Time of the Cold Moon

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The Sacred Darkness is never stronger than the Time of the Cold Moon. Every 88 years (sometimes varying by a year), the Interloper moon casts a shadow on Helca’s other lunar body, leaving only a silvery corona. It is also a solar eclipse. Helca is bathed in shadow, and the Sacred Darkness protects the Orrish and all dark worshipers run riot in the lands of light for a full day and night cycle. Temperatures drop, and a frost covers everything. Crops fail, blight rears its fangs, and animals sicken. Violence erupts all over the realms. The darkness amplifies suspicions, jealousy, fear, lust, greed, envy and the baser passions. Evil entities with have an affinity to cold become easy to summon. A myriad of strange effects are present during the cycle, some persisting for days after, and some stirring ripples for decades. The event always causes a boost in followers for the Church of Light (their holy ground protects against the cold and darkness), which typically wanes after a few years.

Call of Darkness: The darkness provides a strange, magical sustenance. Pregnancies become batches of 2 or 3 (or more) brood. Those broods are typically enhanced goblins – stronger, meaner, infinitely more vicious. Strange rituals are enacted by the priests of darkness that raise dead priests of the order as powerful mummies in service to the dark lords, though it seems to also prevent any other undead from being created during the same time.

Silver Moon of the Mother: For the Grollen species, the night phase of the Cold Moon becomes a time of increased power for the connection they have with Ezrilus. It is also on these nights that silvered blades are made by smiths. The quenching in silvery moonlight with liquid silver causes it to galvanize to the steel. Weapons of magic are made on such nights, imbued with powers of cold and darkness.

Glittermarch: In the north, the frost covers newborn Exilion, creating the effect of a great lifespan that is immortal. They lose the ability to be fertile in any way and reproduce. Each time this happens, the Blue Wall in the north is strengthened, and “walks” south – scouring the lands and driving back the influence of the Lich Lords. It is also said to awaken the spirits of dead frost giants. However, for each Exilion made immortal, a death knight is born from a pool of corruption in The Deeping. The births of these creatures triggers waves of bitterly cold winds in The Deeping that devastate the population. Coinciding with this, is the cycle of the Night of Thesune every 22 years.

D20 Cold Moon

  • Grollen Characters can sacrifice a single CP once, they gain another use of Channel Divinity
  • For the cycle of the Cold Moon and 2 days beyond, all Swarms have double HP.
  • Frost Beasts: Ice Mepthit, Ice Devils
  • Lycanthropes gain an Edge (+1 AC, +1 CON, +1 WIS)
  • Goblin broods conceived are born Hobgoblins.
  • All Sanity checks are made with Disadvantage.

Incarna Core Cold Moon

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