Mistetlys

May the light of the lost guide you this night and allow you safe travel

— Common departure/farewell quote in nordic countries

Geography

Aside from a fabled shrine, the moon's geography is all natural , mostly covered by barren plains and rocky formations, with large openings under the earth, natural caves and fissures. A part of it's formation is having some craters mostly due to the impact of some asteroids. As Mistetlys is not terraformed, it is extremely dangerous for any kind of species to live there, even undead, as the temperatures reaches extremely high and low levels, added to fact the lack of atmosphere makes it unfit for life.
Mistetlys is quite a surprising moon, as she also have a set of five small submoons orbiting around her.

Natural Resources

Mistetlys most valuable ressources are chunk of permafrosted gems called the Moon tears . Inspired by the legend, those dangerously cold to the touch lunar pellets can be usually found inside the earth of the moon, but on some once-in-a-lifetime moments, tectonic activity on the moon provoques some pellets to leave orbital gravity and then get's lured to Arcamunda, falling from the sky. Sharing a light-blue color and an emanating aura, the rocks are valued by spellcaster as they are potent catalyst for ice and light-related magic.

The moon also has varied gasses and resources which are more uncommon on Arcamunda. No viable exploitation is possible yet in the actual timeline.

History

Many astronomers are still debating about the creation and origin of Mistetlys, but a fair amount believe the origin could be coming from a part of Arcamunda's crust colliding with another stellar body, causing a part of it to fragment , but remain in Arcamunda's gravitational effect, making the fragment orbit around it and become a moon. However, this event predates any kind of written or narrated history known to sapient races.
A more romantic storytelling about the moon is the common tale of the Lady and the Crystal, which relates to origin of the Moon Goddess herself:

Long ago, a mother of an enigmatic race that walked the earth before men, was facing a problem. Her only son was afflicted with a rare condition that'd made him unable to travel under the rays of the sun. One day, she heard about a legend, the Crystal that never fades; a unique crystal which was emanating an everburning light blue flame. However, the crystal was owned by another clan, and considered a gift of the gods.
With courage and canny intelligence, she managed to take it, but it wasn't long before the original owners noticed the larceny. She then run away through the barren lands, but soon understood she could not outrun her pursuers, as the crystal was impossible to hide it's extreme light. She also could not come back to her clan, as it would imply a blood war where she could lose the child she loved so much. But as she climbed further upon the mountainside, a strange vision occured to her: the rocks nearby seemed to float in some sort of weightlessness state. with the partially covered crystal's light, she managed to see something similar around those, as if there was a stairways to the skies. She then proceeded to climb further to the unknown, never looking back, in hope her pursuers would give up.
When reaching past the atmosphere, her body started to crystalise and become ice, drifting away in space. As a final act for his son, she removed the crystal out of her bag to unleash the full light of the crystal. If she could not return to whence she came, she might as well offer the light to all that would need it. With a final tear, she reached full crystalisation, becoming a shining ice piece in the cosmos. over the years, her form was merging with other residual spatial rocks; some say it being ancient spatial creatures coming to her to die in a last embrace of light, to finally become the moon we know today. Through her sacrifice, her son could now have traveled Arcamunda at night, blessed by his mother's light.

Cultural Influence

Rumors tell that Lavinia, The Lunar Exarch, established a shrine on the moon, but even the strongest mages have yet to find the optimal measures to travel safely on the moon and see for themselves. An art piece known as 'The Fox Resting in the stars' is a popular interpretation of that shrine, which is claimed by it's author to have seen it during a long lucid dream.
While not being a tourist place itself, the moon, with her connection to an exarch and her a goddess, is the source of various touristic events on Arcamunda: lunar phases, but also eclipses are highly regarded by various cults, especially by the followers of (Goddess) and the Church of the Old Light. It also made some venues popular, like the Astronomy Tower of Oephid , an astral laboratory internationally reckognised as a world wonder.

Type

Planetoid / Moon

Characters in Location

• Lavinia, the Stars Exarch