Into the Abyss полностью

Both moons are actually the same size, (balancing male and female), but Anuropia is farther away and thus appears smaller. Both moons have synchronous periods of revolution, although Anuropia’s is one half that of Uropia.

Thus, for every 2 months of Uropia, Anuropia has one. Each month of Uropia has a name but Anuropian months are not named, as a whole, rather the quarters of the Anuropian month are named. The five Anuropian months correspond to the five seasons. The logic behind this comes from the Anuropian phases.

Having two moons does make for interesting tidal pattern as well as other Ropian based effects (as the joint moon cycles are called). However, unusual moon effects are further complicated by Anuropia’s unorthodox behavior. Uropia revolves in the plane of the ecliptic (it follows the same path as Fierd, the sun). Anuropia, however, in a manner that some would insist is completely masculine in its contradictory behavior, has somehow managed to achieve a polar orbit (it traverses the sky north to south and south to north, passing over the poles), much to the consternation of more than one sage. This orbit is also perpendicular to the motion of Astlan about Fierd. The polar orbit of Anuropia, combined with the more stable motion of Uropia is what drives the Ropian cycles, the months and the seasons.

There are ten Uropian months and thus five Anuropian months (thus 5 seasons). Each Anuropian month is divided into quarters indicating the moon’s current position in the sky. Each Anuropian quarter is 20 days long (thus a month and season are 80 days long), and each Uropian month is 40 days long. There are thus 400 days in one year.

Fortunately, the Fierdal year also happens to correspond to the same length of time, approximately. Slight differences in Ropian and Fierdal cycles result in leap years every 5th year, and to keep the calendars in balance, these leap years require 1 day to be added the calendar every five years to keep the cycles of the moons in line with the cycles of the sun. This leap day always occurs between the 20th and the 1st quarter-month. It also has its own day of the week so as not to throw off the other days of the week.

Aspects of the Months

The combination of the two moons’ phases gives rise to the various aspects of the months. The Aspects are combinations of the negative and positive phases of the moons and the masculine, feminine combination of the moons.

Phases of the Moons

Ultimately it is the phases of the two moons that drive the entire life cycle of Astlan.

Uropia: Uropia has four phases: Submissive (when it is between Fierd and Astlan, thus unlit); Ascendant (moving towards Dominant); Dominant (on the other side of Astlan from Fierd, full moon); and Descendent (moving away from Dominant, towards submissive). Further, when Uropia is visible in the day sky, it is said to be in its Negative Aspect and when it is visible at night, it is in its Positive Aspect.

Anuropia: The polar orbit of Anuropia gives it very unusual behavior. For one-half of its month it traverses over the northern hemisphere, and the other half it traverses over the southern hemisphere. When in one hemisphere, it is not visible from the other. If Anuropia is traversing the opposite hemisphere and not visible, then Uropia is the only moon present, this period of time has a Feminine Aspect. When both moons are visible in the sky (not necessarily at the same time, e.g. one could be up in day and the other at night) that period of time has a Masculine Aspect.

What one actually sees with Anuropia’s motion (in the northern hemisphere) is that after a period of forty days of absence, Anuropia appears upon the daytime horizon. At this point, it is between Astlan and Fierd and thus is unlit by Fierd and is in its Submissive phase. On this first night, due to the rotation of Astlan, Anuropia (unlit however) appears to walk along the horizon from East to West. On each successive day it traverses the sky farther and farther North (and becoming fuller), until eventually it reaches the North Pole where it does not traverse the sky at all. This motion, from South to North over a period of 20 days is called retrograde motion. When Anuropia is in retrograde and simultaneously visible during the day, (which is always the case, due to the orbit, retrograde and Anuropia’s daytime presence always occur together) this is its Negative Aspect (like Uropia’s Negative Aspect). When it reaches the North Pole, Anuropia is now in its Ascendant Phase (and half of it is lit up by Fierd).