their significance, mostly in Santonian mythology. Because they stem from Galtic knowledge of the skies, many of the celestial bodies have Galtic/Bethanian names. Some of the sections for the further planets elaborate on the discovery of the planets within Santonian astronomy, irrespective of historical developments elsewhere.
Soleil
Other name: Jua
The star at the centre of the solar system, the name is from a root that is similar in Umbrial (
sol) and Bethanian (
heol). The current Santonian word descends from the Umbrial word.
Teutatès
Other name: Mot
The first planet from the sun is named after the Galtic tribal protector god. Every 101 days (Teutatès’ orbital period), Galtic tribes used to offer sacrifices to Teutatès. In pre-Umbrial Saintonge, failure to do so courts severe consequences: Antonius Julius Pulius, founder of Placentia (Plaisance), wrote that the Bastarnae (the Galtic tribe hostile to them) suffered a famine in 223 CE because of their negligence to ‘please’ Teutatès.
Épone
Other name: Hakoa
Satellites: Gringolet, Hengroën, Morvarc’h
Épone is the goddess of war in the Galtic pantheon, she is also the horse-goddess. Eras is flanked by the goddess and the god of war (see Ésus below). When all three planets are in syzygy (aligned), wars are said to erupt.
Being closer to the sun, Épone has a faster revolution period than both Eras and Ésus; the planet is thus described as ‘galloping’ in early Santonian astronomy. The goddess is frequently depicted riding a galloping horse, or a chariot being driven by three horses. The three horses – Gringolet, Hengroën, and Morvarc’h – are also the names of the Épone’s satellites.
Terre
Other name: Eras
Satellites:
Lune
Other name: Yama
Lun
Other name: Beiras
The planet where Saintonge is located, Eras is also known as
Terre in Santonian, which is also the word for “land”. It has two moons, with similar names:
Lune and
Lun – the larger one is feminine (
la lune), and the smaller one is masculine (
le lun). In many Galtic, Germand, and Umbrial folk tales, the two moons are typically described as being a sister and brother pair.
Ésus
Other name: Ethra
Satellites:
Kaledvoulc’h (Bethanian spelling) | Caledvoulque (Santonian spelling)
Other name: Yama
Skoedaour (Bethanian spelling) | Scoëdor (Santonian spelling)
Other name: Beiras
The Galtic god of war, Ésus has also been described in mythology as the husband of Épone – although being both war gods, the two frequently quarrel. When the married couple quarrels, the people (
Terre) are caught in between.
The name
Ésus was a frequent cause of confusion because of its similarity to
Jésus, the name of the Messiah in Santonian. (The Conversion of Saintonge were at times either helped or impeded by conflation of the warlike
Ésus, with the peacenik
Jésus.) It was also one of the sources of the folk tale that
Jésus was an alien who came from this planet. Some foreigners were also initially puzzled why Santonians have a planet named after the Messianist saviour. Most confusion has been settled nowadays.
Satellites
Ésus’ two satellites are called
Kaledvoulc’h and
Skoedaour, the Ésus’ mythical sword and shield, respectively.
The next six planets are named after the gods of the six Galtic ‘elements’ – light, metal, life, fire, wind, and water.
Bélénus
Other name: Ru-Yesham
Satellites:
Louth
Other name: Myanak
Davna
Other name: Dikaai
Bélénus is the Galtic god of light, whose name was traditionally translated as ‘the bright one’ or ‘the shining one’. Some Santonian astronomers called
Bélénus as
Lucifer. Favoured and adopted by many Galtic tribes,
Bélénus or its feminised form
Belena, gave rise to the name of at least two modern-day towns:
Beaune in central Saintonge, and
Bienne in the Chartreuse.
Its planetary counterpart has a thick atmosphere of phosphorous, which makes Bélénus brilliant when viewed from earth. Galtic tribes routinely offer sacrifices to Bélénus whenever it can be seen in the night sky on a full moon, the type of sacrifice differs whether it is
la Lune or
le Lun that can be seen.
