Eclipse
Eclipses are mysterious events where the light of either the Moon or the Sun are fully or partially blocked. There are many kinds of eclipse, and each have their own properties.
Lunar Eclipse
Lunar Eclipses only occur at the Full Moon, and can be seen from anywhere where night has fallen. They are often caused by Alusia, or other celestial body, shadowing the Moon, preventing it from receiving any light from the Sun. There are various reasons why shadows covers the moon occasionally, from black magic, to draconic rituals, to cyclical variations in the ether.
Solar Eclipse
Solar eclipses can only be seen from a small portion of the earth's surface. While they are as common as lunar eclipses (1-3 a year), the small surface area from which they can be observed makes them seem much rarer. They are caused by a large body, such as the moon, interposing itself between a part of the earth and the sun.
Cyclical Eclipse
Some Solar and Lunar Eclipses naturally fall into cycles. Close study of these cycles allows astrologers and navigators to predict the timing of the next eclipse, and its location. These eclipses have little, if any, supernatural import. The most common predictive cycle is every 18 years or so. Accurate predictive cycles are not yet known, except presumably by the Dragon Saros who causes them.
Prophetic Eclipse
Prophetic or Oracular Eclipses are those which, rather than being foretold, themselves foretell a great event. They are mystical and inherantly unpredictable, being themselves an omen of a future event. These Eclipses are very rare. One was observed over Novadom on the 15th of Snow 797 WK
Magical Eclipse
The most common eclipse is a localised magical eclipse. There are many items and mages who can block out the sun or moon, cause them to rise or set early, etc. Most of these magicks occur in a localised area - either a small number of feet, or within a defined horizon of the Adept, usually around 30 miles. They are usually discounted by the serious student of eclipses as quasi-magical quackery and not worthy of further comment.
Eclipse Coverage
A Full Eclipse occurs when the entire Moon (or Sun) is blocked by the intervening celestial body or shadow. A Partial Eclipse occurs when only part of the Moon (or Sun) is blocked by the intervening celestial body or shadow. There is also an Annular Eclipse, where the apparent size of the moon is slightly smaller than the sun, preventing total coverage.
A Lunar Eclipse is the same for all observers, but may vary between Full and Partial over the period of the eclipse, which may be up to an hour. The moon can either completely vanish as it passes into the shadow, or take on varying shades of red. A Blood Red moon indicates a major catastrophe, usually involving lots of death.
A total or annular solar eclipse lasts only for a few minutes, and only those experiencing it in the Band of Totality will see a Full Eclipse, the rest only a Partial Eclipse. During Totality the light from the sun is covered by the moon and the ambient light fades to twilight (0%). Many of the bright stars will be visible. The faint solar corona can be observed only at this time. During an annular it appears that a bright ring surrounds the black moon.
Dangers
Do NOT stare directly at the sun. This will result in blindness which can only be cured by the attentions of a Rank 10 Healer. The only magical protection known is a Rank 15+ Protection from Light. Only during full Totality is it safe to observe directly. Lunar Eclipses are not dangerous, except in what they portend.
Correctly predicting a Prophetic Eclipse will get the Fates angry at you. At this point, you are irretrievably doomed, and will suffer for all eternity.
Not predicting an Eclipse may make Sun or Moon Cultists angry, but they are likely to sacrifice you at the next noon (or full moon), so any concerns are likely to be short-lived.
The Dragon Saros
There is an ancient Dragon of the Celestial Firmament called Saros who keeps the Moon and Sun in their strict harmonic motions. It is possible that some of the more unusual Lunar Eclipses are caused by Saros occluding the moon with its wings. Unexpected Calendar variations such as leap years may occur when this usually attentive dragon falls asleep, is distracted, or engaged in other pressing business. The complexities of Lunar orbital variation can be also be explained by the dragon's behaviour. The Moon has two major variations in its orbit. The first is the tilt regression which happens every 72 months, causing 73 Draconic months (named for obvious reasons) in this time, as the time between the Moon's crossings of Alusia's Ecliptic circle (the Sun's path) is slightly more than that of it's orbits around Alusia. The second is the perigee progression which happens every 30 months and 26 days, causing 29 Anomalistic months (it explains anomalies) and 26 days in this time, as the Moon completes an Ellipse in it's orbit slightly faster than it actually orbits Alusia. This gives a pattern of 18 years, known as the Saros cycle, which is the pattern that best predicts eclipses. Saros only knows the reason for the variations. In this time, there are 252 Lunar months, 255 Draconic months, and 245 Anomalistic months. It is likely that Saros is a child or grandchild of Sin & Ningal.
Predicted Eclipses
Umm. It's actually quite hard to work out. There's roughly a ~10% chance on each full moon of at least a partial Lunar eclipse. Figuring the locations where the Solar eclipses can be viewed is not trivial. They occur in narrow bands across the face of Alusia and a few eager philosophers will travel great distances to observe as many as possible in their lifetimes.
More detail can be found in the Navigation Appendix. Actual predictions can be found in the following pages:
- Solar & Lunar Eclipses in a Year
- Solar & Lunar Eclipses by Month
- Path & Coverage of a Solar Eclipse This page has very slow javascript
There is/was a bug in one of the first two pages, where the observer's lat/long makes a much bigger difference than it should. Note also that they only list solar eclipses that occur during the observer's day, and lunar when the moon is above the horizon - i.e. when they can be seen.
Transits and Occultations
An Occultation is where a larger body, such as the moon, passes in front of a smaller body, such as a star or a planet. A Transit is where a smaller body (usually Freya or Wotan) passes in front of a larger body, usually the Sun. An annular eclipse can be said to be a special case of a Transit. These events can also be predicted and can be used in astrological readings. There have been occasions that unknown bodies have caused an unpredictable transit or occultation and these are treated the same way as a Prophetic Eclipse.
References
...Phaeton to complete, with his greater store of Astrological knowledge...
