>> I've thought about this as well, but then I remembered hearing >> that the Red Moon probably stays the same height everywhere in >> Glorantha, except within the Glowline. I think this is in print >> somewhere, or maybe it has been discussed here on the Digest. >> Don't know what I prefer though, but since the RM is kind of >> "in-between" the Inner Plane and the Godplane, I think it >> makes sense and becomes a lot creepier if it stays the same height.
Alex
> That's my understanding also. The RM isn't *quite* in the sky world,
> but is very nearly so, and even more so (in some sense I shall make
> imprecise...) in the Glowline.
Ah, that's easy. Within the Glowline, the sky world is closer to the surface world, as is fitting for the Dara Happan Empire.
> So it doesn't look like it's at any
> finite, sensible height above the lozenge, but it doesn't *quite*
> look like a normal sky object either. (Even above it being
> non-rotating, non-tilting, and non-rise-and-setting...)
I wonder about the "Wintertop Moonshadow zone"... most of that is Exile or Beast Valley territory, then (possibly) Shadow Plateau (unless that's so far up that you're within the eye of the moon again).
> Personally I like the idea of there being eclipses. YgregMV. ;-)
> Too often and too predictable would be boring, though... However,
> the fact that the RM is stationary (possible bobbing and weaving aside!)
> takes away a good deal of the unpredictability we get in the RW.
> So maybe we need to add that back in... To add to the "lunchbreak"
> possibility, I'll float a couple of possibilities:
> o Variable moon size. If the apparent size of the lunar
> disk changes, then we can eliminate the total eclipses
> entirely. Partial and annular eclipses are much
> less dramatic phenomena than totals, than still
> "noticeable".
The apparent size or shape for casting the Lunar shadow can of course be much larger than the red body itself. There is this Shadow creeping over the Lunar surface, which may well extend into the surrounding sky. Thus the effect of the eclipse may depend on the position of that searchlight shadow...
> o Variable lunar appearance. As I mentioned above, the
> "distance" of the moon is a little strange. It's
> possible that when the sun goes behind the moon, it
> doesn't _look_ like an eclipse at all -- the solar
> disk is obviously still obscured, but if the effective
> lunar "distance" were much less, it would only look
> like a heavily cloudy day, in terms of illumination.
> Now, _why_ this would be variable I have no idea, much
> less on what basis, but it's not impossible.
Clouds of that density do remind you of eclipses... and you get roving shadows in Dagori Inkarth and possibly atop Shadow Plateau which are in effect moving eclipses.
Hmm. When the moon crashes down, does this mean that this giant shadow creeping all over half of its surface gets to creep over the Surface World? Groovy, can you imagine the nomad trolls following it on their caravan cities? There is a cool issue of Valerian and Veronique with the perfect illustrations for this...
BTW, any official word on the Lunar phases within the Silver Shadow? Observable: probably, but rather as a direction? "There's alwas half moon in the Silver Shadow"?
> A related factor might be other planets. Dire portent-laden celestial
> events seem to be not so much simple eclipses, but _conjunctions_
> of certain sorts.
Not that an eclipse isn't a special case of a conjunction...
> (Like the Doom same, most obviously.) Maybe such
> conjunctions can in some way change the appearance of potential
> eclipsing events in some way (though again, it's not immediately
> evident why this would be so).
Most such conjunctions are observable only at night or during eclipses (unless you're a Buseri).
> Anyone notice about half the last Digest was about this celestial
> guff? Truly we must be in the last of days. ;-)
The Hero Wars are coming...
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