Lunar Fallow

Every hundred or so years, the Vagabond Star, a crimson comet, passes directly in front of Cyllarune’s single moon, an event known as the Grand Eclipse. It is during this event that a weird and terrible transformation known as Lunar Fallow occurs, casting the comet’s strange influence across the world. The moon’s light, magnified through the comet’s aura like a lens, is not a gentle glow, but a searing, transformative radiation that alters living things in unexpected ways.   During the Lunar Fallow, in pockets all across the planet, life is plunged into a state of temporary dormancy. Plants shrivel and turn to dust, animals fall into a deep, deathlike sleep, and even the very stones of the earth seem to lose their vibrancy. The air itself grows still and heavy, and the world becomes a silent, colorless sepulcher.   The Vezhkin, however, fare worse than most. For them, the Lunar Fallow is a time of immense and terrifying change. The eclipse's strange energies cause them to undergo a grotesque and painful transformation.   The eclipse's strange energies cause them to undergo a grotesque and painful transformation. Bones lengthen and grow denser, eyes become sensitive to ultraviolet light, and their skin takes on a roseate, almost pearlescent sheen. These individuals, known as the Star-Touched, are forever changed. They gain an extraordinary resilience and a heightened sense of their surroundings, but often at the cost of their sanity. Many are driven mad by the constant influx of new senses and the excruciating pain of their changing bodies, their minds lost to a primal, celestial madness.   After the eclipse ends and the moon re-emerges, the land blossoms with new life, the animals awaken from their slumber, and the air becomes once again fresh and vibrant. The Star-Touched, however, remain changed forever. They are the living legacy of the Lunar Fallow, not long for the world (mere days if lucky), before the wither and die, their bodies unable to handle their new, transformed state.