Earth (Tierra) names four things: the planet that is the origin of certain companions and the counterpart of Antiterra; Earth as a listening person; the Holy Land of the religions of the book; and material earth.
| Type | Planet / region / concept |
| Spanish entry | Tierra |
Holy Land
Around 1300 it is “a mosaic of fiefs” among “so many people”, worked by “wrath, distrust”. Part is Crusader-held; the companions stand “on the edge, on the Crusaders’ side”. Its peoples rebuild after two centuries of war.
It is a frontier: a Crusader territory founded some twenty years ago, with the Mamluks (“the Mongol Turks, the Chinese Turks”) to the east and one neck to Europe, the County of Edessa: if it falls, “we are cut off”. Genoa is a port of departure; from it sailed an expedition of armed women seeking children lost eighty years before. Within lies Jerusalem (“Do you think we are going to conquer Jerusalem?”).
It is “the sacred”, “Holy Land for the great religions of the book”: a goal of pilgrimage, conquest and reconquest. Orders of knighthood and the eastern front converge there, as do the involuntary invocations of Dante, which “are contaminating the politics” of the figure called Federica.
A higher authority, “the eighth space”, rules that “no permanent port may be established and no commercial enterprise may accompany” expeditions: one may fight and pray, not trade.
The planet
No landscape is given. It is a mechanism whose workings can be “found out”, and “this planet does not yet have permission to have its own ships”. A place called Earth Apocalypse (Tierra Apocalipsis) was involved “to create that fusion” with Antiterra. One passage places Earth “one kilometer” away, from an unstated point.
The listening Earth
Earth as “a person, an essentially psychic fact that has no place”. It listens (“the earth knows what I am saying”), hence: “we must confront those who want to destroy this earth, destroy this home”. A blessing: “may sacred lands open to you”.
Material earth
Compartments under the beds hold “no, it is earth”.
Land of the Seven Rivers
Where Jóuterien stands: seven rivers, “different kinds of mountain”, “a fairly civilized place”.
Conflicting accounts
- The Holy Land is “taken mostly by the Moors” in one voice, “conquered by Hell” in another, a mosaic of Crusader fiefs in a third.
- A territory founded “at most twenty years ago” sits on “200 years of war”; the figures are not reconciled.
Open questions
- What the eighth space is and whence its authority.
- Whether “we come from Earth”, said in the search for Atlantis, means the planet or a region.
- How the Holy Land relates to the planet; the planetary restriction is doubtful by ear.
- Whether the listening Earth is doctrine or one voice’s creed.
- Why earth is stored under beds.