The Blood Moon (SC'20)

Written by Steve Tremblay

In the world of Theria, astronomy has not evolved much beyond "sun means light and daytime", "that moon sure looks like it's really close!" and "would you look at all of those stars...". There is one event however that has gotten the attention of anyone who has seen it...The Blood Moon. Once every 30 years an eclipse event occurs in which the view of the moon enlarges, it darkens to a deep red color and some swear they can see the shadows on it moving and swirling. Those who deal in the occult also say that magic of all sorts is more powerful during the usually 8-10 hour event. Many rituals are planned specifically around the Blood Moon and it is said that blood mages are able to channel more power than normal and this creates an air of fear across the land. The last Blood Moon was only 3 years ago on the 4th of Reng'we, 1263. Of the notable events to come out of that cycle was a column of bright light that shot up into the night sky, visible across much of the globe and hailed as a symbol of divine guidance. The truth of the column of light was indeed a ritual but no blood magic was involved. The pantheon of deities were released from their centuries long imprisonment and the attempted release of thousands of demons was thwarted all in an instant. These events culminated in Arc 1 - Episode #200 but the full story began long before that. The actual, more scientific reason will one day will be discovered by a forward thinking Therian. It is that a large red gas planet causes a long eclipse when it intersects with the systems star. If there is any otherworldly or magical side effects, they are likely just a coincidence but it will be many hundreds, if not thousands of years before that truth is known.