In my Glorantha...
>From: "Julian Lord" <jlord_at_free.fr>
and
>S. Ben Melhuish :
>
>> I'm about halfway through the ILH1, and I have a
>question regarding>> the appearance of the Red Moon, and its effects>on Lunar magic.
>>
>> ILH1, on p. 9, says "... the Moon is visible as
>an orb whose surface>> color changes from red to black to red again in a>weekly cycle. ...
>> The available power on which a worshipper can
>draw is determined by>> the perceived phase of the Moon, which varies>depending on where he is
>> in Glorantha."
>>
>> When I read this, I envision a Moon which is red
>on one side and black
>> on the other, and which rotates weekly.
This what it looks like, and what most people on the Surface World believe to be so.
>This is not the case. In fact, the Moon has a
>satellite, called Destix, which radiates Darkness
>on one half of the Moon and projects
>the perceived blackness onto one half, and
>completes
>its orbit over the course of each seven day period
>AKA "week" ;-).
This is a belief promulgated by several Lunar religions, castes and sects. They will tell you it is true, and if you join their cults, then you can go to Destix and see/experience this.
Other cults, including Buserian, clam that no evidence exists for such a body.
Many other knowledgable Lunar spiritual organizations agree with Buserian, or with the Destixites.
Who is right here?
Well, the HW will give you the chance to work it out.
>> Thus, when someone in the
>> Oronin satrapy (to the northwest) sees a red
>Moon, someone in the
>> Kostaddi satrapy (to the southeast) would see
>black.
Yes, that's how I have seen it.
>> An observer in
>> Glamour would look up and see a moon half red and
>half black, with the
>> division between the halves running roughly
>southwest-northeast.
Not to me.
In fact, most observers looking up at the moon, which is more or less overhead, see the face of the Goddess. Her facial features are vaguely visible to most cultists (much more clear than Earth's "man in the moon.") and are quite clear to many devotees, shamans and other such dedicate people. Some claim to even see when she changes her facial jewelry. Astonishingly, most of those who make this claim also see the same jewelry when it is changed!
>> Similarly, a Lunar outside the Glowline to the
>northwest would get a
>> red Moon bonus to her magic use, while one
>outside the Glowline to the
>> southeast (say, in Pavis) would get a black Moon
>penalty.
Yes, that is how I do it.
>> On a related note, how big does (your campaign's
>version of) the Moon
>> appear to be?
To me, about the size of our moon when outside the Glowline.
>Does it appear larger the closer one gets to it ?
Yes, in general, and when directly below it, it can seem to cover a quarter to half of the sky overhead.
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