Madness of the Mother Moon

Centennial Curse

Many aeons ago, before the Divine Betrayal of the Giants, a family of royal titans enacted a despicable ritual. Melgera, an ancient Cloud Giant Queen, slew her husband and feasted on his flesh. Along with the other cannibals who had taken part in this fell banquet, she rose into the skies, beyond the ken of Gods, and became the Mother Moon. To this day, she is the largest celestial body in the night sky. Pale light spills down from her massive frame, dousing the land in a ghostly hue. A streak of bloody red stains Melgera as a testament to her deplorable deed.

Once every hundred years, the Mother Moon enters her full moon phase. The scarlet mark on her face seems to sizzle like flames. When this fire is set alight, the animals know to cower in their burrows, cover their ears, and close their eyes, for those who do not will succumb to the Madness of the Moon Mother. Amongst the simpler minds of nature's creatures, the curse fills them with an unquenchable thirst for the blood of their own ilk. Even herbivores will strive to dine on their kindred's flesh, falling upon their cadavers like the predators they once despised. Come morning, however, their hysteria will fade. This phenomena is not as fleeting for people.

Bloody Divorce

Courtesy of their higher intelligence, the Humanoid races of Baelonmor are generally more resistant to the meddling influence of the Moons. Most can shirk the unsettling feelings that Melgera evokes, and so the Mother Moon searches diligently for someone particularly vulnerable. Perhaps out of some depraved perception of kinship, she favours brides who feel as disparaged or disenfranchised as she once did. Her foul moonlight offers an imminent escape, but it comes at a dreadful cost - their mind will no longer be their own.

The Mother Moon's Madness roils in the victim's mind, and drives them to feed on their spouse. As the bride undertakes this profane ritual, her stomach will never feel full. Instead, her body will begin to contort and enlarge at an unnatural rate, as every bite is added to her own mass. By the time dawn arrives, she will have more than doubled in size. However, she will now be a horrific monster known as a Moon Bride. Her mind will distort until only a cannibalistic hunger persists. Most will go on a bloody, albeit short, rampage where they brutally murder their family and neighbours until someone grants them a merciful death. Those that survive this initial bloodbath, however, will continue to warp and grow. They will fall upon their hands and feet, and begin to lurch around like some awkward hybrid between a cat and spider. Additional rows of teeth will emerge in their mouths, and their jaws will develop the serpentine ability to detach. So long as they indulge their hunger, they will continue to grow. Legends whisper of twisted behemoths lurking in slumber, patiently awaiting the Mother Moon's return so they may resume their gluttonous feasts.