The Northern Alliance is the coalition that unites the northern territories of Solaria: Axia, the region of science, and Castalia, the region of communication. It also includes Qamar, the northern capital of Altaluna, which the war separated from its twin city.
The Alliance represents the world of science, organization, and structured thought. Here the laws that hold the cosmos and society together are investigated; it is the place where reality is examined, understood, and formalized. In the island’s symbolic language, it is the part of the concept, just as the Southern League is the part of the object.
The Northern Alliance sector: the five notes of the G♭ pentatonic scale.
The capitals
Musical symbolism
The five capitals of the Northern Alliance correspond to the notes of the major pentatonic scale of G♭: G♭ – A♭ – B♭ – D♭ – E♭, that is, the five black keys of the piano.
The Alliance’s pentatonic scale is complementary to that of the Southern League, placed at a distance of a tritone: C and G♭ are in fact two opposing centers, positioned at the maximum possible distance within the division of the octave into twelve semitones. The opposition thus concerns not only the color of the keys, but the entire organization of pitches.
Excluded from both pentatonic scales are the notes F and B, which belong to the two neutral islands and in turn form a tritone: individual conscience in the face of conflict.
Related entries
Southern League
The Seven Nations
The Twelve Capitals
The War
Pentatonic Scale
Chromatic Total and Circle of Fifths