Metsli

Metsli flung the shining orb into the sky. Up it flew, further and further from Galactus. Eventually, it came to a stop and hung there, a shimmering ball of ice, glowing faintly in the night. This was the moon.

Metsli is the deity of the moon, night, and winter. He is also the patron deity of the moon elves. Metsli is the son of Termin and Iva, born during the Era of Creation. Metsli's counterpart and balance is Elena, the deity of the sun, daytime, and summer.

Mythos

Metsli represents the cold and the night, and is sometimes seen as lesser to Elena because of this. Some folk do not the night or the winter as anything but a waste of time or productivity. They feel that they could do much more if the sun never set or if they lived in eternal summer. More commonly, however, folk (especially those who place an emphasis on worshiping Metsli) see the night and the winter as a time of rest and healing, giving the soil and plants time to rejuvenate before the morning or the spring.

In common mythology, Metsli created the moon himself. Metsli recognized that the stars themselves were not enough for the night dwellers to see by, and wished to give them another source of light. He crafted the moon from quicksilver and snow, creating a softly glowing orb, and then placed it in the sky for all to see. The phases of the moon, by this story, are due to the snow melting slowly before Metsli begins to add more back to it.

Feast

The Feast of Metsli takes place on the seventeenth day of second Winter. This marks Midwinter, the shortest day of the year and the furthest from summer. On this day, folk usually celebrate by lighting candles when they wake up and leaving those candles lit until they go to bed. Since the day is so short, the majority of illumination folk have for the time they are awake are these candles.

The feast itself traditionally utilizes the root vegetables, dried and pickled foods, and other non-perishables which are available during this time of year. Despite being a smaller selection than that of the feasts during the growing season, many delectable dishes are made. Each region has its own standard fare, depending on its climate and culture. In area which do not experience the cold winters of the more temperate latitudes, such as those continents closest to the equator, this feast is sometimes overlooked along with the other seasonal feasts. This is mainly because such tropical latitudes do not experience many or any seasonal changes.