Socotra is a really cool place in general. Looks like an alien world out there

Didn’t Yemen’s economy in ancient times mostly revolve around the trade of resins that could be burned as ceremonial incense?

There’s an incense named that. I assume it’s not genuine?

Oh, shit. You right.

I ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole about the etymology of Aden, and my findings are that there are competing claims about the origin of the name. (Note: I do not speak Arabic nor do I have an academic background in Semitic languages)

Theory 1: Sumerian eden “plain, desert, steppe, open country” → Akkadian idīnum “desert, steppe, plain” → Arabic ʕadan “Aden”

Theory 2: Akkadian adānum “fixed date, time limit, period of time” → Aramaic ʿeddānā “moment, season, age, time; (Hatra dialect) halting place, station, caravanserai” → dialectal Arabic ʕadān “particular time when something is set; place of remaining, spot where one bides; bank, shore, where water meets land, water end of a journey” → Arabic ʕadan “Aden” (either a direct descendant or a doublet).

ʕadān is also where you get ʕadana “to reside in place; to stay, bide, remain; (with al-bilad) to settle a country, region” from, which is in Arabic script^[1] spelled the same as ʕadan save for the diacritics, hence this map’s claim that that’s what Aden literally means. But it seems like the actual etymological meaning of Aden (in theory 2) is probably something closer to “the station, the inns, the pit stop, the rest area”, alternatively “the end of the line”, alternatively alternatively and most boringly just “the settlement” (Christmas Island sends its regards). The through-line in any case seems to be “this is a port where you can rest between your long voyage at sea and your long voyage over land”.

Also, Sumerian eden and the unreconstructed proto-Semitic ancestor of Akkadian adānum have both been proposed as etyma of Eden of “garden of” fame, which means that there’s a good chance Aden is cognate with Eden either way.

You should watch SPARKLE ON RAVEN: The Life of DrillGirl; it is a very good show. CēterumFurthermore cēnseōI think iūs auctōriscopyright esse dēlendummust be destroyed.

Evil and Intimidating Horse:

Woman after my heart.

Where?

Doug

The mages of the Interior Hollow were known as Dustcatchers, for they share a border with the Arrival of Death and are in constant conflict with them to protect The Water Place from being overtaken.

Bin, a young orphan of the streets, is saved by a man named Joseph Smith. He is a Dustcatcher of Dustcatchers; which are known as Dustborn. Dustborns are able to not only control dust, but also minerals. Joseph, also known across the continent as the White Dustborn, begins to train Bin in controlling the dust. Joseph Smith eventually dies but he passes on the secret to Bin of the highest tier of dust magic; also known as the final particle. Bin eventually kills the Emperor of the Continent, who has spent the last 200 years controlling access to The Water Place.

I am Mormon and this is Book 1 of my first trilogy.