I'm playing with the idea of a starving student that was hired by some Verdanian lord to study old Varasian ruins. While there he would discover an ancient journal written by an old hero from several nights past, which he would read, kicking off his own heroic transformation.

Quick question: Is all the land mass concentrated on one side of the planet? If not I'd imagine each cycle would see 'Dawn Chasers" simply pull up roots in an attempt to outrun the coming dark. Heck, mass migration could even be another factor as to why entire kingdoms fall overnight.

A world without a moon would probably be pretty pitch-black at night, so that might add to why it's such a big deal when night comes. On the other hand, having a moon lets us use the word 'moonlight' or 'moonrise' or what-have-you when a paragraph is oversaturated with 'night.'

on the topic of the moon and also a bit on religion

If you do have a moon its still only going to be in the sky over the night side for half its orbit. If it had earth's moon then you would have month long moon based day-like cycles. also the moon would go through its phases as it crossed the sky and what those are depends on the time of day. at nightfall the new moon rises and it sets full. at midnight it rises half, is full at the peak and then sets half again, finally at dawn it rises full and sets new. It gives a way to tell how close the dawn is. You could probably have moon cults that worship the moon that grow popular in the night and wane with the day. also some kind of festival when the full moon coincides with the moon being at the highest point of the sky, something a bit like Christmas/Hanukkah/new years or all the other half way through winter celebrations as a kind of moral booster for the people.

Or maybe theere are 2 sun's scorching the earth equally from both sides. Since Earth is located perfectly in the middle, the gravitational forces balance each other. Everything is symmetrical. Then, once upon hundred years or so 2 super planets that are close to earth block the sun from either side effectively achieving 2 simultaneous eclipses that last about 1/4th night time. After they pass another set of super planets perform 2 other simultaneous eclipses from both sides again lasting for 1/4 night time. These happens 4 times in total with 8 super planets from both sides periodically blocking the sun from both sidez and then switching with another planet to continue the job.

After the last planet from both solar systems has passed it would take a century or so for the first planet of each system to come and block the sun again.

Results: I don't see a moon in this equation. Stop talking madness! @DracoLunaris

@DeltaV I wouldn't call what I have in mind a "standard" fantasy monster. It really only resembles a dragon superficially.

That's an interesting guy to look at, I like it.

I'm playing with the idea of a starving student that was hired by some Verdanian lord to study old Varasian ruins. While there he would discover an ancient journal written by an old hero from several nights past, which he would read, kicking off his own heroic transformation.

If by heroic transformation you mean to indicate that they'd be gaining supernatural powers of their own, just keep in mind that only one such person is usually given those abilities per night. I hate to stomp on an idea, but I'd prefer to keep that particular character possibility as one I can introduce for everyone's characters to interact with. If you just mean a transformation into a protagonist, go right ahead.

Quick question: Is all the land mass concentrated on one side of the planet? If not I'd imagine each cycle would see 'Dawn Chasers" simply pull up roots in an attempt to outrun the coming dark. Heck, mass migration could even be another factor as to why entire kingdoms fall overnight.

I pictured it as being more of one relatively compact continent, probably roughly the landmass of Europe, for the sake of travel times. So while there might be a few hours' difference between the westernmost points and the easternmost points (and I can certainly imagine people traveling back and forth to cheat the system a little bit) I don't think you could perpetually evade the night.

If you do have a moon its still only going to be in the sky over the night side for half its orbit. If it had earth's moon then you would have month long moon based day-like cycles. also the moon would go through its phases as it crossed the sky and what those are depends on the time of day. at nightfall the new moon rises and it sets full. at midnight it rises half, is full at the peak and then sets half again, finally at dawn it rises full and sets new. It gives a way to tell how close the dawn is. You could probably have moon cults that worship the moon that grow popular in the night and wane with the day. also some kind of festival when the full moon coincides with the moon being at the highest point of the sky, something a bit like Christmas/Hanukkah/new years or all the other half way through winter celebrations as a kind of moral booster for the people.

I was toying from the initial conception of the RP premise with introducing some religious customs, but in it I always figured that people would worship the sun as a benevolent deity-figure and the moon as a malevolent one, since the sun is the most obvious indicator of daylight and the moon is generally most clearly visible at night. That would contribute to the general paranoid atmosphere of the nights: people would be very literally seeing an evil god hovering above them for much of the time.

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Anyways, OOC will probably be up tomorrow.

My current character concept is an elderly man with the powers of theurgy and necromancy, capable of banishing the spirits of the restless dead and binding them to his will to be summoned later -- like a supernatural Pied Piper of Hamelin with a host of ghosts as deathly pale as ice.

Thoughts?

Bump.

<Snipped quote by Hank>

Bump.

Interesting concept. I will make you work for it, though, because being able to remove and resummon the kinds of things I'll have to think up to challenge a bunch of already-powerful protagonists would be a little bit overpowered.

Also, since I missed another guy too:

Or maybe theere are 2 sun's scorching the earth equally from both sides. Since Earth is located perfectly in the middle, the gravitational forces balance each other. Everything is symmetrical. Then, once upon hundred years or so 2 super planets that are close to earth block the sun from either side effectively achieving 2 simultaneous eclipses that last about 1/4th night time. After they pass another set of super planets perform 2 other simultaneous eclipses from both sides again lasting for 1/4 night time. These happens 4 times in total with 8 super planets from both sides periodically blocking the sun from both sidez and then switching with another planet to continue the job.

After the last planet from both solar systems has passed it would take a century or so for the first planet of each system to come and block the sun again.

Results: I don't see a moon in this equation. Stop talking madness! @DracoLunaris

A curious thing to imagine, but I think at that point it's straying a little bit from the real premise. Interesting enough as the orbital mechanics might be, I'd prefer to keep the how and why at least partially within the realm of fantasy.