The Eldritch Moon

The Eldritch Moon is an astronomical phenomenon first observed during the Dragon Wars, and it has continued to appear two or three times a year ever since. It is widely believed to be the result of a ritual performed by the Cult of the Leviathan - though no one can say exactly when it was done, or to what end. Many fear that the true purpose of the Eldritch Moon is to weaken the walls that separate the world from the Beyond, and that each appearance brings us one step closer to apocalypse.

The Eldritch Moon appears only during a full moon, but its arrival is otherwise unpredictable. When it rises, its presence is unmistakable. It shines more brightly than any mundane moon, yet it fails to truly illuminate the world below. Instead, its light is cold and uncanny, casting deep, unnatural shadows with razor-sharp edges - sharp enough, they say, to cut the skin of the world.

Madness and Monsters

When the Eldritch Moon hangs in the sky, the world below begins to unravel. Its steely light reveals things not seen under ordinary illumination - or perhaps reveals what should not be seen. Some believe these visions are always there but hidden; others claim the Moon summons them into existence.

Words twist into alien sigils. Familiar faces flicker and change, revealing strange features beneath the surface. In the deepest shadows, monsters slither through rents in the world, hunting until the cursed light finally dips below the horizon. Those who gaze too long into the Eldritch Moon often question their own senses. More than a few lose them entirely, waking at dawn with blood in their mouths and no memory of the night before.

Shadows, too, become untrustworthy. Under the Moon's influence, they move on their own - and sometimes break free from the objects or people that cast them.

A Variable Curse

The impact of the Eldritch Moon is neither constant nor uniform. Its influence varies by place and by hour, responding to the scars left upon the world.

It is most dangerous in regions shattered by the Dragon Wars. There, amid the ruined cities and battle-blasted landscapes, the residue of a thousand curses stirs beneath the unnatural light. Scenes from the war may play out again - not in memory, but in shadow and blood. Ghosts do not rise, but echoes of slaughter replay themselves on loop, sometimes dragging the living into their rhythm.

In untouched regions - such as the island of Albion - the effects are less lethal, but no less uncanny. Signs may briefly display unpronounceable names, the shadows of trees may strain at their roots, and one might glimpse wrongness in puddles or mirrors. Still, a wide-brimmed hat and lowered eyes are enough to shield the cautious from the worst of it - so long as they do not look directly into the moon's gaze.

The Moon's strength is not constant throughout the night. Its influence builds, hour by hour, reaching its height in the third hour after midnight - a time widely known as the Cursed Hour, or the Witching Hour.

During this time, the world becomes strangely elastic. The landscape shifts. Paths open that were never there before. Doors appear in walls, trees, rivers - leading to places no one can map.

Only the reckless - or the desperate - venture out during the Cursed Hour beneath the Eldritch Moon. And those who return are often... different. Changed. Sometimes they speak in riddles. Sometimes they do not speak at all.

And sometimes, they cast two shadows.