Satellites
Bélénus’ satellites are named
Louth and
Davna, which are gendered masculine and feminine, respectively. In Galtic mythology, the two are the polar opposites but complementary assistants of Bélénus.
Le Louth represents the ‘immaterial light’ (i.e. ‘energy’), while
La Davna represents the ‘material light’ (i.e. ‘matter’) – a surprising ancient correlation between
energy, matter, and light.
Right Image:
Pionnier 9's image of Bélénus.
Taranus
Other name: Olthyr
The Galtic god of metal, Taranus, was the heftiest among the Galtic pantheon, weighed down by his bulk and metal. It was somehow fitting that the ancient Galts named the largest planet after Taranus, who is usually the main god in the pantheon.
Right Image:
Voyageur 3's image of Taranus.
Satellites
Taranus’ twelve major known moons were named after each of his subordinate gods, one for each metal. The list is below, with Bethanian names given, followed by Santonian names (grammatical gender indicated), then the metal.
- Krysus | le Chrysus (m) – gold
- Arc’hante | l’Arcantine (f) – silver
- Ogunus | l’Ogunus (m) – iron
- Kobre | la Covre (f) – copper
- Arem | l’Arem (m) – bronze
- Brixte | la Brixte (f) - brass
- Staen | le Staën (m) – tin
- Antimone | l’Antimone (f) - antimony
- Snaek | le Snaëc (m) – zinc
- Plombe | la Plombe (f) - lead
- Peutre | le/la Peutre (m/f) - pewter
- Merc’hre | le/la Mercure (*) - mercury
Copper (f) can be combined (in ancient Galtic metallurgical parlance, ‘married’) with tin (m) or zinc (m) to form bronze and brass, respectively, the two ‘half-sibling’ metals.
It is interesting that two of the gods do not fit neatly into the gender duality. Mercury, being the only liquid metal at ordinary temperature, is considered ‘genderfluid’ in a sense, with the god
Mercure taking on masculine or feminine particles and adjectives depending on context. Pewter, on the other hand, was historically an alloy of tin with lead, copper, or antimony. In ancient Galtic metallurgy, the grammatical gender of pewter depends on which metals are mixed to create the pewter. The heavier
le Peutre (“male pewter”) contains lead, while the lighter
la Peutre (“female pewter”) contains either antimony or copper. The god of pewter, therefore was deemed bigender.
Image: Covre (left) and Peutre (right), two of Taranus' moons, during the
Voyageur 3 flyby.
Matrones
Other name: Freya
The furthest planet that could be seen with the naked eye,
Matrones was known to ancient astronomers. Named after the Galtic ‘mother goddess’, it was deemed fitting as it ‘embraces’ the system as the last known planet.
Matrones (always plural) in Galtic mythology is a triune female deity – one goddess, but three different persons (similar to the Holy Trinity). Her three aspects are
Krothe/Crothe (goddess of birth, beginnings, and fertility),
Litave (goddess of life, plenty, and sustenance), and
Érécure (goddess of death, endings, and reuse).
After the introduction of telescopes, early observers (including famed Santonian astronomer Gabriel Bonnejutte) described Matrones having
two planets flanking it – leading some of them to describe that the name Matrones was really apt for the planet. In reality, these two ‘planets’ are the rings of Matrones, which vary in appearance depending on how the planet is oriented to the observer.
Right Image:
Voyageur 3's image of Matrones.
Satellites
Matrones has 58 moons, of which 8 are major moons. These eight major moons are named after the Matrones’ ‘helpers’, eight major female minor deities of the life cycle.
- Rosmerthe – protector during childbirth
- Blentyne – protector of children
- Reizhe - goddess of procreation
- Nearthe - goddess of abundance
- Aine - goddess of love
- Hapie - goddess of luck
- Armethe - goddess of health
- Araune - goddess of the underworld
Image: Blentyne (left) and Aine (right), two of Matrones' moons, during the
Voyageur 3 flyby.
