The Dimming

It was as if the sun had a giant wick and someone had just turned it down. The light slowly seeped from the sky, and in a matter of minutes the sun was no brighter than the Grey Moon.

The day the sun went out, will probably be remembered in one form or another for as long as people continue to exist. Although technically speaking the sun didn't actually go out, it did become so dim as to have almost the same effect. At least upon its light source. Curiously the temperature didn't seem to drop that noticeably, although the significance of this fact was probably lost on most folk.
While the initial event caused a bit of a stir, eclispses had hapened before and most people thought this was just such a thing. The few Astronomers who resided upon the planet at this time, reaslised horrifyingly that this was not the case. When after a few minutes, the sun still had not made an appearance, the general panic level of the planet went up a notch, after a few hours there were angry protests and "emergency measures". When the sun failed to be any different the following morning, things escalated rather quickly.
While the initial panic caused a variety effects upon the peoples and nations of the world, the failure of the common food crops soon became the prime focus of the whole world as famine broke out the lands. Kingdoms and leaders struggled to keep control, some falling to more draconian methods than others, which in iteself caused even more problems.
The arrival of the "Constellations" at the same time, again caused a variety of responses from around the world. Quite a few chose to ignore them, especially those who were dealing with what they considered bigger problems. Some took them as a religious sign, either for good or ill, some as the end of the world, and a small few with the curiosity and igenuity required to perhaps this understand this phenomenon.