Northern hemisphere of Asidian

Visiting the north without knowing when to go is perilous. One must know when to arrive. On your journey north, when the green of the trees is turning violet and the air feels dryer and colder, go no further. Quick, turn back, wait until the days are brighter and the warmth has returned or you might not make it.

  The northern hemisphere of the small planet Asidian is in an eternal state of summer. The planet's tilt makes it so. This is a beautiful place. Vast dense forests cover much of the land, with trees reaching the clouds. Roaring rivers, full of fish, and great planes rich in fauna and game. A perfect place to settle and build a thriving community.  

The Good and Bad periods

However, the northern hemisphere of Asidian is also a mysterious place. Here are no seasons as we know them. But something else. An annual cycle that affects all living beings. Every year, at the time of the first equinox the air turns grim. It becomes dense and sad. A heavy vale of sorrow covers the whole hemisphere, from the tropic to the pole. It feeds on ambition and potential, draining all living beings of their vitality; plants, animals and people alike. The change is gradual, brutal, and slowly corrupts the land.   Vegetation gives up and die, turning the lands brown and dry. Great storms of anxiety and disbelief erode the dry plants, clouding the sun and turning the sky dark. Animals wander around aimlessly, without any sense of being, dying of hunger if they are not strong enough.   People do live here. Farming the lands during the good period, preparing all year for the bad. As the sorrow sweeps in they will lock themselves in their houses staying there until it is over. Those not fortunate enough to be prepared, locked inside a house, will roam around; mourning, crying, feeling the hopelessness and melancholy consume them. Eventually attacked and killed by a disillusioned animal or person.   The bad period reaches its peak after a couple of months and then magically retreat, slowly returning hope. The skies clear and dead vegetation nourish new plants as they regrow. The good period has started and will continue until the next equinox.