Céraunus
Other name: Abaddon
The son of Bélénus and Érécure in Galtic mythology, Céraunus is the god of fire. Even though it is relatively bright, Céraunus was intermittently described in ancient Galtic and Santonian astronomy as either a wandering star or a comet, mostly because of its slow orbit.
The name was fitting because in Galtic mythology, Céraunus was banished from the heavens. Céraunus, being the god of fire, got too close to Taranus, the god of metal. Céraunus melted and scarred Taranus, leading the big god to expel him from Avalenn, the Galtic heavenly/godly realm.
Santonian astronomer Gabriel Bonnejutte observed Céraunus in 1614-1615, and proposed that Céraunus was a planet and not a star. Bonnejutte computed the orbit of Céraunus and concluded that it must be a planet because of its near-circular orbit. Bonnejutte’s conclusion was further reinforced by other later Santonian astronomers, including Robert-Geoffroy Jonquière (1620) and Alexandre-Claude Clairault (1634). By the end of the 17th century, Céraunus was accepted as a planet in Saintonge.
Right Image:
Voyageur 3's image of Céraunus.
Céraunus has five major satellites, all named after minor Galtic gods involved in fire:
- Govel – god of the forge (who became the mediator/messenger between Céraunus and Taranus)
- Hestée – goddess of the hearth (fires used for domestic purposes such as heating and cooking)
- Aithe – goddess of the kiln (fires used for industrial purposes such as pottery and charcoal)
- Grannus – god of the torch (or candles/lamps, any fire whose main purpose is light)
- Aëd – god of the smoke
Image: Aëd during the
Voyageur 3 flyby.
Sirone
Other name: Rudra
The first recorded scientific Santonian observation of this planet was by astronomer Paul-Charles Lemonnier (the mentor and rumoured lover of fellow astronomer Thibault-Marc Dinocheau) between 1750 and 1769. Initially cataloguing it as a star in the constellation
Draco, this planet was observed again by Dinocheau’s adopted son Maxent-James Dinocheau in 1781. This time, the younger Dinocheau proposed that it was a planet and not a comet or a star, using Lemonnier’s old observations as reference. Following Bonnejutte, Dinocheau computed the orbit for the celestial body. The Royal Academy of Astronomical Sciences accepted Dinocheau’s observation in 1790, after independent confirmation. Dinocheau proposed calling the planet
Sirone, the goddess of wind in Galtic mythology.
Right Image:
Voyageur 3's image of Sirone.
In Galtic mythology, Sirone is the daughter of Bélénus with Crothe (goddess of beginnings, life, and fertility). Sirone is thus the half-sister of fire god Céraunus and water goddess Avete (see below). While her two half-siblings frequently quarrel, the wind goddess Sirone usually acts as an intermediary between the two. (Thus it was considered fitting that the planet Sirone is located between Céraunus and Avete.)
This also extends to when her half-siblings get into trouble: when Céraunus had impregnated Épone, Épone’s husband Ésus the war god challenged Céraunus to battle. Ésus got burnt in the battle, but did not give up. Ésus threatened to call in both Taranus and Avete against Céraunus, which would cause a big battle in Avalenn. Sirone intervened and mediated between Céraunus and Ésus. As compromise, Céraunus allowed Ésus to harness fire in war (hence, ‘firearms’) by giving him gunpowder. In return, Ésus would not kill the son Céraunus sired with Épone. This son, Niscus, was adopted by Ésus and eventually became his loyal assistant. Niscus is considered the god of guns and firearms.
Sirone’s husband is her brother’s follower, Aëd, the god of the smoke. Sirone’s best friend is her sister’s follower, Déatach, the goddess of vapour.
Satellites
Sirone has four major satellites, also named after minor Galtic gods:
- Nemetone – goddess of lightning
- Perkell – god of thunder
- Set – god of storms
- Tamar – goddess of the weather
Image: Perkell during the
Voyageur 3 flyby.
Avete
Other name: Hända
Avete’s existence was hypothesised by Alexandre Colvard in 1824, who published astronomical tables of Avete’s neighbour Sirone. Because Sirone’s orbit deviated from the original computation by Dinocheau, Colvard surmised that another body was perturbing Sirone’s orbit.
