A Gidat is a spiritual leader.  There is only one Gidat at any given time.  They are the Keepers of the Light, Teachers of the Purpose, and most importantly they are the Hearers of the Voice. 

There are lesser gidats and from those the next Gidat is chosen.  Minkos was the first Gidat, Etfirsun, and T'Gan is the last Gidat, Etlasun.  In T'Gan's time Gidats and lesser gidats had been hunted and killed by the Evil King of Sadat.  Only a handful remained.

This is how the characters refer to seasons.  It is part of the Sadatian language. 

Seso = season 

Gro = growing 

Wam = warm 

Gat = gathering  

Ded = dead

So combine all those together and you get:

Groseso = growing season

Wamseso = warm season

Gatseso = gathering season

Dedseso = dead season

The real world equivilants would be: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.   

They come from "swift creatures" which are similar to deer, elk, carribou, etc.  They are large herbivores that feed off of grasses, greens, and bark.  They are hunted and used for food and their hides are made into blankets, tents, and swifts.  The term swift is used to refer to any article of clothing made from the swift creatures. 

I did.  It was a painting I created almost three years ago.  It sits on my desk at work.  It actually started as a doodle.  I would draw these over and over in class trying my best to pay attention.

One morning I watched the sunrise.  All these beautiful colors burst forth and the trees were so striking against such a brilliant backdrop.  So I took those trees that I doodled so often and I painted what I saw. 

I wanted something interesting for the cover of my book and the painting fit.  I had always envisioned the symbol of Sadat to be a tree and this tree was perfect.