Dark Days

During the Age of Ascension, astronomers mapped the Movement of the Three Suns and identified a fourth large and lightless object in the sky that each of the suns periodically disappear behind. The name for this object varies among cultures, but it is most commonly called the Skygate due to some organizations believing it to a be a hole in the Void through which the suns exit to and enter from the Beyond. It was hypothesized that all Three Suns could align behind the Skygate for a short period, robbing Aroka of all light. However, if this event occurred during the Age of Ascension, it was never recorded nor did it seem that it was anticipated.

This changed after the First Firefall. Few traveled the world's surface during the Age of Ice and the ashen skies made it difficult to track the motion of the Three Suns. However, once Aroka's inhabitants returned to the warming surface and began the Age of Reclamation, it was clear that the Movement of the Three Suns had changed. Each year, there was a single day in which no sunlight reached the planet for a portion of the day. Concerningly, this period grew longer each year. In the 12th year of the Age of Reclamation, no sunlight reached Aroka for a full day. This was the first Dark Day.

This period posed a unique threat to the inhabitants of Aroka as it allowed creatures and peoples that thrived in the depths and preyed on them in the lightless underworld during the Age of Ice to continue their hunt on the surface. While many inhabitants of the Deeplands are unaccustomed to sunlight, it was the Blindfolk and the creatures they tamed in the depths of the earth that could not stand The Light of the Three Suns. Even torchlight could be enough to keep them at bay. They made up for this debilitation with unprecedented hunting abilities in absolutely no light. Nightly attacks were deadly enough, but they were manageable by closing off their cave entrances and lighting fires to repel them. However, these annual extended periods of darkness brought for these creatures in greater numbers and for longer hunts.

As the years passed, the Dark Day grew in length until it became two full Dark Days in the 136th year of the Age of Reclamation. It extended to three days in the year 260, four in 384, and five in 508. As the Dark Days lengthened, the cooling effect from the lack of sunlight increased. First, it was increased rainfall and flash floods, them snow and frost, and then hail and the freezing of all water features. The severity of these effects varied by latitude, but by the beginning of the Tryvyum Trade Era in the 287th year of the Age of Reclamation, even the tropical oceans would begin to freeze before sunlight returned to the world.

The most reliable way to survive the Dark Days was to construct a bunker or series of bunkers in which to take refuge and wait out the hunters and frost. Larger communities with the resources to builds walls and defense and had the means to warm their structures could remain on the surface. Additionally, nations such as Cogys used their technology to create enough heat and light to repel both the cold and the monsters.

Regardless of how communities weather the Dark Days, there is always a First Light Celebration held after it has passed.