In 1845, Raphaël-Alain Guerrier used data from the Alexandrie Observatory to predict where the hypothesised planet could be. He enlisted the help of Plaisance Observatory colleague Alexis-Patrice de Peiresc to search for the planet. On January 1846, de Peiresc found the planet southeast of 8 Leporis, in a position predicted by Guerrier. Guerrier and de Peiresc decided to name the new planet
Avete, after the Galtic goddess of water. Water was the last major Galtic ‘element’ to have a planet associated with it.
Right Image:
Voyageur 3's image of Avete.
In Galtic mythology, the water goddess Avete is the daughter of Bélénus and Litave, the goddess of life, plenty, and sustenance. Like Sirone, Avete is the half-sister of Céraunus but has a more oppositional relationship with her brother (water quenches fire, after all). After Céraunus burnt Taranus, Avete was called in to soothe the big god. Avete convinced Taranus to banish her brother from Avalenn, insisting that Céraunus is a threat to everyone.
When Céraunus left Avalenn, he noticed that people were worshipful of Avete, the water goddess, but not him. Having been called ‘useless’ by Avete, Céraunus decided to make himself useful – the fire god gave mankind the ability to use and control fire.
Satellites
Avete has two major satellites, named after minor Galtic gods associated with water:
- Borée – god of ice
- Déatach – goddess of vapour
Image: Borée during the
Voyageur 3 flyby.
Damien and Côme
Other name: Kaas & Lugen
More observations of Avete suggested that there was another further planet influencing Avete’s orbit. In 1903, the Episcopal University of Plaisance (
Université épiscopale de Plaisance), launched an extensive project to search for this ‘missing’ planet. The Episcopal University of Plaisance is a religious university associated with the Santonian National Church’s Archdiocese of Plaisance. This project was mainly due to the support of then-Archbishop Gabriel-Damien Balandraud of Plaisance, an amateur astronomer.
The project went on a hiatus after Archbishop Balandraud died in 1914. His successor, Archbishop François-Georges Lacroûte, had other priorities and withdrew funding. It was then up to the university to find meagre funding for the project; this was despite the Plaisance Observatory and the University of Plaisance cooperating. Then-Plaisance mayor Philippe-Urbain Bathiard in 1925 characterised the search as ‘an endeavour to being glory to the city, in the field of Santonian science’.
It took thirty years and the help of an unlikely person from Plaisance’s rival city, Côme. Archbishop Lacroûte died in 1929. The diocesan chapter of Plaisance elected the coadjutor archbishop of Côme as its own archbishop. The new Archbishop of Plaisance Maximin-Lenthéric Grandin de Taxandre was a descendant of the famous Grandin de Taxandre family of astronomers. Although Archbishop Grandin de Taxandre was not involved in astronomy himself, he agreed to resume funding after the rector of the Episcopal University of Plaisance approached him for the project.
The funding allowed Plaisance Observatory to have a dedicated astronomer for the search. The project hired Thomas-Baudouin Clédel. In 1933, Clédel used a blink comparator to compare two images. There, in the region of 3 Scorpii, Clédel identified a possible moving object that could be the planet. Clédel and the observatory took more confirmatory photographs and dug through the archives – the planet was imaged previously in 1912!
The Episcopal University and Plaisance Observatory proposed to the Royal Academy of Astronomical Sciences that the planet be named
Damien, irrespective of any other name other countries might use for it, in honour of Archbishop Balandraud.
Damien’s ‘satellite’ was discovered in the 1970s. Damien and its ‘twin’ was considered a double or binary planet. This ‘twin’ was named
Côme, a name considered fitting for many reasons. Saints Cosmas and Damian (
Côme et Damien) are twin martyr saints. Côme is also Plaisance’s twin city (and rival) in the province of the Pouilles; this was also the city where Archbishop Grandin de Taxandre came from.
Damien and Côme are the only Santonian names for the major celestial bodies that do not come from mythology.
